DJ And Brooks Are Like Brothers...Who Took A Cab Ride After “It” Happened

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And now back to the mysterious saga of Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka in 2018’s huge box office dud, Venom In Versailles.

From Will Gray’s GolfChannel.com account of Jim Furyk’s post-Ryder Cup interview, namely an alleged incident involving Johnson and Koepka that Koepka said did not happen:

And while Furyk reiterated the close relationship between the two friends, he also seemed to imply that some sort of incident, however minor, did occur.

"Whatever altercation started, or what happened, it was very brief. It was very short. Neither one of them really took anything out of it," Furyk said. "They're like brothers. Brothers may argue, brothers get into it. But they're as close as they've ever been, and it really had no effect on either one of them."

There was also this from Rosaforte’s questioning, transcribed for those who didn’t watch Morning Drive:

Whatever altercation started what happened was very brief and was very short. Neither one of them really took anything out of it. In fact they both hopped in a cab not long after that and went out together for a little while, woke up in the morning like nothing happened. So in their minds it was a non-issue and really like they are like brothers. So brothers may argue, get into it, but they are close as they’ve ever been.

I can attest that Versailles on a Sunday night is as about as wild and crazy as it gets on the nightlife front. There are both Uber and taxi drivers out and about.

So I’m sure Brooks and DJ had the time of their lives fleeing the European team celebration. Still, such a detail suggests that claims of media-conjured news appear inaccurate. At least, if Jim Furyk is to be believed.

Launch Angle Golf: A Deeper Dive On Cameron Champ's Numbers

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On the list of all the horrible things about “wraparound” season golf, I’d rank the inability to savor the season high up there. In the ShotLink era we have so many stats to potentially dig into and study before the season restarts—if this were a normal sport.

But the PGA Tour would dive into the shallow end of an empty pool for a buck and so we have year-round golf. Yet that didn’t stop GolfDigest.com’s Alex Myers from highlighting Cameron Champ’s incredible driving distance and clubhead speed numbers from the recently completed Web.com Tour season. Champ also continued to separate himself in his 2018-19 PGA Tour debut start at the Safeway.

What really caught my eye though was this from Myers on how Champ is essentially taking the same approach as many baseball players today, emphasizing launch over placement. The strokes-gained stat says it’s working for Champ.

Champ only hit 50 percent of his fairways (88th in the field), but still led the field in strokes gained: off-the-tee. In other words, Cameron Champ's driver might be the most effective — and fun to watch — weapon on the PGA Tour this season.

Now whether it’s fun to see someone play bomb-and-gouge golf is very much open to debate. But the numbers don’t lie: if you can hit it that far and they don’t have Le Golf National rough, it’s the best way to attack a course.

The USGA/R&A Statement of Principles railed against this kind of thing back in 2002. Maybe one of these days they’ll read that again and decide to act.

The Kids Today Files: JT Says "Zero Percent Chance" Of Watching Tiger v. Phil

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I’m not normally one to say today’s players owe eternal loyalty to Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson for the purses they play for. Even though Tiger and Phil have pledged allegiance to Arnold Palmer for the chance to profit off of golf when as a case could be made that Walter Hagen and Old Tom Morris put up with a lot more nonsense to make pro golf cool.

Either way, point is, anyone playing for $7 million a week who couldn’t draw a gallery of 200 on his own, should probably show some respect for his elders who have broader appeal.

Which brings us to Justin Thomas, incidentally represented by Tiger’s firm.

Brentley Romine with the cringeworthy Twitter reply about watching The Match between Woods and Mickelson.

"Now, the Americans need to copy Europe one more time and learn how to lose with grace, dignity and class."

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Tough stuff from John Feinstein directed at Team USA following the Ryder Cup and especially toward Phil Mickelson, a future captain.

From his Golf World column:

If you look closely at what the Task Force did after the 2014 matches it really came down to this: It recommended copying everything Europe had been doing for years in terms of selecting captains and vice-captains and took the selection of the captain out of the hands of the PGA President and put it into the hands of the players.

All good.

Now, the Americans need to copy Europe one more time and learn how to lose with grace, dignity and class. Being bad losers is the one aspect of the Ryder Cup the Americans seem—sadly—to have mastered.

Furyk: Reed Pairing With Tiger Was No Surprise, Not Jordan's Doing

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There is much to unpack in Jim Furyk’s sitdown with Golf Channel’s Tim Rosaforte, from the Captain’s Patrick Reed pushback to the state of the Bash Brothers to Phil Mickelson’s bizarro last minute swing mechanics tune-up explaining his appearance in foursomes play.

Ever the gentleman, Furyk is at least starting to admit a few things related to the 2018 Ryder Cup. The first big ticket item: Reed had no reason to suggest surprise, shock or secrecy in getting a coupling with Tiger Woods and had nothing to do with Reed’s claim of a Jordan Spieth-led conspiracy to avoid him.

Instead, things changed when Tiger went from cart driver status to player, creating two super-teams (on paper anyway).

From Will Gray’s write up:

"When I started looking at who (Tiger) would pair well with, I kept coming back to Patrick Reed," Furyk said. "There was always the idea that we could go Tiger and JT (Justin Thomas), and Patrick and Jordan, but ultimately they knew going into the week, weeks in advance, they knew they would start the Ryder Cup with Patrick and Tiger being partners."

Furyk even noted that he’d consulted on his original idea of leading off with Reed/Woods and Reed suggested they go out later the first morning.

The clip:

Morning Drive: Furyk Sits Down For First Interview Since His Ryder Cup Babysitting Duties

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Rosie has the exclusive Monday morning on Morning Drive to discuss America’s resounding loss in France and some of the fallout post-Ryder Cup 2018. For Immediate Release:

ORLANDO, Fla., (Oct. 7, 2018) – U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk sat down with Golf Channel Insider Tim Rosaforte in Jacksonville today for his first extended interview since the U.S. team’s return from the Ryder Cup in Paris. The interview will air Monday on Morning Drive (7-9 a.m. ET) and again Monday night on Golf Central (6-7 p.m. ET).

A preview snippet has been posted:


Trophy Roundup: Tway Takes Safeway, Bjerregaard Is An Old Course Winner, Crowns For Korea, Kanya Claims The APAC

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Kevin Tway claims his first PGA Tour title in a playoff over Ryan Moore and Brandt Snedeker at Silverado. As Kevin Casey notes in this Golfweek roundup of notes and quotes, it was Tway’s steadiness that benefitted from Brandt Snedeker losing a five-stroke lead.

For the effort, Tway gets a fantastic foot rest for his mancave:


Lucas Bjerregaard, who attended the Ryder Cup as a spectator, gets to do the Swilcan Burn trophy shot before figuring how to get that shipped home to Denmark. This is his second European Tour title.

Takumi Kanaya is the Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion and highest ranked Japanese amateur currently:

Phil: Le Golf National Almost Playable, Waging War On Courses With Rough By Scheduling Accordingly

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After his Safeway Open second round Phil Mickelson made clear he’s going to play less in 2018-19.

Reason one, as reported by PGATour.com’s Cameron Morfit, centers around fatigue and managing his energy levels as a 48-year-old.

Then there was layer two of his views, expressed after experiencing light rough in Napa following the excess of Le Golf National where silly wedge-out, injury-inducing nonsense was harvested successfully to mess with Team USA. Kevin Casey at Golfweek with the quotes:

“It’s a unique situation in that the way the Europeans did a great thing, they did the opposite of what we do when we have the Ryder Cup here. The fairways were 14 to 16 yards wide. Ben Hogan, who is the greatest ball-striker of all time, had a five percent margin of error. So if you hit the ball 300 yards, which we all hit it more than that, you need to have a 30-yard fairway to be able to hit it.”

Let’s put the breaks on here for a minute. I don’t recall many 14 to 16 yard wide areas in the main landing areas, or anything under 20 yards. I paced off about 10 landing areas and the Europeans generally gave one are of width, though they also engaged in chintzy (perfectly kosher) tactics of rolling an area like the left side of the first fairway to reduce a swatch of 30 yards to effectively playing 25.

Here’s where Mickelson and Team USA do deserve some credit: the setup was structured so that an extremely errant drive—except down across the 7th hole OB as Patrick Reed found out—could find the spectator areas.

They very easily could have taken tee shots on multiple holes at the chalets and spectator areas well off play, taken a free drop on the hardpan, and shown up the European setup. Thankfully, they did not in the interest of sportsmanship and given the horrible injury suffered by a spectator.

The second point by Mickelson is a gift. For those who have explained how distance gains are a burden on golf courses, he effective explains how more width is needed to accommodate drives over 300 yards. More width means more acreage for turf, more acreage means more cost.

As for his scheduling around high rough, this does not bode well for a Torrey Pines start to the 2019 season given that it has some of the highest on the PGA Tour:

“And I’m 48. I’m not going to play tournaments with rough like that anymore. It’s a waste of my time. I’m going to play courses that are playable and that I can play aggressive, attacking, make a lot of birdies, (the) style of golf I like to play.”

He certainly is wise to schedule that way.

Shark Logic: Worried "That Tiger Talk" Taking Away From The Youth He Is In Touch With

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High-tech Golf Cart Purveyor, former Fox golf analyst and Living Icon Of The Brand is making the rounds to promote something and as he’s prone to do, is reminding us of his eternal youth by expressing not one, but two mildly confusing thoughts.

Dan Kilbridge sums up the thoughts for Golfweek from this Yahoo podcast with Dan Roberts where Florida’s worst hedge sheerer admitted some admiration for Tiger’s miraculous 2018 comeback but expressed concern “that Tiger talk” is overshadowing the only people who matter, the children of tomorrow.

Greg Norman:

“I think he’s done an excellent job going from where he was a year ago,” Norman said. “Massive leap, quite honestly, in 12 months. God bless him. He did everything right, stepped up to the plate and won. It’s good for him, there’s no question, it’s good for the game of golf, no question. But I hope they don’t put all their eggs in one basket again and be all Tiger and forget about all this other wonderful, fantastic talent even coming out of Korea and Japan and South Africa and Australia. Unbelievable amount of talent bubbling up around the world, and I’d hate to see them get lost again in that Tiger talk.”

If they beat him, or prove as compelling, won’t that Tiger talk subside?

This was special:

Norman said his favorite players to watch include Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and Francesco Molinari.

“I see a really good base of great, young talent there today and a lot of those guys today (are) unintimidated by Tiger,” Norman said.

I’m going to put Norman down for not having reviewed the Tour Championship tape.

Norman’s thoughts on ratings seemed to contradict his above stated views.

“TV ratings are up because of what Tiger Woods does to every other player,” Norman said. “It’s not just about the one player, it’s about all the supporting cast who are equal if not better than him. He’s just pulling them along to make them more standout.”

So yes ratings are flat or up, a victory in the currrent sports market, because of Tiger even when he doesn’t play. By this logic, then Tiger is bringing more notoriety to the others and this is a negative how, exactly?

Trump Turnberry Misses Profit Forecast By £3 Million

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The Guardian’s Severin Carrell reports on Trump Turnberry’s annual revenue report falling shy of 2017’s predicted income of £18.5 million.

Trump Turnberry’s last accounts show the luxury hotel and golf resort in Ayrshire had an income of £15.2m in 2017 because its takings jumped after he spent more than £100m refurbishing its buildings and courses, and with rooms available at a steep discount.

In January last year, Turnberry’s general manager, Ralph Porciani, told the Guardian he expected 2017 to be the best-performing in the hotel’s history – more than a century – by beating its previous record takings of £16.2m in 2007 by 15% to 20%.

Trump had told the Times that month Turnberry was doing “unbelievably” well because the value of sterling had fallen after Brexit, boosting US and overseas visitors. Turnberry’s earnings for 2017 were much lower than Porciani’s forecast of at least £18.5m though.

The story says the resort is still £107 million in loan debt to President Trump.

Anecdotally, I was struck this summer by how many were still going to Turnberry to test out the courses, but had no plans to stay there for a few days to enjoy the entire facility. Whether this was due to the typical structuring of the traditional American group golf trip or due to cost or for philosophic reasons, was not where you go with a friendly conversation!

More Tiger Impact: Golf Channel Posts Best Third Quarter Ever

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More fruit baskets will be piling up on Tiger’s front door step after this from Golf Channel PR:

MOST-WATCHED, MOST-STREAMED, MOST-ENGAGED THIRD QUARTER EVER

·       Golf Channel posted its most-watched third quarter ever (126,000, P2+) across a 24-hour period, up 9% vs. 2017 (116k).

·       September was Golf Channel’s most-watched September ever (132k), up 33% vs. 2017, and becomes the third month this year to set a most-watched milestone (January and March).

·       Golf Digital’s most-streamed quarter ever with 342 million minutes streamed, up 72% vs. 2017.

·       Golf Digital’s record-setting pace in 2018 includes video starts already setting its most-engaged year ever with 53.4 million starts with the full fourth quarter still remaining.

“Golf’s third quarter benefitted from NBCUniversal’s expertise in promoting, producing and partnering with some of golf’s biggest events and the return of the sport’s biggest star. Golf Channel is now on record pace for its best year ever,” said Mike McCarley, president, Golf, NBC Sports. “This momentum continues as we chronicle Tiger Woods’ comeback in a unique situation where he’s competing against a generation of athletes he inspired, across an improved 2019 schedule featuring marquee events from March through August.”

 

ADDITIONAL YEAR-TO-DATE HIGHLIGHTS IN 2018 INCLUDE:

·       With nearly 3,450 live hours programmed in 2018, Golf Channel has its most live hours ever programmed, up 107% vs. 2010, the year prior to Golf Channel becoming a part of the NBC Sports Group.

·       NBC Sports’ PGA TOUR live coverage has averaged 3.7 million viewers in 2018, up 60% vs. 2017, and making it NBC’s most-watched PGA TOUR season since 2006.

·       Golf Channel’s PGA TOUR live coverage has averaged 523k viewers for the 2017-2018 season, up 29% vs. the 2016-2017 season and Golf Channel’s most-watched PGA TOUR season since the wrap-around season began in fall, 2012.

 

THIRD QUARTER EVENTS DRIVING RECORD VIEWERSHIP AND ENGAGEMENT:

·       Ryder Cup: Up vs. 2014:

o   NBC Sports’ live television coverage of the Ryder Cup drew nearly 19.3 million unique viewers, up 8% vs. 2014, the last time Europe hosted the event.

o   Across Golf Channel and NBC, Total Audience Delivery (TAD) was up all three days vs. 2014.

·       PGA TOUR FedExCup Playoffs: Best Ever In Playoff History:

o   NBC Sports’ live television coverage of all four FedExCup Playoff events was most-viewed since 2007, drawing 32.6 million unique viewers, up 44% vs. 2017.

o   The last three weekends’ TAD Delivery of 3.33 million average viewers on NBC, up 55% vs. 2017, and early round coverage at all four events TAD was 863k average viewers on Golf Channel, up 40% vs. 2017.

·       The 147TH Open: Largest Total Audience in Five Years:

o   NBC Sports’ live television coverage drew 26 million unique viewers, most for The Open since 2013, and up 19% vs. 2017.

o   Across all four days, digital streaming garnered 125 million minutes, up 24% vs. 2017, and making The 147th Open the most-streamed golf event ever for NBC Sports.

o   Viewership across The R&A’s three major championships, The Open, Senior Open and Women’s British Open, was the most-watched since 2009 (TNT/ABC), and up 24%, vs. 2017

Brooks Speaks! Says No Fight With Dustin, They Are Still Friends

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Brooks Koepka sometimes doesn’t even get invited to the press room, even after winning two majors, so it was nice to see the European Tour invite him in to talk about the Ryder Cup and this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links.

Alistair Tait of Golfweek shared Koepka’s full remarks on the reported fights between Johnson and Koepka.

“This Dustin thing I just don’t get,” Koepka said on the eve of the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. “There was no fight. No argument. He is one of my best friends. We talked on the phone on Monday, so tell me how we fought?

“People like to make a story and run with it, and it is not the first time a story has come out that is not true.”

Golf Digest says it has multiple sources confirming the original account by The Telegraph’s James Corrigan.

"Eleven players understood the concept of team golf and only one didn’t."

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The New York Post’s Mark Cannizzaro talked to a player identified as a Team USA member after they returned from France and we learned several things about the strife.

—Patrick Reed is viewed as having begged his way into a Tiger pairing.

—Reed probably would have shot 83 Saturday morning on his own ball in the view of his teammates

—It’s probably a really good thing the charter did not have WiFi, otherwise we might have had an in-flight fight.

From Cannizzaro’s item:

“He is so full of s–t,’’ the source told The Post on Monday. “Blindsided my ass. He begged to play with Tiger.’’

At least Bubba has something to be happy about. He’s in the group of 11!

“I feel so bad for Jim, because he was an unreal captain. He would have run through a wall for all 12 of the guys. Unfortunately, there were only 11 players that would have returned the favor.’’

DJ And Koepka Redefine What It Means To Be A Bash Brother

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French publication L’Equippe says Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka were rowing on the team flight from Atlanta to Paris.

Now James Corrigan reports for The Telegraph that DJ and Koepka, aka the Bash Brothers who’ve bonded over dead lifts sound like they are dead to each other after having to be separated Sunday night following the 2018 Ryder Cup.

Witnesses recounted how the pair almost came to blows after they had been invited into the Europe team room, a few hours after the resounding home success at Le Golf National.

The reason for the bust-up was not known, but it was a huge ­surprise as they are regarded as best friends.

You know the old saying: what happens in the team room stays in team room, unless it’s the other team’s room.

Koepka’s agent Blake Smith says the story is made up, reports GolfDigest.com’s Joel Beall.

Somewhere right now Tom Watson is smiling and Steve Stricker is wondering if he really wants the 2020 captaincy.