When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Derek Lawrenson thinks 14-year-old Guan Tianling's win in the Asia Pacific and subsequent Masters berth using a belly putter should be yet another sign that the governing bodies need to act.
Yes, you’re right, the governing bodies should have snapped this dreadful implement in half at birth. But if you’re in any doubt that it is never too late to do the right thing, then the sight of 14-year-old Guan Tianling winning his spot at the Masters using one of the damn things should convince.
In other words, the future stars are now not even bothering learning the complexities of putting with orthodox equipment, and why should they when this form of legalized cheating offers such an easy way out?
The Royal and Ancient and the United States Golf Association have seen the future, and know that if they don’t act now a conventional putter in another decade will be about as common as a persimmon driver.
Gary Player authors this week's NY Times Business section's usually entertaining Frequent Flier column/Q&A, claiming that in his 60 years he's spent 90 percent of his time on commercial airlines, logging more than 15 million miles.
And sleeping on plane floors.
I remember a flight years ago when I was traveling from Los Angeles to Japan. I was seated next to a woman who was very engrossed in her knitting. I asked her if she would like the use of both seats, and I proceeded to go to the floor. I was out like a light. As I was coming out of my sleep, which was about eight hours, I heard the woman talking to the attendant. She thought I might be dead. All I could do was smile, and she was either quite relieved or scared when I stood up.
I saw the headline to Robin Abcarian's story and thought, when did Jack Nicklaus ever lose to Doug Ford?
“He asked me to get involved and I didn’t,” Nicklaus said. “I said, ‘Mr. President, I’ve always stayed away from politics. I deal with people on both sides.’ And he respected that and he never had an issue with that, and we played a lot of golf after that. But I didn’t help him and he lost Ohio by several thousand votes. Had he won Ohio, he would have won the election. I’ve always had big regrets about that.
“In spite of me not doing that, he paid me a great honor: I was a pallbearer at his funeral. He was such a good friend, such a nice man. That’s why I’ve gotten involved.”
**golf.com crunched the numbers and concludes that even if Nicklaus had campaigned for Gerald Ford and made Ohioans swoon, the election still would have been lost to Jimmy Carter.
Nicklaus said his company, golf course design firm Nicklaus Design, has lost more than 50 percent of its employees during the past four years — a clear condemnation of the economy under President Barack Obama.
“It’s why we got involved. It’s why we want to help get Mitt elected. ... Let’s get this thing on the road and in a few days, let’s get ourselves a new president,” he said to cheers.
As if the old regime at PGA Tour Design Service's bloated renovation price tag ($23 million) wasn't already tragic enough, conversations are taking place about Harding Park's greens needing re-grassing in advance of a 2016 "playoff" event at the San Francisco muni.
The project, if it happens, figures to occur after next year’s Schwab Cup. That still would allow time for the new greens to round into shape before Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Co. come to Harding in ’16.
City officials also must find a way to pay for any renovation of the greens, no small obstacle given ever-present budget constraints.
“Resources are always going to be an issue, so we need to figure out the smartest way to do it,” Ginsburg said.
Considering that the city is struggling to fend off suggestions that the other city courses be closed due to budget constraints and that $23 million bought an uninspired design that in a more ideal economy should be renovated, maybe the PGA Tour can pick up the tab on this one since it's their precious members who have to have things absolutely perfect?
That's the question Steve Elkington posed on Twitter and after reading your many observations on the original post about Tianlang Guan's stunning Asia Pacific Amateur win, I think it's a question worth pondering.
And not to take away from Guan's stellar play or that of the kids (Zhang, Hossler) who contended at this year's U.S. Open, but maybe the broader questions should be: what is allowing people to play the game so much better at a younger age and is that a good thing?
Either way, Guan is setting lofty goals for himself!
**Steve Elkington adds this cartoon to memoralize the historic moment.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
