Weekend Trophy Roundup: Fitzpatrick Wins, Danes Take World Amateur Team Championship

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We don't have a BMW Championship winner with the event attempting a Monday finish due to inclement weather, making for a light week when the LPGA, PGA Tour Champions and Web.com Tour were all dark.

Which reminds me, those three all finished events last Sunday instead of Labor Day Monday. With the PGA Tour vacating that day in 2019, maybe we can stagger some of those finishes next year?

Here is Alistair Tait on Fitzpatrick's win, just a hair late for this year's Ryder Cup consideration.

In addition to the trophy shot, Fitzpatrick posted this sweet shot capturing the majestic locale:

Captain Thomas Bjorn loves seeing his countrymen winning the World Amateur Team Championship over the Americans. A harbinger of Ryder Cup fortune? Here is Pete Kowalski's story on the win and USA runner-up finish.

The runner-ups from America:

He's Back! Master Club-Breaker Pieters Expresses His Artistry, Again

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There is no modern artist quite like Thomas Pieters when it comes to breaking clubs. The power, the clarity of purpose...breathtaking in its global golf singularity.

While today's Omega European Masters effort featured no disposal into gorse, the speed and efficiency is admirable. Unless you expect to run into Pieters in a dark alley. 

Kevin Casey with the backstory and previous single releases by Pieters.

At this pace a greatest hits collection could be released by Fall of '19!

(Also note the casualness of the three-footer he made for quad). 

Golf's Annual List Of Overpaid Non-Profit Executives Is Out!

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As we near the final quarter of 2018, Golf Digest has compiled the salaries of golf leaders from 2015, the most recent year posted on various Form 990s. Tack on a safe 10% since and you can visualize how much golf's non-profit leaders are making.

John Paul Newport was charged with making sense of the numbers and noted the spike down in Ponte Vedra, but as he points out it's a large operation generating revenue on many fronts compared to other golf organizations making most of their money off one or two major tournaments. 

If Davis and his colleagues in golf's top nonprofit jobs deserve what they earn, why the big jump in pay for PGA Tour executives? Primarily because, practically speaking, the tour functions more like an entertainment business than a trade association.

PGA Tour Inc. qualifies as a nonprofit because it exists not to make money for itself or for owners and shareholders, of which there are none, but primarily to organize, support and create opportunities for its members, independent contractors that we commonly refer to as tour pros.

Eh eh, that's TOUR.

Anyway, the real standouts on this year's list include Mike Whan crossing the two commas line, a bevy of PGA of America C-level salaries climbing nicely, the NGF's Joe Beditz raking in $448k and of course, AJGA head Stephen Hamblin making over $500k now. Who knew junior golf could be so lucrative? Oh right, we learn that around this time every year. 

What To Make Of The Mixed PGA Tour Playoff Ratings News?

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Maybe the numbers do not matter with the PGA Tour Playoffs(C) moving to a late-August finish in 2019. Or perhaps a couple of golf-loving Nielsen viewers took the family to the Catskills Northern Trust Open weekend. 

Either way, with Tiger Woods lingering around and getting lots of coverage, the Northern Trust saw a drop in ratings while Labor Day's final Dell Technologies saw a nice boost from Woods. 

From Paulsen at Sports Media Watch:

Final round coverage of the PGA Tour Northern Trust, the first event of the PGA Tour playoffs, earned a 1.9 rating and 2.75 million viewers on CBS Sunday — down 10% in ratings and 12% in viewership from last year (2.1, 3.14M) but up a tick and 5% respectively from 2016 (1.8, 2.63M).

The news was better for Monday's final round at the TPC Boston, where a 2.1 rating was up 8% from 2017 on Tiger's back. The Monday coverage also faced little competition, again making it an attractive coverage day for some other tour to jump on now that the PGA Tour is abandoning Labor Day Monday's going forward. 

Paulsen also updates his Woods Effect numbers from the season with the Northern Trust being just the second tournament to not see an increase. Lead-in numbers are included for Golf Channel and those are also huge, with the 1.34 million average audience for Sunday's coverage. 

Tiger Shoots 62 Day After Skipping Pro-Am...

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A permanent lifetime exemption from pro-ams is in order, no?

From Ryan Lavner's GolfChannel.com item after Tiger Woods opened the BMW Championship with a 62, tying Rory McIlroy for the lead and continuing to progress in his return from back surgery.

“I needed it,” he said Thursday. “I really did. I’ve played a lot of golf in the last six weeks, and I needed a day off to recover and make sure I was fresh today.”

To pass the time Wednesday, Woods said he went to the gym, received treatment and watched “a lot” of U.S. Open tennis. He felt even better about his decision when the temperatures soared over 90 degrees, and Hideki Matsuyama and a couple of caddies had to pull out of the pro-am because of heat exhaustion.

Of course there was also the Scotty Cameron coming off the 60-day DL that might have helped, too, as Tiger noted after the round. 

Cart Girls Put On Notice: Golf Course Instituting Food Delivery By Drone

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CNN's Matt McFarland repots that King's Walk GC in Grand Forks, North Dakota will be selling food starting September 15th. The bad news? It could snow two weeks later. 

Anyway, the folks behind it feel the order-by-phone, deliver-by-drone option could add a cool and fun factor that will keep golfers coming back. 

Like many golf courses, an employee roams the area in a beverage cart. But on busy days, players might wait as long as an hour before having the chance to buy something. Yes, they can duck into the restaurant positioned midway through the 18 holes, but the course and its partners say that's a bit much to ask in today's age of instant gratification. 

"Wherever you are, you should be able to get what you want within a few minutes," Yariv Bash, CEO of FlyTrex, the Israeil drone logistics startup operating the service, told CNNMoney. "Why wait?" 

Looks pretty swell!

Rick Reilly's Trump Book Coming In May...

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Because this is the wonderful world of book publishing, it has a cover but the book won't be out until May 2019.

What could happen between now and then? What could happen between today and Friday? 

Anyway, USA Today's Adam Woodard on Rick Reilly signing a book deal for Commander In Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump. 

The two do have a history, as Woodard notes...

Reilly has written numerous books, including a handful about golf, such as 2003's Who's Your Caddy, where he details a round in which he caddied for Trump.

393! Maurice Allen Avoids Hitting Any Of Those Killer Bugs, Wins World Long Drive

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There is a golf ball there...amidst the bugs. Or are they bats? Or night-flying raptors?

There is a golf ball there...amidst the bugs. Or are they bats? Or night-flying raptors?

A year after an early elimination when he was a World Long Drive favorite, Maurice Allen returned to Winstar resort and battled some of Oklahoma's largest insects to hit a 393-yarder to edge Justin Moose in the 2018 World Long Drive. Allen's long drive came on his eighth and final shot. 

On the women's side, Phyllis Meti beat Chloe Garner for her third World Long Drive title. 

Allen's final shot might have you playing the ball a bit more forward next time you tee it up. You might also throw in some extra bug spray for that trip to Winstar. 

Will Garcia's Selection Damage European Tour Loyalty?

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The role of Ryder Cup experience will forever be debated after players are selected by Captain's because of strong event pedigree.  In the most recent case by Thomas Bjorn in selecting Paul Casey, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Sergio Garcia for the 2018 Ryder Cup team, the struggles at Hazeltine of Darren Clarke's rookies may have played a role.

As Ryan Lavner points out in this commentary on the overrated nature of experience, that was a road game. Furthermore, as Lavner notes with recent records, younger nerves have come through under recent (and intense) Ryder Cup pressure.

The Bjorn pick stands out most is Garcia's selection in the midst of a poor year by his consistently-high standards. 

Rafa Cabrera Bello, 29th in the world and heating up again after seemingly a team lock early in the year, was passed over despite still having an outside shot to win the FedExCup, as Zac Elkin writes. He was undefeated as a Ryder Cup rookie, has a impressive 15-7-1 match play record and is one of Europe's top 10 players based on world rankings. 

As Alistair Tait points out, three-time European Tour winner Matt Wallace also has reason to be upset at his omission, writing that "Bjorn has taken a huge gamble on Garcia, one that could hinder Europe’s chances of winning the Ryder Cup."

Garcia, and to a lesser extent Stenson, will ultimately determine the wisdom of Bjorn's strategy. (Casey and Poulter seem to be unanimously well received selections.)

The greater concern for Europe should be what this says to younger players and those attempting to be loyal to the European Tour.

Rafa logged 9 starts on the tour in 2018, not including World Golf Champioships and majors. 

Another contender for the team, Matthew Fitpatrick, made 7 European Tour non-major/WGC starts but is leaving for the PGA Tour.

Wallace has made 18 non-major/WGC European Tour starts in 2018. Despite three wins, he was 13th on the European Tour points list. Perhaps his inconsistency this year, coupled with an MC at the French Open proved fatal. But he also birdied 7 of the last 8 holes in front of Bjorn at the Made in Denmark event, then won a four-man playoff in a last minute bid. 

Meanwhile, Garcia has posted just 3 non-major/WGC European Tour starts in 2018 and several other numbers are not helping his cause. 

While the Ryder Cup team should not be filled out by those loyal to the European Tour, the Bjorn decision could have ramifications into the future.

Given the 2018 European team's emphasis on PGA Tour-based members and the strange point totals not benefitting European Tour play, the deck looks more stacked than ever against those loyal to Europe. Bjorn's pick could provide one more reason a European packs their bag and makes a go of things in America. Or, at the very least, give players a case to chase World Ranking points and money over loyalty to their home tour. Because it's clear Ryder Cup brownie points were not earned this year for showing loyalty to the European Tour.

BMW Championship: First Look At The Restored Aronimink

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In the seven years since the PGA Tour visited Aronimink, the club has shed the architecture firm that gets shed a lot from classic courses--Fazio and friends--hired Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, and embraced its Donald Ross roots.

Jim McCabe with a PGATour.com primer on the place that will also hold a PGA Championship next decade (2027). 

But for now, it's the BMW Championship, which also means the preferred carmaker of No Laying Up has led to this fine piece on how the course has evolved since we last saw it.

Better Get A 747: Captain Furyk Adds Three Players And Three More (Egads) Vice Captains

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We all knew Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau were going to be picked for the 2018 Ryder Cup squad on Tuesday. Golfweek's Dan Kilbridge reports.

The real shocker: three more vice captains were added to the two in place. Not only does this add more weight to the flight overseas when you include the cart drivers for the VC's, the WAG's for all and various cart drivers for the cart drivers, but this also declares the end of Matt Kuchar and Zach Johnson's Ryder Cup careers along with David Duval's 2018 Ryder Cup broadcasting work.

I know what you're thinking: five vice captains seems excessive when you add on previously-announced VC's Davis Love and Steve Stricker, while subtracting now-former VC Tiger Woods, who moves to a full time player role.

Consider this:

--There is now one cart driver for every four PGA of America board members who will be lingering dangerously by the lavatories for the flight overseas, eager for an autographs, selfies or stories to tell the folks back home. Zach Johnson is a man who can stop a burly PGA blowhard from interfering with Bryson's sleep! 

--One VC for every C-level title at the PGA of America who will, unfortunately, try to share their thoughts on pairings, uniforms, inspiration speech lineups and Heaven knows what else they do in full-fledged hanger-on roles.

--One VC for every two USA players, if you subtract Tiger and Phil, who don't need no stinkin' VC's.  After all, they're Task Force VC's for life and likely captains in 2022 and 2024!

--The IFB industry rejoices, as does the golf cart maker charged with creating the custom shuttle-friendly rides that Mssrs. Love, Stricker, Kuchar, Johnson and Duval will tootle around in.

--Sea Island traffic. With three VC's from the greater Sea Island area, look for less time spent trying to turn into The Cloisters for the M-F evening 50% off Happy Hour!

The only real fun in the announcement press conference--embarrassingly light on attendance and questions since everyone knew who was getting picked and there was nothing new to ask--was Tiger's fun dance around the VC discussion over his selection, reports GolfChannel.com's Nick Menta.

Regarding Duval, who has never been given cart keys before after his criticism over Ryder Cup pay, is now seen as a contributor after his 2016 speech at Hazeltine following an on-air tiff with Brandel Chamblee, as reported by John Feinstein. 

Menta reports on Duval's belief that he can do more than just shuttle WAG's around Le Golf National and actually influence pairings. 

Bryson handled the trio's selfie duties:

‪We’ll see you in Paris!🇺🇸🇺🇸‬

A post shared by Ryder Cup USA (@rydercupusa) on

Live Under Par (Error) Files: Does Bryson Have Air Tolerance Issues?

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Since rolling out the Live Under Par campaign, the PGA Tour's social accounts have relentlessly pushed the cumbersome and vapid slogan on nearly every post at the expense of hashtags that might prove useful. Or even promotional ones for a company (#Fedexcup) ponying up millions of dollars to support the #playoffs.

The doltishness behind the Live Under Par effort and that has overtaken PGA Tour social media accounts, including forcing players to pose with any animal within fifty miles of a tournament venue in the name of likes, took on a new level of silliness today.  

Apparently, Bryson DeChambeau has a complicated relationship with the air he breathes. 

The PGA Tour posted an incorrectly transcribed quote with the word air supplementing "error" in sharing a Bryson DeChambeau quote following Monday's Dell Technologies win. Perhaps this was a subtle message from social media workers tired of living under water--where I hear air is limited--but multiple sources have confirmed to this website that Bryson said the word error, was understood by most who were listening to be using the word error, and has no known sensitivities to oxygen, clearing the way for him to be a Captain's pick on the 2018 Ryder Cup team. 

Now, mistakes are made all of the time, especially on this website, and transcripts are tricky business. Still, at some point the combination of reader feedback and the overall notion of struggling for air, probably should have gotten someone's attention once this went live.  Yet even after many users corrected the PGA Tour in the Instagram comments section, the post remains in place for 3 hours now without correction, as does the original transcript with the air, err...error.

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It might be wise for the PGA Tour to remove the post and apologize to DeChambeau, who has been lambasted in the comments section for his sensitivity to air. 

The Only Drama For Furyk: Who Not To Announce (Yet) As His Fourth Captain's Pick?

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Tiger's putting has been a little off but he continues to post low scores, Phil just shot 63 and thinks he's found something. He also talking like someone who knows he's going to be picked.

In the non-legend division, Bryson DeChambeau's play has been incredible and needs no further explanation. That leaves Tony Finau as the most likely fourth pick based on his continued strong play, though the chance for a political or golf course driven selection is still out there.

Finau is pretty bullish on his game and chances, writes GolfChannel.com's Will Gray.

Though as we discussed on Morning Drive today, there seems to be consensus about the picks. The only question now: who doesn't get the nod Tuesday at 5 pm ET (Golf Channel) when the first three are announced. The fourth-and-final will come after this week's BMW Championship. 

DeChambeau Takes First Two Playoff Events, Prepares From Coming Algorithmic Setback

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The Reset Cup has long been a silly way to decide $10 million and will continue the silliness this year now that Bryson DeChambeau has won the first two legs of the playoffs. As Will Gray notes for GolfChannel.com, DeChambeau could WD from the BMW and still have the top seed heading to Atlanta. 

But not before the algorithms work their misery and chop back the excellence cushion he's built for the sake of one last confusing points battle until a new format is unveiled next year.  DeChambeau is taking the mathematic shenanigans in stride:

“Look, if a guy wins the first three playoff events, if that was ever to happen, you’re still not guaranteed to win the FedExCup,” he said. “So this week – it’s funny I say that – this week I’ve got to regroup, sit down, analyze what we could have done better out here and make those changes for next week so I can perform at a better level.”

Or, take the week off and not lose any advantage while catching up on your beloved sleep! Come on, you know you want to Bryson!

On a serious note, DeChambeau is a budding superstar and one of the game's elite players at 25, writes David Dusek for Golfweek. 

The highlights of a bittersweet day where TPC Boston says goodbye to annual hosting duties on Labor Day weekend, to be replaced by a biennial Northern Trust Open hosting in early August.

Video: New Angle, New Camera View Of Hatton's 18th Hole Near Hole-Out

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Here was the original shot and replay from NBC posted by the PGA Tour if you didn't see Tyrrell Hatton's Sunday shot:

But the angle you have to see aired on Monday's Dell Technologies final round telecast from TPC Boston. Stay with this super slow-mo, ground level doozy.  (Apologies for this version but I could not find a cleaner one on the PGA Tour, Golf Channel or NBC Sports accounts):