New Look Tour Championship Off To Great Start, But Issues Loom

As far as first rounds go, the 2019 Tour Championship did not feel like a Thursday.

More like Saturday of a big-time event when every Justin Thomas mistake added drama and his -10 lead to start the day slipping away. Combined with some stellar opening rounds from top players, and it was a lively opening day.

That’s the fantastic news for the FedExCup, and as Mike McAllister noted for PGATour.com, from here on we have clarity with the leaderboard and hopefully very few tutorials on the format going forward.

Now, for the less peachy news. It appears that leadership lacks the privileges some projected Justin Thomas would enjoy in getting to start -10 after winning the BMW Championship.

From McAllister’s story:

A hot start could have deflated the field. “If he came out with five straight birdies, it would be like, OK, we’re done,” Casey said.

Instead, with Thomas shooting even par, the field is now bunched. Five players started the tournament within five shots of the lead; after the first round, there are now 12 players in that position.

“If I were Justin Thomas, I would be more upset than me in my position,” said Charles Howell III, who opened at even par (10 shots off the lead) but shot a 68 to cut his deficit to eight. “Justin’s played phenomenal golf and has done what he’s done, and he could theoretically fall quite a bit, and I could move up, and he’s played better than I have.”

And ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach in his game story notes how quickly the FedExCup lead turned “meaningless”, notes how the leader may not have enough of a lead, and how quickly it went.

What was perceived as a big advantage for Thomas -- he started the tournament with at least a two-shot lead over every other player in the field -- didn't prove to be much help at all because of the way he played the first 18 holes.

Thomas had two bogeys and one double-bogey with four birdies. He hit only six of 14 fairways.

"Coming in six shots back, I have a lot less pressure than J.T. does," Schauffele said. "J.T. has a two-shot lead [going into the tournament]. Everyone's assuming he should just start running away with it. It's a hard golf course. You can play great golf and shoot even par, 1 under, and vice versa."

The overall sense after day one: the importance of the season long points race was severely negated by the first two playoff events. And now the advantage gained from playing well in those events also feels a bit muted. That’s great for viewers wanting a fun finish this Sunday, but has deeper ramifications for incentivizing more starts from top players. There is also the matter of subjecting fans to meaningless cup points updates in January. Or even July.

Brooks Fires Back At His Body Shaming Critics: "They don't have the balls to do it"

Arnold Palmer surely lashed out at his critics when he wore an extra tight shirt for a Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year spread.

No, we’re in uncharted territory here.

This week’s Team Koepka bulletin board apparently consisted of Tweets and Instagram comments responding to Brooks baring all. Wait until Brooks hears where Matt Kuchar’s mind went. (If you don’t want to know, let’s just say he’s seen some of the leaked Vonn image portfolio.)

From JuliaKate Culpepper’s Golfweek story:

“It’s one of those things where all these people that talk crap and whatever on social media, they don’t have the balls to do it, and they wouldn’t look that good,” 

No argument there! Was anyone arguing it? Anyway…

“It was something I enjoyed,” Koepka said of the shoot. “I was looking forward to it for months. It’s something I definitely don’t regret doing. It’s been enjoyable to see the pictures over the last couple of months and see, I guess, all the hard work I put into it and see the results.”

On newstands now! Oh wait, they don’t print it anymore. But you can read this Kevin Van Valkenburg story with Brooks and there is this video below where there is no holding back on the nudity front. Well, except the part Kuchar mentioned.

And Here Is Why The PGA Tour Is Taking Their Time Changing Slow Play Rules...

Joel Beall followed Bryson DeChambeau during round one of the Tour Championship, and like Andy Johnson did earlier this year, timed DeChambeau.

In neither case was it very pretty.

However, this East Lake timing at the 2019 Tour Championship comes as the PGA Tour announced it was reviewing some of its pace of play policies, with the possibility of using data to time individual players.

I encourage you to read how fast Bryson played up to the point when his green reading book came out and the task of putting was involved. But here’s Beall’s conclusion, which explains why the Tour won’t be rushing out any four point plans anytime soon.

If that theoretical shot clock existed, DeChambeau would have racked up 10 over-50-second violations through his first nine holes, 14 if the bar was 40 seconds.

After the Northern Trust, DeChambeau welcomed possible penalization. "I am not opposed to it one bit, because if it is my issue and I'm taking too long a time, absolutely penalize me," he said. "I've got no issue with that. That may come as a shock to a lot of people, but I'm okay with that because it's my fault, if it's warranted, and that's where we've got to talk about that and see what happened and when we are timing and how things are going along."

Brooks Koepka Body Issue Pic Surfaces: Countdown Begins On The, Uh, Homages

The camera adds ten pounds and the ESPN Body Shoot calls for losing thirty. Or so the old saying goes.

Forget that Brooks Koepka posted an image from his long-rumored shoot that prompted him to go on a strange, golf-game affecting diet. Which then set up his first of several manspats with Brandel Chamblee, who called it “reckless self-sabotage.”

More important than manspats on a global stage though: who will be the first to shed thirty pounds for a photo shoot, get waxed and then emerge from a light spritzing to post a spoof version of this? (Which will then inspire Brooks Koepka to win three majors next year.)

Dufner? Mickelson? Caliendo?

Anyway, I’m glad he’s eating cheeseburgers again. And giving good press conference, as he did this year at East Lake after not even getting invited in last year. Eamon Lynch of Golfweek dissects the deadpan jabs delivered in Koepka’s lastest sitdown with the scribblers and content creators.

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September 4th go get a copy of the @ESPN Body Issue! #ESPNBody

A post shared by Brooks Koepka (@bkoepka) on Aug 21, 2019 at 6:27pm PDT

Rory Asks Rhetorically Of FedExCup Finale: Is This Really The Best Way?

Rory McIlroy, holder of 13 top 10 finishes in 18 starts, two of the more prestigious non-major titles in golf and unofficial title of 2019’s most consistent player week to week, is entitled to be a little annoyed with his fifth place FedExCup status.

McIlroy had his usually wise take on big picture items, not surprising since he’s one of the few players who will step back and ponder questions beyond his game or life. Brian Wacker reports for GolfDigest.com on McIlroy’s doubts about, well anything related to this reimagined FedExCup finale at East Lake, aka the Tour Championship.

“If the FedEx Cup really wants to have this legacy in the game, like some of these other championships do, is people starting the tournament on different numbers the best way to do it?” he said.

Of course not.

He also brought up the increase in overall winner’s take, to $15 million.

“One of the things that I’ve talked about over the past couple of years is I don’t think the money needs to be front and center, because I don’t think that's what the fans care about,” he said. “Players might care about it, and we want to be rewarded and paid for what we do. But at the same time, competitively, it’s not about that. It’s about trying to win golf tournaments.”

And that he will do, just starting five strokes back before he puts his peg in the East Lake grounds.

Little League Putting An End To Launch Angle Chase With New "Deader" Bats

The Wall Street Journal’s Amanda Christovich looks at the crackdown on what had been a speed and distance chase in youth baseball. Home runs are way down in the Little League World Series two years in a row now since “deader” bats mimicking wood were introduced for a variety of reasons.

Thanks to reader LS who detected the many things golf can learn from the USA Baseball moves, which seemed determined to keep the sport sane and safe both instead of emphasis on exit velocity, particularly since most young lads may not be physically ready for the emphasis on speed.

But that kind of power surge is not likely to happen at this year’s Little League Baseball World Series, which is now underway. Regulation changes—most notably, the switch to a “deader” bat that mimics wood bats—mean home runs in Williamsport this year are on the verge of becoming extinct.

“The difference is astounding,” said Patrick Gloriod, who coached the Peachtree City Little League team in the 2018 LLBWS and witnessed the steep decline in home runs at that tournament once the new bats went into use.

None of this would be a problem, if not for the fact that the best youth players have spent the last few years developing a swing designed for one thing: to hit as many home runs as possible. 

They’ll get over it. Will TV?

“Telling everyone to swing up is the same as telling everyone to swing down,” said Bleecker. 

If last year’s trend continues, those dismayed that the major-league ball is juiced can rejoice in how the Little League bat is deadened.

“I’m not sure how much ESPN is gonna like watching small ball,” said Gloriod.

Distance Debate: Focus Is Turning Away From The Ball And Toward Drivers

The Mauling At Medinah is Mike Clayton’s label for the shock and awe at the 2019 BMW, where Justin Thomas and many others overwhelmed the rain-softened 7600 yard course.

(Random thought interruption here: I thought it was the improved agronomy that meant tons of roll, yet Medinah was a sponge…anyway, we now return to our regularly scheduled distance post).

After looking at past Medinah majors and what scores were needed to succeed, Clayton writes:

Justin Thomas was unquestionably brilliant this past week at Medinah, where he answered all the questions the course posed. His 263 represents amazing golf, but is it a full 24 shots more compelling than Graham’s 287 was 44 years ago?

The question for the game, for the professional tour and the administrators in New Jersey and St Andrews is: How will you manage the technological assault on the game’s great courses and a game so out of balance at the top level?

Or do they abdicate their responsibility to restore the balance MacKenzie and his great contemporaries understood and built?

The evidence of what we watched from Medinah is the golf isn’t so interesting when the questions are so easily answered with power and wedges.

Much was made of Adam Scott’s comments calling out designers and officials to set courses up to require shaping the ball, but that’s tough to do overnight.

But it was his comment as reported by Evin Priest about drivers that accelerated his previous public statements about driver head size.

Scott warned superstar drivers may no longer stand out, such as Australia's Greg Norman and American Davis Love III did in previous eras.

"The driver is the most forgiving club in the bag now; it's just swing as hard as you can and get it down there far," he said.

"It's not a skilful part of the game anymore and it's really unfair for some guys who are great drivers of the golf ball.

"I don't think their talents are showing up as much as they should."

And there was Tiger as well at Medinah, echoing comments he’s been making all year:

“Now you just pull out driver, bomb it down there and you’re looking for three to four good weeks a year,” Woods said. “That’s how you play. It’s not the consistency, it’s not about making a bunch of cuts. It’s about having three, four good weeks a year. That’s the difference. Guys understand that.”

These comments have all presumably been made to the USGA and R&A as part of their distance insights research. No one mentions the ball much these days—calm down Wally!—some because they are paid not to, while others genuinely believe it’s maxed out.

So are we seeing a shifting focus to reducing the driver head size for elite players and would it make a difference? There is only one way to find out, once the manufacturers stop kicking and screaming about the massive R&D expenditures needed to knock 75 cc’s off their current models.

Taylor Made has a jump start with this mini-driver released earlier this year. Anyone test it out on a launch monitor?

Commish On PGA Tour's Pace Of Play Efforts: "When we’re ready to talk about what we’re going to do, I’ll be excited to talk to all of you about it.”

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan met with Tour Championship media Tuesday and talked about his round Saturday with Donald Trump, Fred Ridley and Pete Bevaqua (Steve DiMeglio reports here) along with the slow play debate.

DiMeglio endorsed Monahan’s view that the PGA Tour should take things more cautiously, despite the European Tour’s aggressive moves this week. Here was Monahan’s remark:

“I wouldn’t say we’re going to be influenced in any way,” by the European Tour’s freshly minted directive, Monahan said. “I think everybody looking at this, talking about it is a good thing, and they’ve obviously decided that that’s the right thing for the European Tour. And when we’re ready to talk about what we’re going to do, I’ll be excited to talk to all of you about it.”

Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com saw Monahan’s comments differently, sensing the Commish did his best Heisman pose in a contradiction of the tour’s normally boundary-pushing efforts on other fronts, calling the current strategy “reactionary at best and indifferent at worst.”

Hoggard writes of the tour’s plan to keep studying data:

Still, it’s difficult to imagine how endless data points can speed up a game that’s been grinding along at a snail’s pace for decades. Or how the Tour, which leads the game on so many fronts, can become more than just a follower when it comes to pace of play.

Also confounding: every major sport is looking for ways to speed things up, trim game or season time and the PGA Tour has gone the opposite direction, resisting such efforts and endorsing exploding distances that only add time to rounds.

Edoardo's Whistleblower Tweets Instigated European Tour's Slow Play Crackdown

Edoardo Molinari’s Tweets earlier this year exposing Europe’s slow pokes was the final straw for European Tour Chief Keith Pelley and his Tournament Committee.

Luckily for Molinari, they agreed with his views that something more drastic needed to happen. From Phil Casey’s report:

The former US Amateur champion was true to his word and published the data, even though his brother Francesco, the 2018 Open champion, was among the offenders.

“I spoke to Edoardo shortly afterwards and while I didn’t necessarily agree with his chosen method, he was entirely right to confront the problem and it prompted a discussion at the next Tournament Committee meeting, held at the Betfred British Masters in May,” said Pelley, pictured.

“Thankfully, our Tournament Committee shared Edoardo’s belief that enough was enough, and they were prepared to make some hard decisions, accepting the need to be more punitive.”

So no matter what happens, he’ll always have this.

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:

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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.