Brandon Stone On Winning Scottish Open On A Links

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South African and former University of Texas golfer Brandon Stone's final round 60 at Gullane was something, but his post-round comments were particularly enjoyable. 

This on winning at a links course was fun:

I mean I'm going to be brutally honest. I don't think I made a cut on a links golf course in my entire career. Maybe the Open last year. But growing up I always struggled to move the ball way too much in the air. Used to play quite a big draw. Couldn't really move it left to right under pressure or in some strong winds, so the work that we've done just got everything a lot more neutral. The swing and the rhythm felt spectacular today. And yeah, I think the changes that we made, although it was extremely frustrating, you know, when you make those team changes and you're not quite getting the results that you're after and you feel like you're close, but every week you're kind of being kicked down, kicked down like you feel like you're getting two steps forward and three steps back, to sit here now on a Sunday afternoon, with a trophy two feet away from me, knowing that I was the best player in Scotland this week is something I hold very dear to my heart.

Rickie On How Slow Greens Reward Better Putting

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Picking up where he left off here at Gullane, Rickie Fowler opened with a 64 in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open. 

In my item for Golfweek, take note of his comments on how slower greens actually bring out more putting skill. 

Good bulletin board stuff for courses chasing Stimpmeter speeds thinking they are making their course a better test of skill!

Video: Golfers Return To Edinburgh Castle!

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Not since that golfing-rebel Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to her only child there have such famous links-lovers turned up at Edinburgh Castle, set up for the annual Military Tattoo. 

Very nice turnout of players and fans for this European Tour promotional event:

The 2018 Ryder Cup Course Is Showing A Bias You Won't Believe (At Least If You're Of A Certain Vintage)

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If you're of a certain vintage, you'll remember it wasn't long ago U.S. Ryder Cup captains wanted narrower fairways and thick rough to reward their more accurate-driving group while penalizing the swashbuckling Euros. 

Those who recall that line of course setup-thinking will get a nice chuckle reading Alistair Tait's look at what the Europeans have previewed at Le Golf National last week in advance of this fall's Ryder Cup. 

“The old theory is tight and scruffy,” said Graeme McDowell, one of Bjorn’s five vice captains and a two-time French Open winner. “I paced off the width of the seventh fairway at 270 yards off the tee, and it was only 18 yards wide.

“They (the U.S.) set their courses up wide with semi-rough and middle-of-the-green pins for a birdie fest. We always like to set it up a little tighter and a little tougher and maybe not having the greens quite as fast. Does it (Le Golf National) favor our guys more than theirs? We think it does.”

Trophy Roundup: Molinari Cruises In The National, Park Takes The LPGA, U.S. Senior Open Goes To Toms, Noren Wins The French Open

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What an impressive win by Francesco Molinari to take the Quicken Loans National by eight over Ryan Armour. He was joined by tournament host Tiger Woods to hoist one of the best trophies in golf, and possibly the last one to be given out. Dan Kilbridge on the 35-year-old's win and the first on the PGA Tour by an Italian born player since Tony Penna. 

Someone at the LPGA Tour must be low on Titleist's, with a double mention to our friends in Fairhaven upon Sung Hyun Park winning the KPMG LPGA Championship in a playoff over Soyeon Ryu.

Beth Ann Nichols with the Golfweek game story on changes the 24-year-old made this week to help improve her putting and win a major. 

David Toms held off a strong contingent of pursuers to win his first U.S. Senior Open, as this AP game story explains.

Alex Noren will have plenty of good vibes for the this fall's Ryder Cup after winning the HNA French Open at Le Golf Nationale where the matches will be played.

Alistair Tait explains how the Swede came from seven back to win his 10th European Tour title.

The happiest man in France 🏆😁🤳🏼 #HNAOpenDeFrance #RolexSeries

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The Final Numbers Are In: Faster And Better Play) In Shot Clock Masters!

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I didn't see much coverage of the final Shot Clock Masters numbers, so here they are from the European Tour.

Note the scoring improvement...

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European Tour Chief Keith Pelley talked about the response of players, social media and referees:

Stop This Clinical Study Now And Save Critical Time! The Promising Shot Clock Masters Early Results

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We’ve all heard of those drug studies proving so effective that clinical trials are stopped midway and the most dire cases are allowed to receive the new, revolutionary remedy. 

Pro golf has been on a slow play sick bed for too long.  But after just one round of the Austrian Open/aka Shot Clock Masters, the results speak volumes: as much as 55 minutes faster than the typical European Tour three-ball, rounds 19 minutes faster than the allotted time and no apparent decline in the quality of play. 

The European Tour employed 24 rules officials—the biggest logistical impediment to making shot clocks permanent—who did not hand out a single violation in round one.

Players, as Dylan Dethier notes for Golf.com, are giving positive reviews both on-site or via social media. 

Best of all, while watching there appears to be no sense of gimmickry or a compromise in quality. Just a better flow and a reminder of faster days. 

Time Is Of The Essence: Shot Clock Masters Preview And Primer

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The European Tour's Austrian Open is the "shot clock Masters" and it could not come at a better time for golf, as players bog down for reasons both legit (backups due to reachable par-5s) and not so legit (they take forever and don't play ready golf). 

Here are the five things you must know about this event according to the European Tour.

Essentially you need to know this: 50 seconds to hit a shot, 40 if you are the second or third in a group to play. You have two timeouts to call in case you need extra time.  Otherwise, penalty strokes will be flying.

MorningRead.com's Adam Schupak talked to Keith Pelley about the origin of this idea and to some players who are for the Slow Play Masters, and some against it.

So, Pelley canvassed his players with a simple two-question survey. First question: Do you think slow play is a problem on the European Tour?

"If you answered ‘no,’ the survey was over," Pelley said. "But if you answered ‘yes,’ you got one more question."

Do you want the European Tour to act seriously on curbing this challenge?

Within two days, 70 percent of the membership had responded in favor of taking action.

"We need to try and modernize our game," Pelley said. "The millennials have an attention span of 12 seconds. The Gen Z have an attention span of eight seconds. We're living in a society that is completely different, and I think every game and every sport and every business is looking to modernize themselves, and if you don't, then you run the risk of falling behind."

Matt Adams and I discussed on this week's Alternate Shot:

Don't Try This At Home Files: Pieters Snaps Club Around (His) Neck

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Actually, don't snap a club around anyone's neck, kids. 

Good to see he's mellowing with age.

From round four of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

First, the Sky Sports version...

Lerner with the nice pun on Golf Channel's coverage...

Lahinch! 2019 Irish Open Headed To The Historic Links

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The race to secure the most exotic venues for European Tour events continues, as Lahinch was announced as the 2019 Irish Open site by host that year's host, Paul McGinley. Crossing fairways, a blind par-3, Old Tom, MacKenzie and goats, what's not to love?

Simon Lewis's Irish Examiner reports quotes Lahinch general manager Paddy Keane saying that McGinley was instrumental in the course landing the Irish Open.

“Paul’s introduction to Lahinch was caddying for his father (Mick) in the South of Ireland, he broke 80 for the first time on the Castle Course here. Then he came and played himself in the South and won it in 1991. That got him his place in the Walker Cup and that ultimately gave him the opportunity to turn pro.”

It was a return visit to Lahinch last year that Keane believes put the Old Course, whose architects since 1894 have included Old Tom Morris, Alister MacKenzie, and Martin Hawtree, firmly in McGinley’s thoughts when he was asked to consider possible host venues for the Irish Open.

“He came back for our 125th-anniversary celebrations last year when we hosted a day for our past South of Ireland champions."

Jason Scott Deegan with the GolfAdvisor wrap up on all you need to know regarding a popular golf trip destination.

Ran Morrissett's GolflClubAtlas.com review from 2003.

It takes a while to get going but the wait is worth it to see the aerial flyovers in this 125th anniversary video.

Kinnings Named European Tour Deputy CEO And Ryder Cup Director

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Replacing the retiring and superb Richard Hill, the European Tour has named longtime IMG agent Guy Kinnings their Deputy CEO and Ryder Cup Director.

Kinnings was a candidate for the Chief Executive job race ultimately won by Keith Pelley, making the appointment a tad eye-opening. As Golfweek's Alistair Tait notes, this positions Kinnings to be the next European Tour head.

Kinnings’ appointment should provide a seamless future for the Tour when Pelley moves on. The Canadian hasn’t averaged long in his previous roles with Rogers Media, Canada’s Olympic broadcast media consortium and the Toronto Argonauts. Pelley was challenged at two board meetings last year about his long-term future with the tour, amid concerns his tenure was going to be shorter rather than longer.

Trying To Find A Positive In The Mostly Loathsome GolfSixes...

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On the golf desperation scale from 1 to Live Under Par, the second UK playing of GolfSixes registered a solid 8.  

There was the entrance smoke.

The mascot playing becoming a human bouncey house as key final day development.

The children on the tee feeling suspiciously like they’d been coached to generate excitement.

The overall agony of having the telecast playing with volume of any kind. 

Et. cetera.

Year two of this innovation all added up to a well-intentioned but at-times embarrassing effort to reach new audiences. 

As with most of these attempts to show the advertisers that golf has shed the dreaded rich old demographic for the one that either can’t or won’t pay for anything, GolfSixes empties the bucket of "fun" ideas. The ”greensomes” team format seeks to replicate Twenty20 from cricket and make golf cool, fun and watchable. In other words, it’s another well-intentioned effort to speed up a game that has become a slog, with telecasts that can’t do much about the pace and often all-day sensibility of our sport.

But the combination of unheard-ofs, the excess of forcing elements for the sake of doing something different and the gratuitous attempt to have kids hit shots to let the precious little ones know they are part of the proceedings, added up to some of the worst professional golf “product” imaginable. 

Simply unveiling the event's fresh format would have been enough innovation. But it’s all the other nonsense added on that announces to the world: golf is not comfortable enough in its skin. Oh, and the sport has not done much about the swollen scale of the sport so this is how we remedy that issue. 

The latter problem is not European Tour Chief Keith Pelley’s fault. He and the team are trying their best to liven things up.  They are just trying too hard.

Alistair Tait of Golfweek did find one positive in all of this: the quarterfinal appearances by the teams of Charley Hull and Georgia Hall and Mel Reid and Carlota Ciganda may inch closer to a legitimate format that combines men’s and women’s combined team play in a professional event.

That’s the kind of novelty GolfSixes should focus on going forward. If it goes forward. 

Pepperell: Should Golf Change With The Times?

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Recent tournament winner Eddie Pepperell's latest blog entry rightfully questions whether golf (and his European Tour) should be adapting to a changing (and unhealthy) society by trying to shorten, speed-up and coolify the golf experience.

As always, I urge you to read the entire piece for context and to understand his premise, but I think it's well worth you time.  But a sampling:

All of these things I believe have huge potential in dealing with chronic illnesses, whether that be physical or mental. I would imagine golf as a form of healing from depression could be enormous due to what I’ve outlined above. Plus, why change a sport to simply ‘conform’ to what we believe society ‘wants.’ Conformity is boring, each sport is different in its nature and we should celebrate that, not the opposite.

When it comes to the changes we can make as professional golfers to ensure the viewing experience is better, I do believe like many others that there are things that can be done. We should be making an example of players taking way too long to hit simple shots. We shouldn’t be advocating pre shot routines where you close your eyes, breathe slowly and pretend to be a Power Ranger. Golf can be played faster at tournament level, as well as club level. But it can never be played in 2 hours. And I don’t want golf to change itself in such a way to make that possible. I think it would ultimately be a bad move for the game and risk dilution, the same way Cricket has done.

Chief Executive Keith Pelley will not be calling on Pepperell to helm any of his cutting edge initiatives anytime soon.

We may currently have an ‘image problem’ in golf, but we don’t need to add schizophrenia to that. 40 second shot clocks may reduce a round of golf to 4 hours from 4 hours 30 minutes in a 3-Ball, but that’s still 4 hours, and in my opinion that’s not enough of a change to direct attention away from our sport being ‘too slow.’