Leaving London 2012

After a quick vacation I took in the festivities in London 2012 and had a fantastic time. Despite the various boondoggles and controversies--of which there are many currently festering--the city is functioning well and the one event I was able to get into--beach volleyball--was absolutely fantastic, with an energetic crowd, stunning (temporary) venue and close matches.

Before boarding, a few quick thoughts:

- Golf is going to have to step it up to compete with the other sports for attention. Sadly, the current 72-hole stroke play format ensures it will get little attention and after watching the sensitive dynamics between teammates in beach volleyball and in other sports, we are completely blowing the Olympic opportunity by not showing the world that there is no more fascinating, intelligent, emotional, dramatic and beautifully awkward sport than golf when played with a teammate under Olympic pressure. So Tiger, since you helped influence this format, could you help influence its undoing now? Please?

- The empty seat fiasco, laid out beautifully by James Lawton in the Independent today, is as bad as you'd suspect. Tickets were difficult to get and for everyone here who tried and failed, or for visitors like me, it's insulting to see so many empty seats when you'd be willing to hand over good money to see an event. I'm less annoyed by the extensive dignitary seats going unfilled than I am by the large blocks in normal seating that went unsold. Most galling was turning on the BBC to see Caroline Wozniacki play at Wimbledon on a beautiful Saturday evening against a Great British athlete in front of maybe 1/3 the capacity of centre court, a session I tried to buy tickets for multiple times. Imagine how the residents who struck out must have felt.

-I will miss the papers terribly. The Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent and the tabloids are pulling out all the stops and while the coverage online is super and a must for your Olympic reading enjoyment, there is nothing like starting the day with a beautifully designed newspaper full of great writing and photography.

-The BBC here is remarkable. The coverage is extensive, easy to find and lacking many of the pomp that Americans seem to love and sports fans get annoyed with. But the jingoistic homerism really undoes their credibility, with the low point coming Sunday night by showing announcer reaction to a third place performance in women's swimming. NBC may be pro-American, but I don't think we'll ever see a replay of Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines rooting on someone to win a medal!

Cheers!

Who Says The Canadian Open Isn't Interesting?

From the sounds of Doug Ferguson's lively game story, it sounds like Scott Piercy's "boring golf" win in Canada came at the end of an entertaining week and a fast play final round that ended early!?

It also sounds like Piercy was not a victim of another anti-driver setup, this time at Hamiton?

"That was taken a little out of context," he said. "I like to hit driver a lot, and this golf course I felt took the driver out of my hands. I did say, however, that at the end of the week if the score is good, it is exciting. So I'm pretty excited."

It was anything but boring at the start of his round, when he quickly erased a two-shot deficit by running off four straight birdies. He used iron off the tee for the first two birdies, then turned to his power.

First, he blasted a 5-iron from 236 yards in the rough onto the green on the par-5 fourth hole for a two-putt birdie. Then, he hit driver onto the green at the 296-yard fifth hole for another two-putt birdie.

He never imagined playing the rest of the way at 1-over par and winning the tournament. His 263 tied the record set by Johnny Palmer in 1952 at St. Charles in Winnipeg, Manitoba. That leaves The Barclays (Bob Gilder in 1982) as the tournament that has gone the longest without its scoring record being matched or beaten.

The video:

Another Final Note On Narrowing Lytham

The sixth hole, easily the most egregious setup situation at Royal Lytham and St. Annes, as seen over recent years before and after the R&A sought to take drivers out of players' hands.

From the art department, click to enlarge:

If London 2012 Had Included Golf...

The fields would have looked like this, according to Ryan Ballengee in a Golf News Net post.

The men, with a whopping eight Americans and reaching to 334th in the world, and the woman going all the way to 446. Now the seeding in the match pool play would b...oh sorry, there I go again. 

Oakhurst Links Fetches $400K At Auction

Not much, but the owner supposedly wants to keep the hickory course as a golf course.

One Last Lytham Note: Narrowing

In Wednesday's R&A Presented By Polo press conference, Peter Dawson disagreed with a suggestion that Lytham had been narrowed since the last time they were there, which was then heightened by this year's denser-than-normal rough along with additional bunkers. He denied the course was narrower. "Not factual" I believe would be the precise wording.

The Art Department did a little research and found that aerials could prove otherwise. Since we don't want to belabor the point, here is just one example of the effort to take driver out of the hands of players.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

The World's Golfers Embracing The Olympics, Will America?

The rest of the world seems pretty excited about Olympic golf--thrilled in some cases like Wozilroy (as Derek Evers explains with an eye-opening quote from Graeme McDowell about Rory's struggles.

But Americans still seem averse to getting excited about 2016. Maybe this GolfDigest.com slideshow of past Olympic golf will get folks in the mood. Or maybe not.

Perhaps it's the format, perhaps it's the amount of time between now and then, or maybe they just haven't experienced the brilliance that is the Olympics. And now, there will be an added twist to get Americans excited: NBC's promotional efforts.

PGATour.com Flash: Goosen Pars, Video To Prove It

Nice catch by Bob Smiley. I haven't seen a second of the Canadian Open and won't, but if this is what amounts to a highlight...

Lytham Head Pro: "They threw the ball up in the air and that's just not how to play a seaside green."

Tom Pilcher talks to longtime Royal Lytham professional Eddie Birchenough and he was not impressed with the way the world's best played his links.

"The overall thing that surprised me was around the greens, the short shots, they threw the ball up in the air and that's just not how to play a seaside green," he said, shaking his head gently.

"You need to get the ball on the ground and I thought several of them were guilty of not doing that."

PGA On Kiawah Through The Green: "There is no clear definition of where such sandy areas stop and start."

I'm not surprised that the PGA of America is playing the sandy areas at Kiawah as "through the green" since it has done so in previous events there. But what did surprise me was the explanation since the issue at Whistling Straits was somewhat similar.

Jonathan Wall explains:

If you're wondering how a course could play all sandy areas as "through the green," it's because, as the PGA of America noted, "the sand is natural to the surrounding terrain and in many cases there is no clear definition of where such sandy areas stop and start."

Dustin Johnson sure wishes they'd thought of this a two years ago.

Phil's Been Lethargic, According To Phil

Interesting video clip from CBS This Morning of Phil Mickelson talking to Charlie Rose in the days after the Open and says he's come to the conclusion he has been lethargic. I couldn't see it at the Scottish Open where his energy levels seemed high until Sunday, whereas at the Open he definitely did seem to be slightly off.

He also has some interesting things to say about Bubba Watson's Masters recovery shot and spin and Augusta.

State Of The Game Podcast: Lorne Rubenstein

Due to technical issues I wasn't able to join Rod Morri and Lorne for this Canadian Open week episode that covers Moe Norman, the state of the game and Lorne's retirement from the Globe and Mail.

Give it a listen here or via iTunes where you can also listen to all previous episodes.

A Closer Look At Tiger's 2012 Open Championship Week

I had the task of tracking Tiger for Golf World and I was fascinated by his conservative approach, something detailed in my story. Reading it again after filing Monday morning I probably reported a little too much blow-by-blow of his final round, but he still had a chance to win after his unlucky triple bogey.

However, the inability to fight the wind with a draw at 11 and the stubbornness to play safe at 13 and 14 when he need to shake the reins and press the pedal, took him out of the tournament as much the triple did.

Anyway...here it is.