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
Two very tough (and similar) commentaries from respected writers on Tiger's rules situations, starting with AP's Doug Ferguson reviewing Woods' 2013 rules run-ins and suggesting that he risks "losing the locker room":
A few players privately mocked him during the final round at Conway Farms. ''Oscillation'' became a punch line.
Was it worth it?
Whether he likes it or not, Woods is held to a different standard, just as Greg Norman, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer were before him in the television era. He gets more attention. He draws the largest crowds. He's on TV more. His every move is scrutinized.
There's no point complaining any longer that it's unfair to use television footage to determine penalties. Everyone is expected to play by the rules – whether there's a TV camera there or not – and accept the penalty, even when players unknowingly break them. It's already in the rule book under Decision 34-3/9: ''Testimony of those who are not a part of the competition, including spectators, must be accepted and evaluated. It is also appropriate to use television footage and the like to assist in resolving doubt.''
What's worse? Someone calling in a possible violation from the couch, or an official ignoring evidence of a violation?
Jaime Diaz in this week's Golf World says Tiger digging in even after the evidence was presented does not bode well:
That Woods disputed the visual evidence in the scoring trailer, to the point of admittedly getting "pretty hot," evoked the image of Michelle Wie's petulant and feeble self-defense at the 2010 Kia Classic, when she said she had grounded her club in the water to balance herself. It was a claim that video replay clearly refuted.
At the BMW, Woods had a chance on Saturday to wipe the slate clean by saying that he had been in error and accepted his penalty as proper. Instead, his unbending denial in the face of such strong evidence hurt his good name. Now there is potential to doubt that Woods will keep protecting the field above his own self-interest. It means all the respect he has earned is unofficially under reassessment.
GolfChannel.com Digital, whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. Digital, were visionairies in naming their first born, reports that Tiger Woods and Commissioner Tim Finchem met for over an hour Wednesday. An hour, for Tiger preparing to tee off the next day in a big event and listening to the Commish bellow on, is the equivalent of a 24 hour meeting for the rest of us.
Here's guessing they were not comparing notes on the G650 or working a Steve Sands-branded whiteboard over how to revamp the FedExCup points (again) or discussing how to televise all of Tiger's shots in SD to avoid future rules mishaps.
Digital speculates that it had to do with "call-in" violations based on Tiger's press conference remarks.
“There are certainly a lot more viewer call-ins,” Woods said. “I get it from the first time I step on the range on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, all the way through, and virtually every shot is on something, and some of the top players are getting it. Most players don't get it until they're in the leader groups on Saturday or Sunday.”
Bob Harig zones in on Tiger's assertion that there needs to be a time-limit on call-ins, though what that has to do with any of the situations he was involved in is beyond me!
"There needs to be a time limit, and I think there needs to be a discussion obviously where is that time limit? Where is that line of demarcation? You've got to start with disqualification and then work our way back from there.
Numerous stories noted the big takeaway from Commissioner Tim Finchem's state of the tour presser: the tour will be taking yet another look at caller-inspired rules violations even though (A) it's the one bit of controversy Commissioner Monk embraces, and (B) it's the one sign an audience of any size is watching the playoffs.
So nothing will change. Players will commit violations. HD will reveal violations they didn't know happened. Players will pat themselves on the back for calling penalties on themselves. And Tiger will have more run-ins with the rules because he's on television more than anyone.
Finchem is smarter than most of us and he knows the second you put a rule that says no outside observer can point out a rules violation, the integrity of the rules will be undermined because we'll have a long list of penalties that should have been given out, but were not.
In other words, a situation much more toxic than the one we have now.
As for Tuesday at East Lake, you are more than welcome to read 4855 words of the Commish and press questions--and that's just the part before Peter Jacobsen arrived to collect his Payne Stewart Award.
Or you can take Helen Ross's summary of the state of the tour, which as you might suspect, is very upbeat, with loads of numbers from the Commissioner except those top-secret playoff ratings (they're so big they keep them secret to avoid a nationwide outbreak of aneurysms).
But since we can't get those TV ratings, we can at least get some numbers confirming that the players do indeed believe in the FedExCup and its $40 million in bonus money. Shocking stuff here.
On how the FedExCup has been accepted by the players: "99.1 percent of the (Playoffs) starts by players that were available to players have been actually utilized. Of the 975 opportunities, 966 have been filled. It's an indication of the very robust interest, support, and enthusiasm the players have for this competition. And I think, as with the fans, it continues to grow."
Not that anyone is counting or anything.
On the debut of the Web.com Tour Finals: "I must say in this first year we're off to, I think, a very, very solid start. The quality of the golf courses in the finals, the juxtaposition of the 126 to 200 from the PGA TOUR against the top 75 off the Web.com Tour money list has, I think, proven to be very interesting to fans. Our galleries have been good at those events, and we've gotten good results on television."
Uh, how many more weeks do we have of the Web.com Tour Finals?
And the Commissioner's tortured take on fans phoning in rules violations:
On whether the TOUR would ever decide to not take calls from fans about potential penalties: "Well, we've been talking about it and looking at it over the years. I think twice we've actually got pretty serious about it. It's not just one thing. It's sort of three or four different ways to look at it starting with one fundamental, which is disqualification reasonable for signing a card wrong when you didn't intentionally do anything?
"Going from there to what's a reasonable point to accept outside information? Is it better to have some sort of limit on it? If you don't learn about something before X time. All the other sports close their books a little quicker than we do, so to speak. But there's two sides to the story. I mean, it's not an easy argument one way or the other. I think it's cumbersome and difficult and awkward sometimes. On the other hand, sometimes it's pretty interesting to the fans. ... But we seem to have three or four of these things this year. So we'll probably be taking another harder look at it after we get done with the season."
Eh ehmmm...Tim, the season starts again in a few weeks.
It's never too early to file away something for your past performances files, as Doug Ferguson reports on Adam Scott's course-record setting round at 2018 U.S. Open host Shinnecock Hills.
Scott made a 12 footer on the last to set the new record.
"It's pretty cool," Scott said. "The members got pretty excited when I came off the course, and it's one of the best tracks in the world, for sure. No one has ever shot that score in over 100 years off the tees I played. So that's a pretty neat thing."
As the playoff extravaganza winds down and the massive audiences take in one more week of PGA Tour golf before turning their attention to football and baseball, Asia will soon come into focus with a few big events on the various tours.
An unbylined APF story looks at the suddenly less prosperous times in Asian professional golf.
Asia's end-of-year golf round remains studded with lucrative, imported events, including the CIMB Classic, BMW Masters, WGC-HSBC Champions and the World Cup, offering combined prize money of more than $30 million.
But with about 20 international events scheduled across the Asia-Pacific region in the last few months of this year, it's no surprise that some are crowded out.
The Singapore Open, previously billed as 'Asia's major' and with a $6 million purse last year, is the glaring omission from this year's schedule. Its promoters are promising it will return next season, but the date, venue and sponsor are all unknown.
Meanwhile India's European Tour-sanctioned Avantha Masters has been shelved after its main sponsor withdrew due to the "current economic condition", including a plunging rupee.
And the Hong Kong Open, long a cornerstone of Asian golf, is without a sponsor and is relying on government funds to help pay its prize money.
Unfortunately with the team mired in a thrilling pennant race that meant another miniscule crowd was on hand for a Rays game.
Thankfully we have video to see Golf Channel's Holly Sonders re-inventing the first pitch. Well done!
**The Big Lead posts a live-changing GIF of the occasion along with some pre-game photos.
Teddy Greenstein says Conway Farms was a big hit and is likely to host again in 2015 after Cherry Hills hosts the BMW next year--assuming Colorado hasn't washed away by then. 
But a couple of intriguing venue names have come up for the long term, including the newly renovated Medinah No. 1 that sports a camel bunker in Tom Doak's first ever homage to the later work of Desmond Muirhead.
Beyond 2015, the tour and Western Golf Association will consider other Chicago venues, though few present a rigorous enough challenge, can handle 40,000 spectators and have an open membership policy.
A new option that Kaczkowski called "intriguing" will open for play next summer, when the renovation of Medinah No. 1 is completed at a cost of $6.4 million.
Architect Tom Doak, who designed such celebrated courses as Lost Dunes, Pacific Dunes and Ballyneal, is vying to give Medinah's members a worthy partner to the famed No. 3 course, which hosted the 2012 Ryder Cup.
The par-71 layout will be roughly 6,900 yards with deep-faced bunkers and a par-3 finish. If it lands an event of the BMW Championship's caliber, length could be added and the nines could be flipped to create a 600-yard finishing hole.
"Any time you are talking about a championship opportunity, our membership has demonstrated excitement," said Medinah official Mike Crance. "We will see how it plays out."
Tod Leonard files an update on the Torrey Pines North Course redo unveiling to the public, which includes a rendering of Phil Mickelson's vision for the remodeled muni.
The cartoonish drawing published with the story looks like someone who has never played golf is trying to put Aviara on the coast.
The Tuesday meeting was the third with the public, and Phil Mickelson Design Director Mike Angus spent more than an hour presenting a hole-by-hole portrait of the renovated North. At the heart of the work – estimated to be $7.8 million with a completion date of summer 2015 -- are a modernization of the greens and bunkers, more playability for the average golfer, and an aesthetic change that will eliminate 22 acres of plant material to create more “natural” terrain on the edges of the course.
And not to be underplayed: The course likely will be more appealing to the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open, though plenty of pros have said they haven’t seen any need to change the North.
There is also now a push to turn a portion of the property into upscale lodging for the Lodge at Torrey Pines, which it sounds like went over about as well with golfers as you'd expect.
Bill Evans, owner of the Lodge at Torrey Pines, said his idea for that space is to transfer a few Craftsman-style homes to the site and create a small “colony” of accommodations similar to Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach. Transportation to the site would be carts only, Evans said.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
