USGA Advertises For Player Relations Officer To Work Between Staff And Executive Committee

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Buoyed by goodwill over the expansion of their players relations staff to communicate between the USGA and professional golf tours, the USGA is looking for a “Jason Gore-like” person. The goal is to improve communications between the Far Hills-based staff and the organization’s 16-person Executive Committee.

Sources at ziprecruiter.com first spotted the job posting and shared with GeoffShackelford.com.

As always, I’ve copy and pasted here if or ever anyone takes the job:   

From the money-losing USGA Handicap System to the annual cash-cow that is the U.S. Open, to modernizing the game’s Rules to a totally unappreciative audience of spoiled golfers, while supporting sustainable golf course management practices 51 weeks a year, the United States Golf Association promotes the health of a game that inspires, challenges, and rewards like nothing else can. Most of the time. If you have the leisure time and disposable income.

Are you looking to join a dynamic team that meets as much as eight times in a day to promote and protect the conservative spirit of golf? 

The Executive Committee (XC) Partnership Builder is a front-line intermediary role position responsible for qualifying, cultivating, soliciting, massaging and sharing thoughts from the XC to USGA staff leadership so that the XC members are not encumbered by time-consuming small talk with staff.

Relationships will be cultivated by meeting with XC members at primarily southeastern and southwestern five-star resorts during winter before transitioning to northeastern clubs in summer. The individual will travel extensively while possibly getting to play the occasional round at a Golf Digest Top 100 course. (Caddie fees typically not expensible).

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:

• Manage a portfolio of 16 XC members with divergent individual needs spread throughout the country’s best neighborhoods and gated communities. 

• In conjunction with the Chief People Officer and Deputy Chief of Staff, establish annual goals for visits, solicitations and filtering all ideas proposed, no matter how asinine.

• Develop strategies and prepare proposals—including written documentation—for accurate recording and acknowledgment of mostly dull ideas hatched from Sea Island to the Monterey Peninsula.

WHAT YOU BRING TO THE USGA:

• A minimum of a BA/BS degree with 5-7 years of experience as a front-line communicator, unless you were one of four former White House Communication Directors over the last two years.

• Retain demonstrated ability to create and cultivate relationships with a variety of inflated egos and sometimes out of touch individuals who prefer to converse only with those in a similar tax bracket.

• No prior experience in the golf industry necessary but if you do play golf, do not expect to get into Somerset Hills until the next Great Recession. 

• Proven track record of recording ideas, nodding head in convincing fashion

• Strong working knowledge of America’s most storied vacation spots, with a keen ability to explain the difference between The Breakers and The Cloisters

• Positive attitude and the ability to display consistent initiative no matter how condescending the treatment is by an XC member

• The ability to travel up to 90% of the year in economy class or Main Cabin Extra/Premium Economy if status allows. Private jet travel forbidden.

• Strong working knowledge of fine wine, with an emphasis on American vintages.

• Strong working knowledge of America’s golf architects, with an ability to understand the difference between an A.W. Tillinghast Redan and a C.B. Macdonald Redan. Never say Rodan. 

Sergio Garcia To Be First Masters Champions To Receive A Dedicated Walking Official

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Beset by regular run-ins with the rules of golf and etiquette, Masters Chairman Fred Ridley has enlisted a retired USGA official to serve as Sergio Garcia’s personal walking rules official for next week’s Masters.

“We have such a strong affinity for our Champions and want to make sure that Sergio Garcia feels welcome both on the course and off,” Chairman Ridley said in a statement. “Keeping in line with the vision of our founders, it is essential we make sure that Sergio has the best possible experience at the 2019 Masters.”

The decision to enlist a personal rules valet is a big one given Augusta National’s preference for only seeing players and caddies inside the ropes. Normally rulings are administered by officials roving throughout the course after a player calls them in to assess a situation.

The call was made by Chairman Ridley soon after Garcia’s disqualification at the European Tour’s Saudi Arabia stop for damaging greens. Augusta National reportedly considered appointing a second dedicated official after Saturday’s Dell Match Play dust-up when Garcia raked a putt away before Matt Kuchar could concede the tap-in.

Several Twitter users have posted photos of former USGA director of rules and competitions Tom Meeks preparing at a local Indianapolis library, where he was seen reading Clifford Roberts’ Story Of Augusta National Golf Club, Emily Post’s Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home, and the Richmond County civil code.

The Forecaddie reports that Meeks has told friends he will be trailing Garcia both on and off the course, also ensuring the 2017 Champion does not violate any of Augusta National’s many house rules or even the Augusta, Georgia speed limits.

Got To Gram Before Wheels Up: Rory McIlroy Apologizes For Storming Out Of Match Play

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Nice of Rory McIlroy to realize the error of his ways in blowing off the assembled scribblers after his fun—except for the 16th hole—battle with Tiger Woods in the 2019 WGC Dell Match Play.

His almost unimaginably long drive followed by six shots at the par-5 16th might have had something to do with it, as Steve DiMeglio notes for Golfweek.

Moochgate 2 Never Hits Theaters: Sergio Takes The Blame For Raking Ball Before Kuchar Can Concede

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We were so close to having a fabulous squabble on our hands, but Sergio Garcia eventually came to his senses after some mid-round tension in the WGC Dell Match Play. Our dreams of Moochgate 2 were dashed when it went straight to video (long story, under 20 year olds).

Bob Harig of ESPN.com on the negotiation between the green vandal and the mooch.

It was after that hole where Garcia suggested to Kuchar that he concede a hole to make up for what happened on the seventh.

"I thought about it and said I don't like that idea, either," Kuchar said.

"Typically there's an acknowledgement," he added of a conceded putt. "I understand how the concession needs to be vocal and I try to do a really good job. I hate it when guys sort of mumble something. I always try to be very clear, very vocal. This is one where I was on the back of the green. It happened so fast. I knew I hadn't conceded it. But it was never a tactic or anything."

Despite the apparent tension within the match, Garcia backed away from any controversy after it.

"It's quite simple: I screwed it up, it's as simple as that," he said. "Obviously I missed my putt and I kind of tapped it with the back of my putter before he said anything. It's a loss of hole. I understand that.

"There are many options that you can do if you don't want to take the hole, even though I've already lost that hole. But obviously he didn't like any of the options that were there. It's fine. At the end of the day, I'm the one who made the mistake."

Boo!

The mistake by Garcia that likely cost him his match in Saturday’s round of 8:

Lucy Li WD's From ANWA, Probably Does Everyone A Favor

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Not that many will feel good about losing the marquee player in next week’s first-ever Augusta National Women’s Amateur, especially to an unspecified injury (mild thumb sprain according to Golf Channel’s Steve Burkowski). But Lucy Li was coming to the inaugural event with tainted amateur status. The USGA ruled that she had violated amateur status rules but allowed her to retain her standing.

Li’s withdrawal, announced just days before the first round, does take away a marquee player but also allows the event to focus on the amateur standing of those in attendance.

Beth Ann Nichols reports for Golfweek on the two additions to the field in place of Li and Alex Melton.

Tiger Hits A Stellar Lefty Shot From The Bushes, Loses To Snedeker

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Tiger may have lost to Brandt Snedeker, setting up a likely elimination unless he beats Patrick Cantlay and Aaron Wise takes out Snedeker (or Snedeker ties, Tiger wins).

Anyway, he only briefly stopped to talk to a PGA Tour staff member so we didn’t get to ask him about this spectacular recovery shot:

Golf Gods At Work, Files: Poulter And Mitchell Face Off After Sharing Flight, Discussing The Art Of Match Play

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Ian Poulter might want to wheel out some gamesmanship against Keith Mitchell in Thursday’s WGC Dell Match Play contest—maybe a Kevin Mitchell for kicks—except that his opponent might see through it.

The two played Augusta National recently, decided to share a flight to the match play and as Ben Everill reports for PGATour.com, discussed the art of match play. To some extent anyway.

USGA Looks At The Threat Against Lions Muni

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Longtime readers know my feelings on Lions Muni and the greed-driven University of Texas’ desire to plow the place for development, so it’s wonderful to see the Save Muni movement here is strong. And emboldened by many high profile supporters, including the USGA. The course was granted another one-year reprieve as supporters look for a solution.

Mike Trostel writes the backstory of the course and its incredible history.

Lions is the course of police officers, bartenders and school teachers, but on any given day you might see former University of Texas football coach Mack Brown playing nine with his buddies or actor Matthew McConaughey on the driving range with his son. It has also hosted some of the biggest names in the game, including Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sandra Haynie, Betsy Rawls and Tom Kite.

Lions has long been one of the city’s most popular courses, logging about 60,000 rounds per year. It also hosts Texas' oldest amateur tournament, the Firecracker Open, played annually over the Fourth of July weekend. But the course’s significance goes far beyond the golfers it currently serves.

And of course, it’s still about the money, as always…

The core issue is money. Currently, the city of Austin pays approximately $500,000 per year for the use of the land. UT, however, values use of the land at roughly $6 million annually. The question is whether a compromise can be reached.

Defining what constitutes “advancing and promoting University education” is also a significant uncertainty. On one hand, the land could be viewed as a much-needed solution to UT’s student housing problem or allow the school to expand its academic resource centers and laboratories.

But the cost of developing the land where Lions sits isn’t solely measured in dollars.

The piece is accompanied by this short feature:

Details Emerge From Golf's Equivalent To The Camp David Accords: Kuchar, El Tucan Clear Air Over Orange Juice

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Michael Bamberger scored the exclusive details of last month’s secret reunion between Matt Kuchar and his Mayakoba Classic-winning fill-in caddie El Tucan to settle any misunderstanding over Moochgate.

Not only has he been paid, Ortiz and Kuchar met in a clubhouse dining room in late February, when the Tour went to Mexico City for a World Golf Championship event. Over a 40-minute glass of morning orange juice on Feb. 23, the Saturday of the tournament, each apologized to the other, Ortiz said in a recent phone interview and through an interpreter.

“Matt said, ‘Hey, David, how are you?’” Ortiz said. “I apologized for the [difficulty] the situation created. I told him it was never my intention to embarrass him, but I felt eventually I had to tell the truth. Matt also offered an apology. He said it was all a misunderstanding. He asked me how my family was. He showed me a picture of his family and a video of a hole-in-one made by one of his sons.”

Ortiz said there were four people at the breakfast table, including a sports psychologist “who is very close to Matt.”

And a good time was had by all!

ANWA To Feature Honorary Starters, Very Large Silver Bowl Trophy To The Winner

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Nancy Lopez, Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Se Ri Pak will serve as honorary starters at the 2019 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, it was announced Thursday as promotion of the new event kicked off in New York.

The trophy is a fairly traditional looking silver bowl with the ANWA logo on the side along with all of the flowers synonymous with the Fruitland’s Nursery and Augusta National.

"Money driving PGA Tour gravy train"

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Part 1 of Ron Green Jr.’s eventual two-parter looking at sports betting coming to golf is worth checking out to understand what the PGA Tour has in mind.

Two things stood out to me in Part 1, starting with this on sports betting in the U.S.:

Of that estimated $150 billion wagered, approximately 2 percent – $3 billion – is bet on golf.

Monahan said making money off legalized sports betting is not the main reason the PGA Tour is invested in what will be a new world order. The hope is to get one-quarter of 1 percent of the money wagered on the PGA Tour. That’s approximately $7.5 million annually if the estimates of what’s being bet are accurate.

That seems like a modest goal and modest amount given how the Tour has invested in various programs in anticipation of legalized sports gambling. Hardly a gravy train, but maybe this is the most conservative estimate?

Then again, if it’s about living under par, i.e. engagement…

“What that’s going to do is give fans the ability to not only bet on the winner and the low score of the day but you’re going to be able to bet much more granularly,” Levinson said.

“You’re going to be able to bet shot by shot. You’re going to have a situation where fans are going to be locked in and engaged throughout the competition. It’s going to be a fun way to bet.

“Our sport is unique in that we have 72 balls in the air at any given moment as opposed to one. For people who like to engage in sports betting and may not be interested in the PGA Tour golf, this is going to be a really fun sport to get engaged with.”

Levinson is one of the tour’s sharpest minds, so I trust that he’s seeing things to make them believe shot-by-shot betting will be fun and functional.

Our first glimpse into the merging of a match and stats came at last fall’s match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. As slow as golf is, the match did not seem to move slowly enough to assess a shot and the player’s stats before placing a bet in time. But that may change with better-designed apps that react by crafting a wager immediately after a shot has come to rest, sending us a phone notification of the
”opportunity” and making the bet option fun and fast.

Tiger: "Look at these heads, 460 cc's, you hit the ball anywhere on the face and have it go 300 yards."

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Just my read from his comments yesterday, which were similar to remarks made at The Players. But it sounds like he’s inching closer to thinking a de-skilling has occurred at the top level with 460 cc drivers.

From hjs pre-WGC Dell Match Play press session outside the Austin CC clubhouse:

Q. How would you describe the level of competition now in 2019?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I think that equipment has made it smaller. The margin is much smaller than it used to be. Now look at these heads, 460 cc's, you hit the ball anywhere on the face and have it go 300 yards. Before it put a premium on good ball-strikers to hit the ball in the middle of the face each and every time. And there was a distinction between the guys who could do that and the guys who couldn't. And that's no longer the case.

It promotes people swinging harder. Teeing the ball higher, swinging harder and hitting the ball further. And the old shot of hitting just a squeezier, low, heelie cut in play, that's no longer the case. Guys are trying to maximize distance off the tee, to try and carry that number 300, 320, 330 in the air. And it's become a game that's played more up in the air than it ever used to be.

Any day now we’re going to have teh 360 cc Driver Open…

Match Play Moodsetters: Ames/Tiger, Miguel Angel/Keegan Clips

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As I noted for Golfweek, a little bit of a shine was taken off the pre-match play proceedings with word surfacing of Dell’s desire to change the format. As an unabashed fan of this format, I did not take this well as much as I admire what the company has done to save this stop.

Thankfully, the action begins Thursday and impressively drew a field of every top player in the world, minus Rickie Fowler and Adam Scott. Several pools standout, and you can view them all here along with TV times and other info.

But if you need any inspiration to get ready for the fun, Skratch has done a nice job digging up the old reliable spats for all time. It was especially fun to see the rarely-shown Tiger-Stephen Ames execution. Enjoy!

I just wish we also could see Keegan with the lapdog in the parking lot after. Oh wait, that’s why we have YouTube.

Ticket On The Teaching Titanic? David Leadbetter Officially Signs On To Join Team Patrick Reed

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How long before Ricky Bobby grows bored with David Leadbetter’s ideas remains to be seen, but the legendary instructor has officially signed up for Team Patrick Reed just two weeks shy of the 2018 Masters champion’s title defense.

Tim Rosaforte Tweeted the news and received word from Reed spokesman, CEO and spouse, Justine Reed: “We are very proud to announce that Mr. David Leadbetter will be joining our team and we all look forward to working with him.”

This may be a Leadbetter first: reporting to the wife of the player he’s coaching.

Rosaforte’s Tweets:


Players Reject Turning WGC Match Play Into The WGC Match Play-Stroke Play

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Rex Hoggard with the details on what appeared to be an asinine suggestion to use match play to qualify for a weekend of stroke play.

Although the PAC didn’t seem to have much interest in that format change, it appears the PGA Tour continues to search for a way to tinker with the Match Play format, which went to group play for the first three days in 2015.

“There’s really only two formats. If you want to introduce stroke play then you make it as it is in a lot of amateur match-play events and have a stroke-play qualifier and then a match-play knockout,” Casey said. “Or go straight knockout, 64 guys. To me, that’s my thought on it and the vast majority of players seem to think that way.”