Rickie Fowler Unleashes A Definitive Visual Statement On Golf's New Drop Rule

In the age of the visual, I’m fairly certain Rickie Fowler has dropped the hammer on efforts to retain the silly looking new drop procedure. And if the visual from round one of the 2019 Honda Classic isn’t enough, the various puns now, uh, flowing, should seal the deal.

From Skratch, which noted how “Rickie shows us the proper way to take a drop.” Maybe someone can explain to the Committees holding emergency meetings to reimagine the drop procedure what they were going for with that one…

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Rickie shows us the proper way to take a drop.

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Slumbers Backtracks On No Deal Brexit Comment Showing That There Is No Deal To Be Made From Talking About No Deal Brexit

Interesting to see R&A Chief Martin Slumbers issue a statement a day after suggesting a no-deal Brexit could lead to headaches for the first Open in Northern Ireland since 1951.

Serious gunpoint style quotes here. All for…just answering a question. Or was this at issue? Pallets!

"There is no doubt in my mind that it is going be an historic occasion," said Slumbers of the 18-21 July event.

"We are determined to deliver an outstanding Championship at Royal Portrush and stage the biggest ever sporting event ever to be held on the island of Ireland.

"It is a privilege to be bringing The Open back to Royal Portrush for the first time since 1951 and we are all looking forward to it very much.

"We are working with our partners and the local agencies in Northern Ireland to stage a fantastic Championship of which everyone will be proud."

Slumbers: There Is No Rota But Turnberry One Of Ten Courses In That Thing Where We Rotate Going Around To The Same Facilities

His English teachers will be proud that R&A Chief Martin Slumbers is sticking to the proper definition of “rota” that actually references a fixed rotation of courses. And with both Turnberry and Lytham on the bypass list, they are not in a rota.

But not out of the Open rota. Or whatever it’s called.

Will Gray for GolfChannel.com included this quote. He’s not wrong! Well, maybe except the Turnberry under consideration part.

"Turnberry will be in consideration for 2023, but it's not a rota," Slumbers said. "We look at all the issues in the round, but Turnberry remains as one of the 10 courses where we could stage the Open Championship."

No-Deal Brexit Could Be A Headache For The Open, European Tour

With the March 29th deadline looming, R&A Chief Martin Slumbers explains how the failure to reach a Brexit deal could have huge ramifications for The Open at Royal Portrush.

From Alistair Tait’s Golfweek story:

A no-deal Brexit could potentially see the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland, something Slumbers could do without.

“The future of the border is our number one concern. We’ve got over 2,000 containers to get across the Irish Sea.

“The problem is we don’t know whether to reschedule to bring all our containers in through Dublin, whether to move them through Belfast, whether to ship them out of the UK now. That’s the biggest concern, and there are other aspects that make Brexit potentially very complex.”

Hey how about us people who have to cross those borders!

As for the European Tour, exchange rates are Keith Pelley’s primary concern:

“When we talk about Brexit it always comes back to how it will affect foreign exchange rates, and how it would affect prize money,” Pelley said. “That’s the crux for the European Tour.”

Could A Review Of Performance Enhancing Flagsticks Prove Fatal For The Governing Bodies?

To review: golfers can leave flagsticks in the hole without penalty, pro golfers have convinced themselves that they will make more putts, fans can see the hole easier, and unlike some of golf’s new rules, there is nearly unanimous support for this change before a majority of golfers have even tried it.

But with the R&A’s Martin Slumbers’ comments this week, combined with the USGA’s Thomas Pagel having said something similar to the WSJ’s Brian Costa, both organizations have suggested that should there be signs the new rule is enhancing performance and de-skilling the game, they might have to revisit the change.

From Alistair Tait’s Golfweek story:

“It wasn’t intended as a rule to improve performance. It was intended as a rule to improve pace of play, and it’s something we will watch and see. But these are early days. This is not the time to make knee‑jerk reactions.”

Slumbers is right, this is not the time. But even if this one does pan out to somehow allow a few more people to make more putts, rescinding this rule might just be the undoing of the governing bodies.

After all, might most wonder why the possibility of performance enhancement was not investigated before making the rule change?

I offered this video version of the above comments for Golfweek…

R&A Chief Counters USGA: “It hasn’t gone as smoothly as I would have liked.”

While USGA CEO Mike Davis sees the revamped rules rollout as a “huge success”, his counterpart at the R&A offered a different view Tuesday.

From Alistair Tait’s report at the chief’s St. Andrews sitdown with writers.

“There’s been some unfortunate situations, no doubt about that,” Slumbers said. “It hasn’t gone as smoothly as I would have liked.”

That’s a rather stark difference from Davis’ position, but also a more credible one that will resonate with most golfers.

He also defended the knee-drop situation.

“The intention for the knee drop rule is to be able to get the ball back in play quickly, in a prescribed area, and without having re‑drops.”

Yes but…

Reading Between The Lines: The Open Returns To Hoylake In 2022

Royal Liverpool

It’s hard not to see a return to Royal Liverpool in 2022 as a sign that Royal Lytham and St Anne’s days in the rota are numbered given space issues and a lack of length. Hoylake last hosted in 2014 while Lytham last welcomed the world’s best in 2012.

With The Open at St. Andrews in 2021 there was only a chance of back-to-back playings in Scotland, albeit it a slim one, meaning Trump Turnberry remains waiting for its first Open since 2009 and first R&A event since 2012’s Senior Open.

For Immediate Release:

THE 151ST OPEN TO BE PLAYED AT ROYAL LIVERPOOL IN 2022

26 February 2019, St Andrews, Scotland: The 151st Open will be played at Royal Liverpool (Hoylake) from 10-17 July 2022.

The occasion will mark the 13th time that golf’s original championship has been played over the famous links where many of the greatest names in the sport have lifted the iconic Claret Jug.

The Open was last played at Hoylake in 2014 when Rory McIlroy famously completed a wire-to-wire victory by two strokes over Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia to become the third golfer from Northern Ireland, after Fred Daly (Hoylake,1947) and Darren Clarke (Royal St George’s, 2011), to win the Championship.

More than 230,000 fans turned out to watch Tiger Woods lift the Claret Jug for the third time in his celebrated career when The Open was played at Hoylake in 2006, which was a record attendance for a Championship held outside of St Andrews until the total was surpassed at Royal Birkdale in 2017.

Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, said, “The Open has a strong affinity with England’s Golf Coast and following the success of the Championship at Royal Birkdale two years ago we know that there will be tremendous excitement among golf fans at the prospect of its return to Royal Liverpool.

“Its famous links has a cherished history and has produced a revered group of Champion Golfers, including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy most recently. It will be fascinating to see who will emerge from the world class field to lift the Claret Jug in 2022.”

Sir Ian Gilmore, Captain of Royal Liverpool, said, “We are thrilled to be hosting The Open at Hoylake again – the thirteenth to be held here. Support for world class sport in Merseyside and the North West is intense and passionate. Fans will turn out in force expecting another great winner to join the pantheon of great Champion Golfers who have won at Hoylake – Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy being the last two – a testament to the quality of our course that always seems to find the world’s best golfer. Roll on 2022!”

Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said, “The Open is one of the world’s great sporting events and it is great news that it is returning once again to our city region, home to some of the most iconic courses in golf, including Royal Liverpool. 

“The Championship will undoubtedly provide a massive economic boost to the whole of the city region economy and will put the Wirral, one of the gems in our crown, in the global spotlight.  We look forward to welcoming the golf fans from around the world who will flock to Hoylake in their tens of thousands, providing a tremendous opportunity to highlight what our city region has to offer.”

Leader of Wirral Council, Councillor Phil Davies, added, “We are thrilled to be welcoming the world’s best golfers back to Hoylake. The last time The Open was held on our peninsula our local businesses in Wirral and across the region enjoyed an economic boost to the tune of £76 million.

“The impact of an event of this scale – the global profile, thousands of visitors – is just fantastic for everyone in our borough. Local shops, restaurants and every resident, I am sure, will already be counting the days to what is always a special occasion.

“Making this announcement in 2019, the year when Wirral is officially the Borough of Culture for our region and during preparations for big sporting and cultural events in the next few months, makes it even more fitting. We can’t wait to welcome The Open and golf fans from around the world back to Wirral.”

Hoylake first staged The Open in 1897 when Harold Hilton, a member of the club, won the Championship for a second time after his maiden victory in 1892 at Muirfield.

Since then, the historic links has witnessed some of golf’s most notable players go on to become Champion Golfer of the Year including Sandy Herd, Arnaud Massy, JH Taylor, Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones, Alf Padgham, Daly, Peter Thomson, Roberto de Vicenzo, Woods and McIlroy.

2019 WGC Mexico City Overnight Rating Drops Slightly

Adding Tiger Woods to the mix did not deliver his usual bump due likely to Dustin Johnson playing in control through most of the weekend in Mexico City.

From SBD’s Austin Karp:

NBC yesterday drew a 2.8 overnight rating for the final round of the WGC-Mexico Championship, which saw Dustin Johnson win by five strokes over Rory McIlroy. Last year, NBC drew a 2.9 rating for the Sunday telecast, which saw Phil Mickelson win in a one-hole playoff with Justin Thomas. 

Bamberger To Suzy: Bring Back Ted!

Ah remember when the controversies were seemingly so petty? Michael Bamberger, in his weekly golf.com column of best things in golf, has several fun items, including this:

Ted Bishop, the outspoken former PGA of American president, came rushing back to mind last week when he wrote an insightful GOLF.com piece about Steve Stricker as the Ryder Cup captain. Bishop’s bio blurb noted that he was the 38th president of the PGA of America. As it happens, the Honda event this week is played at a course owned by the PGA of America, PGA National. The 41st and current PGA president, Suzy Whaley, is the first female president of the organization. Bishop’s two-year term has been all but wiped clean from PGA history and he enjoys none of the privileges that come from being a former president, like an invitation-for-life to the Ryder Cup! You might recall his offense: In a post Ryder Cup tweet in 2014, Bishop called Ian Poulter a “Lil girl.” Yes, it was an inane thing to write. But our language, via Twitter and otherwise, has been so debased since then if Bishop or anybody else wrote that today it would be a pebble in an ocean. The point here is this: isn’t it time for Bishop to be brought back into the fold, where he can have his place of honor among former PGA Presidents including George Sargent, Ed Dudley and Max Elbin? Suzy Whaley, an accomplished player and a bright leader in golf, would be the ideal person to do it, or at least initiate it. #rehabilitation.

Given that Whaley couldn’t wait to condemn former prez Bishop while standing by DUI-arrestee Paul Levy the last two years, don’t get your hopes up.

USGA CEO Davis: New Rules "A Huge Success"

News was lighter than ever coming out of the USGA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, as few media members attended and the organization’s relevance wanes.

Global Golf Post offered these notes, where the main news may be a reconsideration of amateur status and online components to that which have gotten YouTube posters in trouble, according to the USGA’s Thomas Pagel.

Mark Newell was elected to a second term as president, but his address was not posted in written or video form online as has been the custom in the past.

Perhaps that’s why CEO Mike Davis made a bold declaration about his organization’s joint effort with the R&A to revitalize the rules.

From Ryan Herrington’s Golf World report that also includes a mention of a few other anecdotes from the address, but this stood out:

“From my perspective, I would say by and large they’ve been a huge success,” Davis said. “They did exactly what we wanted them to do, which was really simplify the understanding and make them easier to apply.”

I’m a little surprised that declaration wasn’t tempered with something about the expected rough patches and that ultimately a huge success story is looming.

Particularly as 2/3rds of the country hasn’t even hit a shot under the new Rules.

There was also this:

Hearing tour pros rail against the USGA is nothing new. But USGA officials have tried to address the issues quickly and provide players background for the changes in hopes that a better understanding of the thought process will assuage their concerns.

“When you actually take them through ‘this is why’, it’s always a light-bulb moment,” Davis said. “‘Oh, I didn’t realize that.’ And I think that’s the frustration that there is. You know it would have been nice if you actually asked the why … but listen, it’s the world we live in.”

This probably would have been more palatable had their been a longer rollout in advance, with a few high profile events as test grounds both for golfing fans and for players.

You can see Davis’ address followed by a town hall meeting which, despite what appears to be a much smaller crowd than in past years, undoubtedly put extra strain on the evening’s open bar portion of the festivities.

Honda Classic, PGA Tour's Longest Continuous Sponsor, Takes Field Hit

The Forecaddie concludes the new tighter, zanier schedule has claimed its first victim with the Players Championship moving to March and two WGC’s in five weeks: the Honda Classic.

Besides halting that event’s momentum, the impact of a dramatically weaker field hurting the Tour’s longest continuously running sponsor should not be discounted. Newer events and WGC’s at the expense of tournaments that have been stalwarts should bother someone in Ponte Vedra.

Other events worth watching in the new scheme of things: the Valspar at Innisbrook, the AT&T Byron Nelson and the Wyndham.

With Win No. 20, Dustin Johnson Seems Destined For The WGHOF

Dustin Johnson’s major record from Wikipedia

Now, there are popularity issues that only the committees know how to work out behind closed doors, and we know there are many players who have been overlooked either because they were forgotten or they ruffled someone’s feathers.

But setting all of that aside, it appears with with No. 20, a U.S. Open, a strong major record and many years of good health and golf ahead, Dustin Johnson has carved out a Hall of Fame career. Assuming such things matter to players today, it’s still worth highlighting.

And hey, he’s getting in the Myrtle Beach golf HOF this week, joining his grandfather. So we know he passed one Hall’s character test!

Steve DiMeglio’s game story from Johnson’s second WGC Mexico City win in three years.

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🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 DJ’s sixth World Golf Championship win. #WGCMexico

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It Was A Good Day For Netflix...For Golf: Tiger Grants GolfTV Exclusive After WGC Mexico Final Round

Sure, the real Netflix didn’t pick up the Best Picture win it so coveted—but plenty of other trophies—the service billed as the Netflix for golf by all finally scored an exclusive with partner Tiger Woods after his WGC Mexico City closing 69 and 10th place finish.

While not the winning way he is accustomed to, Woods showed more signs of positioning himself well for the Masters with a miraculous recovery shot and enough birdies to suggest he’s in solid form.

Yet as Bob Harig notes for ESPN, Woods wasn’t chatty after his final two rounds in Mexico City.

And for the second day in a row Sunday, Woods declined to talk about it.

Golfers across all professional tours decline media requests after poor rounds, but Woods has been the rare type to be accountable for good and bad -- and he's also the only one requested every time.

Woods skipped just one post-round media session last year but now has two in a row at the WGC-Mexico Championship, the post-tournament recap refusal something that hasn't occurred in years.

While Woods is certainly entitled at this point to take a pass given how consistently he’s stopped for post round coverage when he undoubtedly was ashamed of his play, it’s hard not to wonder if the Netflix-for-golf pressure to deliver something…anything, prompted a call to throw a reminder out there that the fledging streaming service exists.

The exclusive from Woods is viewable in the only place American and most international viewers can see the coverage: Twitter.

"I'm officially excited to get off Poa!"
—@TigerWoods shares his thoughts on a tough putting week and takes us through his prep plan for the Florida swing (which involves putting some weight back on). pic.twitter.com/Tg1cZRMg9j

— GOLFTV (@GOLFTV) February 24, 2019

Instant Poll: Higher Priority For Tournament Golf: Pace Of Play Or Protecting The Field?

The recent backstopping incident in Thailand was arguably the worst case yet in terms of optics and in helping a player save a stroke. I wrote about it here for Golfweek.

My colleague Beth Ann Nichols defended the players because of their pure-hearted nature.

Brandel Chamblee and Mark Rolfing were pretty tough on the players involved and you can see the latest incident here if you haven’t already.

Randall Mell agreed this was ultimately an effort to speed up play (on the 18th green?) even as he’s written about the perils of backstopping.

The LPGA issued this statement absolving the players of any wrongdoing.

So I ask, even though Ariya Jutanugarn could have tip-toed to the ball in 20 seconds, walked in 10, and marked, is that time saved more important than the shot lost to the field in the name of faster play?

Higher priority for tournament golf: pace of play or protecting the field?

Pace of play, even if it means bending the rules

Protecting the field, even if it adds time to the round

 

pollcode.com free polls

"Nothing unites Golf Twitter like protestations about the CBS telecasts"

From Alan Shipnuck’s Golf.com mailbag:

If the CBS telecast were a person would they have dinner at 4:00 pm in a Bob Evans? Would they also wear a sweater in July in Boca Raton? -@HouseSacco

It’s true that the CBS telecast retains the sensibilities of Ken Venturi, who would now be pushing 90. I dare say that, except for slow play, nothing unites Golf Twitter like protestations about the CBS telecasts. The presentation and metabolism simply isn’t working with the modern golf fan. What’s interesting is that the PGA Tour knows it, because minions from the communications dept. have pushed back against some of the fiercest on-line critics. Perhaps all of this energy would be better spent helping CBS improve its product.