U.S. Women's Amateur: San Diego Kicks Off SoCal USGA Swing

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Tod Leonard previews the U.S. Women's Amateur at San Diego Country Club.

This kicks off what figures to be a fun swing of national championships and a Walker Cup in southern California over the next month or so.

While the wives of country club members once were prominent in the Women’s Am — partly because until 1979 only those who belonged to country clubs could enter — it now mostly serves as a high-level competition for the young. There are 108 women this year in the bracket of 16- to 20-year-olds.

Youth was served last year when 16-year-old Eun Jeong Seong of the Republic of Korea defeated 19-year-old Virginia Elena Carta of Italy. Seong became the youngest player to win three USGA championships, though she chose not to defend the Women’s Am this year.

While Riviera and Los Angeles Country Club will get the majority of the attention, San Diego CC is a much-beloved course that has produced two legends, notes John Strege for Golf World.

When one enters the clubhouse, the Billy Casper Grill is on the right, the Mickey Wright Lounge on the left.

No other operating club in the U.S. likely has spawned two greater champions than Wright and Casper, each of whom were members in their youth, while Casper remained a member until his death. Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson were both products of Glen Garden Golf & Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, but the club went out of business a few years ago.

Wright and Casper are both World Golf Hall of Fame members.

Fox Sports 1 will cover matches beginning with Wednesday play, airing the action from 6-9 pm ET through Friday. Weekend windows are 7-10 pm ET Saturday and 4-7 pm ET Sunday.

NY Times: "You Can Always Get a Tee Time, but Turning a Profit Can Be Tricky"

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Paul Sullivan uses his NY Times Wealth Matters column to talk to a nice range of golf course developers, including Warren Stephens at Alotian Club and Paul Schock of Prairie Club. The topic? The costs and perils of buying or building a golf course.

Most of the stories end on a positive note, but not after cautionary tales about spending.

This from Chip Smith, who bought the TPC Myrtle Beach but later sold it to Chinese investors in 2014.

But last year, when he and a partner, Doug Marty, bought a course in Florida, Wellington National, he said he realized just how much money it could cost to turn around a course and make it profitable.

“We went into that one and evaluated the facilities and the golf course,” Mr. Smith said. “It was by far the worst one I’d ever seen in terms of being open and playable but being in awful condition. Doug likes to say we went in with an unlimited budget and exceeded that.”

They shut the club for a year of renovations. It has now reopened and started to attract members. The two partners are betting that it can attract members from the surrounding equestrian community and nearby Palm Beach.

But recouping their investment will take time. The initiation fee is $7,500 and annual dues are $6,750, comparatively modest in an area where $50,000 and $100,000 initiation fees are common

Rory Ready For Quail Hollow? Averages 328.7 At Firestone

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I know, I know, the the ball just rolled forever at Firestone and those Trackman carry numbers CBS showed us were just made up.

Still, it was fun to see seven players get their season driving distance total over the 300 yard average plateau following play at Firestone and Reno. That makes 40 players averaging over 300 yards on the PGA Tour.

Just think, only one player did that in 2000. But these guys eat carrots, broccoli and do four minute planks! I know, I know.

I have to say though in the world of astounding distance numbers, Rory McIlroy's numbers were particularly wild at the 2017 WGC Bridgestone, notes Golf.com's Golf Wire.

McIlroy awed the golf world with his driving capabilities at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational this week, and for good reason: 52 of his 56 tee balls (non par-3s) traveled farther than 300 yards. (And one that came up short was only 298.)

Of course, he ranked first in driving distance this week, averaging 328.7 yards off the tee—almost 10 yards more than Jason Day, who ranked second at 319.2 yards.

Naturally he needs to find some magic on the Quail Hollow greens, but with his distance spiking at the right time, it's hard to discount the mojo factor for someone who feeds off of overpowering a course.

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.