Troon: Members Vote On Women By Show Of Hands

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Not that I'm questioning the tally, just fascinated that Royal Troon settled it's women-only issue with a vote by show of hands and no actual printed vote total. Given how the Brexit vote went, a good thing!

Christopher Clarey with that and other details from Troon's vote as it prepares to host the 145th Open, cincluding this from club captain Martin Cheyne.

But Cheyne said the club had reviewed more than the issue of women’s membership in recent months. “The focus was on all categories of membership and how we could become more involved in promoting golf, a sport which is currently declining: declining in male, female and junior membership,” he said. “What we did tonight was focus on the single issue of women’s members, but we need to focus on how we can encourage young people to play this game.”

“Our custom and practice in the golf club is a straight show of hands,” he said. “We don’t do a count. It was overwhelming.”

Royal Troon’s constitution mandates that only members who are present may take part in such votes, and Cheyne said 360 of the club’s 861 members had been in attendance on Friday night.

Anyone know what Troon's junior member program looks like? If it's an affordable one that appeals to aspiring players, get the word out. A lot of clubs around the world need to get or serious about such programs and need prominent examples.

"Will speeding up bring scores down for Spieth?"

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That's the question Jason Sobel's story poses after Jordan Spieth explain why he's trying to speed up. While he's earned a reputation as a slow poke, I would counter that television makes him look slow because he's been spending a lot of time over the ball. Whereas someone who is much slower like Zach Johnson, spends ages making a decision and when television comes to him, we rarely see that.

Anyway, Spieth has heard the criticism from fans and his instructor, Sobel says.

After the second round, Spieth didn't use playing quicker as an excuse. In fact, he credits the process for helping his game.

"The quicker part actually helps me, because then I just get up there and fire away," he explained Friday. "The more I can do that, actually I think the better off [I am with a] kind of gun-slinging mentality, just to go up and hit the way I always have played."

The Perks Of Firestone: Seeing What Happens When Top Players Actually Get To Hit Driver

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There isn't much to get excited about with this year's WGC Bridgestone, especially given that without it on the schedule in an Olympic year, the players would have a lot less to gripe about with excessive playing options.

But we march along so the boys can collect their easy $50k, world ranking points and--silver lining alert--huge driving distance numbers!

As Mike Stachura explains after seeing Justin Thomas hit a 413-yard drive, Firestone remains one of the few courses were players can hit driver on nearly every non-par-3. But with an earlier date on the schedule and less humidity, Stachura says the field's 317.3 yard average from last year should be down this year.

If it's not...

What’s the number to beat? Aside from last year’s 317.1-yard mark, the tournament with the highest driving-distance average in the last year was the Shriners Hospital Open in Las Vegas last fall at 305.4.

Now, is it fair to say that if the average this week surpasses last year’s number, there should be more concern about driving distance increasing? Statistically speaking, it’s merely one set of data that carries as much weight in determining trends as does the driving-distance average at Harbour Town for the RBC Heritage, which this year was 278.8 yards. That’s, in a nutshell, the point the USGA was making in its recent report about the relatively modest growth in driving distance over the last dozen years or so.

Today In Zika: Rory, Barbados, A Female Defector And How Tennis Got Off To A Rough Olympic Start, Too

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Rory McIlroy, who was once excited about Olympic golf until Zika and New Balance uniforms came along, admitted that his WD call to captain Paul McGinley was one of the toughest calls he's had to make, reports Phil Casey (who also reports that Martin Kaymer can't wait to get to Rio).

Casey writes:

“That was probably one of the toughest phone calls I’ve had to make, because we’ve talked about it so much,” said McIlroy. “We’ve done so much work, got accommodation, got security down there, got a chef in, got everything planned out. I got my jabs; I had two dead shoulders for about four days.

“But then at the end of the day, if I’m not 100% comfortable going down there, I just don’t want to put it at risk. There’s another Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020 and I’m more than happy to wait until then to get that Olympic experience.”

It appears not many are buying the concerns about Zika, including the readers here. McIlroy has now been questioned by Bloomberg reporter Tariq Panja (here and here), who has asked the McIlroy camp for clarification as to why he vacationed in Barbados two months ago. Barbados is also a Level 2 Zika threat region, like Rio.

An unbylined AP story on Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa dropping out citing Zika keeps her consistent with everyone else from South Africa but Gary Player.

The 35-year-old said in a statement that she made the decision after discussing her options with her family and her team.

"I hope that everyone can understand that this was a very difficult decision to come to, however my health and my future family's health must come first," she said.

Matt Ginella talks to architect Gil Hanse about the Olympic dropouts and he's disappointed.

"The overall feeling is disappointment," said Hanse. "To have done what we’ve done, to have worked through so many challenges to complete the project, you’d obviously love to see the best players in the world compete on your golf course."

Hanse says he is contact with the team still on the ground in Rio, which includes the superintendent and the PGA Tour’s on-site agronomist, who are prepping the course for the Olympics.

"Morale is getting lower," said Hanse. “I’m disappointed for everyone involved."

Hey, but there is a morale boosting news! Camillo isn't out...yet, though keeping his card may end up the priority, reports Golfweek's Adam Schupak.

“Yeah, I actually heard Jordan Spieth said I wasn’t going to go play. I’ve been talking to Jordan and a lot of the guys. And I’ve got to be honest, Maria and I are trying to have kids right now. So the Zika is a concern,” Villegas said after the opening round of the Barracuda Championship.

Meanwhile the eligible American golfers were briefed and they're feeling better about things, but are waiting to hear on something else. Also a Schupak report.

“I’ve always wanted to go but I want to make sure me and my team feel safe on the health and security issues,” Rickie Fowler said. “There’s still some stuff ongoing, some logistics to work out.”

As all of this plays out, Christopher Clarey of the New York Times talks to Brad Gilbert and others about tennis returning to the 1988 games and the soft start that sport had due to various concerns similar to the 2016 issues golf faces.

“What’s happening with the golf is a lot like ’88,” Gilbert said. “A lot of the tennis players just weren’t quite sure, and there were some security worries in Seoul.”

No. 1 Mats Wilander, winner of three of the four Grand Slam singles titles, did not make the trip even though he had long relished playing for Sweden in the Davis Cup. Neither did No. 4 Andre Agassi, who would later win the singles gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and discover that it was one of the most gratifying moments of his career.

Gilbert was coaching him at the time.

“When Andre asked me what was the biggest regret of my career, I said if I could change one thing, I would have changed that big penny I had into gold,” Gilbert said, referring to his bronze medal. “And Andre pretty much planned his whole year around the 1996 Olympics.”

On Golf Central, yours truly joined Lisa Cornwell, Matt Adams and Tim Rosaforte for an Olympic golf roundtable.

Diaz: What Really Happened At Oakmont

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Now that Dustin Johnson has spoken and has not had his mind changed a bit about his actions at Oakmont (Will Gray reports), Jaime Diaz has filed an in-depth, definitive account for the September Golf Digest of the 2016 U.S. Open's Dustin Johnson penalty. While most of the facts will still be very familiar, Diaz brings in views of some notable rules figures and tries to figure out the options for changing the rule.

This from two noted USGA veterans stood out, starting with comments from David Eger:


Eger believes the right call was made based on the rule as written, but admits his experience writing, interpreting and administering the rules gives him an uncommon perspective. “All the rules officials I know think Dustin broke the rule, but none of my friends who I play golf with think he did. None of my friends have all the information. They use the wrong criteria to judge. But the rules are so fastidious, precise and often complicated.”

But David Fay, the USGA’s executive director for two decades, who served as the Fox telecast’s rules expert, contends the Johnson ruling was a close one even for officials. “You could get 10 rules experts and show them video evidence of Wattel and Johnson’s actions around the ball. I guarantee some would say Wattel deserved a penalty and Johnson didn’t, or that neither deserved a penalty, or that both did.”


Wonderful!

There was also this from Diaz:


In retrospect, executive director Mike Davis, didn’t take charge at a time when an accountable leader was desperately needed to speak for the organization. Hall and Pagel were too careful and scripted in their interviews on Fox and Golf Channel, clearly looking over their shoulder. At Oakmont, the buck had no place to stop.

I think this next part is where the average golfer differs from the rules expert, but nearly two weeks later I'm still not entirely sure why the experts are so sure of their stance.

But in trying to solve a problem, the new rule created new ones that are arguably worse. The main one? When it comes to determining what made a ball move short of the club hitting the ball, there is almost never anything close to “proof” that a player’s actions were the cause. “More likely than not” or “51 percent of the evidence” is a recipe for too many close calls that will leave a feeling of player victimization, especially if and when it costs someone a championship.

"Golf Channel Posts Most Watched Second Quarter Ever"

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Interesting bumps from NCAA golf and the KPMG, now the most watched women's major outside of the U.S. Women's Open.

For Immediate Release:

For 24-hour Total Day (6AM-6AM), 125,000 average viewers per minute were tuned in to Golf Channel during second quarter, a +1% increase vs. 2Q 2015. This growth was driven by the most-watched April and June ever, along with these year-over-year gains:

·       PGA TOUR: +5%
·       PGA TOUR Champions: +20%
·       European Tour: +8%
·       LPGA Tour: +6%
·       Millennials (P25-34): +29%
·       Prime viewership (8P-11P): +7%
·       Retained No. 1 ranking for quarter, delivering most-affluent audience in television in Total Day and Primetime

And...

NCAA Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships:
·       Live Coverage of the Men’s Championship (218,000 average viewers) is +70% vs. 2015.
·   Live coverage of the Men’s Wednesday night final match delivered 325,000 viewers per minute (+139% year over year).
·       Live Coverage of the Women’s Championship (152,000 average viewers) is +12% compared to 2015.
·     Live coverage of the Women’s Wednesday night final match delivered 249,000 viewers per minute (+25% from last year).

And...

KPMG Women’s PGA Championship: Second Most-Viewed Women’s Golf Event since June 2014:

·       The 2016 KMPG Women’s PGA Championship aired across Golf Channel and NBC for the 2nd year and was seen by 6.1 million unique viewers. That’s the second largest audience for a women’s golf event since NBC/ESPN’s coverage of the US Women’s Open in 2014 (9.8 mm) and the first time since 2010 that any LPGA Tour major other than US Women’s Open was seen by more than 6 million viewers.

The Case For Amateur Golfers In The Olympics...Isn't Strong

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No offense to all who have written in the wake of star WD's from the Rio Games who have suggested that this would not be happening if we had amateur golfers instead of pros.

Zane Bojack is just one of many who have written this in recent days, suggesting many of the emerging new talents in golf would have remained amateurs for the Olympics.

I think he has a point with the amateur game farewelling stars like American Bryson DeChambeau, Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick, Spain's John Rahm and Australia's Ryan Ruffels in the past 12 months.

If you don't know them yet, then you soon will as these athletes who've recently turned professional are the future of the game.

DeChambeau finished tied 15th in the recently completed US Open, Fitzpatrick took out the 2015 British Masters, John Rahm just finished third in a PGA TOUR event at Congressional and Ryan Ruffels turned pro at the ripe old age of 17.

These young guns should be the players competing for a gold in Rio, with the Olympics keeping them in the amateur game for longer.

Already there are fears Ruffels may have turned professional too early after missing the cut in seven events he has taken part in on the PGA Tour.

Unfortunately, the money to be made coming out of college is still there, as is the pressure to begin playing and earning status on various tours. I'm not seeing how an Olympic opportunity would change that or cause more to remain lifelong amateurs.

Here is the current World Amateur Golf Ranking top 20. All fine young golfers with immense talent but would anyone want to watch this field?

Poll: What is the main reason some male golfers are skipping Rio?

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I know that Zika, the Olympics and scheduling debates do not make the most enjoyable golf reading, but longtime readers know I've been excited about Olympic golf's prospects in spite of the unimaginative format.

While I will not defend the selection of Rio, nor be hitting the streets there at night (or day!), I do think the Olympic golf course will send a great message to the world and become an iconic venue of the 2016 games. And once the competition starts, the intrigue will be there to see who wins, who surprises and who inspires. Then, we can go about finding a format that excites players, fans and the IOC, while maybe even peeking the interest of those who have not seen what kind of emotions are elicited by team match play.

In the meantime, however, a few things to consider before I ask your vote.

Jason Sobel nailed the entire male golfer/Zika/schedule/format mess in this ESPN.com column titled, "How Zika virus lets golfers off the hook for wanting to skip Rio Olympics."

Use the excuse that it's a crowded schedule and the Olympics are an unnecessary detour from their overall goals, and they'll be criticized for a me-first attitude. Explain that competing in another no-money event (in addition to the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup) is an unfair ask, and they'll be ripped for greediness. Suggest that playing once per year for one's country should be enough, and they'll be castigated for a lack of patriotism. Contend that traveling to a country with an increasingly unstable government is a poor personal choice, and they'll be tsk-tsked for eschewing private resort accommodations.

And then along came the Zika virus.

It became the perfect get-out-of-jail-free card for professional golfers. Despite medical experts insisting there is minimal risk of contracting the virus in Rio de Janeiro during the Olympic fortnight, it's impossible to denounce a player's decision to skip the tournament based on the long-term welfare of his family.

I have been in touch with folks on the ground in Rio, and golf course superintendent Neil Cleverly confirms that not a single member of the maintenance crew has contracted Zika. Furthermore, testing done over the last few weeks by the City of Rio health department found after a week of capturing and testing mosquitos that there were no transmitter Mosquitos found in the traps. Meaning that it is unlikely that Zika is in the area. Also, remember, the course is by the salt water and there is almost always a breeze. Not exactly mosquito breeding grounds.

As of June 7th, according to 2016 Rio Olympics Chief Medical Officer Joao Grangeiro, there have been zero Zika infections reported among the 17,000 athletes, volunteers and staffers participating in test events over the last year.

Reuters' Julie Steenhuysen reported that researchers at the Sao Paulo School of Medicine project that the risk of tourists contracting Zika during the Olympics at 1.8 cases per million people. Numbers suggest 500,000 international visitors are expected in Rio for the 2016 games.

I suspect this information has been passed along to the golfers. Now, as reader Mike notes in this RuthlessGolf post, there is a plausible explanation for male athletes having a greater concern than female athletes, assuming they do not want to use a condom for six months.

Moving right along...

Since everyone has a theory on why some of the world's best male golfers want no part of Rio--there are still many others who are looking forward to the event--what would you vote as the top reason the likes of Day, Lowry, Oosthuizen, McIlroy and Schwartzel have dropped out?

What do you think is the primary reason some male golfers are skipping the Rio games?
 
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Spieth Now Talking Down Golf's Future Olympic Prospects?!

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And mentioning a possible John Deere Classic appearance over the chance to win and Olympic medal?

Sad.

Yes, there's a lot to chew on with all of the Olympic golf WD's by the male golfers.

There is little doubt that Rio is a dangerous, strange place that isn't high on many summer must-visit lists. The idea of the Olympics landing in the middle of a busy schedule stinks. But we've known that a while. And Zika virus is a scary thing if you want to start a family in the immediate future, though few in Brazil are as worried as male golfers who fancy themselves as possible sires for a future King.

Oh, and no one working at the Olympic golf course has contracted the virus.

But with so many male pro golfers withdawing from the 2016 games, there's no doubting now that most of the world has had their stereotypes of golfers reinforced. While athletes in all other sports, including women's golf, are set to go to Ri the male golfers saying they will not attend are increasingly seen as soft, non-athletes. Given how well compensated they are, many of them will laugh their way to the bank and ignore the comments of fans or fellow athletes.

That's all fine.

To read that Jordan Spieth, once all-in on Olympic golf and now waivering on his 2016 participation, doesn't even bother me.

What bothers: he has the gall to suggest golf's prospects as an Olympic sport have dimmed because of the recent WD's. Sure, he may have some inside info from his sponsors at Coca Cola, who he also posts Instagram ads for only to be reminded by his followers about the dangers of soft drinks.

But talking down 2020 and beyond to possibly lay the groundwork for a 2016 WD? Lame.

Will Gray with the roundup of Spieth's Firestone press conference in advance of, ironically, the utterly meaningless WGC Bridgestone which, unlike an Olympic gold medal, will never be mentioned in any player's obituary.

The only data that officials will have at their disposal will be what happened in Rio, a tournament that is likely to be defined as much by who wasn’t there as by who ultimately stood atop the medal podium.

“No matter what I do, it’s already – there’s already been enough players (withdrawing) that I think it’ll definitely have an impact,” Spieth said. “Pending some crazy, great finish or whatever, I think there’s a significantly lower likelihood now of it staying in the Olympics than there was six months ago.”

I have an idea for Jordan! Let's get to The Open early this time like you plan, and leave the IOC-politicking to the guys in suits.

Meanwhile, Jason Day, who obviously regrets having to pass on Rio, at least was trying to be positive about golf as an Olympic sport going forward:

Q. Jason, do you hope that the decision makers that choose the sports in the Olympics and whatnot can look past this situation and not let it affect golf's future in the games and hope that it's just a one-off?

JASON DAY: Yeah, I think it is a one-off. It depends. Certain things we just don't know. Like something could happen elsewhere down the road, and unfortunately that could make people pull out. I just hope they look past this and go, you know, we're looking at the bigger picture and trying to grow the game, and hopefully if they can do that, then the Olympics can stay -- the golf can stay in the Olympics and everyone can move on to hopefully Tokyo and try and play there.