Golf Pros Will Do Anything For Money Files: Thailand Chic Edition

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To kick off the Asian Tour's 2015 Thailand Golf Championship, the star attractions justified their appearance by dressing the part.

No idea who the gent in the portrait photo sporting the camera in the background is, but a good time almost looks like it's been had by all (except when they were handed the sombrero-like hats).

For lots of laughs, the ThaiGolfChamps Twitter account.

Some highlights:




Jack Still Thinks Tiger Has "Good Chance" Of Breaking Majors Record Because Saying Otherwise Would Cause A Migraine

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Paul Gittings of CNN talks to Jack Nicklaus after Tiger issued his fairly grim assessment at the Hero World Challenge and the 18-time major winner wisely holds the line on his past view.

Because to say otherwise would have spokesman Scott Tolley carrying Costco-sized bottles of Aspirin.

Woods, who is 40 at the end of December, gave a decidedly downbeat assessment of his future Tuesday, saying he had "nothing to look forward to." However, Nicklaus told CNN that his fellow American could still challenge in golf's top tournaments, including the four majors held each year -- of which he has won 14 since 1997.

"He has always been a very focused young man with a great work ethic, and is tremendously talented. To count him out of that (the majors record) would be foolish, he certainly has a very good chance of doing that," the 75-year-old said.

79 & 81: R&A Takes Two More (Honorary) Female Members

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They certainly won't be accused of discriminating against an older demographic!

Congrats to new Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews members Judy Bell and Marlene Stewart Streit. Bell was the lone former USGA president in modern times not admitted to the club because of its longtime (and former) stance against female members.

Two of its first female members from the 2014 class, honorary member Louise Suggs and regular member Patsy Hankins, have since passed away.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
For Immediate Publication
THE ROYAL AND ANCIENT GOLF CLUB ANNOUNCES TWO NEW HONORARY MEMBERS

7 December 2015, St Andrews, Scotland: Two of North America’s most successful women amateur golfers have become Honorary Members of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

Canadian Marlene Stewart Streit, the only player to win the British, Canadian, U.S. and Australian women’s amateur titles, and America’s Judy Bell, a former Curtis Cup captain and player and United States Golf Association president, accepted invitations to become Honorary Members.

They follow Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Dame Laura Davies, Renée Powell, Belle Robertson MBE, Lally Segard, Annika Sorenstam and Louise Suggs, who sadly passed away in August, in becoming Honorary Members. A further eight women have also become Members of the Club.

Stewart Streit said, “I am absolutely delighted to be invited to join such a historic and prestigious institution in golf. I would never have dreamt of this all those years ago when I started out playing golf but I have enjoyed every moment of it. I am extremely proud and grateful to receive this honour and it means a great deal not just to me but to Canadian golf as a whole.”

Bell said, “I’m honoured to follow in the footsteps of so many great players and people who have been so influential in the game. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club enjoys such a special place at the heart of golf and I am thrilled to be part of it. Golf has been very good to me over the years and this is a wonderful distinction to receive. ”

Gavin Caldwell, Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, said, “It is a privilege to welcome two women who have enjoyed such long and distinguished careers in golf to The Royal and Ancient Golf Club. Both Marlene and Judy have made substantial contributions to golf through their outstanding achievements as players and their tireless work in supporting the development of the sport. They are both wonderful examples to follow and tremendous ambassadors for golf.”

Stewart Streit’s remarkable career saw her win 11 Canadian Ladies Open Amateurs, nine Canadian Ladies Close Amateurs, four Canadian Ladies' Seniors and three U.S. Senior Women's Championships. After winning the Ladies’ British Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl in 1953, she went on to win the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1956 and the Australian Women's Amateur in 1963.

In 1951 and 1956, Stewart Streit, who was born in Cereal, Alberta, was named Canada's top athlete of the year. She went on to establish the Marlene Streit Awards Fund to support promising young golfers. In 2004, she became Canada’s first member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and is also a Member of the Order of Canada, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

Bell, who was born in Wichita, Kansas, took up golf at the age of ten and in 1952 reached the semi-final of the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship in California where she was defeated by Mickey Wright. Bell went on to play in two American Curtis Cup teams in 1960 and 1962 and captained the team in 1986 and 1988. She set the then lowest score, a 67, in the U.S. Women’s Open in 1964, and, in a successful amateur career, won the Broadmoor Invitational title three times, the Florida East Coast Championships three times, the Palm Beach Invitational, the 1958 South Atlantic Championship, and the 1963 Trans-Mississippi title.

In 1996, Bell became the first woman to be named president of the USGA. She joined the USGA’s junior championship committee in 1961 and went on to act as a Rules official at the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open. Bell served on the USGA’s women’s committee for 16 years and became the first female member of the USGA executive committee. She was nominated to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.

Video: Defining Strategic Design

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The architecture world often gets bogged down in trying to define styles of design, styles of architects and styles of template holes.

What is often forgotten by golfers and sadly, golf architects: understanding what strategic design means.

While creating and maintaining strategy is incredibly difficult with huge distance leaps over the last 20 years, asking players to make tactical decisions with a reward at the end for the combination of mental and physical skill, is still the ultimate in golf. It's satisfying to play and compelling to watch when a nice balance of risk and reward can be offered.

So with that in mind, that's why we started with a definition of stategy, kicked off by the definition from the late Geoffrey Cornish and his Golf Course Design co-author Robert Muir Graves.

Bamberger's Case For Spieth As Sportsman Of The Year

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Jordan Spieth is lagging at 3% in the voting as American Pharoah has opened up a huge lead over the Kansas City Royals with time running out on Sports Illustrated's Sportsman Of The Year voting.

SI's Michael Bamberger makes his case for Spieth and while the likelihood of swaying The Editors seems unlikely, it was good to read where he places Spieth's historic 2015 campaign.

There were other highlights in a season that will go down as one of the five or 10 best in the (roughly) 150-year history of professional golf. In August, Spieth took solo second at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, near the factory town of Kohler, Wis. In September he won the Tour Championship at East Lake, in Atlanta—the course Bobby Jones grew up playing—and with it the FedEx Cup. In October, at the Presidents Cup in South Korea, he was the buoyant epicenter of the winning team, as the U.S. beat the Internationals by a point.

So, yes, this Jordan Spieth was a big-time big winner in 2015. But the name of the honor under discussion here is Sportsman of the Year. That’s why he’s most deserving.

The Queen! Royal Blackheath's Prized Painting Up For Auction

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Matthew Rudy notes that Royal Blackheath outside London is auctioning a prized club art piece December 9th to buy the ground they play golf on from...The British Crown.

It seems rather silly that the club is selling one of the oldest and most important early pieces of golf art that has hung on its walls since the 1800s(!!), all to help The Crown pay some bills (or whatever prompted the move by the Queen's real estate arm).

But since its inception in 1608, it has sat on ground owned by the British Crown.

That land has been put up for sale, and to buy it, the club is auctioning off its prize possession -- an 18th century painting of club captain Henry Callender by Lemuel Francis Abbott.

Bonhams auction house is administering the sale and sees it going for over $1 million most likely.

Here is the Bonham's page, in case you were looking for my Christmas gift.

Here's a video about the painting, introduced by Andrew McKenzie:

Is Bubba A Horse For No Particular Course?

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Rex Hoggard takes in Bubba Watson's Hero World Challenge on a course that Jordan Spieth said was made for the two-time Masters winner, yet which wasn't exactly to Bubba's liking.

Which begs the maddening question, what does Bubba Golf really like? For bettors, fantasy players and fans of his playing style, he remains so hard to read.

Hoggard writes:

He’s won the Travelers Championship twice – which is played at TPC River Highlands, one of the circuit’s shortest layouts (6,841 yards) – and the Northern Trust Open at Riviera, widely considered a ball-striker’s paradise.

“I get nervous just like anybody else, and I just try to find a way to get the ball in play,” said Watson, who set the stage for his Sunday romp with a then-course record 63 on Saturday. “I hit some big slices today, hit some big hooks today, just [trying] to get the ball in play. I’m just trying to look for a score. I’m not looking for perfection.”

Although generally speaking, Watson certainly favors open fairways with straightforward visuals - or, put another way, a layout that offers a right-brainer like Bubba immediate and unimpeded feedback - but there is more to his magic than that.

Courses like Plainfield (N.J.) Country Club, host of this year’s Barclays, have far too much subterfuge and, ultimately, doubt for a player like Watson.

The highlights from PGA Tour Entertainment:

Refreshing: Courses Have Rose Emphasizing West Coast In '16

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After trying to get excited about the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas and failing (I blame the lack of urgency on Bermuda grass over cool season grass golf), it was nice to read Justin Rose's thinking heading into 2016. The Englishman plans to play a West Coast-heavy schedule because of the courses.

Jim McCabe reports for Golfweek.com:

“My allergies were so bad in Florida last year, I was miserable,” Rose said. “Also, I just feel like the golf courses in Florida are a little tricked up. You end up playing great defensive golf.”

On the flip side, with a nod to Torrey Pines (the Farmers Insurance Open), the Pebble Beach-Monterey Peninsula-Spyglass rota (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am), and Riviera (Northern Trust Open), Rose said, “I think the layouts are the best on Tour on the West Coast.”

Rose's inclusion in West Coast fields will help at a time of year that many top players will be taking their off-season, or cashing in overseas.

Video: Tiger Gets In His First Ryder Cup Reps

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Tiger's taking the transition slowly, driving the kids and their nanny around the 2015 Hero World Challenge. But note how he deftly swirves away from McCabe and DiMeglio, handling the shuttle-model like someone destined to someday have his own Captaincy cart. Granted, he's working with a vehicle sporting a top and he's not getting vital pick-up instructions through an ear piece as he will at a Cup event.

Nonetheless, the reps are a start and his potential as a cart driver look solid:

Golf.com: Tom Weiskopf Wins Torrey North Renovation Bid

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After Phil Mickelson was ruled ineligible by a pending ruling related to governmental rules, the job to remodel Torrey Pines North was opened to contractors who then brought in an architect to join their bid. Meanwhile it was all done in a secret process, though Tod Leonard had reported some (Tom Weiskopf, Robert Trent Jones) but not all of the names of architects who were attached to the contractors (Natalie Gulbis!).

The entire thing has been done in secret, which is probably best in a time of drought since the entire process makes one yearn for a long shower. Now Joe Passov reports for golf.com that Tom Weiskopf will be overseeing the renovation of the affordable daily fee North.

The renovation budget for Weiskopf's team is roughly $12.6 million. They will rebuild all 18 greens and rework the greenside bunkers. All the tees will be leveled, with some enlarged and others combined. Other planned enhancements include a new set of forward tees, several new back tees for tournament use and reshaped and relocated fairway bunkers. Approximately five acres of existing turf will be removed and replaced with a drought-tolerant landscape pallet.

The renovation will also include new cart paths and a new irrigation system to help maximize water efficiency. There will be no major alterations to the par or routing, but Weiskopf may look to find a worthy candidate to transform into a drivable par-4, one of the designer's trademarks.

Well he's got a little over a month to figure it out. Construction is slated to begin after the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines South.

Retired Raytheon Chair Donates $10 Million To Cal Poly SLO Golf

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He played golf at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and has funded scholarships, but a $10 million gift from retired Raytheon Chairman Bill Swanson and his wife Cheryl is the largest in school history. And perhaps in college golf history?

David Middlecamp reports.

Swanson was a member of the Mustangs golf team and earned his degree in engineering, which he put to use during a 40-year career at Raytheon. Raytheon is a “technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity markets throughout the world,” with 2014 sales of $23 billion and 61,000 employees worldwide, according to the release.

The endowment provided by the Swansons will fund new scholarships, focusing on engineering and first-generation student-athletes. It also will “support participating in better national tournaments, more robust travel and recruiting budgets, and improved equipment and gear for the men’s and women’s teams,” according to the release.

Torture Device: A Bubba Vine Whine That Will Haunt Us All

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There are post-shot whines and then there are post-shot whines. Or Vines.

Poor Jerry Foltz gets dragged into this epic substitute for water-boarding from Bubba Watson during round one of the Hero World Challenge. Kudos to the PGA Tour for posting despite the difficulty of getting this mudball cry out of your head. Click on the upper-left audio off switch, but don't say I didn't warn you.

 

 

Casey Explains: "I've been in too many hotel rooms wondering why I was there"

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The decision to pass on extra travel days just to make himself Ryder Cup eligible is no doubt still leaving Team Europe perplexed, but Paul Casey explains his thinking and remains consistent in his reasoning.
Even if it doesn't it well with most of Europe or perhaps entirely tell the full story of his 2010 snub.

From Bob Harig's ESPN.com report:

"I've been in too many hotel rooms wondering why I was there,'' Casey said. "I felt many times like I was going through the motions, going to play to get a number. That is so against what it is to be a competitor.''

On the European Tour side, Casey needs five European starts. One would be the Ryder Cup itself. The Olympics, if he qualities, also counts. He could play the BMW PGA Championship and British Masters in his home country of England and be one tournament away, perhaps the Scottish Open or one of the Final Series events.

Casey said he's heard some of the rumblings concerning why he'd want to forego the Ryder Cup, but said his decision was not about that event.

"It's an unfortunate by-product of the decision I've made,'' he said. "It's purely about my family and spending quality time. The Ryder Cup is what's talked about, but this is not what this is about."