Jason Dufner On Trying To Shoot 62 In A Major: "It's tough when you're chasing history."

Lots of fun, frank stuff from PGA Championship second round leader Jason Dufner in his post round scrum posted by GolfChannel.com.

Great to hear him so appreciative of the honor of breaking Oak Hill's course record, previously held by Ben Hogan (Mr. Hogan) and Curtis Strange (Mr. Strange).

And there was this on the putt he left short for 62:



Matthew Rudy has more on Dufner's interest in Hogan and the historic round.

Tiger Does His Best Arnold Impersonation...

Is there any wonder people are so fascinated by the man? Check out this shot from Golf Digest's photo gallery of the first two rounds at the 2013 PGA, taken by Dom Furore:

USGA Had Long Planned Contract Announcement During PGA Week

After Michael Bamberger touted the role USGA President Glen Nager played in the stunning $1.2 billion, 12-year USGA television contract move to Fox Sports, it's almost as if the people who engineered this said, "hey look at us!"

Adam Schupak files a behind-the-scenes take with heavy input from the USGA's Sarah Hirschland on the process followed by herself, Wasserman Media Group and Executive Committee member Gary Stevenson (a former Wasserman executive). While the story lacks any input from the ESPN and NBC side and does not mention Hirschland's potential conflict of interest--her husband works as a producer on mostly second-tier Golf Channel events but is certainly now a prime candidate to move to Fox Sports where they'll be hiring--the Golfweek.com story provides plenty of stellar information to reveal several things:

• This deal was going to be finalized this week all along based on deadlines previously set. Meaning that barring some strange natural disaster, the USGA planned to upstage the PGA Championship. So my initial assessment of "tacky" was too kind, Joe. Put me down for "bush league" in today's scrubbing.

• This decision was rushed. Pure and simple, the folks involved had less than 48 hours to deliberate the three final offers? From the close of business Monday until sometime early Wednesday, a small number of people made a decision that will impact the organization for more than a decade.
• We learned that the Executive Committee was not engaged in the process, had little time to consider the ramifications of cutting the cord with more influential media entities in ESPN and NBC/Golf Channel which are usually the two channels you see on in any golf course or sports bar in America.
  
  
• The decision was almost immediately released which would seem to say the 15-member board apparently could not be trusted to keep a secret. We're talking lawyers, executives and accomplished folks here. Wow.

From Schupak's must read:

The USGA rifled through the offers internally one more time on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the USGA convened a meeting of its board of directors, where Fox was crowned the winner. The winners and losers learned their fates later that day, which precipitated a public announcement on the eve of the PGA Championship. A news release disseminated at 6:34 p.m. Aug. 7 stunned the golf and media industry.

“It was not apparent that Fox was an automatic winner by any stretch,” Hirshland said. “We had three compelling offers on the table. At the end of the day, when all was said and done, from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective, Fox was the leader in the clubhouse.”

So as I start to hear from intelligent, calmer USGA voices with big-picture sensibilities, they are horrified by the long term ramifications of severing ties with such influential platforms in the name of money. No, you can't put a dollar figure on the influence you get in having ESPN or Golf Channel on your side. Still, the ultimate question remains: what was the rush if, as Hirschland claims, “it was not apparent that Fox was an automatic winner by any stretch"?

Most of the Executive Committee and no doubt some past USGA presidents will convene next week at the U.S. Amateur and again early next month at the Walker Cup.

Why wouldn't you want to deliberate (face-to-face) the ramifications of such a huge decision and also take the chance of negative publicity for upstaging a Tee-It-Forward "partner" in the PGA of America?

USGA Prez Liked That FOX Execs Were Not Golf Experts

The Onionesque revelations have only begun on the USGA's massive sellout to FOX Sports.

golf.com's Michael Bamberger praises the USGA for making a "populist move" by outbidding NBC by about $20 million per year.

Here's the best revelation from Bamberger, who directly quotes USGA President Glen Nager saying something other than what appears in the USGA press release. In other words he spoke to the President and what came out was a little scary.

Glen Nager, the president of the USGA, who worked on the FOX deal with Davis and another USGA executive, Sarah Hirshland, said on Thursday afternoon that golf wants, and needs, to reach those football fans and NASCAR fans and baseball fans and soccer fans. Sean Hannity fans, no doubt, too. Nager liked the fact that the FOX executives were recreational golfers and not golf experts. The USGA was looking for something else.

"We have golfing sophistication," Nager said.

Such sophistication that they rolled out an expensive slow play messaging campaign, now openly mocked by two-time US Open winner Lee Trevino, yet they chose not to address slow play at their most prominent championship by using their very-own and proven-successful time par system (once again). The campaign was undermined immediately to sophisticated golf fans.

What FOX brought, among other things, was a boffo proposal to promote the U.S. Open, the other championships and to help make golf more of the mainstream sporting culture.

Nager also thought highly of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Also interesting that Bamberger names Executive Director Mike Davis as a key member of the FOX deal negotiating team. And that NBC and ESPN don't know mainstream but FOX Sports does.

And then there was Bamberger's analysis of who FOX will put in the booth. For those elated that they won't have Johnny to kick around any more, Nager feels your pain. Seems Johnny fits into the populist concept.

This will not be an easy job to fill. Nager did not rule out the possibility of Miller following the USGA to FOX.

As Bamberger notes, that's not happening after Miller's spot-on reaction to the news. And if you really believe Johnny is that important, why didn't you just re-sign with the NBC/Golf Channel?

Since it became clear Nager was going to be USGA President, I've listened to USGA insiders, some past committee members and fanboy types insist his appointment would be disastrous because he's relatively new to the sport of golf. I disagreed, thinking a fresh perspective would be a positive. But who knew we'd get someone so willing to appeal to the lowest common denominator that he'd be willing to alienate two very powerful media companies and potentially millions of serious golf fans for the almighty dollar?

PGA Day 1 Wrap: "You gotta write about the golfer...who used to be the auto racer Anukjit Hirunratanakorn"

Looks like a pretty stock PGA Championship opening day: good scoring, brief rain delay, nice mix of names on the leaderboard topped by Adam Scott and Jim Furyk, Tiger said he rushed a short putt after his group was put on the clock (Ron Sirak reports), Phil summoned Butch Harmon after a wild finish (video) (Bob Harig reports), and there was one offbeat tale in 68-shooter Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

Dave Kindred with Aphibarnrat's story.

He is 24 years old. He has been called "Asia's John Daly" in allusion to his laundry-bag physique and extravagant swing. This season he has won on both the European Tour and Asian Tour. He has earned over $1.5 million. When he didn't qualify here, the PGA of America used it Eligibility Code 12 -- "the right to invite additional players" -- to get him in the 156-man field. The PGA Media Guide noted that he'd once been an auto racer. Also, he was "previously known as Anukjit Hirunratanakorn."

Irresistible. You gotta write about the golfer Kiradech Aphibarnrat who used to be the auto racer Anukjit Hirunratanakorn who goes two-under-par on one of the world's great golf courses just a month after shooting an 85 -- yes, an 85 -- in the British Open.

Thief Dresses Up As Typical Club Golfer; Hits Baltusrol Lockers

Thorough report from CBS2 New York's Tracee Carrasco on a thief who dressed like a golfer (even had a glove!) and robbed Baltusrol's open lockers, then tried to his Canoe Brook where Oscar Cabrera was recognized by employees after a police bulletin went out.

“He would enter the club and look for the best way to get to the locker room,” said Springfield Police Det. James Mirabile.

Police said Cabrera stole the credit cards of three members from open lockers on June 30. And they said he wasn’t working alone; he allegedly had an accomplice named Luis Paz.

Springfield police said the two suspects went to a Target store in the Township of Union, where they used the stolen credit cards to buy $8,000 worth of gift cards.

The video feature:

Is Fox Sports Really Paying $100 Million A Year In USGA Deal?

Either I missed it in focusing on the classless announcement timing or it was added as a follow up to the original report, but Doug Ferguson is citing sources as saying the USGA-Fox Sports partnership is worth approximately $100 million a year for the 12 years, meaning Fox Sports is going to pay $1.2 billion for the right to lose money on everything but the U.S. Open?

Furthermore, with the many innovations the USGA is promising on the production end, combined with starting a team from scratch, the production costs are going to be higher than had ESPN or NBC/Golf Channel or a combination of the two landed the rights.

Though financial terms weren't disclosed, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said the Fox bid was in the neighborhood of $100 million a year, more than double the previous contract. The person wasn't authorized to release details and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ed Sherman has a strong roundup and commentary on the USGA's move, and also includes a Twitter comment from Scott Van Pelt of ESPN who is hearing the $100 million too.

Sorry, but both NBC and ESPN deserved better here.

The reality is that this decision wasn’t based on innovation. Here’s what Nager should have said in the release:

“Can you believe Fox is willing to give us $100 friggin’ million dollars per year for essentially one tournament?”

All in all, considering this announcement also was made on the eve of the PGA Championship, it was poor form by USGA.

Van Pelt's Tweet:

@Sherman_Report The notion of 'brand new" golf tv is funny. Like what, Glen? There's only so much innovation. But 100M = 100M. Which is fine

— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) August 8, 2013

John Hawkins files a nice commentary on the ungentlemanly behavior of the organization that prides itself on the etiquette and dignity of our sport.

Golf swears by its etiquette, but this is a burp at the dinner table among heads of state. And from the bleating Bluecoats, no less, who never met a cause they couldn’t tackle without a ton of help.

Last time I checked, six-time PGA Tour winner Brandt Snedeker wouldn’t swing an axe at someone unless you handed him the hatchet and stuck out your neck. “Don’t know the relationship between @USGA and @ThePGAofAmerica but seems petty to announce new TV deal today USGA… Couldn’t wait??” Sneds tweeted.

Guess not, seeing how Fox won’t have a U.S. Open on its air for almost two years. When you drive 90 miles per hour to get somewhere an hour ahead of schedule, people are sure to ask why you’re in such a rush. That’s when you scratch your head and realize you could have caused a wreck.

"TaylorMade-adidas Golf Posts Record First-Half Sales"

Another billion-dollar first half of the year for Taylor Made-Adidas.

For Immediate Release...

TaylorMade-adidas Golf Posts Record First-Half Sales Despite Late Start to Golf Season

Footwear and Iron categories grow double digits to lead the charge to over $1 Billion through Q2

CARLSBAD, CALIF. (August 8, 2013) – TaylorMade-adidas Golf (TMaG), the largest and most profitable golf equipment, apparel and footwear company in the world, announced today, Q2 sales of $454M (EUR 348M).  Despite unseasonably poor weather across the globe leading to a late golf season start, TMaG reports sales of $1.012B (EUR 771.077M) with currency-neutral, year-over-year growth of +2% for the first half.  What’s even more impressive, this is the second year in a row that TMaG has recorded more than $1 billion in sales through the first six months.  Sales increases were led by the iron and footwear categories, which each saw double-digit growth YTD of +16% and +18% respectively.  Regionally, the U.S., which accounts for more than half of TMaG’s global sales, posted YTD year-on-year sales growth of +8%.

 “Reaching over $1 billion in sales for the first half of year, while taking into consideration the slow start to the season, proves consumers demand the superior performance and innovation that goes into our products,” said Mark King, CEO and President. “We never stop striving to push the limits for the golfer and I believe that’s why our numbers continue to be so strong.”

Leading the Q2 charge was the stellar growth in the footwear and iron categories.  Footwear was driven by the success of the ultra-light family of adizero products, including adizero tour and adizero sport for both men and women.  The adizero franchise has broken numerous company sales records throughout the first half of 2013 that have stood since 1999, when the adidas Golf brand was formed.  Ashworth also experienced a strong Q2, and the combined dollar-share of the adidas Golf and Ashworth brands for June 2013 was 19.3%, up from 17.0% last year.

Rain Delay Aerial: Oak Hill From Above Through The Years

If you want to kill a few minutes during the rain delay and see how Oak Hill has evolved, reader Chris from DE nominates this link to Historic Aerial Images where you can see how the current PGA Championship has evolved.

The earliest shot is from 1951 and the lack of trees is pretty shocking. If you look closely you can see the old 15th tucked against the property border and it's easy to see how Peter Thomson hit a ball out of bounds there.

Unfortunately it's hard to make out the old 5th and 6th holes that everyone raves about, except George and Tom Fazio who blew them up.

Video: Look Back At Oak Hill's 1968 U.S. Open

Now this is how the USGA should upstage the PGA, not by announcing a massive change in their television partnerships that takes subtle digs at those partners, but instead, by posting nice YouTube videos showing Oak Hill as it looked in the 1968 U.S. Open. It will make for fun course and broadcast comparisons during the telecast today on TNT and this weekend on CBS.

Also notice how much movement there is behind Trevino for this third shot on 18! Imagine today's white belt set hitting a shot that fast with that much going on.

Even better, you get to (kind of) see the old 15th hole. The video:

PGA Match Play Showdown: Rory Defeats Hopkins, 7&6

Michael Whitmer covers Ian Poulter's call to the media to chill out on the Rory ripping (video here), check out the exchange between McIlroy and Global Golf Post's John Hopkins later in the press center.

The video is more revealing (could not find any), but either way say what you want about the state of the lad's game, he handled this better than most would:

Q. Ian Poulter was in here a couple of hours ago, and we were asking him about you, and he said he thought that we should lay off you. Do you feel we should lay off you?

RORY McILROY: I don't know, I mean, it's ... I'd definitely rather be up here talking about more positive things, but I guess that's the way it is.

Should you lay off me? That's not for me to decide. That's not ... I'm here and I'm answering your questions and that's all I can do. Yeah, as I said, it would be nicer just to sit up here, talk about some more positive things, but the way this year's gone, it's understandable why I'm not.

Q. It's very nice of you to say it's not for you to decide, but you're the only person who can decide whether you think we should lay off you?
RORY McILROY: You're the only people who can decide whether you lay off me or not, so it's not my decision. (Laughter).

Q. You can say whether you think we should.

RORY McILROY: No, I think you should do what you want. Ask me the questions that you want to ask (shrugging shoulders).

McIlroy tees off at 1:25 ET with Vijay Singh and Martin Kaymer.