R.I.P. Jerry Weintraub

One of Hollywood's last moguls was a huge golf nut too. He held court at places like Madison Club and produced several popular films, including the Ocean's Eleven franchise. He golfed with Presidents Bush and Reagan and Sinatra too.

Jerry Weintraub died of heart failure at age 77.

Jerry Tarde recently wrote in Golf Digest about playing in a sixsome with Weintraub at Madison Club.

Golf in America's Jim Gray profiled Weintraub and talked to him about his storied career and philanthropy along with his love of the game.

Video: Old Course Flyover, Third and Fourth Holes

After the start it's easy to get careless on these two deceptive holes.

Cartgate (Out) is so named for the Cartgate bunker guarding the green shared with the fifteenth hole. The hole is really the boilerplate of all good strategic holes: flirt with the hazards and boundary down the right, improve the angle to the green. Bail out left toward the fifteenth fairway and the approach becomes more difficult.

The flyover:



Ginger Beer was named for Daw Anderson (who oversaw the Old Course and had a shop next to Old Tom). He operated a ginger beer cart on the 4th for approximately 20 years. Daw also sold balls and food and clubs.

You can read about Daw here a bit and see a stellar photo of his stand. Take that, cart girls!

The 419-yard hole features a lay-up for today's players and mercifully, no changes to the mound short of the green which was under assault during the recent planned changes to the Old Course.

The flyover:

McIlroy Ruptures Ankle Ligaments, Open In Doubt

New contract language phrase of the year: no kickabouts before a major.

A Sky report on Rory McIlroy rupturing his left ankle ligaments during a "kickabout" with friends over the weekend.

He's not ruling out The Open at St. Andrews.

Update on 2015-07-06 15:45 by Geoff

**Tim Rosaforte reports on Rory McIlroy's left ankle injury, saying the injury happened on a synthetic field on Bangor Island, and occurred when McIlroy was running. He did not go to kick the ball, lose his footing and go down in embarrassing fashion, according this management team.

And we talked about the news as it relates to The Open, which I would still agree is devastating for what was lining up as a showdown between worlds No. 1 and 2.

Update on 2015-07-06 16:30 by Geoff

**From Steve DiMeglio's story on the sprain.

In his post, McIlroy referred to his ATFL (anterior talofibular ligament), one of three ligaments around the ankle. Dr. James Gladstone, co-chief of sports medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, said the rupture isn't in and of itself "a big deal."

"It isn't career threatening or necessarily time threatening. You could have a sprain and within two weeks be going strong," Gladstone said. "At other times it could ultimately require surgery. Typically most people who sprain their ankles don't need surgery. Only if people suffer recurring sprains would surgery be required."

Gladstone said the typical treatments include rest, ice and anti-inflammatory treatment.

Update on 2015-07-06 18:57 by Geoff

**And to top it all off, a local Fox anchorwoman called him a leprechaun. Alex Myers with the details. The video:

Streb Putts Into Playoff With A Wedge, Then Putter Gets Shut Out

Alex Myers has a nice wrap-up on Robert Streb's amazing Greenbrier Classic run using his 56-degree Vokey to hole huge back nine putts, only to get into the three-man playoff with a replacement putter where he never got the chance to use the backup blade.

The wrap up from The Loop and video of one of Streb's wedge-putts, this one at the 13th hole:

Danny Lee bested David Hearn in the playoff, earning both spots in The Open Championship. James Hahn and Greg Owen also earned spots.

Minnesota Balking At Trade Outs For Extra Ryder Cup Security

AP’s Brian Bakst has obtained emails, notes and other documents that demonstrate a wariness by Minnesota state officials.

It seems--shocking as this may seem--they are weary of putting up as much as $2 million worth of security overtime and other costs related to the Ryder Cup in exchange for private chalets or other promotional considerations.

Although their efforts fell short — the Legislature concluded its session after passing a budget without any money for the prestigious tournament — organizers are expected to continue to push for state assistance before next year's event.

Their pitch — detailed in a private meeting held days before lawmakers adjourned their 2015 legislative session — ran from $600,000 to $2 million depending on the state's involvement and willingness to absorb security costs. Potential benefits would range from the use of a private chalet for tourism and business promotion to Minnesota-themed ads run on international TV to hundreds of event tickets.

"Homage to a Special Kind of Caddie From a Special Kind of Era"

Michael Bamberger pays tribue to Dolphus Hull, aka Golf Ball, who caddied in a different era.

Bamberger writes at golf.com:

In his prime, he ran Calvin Peete’s golf game, just as surely as Jack Welch ran G.E.

He had a long, fruitful, volatile relationship with Raymond Floyd—and Raymond’s wife, Maria—going back to the 1960s. “I fired him six times,” Floyd once told me. “Maria hired him seven.”

The caddie-player relationship was different then. The caddie was less of a technocrat and more attuned to the emotional state of the golfer. At least, Golf Ball was like that, as was his running mate, Herman Mitchell. You could fit three Balls in Mitch, who caddied for Lee Trevino for years. They were Mutt and Jeff, but they both could play and they both had the empathy gene—the ability to really understand another person’s plight—embedded in their DNA