Phil & Tiger Roundup: Fortune's Highest Paid List Shuffle, Pinehurst & Tiger Hitting Drivers

Landing 6th at $37.2 million on Fortune's best guess at income earned in 2013, Phil Mickelson passed Tiger Woods who fell to 7th with $35.5 million last year.

Floyd Mayweather finished atop the list with $105 million in earnings.

Speaking of Mickelson, I followed him quite a bit at Pinehurst and filed this story for Golf World suggesting that there was an odd sameness to his rounds and body language, but that his game is ultimately not that far off.

As for Tiger, he hit balls last weekend, including drivers after starting work on the range last Tuesday, first reported by Tim Rosaforte on Morning Drive and more extensively later on Golf Central. Agent Mark Steinberg confirmed but the timetable for a competitive return remains unsettled.

NBC 69 Of 69 In Martin Kaymer Shots Shown Sunday

Talk about German engineering! (Sam Weinman reviews the various references to the German engineering in the post-Kaymer U.S. Open win here).

Impressive balance by NBC as noted by Classic TV Sports, which tabulated the distribution of leader shots shown by the network during the U.S. Open final round.

All 69 of Kaymer's shots were shown, but more interesting was the balance of leaders and their place on the leaderboard.

Rally Killers Attack! Wie Grilled Over Her New Nail Polish, Her Pomeranian's Presence In Hospitality

Some pretty special stuff at Pinehurst today as Michelle Wie graciously sat down for a Q&A with the assembled scribblers and I can safely say neither of these was asked by yours truly and the identity of the questioners is unknown:

Q. You said we could ask you anything, and I notice sitting here in the front row that you have different nail polish on your fingers. Is that to help you with your grip or is there a reason for that?

MICHELLE WIE: No. It's just --

Q. Just your whim this morning?
MICHELLE WIE: Uh-huh.

And...

Q. And was that your Pomeranian I saw up on the hospitality deck there yesterday? Did you bring, is it Lola, your little doggie?

 
MICHELLE WIE: I don't know, was she out there? Yeah, I guess so. Maybe.

It's not often you get two rally killers of that quality in one session! History was made at Pinehurst today!

If you don't believe this occurred, the video of Wie's press conference can be viewed here at GolfChannel.com.

Roundup: Royal Portrush Open Championship Announcement

Brian Keogh was there for the announcement and points out that the earliest The Open will return to Royal Portrush is 2019. It sounds like it'll take longer.

Alistair Tait reports on the press conference as well and the always depressing news that the course will be getting The Treatment.

“Without going into detail, we will be spending several million pounds to bring the course and infrastructure up to where it needs to be to host Open Championship,” Dawson said.

“It’s a long time since 1951. The game has moved on. Like all of the other Open venues, we’ve had to look at the course to ensure that it provides the sort of test that an Open Championship should provide. The course can certainly do that but with some alterations, not just from a playing point of view but the also the whole infrastructure surrounding an Open Championship.”

The full R&A press release is here.

Here is R&A Chief Inspector Peter Dawson talking about the announcement:

Update on 2014-06-17 01:59 by Geoff

**Keogh files a more extensive post on the press conference and some of the interesting things said about the politics of Northern Ireland.

“As the first minister has said, the political situation here has caused some reputational damage,” Mr Dawson explained, “I think everyone knows that, but we are very happy that that is in the past… If we thought there was a security problem here we wouldn’t be making this announcement.”

The announcement was the fruit, not of months, but of years of negotiations between the three interested parties and there are still several I’s to be dotted and T’s to be crossed before a date can be set.

However, Mr Dawson admitted that two things tipped the balance in favour of returning to Royal Portrush for the first time since 1951 — the sell out 2012 Irish Open and the planned course changes.

“One was the success of the Irish Open and the evident strength of the fan base for golf in Ireland and secondly it was the day with Martin Ebert, the architect here, that we finally thought, ‘This is how we can do this’,” he said. “Those were the tipping points for me from a golf perspective and an event perspective.”

TV Roundup: 3.3 Overnight Rating, NBC's Classy Goodbye, Joe And Greg Debut Their First Fist-Bump!

Ed Sherman reports on the U.S. Open final round's 3.3 overnight rating down 46% from last year's 6.1 at Merion when Phil Mickelson battled Justin Rose.

Austin Karp noted on Twitter that the better comparison is to 2011 when Rory McIlroy was a runaway winner. Still a steep drop.

Better comp for US Open: NBC got 5.1 overnight for McIlroy 8-stroke win in 2011. Also on Fathers Day. So this year down 35% compared to that

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) June 16, 2014

Sherman also reviews the telecast and calls NBC's farewell "understated, classy" and says the network deserved better than a runaway winner.

As a result, NBC did an understated, classy farewell to its signature tournament. - See more at: http://www.shermanreport.com/no-tears-no-drama-but-a-lot-of-class-nbc-espn-sign-off-on-final-u-s-open/#sthash.vcaixnYf.dpuf

As a result, NBC did an understated, classy farewell to its signature tournament. - See more at: http://www.shermanreport.com/no-tears-no-drama-but-a-lot-of-class-nbc-espn-sign-off-on-final-u-s-open/#sthash.vcaixnYf.dpuf

John Strege reviews NBC's final U.S. Open telecast where other than an Inside Baseball jab at the end thanking USGAers David Fay, Mark Carlson, Sandy Tatum but not Mike Davis:

The credits rolled, after which Hicks came on one last time. He noted that NBC had broadcast 650 hours in those 20 years, “and every second of it has been a true labor of love. It has been an honor and privilege to document our national championship of golf for all of you. We’ll miss doing that, but as we bid one last U.S. Open goodbye form Pinehurst, we’ll never forget how much fun this 20-year ride has been. Good night from Pinehurst.”

To its credit, NBC tactfully had avoided any mention of its Open denouement during the golf, leaving the stage to Kaymer. Only once did it hint that the end was in sight.

Karen Crouse stopped in the NBC truck and filed a NY Times look at all that goes on in the control room, profiling the men who headed NBC's broadcasts: Tommy Roy and Tom Randolph.

“Producing 10 hours of live golf is the greatest diet in the world,” Roy said.

His workday starts before he arrives in the truck. Roy stops by the driving range to see what players are wearing, the better to identify them on the monitors. He studies their mannerisms to improve his own performance. That is why Roy doesn’t worry about cutting to a shot of Jim Furyk when he first steps up to a putt: He knows Furyk will back off it.

Roy could empathize with the Open’s 36-hole leader, Martin Kaymer, who said it was not easy playing the first two days with Keegan Bradley, whose pre-shot routine is an elaborate body tic. It’s difficult, Roy said, to perfectly time a cut to a golfer whose pre-shot routine is unpredictable.

“Go to Elvis,” Roy shouted, referring to a deck on a replay machine. For Roy, there is no such thing as a brilliant mistake.

Back to Sunday here at Pinehurst...the past...

And the future...love the overbite for added oomph!

Speaking of fresh and innovative, Buck and Norman appeared live doing a third round recap. Unfortunately, a reader says that version is not the one that made it online. A reader caught it and backed up the DVR and transcribed the scrubbed intro from the studio host to Joe Buck.

It's certainly fresh! Not sure about innovative.

The guy threw it to Buck with this:

"Okay okay we get it.  Struggling to find time for the US Open,  well with the World Cup, and no Tiger, and a massive lead by a great player, who I am sorry – doesn’t exactly scream excitement.

But what if I told you the leader Martin Kaymer slipped a little, would that get you excited?"

12 years.

Update on 2014-06-16 20:13 by Geoff

**ESPN's Thursday numbers were only slightly down compared with recent years, which suggest that a blowout had people turning the dial. Or whatever we do these days.

9 a.m. – 3 p.m. – 0.9 U.S. rating, average viewership 1,136,473 – compares directly to 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional, same time slot, 0.7 U.S. rating, 890,481 average viewership.
 
2013 – U.S. Open at Merion (PA), weather delay, noon-3 p.m. – 1.0 rating
2010 – U.S. Open at Olympic (San Francisco) – noon- 3p.m. – 1.3 rating

5-7 p.m., the first hour on ESPN2, second hour on ESPN – 1.0 rating, 1,320,858 average viewers

2013 – Merion, on air 5 p.m. – 7:41 p.m. – 1.6 rating
2012 – Olympic, on air 5 p.m. – 10:15 p.m. – 1.3 rating

Update on 2014-06-21 17:31 by Geoff

**Friday 2014 U.S. Open numbers...

9 a.m. – 3 p.m. – 0.9 U.S. rating, average audience 1,081,929
 
Down from 2013 U.S. Open at Merion – same time slot – 1.3 rating, 1,672,526 average audience
 
5-7 p.m. – 1.2 rating, 1,621,291 average audience
 
Down from 2013 at Merion, same time slot – 1.7 rating, 2,458,378 average audience

2014 U.S. Open: Your Kneejerk Reactions

I'm going to be hunkering down filing some things for Golf World, but before we get into some deeper questions about the week, I'm curious what the overall impression was of the U.S. Open?

Yes, it was not an interesting finish because of Martin Kaymer's dominance and the inability of players to score on a day that the USGA intended to make scoreable. I still contend you can't beat players up for three days and expect them to put on a birdie barrage, and despite the claims of a compromised setup Sunday, the course held its own. Maybe too much.

On-site the week was a home-run, with only a water truck as a USGA oversight for the dusty paths. Otherwise the course, operations and facilities ran beautifully. Kudos to all who put in long days.

Anyway, overall thoughts on Pinehurst welcomed!

Guide: 2014 U.S. Open Final Round This And That

Seems 76% of you think Martin Kaymer will win, and why not, he's looked unbeatable and has bounced back after hiccups.

I've just taken a quick tour of the course and sweated off today's swell breakfast. The course is "setup for scoring," according to Mike Davis though after so much defensive golf for three days, it'll be interesting to see if players bite at the two tempting driveable par-4s. That's right, two!

The third and 13th are the ones, with the 13th possibly only requiring a 3-wood. So think the par-3 6th at Merion, only easier.

Weather is perfect, forecast is sublime and there are some nice stories on the leaderboard should Martin Kaymer struggle. But it's hard to see that happening.

Your final round starting times are here. Leader Martin Kaymer goes at, gulp, 3:35.

TV and Radio times here and don't forget the feature group and other digital options online.

Leaderboard.

Hole locations.