Video: On The Rocks At The Palmer Course, Two Final Times

A four-way tie for the lead includes Erik Compton, Michael Putnam, Justin Thomas and Bill Haas heading into Sunday's Humana Challenge with Matt Kuchar one back after a poor finish. Besides Humana's departure after Sunday's final round and the Palmer course leaving the rota, there's a very good chance this is the last year they will play a course hugging the rocky Santa Rosa mountains.

Anyone who recalls Lanny Wadkins and Craig Stadler's epic Hope Classic playoff at Indian Wells or some of the down-the-stretch fun at the Palmer course will lament the loss of this eye-catching once-a-year hazard.

In the meantime, we have two weird shots off the rocks Sunday by James Hahn and Scott Piercy. Both cases appeared to benefit from a deadening effect when hitting the mountainside. How, is the question?

Hahn’s 143-yard tee shot that rolls just past the cup to 3 feet on the par-3 17th hole where he made the putt for birdie.

Piercy’s shot hitting the rock ledge and where the cameraman rightly anticipates the bounce the ball should have taken. Piercy ends up making the 8-foot putt for birdie.

Rio Olympic Course Has No Name, But Grass Is Growing

Ryan Herrington of GolfDigest.com reports on the PGA Show unveiling of initial images (below) from Rio of the 2016 Olympic course, where the name has not been settled on but at this point no one seems to mind.

Herrington writes:

"We're just happy to have a golf course right now," joked Gil Hanse (below right), who along with Amy Alcott designed the course and participated with Peter Dawson of the R&A, Ty Votaw of the PGA Tour and tour pros Graeme McDowell and Suzann Pettersen in the discussion.

The laughter that followed from the entire panel underscored the relief being felt that finally, albeit months later than expected, all 18 holes of the course had been grassed and legal challenges to its construction had ended.

Golfweek's Brad Klein writes about the initial impressions of the layout, which have arrived as Hanse and Alcott billed in their presentation to win the job.

What counts is that the layout – at 7,350 yards, a par 71 – has a wide-open, linksy feel to it. It’s built on sand, brings no trees into play and offers several paths and avenues for greenside recovery from the side and behind. It also features lots of what Hanse calls “half-par” holes – short and long par 3s and par 4s and reachable, risk-reward par 5s. Amy Alcott, an LPGA Hall of Famer and design consultant to Hanse on the project, is especially proud of the finishing stretch. Those present opportunities for birdies if players take the risk – as they well might at the reachable par-4 16th hole.

The images presented in Orlando and courtesy of Hanse Design. The sandbelt influence is strong in this one!

 

 

Three Golfers Land On Millennial's Favorite Athletes List

Something called 120 Sports conducted research to determine who the most important people in the world view as their favorite jocks. Besides learning that the 18-34 year olds(ish) are sexist, ageist and likely to favor someone who attended college, they do like three golfers in their top 40.

From the press release, which notes the various predilictions of the precious, vital, and largely indebted demo.

The rankings provide additional insights including:
    •    8 out of the top 10 are 26 years of age or younger
    •    2 out of the top 5 are defending champions in their respective sports
    •    Jonathan Toews, NHL, was the most liked athlete among females
    •    1 female athlete in top 15
    •    70% of the top 10 attended college

The golfers are in italics:

2015 120 Sports Millennials' Athlete Index Top 10
1) Stephen Curry, 26, NBA
2) Mike Trout, 23, MLB
3) Russell Wilson, 26, NFL
4) Kevin Durant, 26, NBA
5) Madison Bumgarner, 25, MLB
6) Aaron Rodgers, 31, NFL
7) J.J. Watt, 25, NFL
8) Andrew Luck, 25, NFL
9) Lionel Messi, 27, La Liga
10) Odell Beckham Jr., 22, NFL
2015 120 Sports Millennials' Athlete Index Top 11-40
11. Alex Morgan, 25, USWNT
12. Damian Lillard, 24, NBA
13. Marcus Mariota, 21, NCAAF
14. Calvin Johnson, 29, NFL
15. Cristiano Ronaldo, 29, La Liga
16. Clayton Kershaw, 26, MLB
17. Jonathan Toews, 26, NHL
18. Patrick Kane, 26, NHL
19. Tom Brady, 37, NFL
20. Tim Howard, 35, USMNT
21. Anthony Davis, 21, NBA
22. LeBron James, 30, NBA
23. Rickie Fowler, 26, PGA TOUR
24. Tim Duncan, 38, NBA
25. Marshawn Lynch, 28, NFL
26. Rob Gronkowski, 25, NFL
27. Giancarlo Stanton, 25, MLB
28. Shaun White, 28, Action Sports
29. Steven Stamkos, 24, NHL      
30. Maria Sharapova, 27, WTA
31. Henrik Lundqvist, 32, NHL
32. Buster Posey, 27, MLB
33. Bubba Watson, 36, PGA TOUR
34. Felix Hernandez, 28, MLB
35. Sidney Crosby, 27, NHL
36. Alexander Ovechkin, 29, NHL
37. Klay Thompson, 24, NBA
38. Russell Westbrook, 26, NBA
39. Peyton Manning, 38, NFL
40. Tiger Woods, 39, PGA TOUR

As for our millennials, Jordan Spieth was left off the list but he doesn't care, he just signed with Under Armour for ten years in a no-brainer bit of loyalty since both sides took a shot when Spieth was an unproven commodity. Nice to see it work out for both sides.

And Rickie just reportedly re-upped with Puma for an unspecified number of years, with Cobra-Puma putting out a fun video featuring cameos both great (Greg Norman) and eye-roll worthy (Rickie's cranky agent Sam MacNaughton).

You have to stay with it to the end for Norman's fun cameo: