Tiger's First Day At WGC Mexico City Peaks At The First Tee

Remember walk up music? That’s right, we do not hear about that lame idea much because of poor execution. Besides, there is still nothing better than a great first tee announcer as we saw again Thursday.

As Steve DiMeglio notes for Golfweek, Tiger Woods’ first round in the WGC Mexico City Championship peaked at this introduction and was followed by a largely cautious round as Woods adjusted to the altitude. Rory McIlroy leads with an opening 63.

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Tiger’s opening tee shot(s) did not live up to his first-tee introduction Thursday in Mexico.

A post shared by SkratchTV (@skratchtv) on Feb 21, 2019 at 5:59pm PST

What Tony Romo's Sponsor's Invite Really Says About The AT&T Byron Nelson

Many sent the news of Tony Romo’s sponsor’s invite to the AT&T Byron Nelson expecting me to join the outrage, and while I still think it’s bizarre an amateur golfer can have his own golf shoe commercial and Under Armour deal with the USGA’s blessing, I get why he’s been given a spot this year.

Romo, after Jordan Spieth, may be the AT&T Byron Nelson’s biggest draw.

It’s the right move.

Placed in a new schedule spot the week before the first May PGA Championship, it may be the worst possible tune-up for Bethpage Black. Which is sad, given that Trinity Forest is a fantastic, architecturally brilliant piece of work on otherwise average ground. But it’s the perfect tune-up for The Open, not the PGA and players are likely to pass the Nelson in droves.

Oh, to be a coffee cup on the dark cherry wood conference room table when AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson brings up the new schedule at a future PGA Tour Policy Board meeting.

Is A Player Entitled To Wait Out Wind As Long As He Wants?

Of course not!

J.B. Holmes epitomizes the same weird entitlement Matt Kuchar and Sergio Garcia exhibited in recent weeks after years of the PGA Tour coddling players.

And while his reading green books, not playing ready golf and in general taking his sweet time amounts to offensive behavior, couple that with the suggestion of a right to wait out gusts, and you are dealing with a mindset only remedied by penalty strokes.

From his post 2019 Genesis Open victory press conference:

So I was never even close to being on the clock all week.  I mean, yeah, when I first got out here I was really slow, but I've sped up quite a bit.  Like I said, the conditions made it tougher, too.  Sometimes you're waiting for the wind to stop blowing 30 miles an hour.  Like I said, I've gotten better.  There's times when I'm probably too slow, but it is what it is.  I was never on the clock.  Nobody ‑‑ never even got a warning.  TV wants everything to be real fast all the time.

The irony of the PGA Tour fearing the negative press from penalties? Situations like this, which have overwhelmed the “day after” chatter at the Genesis Open and overshadowed a great leaderboard, a win, a famous tournament host, amazing work by all to get the tournament in and the sponsor.

It is, after all, a player organization!

Just One Player Laid Up At Riviera's 10th Hole Sunday, Zero Yesterday

Longtime readers know I’ve tracked the gradual shift of the ShotLink scatter chart at Riviera’s 10th toward the greensite.

The great risk-reward short par-4 is now officially a one-shot hole given that only one player appeared to intentionally lay up Sunday and only 40 over four days of Genesis Open play at Riviera. The rest—400 attempts—”went for the green”.

That, my friends, is a par-4 in name only.

The round 4 scatter chart:

When the hole played shorter Saturday, no one laid up.

And over four days, almost no one is even bothering to try to use the lay-up options once so revered before, you know, kale, high-fiber diets and agronomy conspired to shorten the hole.

JB Wins Genesis, Pushes Back On Slow Play: "You play in 25 mph gusty winds and see how fast you play when you're playing for the kind of money and the points and everything that we're playing for."

JB Holmes overcame a four-stroke deficit to fellow Kentuckian Justin Thomas in winning the Genesis Open.

My Golfweek game story on a weird day to wrap a weird week.

Obviously Holmes is no fan favorite after last year’s debacle at Torrey Pines but today’s conditions certainly were difficult. That said, as the video embedded below shows, there is a lack of urgency and ready golf issue, as well as a green reading book in this example.

But first, his comments after a final round 70 at Riviera:

Q.  The conditions made things really tough, but there was a lot of discussion on the broadcast and social media about the pace of play today.  What were your thoughts about the pace and is that something you were thinking about or working on?

J.B. HOLMES:  Well, you play in 25 mile an hour gusty winds and see how fast you play when you're playing for the kind of money and the points and everything that we're playing for.  The greens are fast, the ball  Adam had a putt, he kept setting the ball down and it was rolling.  

You can't just get up there and whack it when it's blowing that hard.  You've got to read wind and there's a lot of slope on these greens.  It's not an easy golf course and you throw in winds like that.  On 13 or 14, the par 3, I hit a 5iron and it stays pretty good.  He hits a 5iron really good and a gust of wind comes up and he comes up like 15 yards short, and I think he hit it better than I hit mine.  It's very tough.  Then when you get putting like that, it's just not going to be fast anywhere. 

And…

Q.  Adam Scott said just before that we know J.B.'s a slow player and there was some discussion on the broadcast.  Do you think that's a fair assessment?

J.B. HOLMES:  I've been slow in the past.  I don't think as slow as  I mean, I'm not the fastest player, but I mean, like I said, it was really windy today and we waited a lot early.  At the end, I took a little bit longer at the end, but you're talking about getting down to the tournament, you're talking about the last nine holes of the tournament.  I mean, I think  correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a lot of times the last group of the tournament gets a little bit behind.

So I was never even close to being on the clock all week.  I mean, yeah, when I first got out here I was really slow, but I've sped up quite a bit.  Like I said, the conditions made it tougher, too.  Sometimes you're waiting for the wind to stop blowing 30 miles an hour.  Like I said, I've gotten better.  There's times when I'm probably too slow, but it is what it is.  I was never on the clock.  Nobody  never even got a warning.  TV wants everything to be real fast all the time.

Earlier today on the fourth hole:

JB Holmes takes an eternity to putt pic.twitter.com/uiAS1eBpEF

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) February 17, 2019

Video: Phil's Epic Four That Will Vanish From The Record Books After Early Round 1 Genesis Scores Nullified

With round 1 suspended and early scores nullified due to the rules staff deciding the poor visibility. Mark Russell’s comments on this rare nullification of scores:

Q. Finally, you nullified the scores that were posted for the few players that were out earlier this morning, first time in more than five years since it's happened on the PGA TOUR. What was the decision for that? 

MARK RUSSELL: We don't do that very often, but if I had it to do over again, we would have delayed the starting times. We tee off at sunrise. We have to because here a lot of times we don't finish, we have to use all the available daylight we have. We teed off at sunrise and I was on the first tee with the players and it was very marginal, thinking in my mind this is going to get better every minute. They teed off, we had their balls under control, but the visual never got better. The cloud cover's so thick that you just couldn't see. 

So once we did suspend play, the committee got together and just decided that we need to nullify these scores because the visual, it never got where you could see where your ball went, barely see the flagstick. And like I say, under normal circumstances it would get better every minute. It never did. As a matter of fact, it got worse, so we decided to nullify the scores. That's not a common thing, but the committee does have the discretion to do that. We felt in this situation that's the thing to do. 

In his one hole that has now been nullified, Phil Mickelson did make this spectacular four:

From tee ➡️ 🏖 ➡️ 🏖 ➡️ 🏖 ➡️ 🕳.

What a par by @PhilMickelson before the suspension of play.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/0OmVKH8Akl

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 14, 2019

Kuchar Digs In: It's A Social Media Issue, Won't Lose Sleep And Even Throws Steiny Under The Bus For Trying To Mop Up His Mess!

Matt Kuchar spoke to GolfChannel.com’s Will Gray Wednesday at the Genesis Open and FedExCup leader, all-time leading money winner without a major who won last fall’s Mayakoaba event after a four-year winless drought with his “lucky charm” local caddie, is digging in.

Mooooooooooch!

Kuchar confirmed he paid “El Tucan” $5000 and the Golf.com report that his agent has since offered an additional $15,000 refused by Ortiz. And he’s not happy about that either. But more on that momentarily.

The graciousness ended fairly quicklky in the chat with Gray.

“I kind of feel like unfortunately some other people have got it in his head that he’s deserving something different than what we agreed upon,” Kuchar said.

He’s certainly correct that he paid $1000 more than they agreed upon, but given that it was Kuchar’s first win in __ years and that a winner’s bonus usually comes with the PGA Tour territory, he’s been blasted for not paying more.

“I ended up paying him $5,000 and I thought that was more than what we agreed upon,” Kuchar said. “I kind of think, if he had the chance to do it over again, same exact deal, that he’d say yes again.”

Good to see he learns from his mistakes!. And that he has shrewd sounding boards all around!

This may be the fatal quote…

“It’s done. Listen, I feel like I was fair and good,” he said. “You can’t make everybody happy. You’re not going to buy people’s ability to be OK with you, and this seems to be a social media issue more than anything. I think it shouldn’t be, knowing that there was a complete, agreed-upon deal that not only did I meet but exceeded.

“So I certainly don’t lose sleep over this. This is something that I’m quite happy with, and I was really happy for him to have a great week and make a good sum of money. Making $5,000 is a great week."

Glad he’s not losing sleep. But in digging in, he’s certainly losing fans and at some point, endorsement income built on a “good guy” image.

Another interview with Golf.com’s Michael Bamberger comes off even worse, suggesting “someone got in his ear”, referring to El Tucan, and says the attempt to make a payment was the idea of his agent. But he didn’t exactly approve of the idea.

Kuchar seemed slightly embarrassed that the additional sum had been offered, as he felt his financial obligation to Ortiz was complete. Asked how it came to be that the additional sum was offered, Kuchar said, “That was the agency.” He was referring to Excel Sports Management, which represents him. Kuchar’s agent there is Mark Steinberg, who also represents Tiger Woods and Justin Rose.

And in case those legendary cheapskate cred wasn’t strong enough…

Kuchar smiled and said, “It’s not coming out of Steinberg’s pocket.” In other words, Kuchar would be paying. He said the additional proffered payment was Steinberg’s effort at damage control.

Given that when you start typing Matt Kuchar into the Google Machine “Matt Kuchar El Tucan” pops up, the issue will, fairly or not, define his career.

Phil's Fighting Words: The Players Is Not A Must-Play For Me

With The Players moving to March, fresh rye grass growing and Phil Mickelson targeting only courses he can win at, his rationale for possibly skipping The Players Championship is sound. Except that in Ponte Vedra, these are fighting (and fining) words!

From Will Gray’s GolfChannel.com item:

“It’s not one I feel like I have to play,” Mickelson said. “It’s not a must-play for me because I’m 48 and I’ve played it 25 times and I’ve already won it. If I were young and early in my career, I would say yes because I think it’s as close to a major as it can get. But it’s not the best course for me.”

That’s a no, he’s passing.

Genesis Open Moving To Jack And Arnie Status, Field Reduction To 120 Should Liven Up The "Playing Opportunities" Chatter

ESPN.com’s Bob Harig reports that the Genesis Open hosted by Tiger Woods will move from 144 players to 120 in 2020 and see boosts in both purse and exemption-legngth from winning.

Sources told ESPN that the Genesis Open will receive "elevated status,'' which means it will have a significantly higher purse, offer a three-year PGA Tour exemption to the winner (up from two years) and will have an invitational field that will be reduced to 120 players. This week's tournament at Riviera will have 144 players.

According to sources, an announcement on the new status for the tournament is expected to be made Wednesday, when Woods addresses the media after playing in the tournament pro-am.

I have mixed feelings as anything that elevates such a historic stop is exciting while rewarding the role of Woods and Genesis for making a long term commitment. It’s a wealth of riches for the L.A. stop given Tiger’s involvement, the cachet of Riviera and a prime spot on the calendar for drawing big audiences.

Reducing the field from 144 to 120 is, in part, a statement about the inability of getting a full field around Riviera this time of year. As I noted for Golfweek, a tournament that has gone from 156 to 144 to 120 should open a few eyes to the perils of chasing distance to the point a course cannot defend itself or function. Slow play is often more than just about golfers not making up their mind.

The downside to this news?

The event has been an “Open” competition since 1926 and with that comes a spot for the local PGA section, amateur qualifiers or the successful “Collegiate Showcase” replacement. Throw in four Monday qualifying spots and we know larger fields deliver more storylines, diversity and competitiveness. They also help offset some of the dead weight that turns up too often ( welcome again to LA Vijay, enjoy LAX on a Friday night!).

Sergio: "I’m focused on working hard to channel that emotion the correct way and to be the best me"

In anticipation of his 2019 PGA Tour debut, Sergio Garcia has posted an apology for his actions in Saudi Arabia, that included a bunker tantrum for the ages and vandalism to the Royal Greens course, leading to disqualification.

Happy to be in my first @pgatour event of the season and have my brother on the bag again this year. I’ve obviously had some time to reflect, and want to again say I’m sorry to my fans and fellow competitors. What happened is not an example I want to set, and it's not who I truly am. I am an emotional player and while I believe that's one of my biggest strengths, it's also one of my biggest flaws. I’m focused on working hard to channel that emotion the correct way and to be the best me, learn from it and move forward. Thanks for all the support.

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Happy to be in my first @pgatour event of the season and have my brother on the bag again this year. I’ve obviously had some time to reflect, and want to again say I’m sorry to my fans and fellow competitors. What happened is not an example I want to set, and it's not who I truly am. I am an emotional player and while I believe that's one of my biggest strengths, it's also one of my biggest flaws. I’m focused on working hard to channel that emotion the correct way and to be the best me, learn from it and move forward. Thanks for all the support.

A post shared by Sergio Garcia (@thesergiogarcia) on Feb 12, 2019 at 11:02am PST

90 Years Later: How The 10th At Riviera Evolved

The 10th hole as bunkers are added around the green in 1928. The left “lay-up” bunker had also been recently installed. The two foreground bunkers and far right bunker were part of the original design.

A few things to remember about Riviera when it hosted its first Los Angeles Open 90 years ago.

—The course was in the “countryside” and a bit of a gamble as a location so far from the city center downtown.

—Riviera was just a year-and-half old with a reputation for extreme difficulty (“Where do the members play?”-Bobby Jones).

—The course underwent modifications prior to the tournament by George Thomas and Billy Bell despite concerns about the difficulty.

When I wrote The Captain in 1996, a year after The Riviera Country Club : A Definitive History, we only knew from mentions in the tournament program that modifications were made to the 5th and 9th holes (greenside bunkers added). A huge bunker on the 7th fairway could also be seen in aerial photos, as could the most significant of all: new bunkering at the world famous short par-4 10th.

After the books were published, I traveled to Golf House and with the help of USGA researcher Patty Moran, found many wonderful articles including this Country Club Magazine piece below by Scotty Chisholm, co-founder of the L.A. Open and friend to Thomas, Bell and many other luminaries.

In it he details why the bunkers were added by Captain Thomas throughout the course under Billy Bell’s supervision—a right he and Bell retained when taking the commission in 1926.

The remainder of the story. Also note the “Boles McCrackan’s Bletherings” by Chisholm explains Riviera’s 6th hole design by Thomas and when the hole was a 145-yarder, not as played from the silly back tee since added.

The explanation of 10th hole changes suggests the original bunkerless green was not challenging enough.

“This hole has been too easy to score on even for the so-called dubs. It measures 320 yards and it is a well known fact that the golf architect of today experiences more difficulty in designing a hole of this length than any other. Although the green lies at almost right angles to the tee and difficult to hold with a pitched shot, Thomas has decided to trap it heavily to the right and cut down the putting surface.”

That decision proved a brilliant one, though as the bunkers have become deeper, the green smaller and more pitched with modern speeds pushing 13, the 10th has teetered on the edge of silliness.

Playing now as a long par-3 due to modern driving distances, some of the lay-up strategy is gone as well and silly bottlebrush bushes are needed to defend the hole from even more tee shots driving near the green without regard for accuracy.

Rain this year may take some of the fire out of the 10th green, and that’s not all bad given how it has teetered on the edge of sanity in recent playings. Regardless, the changes made 90 years ago have held up well and are a credit to the original architect’s willingness to make adjustments. And, contrary to an attempted scam designed to reduce the role of Thomas and Bell, the changes were very much made by the original designers as documented at the time.

In the 1929 L.A. Open program after bunkers were added around the green.

90 Years Later: Slow Play Escapades Were Part Of Riviera's First Los Angeles Open

Ninety years since Riviera hosted its first $10,000 Los Angeles Open and fourth played, the world’s best return to play for $7.4 million and a Genesis luxury automobile.

Just getting tees in the ground and 72 holes played that week was a miracle, as organizers were having trouble raising funds for the purse and days were too short for getting a full field around the brutal test Riviera posed.

A December Sportsman’s fundraising dinner was hosted by comedian Will Rogers—fresh off an aborted run for President—at the incredible price of $100 a plate. Rogers paid his way at what was called the first $100 a plate dinner. A total of $9000 was raised for the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce to host the event, which founded by Scott Chisholm, Sherman Paddock and Willie Hunter (gracing the 1929 program cover below and later Riviera’s longtime pro).

As I detail here for Golfweek, headliner Walter Hagen threw a bit of a fit when faced with a slow pairing alongside Tommy Armour. Given Brooks Koepka’s recent criticism of inconsistent pace enforcement, some things never really change. Well, Hagen never used a private parts reference. That we know of.

But as I note in the piece, the slow play issues at Riviera are now less a player-driven issue and more of a product of traffic jams brought on by the shortening of holes. Fitting for this city.

My Instagram post of the 1929 program:

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One of my favorite memorabilia purchases turns 90 next week. Thanks Gil Hanse for this! The 1929 LA Open program commemorated the first LA Open @riviera with its future head pro, Scotland’s Willie Hunter, gracing the cover. Also included are great club and course descriptions, early Riv photos and tourney details. There are also ads for the Ambassador Hotel and Agua Caliente resort, along with the story of how the $10,000 purse was funded by an LA Junior Chamber of Commerce $100-a-plate dinner hosted by Will Rogers (fresh off of his presidential bid). What a time! See you at Riviera next week for @genesisopen hosted by @tigerwoods @tgrliveevents @tgrfound #laopen #genesisopen2019

A post shared by Geoff Shackelford (@geoffshac) on Feb 7, 2019 at 9:52pm PST

What's More Entertaining? Phil Wanting To Finish In The Dark Or Watching Paul Casey's Face As Lefty Makes His Case?

The eyes bulge ever-so-slightly, otherwise Paul Casey does one spectacular job not engaging in a full eye-roll as the set and light was all but gone at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Bill Speros recaps the zany post-sunset antics.

Skratch posts the conversation followed by Mickelson’s reaction when the horn sounds (at 17 tee, apparently hoping someone changes their mind!). Play over the final two holes resumes Monday at 8 am PT.

Phil pushed hard to keep playing tonight at Pebble. pic.twitter.com/Y4gSuS8A5k

— Skratch (@Skratch) February 11, 2019

The look on Phil’s face when the horn blew. pic.twitter.com/9A2SNz1qvt

— Skratch (@Skratch) February 11, 2019

Phil Mickelson's "Overnight" Driver Swing Speed Jump...

I’m less interested in Phil Mickelson’s off-season speed bump from a distance regulation perspective and more from a mentality boost he says this gives him. However, it is still an amazing leap at age 48 and back to using last year’s Rogue driver.

Some of the improvement is health related, as Steve DiMeglio writes:

He hit the gym to build up his strength and explosiveness, especially in the offseason. He had a biomechanics study done and looked at the kinematic sequence of his swing to pinpoint his strengths and weaknesses. He spent hours working on his putting and iron play.

Further, he hired a nutritionist and is steadfastly adhering to a new diet. Sugar, for instance, is a no-no, and for a man who rarely said no to any dish or a second helping in the past, that takes will power.

“There are a lot of things that you can do to help your body heal, recover, and get strengthened,” Mickelson said.

And from Kevin Cunningham’s Golf.com item on Phil as he’s contending in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“So at the end of last year, even though I played poorly, I had something happen where it seemed like overnight,” Mickelson said on Friday, “it had really been a year in the works, where my driver speed, it shot up 5, 6 miles an hour, which rarely ever happens to anybody, yet alone somebody in their late 40s.”

Here’s the interesting part confirming that launch angle, bomb and gouge mindset is vital in Mickelson’s eyes:

“I think that’s going to lead to some good things,” Mickelson said. “If you’re going to be crooked off the tee, you sure as heck better be long and that’s kind of the way I’m trying to approach it.”

Of course he’s been incredibly accurate so far this week.

Phil Hits All His Fairways And It's Not Even Close To The First Time

Phil Mickelson hit all fairways in his AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am opener and believed that was a first.

But as Steve DiMeglio notes for Golfweek, the bigger surprise was just how many times Mickelson has accomplished the feat for someone, uh, mildly accurate off the tee during his illustrious career.

“So history was made today,” Mickelson said. “To the best of my knowledge it’s taken me 27 years and a few months to hit all fairways in a single round in a competition. I may have done it before, but I don’t ever recall doing it.”

Well, Mickelson has done it before. Six times on the PGA Tour, in fact. But let’s cut his memory some slack. The most recent time he accomplished the feat came 21 years ago in the Farmers Insurance Open.

His total recall aside, Mickelson was impressive throughout his round. His seven birdies swamped his lone bogey on the fifth hole and he stood in a tie for third place behind pacesetters Brian Gay and Scott Langley, who also played the Shore and shot 64.

Mickelson also made news by adding the Genesis Open at Riviera where he’s a two-time champion. He had previously decided to skip the event but after a missed cut in Scottsdale, gives the tournament 7 of the world top 10.