"Tiger Woods’ biggest moment didn’t last very long"

One highlight of Tiger’s pre-Farmers Insurance Open press conference was the revelation that he’s gone back and savored the final round NBC telecast of the Tour Championship, as well as many of the photographs from his 80th PGA Tour win.

Doug Ferguson of AP pieces together how the iconic moment in a career full of them felt to Woods and those around him.

Was there a more indelible image than Woods walking up to the 18th green, red shirt blazing, as thousands of fans rushed under the ropes and followed him down the fairway to create a stage worthy of the occasion?

“It gives me chills almost every single time I see it,” Woods said. “At the time, it didn’t seem like that because I didn’t really look back. I only looked back a couple times over my right shoulder. … I got on the green, I looked and I’m like, ‘Holy cow, there’s a lot of people out there.’

“But the rush and the commotion that happened … I’ve experienced things of that nature, but not that energy.”

The highlights:

Champ's Historic Driving Dominance Gets The West Coast Swing Test

This week’s Farmer’s Insurance Open returns to Torrey Pines where heavy air and thick rough awaits, as I noted in this mini-Monday vlog for Golfweek.

Golf.com’s Mark Broadie notes that Cameron Champ is on a historic pace regarding strokes gained driving and while it may all sound pretty wonky, he does a nice job summing up how much Champ is benefitting from distance and amazing accuracy given his swing speed.

At the time of this writing, Champ leads all Tour players in strokes gained driving, with a massive gain of 1.5 strokes per round. To put that in perspective, the leader in this stat category averaged a gain of 1.0 strokes per round from 2004 through 2018. (Note: Bubba Watson set the pace in 2012 at 1.5 strokes per round, so while Champ’s performance is extraordinary thus far, it’s also bordering on historic.)

Nothing against the golf courses of the fall, but it will be interesting to see if Champ’s advantage actually gains momentum at a time of year where there is often less roll and heavier air. I’m betting he will.

Tiger Returns To Torrey Pines, Kicks Off The Week With 11:30 AM PT Presser

Tiger’s start of the 2019 portion of the season has arrived after a nice sabbatical since November.

He’s playing with Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau in the already-announced featured groups to be seen on PGA Tour Live and Golf Channel, notes Kevin Casey of Golfweek who also lists other key coverage groups.

Woods will be joining us in the media center for an 11:30 am PT press conference. Damon Hack and I discussed what we’d ask Woods (I will try to get mine in, unless of course you all have something better!).

Brandel: By Mexico Standards, Kuchar's Caddie Had A Great Week

Brandel Chamblee may have stumbled onto to something that will excite sponsors of golf tournaments in economically unstable countries and, get this, help the PGA Tour funnel even more money to charity!

In a GolfChannel.com column, Chamblee argues that Matt Kuchar’s underpaid looper in last fall’s Mayakoba Classic was enumerated handsomely by Mexico’s standards, justifying the lack of normal PGA Tour caddie pay.

In Mexico, depending upon the source, the average weekly salary is $285. Ortiz makes a reported $200 a day – six days a week – being a caddie at Mayakoba, about four times the average weekly salary. Assuming he was idle for a week as the Tour took over his course, he would have been out $1,200. But he was, by all accounts, paid at minimum $5,000 – not the initially inferred $3K – roughly four times his average salary and around 17 times the average salary in Mexico. One can easily see why he would be inclined to enter into such an agreement with Kuchar. It was by any definition, a good week for him.

Now, I think we should push this theory forward a bit and suggest that this standard apply not just to the uh, help, but also to the players. If times are lean in a country, PGA Tour purses should reflect what is a good payday in those lands. That way we don’t have controversies like this going forward!

As for Tom Gillis, who called out Kuchar’s payment and tracked down the caddie to find out he received $5000 of Kuchar’s $1.3 million, Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch talks to the now-senior golfer about his role in calling out the underpayment on Twitter.

“Maybe I should have been a union rep,” Gillis said with a laugh. “I’d be willing to fight for the little guy anytime.”

A player prone to policing the personal affairs of his colleagues must accumulate enemies on Tour, I suggested.

“I’m sure some of them are totally against it and think we shouldn’t be airing that dirty laundry. That’s fine,” he replied. “When the man gets paid I can look in the mirror and feel good that I helped this guy out. When I hit the button to send that stuff out, I’m well aware of what’s coming with it.”

Desert Classic: Phil Goes All In On Launch Angle Golf And It Almost Works

If you saw any of Phil Mickelson’s driver swings during the Desert Classic you know he wasn’t holding back in a blatant effort to have the shortest club possible into PGA West’s greens.

The approach is an offshoot of the early 2000’s Bomb and Gouge only players are now able to carry the ball even farther off the tee thanks to optimization. Enter, launch angle golf, which I wrote about for Golfweek as the future way approach for young players at most courses. And, one 48-year-old.

Mickelson was blunt prior to the final round about this intentions:

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know what to say, I played okay and my goal or game plan of playing the Stadium Course is to actually hit drivers and to try to bomb it down there as close to the greens as you can. Even though the -- because the fairways are tight in a lot of areas and if I miss fairways, try to have wedges or short irons in -- and it seemed to play out okay today and I gave myself a lot of good chances. I missed a few short putts that I've been making historically now for awhile and I let a few slide, but I also made a couple of long ones that were nice little bonuses.

And this…

Q. Not the best but managed your golf around this place, that's what it it's all about, just management.

PHIL MICKELSON: I think it is. I think that there's some holes -- I think it's a course that you can play aggressive. I think it's a course you can hit drivers. Even though the fairways can be tight up where driver is, if you hit it long enough and you have short irons into some of these holes it's an advantage. And that's kind of the way I've been trying to play this week is rip at the driver and get some short irons in and I've been able to make a lot of birdie doing that.

After the final round, lamented his putting, as reported by Sean Martin for PGATour.com:

He lost 3.2 strokes on the greens Sunday. He missed a 4-foot putt to three-putt the first hole and also missed two putts from 5-7 feet.

“I had a terrible putting day, one of the worst I can recall in a while,” he said. “It started right on the first hole. … I felt awful with the putter. I hit a lot of good shots today, though, but just couldn’t get the ball to go in the hole.”

Ultimately this is why Mickelson is wisely skipping Torrey Pines this week, where the high rough and some of his recent numbers suggest it’s best he stay away, notes The Forecaddie.

Congrats to winner Adam Long. Whoever you are. Clutch stuff!

The Content Committee: Lee Westwood's Light-Speaking Role Shines In Another Stellar European Tour Production

Lee Westwood had one good line, well, really just one line, but it was a gem. However its Tommy Fleetwood and Eddie Pepperell who display the acting chops. (Though nothing against the work of Henrik Stenson and Thomas Bjorn.)

Great work again from the European Tour content team…

Phil's 60 Comes At The "Easiest" Of The Desert Classic Courses

I’m going to sound old here, but there was a time that La Quinta Country Club was where Bob Hope Desert Classic scores went to die. It was the hardest of the Hope rota courses and the ones players had to survive.

So I hiccuped when reading Ryan Lavner’s GolfChannel.com account of Phil Mickelson’s opening round, 12-under-par 60 at La Quinta CC in the 2019 Desert Classic.

Mickelson again played down his chances in his 2019 debut, but it clicked so well at La Quinta Country Club – the easiest of the three courses in the rotation at the Desert Classic – that he gave himself a chance to break 60 for the first time in his Tour career. He went out in 30. Then he birdied Nos. 10, 11, 13 and 14. Then came the birdie on 16, and all of a sudden, he realized that he needed to birdie each of the last two holes to finally shoot golf’s magic number. On 17, he tried to hook a sand wedge into a tight pin and left himself 18 feet. He missed low, but still finished with a flourish: With a chance to card the third 60 in his career, he spun a wedge to 10 feet and buried the putt.

I pulled out George Peper’s 1986 book, Golf Courses Of The PGA Tour to feel really old just to make sure my memory of La Quinta as the one non-pushover course. Peper writes:

At 6911 yards, La Quinta is the longest of the five Hope courses, and with lakes bordering seven of its fairways this tropical layout can be as difficult as it is beautiful.

The other rota courses: Indian Wells CC, Bermuda Dunes, Tamarisk and El Dorado. I swear doesn’t seem like that long ago!

Mickelson’s first round highlights:

This week on Golf Central, we discussed Mickelson’s chances of winning in his 50s (he’s 48) and his chances of being the oldest winner in PGA Tour history:

2020 Latin America Amateur Headed To Mayakoba Where Caddies Live In Constant Fear Of Being Paid Full Fare

Poor Matt Kuchar.

Just when you think the story of your substandard payment to your Tour-event winning stand-in caddie was about to disappear from headlines, the good folks at the Masters, R&A and USGA had the gall to announce Mayakoba’s El Camaleon GC as the site of the 2020 Latin America Amateur.

This is the same course where Kuchar won. The news dispelled one mythological view on why Kuchar might have severely underpaid El Tucan after winning last fall’s Mayakoba Classic: because the area is so dangerous that any looper getting a proper 10%-of-$1.3 million-check would be in imminent danger, as would his family.

Apparently, the Five Families don’t agree.

For Immediate Release!

2020 LATIN AMERICA AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE HELD AT MAYAKOBA

Renowned amateur championship will make its debut in Mexico for the sixth edition

17 January 2019, La Romana, Dominican Republic: The Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC) will be held in Mexico for the first time next year at Mayakoba’s El Camaleón Golf Club on Riviera Maya, January 16-19, 2020. Championship organizers made the announcement today during the 2019 LAAC currently underway at Casa de Campo’s Teeth of the Dog in the Dominican Republic. 

Founded by the Masters Tournament, The R&A and the USGA, the LAAC was established to further develop amateur golf in South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. The event moves to top courses throughout Latin America and showcases the sport’s rising talent in the region, including Chilean Joaquin Niemann, who competed in the Masters last year as 2018 LAAC champion and is currently playing on the PGA Tour.                                                                                           

Along with an invitation to the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club awarded to the champion, the winner and the runner(s)-up are exempt into the final stages of qualifying for The Open and the U.S. Open Championship. The champion is also given full exemptions into The Amateur Championship, the U.S. Amateur Championship and any other USGA amateur championship for which he is eligible. 

Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, said, “The Latin America Amateur Championship has quickly established itself as a key date on the golfing calendar for elite men’s amateurs throughout this region. I’m sure there will be many players who will be aiming to secure a place in the sixth staging of the championship next year and play at Mayakoba, which is a fantastic test of golf. We are looking forward to taking the event to Mexico and to a venue with such an excellent championship pedigree.”  

Opened in 2006, Mayakoba’s El Camaleón Golf Club was designed by two-time Open Champion and World Golf Hall of Fame member Greg Norman. In 2007, it became the home of the Mayakoba Golf Classic, the first official PGA Tour event to be contested outside the U.S. and Canada, with notable winners including 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and top-100 ranked players Matt Kuchar, Charley Hoffman and Pat Perez. The course also hosted the World Amateur Team Championships in 2016.

El Camaleón plays along a stretch of crystal-clear freshwater canals surrounded by mangrove and limestone walls. The 18-hole layout features paspalum grass, two holes along the Mexican Caribbean Sea and distinctive hazards, including cenotes (sink holes) and extensive bunkers. 

“Mayakoba looks forward to hosting the Latin America Amateur Championship and the region’s premier amateur golfers in 2020,” said Borja Escalada, CEO of Mayakoba. “El Camaleón was built as a true test for competitive play and this is a wonderful opportunity to represent Mexico as the backdrop for Latin America’s best and brightest young players. We are grateful to the Masters Tournament, The R&A and USGA for their selection and are excited to deliver hospitality of the highest caliber offered at our resort.”  

Double-Hit Loophole Artists: Nice Try, But USGA Confirms Penalties Await!

I know you all saw our Morning Drive chat about this on Monday, but as much as I’m enjoying the creativity and skill of trickshot artists who think they found a loophole in the new Rules of Golf, they have not.

As I outline here for Golfweek, the trick shot that spawned a European Tour social video attempting the double hit ignores the very simple word “accidental” in the new more relaxed Rules. The story explains the penalty players will enjoy if they use such a ploy to get around a tree.

Still, nice handwork here by all…

View this post on Instagram

Is anyone else finding it much easier to get around trees with the change in the double hit rule?? 😂 . . . P.S I am just joking 🏌🏼‍♀️ . . . #golf #rules #golfrules #rulechange #doublehit #penalty #golfer #golfing #trickshots #trickshot #instagolf #nike #nikegolf

A post shared by Hannah Davies 🦄 (@hannahdaviesgolf) on Jan 10, 2019 at 10:48am PST

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Double hit challenge ✌🏻 🎥 via @hsbc_sport #ADGolfChamps #RolexSeries

A post shared by European Tour (@europeantour) on Jan 15, 2019 at 6:19am PST

Latin America Amateur Reminder: Casa De Campo Again Hosting, ESPN Televising

Ryan Herrington breaks down who the top hopefuls are in the Latin America Amateur Championship, where a spot in the Masters is on the line.

Ron Driscoll writes about the legendary Pete Dye “Teeth of the Dog” design returning as host of the LAAC.

ESPN’s telecast times:

You can check out the scoring here.

A nice teaser video of the course:

Euros Turn On Each Other Too! Fernández-Castaño Cites Dyson The Tapperer While Highlighting Oddity Of Legal Spike Mark Repairing

I love these new rules of golf!

While Tom Gillis researches and reports on what Matt Kuchar underpays his caddies, things on the European Tour turned chippy as Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño highlighted the oddity of legal spikemark tapping, then threw one of his colleagues under the bus.

First competitive round of the year on @EuropeanTour with the new rules on effect. Tapping down spikemarks felt so weird, it will take some time to get used to it - Unless you are Simon Dyson and you have been doing it for years.

— Gonzalo Fdez-Castaño (@gfcgolf) January 16, 2019

Dyson’s offending moment:

Besides a few of the player replies to the Tweet (Eddie Pepperell’s GIF selection was splendid), Dyson chimed in:

Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story..😂

— SimonDysonEGP (@simondyson77) January 16, 2019

Seems that was not visible to Castano, however.

I would if I could. He blocked me long ago.

— Gonzalo Fdez-Castaño (@gfcgolf) January 16, 2019

Gillis Tracks Down Duped Looper El Tucan: Kuchar Actually Paid $5000 After Mayakoba Classic Win

The bad news for pro golfer Tom Gillis is that he has been in contact with Matt Kuchar’s caddie El Tucan from last fall’s Mayakoba Classic and it was not $3000, as he accused while Kuchar was contending in the Sony Open.

The good news for Gillis is that the number El Tucan shared was $5000, incredibly low for a winning caddie effort in a PGA Tour event where the winner took him $1.3 million.

Been in direct contact with El Tucan now for a few days. He did receive a total of 5k. Not 3k after tournament. Still only 0.0023% percent of check. Fortunately there's no more middle man. Stay tuned hopefully he gets paid properly

— Tom Gillis (@tcgillis) January 16, 2019

Good news for Kuchar! His quote after third round play is accurate: “It’s wasn’t 10 percent. It wasn’t $3,000.”

Take that Gillis!

Of course, $5000 could be viewed as a worse story because that is certainly more than the agreed-upon fee for a week involving a last-minute pickup. But it’s still painfully little as a fee plus-win-bonus amount.

Because as far as win bonuses go, it’s below the minimum, especially when you had not won in years.

Let’s just say if you’re a waiter and Matt Kuchar is in your section, don’t count a little extra something for the, you know, the effort. Or total consciousness.

Amateur Status Update: Mike Davis Talks Lucy Li As USGA Conducts Ongoing Investigation

Those curious about the ramifications for amateur status will learn a lot form USGA CEO Mike Davis’s comments to Golf Central regarding the status of Lucy Li’s case after starring in an Apple Watch ad: she’s adorable, she’s a Curtis Cupper and she’ll be around a long time according to Mike Davis.

Translation: she’s not losing her status. Script those Nike outfits, wear that watch and book that flight to Augusta!

Euro: “We base our decisions on what the players who will be playing want, not on a circle of friendship"

Juicy quote from a former European Ryder Cupper to Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch about team USA’s Task Force buddy pod system for captain selection.

The occasion? The inevitable naming of Steve Stricker as the 2020 USA captain in the coming months. Not that the Captain’s hit shots, but Stricker’s loyalty to the TF versus what’s best for the team will make his job tough.

The captain doesn’t hit a shot, but he decides who does and who gets on the plane. Furyk reserved a seat to Paris for Mickelson, his task force buddy who was out of form and played poorly. Like his two immediate predecessors, Stricker will be crowdsourced into the captaincy from a select group of pals and invariably will face the same questions about whether his decisions are based on merit or loyalty, on sense or sentiment.

Golf.com Anonymous (European Tour) Player Survey: Dinner With Tiger Or Phil?

There are several interesting questions and several serious ones as executed by Adam Schupak, but these two on the lighter side were fun:

WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE DINNER WITH TIGER OR PHIL?

Tiger: 79%
Phil: 9%
Table for one, please!: 12%

HOT TAKES

“Table for one because Tiger would probably stick me with the check.”
“I’ve had dinner with Phil and I didn’t enjoy it.”
“I’d like to pick Tiger’s brain on how he overcame his suffering. That could really help me.”
“Phil. He’s got more to say.”

12% for neither!? They’re legends! Suck it up Euros!

WHICH AMERICAN PLAYER MOST IRRITATES YOU?

Bryson DeChambeau: 16%
Bubba Watson: 11%
Several tied (including Mickelson): 5%
Declined to answer: 68%

HOT TAKES

“Any of them that act like babies.”
“Wait, I can only pick one?”

Hmmm…tension between the tours!