Tribunal Offers Glimpse Into Behind-The-Scenes European Tour Executive Drama

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Thanks to reader David for Joseph Curtis' Daily Mail story on an "employment tribunal" involving the European Tour versus Scott Kelly, 61, a former lieutenant under George O'Grady fired by new chief Keith Pelley.

Kelly is alleging age discrimination.

Scott Kelly, 61, travelled the world attending high profile tournaments for two decades, forged close relationships with important figures including Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco and even brokered a £126million sponsorship deal with Rolex.

But he claims to have been dismissed by the tour's new chief executive Keith Pelley after he was told to stop attending major events including the Solheim Cup, the female equivalent of the Ryder Cup, and adopt new 'data-based' approaches to gather sponsorship.

The tribunal in Reading heard that the Mr Pelley wanted Group Marketing Director Mr Kelly to use computer programmes to attract new partnerships.

He said he was even asked to take an 80 per cent salary cut and retirement options, which he refused.

The story goes on and on about the case, documenting the shift in sales approach and other interesting tidbits about the Pelley approach.

Bryson! Cobra Bringing Single Length Irons To Market

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Mike Stachura reports for GolfDigest.com on Cobra bringing not one, but two same-length irons sets inspired by former U.S. Amateur champion Bryson DeChambeau's philosophy.

Will they actually work for players other than someone as skilled as Bryson?

DeChambeau deeply believes the single-length approach is the game’s new frontier, and Tom Olsavsky, Cobra’s chief of research and development, has made that belief a more palatable reality for the masses. Unlike DeChambeau’s approach, which requires oversized grips and an unorthodox, steep one-plane swing, the King F7 One and King Forged One Length are designed to simplify the game for average golfers by making every club the traditional length of a 7-iron.

“We see more consistency in both full swings and the short game,” Olsavsky says. “It’s one setup and one swing through the bag. And in our testing we see impacts closer to the center of the face much more often. One other benefit we see is more confidence.”

Roundup: Tiger Takes Safe Way Out At Expense Of Credibility

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I've read your comments and taken in the Tiger Woods/Safeway Open WD stories from as many golf writers as possible.

It appears we all pretty much agree...

A) Tiger Woods may be afflicted with injury-induced golf yips that have not gone away and are not close to going away. What part of his game they afflict is not clear and not really important.

B) Tiger has had some strange and irresponsible moments, yet committing with last Friday while planning a weekend "cram" session to find a final something appears irresponsible even for someone who wisely made clear all along that this was a maybe start.

C) Tiger continues to allow surrogates to peddle stories about his comeback and he's making them look bad with such erratic behavior, statements and a fear of teeing it up on a big stage.

D) Passing on Arnold Palmer's funeral should have been a sign...

E) Jesper Parnevik was either full of malarkey, saw some nice range work, or was getting some sort of revenge. Or all of the above.

This is all rather sad except for Woods committing when he was apparently not even slightly sold his game was ready to go. He had bought himself leeway when he announced his return and still managed to bungle this.

How much of a role the expected Mickelson and Steph Curry pairings played is not known. But someone so rusty could not have been looking forward to the added pressures in his comeback attempt.

Tim Rosaforte reporting the news on Golf Channel.

Tiger's statement with the "vulnerable" word.

Steve DiMeglio of USA Today called the announcement, which also included a WD from the Turkish Airlines Open a month from now, "stunning".

He also had this from agent Mark Steinberg. Given where locker room talk has gone the last week, this might not have been the imagery I'd have peddled if I were his ten-percenter...

“He was really looking forward to competing, to playing, to being in the locker room again,” Steinberg said. “He really missed being in the locker room. At the Ryder Cup he was in the locker room and he felt great being in there. He was ready to go. But when he ramped it up the past few days, hole by hole he realized his game was just not responding in the way he wanted it to.”

**Steve Flesch noted that the locker room stuff is nonsense (shocker I know) given that Tiger really has never socialized with this peers.

ESPN.com's Bob Harig called Tiger's blunt admission of his current deficiencies "jarring," also offering additional explanation from Steinberg about future starts. The explanation isn't adding up.

Steinberg said Woods felt he didn't believe it was "appropriate'' to make his return at the Turkish Airlines Open, a European Tour event. It was out of "respect for the PGA Tour'' that he is skipping that tournament abroad next month, not some doom and gloom scenario that keeps him from being ready then.

Of course, there are other PGA Tour events after that and before the Hero World Challenge in December in the Bahamas, where Woods hosts the annual tournament for his foundation.

Johnny Miller was among those quoted by John Strege, reporting from Silverado Resort, where players were most shocked and saddened. Johnny had a feeling this was coming.

“I just had a feeling. Everybody in the world was texting me, offering me congratulations [on Tiger playing Silverado]. I wrote back, ‘I’ll believe he’s coming when he tees off first thing Thursday morning on the first tee.’ My gut is that he wanted to come, but the hoopla, even on the Golf Channel the last couple days, he must be looking at that thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh. What am I getting into? I’d like to be home, taking my kids to school, running my restaurant, nothing like having to posting a score.’

“He’s got to suck up the pressure of it all, the tension, and go back in there and mix it up. It’s hard to do, because once you get away from the tour, life can be so sweet when you’re not so judgmental. The hardest thing about golf is the score. The greatest thing about golf is the score. If you post the scores you win. It’s the greatness of golf. Frank Sinatra at 70 probably couldn’t sing a lick, but he didn’t have to post a score.”

All of Johnny's interview on Golf Channel's Golf Central coverage is worth listening too.

Stanford buddy Notah Begay was left on Golf Channel to defend the indefensible.

The two spoke on the phone Monday, and Begay believes that Woods' decision - which came just three days after he formally committed to the event - is the product of one last self-assessment of his game.

"The hurricane didn't help, and he had some concerns about the sharpness of his game," Begay said.

"Everyone knows there's going to be rust. Everybody knows there's going to be shots that he's going to call on that might not come off the way he wanted. But after talking to him this morning, he just didn't feel like his game was where he wanted it to be to be competitive."

Randall Mell says as far as WD's go, this one was a stunner and bad form.

His using the word “vulnerable” is yet another sign that his struggle with uncertainty is growing. Why commit to the tournament Friday if there was any doubt?

Woods WD is really bad form, hurting a tournament and all the fans invested in the excitement he created committing, but it’s also a revelation as to how deep his doubts really go. To WD this late knowing the backlash it creates against him says a lot about how his psyche is more tender than his back now. 

Golfweek's Jeff Babineau offered the kindest, most sympathetic assessment.

So to be safe, he turns to a stage hand and asks that the curtain not go up. Some in the audience will understand; others will not. Regardless of emotions, all will have to wait for another day.

Know this: Plenty of folks will take this latest setback and take the opportunity to write off Woods, to tell you he’s done. This will only fuel him. He takes more notes than anyone. The naysayers have little idea just how stubborn this man is.

AP's Nancy Armour was more blunt, suggesting Tiger "might not play another competitive round of golf again."

I hope that isn’t true. His star power and success are great for the game, attracting people who wouldn’t otherwise watch a golf tournament. Even if he never matches Jack Nicklaus’ major total, he’s one of those rare athletes you can’t help but watch.

But it’s time to acknowledge reality.

More ominous than Woods’ announcement Monday that he won’t be playing this week’s Safeway Open after all was his withdrawal from the Turkish Airlines Open. That’s a tournament that doesn’t begin until next month — Nov. 3, to be exact.

Karen Crouse in the New York Times:

Woods, 40, appears to be experiencing performance anxiety, and really, who in his position would not feel a little like the emperor with no game? In the statement on his website, Woods described his game as “vulnerable and not where it needs to be.”

His candid assessment called to mind a line from “I Said Yes to Everything,” the memoir of the Academy Award-winning actress Lee Grant. In it, she wrote, “The problem when you are a star, when the money rests on you as an actor, is that your freedom to fail is gone.”

Ewan Murray in The Guardian wrote that "Tiger Woods’s career outlook has taken its latest bleak turn."

James Corrigan in the Telegraph says the "news was the equivalent of a large nail being driven through an ever-expanding balloon."

Derek Lawrenson went another way, asking if we have "ever seen a more shocking example of sporting stage fright?"

According to Golfweek's stat guru, this week would have been his 75th start since 2010, in that time he has 7 WD’s.

Danny Willett Teams With His Caddie To Win Dunhill Pro-Am!

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No offense to Tyrrell Hatton, who picked up his first European Tour title in the Alfred Dunhill Championship at St. Andrews. But the even better story involved Masters winner Danny Willett teaming with his caddie Jonathan Smart to win the pro-am title. Taking his looper (and presumably paying his way) probably won't win him too many American fans following last Monday mornings' Tweeting barrage, but it's a start.

The full press release since I couldn't find a story on Willett giving his man the week off to play the pro-am. And followed by a Tweet and European Tour Instagram photo:

ST ANDREWS, October 9, 2016 - Jonathan Smart admitted his hands were shaking as he stood over the four foot putt that was to earn him and Masters champion Danny Willett the US$50,000 first prize in the Alfred Dunhill Links Team Championship at St Andrews.
 
Willett, who usually has Smart as his caddie in every other week of the golfing year, raised his arms in triumph when the putt dropped and then hugged him, saying later: “Jon rose to the occasion and carried me all week. I invited him to have a taste of what it’s like on my side of things and he’s won his first event. He played some great golf.”
 

Smart, a six-handicapper from Sheffield’s Hallamshire Golf Club, holed the decisive putt on the Old Course’s 9th green for a birdie three and said: “That’s the best golf I’ve ever played today and Danny is over the moon for me. But I won’t be getting any percentage of the winnings – he’s already done more than enough for me this week by giving me this treat of playing in such a great event as his amateur partner. It’s been an unbelievable experience.”
 
Willett and Smart started the final day on 26-under-par and shot a 12-under-par round of 60 to clinch the title by one stroke from Polish professional Adrian Meronk and his Swedish amateur partner John Eliasch.

Meronk and Eliasch had started out with a three-shot lead over Willett and Smart but were gradually hauled in by the English pair, who sported matching beige trousers with maroon tops. Playing together in a four-ball, the two teams were tied on 37-under-par when they teed off at their final hole, the 9th. Smart’s birdie blow then decided a titanic struggle.
 

“It was a real matchplay situation for 18 holes,” added Smart. “Those guys kept coming at us. It has been an amazing week for me and I cannot believe that we’ve won. But I’ve definitely experienced a little of the nerves that Danny has to cope with in every tournament. Now I’ll appreciate what he’s got to go through a little bit more. It’s been a real insight and so enjoyable.
 
“On that last hole my hands were shaking when I was trying to line the ball up.  When you're telling someone what to do, it's a lot simpler than having to do it yourself. It has all been just very surreal.  I could not believe how nervous I was coming down those last few holes.  And to win an event with Dan, here, has just been unreal.”
 

Willett, who missed the cut in the individual tournament, added: “It's been great fun.  I've obviously not played great golf myself.  I showed a few bits every now and again but luckily that's what this format is for us as a team, dovetailing well, which we did.”
 
Cricket legend Sir Ian Botham, playing with English professional David Horsey, and Fifty Shades of Grey actor Jamie Dornan, who played with individual winner Tyrrell Hatton, were among the three teams who shared fourth place in the team competition.