Alliteration Works: The FedExCup Finale Instead Of The Tour Championship?

Randall Mell at GolfChannel.com lands some great counterpunches against naysayers perplexed by the new Tour Championship format—this is an improvement over the confusion of year’s past—and also makes a smart suggestion to call it the FedExCup Finale to avoid confusion.

Unfortunately, he lands what is a knockout punch regarding the new format, less than a year since Tiger Woods’ 80th and arguably most inspiring PGA Tour event win.

With this new format in place last year, Woods wouldn’t have won anything.

Imagine the outrage that would have caused.

What if Brooks Koepka shoots a 267 total this week, putting him at 20 under with his staggered start (7 under). And what if Thomas shoots 269 and wins the FedExCup at 21 under, with his staggered start (10 under)?

To be sure, we, the media, will point out that Koepka would have won the Tour Championship as a 72-hole event, before phantom strokes were figured into the totals. We will then point out that Koepka won the PGA Championship, a World Golf Championship and the classic sense of the Tour Championship this year, but Thomas claimed the FedExCup while actually only winning a single tournament all season.

That’s why it’s best to change the name of this week’s event to the FedExCup Finale, to begin the mind wipe as soon as possible, to help fans understand there really is no Tour Championship to win anymore.

More Reads On The Late Jack Whitaker

My original post was here but some wonderful tributes have rolled in to celebrate the life, work and times of Jack Whitaker.

Frank Fitzpatrick of Whitaker’s home town Philadelphia Inquirer with a sensational remembrance, including this:

As one of sports broadcasting’s first and best essayists, Whitaker, who died Sunday at 95, introduced elegance and erudition into the genre. His work was infused by a broad vocabulary, a tweedy wardrobe, and a thoughtful demeanor.

But while he added a professorial air to decades’ worth of telecasts from Super Bowls, Masters, Olympics and Kentucky Derbys, the Germantown native never forgot that he once stood before a camera dressed like a gunslinger.

“It wasn’t my finest hour,” Whitaker told the Inquirer in 2007, “but you did what you had to do and you hoped it made you better.”

 Richard Goldstein filed another superb New York Times obituary, writes:

But he was perhaps best known for his essays about sports, inspired by writers he admired like Alistair Cooke and Heywood Hale Broun. He received an Emmy in 1979 as “outstanding sports personality” and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sports Emmy Awards in 2012. “I know that I’m regarded as The Talking Head,” he told Sports Illustrated in 1977. “I’d like to be exactly that and say something that people will remember or get excited about. I’d like to bring sports into the thinking process.”

Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic respected Whitaker’s talent as a writer, but he said the combination of that talent with his voice prompted him to wonder if we’ve lost one of the last broadcasting icons:

But, like with most broadcasters, it was his voice that mattered most, in tone and in authority. 

Dick Enberg had one, too. So did Vin Scully, who’s still alive but stopped calling baseball games in 2016.

Who are the voices who will take their place? Not as announcers, whether calling a came or providing analysis.

Who will replace them as icons? Anyone?

We discussed Whitaker this morning on Morning Drive.

Shark: Take The Ball Back To 1996 Specs

Greg Norman has been a consistent advocate for a golf ball that spins more. But unlike his recent shift away from shirtless Instagram posts, he has remained consistent on the distance matter.

And now he’s responding to Instagram posts on the hot button topic that became popular again as PGA Tour pros made a mockery of 7,600 yard Medinah.

This is the Shark we know has the game’s best interests at heart:

View this post on Instagram

Do you agree with @shark_gregnorman’s suggestion to wind the ball back rather than redesign courses for Tour events?

A post shared by GOLF.com // GOLF Magazine (@golf_com) on Aug 19, 2019 at 10:26am PDT

Tiger Will Consult Others On Whether To Pick Tiger For The Presidents Cup

From Tiger Woods’ Monday teleconference after the first eight spots on the 2019 Presidents Cup teams were solidified, as reported by Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio:

And he said he won’t be pressured – not by the PGA Tour or TV executives – to pick himself.

“My job as the captain is to put together the best team possible and try and put together the best 12 guys,” he said. “We’ll be going through the whole process of having open communication with our top eight guys and my vice captains. That is something that we will certainly talk about, whether I should play or not play.

“Ultimately it’s going to be my call whether I do play or not as the captain. But I want to have all of their opinions before that decision is made.”

Oh boss, you’re game looks great, I’d pick you if I were captain!

Here are the eight USA participants who can be fitted for a sports coat they’ll wear once.

And the International’s first eight with three Aussies on the team.

Steph Curry Continues To Do His Part To Help Golf

The Warriors star (legend yet?) visited Howard University, was inspired by a meeting with a student and golfer, and the school is now pledging to rebuild its defunct golf program into a DI team by the 2020-21 season. All thanks to Steph Curry with help from Under Armour, Callaway and his foundation.

Roxanna Scott of Golfweek reporting from the launch Monday at Howard.

Curry spent some time with a group of students that left a big impression on him. “Every student had a passion, a vision something they wanted to do to change something at Howard, something they wanted to do to change the world,” Curry said Monday at a news conference at Langston Golf Course. “Hearing each one of their stories was empowering and encouraging.

“Otis, we connected in golf in terms of our passion for the game, in terms of what the game has taught both of us,” Curry said. “The idea of recreating Howard’s golf team, turning it into a Division I program for men and women was born that night.”

Will Name Players Get Policed Like The Rest Under New European Tour Policies?

I was excited about European Tour Chief Keith Pelley’s rollout of enhanced speed of play techniques and do believe they will make a difference until I read what Golfweek’s Alistair Tait wrote.

While he liked many of the changes—including the name shaming of showing groups where they stand in terms of on-course positioning—Tait has been on the pace of play situation for years and will not be surprised if little happens. This was interesting…

My other fear is that “name” players will escape censure while others will take the brunt of the action. Appearance fees are still a regular occurrence on the European Tour. Sponsors pay large amounts to lure stars to places like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, etc. Some sponsors won’t be happy if the guy they’ve spent a small fortune on is put off from returning because of a one-shot penalty for impersonating a tortoise.

Jordan Spieth played in that 2016 Abu Dhabi tournament and was warned for slow play. The Tour was correct to implement the pace of play rules, but sponsors weren’t happy. It’s a moot point if that slow play warning is the reason Spieth has never returned to Abu Dhabi, but it clearly hasn’t helped.

We shall see soon enough as the policies announced Monday will see a trial run at the 2019 BMW PGA in September. But given the precedent set with Sergio Garcia’s non-suspension for vandalizing greens during competition in January, Tait’s concern is legitimate.

Reminder: Legends Of East Lake Doc Debuts

Debuting August 19 at 10 pm ET and great to see Alexa Stirling and Bobby Jones prominently featured.

As I noted in this column for Golfweek, the film is most enjoyable as is the story of East Lake…every few years.

Overnights: 2019 BMW A 2.4, U.S. Amateur At Pinehurst A .3

According to Sports Business Daily, the 2019 BMW Championship drew a 1.9 Saturday audience and a 2.4 for Sunday’s final round on NBC, well up over non-Tiger-contending Wyndham Championship’s previously played in this schedule spot. The 2018 Wyndham drew a 1.9.

The slide in US Amateur interest and visibility continued with a .4 Saturday and a .3 for Sunday’s finale on Fox going head-to-head with most of the BMW final round. Talk about an event screaming out for a change in its Monday to Sunday format to avoid being an afterthought.

Two notes on the audiences from Tunity regarding the BMW final and first rounds:

The final round of the @BMWchamps on #NBC averaged 557,720 #OOH TV viewers and peaked at 5:22 PM with 872,791 #OOH viewers. ⛳️ #BMWChamps @PGA @PGATOUR @NBCSportsPR

— Tunity Analytics (@TunityAnalytics) August 19, 2019

The first round of the @BMWchamps on @GolfChannel averaged 344,510 #OOH TV viewers and peaked at 5:16 PM with 471,880 #OOH viewers. The audience skewed 51% A25-54. ⛳️ @GolfChannelPR

— Tunity Analytics (@TunityAnalytics) August 16, 2019

Slow Play Wars! European Tour Ups The Stakes In Policing And Ridding The Game Of Rude Slow Pokes

You know they’re serious—they’ve developed a four point plan! And put it in writing.

 Let’s take a look: 

1. Regulation

» When players are out of position and either being monitored or timed, a one-shot penalty will be incurred after two bad times – currently a player would be ‘monitored’ and if he breaches the time allowance (50 seconds for first to play, 40 seconds for second or third to play) he will then be ‘officially timed’ and would then have to breach twice more before being given a one shot penalty. Players will, however, have the option to request one time extension per round, giving an additional 40 seconds to hit a shot on this request.

One “extension” is needed for those random moments when you have to wait on a crowd to move or one fairway over or it’s crunch time. Shoot, I’d start with two extensions just for fun and chip it away later if proven one is enough.

» In Position timing, introduced at the same time as Monitoring, has been strengthened. The time allowed to play a shot when being monitored in position (currently double the out of position times above), will be reduced by 15%, from 100 and 80 seconds down to 85 and 70 seconds respectively for first and second/ third to play.  Referees are now mandated to be proactive in targeting known slow players for in position timing. 

I’m sure they got a raise for what essentially makes their job much tougher.

» Fines for consistently slow players who are regularly officially timed during the season will increase significantly. For example, a player who is timed 15 times in the 2020 season will have to pay £26,000 in fines as opposed to £9,000 this season.

Ouch.

2. Education

» All new members will be assigned a dedicated referee to help educate them on pace of play at the start of their European Tour career

Ok that’s just treating them like children.

» As part of retaining their membership, every member will be required to pass an interactive online rules test with this being implemented for existing members towards the end of the 2019 season and all new members early in the 2020 season. This will be repeated every three years for existing members.

Interactive…meaning lots of pictures and video!

 » Regular educational videos will be produced by the European Tour’s social media team on key rules and pace of play policies and shared with the players throughout the season in an effort to avoid unnecessary rulings and ensure they better understand the Pace of Play policy.

 Oh, funny pictures and videos!

3. Innovation

» A trial Pace-of-Play system will be conducted at the BMW PGA Championship from September 19-22, 2019. This will provide referees with the times for every group through every hole to make sure that no gaps are missed.

 No crack will go unfilled!

» As part of this system, and in a ground-breaking development, on-tee displays on a minimum of three holes will provide groups with their position in relation to the group in front.

 Now we’re talking. Sign shaming.

4. Field sizes

» Field sizes at fully sanctioned events will be reduced from 156 to a minimum of 144 so long as all entered players in Category 18 (the final 111-125 on the previous season’s Race to Dubai) and above make it into the event. This will create space for referees to push groups over the Thursday and Friday rounds.

 144 is enough anyway, but good to see playing opportunities being cut as this gets the attention of players over everything.

You want to let distances keep swelling and backing up all the par-5s and drivable 4’s? Fine, 12 fewer of you will get the privilege. Carry on…

» Larger starting intervals will be built into play on Saturday and Sunday to create a better flow between groups.

Yes well that should have happened a long time ago.

Overall, a pretty impressive effort. Will the PGA Tour follow suit?

Medinah No. 3 Was Easily One Of The PGA Tour's Easiest Courses In 2019

It’s 7,615 yards and forever known as one of America’s sternest, if severely bland at times, championship courses. No one in their right mind wanted to play Medinah with money on the line.

At least, that was before golfers started traveling with their Peloton’s, harvesting their own pumpkin seeds and getting 8 hours of sleep every night to become the world’s most superior athletes.

Medinah’s successful hosting of the 2019 BMW Championship may go down as the tournament studied to determine if equipment and technology have just chipped away too much at skill. Yes, it’s in immaculate condition, the course took on nearly two inches of rain during the week and the best golfers on the planet descended with their game’s in that August sweet spot where they hit it longer and better than at any point of the year.

Still, consider that just 69 players a day were going around the place and they averaged 69.928, placing Medinah near the bottom of PGA Tour courses in terms of difficulty (see above jpg), ahead of just six courses. (Imagine telling someone in 1990 that PGA West Stadium and Medinah would be among the easiest courses PGA Tour players saw all year.)

Some comparisons, and remember the first two rounds of the 2019 BWM featured half as many players as the 1999 and 2006 PGA Championships at Medinah.

1999 PGA 73.524 scoring average

2006 PGA: 72.635 average

2019 BWM: 69.928 average

In 1999, the par-5 5th played to a 4.766 average, with 2 eagles, 154 birdies.

In 2006, it went down to a 4.567 average, and yielded 12 eagles and 209 birdies.

In 2019 the fifth averaged 4.304, yielded 21 eagles and 155 birdies even with only a 69-player field.

On the back nine, in 1999 the 607-yard 14th averaged 4.926, with 3 eagles, 103 birdies

2006: 4.951 with 3 eagles and 109 birdies

2019: 4.790 4 eagles 80 birdies, again with a greatly reduced field.

The most bizarre BMW stat for a course of Medinah’s once-vaunted difficulty: teh par-3 8th was the sixth most difficult hole, with a 2.986 scoring average.

Sorry East Lake, But It's Time For A Tour Championship Rota

Yo East Lake, we love you dog and all you do for the game, but as a season-ending venue you’re not dynamic enough. And from a pure business standpoint, you’re in the wrong time zone to make the Tour Championship a grand, Super Bowl-like concluding event.

My column for Golfweek on the need for a rota.

PS- Save the hate mail for mentioning some seaside California courses that would need serious work to handle modern professionals. What course doesn’t if Medinah is giving up 63’s and 61’s? The priority is seaside setting in a time zone that will deliver much bigger audiences.

The Tour Championship Will Open With Justin Thomas Opening Up With A Two-Stroke Lead Over Patrick Cantlay

Nothing says a season long point race like having Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay—two very fine players with mixed 2019 results by their lofty standards—opening up atop the chase for a $15 million first prize at the Tour Championship.

Koepka and McIlroy?

Yesterday’s news as they crumble under playoff microscope! Or, just didn’t have a 61 in their system this week.

Anyway, Bill Speros with a chart of players, points, wins, top 10s and their place on the leaderboard headed to East Lake. I’m going to reserve judgement as it all may be very exciting given the Tour’s bullishness on modeling of past TC’s and nothing was worse than the old system. Nothing!

However, I am waiting to hear from just one person who is excited about starting Thursday like this…except maybe Thomas!

Justin Thomas -10

Patrick Cantlay -8

Brooks Koepka -7

Patrick Reed -6

Rory McIlroy -5

Jon Rahm, Matt Kuchar, Xander Schauffele, Webb Simpson, Abraham Ancer -4

Gary Woodland, Tony Finau, Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama -4

Paul Casey, Justin Rose, Brandt Snedeker, Rickie Fowler, Kevin Kisner -2

Marc Leishman, Tommy Fleetwood, Corey Conners, Sungjae Im, Chez Reavie -1

Bryson DeChambeau, Louis Oosthuizen, Charles Howell III, Lucas Glover, Jason Kokrak E

R.I.P. Jack Whitaker

One of the voices most closely associated with televised golf, Jack Whitaker was a World War II veteran, essayist and voice of genuine authority in sports broadcasting. His career spanned decades in multiple sports, including the first Super Bowl, Wide World of Sports and legions of Triple Crown races.

But his work in golf is how most of us knew him and grew to expect his presence, as no event was complete without a Whitaker essay.

In golf his work started with CBS at the Masters—with a brief Clifford Roberts induced break—and then as a huge part of ABC’s glory years with Jim McKay, Dave Marr, Bob Rosburg, Peter Alliss, Judy Rankin and others, followed by many more years handling Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf’s reboot, he lent a gravitas like few others in all of broadcasting.

A major influence on some of sports’ most authoritative voices, Whitaker’s life is captured in this CBS obituary by Brian Pascus. The story includes this remembrance from his friend, understudy and Sports Broadcasting HOF inductor, Jim Nantz.

“When I first met Jack Whitaker in 1986 at Pebble Beach, I felt like I had just been introduced to Ernest Hemingway," Nantz said. "I grew up watching him deliver contemplative and contextual prose with his famous short essays, bringing class and dignity to his industry. He was enormously proud to have called Super Bowl I for CBS and was the last surviving network commentator from that landmark game. I spoke to him this week after hospice came to his home and his mind was still brilliantly sharp right to the end."

From Rich Lerner:

Jack Whitaker looked like a ‘60s movie star, like William Holden. Dressed impeccably. Voice was so good. Spoken or written, words flowed.

— Rich Lerner (@RichLernerGC) August 18, 2019

His Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame page with Nantz’s induction speech and tribute film narrated by Brent Musburger. A must watch!

He most recently could be heard playing the role of A.W. Tilinghast in this 2019 feature for Golf Channel.

A few things to sample since the YouTube offerings are slim, starting with this interview:

And here’s a little later career work on Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf:

Medinah Carved Up: A Par 5 Almost Averages Under 4 On The PGA Tour

I know these guys are good, they’re armed with silly-great equipment, they’re playing a beautifully-maintained Medinah No. 3 and playing all of the par-5’s there as 5’s.

And scoring should absolutely not be a primary barometer to question the role of technology on skill given how many factors influence red numbers.

Still, in looking at the BMW Championship round one scoring, where only two of the 69 players finished over par and the field averaged 69.275 on the once fearsome layout, play at the 536-yard par-5 fifth almost reached a place I never thought possible: averaging under 4.0 on a par-5.

In round one, the 5th averaged 4.087, with 12 eagles, 39 birdies, 18 pars and no bogeys.

On the day, the field made 16 eagles, 296 birdies, 793 pars and 134 bogeys, with just three double bogeys.

As for comparisons to recent PGA Championships there, I’ve been unsuccessful finding the course stats. The PGA of America has bricked their website from functioning, so all links to past PGA Championship stats at Medinah are showing up in searches but not on their site. However, I did find this in my 2006 PGA wrap up post illustrating how tough Medinah was not that long ago:

Comparing the scoring average at Medinah Country Club 1999 and 2006

 Year    Rd 1        Rd 2     Rd 3       Rd 4    Cumulative    36-hole CUT

1999    73.557    73.336    73.581    73.781    73.524        146 (+2)/74 players

2006    72.723    72.591    72.071    73.186    72.635        144 (E)/71 players

Bloomberg: "The Disruption of the Golf Ball Market Is in Full Swing"

Thanks to reader Glenn for sending Michael Croley’s Bloomberg story suggesting a shift in how people buy golf balls.

Direct-to-consumer models without cumbersome pro-golf contracts is the name of the game, with elements lifted from other sectors that have bypassed retailers and other outdated approaches. Golf Datatech says golf balls account for $420 million of the $5 billion equipment selling industry (anyone else think that sounds low?).

Anyway, the headliner is Snell, at $33 a dozen to Pro V’s going for $52, though Bloomberg’s story also notes several others like Vice Golf and OnCore.

Regarding Vice:

Instead, after seeing the success of Dollar Shave Club, Harry’s, and other consumer brands, they set out to give golf-ball marketing a makeover with cheeky commercials you’d expect from Old Spice or Geico.Vice sells a dozen balls for anywhere from $34 down to $11, if you buy in bulk. They come in lime green, neon red, and traditional white, or you can mix and match all three. And you can pair the brand’s logo—which rides the line between edgy and gaudy—with a picture of your own or a rival’s face. The company also sells flat-bill caps, golf bags, and waffle-knit towels and has teamed up with the NBA so basketball fans can tout their favorite team on the fairway.

Another competitor, Buffalo-based OnCore Golf Technology Inc., is taking a more technological approach. Its first ball had a hollow metal core, which helps drives stay straighter, and eventually forced the U.S. Golf Association to rewrite its rulebook. Its Genius ball, making its debut in the second quarter of 2020, will have an internal GPS to measure shot velocity, spin rate, total distance, trajectory, and apex, all while telling you how far you are from the green. Brokerage founder Charles Schwab joined as a shareholder in January, and the brand was renewed in April as the official ball of the New York State Golf Association. Its premium Elixr sells for $35 per dozen, but buying in bulk can drop it to $30.

Presumably the subscription model is next and why not for a product no one needs to buy in person unless they’ve run out mid-round.

Just thinking out loud here, but if these companies are eating into the major brands that would mean they are doing so based on product quality, marketing and value.

Will they grow or succumb and get taken over?

There would seem to be major ramifications should they remain independent and undercut the current model of golf ball sales built on professional golfer endorsements, counts and usage.