Rory Says What Most Are Thinking About Tiger Shifting To A Ryder Cup Driving Role

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Talking after his opening round in the Race To Dubai finale, Rory McIlroy naturally wonders about Tiger's physical well-being if the legendary golfer is already committing himself to cart shuttling duties instead of leaving open the possibility that the 40-year-old-to-be could make the team.

From an unbylined Belfast Telegraph wire story:

Told of the news after his opening round in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, a visibly surprised McIlroy said: " I don't know what to think about that, I really don't.

"It's great that he wants to help the US team in any way that he can, and if that's not in a playing capacity, then as a vice-captain. Just sort of makes me think what really his health is like and how he feels like he's going to come back from that.

" I'd rather see him on the course at Hazeltine but if not, at least he'll be there and it will be a good addition for them."

 

This Week Is Ivor Robson's Finale As A First Tee Starter

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Oh sure, he'll probably be enlisted to record voice mail messages for charity and whatever else someone lures him into, but the legendary first tee announcer Ivor Robson is calling it a career after this week's European Tour event.

While Dubai isn't quite St. Andrews (where Robson called his final Open Championship last summer), this will be your final chance to hear a grown man sounding like he's been goosed everytime he announces a golfer on the first tee.

From the European Tour's Instagram account:

 

 

Despite His Driving Record, Tiger Lands Assistant Ryder Cup Gig

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Shady insider politics were no doubt in play as a member of the two-time-convening Ryder Cup Task Force, Tiger Woods, was named as part of Davis Love’s first wave of 2016 assistant Cup Captains.

Bob Harig says this shows Tiger cares, which is probably true. Though I’d lean more towards the “cares about still getting checks from Nike” division. Whereas Harig believes this is a statement about Woods’ feelings for the Ryder Cup.

That Woods is willing to take a subservient role at this point sends a message of allegiance. Taking drink orders and offering tidbits of wisdom might not seem like Woods' style, but that is what he has signed up to do.

And shuttling WAGs to the 17th tee...

Though I’m not sure I’d jump in a four-seat cart with a man who crashed an Escalade.

Captain Love also handed cart keys to Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker who join already-named asst. Captain Tom Lehman. It’s unclear whether he intends to have any more assistant captains in the inevitable push toward every Ryder Cupper having their own cart driver masquerading as an assistant captain.

Speaking of the swelling list of cart drivers, Doug Ferguson explains the thinking this way:

The five vice captains would allow one of them to be with each match during the team sessions, with another that Love described as a ”floater.” Last year at Gleneagles, European captain Paul McGinley had one of his assistants with the players who sat out some of the team sessions.

None of this really matters as Forbes says Tiger is worth $700 million and narrowly made the magazines’ 40 Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 list. 

Dick's Sporting Goods No Longer Blaming Golf For All Problems

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I love the shopping experience at Dick's Sporting Goods, but longtime readers know how revolting I found it that the chain of sporting goods stores blamed the state of golf after going all-in on Taylor Made's three-drivers-in-one-year strategy.

So it was nice to see them at least not dump on the state of golf in their latest conference call and even suggest that the lowly "sport" of hunting was the real drag on sales (as golf stabilized). Overall, Dick's is taking a huge stock price hit and may still be feeling the karma after-effects for having blamed golf for all world problems.

From Tomi Kilgore's story, whcih was accompanied by, quite charmingly, a Callaway ERC II. Nothing like featuring turn-of-the-century drivers! (Thanks reader John for sharing this.)

The sporting goods retailer’s stock DKS, +0.51%  plunged 12% in active afternoon trade Tuesday, putting it on track to close at the lowest level since January 2012, after the company’s disappointing results and outlook. The stock has tumbled nearly 40% since the April 4, 2015 record close of $58.98.

Same-store sales at its Golf Galaxy stores declined for an 11th-straight quarter, but the company said that overall, sales of golf equipment and apparel increased and golf margins improved.

Chief Executive Ed Stack explained on a Tuesday conference call with analysts that while Golf Galaxy “ran a little behind” the results seen in Dick’s branded stores, Golf Galaxy represented only about 3% of the company’s total business, according to a transcript provided by FactSet. Stack said he saw reason to be optimistic on golf, given strong sales of new products, such as the M1 driver from TaylorMade and Callaway Golf Co.’s Big Bertha.

Stack said the golf business still won’t be a big growth area, “it’s just we think we’ve stopped the bleeding, so to speak, but it will be much more profitable.”

That's better!

Faldo On Overtinkering, Why Young Players Are Excelling

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The most famous swing overhauler of the modern era is warning Jordan Spieth not to overtinker, and while that certainly is a headline worthy topic, I thought a few other points by the Nick Faldo were worth reading.

In a lengthy chat reported by Reuters' Tony Jimenez (who dutifully plugged the six-time major winner's six new wines), Faldo sounds horrified by Spieth's off-season plan to gain yardage. But it's his take on the role of technology via things like Trackman and the application of biomechanics that may explain why we are seeing so many complete, ready-for-prime-time players under 25:

"Now you have what I call the appliance of science. You have machines to tell your swing path, club-face angle, ball flights after one shot -- that's fantastic.

"I wish I would have had that rather than hit a million balls and then go, 'Oh, I wonder how this feels?," added Faldo with a giggle.

Europe's 2008 Ryder Cup captain also said golfers were much more powerful nowadays.

"The physical side has been taken to a new level. They've really done a good job in dispelling the thought that it's an old man's sport," said Faldo.

"These guys now are unbelievably strong. We have more than a dozen doctors travelling on tour with degrees in biomechanics ... they know exactly how to build a golfer and that's fantastic.

"This is all factual information, it's not a guess. It's been around for years now and kids at 15 get this knowledge for five years and bang, that's why they can come out at 20 and be impressive golfers."

Adam Scott Reiterates, Expands On His Disdain For Olympic Golf

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Some have questioned how someone who tends to go about his way quietly could have such strong resentment toward golf in the Olympics, so it's good to see Adam Scott elaborating on his disdain.

From an unbylined story in The Age on the eve of the Australian Masters:

He said he would have liked organisers to have been more "creative" and considered a mixed team event.

"I'm not really sure how just having another golf tournament is really going to enhance the game or grow the game any more than any other tournament just because it's the Olympics.

"With the field criteria it doesn't necessarily get the strongest field in the game either."

He is correct on both points, though the field make-up is by far much less egregious than the mundane format which was, sadly, endorsed by Scott's peers.

Willett Almost Makes Race To Dubai Fun In A Controversial Way

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The headlines all but had Danny Willett categorizing tournament-skipper and kickabouterer Rory McIlroy as some sort of subversive deserter.

But after a close reading of the Race to Dubai's second place-holder's comments, it appears Willett almost called out McIlroy for receiving special treatment to reach the finale.

From Ewan Murray's Guardian story:

Pressed on the fact other players, including Willett himself, have competed when not fully fit, the Englishman added: “That’s the thing. There’s a lot of guys who play through injuries week in, week out; guys with problems with their back, ankles, wrist. It’s the story of the game.

“If it had been anybody else in a different situation, they potentially might not have been given the same treatment. But it’s Rory and he’s going be the life force of this tour for the next 15 years. So have you got to look after him? Yes. I don’t think it was an incorrect decision at all.”

Spider Miller Lands Returning Role As Walker Cup Captain

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Despite a rough showing from the U.S.A. team in 2015, the USGA mercifully stuck to its plan of Walker Cup Captains overseeing a home and away game by naming Spider Miller the 2017 Captain at Los Angeles Country Club.

Miller was quite emotional after the matches at Lytham and criticized for some of his decisions, though it's a behind-closed-doors USGA committee that selects the team. And Ralph Lauren those red pants.

The full release:

USGA SELECTS JOHN “SPIDER” MILLER AS 2017 USA WALKER CUP CAPTAIN

46th Walker Cup Match Will Be Played at Los Angeles Country Club

FAR HILLS, N.J. (Nov. 17, 2015) – The United States Golf Association (USGA) today named John “Spider” Miller, of Bloomington, Ind., as the captain of the USA Team for the 2017 Walker Cup Match at Los Angeles (Calif.) Country Club.

Miller, 64, captained the USA Team in the 2015 Match at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England. He won the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in 1996 and 1998 and represented the United States in the 1999 Walker Cup Match.

“This year at the Walker Cup, I had the great honor to captain a team of our country’s most talented collegiate and mid-amateur players,” Miller said. “They lived up to every ideal and purpose that the Match has exemplified since it began more than 90 years ago. The lasting friendships with the players and their families and friends will endure a lifetime. I am indeed humbled and honored to have the opportunity to captain another group of such fine players and countrymen.”

“The members of the 2015 USA Walker Cup team were enthusiastic about their experience at Royal Lytham, and all cited Spider as the reason for their overwhelmingly positive comments,” said Diana Murphy, USGA vice president and Championship Committee chairman. “The USGA believes that Spider’s leadership, innate understanding of the values of the competition, and his good-natured spirit are critical to the same experience he can provide for the team in 2017. We are also excited to bring the Walker Cup to the George Thomas-designed Los Angeles Country Club for the Match’s first playing on the West Coast since 1981.”

The Walker Cup Match, which began in 1922, is a 10-man amateur team competition between the USA and a team comprised of players from Great Britain and Ireland. Great Britain and Ireland won the 2015 Match, 16½-9½. The USA leads the competition, 35-9-1.

In his U.S. Mid-Amateur victories, Miller defeated Randy Lewis, 3 and 2, in 1996 at Hartford Golf Club, in West Hartford, Conn.; and in, 1998, he became the oldest U.S. Mid-Amateur champion at the time, at age 48, when he scored a 1-up victory over Chip Holcombe in the final at NCR Country Club’s South Course, in Kettering, Ohio. As a result of those wins, he competed in the Masters Tournament in 1997 and 1999.

In the 1999 Walker Cup Match played at Nairn Golf Club in Scotland, Miller teamed with Hunter Haas to win a pair of foursomes matches before he lost to Paul Casey, 3 and 2, in singles. In 1997, he led Indiana to a tie for third in the USGA Men’s State Team Championship by carding a 54-hole score of 4-under-par 209.

Miller was inducted into the Indiana Golf Association (IGA) Hall of Fame in 2000. He twice was chosen IGA Player of the Year and is a two-time IGA Mid-Amateur champion. He and partner Jerry Nelson claimed five IGA Four-Ball championships, and he was the low amateur in the Indiana State Open three times.

A 1973 graduate of Indiana University, Miller owns Best Beers, Inc., based in his hometown of Bloomington. He and his wife, Kathy, have five children.

Golf Tournaments Need To End The Sombrero Photo-Op, Files

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Okay Inbee Park didn't exactly make you want to go out wear a sombrero the way, say, Christina Kim pulled it off last year.

But at least Inbee took off her golf cap before donning the oversized hat.

Graeme McDowell left his golf cap on, and while the initial conclusion would be to dock him two shots next tiem he tees up, the better solution may be to just ban sombreros from champion files.

The EPA-credited image of GMac is embedded in a particularly lively Derek Lawrenson weekly notes column that includes some good follow up information on Paul Casey's European Tour situation and a short nugget which will have The Donald placing a call to Lawrenson's editors.

Oh No: Big Break Is President Obama's Guilty-Pleasure Show

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I'm not sure what's of more concern: that President Obama tells Bill Simmons that watching the occasional chip-off from The Big Break is his treadmill guilty pleasure viewing, or that some poor aid is going to have to break the news that the show is on a hiatus of the permanent variety.

From the Simmons GQ interview hitting newstands.

Probably the guiltiest pleasure—and this is kind of lame—is Big Break. You know, on the Golf Channel? Which is kind of a silly show. [laughs] But I find it really relaxing.

So you watch it on the treadmill or something?
Yeah, when I’m working out sometimes late at night. I never see all the episodes, but if they’ve got some chipping contest or something… [laughs] It’s pretty lame. I do love Game of Thrones.

Fighting Words (Golf Style): Pelley Striving To Make European Tour A "Viable Alternative" To The PGA Tour

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No, it's not trash talk as we know it, but in his first big press conference as European Tour Chief, Keith Pelley is taking a different attitude public than his more genteel predecessor.

You have to admire the confidence but it also sets Pelley up for some lofty goals.

Phil Casey's PA Sport report includes this:

"We need to provide a viable alternative to the PGA Tour for our elite, medium and low-ranked players. End of story," Pelley said ahead of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

"We need to be too important to be dismissed from our sponsors, from our stakeholders, from our players. And that means we are going to have to increase our prize purses.

"That won't happen overnight. That's not going to happen necessarily in 2016. You'll start to see it happen in 2017. You'll start to see it come to fruition in 2018. We definitely in three to five years will have a viable alternative, so that players don't necessarily need to go to America to be able to make as much money as they possibly can."

He's focused on the flagship BMW event at Wentworth as Example A for improvement. Note the tone, which is hopeful but also a bit guarded. Not the usual Commissionerspeak!

"The important thing for me at Wentworth is what they do to the West Course. From everything that I have heard, there is significant investment. We are continuing at Wentworth until at least 2018 and if the West Course becomes exactly what they believe it will, and we can increase the prize purse, then perhaps it can be a flagship event going forward.

Casey's story also delves into the effort to get Paul Casey to change his mind about membership.

GMac Is Back! Credits Greg Norman With Key Tip

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After a two-year career struggle and self-doubt, Graeme McDowell got back into the winner's circle by claiming the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. McDowell beat Russell Knox and Jason Bohn in a sudden death playoff, then discussed his confidence bout with Golf Channel's Phil Blackmar after the win.

Even better was his revelation that Chinese National Golf Team advisory coach Greg Norman influenced GMac's weekend play after a text message from the Shark, who has gone an amazing two weeks without Instagramming a shirtless photo of himself.

Brian Wacker reports:

“Funny anecdote for you,” McDowell said. “I got a text message lesson from Greg Norman on Saturday night and he said he watched some of the coverage and he thought I looked a little short and a little quick. He said complete my backswing and be a bit more relaxed at address.”

The two went back-and-forth with text messages, McDowell gave his backswing extra attention Sunday and Monday, and voila.

Here's the voila:

Stunner: Happy Gilmore Shot Earns John Peterson No Fine!

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Happy ending to the Happy Gilmore!

Rex Hoggard reports the swell news (not so good for the charity of John Peterson's choice): the former LSU star was not fined for his running tee shot in Malaysia, as lovingly recorded from a grassy knoll by Jason Dufner.

From Hoggard's enjoyable report:

“I spoke with [Andy Pazder, the Tour’s executive vice president and chief of operations] twice and explained I was just trying to get 20 more yards [out of the tee shot],” Peterson said.

He missed his calling as a defense attorney!

Even better, the Dufner shot clip still lives on Peterson's Twitter account, even though Dufner's posted version sleeps with the fishes.

2015 European Tour Q-School Notables: Struggling

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They still meaningful Q-Schools in Europe and a EuropeanTour.com report explains who halfway leaders Lukas Nemecz and teenager Marcus Kinhult are.

The full list of scores can be found here. (At the end of the six rounds the top 25 players and ties will earn places on The European Tour for next season).

Of note are several names of recent Walker Cuppers and veterans who have work to do if they want a 2015-16 card: former Ryder Cuppers Soren Hansen (T48) and Eduardo Molinari (T77), recent Open Championship star Paul Dunne (T55), Walker Cup hero Ashley Chesters, veterans Nick Dougherty (T148) and Peter Lawrie (DQ).

Forward Press: Two Races-To-Cash Wrapping Up, Aussie Majors Starting And Loopers In The Booth!

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It's a bizarre week in golf as the LPGA Tour and European Tour end their respective "races."

One (LPGA) has a lot on the line with a possible entertaining showdown. The other is teetering on the edge of silliness as players defect and the points leader got to the finals on a free pass from the home office.

For American west coasters, the joyous annual ritual that is going to bed watching Australia's golfing triple crown is upon us. And finally, Friday and Saturday's tour event from St. Simons Island, Georgia will feature two caddies named Bones and Woody working as on course reporters, prompting me to wonder in the column if the next "Rossy" is upon us.

Here is this week's Forward Press column at GolfDigest.com, with links and some fun embeds.

Speaking of Rossy, for those of you too young to remember the beloved ABC/ESPN on-course reporter, I went hunting for a "he's got no chance" clip on YouTube. Sadly, that signature phrase from the late Bob Rosburg was nowhere to be found.

But do check out this short British Pathé highlight reel from Wentworth, circal 1960. The Ballantine's event was played to test the larger American ball. It includes Rosburg, stylish crowds, a stylish version of that now-mangled golf course (no doubt this clip will be studied by restorer Ernie Els) and best of all, those wacky flagsticks!