When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Wesley Bryan did it with Hashtag Chad Coleman on the bag in Mexico, beating our old friend Brad Fritsch in a showdown of the Web.com's two best players this year.
Royce Thompson on the trick shot master's second win of 2016, setting him up for a battlefield promotion with one more.
A.J. Voepel on a Callaway social media challenge that turned into a looping gig while Bryan brother George was off pursuing his own golf career.
For a change I listened to my own advice and watched the Valero Open more than any sane person should knowing that strange things happen at TPC San Antonio.
Sure enough, a grand, if horribly slow, concluding final round rewarded golf fans with a grand Valero finish. Charley Hoffman held off Patrick Reed to win. There was some great play, some choking, the threat of a semi-whiff lurking and some big decisions to make under the gun. The AP game story.
After, Patrick Reed didn't really seem very happy about second place and was pretty tough on himself. Will Gray reports for GolfChannel.com.
"I'm still first loser," Reed said. "I'm tired of finishing in second and top five and top 10. I need to close out tournaments and get Ws."
Nice work by Ben Alberstadt and Zak Kozuchowski at GolfWRX to notice Kevin Kisner's admission on Twitter that a Vice Sports video shot at his home course might have led to a suspension of some kind.
The Vice piece with the offensive behavior, which as far as I can tell, is related to the cart racing. And which, compared to millennials climbing on top of carts, looks pretty benign. Granted, there are way too many deaths annually from cart accidents, but I'm a little surprised this was suspension-worthy given what an otherwise good impression the piece gives of Palmetto.
As Sports Media Watch points out, the Heritage Classic numbers dropped significantly from last year when Jordan Spieth made the weekend after winning the Masters.
This made me wonder if we are seeing a Spieth effect when he contends.
So far, the numbers, posted by Douglas Pucci at Awful Announcing and SportsTVRatings, do not suggest a Spieth bump.
CBS's Heritage numbers looked like this:
-1.6 Sunday rating with 2.5 million average viewers (down 30% but up 23% from 2014).
-1.1 Saturday ratings with 1.7 million average audience, down 21% and down 15% 2014).
Weekday and weekend coverage on Golf Channel didn't change much except for a noticeable drop Sunday morning:
-353,000 average Thursday 2015
-381,000 average Thursday 2016
-429,000 viewer average Friday 2016
-420,000 viewer average Friday 2015
-550,000 average Saturday 2015
-502,000 average Saturday 2016
-898,000 average Sunday 2015
-622,000 average Sunday 2016
Moira Gordon quotes former WADA chief Dick Pound, hosting a lecture at Stirling University, explaining golf's attitude toward drug testing.
Long opposed by PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, he recounted this conversation.
“We have all seen the shape changes in golfers and the distances they are hitting now and we know that the equipment is better and the balls are better but it isn’t just that,” said Pound, who recalled a conversation with the commissioner of the PGA Tour, Tim Finchem, stating that the sport which “has a great reputation for calling faults on yourself” could set an example to others by outing the cheats. But, the reply he received was disappointing. “He said: ‘Ah, but if I do that then they are all going to think my guys are just like those baseball players and football players and I don’t want that’. But if you follow some of the shape changes in the golfers and follow how, at a certain point, if they happen to come off them, you see how many more injuries they get. There’s a problem there.”
Soomin Lee leads the Shenzhen International but Scott Hend recorded a 2 on a par-5. And it was caught by cameras manned by real people!
The shot, and low-key reaction produced by the dearth of spectators and Hend's inability to see the ball go in the cup.
Albatross!! 😱 One of the shots of the year from Scott Hend! 💪
A video posted by European Tour (@europeantour) on
Adam Schupak is reporting from the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf kicking off Friday and talks to a nice spread of the champions in attendance. 
But as always, it's Jack Nicklaus' thoughts on Jordan Spieth's Masters loss that are the most copy-and-paste worthy, including his assertion that the 2016 outcome might be good for Spieth.
“What I mean by that is that he’s 22 years old. To win a Masters twice at 22 years old, that puts him right at the top of everything. He’s got a long future in front of him. He’s a very talented young man, he’s a nice young man, he’s very focused. Winning it twice might take away some of that focus is exactly what I said to you about if I had won the U.S. Open when I was an amateur in 1960, I might not have continued to work because I felt like I’d be scratching my head out here (spreading his arms far apart to signal he’d get a big head).”
So there's that. And this about the 12th hole mistaken line.
Noting that his heart went out to Spieth, Nicklaus continued, “I know that he knows he should never have hit the ball to the right of the bunker. I don’t care what kind of swing you put on it on 12, it just can’t happen."
Last year Nike lured Rory McIlroy to Sage Valley for a junior clinic (and arm wrestling), this year they got Tiger Woods to do something people say he never does (I'm sure it has something to do with those daddy demons).
And while the back looks understandably stiff and the head dip is still there in clips only Zapruder could love --here's guessing video was discouraged--the tempo is fluid and the appearance is both a huge step for his image and his effort to come back.
Golf Central's segment on Tiger visiting one of the world's premier junior events.
@tigerwoods at the #SageValley #JuniorInvitational #golf @nikegolf #TW
A video posted by Graham Pocialik (@gtroit) on Apr 21, 2016 at 2:56pm PDT
**Things are looking so rosy that Rosie says Tiger may be ready to come back...in a few weeks.
Based on his progress it makes sense @TigerWoods comes back sooner than later. Indications point to @WellsFargoGolf-@THEPLAYERSChamp return.
— Tim Rosaforte (@TimRosaforte) April 22, 2016
Putting in some first tee time on day two. Nike has pull!
Per @NickMentaGC, Tiger is greeting the Junior Invitational kids on the first tee as they go off. pic.twitter.com/KaDaLkIwZV
— GC Tiger Tracker (@GCTigerTracker) April 22, 2016
When you think of golfers with real passion for their craft and country, you don't think of Louis Oosthuizen. Making for a nice contrast with another Olympic defector, Adam Scott, who is a passionate, international figure and who will be missed in Rio, Oosthuizen's decision to pass is less impactful.
Doug Ferguson reports that Oosthuizen is declaring himself ineligible for family/scheduling/yadayada reasons.
Not coincidentally, the John Deere Classic is the same week as the men's golf competition in Rio and Louis's love of tractors chould be pulling him to Iowa. If that happens then we know where his true passion lies. After all, he bought himself a Deere after winning The Open. Not that there's anything wrong with that!
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
