One And Done! PGA Announces Long Drive Plans

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I've got to say, this'll make viewing on the 10th tee Tuesday a lot more fun than it would have been.

And nice touch to be giving the winner a money clip "inspired by" the one Jack Nicklaus won and still uses today.

For Immediate Release, the details about this year's revival of the Long Drive, first announced a while ago:

The 96th PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club will host the return of the PGA Championship Long Drive Competition, which originated in 1952 when the Championship was conducted at Big Spring Country Club in Louisville.
 
During a practice round on Tuesday, Aug. 5, all players will be offered the opportunity to hit one tee shot from the No. 10 Tee.  The ball will have to come to rest in the fairway to be eligible to win the Long Drive Competition.
 
Awards will be given to the top three finishers with winners receiving a money clip inspired by the one that Jack Nicklaus received in the first of his two consecutive PGA Championship Driving Contest titles in 1963. That year, Nicklaus, using a persimmon driver and wound golf ball, hit a winning drive of 341 yards, 17 inches.
Additionally, through PGA REACH, the charitable arm of the PGA of America, the top three finishers will be provided charitable donations of $25,000, $15,000, and $10,000 respectively, with the funds split equally between the players’ designated charity and the American Lake Veterans Golf Course.  Designed by Jack Nicklaus, the American Lake Veterans Golf Course, in Tacoma, Washington is the nation’s only golf course designed specifically for the rehabilitation of wounded and disabled veterans.
 
“We’re reviving a PGA Championship tradition that will add fun for both spectators and players during a practice round,” said PGA of America President Ted Bishop. “It is only fitting that this competition returns to the city where it began and a course designed by one of its most storied winners, Jack Nicklaus.”
 
Harold Williams won the original PGA Championship Driving Contest in 1952, with a 329-yard drive. The competition was discontinued from 1965-73, before returning in 1974 as an open event. The last National Open Long Drive Championship conducted at a PGA Championship site was in 1984 at Shoal Creek Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama.

As Expected, Rory Inaugurates The Claret Jug

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James Corrigan of the Telegraph on Rory McIlroy's celebratory Sunday that rolled into Monday.

It included some high profile participants and a use of the Claret Jug as a jug:

McIlroy celebrated winning his third major – which also happened to be, uniquely, his third different major – in an appropriate fashion for a 25-year-old on Sunday evening/Monday morning. After all the media commitments and socialising with the members and staff of Royal Liverpool and the R&A alike, McIlroy did not leave the course until 9.30pm.

A quick dinner at the rented house he shared with his parents, Gerry and Rosie, and friends including his ‘bestest’, Harry Diamond, and it was into an exclusive Liverpool nightclub where he met up Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth. It was there where the 30-strong group had their fun with the jug, substituting claret with the German liqueur popular on the younger scene.

Alex Myers at The Loop on Rory's history with the dark spirit in question.

Phil Mickelson recently admitted to using the jug as a decanter for some rather pricey wine.

Terry Jastrow Screens His Golf Film, Festival Circuit Is Next

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The longtime producer/director perhaps best known for his work at ABC has directed a film called "The Squeeze."

Sounds interesting...but it has a ways to go before the public sees it.

For Immediate Release:

Terry Jastrow Announces Completion of His First Feature Film, The Squeeze, Targeted for Theaters Spring 2015

Los Angeles, CA - Multiple Emmy-winning TV sports producer/director Terry Jastrow announced his first film "The Squeeze" will hit theaters in the spring of 2015. Jastrow wrote and directed the caper-golf movie, which recently had its first industry private screening at United Talent Agency in Hollywood to an enthusiastic audience that included film distributors, cast and crew, Terry's wife and co-producer, actress Anne Archer, and golfer Phil Mickelson.
 
"The Squeeze" is a true story about a young man from a small southern town who gets caught in between two notorious gamblers, until the stakes become a matter of life or death. The film, which stars Jeremy Sumpter ("Friday Night Lights"), Christopher McDonald (Shooter McGavin in "Happy Gilmore"), Jillian Murray and Michael Nouri has been submitted to the Toronto Film Festival in September.
 
"Making this movie is a dream come true," says Jastrow, the longtime ABC Sports producer and director. "For many years as a sports director working for the legendary Roone Arledge, I was schooled in the art of storytelling...'the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the human drama of athletic competition'...and am very pleased to apply those concepts now to movie making."
 
A seven-time Emmy Award winner, Jastrow has produced or directed more major championships than anyone in history, with 62 U.S. Opens, British Opens and PGA Championships. Now Jastrow has turned his attention to writing and directing feature films and stage plays.
 
Next up for Jastrow is a play he wrote and will direct this summer at the world's largest arts festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The play -- entitled "The Trial of Jane Fonda" -- stars Archer. Performances run July 31-August 24.

Brandel: Tiger Era Over, "Coup d'etat By Self Immolation"

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Nice spot by Emily Kay seeing and transcribing some of Brandel Chamblee's latest strong comments about Tiger in conversation with Trip Isenhour.

"There was a beginning of his career, a middle of his career; this is the end of his career, no question about it," Chamblee said on Saturday after Woods carded a 1-over 73 in the third round of the Open Championship and a day after he eked out a 77 to make the weekend cut on the number. "And if you want to qualify ‘era’ as dominance, then the Tiger era is over, and we’ll never see it again."

Jay Yarrow transcribed the coup d'etat line and analyzed the remarks so some of us wouldn't have to.

"I’d say this was a coup d’etat by self-immolation," said Chamblee on TV. "We’re talking about a guy who has willfully dismantled a golf swing that made him the best player in the world. Saying ‘I want to get better’ is one thing. But most people say that because, well, they’re not good enough, and they’re not the best. Well, he was the best, and he willfully dismantled the golf swing that made him the best player in the world."

The clip:

And Now, About Rickie's Impressive Year...

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Maybe he was tired, maybe he was humbled, maybe he just felt the need to talk softly, but listening to Rickie Fowler after his four rounds in the 60s at Hoylake, including a closing 67, he sounded like a man humbled by the Open Championship loss to Rory McIlroy.

But it's that humility which should bode well for his continued improvement that has him on the cusp of something grand. I summed up his week in this Loop item, including his leading the field in birdies.

Ian O'Connor had this to say about Fowler:

He shot 5-under 67 playing in the final pairing of the final round of the Open Championship, 4 strokes better than McIlroy's number, and was left to console himself with the knowledge that he'd virtually locked up a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Fowler also earned a piece of history he'd probably rather give back: Ernie Els (twice) and Jesper Parnevik are the only other players to score in the 60s in all four rounds of the Open Championship and fail to win.