In golf construction art and utility meet; both are absolutely vital; one is utterly ruined without the other. GEORGE THOMAS
It’s back!
Twenty years later Tatra Press has kindly allowed me to bring back Grounds For Golf now that golf architecture is of more interest to the masses. A new Introduction looks at what’s driven the interest growth and two new chapters I had a blast adding (plus a few edits to keep things up-to-date).
“It’s no better than 50/50 that this will happen,” says Mike Keiser, owner of Bandon Dunes, the five-course resort on the Southwest Coast of Oregon.
Keiser’s admittedly frustrated. He has land, money, a vision for a lasting legacy that would continue to positively impact the locals and the local economy, and yet he’s having a hard time giving it away. He has been trying to negotiate a land swap with the Oregon State Parks Department for four years. He’s set to meet again on Wednesday, May 15, where he says he will make his final offer.
For stakeholders and those with an interest in various golf initiatives, check out Adam Schupak's lively give and take with Golf 20/20 honcho Steve Mona who reports a goal of increasing participation from 25.7 million to 30 million by the end of 2017.
They'll be doing it by backing just five initiatives, all no doubt with some glossy ad campaigns...
Q: One could argue it’s a mistake to only support industry-led initiatives. Aren’t these the same organizations that failed to grow the game since Golf 20/20 was created in 2000?
It doesn’t mean the other initiatives going on aren’t worthy initiatives. I can name a whole bunch, and they still will be supported. You look at a program like The First Tee that went from zero in 1997 to today more than 200 chapters and reached somewhere in the order of 6 million young people. We have a goal to reach an additional 10 million in the next five years. I would say that program has been successful from the standpoint of reaching young people, as an example. Get Golf Ready in 2012 reached 76,000 students, 80 percent of which have stayed in the game, spending incrementally another $1,000 in the game so I wouldn’t say that’s been unsuccessful.
Q: Yet the number of youth golfers (based on NGF data) has declined. The First Tee may have touched a lot of kids, but the NGF numbers don’t match up, do they?
Yes, the youth category has declined, but I think you have to look at broader, more societal issues rather than just say that youth golf is smaller today than it was five years ago it was The First Tee’s fault.
But one of the issues to that point, one of the problems we see with our sport is it doesn’t lend itself to a team sport environment. That’s why we’re getting behind PGA Junior League Golf. It creates that kind of team environment.
After watching the recording multiple times, reading the description of the shot and hearing NBC's Mark Rolfing describe it, that at best, playing partner Casey Wittenberg's assertion appears to be a stretch when suggesting where the ball crossed the hazard. As quoted in an unbylined AP notes story:
"He asked me exactly where it crossed," Wittenberg said. "I told him I thought it crossed on the corner of the bunker, right where he took his drop. And it's all good."
At least based on the blimp shots and the obvious skepticism from Peter Jacobsen and Johnny Miller, the ball would have had to have flown very straight, then hooked hard at the end. It does not take a genius to see by Tiger's reaction and the video, that the hook was immediate, not late as Wittenburg's drop point would require.
As noted in Harig's story, the PGA Tour's position was clear: this was the call of Woods and his playing partner Casey Wittenberg with help from Mark Rolfing of NBC. Since Woods took his eye off the ball by the time it made the purpoted late hook, he could not speak with certainty about where the ball crossed the hazard. The call is Wittenerg's then.
The PGA Tour's Mark Russell, as quoted by Harig:
"They both saw it," Russell said of Woods and Wittenberg. "They're back there with a television commentator [NBC's Mark Rolfing], who basically agreed with them. He said he hit a high hook. The problem is on television, that area looked the same, and they thought he dropped up there where it splashed. He dropped it 60 yards back of that. The players had the view of it."
What caused the doubt for me was this statement by Rolfing speaking of hazard stakes by tees on the fairway side of the lake, no where near where the ball crossed:
"It looked like it was over water at this point, if not before."
"Before" seems to be what the video and screen captures suggest.
Here is the overview photo of the hole as taken from the blimp, which did not appear to move much and had what seems like a very good angle to capture the tee shot's general flight.
Below is the "at this point" Rolfing refers to, which appears to be well right (from the player perspective on the tee) of the entry point detailed in the third photo.
What almost assuredly would have forced Tim Finchem to end the Players after a wildly successful 40th anniversary--a sudden death playoff between runners-up Kevin Streelman, David Lingmerth and Jeff Maggert--it never materialized thanks to Tiger Woods' PGA Tour victory 78 and his second overall fifth-of fourth major. Or as Tiger called it, the next in line should a major find itself forced to resign.
Oddly, the editors of this package deprive us of one of Sergio Garcia's balls going into the TPC Sawgrass's 17th hole lake, but nemesisTiger Woods will no doubt savor seeing Garcia's Players Championship hopes unravel.
Johnny Miller, on Sergio Garcia’s first tee shot into the water – “It was almost too much for him. The minute he hit that, he knew it was right.”
Gary Koch, on David Lingmerth’s tee shot on 17 – “That is the first tee shot I have seen end up right of the flag.”
Gary Koch, on Sergio Garcia’s second tee shot on 17 that hit the water – “Absolutely amazing he would come up short.”
Johnny Miller, on Sergio Garcia’s struggles on 17 – “Tough to watch.”
Dan Hicks, on Sergio Garcia’s struggles on 17 – “You just never want to be one of those guys at 17. One of those guys in contention who feels all alone when things just start going the other way.”
I ran into David Feherty strolling his second home--the DFW airport--and asked him how the Rocco show Monday was and he reported that Mediate was in great spirits. Hardly surprising that those two could yammer up storm about the '08 US Open, Arnold Palmer, the long putter and other stuff, as evidenced by the preview clip.
More from Sergio Garcia after completing the Players third round Sunday morning and learning he and Tiger would not be playing together in the afternoon.
The Showdown At Sawgrass went something like this: Sergio is going for the par-5 second green, Tiger pulls his club on a par-5 as Sergio is hitting but he can't see Sergio hitting. Sergio, as he's known to do, heard the crowd reaction to Tiger pulling driver and well, we have ourselves an episode!
"It was my shot to hit," Garcia said on NBC during the weather delay that halted play with the two on the seventh hole. "He moved all the crowd that he needed to move, and I waited for that. I want to say that he didn't see that I was ready. But you do have a feel when the other guy is going to hit. Right as I was on top of the backswing . . . everybody started screaming, so that didn't help very much. It was unfortunate."
And Tiger showed that if the golf thing doesn't work out, he can always star in a reality show.
"Well, the marshals, they told me he already hit, so I pulled a club and was getting ready to play my shot, and then I hear his comments afterwards and [it's] not real surprising that he's complaining about something," Woods said. Asked if they discussed the matter, Woods said: "We didn't do a lot of talking."
The eleven minutes of Golf Channel's Live At roundup include a split screen that backs up Sergio's version of events along with some strong reactions from Lerner, Nobilo and Chamblee apparently broadcasting from an executive VP's office at tour headquarters.
Frank Nobilo – “The word respect. Tiger Woods respects Sergio Garcia and his ability to play this game. Sergio Garcia respects and admires Tiger Woods’ ability to play this game and his resume. Like? No. Respect? Yes.
Brandel Chamblee – “It certainly makes for the next three holes these guys play in what is the third round, far more interesting. And should they get paired together? Well, we might have those fireworks.”
Rich Lerner (@RichLernerGC) – “Where is Vince McMahon when you need him.”
"I'm not going to lie,'' Garcia said after completing the third round in a three-way tie for the lead with Woods and David Lingmerth. "He's not my favorite guy to play with. He's not the nicest guy on tour.''
Later, Garcia told the Golf Channel: "It's good for both of us. We don't enjoy each other's company. You don't have to be a rocket engineer to figure that out.''
We first learned of the possibility last month from Mark Hayes and now it's official: Royal Melbourne will be hosting the 2013 WGC World Cup a week after hosting the Australian Masters.
The likely scenario of the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast, the Australian Masters and the World Cup of Golf back to back at Royal Melbourne and the Australian Open at Royal Sydney all being held in the month of November could mean Australian golf has a summer along the lines we saw here two years ago when the Australian Open and PGA Championship benefited from the Presidents Cup ’being in town.’
Update on 2013-05-12 03:49 by Geoff
**The press release which details the retro format that should be the Olympic golf format:
World Cup of Golf returns to Melbourne, Australia, in 2013
The Royal Melbourne Golf Club to host event week after Australian Masters
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla., USA, and MELBOURNE, Victoria, Australia (May 11/12, 2013) – The International Federation of PGA Tours, an organization of the top professional golf tours in the world that sanctions the World Golf Championships and the World Cup of Golf, is proud to join the State of Victoria and the International Golf Association in announcing that the 2013 World Cup of Golf will return to The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and will be played November 21-24.
The Royal Melbourne Golf Club, which hosted The Presidents Cup 2011, will host back-to-back events in November. The World Cup will be preceded on the calendar by the Australian Masters, which boasts Adam Scott as the defending champion.
The World Cup has been played three previous times in Australia, each at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club. The event was last played in Australia in 1988 as part of the nation’s bicentennial celebrations when the U.S. team of Ben Crenshaw and Mark McCumber defeated the Japanese team of Masashi (Jumbo) and Tateo Ozaki to win the tournament.
“It is an honour to host the World Cup and welcome another international golf event to Melbourne, home of great sporting events and, of course, the incredible Sandbelt region,” said Victorian Premier Dr. Denis Napthine. “Melbourne is the pride of Australia when it comes to major events, and we would argue rivals any city in the world in that regard. Today’s announcement is another exciting chapter for Melbourne, and we eagerly anticipate the World Cup in November, when we can once again showcase all that Victoria has to offer to the event’s players and fans.”
As part of the move, the event boasts an $8 million total purse and returns to an individual, stroke-play competition for $7 million, with a team component (adding the total scores of two-man teams) for $1 million. The qualification system for the event is similar to that which will be used in the Olympic Games, when golf returns to the program in 2016. The field will include 60 players (no cut), with eligibility taken from the Official World Golf Ranking. Up to four players can qualify, per country, if they are in the top 15 of the OWGR. Beyond No. 15, up to a maximum of two players per country can qualify. If two or more players from a country qualify, then the country is eligible for team competition, with the top-two players comprising the qualified team.
The major difference between the World Cup qualification model and that of the Olympic golf competition is that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will each be considered a separate country (for the purpose of the Olympics, those four countries compete as Great Britain). Further, the Olympic Games golf competition will not feature a team component.
It dates to the Battle At Bighorn and Sergio's exuberance.
After a flight from Ohio to California, Woods arrived at Bighorn the next day with a touch of the flu and was lethargic in his round, clearly both sick and tired.
Garcia, meanwhile, got more animated as the round went on and when he closed out Woods on the last hole acted as if he had just won a major championship.
If there is such a thing as X-rated body language, that's what Tiger was speaking as Sergio cavorted. Lost on Garcia in the celebration, apparently, was the fact Woods had just won four of the five previous majors.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning Drive, is co-host of The Ringer's ShackHouse is the author of eleven books.
It doesn't sound great...
