Quail Hollow PGA Mood Setter: Rosaforte Profiles Harris

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Johnny Harris is mentioned pretty relentlessly when the PGA Tour annually visits Quail Hollow Club, so it'll be interesting how center-stage he becomes during next week's PGA Championship.

Tim Rosaforte helps us get to know Harris so that when you hear players rave about Johnny or preface criticisms of any course changes as, "I love Johnny, but..."

Speaking of the constant updates and tweaks to the property since being awarded the PGA:

“That was $10-15 million ago,” says Harris, who is famous for taking care of the little things like personally overseeing changes to the service roads to a major decision of re-designing the opening three holes just after the final round was played of the Wells Fargo in 2016. This one took some selling with Bevacqua and Kerry Haigh, Chief Champions Office for the PGA. With a 90-day window and rotating crews working around the clock, club members were playing the new holes on the 89th day. More improvements are planned for the Presidents Cup in four years.

PGA Tour Misses "Golden" Opportunity: Steph Curry Shoots 74, No One Sees It Live

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Steph Curry, with his nine million Twitter followers, his MVP statue, his two championship rings and rare crossover talent he's willing to show off on a Web.com Tour stage, posted a first round 74 in the Ellie Mae Classic.

No one saw it live.

No one could. They had to follow social media postings like it was 2008 all over again.

On a busy day of golf that included the Women's British, a WGC in Akron and a secondary PGA Tour stop in Reno, the Ellie Mae was never on Golf Channel's schedule. Yet, as one of the world's most beloved and fascinating athletes in his prime attempted something bold, Curry's appearance on an exemption understandably got the most social media attention despite the lack of television coverage.

Imagine if The Logo, Jerry West, had decided to put his scratch handicap up against the pros in 1972 after winning 33-straight and the NBA title? It would have been an epic attention-getter but there was no option to televise such an event then. Now there is, and the PGA Tour missed a chance to show it's serious about becoming a broadcaster and serious about its minor-league equivalent, the Web.com Tour.

Golf Channel was criticized on social media for not showing Curry's round, but this one wasn't on them. So what an ideal opportunity for the PGA Tour, partners with Twitter and eager to show The Valley that pro golf is a product worth streaming on their burgeoning PGA Tour Live, right?  Imagine the chance to stream the Web.com Tour to the hoodie set, who could watch their beloved Golden State Warrior play in a professional golf tournament as they sip Philz and cranked out world-changing code?

Yet the PGA Tour passed up a, gulp, "golden" opportunity to show that they are serious about getting in the broadcasting business. Was it cost? Was it too much work? Was it an oversight? Or some rights issue?

Those should not be stumbling blocks since the Tour has made clear it wants, at minimum, an ownership stake after 2021 while opting out of its network deal very soon. The goal, apparently, is to either move some tournaments to the burgeoning PGA Tour Live or bring in new bidders, perhaps Amazon or YouTube.

Lofty and ambitious dreams!

And it's a fantastic concept to focus on streaming until you tell a CEO paying $8-12 million for a tournament sponsorship that they'll be reaching 171,000 folks via streaming. Oh, and yourr logo will be hard to see because the viewer is watching on a tiny screen. One last negative? Those eyeballs who are currently seeing golf in the 19th hole grill or the local Yard House? Not happening (yet) when you go to streaming.

The possible erosion in already eroding audience sizes by moving some events to digital has not deterred the Tour from sending out signals that they are somehow a wronged party under Deane Beman's brilliant model. After all, they help networks sell 80% of their ads without lifting a finger while possibly making less than they should if they were owners of the airwaves. And the Tour makes clear on a daily basis they are in the millennial business with PGA Tour Live as the way to this future. 

Commissioner Jay Monahan has wisely tried to walk some of this talk back by reiterating the importance of the "linear product" (network TV), while still dangling his fascination with new media. But way too many of his lieutenants and players haven't gotten the message: it's nice having people write you rights checks instead of writing the checks yourself as owner of the product. 

Which brings us back to the Ellie Mae Classic.

With no way out of its Golf Channel arrangement until 2021, the tour started PGA Tour Live as their way of carrying action during earlier hours or to create a "product" to possibly break free from the Comcast-owned network. At the very least, PGA Tour live would help them negotiate an ownership stake that they once reportedly passed on when they originally negotiated the 10-year Golf Channel deal. The "they" in that sentence no longer work for the PGA Tour.

The PGA Tour Live app gives them both leverage in the next negotiations, but also, theoretically, a way to cover action not currently in Golf Channel's rights windows.  So I can't fathom a more opportune moment than Steph Curry's Web.com Tour appearance to show Featured Group coverage of the Warrior and his playing partners, Sam Ryder and Stephan Jaeger. Talk about a chance to reach the supposedly young and influential digital audience paying $39.99 a year.

Or, what a swell chance to join forces with San Francisco-based Twitter on coverage since they are a new PGA Tour partner and, presumably, big Warrior fans.

Instead, we got video highlights:

 

Live televised golf is expensive and difficult. Especially when you know the player in question is only likely to play two rounds. But there are new and cheaper ways to provide something that would have been enough to get the job done for those wanting to track this very unique appearance in a pro golf tournament.

And yes, the egos of other Web.com Tour players would have been bruised having a special broadcast of non-member Curry's round, but it might have also brought in new fans or generated intense buzz had he done something special. The failure to capitalize on this situation should be noted the next time the PGA Tour tells us how serious they are about getting in the business of entertaining paying customers.

(End of rant.)

There was some nice coverage of Curry's admirable performance, starting with the SF Chronicle's Ron Kroichick Tweets and his game story on Curry's opening round.

A great image gallery from the Chronicle's Michael Macor accompanies the piece.

Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler wrote "our Little Steph hung with the big boys" and noted:

Bad news for the Warriors. One more good day out here, even if Curry misses the cut after Friday’s round, and the Warriors are going to have to drag him off the golf course when training camp opens.

Make no mistake: For Curry, playing the Web.com Tour event — the pro golf equivalent of triple-A baseball — was no lark. He’s realistic, he knows he can’t really compete with full-time pro golfers, but Curry does not lack for quiet confidence. He’s closer to these guys than logic would dictate, and he’s got something to prove.

So there was tension all around Thursday. On the practice range before the morning rounds, I could see a thought balloon over the head of every golfer: “Beat Curry.”

For 155 golfers, their honor and dignity was at stake.

For Curry, there was something to prove, and a huge opportunity for embarrassment and disappointment.

BTW, fun note: Curry's caddie is Jonnie West, son of Jerry.

The Web.com Tour's Twitter account may have sensed the lack of live coverage and went all out on Twitter, with this nice video and also a great retweeted photo after that.


Here is part of Curry's post round interview courtesy of GolfChannel.com, discussing how he could barely feel his hands on the first tee:

And great comments here from Sam Ryder, playing partner and recent Web.com Tour winner who was a shot worse than Curry.

Last note: Curry beat ten Web.com Tour players Thursday, including three winners of Web.com Tour events in 2017!

Callaway Buys Travis Matthew

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The tentative $125.5 million deal was announced on today's earnings call, where, as Claudia Assis reports the company announced a 24% increase in net sales.

The full Travis Matthew purchase release:

CALLAWAY GOLF COMPANY TO ACQUIRE TRAVISMATHEW FOR $125.5 MILLION

CARLSBAD, Calif., August 3, 2017 – Callaway Golf Company (NYSE:ELY) announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire TravisMathew, LLC, a high-growth golf and lifestyle apparel company, for $125.5 million in an all-cash transaction, subject to a working capital adjustment.

“We are very excited about this acquisition,” commented Chip Brewer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Callaway Golf Company. “With its golf heritage, culture of product excellence and double-digit growth in the golf and lifestyle apparel business, TravisMathew is a great fit with our business, brands, culture and our strategy to grow in areas tangential to golf. This acquisition, once completed, is expected to be slightly accretive to earnings in 2018 and create significant value for our shareholders over the long-term. We look forward to working with the TravisMathew management team to maximize this brand’s growth potential.”

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including securing regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017. Post-acquisition, TravisMathew will continue to operate out of its Huntington Beach, California headquarters.

The purchase price values TravisMathew at a multiple of approximately 11.8 times projected 2017 full year adjusted EBITDA. Callaway also expects to realize significant value from potential tax benefits associated with the transaction.

In 2017, TravisMathew’s net sales are expected to be in the range of $55-60 million, of which approximately $10-15 million will contribute to Callaway’s 2017 second half financial results assuming the transaction closes in the third quarter of 2017. Including approximately $5 million of estimated transaction expenses and incremental non-cash expense resulting from the acquisition purchase accounting adjustments, TravisMathew is expected to be approximately $0.04 dilutive to Callaway’s 2017 earnings per share but is expected to be slightly accretive in 2018 after taking into account anticipated financing costs and incremental investment in the business to support future growth

Sand Valley Update And Photos From GolfAdvisor

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Jason Scott Deegan provides a short update and links to past GolfAdvisor.com coverage, but it's the updated images and word of ice cream sandwiches that will excite those considering an eventual trip to the burgeoning Bandon of the Midwest.

He writes:

Sand Valley, spearheaded by Mike Keiser Jr., skipped infancy and is already in its teenage years, maturing quickly with changes ongoing. When I visited in July, construction crews were finishing up the rooms in the Clubhouse Lodge below mine (there are 17 total here). More expensive and spacious accommodations are available in the Lake Leopold Lodge and Fairway Lodge. A 12-bedroom lodge on the short course will open next year.

Golfers have three great dining options - on the Warbler Terrance adjacent to a fire pit and large putting green, indoors at the Mammoth Bar & Lounge and at Craig's Porch, a snack/lunch shack near the first tee and 18th green of the Coore/Crenshaw course a short shuttle ride away from the main hub of the resort. The nine different flavors of ice cream sandwiches are already legendary.

Spieth Finding No Negatives In Grand Slam Quest, Says He's Hit Worse Tee Shots Than Birkdale's 13th

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Dave Shedloski with a fun GolfDigest.com account of Jordan Spieth's pre-WGC Bridgestone thoughts. It's rather apparent the possibility of a career Grand Slam is not weighing on him as much as clearing the air on that 13th hole tee shot at Birkdale.

"I'm not really finding any negatives in this. I've been asked this a few times, and I mean this. … It’s just a major. I say that, they are still the four events that we try to peak and think most about at the beginning of every year. But this PGA, if I'm healthy and playing well, I play in 30 of them, I believe I'll have plenty of chances to win them, but it doesn't have to be this year. If it's this year and it happens, that's great, that's another life-long goal that we've then achieved. But I believe that I'll do it someday, so if it happens in two weeks or next week, then fantastic, and if it doesn't, then it's not going to be a big-time bummer whatsoever because I know I have plenty of opportunities.”

As for the pretty awful tee shot at Birkdale that got worse when it hit some poor person in the head and headed east of a dune prompting a 20-minute pause in the action?

Spieth now says the hideousness of the shot has been blown out of proportion. He's hit worse. Ron Green Jr. writing for Global Golf Post.

“I missed my right side of the fairway by 20 yards-ish and it hit the guy in the head and then went over the next mound. So essentially it was 20 yards offline. I hit balls further offline than that on a regular basis, but where it ended up and what it looked like compared to the fairway for viewership was way offline.  

“It really wasn’t that bad. I mean, it wasn’t a good shot. It was a foul ball to the right, but I need to back myself up here in saying that I’m capable of hitting worse shots than that, OK?”

He also discussed watching the final round with caddie Michael Greller. 

Trump Worries Scottish Independence Could End The British Open's Days In Scotland

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Now giggle all you want, but this actually raises a few key points in the Brexit/Scottish Independence/branding-the-British-Open-as-The-Open world we live in.

The July 25th comments of President Donald Trump to WSJ editor-in-chief Gerard Baker in the Oval Office that were not to be leaked by the WSJ staff, only to be leaked by the WSJ staff to Politico:

WSJ: You tweeted this morning about trade talks with Britain.
TRUMP: Yes.
WSJ: Can you tell us more about what’s going on?
TRUMP: No, but I can say that we’re going to be very involved with the U.K. I mean, you don’t hear the word Britain anymore. It’s very interesting. It’s like, nope.
WSJ: I work with a Brit.
BAKER: I’m English. We always make that point. You’re right, yeah.
TRUMP: Is Scotland going to go for the vote, by the way? You don’t see it. It would be terrible. They just went through hell.
BAKER: (Inaudible) – but they’re going to be –
TRUMP: They just went through hell.
BAKER: Besides, the first minister’s already made it clear she –
TRUMP: What do you think? You don’t think so, right?
BAKER: I don’t.
TRUMP: One little thing, what would they do with the British Open if they ever got out? They’d no longer have the British Open.

Priorities! Or, was the owner of a Scottish venue thinking of Trump Turnberry's spot in the Open rota? Anyway...

BAKER: [naudible.]
TRUMP: Scotland. Keep it in Scotland.
BAKER: We just had a – (inaudible).
TRUMP: By the way, are you a member there?
BAKER: No. I’ve played there, but I –
TRUMP: I thought that course showed well.
WSJ: It’s a gorgeous, gorgeous course.

Attention Royal Birkdale members: you have a blurb from the President who rarely dishes out such compliments to courses he does not own.

The two went on to discuss Jordan Spieth's win.

But this raises a few points both legitimate and humorous.

If Brexit goes forward and leads to Scotland trying again to break free from the rest of the United Kingdom, how would this impact The Open? They're already paying the purse in dollars, perhaps to avoid a Pound v. Euro battle?

And while it is the British Open to folks of a certain vintage, we do know The Open was started in Scotland, is governed by a Scotland-based organization, and could easily survive quite with only Scottish links if need be.

But I'm not going to be the one to tell the President this.

Romo Hit With Slow Play Penalty En Route To Western Cut Miss

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Former Cowboys QB and scratch golfer Tony Romo struggled in his Western Amateur debut, but the future CBS football analyst did struggle to keep pace, writes the Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein.

Romo beat only two of the 155 players who completed 36 holes, and he was assessed a one-stroke penalty Wednesday for slow play.

"He was very gracious about it," Western Golf Association tournament chief Vince Pellegrino said. "His group fell behind and missed two checkpoints. The others in the group did not receive a penalty. They made an effort to close the gap. Tony readily accepted it."

The WGA invited Romo to draw more eyes to the event and highlight the outstanding play of amateurs such as Florida State's John Pak, who shot a competitive course-record 63 on Wednesday, and Illinois' Nick Hardy.

Rory Didn't "Sack" His Looper..."Changed My Path"

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For once I admire someone leaning on euphemisms and jargon to defend a decision, because it's pretty clear from reading Steve DiMeglio's USA Today account that Rory McIlroy didn't feel good about firing longtime caddie J.P. Fitzgerald midseason.

From the story:

“There’s nothing to say that J.P. mightn’t work for me again at some point, but right now I just felt like I needed a little bit of a change,” McIlroy said. “I hate the term fired or sacked or axed, because that’s definitely not what it was. I just changed my path a little bit, but maybe in the future that path might come back to where it was. Right now I just needed to mix things up a little bit, and J.P. understood that and we’re still all good.”

Time will tell if, during a season he's mixed things up so much already, this was the right call.

Karen Crouse of the New York Times notes something that suggest McIlroy could be forcing himself into a different level of engagement that either works or backfires.

Last week, two days after finishing in a tie for fourth at the British Open, McIlroy parted with the caddie J. P. Fitzgerald. In their nine years together, Fitzgerald had shepherded McIlroy to four major championships and the top of the world rankings.

For at least the next two weeks, Diamond, a Northern Irishman who had a decorated amateur career, will carry McIlroy’s clubs while McIlroy bears the burden of determining the yardages and choosing his clubs — and living with the decisions.

“I’ve enjoyed the last couple of days of carrying a yardage book, doing my own numbers, pacing stuff out, really getting into the shot, something I haven’t done for a few years,” McIlroy said.

DVR Alert: Trevino & Nicklaus In 1974 PGA At Tanglewood

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As the PGA Championship returns to North Carolina for the first time in 33 years and just its third playing in the state, Golf's Greatest Rounds airs a 1974 final round rebroadcast.

Hugh Quinn filed this excellent primer three years ago on the 40th anniversary of Tanglewood's big moment.

Golf Channel airs the 2.5 hour show at 8:30 pm ET.

A preview:

Steph Curry After Practice Round: "My head was spinning"

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His odds of winning stink but the point of Steph Curry receiving a sponsor's invite to play the Ellie Mae Classic this week has little to do with winning.

Instead, for anyone sports fan, there is the incredible intrigue of seeing how one of the top three basketball players on the planet pursues his passion for golf against future PGA Tour pros on the Web.com Tour. Unfortunately, with too much golf on the schedule this week and the Web.com playing a traditional Thursday-Sunday tournament, we'll have to rely on Golf Central and social media for reports.

Either way, maybe seeing Curry discuss what he picked up during the practice round and his admiration for Nick Rousey that will help ease the pain for those grieving at the loss of a field spot and the child starvation that will inevitably ensue.

“Hickory makes it like a game again..."

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Finally catching up here on long reads and not surprisingly as a lover of hickories I thoroughly enjoyed Curt Sampson's Golf World story on the Americans traveling to Scotland for the Hickory Grail and Scottish Hickory Championship.

Maybe it's not quite Darwin playing the Walker Cup at The National Golf Links in 1922, but Sampson is an embedded contestant and does a fine job capturing the spirit of the trip along with the joys of hickory golf.

This band includes many recovering hickory players.

“December 2014,” said Mark Wehring, a Houston-based corporate compliance officer, and the best player among the American contingent.

Those weren’t dates of last drinks. Both Deinlein and Wehring had Tennent’s ale in their recent past and near future. They were instead the month and year they’d last hit a ball with what Ingvar Ritzen of Stockholm disparaged as “hollow clubs” (Ritzen joined the woodmen in 2011). Why, oh why, I asked, are you—all of us—making a hard game harder? Some pointed out recent offenses: the preposterous sight of a player looking at a topo map instead of the ground before a putt. How 460cc drivers obliterate the traditional size ratio of clubhead to ball. No matter how much bodacious Brooks Koepka’s biceps bulge, when an average drive in the U.S. Open is 392 yards, or whatever it was, something ain’t right. It’s time to turn back the clock, the uber-traditionalists agreed, to remember why the ancient Scots picked up a club in the first place.

“Hickory makes it like a game again,” said Carolyn Kirk, of Ganton, England, the lone woman on either Hickory Grail team. “You do it all by eye, you bump it in. You get huge pleasure when you hit a good shot and when you don’t, well, it’s a hard game anyway.”

Tiger's People: "Tiger is not in partnership with Mr. Trump or his organization and stating otherwise is absolutely wrong."

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As reported by Alan Shipnuck in a lengthy Sports Illustrated look at President Donald Trump's connections to golf, a purported comment to Bedminster members--"The White House is a real dump"--has been picked up by AP and many other news agencies.

More interesting of the many anecdotes and backstories is the distance Tiger's camp wants to have from the President. Damac Properties has commissioned Woods' design operation to do a course at Trump Dubai. 

Shipnuck writes:

The biggest name in golf is now linked to the President through the Trump World Golf Club Dubai, which is slated to open in 2018. "My father and Tiger have been friends for a long time," Eric Trump told Golf.com in a '16 interview. "They've been very, very close. When you combine Trump and Tiger, it's a match made in heaven." But in a statement to Golf.com, Woods's spokesman Glenn Greenspan wrote: "Tiger is not in partnership with Mr. Trump or his organization and stating otherwise is absolutely wrong. Tiger Woods Design's contract and obligation is to the developer, Damac Properties. Our association ends there. I can't put it any clearer than Tiger Woods Design does not have an agreement with Mr. Trump."

Deep breaths Glenn, he is, after all, President of the United States. Tiger played golf with him just last December!

And of course there are press releases.

Varner: "For only $100, I was able to purchase this junior membership to Gastonia."

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Harold Varner took to The Players Tribune to lament that the golf media asks him a bit too often about his race and not enough about what helped him make the PGA Tour. Though Varner could use a few FedExCup points this week.

The Akron, Ohio born golfer is playing his first WGC Bridgestone this week--and throws out a mean first pitch--but it was a program from his childhood in Gastonia, North Carolina that he wants golf to hear about. Oh sure, he mentions The First Tee but he most appreciates the ability to go to a golf course and bang balls.

Now, you may be thinking these summer playing privileges cost some crazy amount of money — that only rich kids would be able to do something like this. I mean, it’s a good enough deal to think that. But this program wasn’t really expensive at all: For only $100, I was able to purchase this junior membership to Gastonia.

It completely subverted the argument that you need to be rich to play this sport. It made playing golf extremely affordable.

That meant the world to my family. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was an incredible deal, not only for what it did for me then, but also what it’s still doing for me now. Without Gastonia, I would’ve never learned to play golf, would’ve never earned a scholarship to East Carolina University, would’ve never made my way onto the PGA Tour, would’ve never won in Australia last December and would’ve never been in a position to help bring more kids into the game.

"Stephen Curry, the golfer: As comfortable on links as on court"

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Steph Curry tees up in this week's Ellie May Classic, a Web.com Tour event and Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle profiles the basketball stars' passion for golf.

Kroichick writes:

In competing against those players for the first time, Curry will climb into uncharted territory. This is completely different than his good-natured outings with famous friends, from former President Barack Obama and Michael Jordan to Tom Brady and Justin Timberlake.

Last month, during the American Century Championship, a celebrity tournament near South Lake Tahoe, Curry at various times played alongside Timberlake and NFL quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Tony Romo (since retired). Their rounds included several playful moments, such as Curry catching footballs thrown by Rodgers and Romo.

Beneath the frivolity, Curry took his golf seriously. He shot a final-round 68, the best score any player posted in the three-day event, and finished fourth in a field of 89.