Obama And Woodmont: Maybe Not The Backlash Suggested

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Much was made of the New York Post story on President Barack Obama facing member-backlash should he try to join the mostly-Jewish Woodmont Country Club over his Israel policies, but a few readers who know the club wrote to say they were struggling to see such a widespread membership stance against the president.

Thanks to reader Joe, who sent in this Washington Post story by Bill Turque suggesting hostilities may be the work of just a few members, while others sound more eager to welcome the soon-to-be-former president.

Simon Atlas, a former chair of the club’s admissions committee, said he would be “honored” to have Obama as a member. He added that the club had never applied a political test for acceptance.

“A person’s political affiliation was never a consideration,” said Atlas, former treasurer of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee. “We looked at [a person’s] philanthropy, at standing in the community, at reputation. These other things never came up.”

Obama only intends to live in the Washington D.C. area for two years while his youngest daughter finishes high school. His love of the game figures to make his golf preferences in D.C., Chicago and elsewhere (greater Palm Springs?) of great interest.

The White House life and post-presidency talk, and an entire portion of mulligan golf talk, were part of his final 60 Minutes interview with golfer Steve Kroft.

David Owen On Lessons Learned Playing Golf With Trump

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Longtime New Yorker staff writer and former Golf Digest contributor David Owen writes about his time playing golf with Donald Trump long before the developer became president-elect.

Given that only one Trump course made the recent Golf Digest top 200 courses (no Bedminster or Doral!), this might explain why panelists do not rate his courses highly:

Golf publications periodically rate golf courses—the hundred best in the world, the hundred best in the country, the dozen best in each state—and Trump’s relationship with such ratings is complex. He complained to me that golf publications never rank his courses high enough, because the people who do the rating hold a grudge against him, but he also said that he never allows raters to play his courses, because they would just get in the way of the members. “I think we’d have a revolt with our membership,” he explained. “Because, unlike other clubs, every one of my membership lists is perfect. And when you start adding hundreds of raters who want to play golf . . .” Nevertheless, when someone from a golf publication does write something positive, after somehow having managed to slip past the perimeter, Trump quotes it endlessly (and, inevitably, magnifies it).

Owen also shares some of the feedback he got from an "upset" Trump after his story appeared.

He called the editor of Golf Digest to complain, and then he called me, on my cell phone. I was in the city on a reporting assignment unrelated to golf, and had the surreal experience of being chewed out by a future President of the United States while standing among the gravestones in the burial ground next to Trinity Church. He wasn’t upset that one of the article’s illustrations had been of a golf ball wearing a turf toupee that looked a lot like his deeply mysterious hair, or that I’d mentioned his asking two little girls at Mar-a-Lago if they wanted to be supermodels when they grew up, or that I’d described nearly tipping him five dollars after momentarily mistaking him for his club’s parking-lot attendant, or that I’d written that he’d introduced one of his club’s members to me not by name but as “the richest guy in Germany.” He was upset that I hadn’t written that he’d shot 71—a very good golf score, one stroke under par.

I hadn’t written that because he hadn’t shot 71. We hadn’t been playing for score, and we had given each other putts and taken other friendly liberties—as golfers inevitably do when they’re just fooling around. I said something to that effect in the politest way I could think of, but he wasn’t mollified. He was also angry that I’d described his wedge game as “poor.” (On several occasions, he’d had trouble with shots inside a hundred yards, both during our round and on the practice range beforehand.) I reminded him that I had mainly written very flattering things about his golf game, and that I’d mentioned his victories in three club championships and had quoted praise from his caddie and his pro (“You have a very nice bicycle, Donald, even if it’s not as nice as your friend’s”). But none of that made any difference. He wanted the number, and the fact that I hadn’t published the number proved that I was just like all the other biased reporters, who, because we’re all part of the anti-Trump media conspiracy, never give him as much credit as he deserves for being awesome. Such is his now familiar habit of acting like a sore loser even when he’s won.

Justin Thomas Breaks PGA Tour 72-Hole Scoring Record

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It's one of the biggies not just in golf, but in all of sports and Justin Thomas now holds the PGA Tour's lowest 72-hole scoring record.

Doug Ferguson on Thomas's Sony Open victory that included a 59 and a four day total of, gulp, 253.

Thomas capped off his wonderful week at Waialae that began with a 59 with his second straight victory. He two-putted birdie from 60 feet on the par-5 18th and closed with a 5-under 65 to set the record at 253.
Tommy Armour III shot 254 at the 2003 Texas Open.

"It's been an unbelievable week. Unforgettable," Thomas said before going to sign his historic card.

The final round highlights, in case you were watching something else...

Storm Wins On Patrick Reed Lifeline; Rory To Have MRI

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The European Tour's 2017 kicked off in wild fashion with 38-year-old Graeme Storm edging Rory McIlroy in a three-hole playoff.

As James Corrigan writes for the Telegraph, Storm thought he'd lost his card in October after a final hole bogey and by just €100, only to receive a lifeline from Patrick Reed. Now Storm's holding the SA Open trophy and all of the perks that come with winning.

But then the American Patrick Reed failed to fulfill the minimum number of events when skipping the Final Series and so Storm was handed a reprieve. And there he was, at the Glendower Country Club near Johannesburg, captilasing on his second chance in one of the most gutsy scenarios imaginable.

To win just the second title of his career – following up his French Open a decade later - and in the process ensure he retains his Tour playing privileges for at least two years was the stuff of fantasy. But to do so when going head-to-head with McIlroy, the world No 2 and winner of four majors, was, in his words, “totally unbelievable”.

The news was tempered by Rory McIlroy's upper back issues. With a chance to retake the World No. 1 spot in Abu Dhabi this week, he's headed for an MRI machine in Dubai.

“It was manageable this week with tape and a few pill, but it’s not 100 per cent.

"Part of me really wants to make this week because there is so much to play for with world No 1 on the line. But at the same time there is so much to play for over the whole season and I don’t want to jeopardise long-term goals for short-term gain. Hopefully, I’ll be good to go.”

Despite the pain, McIlroy uncorked some stunning tee shots, including a 392-yarder to open the week. The European Tour compiled this collection of tee balls of McIlroy and his new Epic driver:

 

 

All of the three-hole playoff shots in under five minutes, courtesy of the European Tour:

 

 

Here We Go Again: Tokyo Governor Calls On 2020 Olympic Golf Venue To Admit Women

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Amlan Chakraborty of Reuters says Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike has asked Kasumigaseki Country Club to admit women as full members.

"I feel very uncomfortable about women not being able to become a regular member in this era," Koike told reporters on Friday.

And for good measure, the club that will host the 2020 Olympic golf, bars women on Sundays. Unreal.

You really have to wonder how this slipped through the Tokyo 2020 vetting process for the course.

Roundup: Justin Thomas Shoots 59 At Waialae

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There aren't many highlights due to the early nature of the round, here's PGATour.com's package. And GolfChannel.com's recap with Steve Sands and Frank Nobilo.

Doug Ferguson notes this in writing about Justin Thomas's opening-round 59 at the Sony Open.

He was five shots better than anyone in the morning, but his lead was only three shots by the end of the day. Hudson Swafford shot a 62 in the afternoon. Swafford made a birdie on his 12th hole, when his caddie told him, "We've got to make seven birdies on the last six holes to catch Justin."

The average score was 68.26.

Thomas put the round into great perspective, writes GolfDigest.com's Dave Shedloski:

His hard-fought victory over Hideki Matsuyama last week was highly satisfying. But to etch your name in the history books with one magical round has a certain cache and sparkle to it.

“I would say, on paper, it would be today,” Thomas said when he was asked if his win at Kapalua or his 59 at Waialae was more special. “History wise … I have a chance to win a golf tournament every week. I don’t have many chances to shoot 59.”

Rex Hoggard on the last hole decision Thomas made that set up an eagle putt.

Thomas’ drive found the bunker at the par-5 ninth hole. “I wanted to punch something,” he said. He appeared destined for a 10-under round on the par-70 layout, but Berger, who was in the same bunker off the tee, showed him the way.

It’s what friends do.

“It was sitting really good to where it felt like I could get a 6-iron or 7-iron on it and just get it short of the green. And then I hear [Berger’s] caddie say 4-iron for them,” Thomas said. “I was like, man, can I hit it on the green? I'm like, I guess I can hit it on the green, I don't know.”

Thomas said he “flushed” a 5-iron that cleared the lip of the bunker, sailed through the warm air and settled 15 feet left of the pin. He made the putt - of course he did, what else would one expect from a player who has won twice and finished in the top 5 in four of his last five starts?

Here is that last hole with Thomas watching:

 

Speaking of the eagle, Thomas became the first 59 or less shooter to have two in one round. Great stuff from the ShotLink guys comparing the 59s and Furyk's 58. Click to enlarge:

Thomas's 59 Highlights PGA Tour's Digital Conundrum

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PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan highlighted digital as a big part of his focus and has expressed a desire for the PGA Tour to obtain ownership or partial ownership of the channel showing his tour product.

This has prompted the PGA Tour to create PGA Tour Live to show pre-Golf Channel coverage and to establish another option for showing golf, with the long term goal of possibly becoming home to Thursday and Friday coverage once the current Golf Channel deal expires (2021).

But when Justin Thomas teed off early and posted a Sony Open 59 Thursday, he exposed several weaknesses in the PGA Tour approach to digital, starting with PGA Tour Live sitting out the two Hawaii events, presumably due to cost. This isn't surprising given the expense of doing golf in Hawaii and the tour's propensity for saving a buck, as evidenced by PGA Tour-managed events ending spectator access to practice round days.

Golf Channel, set to start Sony coverage at 6 pm ET, did pick up the last two holes of Thomas's 59 more than one hour before scheduled sign-on time. Yet the PGA Tour directed fans to Facebook Live where the 8th 59 in tour history was seen through the cell phone camera of PGATour.com's Ben Everill (who, btw, did an excellent job analyzing the scene).

However, this is not exactly the most scintillating way to see a 59:

Would the PGA Tour's new Twitter streaming deal have helped? Nope. It's merely a way to preview PGA Tour Live coverage in the weeks PGA Tour Live is covering golf.

In the case of Thomas's 59, had the PGA Tour linked to Golf Channel's Golf Live Extra, fans would have been asked to log in via their cable provider. Sorry cord cutters!

Yet given the lack of PGA Tour Live presence this week, the PGA Tour should have worked out something to provide fans with a better view. 

According to the PGA Tour's Ty Votaw, the issue was contractual, requiring all viewing to go through Golf Channel's Golf Live Extra. Yet the tour directed fans to a PGATour.com reporter's cell phone video at Facebook Live, with no social link for Golf Channel cable viewers. By having PGA Tour social accounts not promote the Golf Channel's online streaming of the last two holes, it's been made clear the partners are not working together, even in a non-PGA Tour Live week.

This will not be the last time fans are caught in the middle of leveraging tension between the tour and Golf Channel.