Bamberger On POY Surprise: Follow The Money

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Michael Bamberger weighed in on the surpise vote by PGA Tour players to give the Jack Nicklaus Award to Rory McIlroy over Brooks Koepka, despite Koepka winning a major and nearly two others.

He seized on the possibility that players voted to validate the huge financial rewards of the Players and FedExCup.

But the Tour players, in voting for McIlroy over Koepka, were shunning history in favor of money. That’s their prerogative. They are professional golfers, after all. “Show me the money” works as well for them as it does for anybody else, if not better. “Follow the money” does, too, when trying to figure out their motivations.

The two biggest paydays on the Tour schedule are two Sundays owned by the PGA Tour: the final day of the Players Championship and the final day of the FedEx Cup. McIlroy earned $2.25 million at the former and $15 million at the latter.

What kind of message would the players be sending if they didn’t put their stamp on all that?

Perhaps because fans increasingly are uncomfortable with hearing what athletes make?

As you may recall, I was in the minority in not being taken aback by the FedExCup purse increase but heard from many who were uncomfortable with the amount. Given how much the PGA Tour does for charity and what athletes in other sports make, I believe golfers are a value at the current pay scale.

And it may just be that many agree, but so blatantly celebrating money over majors could expedite the queasiness some fans feel.

Here was the poll result of that post-FedExCup question about money, linked and screen captured.

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Video: How Not To Play The Road Hole

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Hat tip to Alex Myers for this absolute beauty. The Old Course Hotel certainly is in play, but playing your second from the 16th is a humiliation I’m certain the Station Master’s Garden never inflicted on anyone.

The Numbers Are In And No One Can See Them: Players Vote Rory Their 2019 Player Of The Year

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Despite getting smoked by Brooks Koepka in the 2019 majors, the PGA Tour’s player vote for Player Of The Year went to Rory McIlroy.

It’s the first time since 1991 that the players differed from the PGA of America’s POY, which is based on a points system. Brooks Koepka won that award by six points over McIlroy.

As I wrote for Golfweek, without knowing how many players voted or how close it was, the award lacks credibility compared to other sports leagues or even other POY awards in golf. It’s too bad, too, as McIlroy had a super year and the case for him to be right there with Koepka is a strong one—until you use the majors as a tiebreaker.

Speaking of majors, you know, the four events on the calendar not owned by the PGA Tour and which always supersede all tour events in magnitude, 2013 was the last time a player won the award without winning a major. Tiger Woods posted five victories that year and two top-6’s in majors.

McIlroy’s best finish in the 2019 majors? A T8 at the PGA. He was 21 strokes worse than Koepka in the three majors he did make the cut in, though he never really contended at any point in the Grand Slam events.

Joel Beall at GolfDigest.com had similar issues with the Tour’s lack of transparency and even the sense that a media conference call ended as soon as the questions about process started.

Or, apparently, privately release them either. Given the election's concealment, the Associated Press' Doug Ferguson asked McIlroy during Wednesday's media conference call if he knew how close the race had finished. "I inquired," McIlroy said, "and they are keeping tight-lipped on that." The call, just seven questions deep, was ended.

Golf.com’s Jessica Marksbury rounded up the Twitter reaction to the news and naturally, there was surprise and some outrage.

And finally, there was the scene of Commissioner Monahan showing up at the Bear’s Club with McIlroy’s trophies, social media helpers, a satellite truck and heaven knows what else for a surprise photo-op with the awards’ namesake, Jack Nicklaus. There is even a photo with McIlroy and the Commish hoisting the FedExCup, cup.

Would Brooks Koepka and his landmark major season—18 strokes better than the next player—have gotten the same attention had players voted for him event without “landmark victories” in the Players and Tour Championship? The overall effort seems desperate to validate a high-priced sponsorship. Too bad that was the only transparent thing about this award.


Will California's New Law Put Another Nail In The Amateur Status Coffin?

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On the surface, major upheaval in college golf seems unlikely when California Governor Gavin Newsom likely signs the assembly bill allowing college athletes to profit off their likeness.

(Steve Berkowitz’s USA Today report here at Golfweek.com.)

This last paragraph in Berkowit’z piece clarifies the student athlete relationship with their school’s official shoe and apparel deals:

The amendments added by the Assembly include provisions designed to address potential conflicts between prospective athlete deals and school deals, such as shoe-and-apparel contracts. An athlete would not be allowed to have a deal that conflicts with a school contract, but a school contract would not be allowed to restrict an athlete from using their name, image and likeness for a commercial purpose when not engaged in official team activities.

While players now get free clubs, are on a first name basis with tour reps, wear corporate logos in the US Amateur and are committed to agents long before announcing the intent to turn pro, amateur status would seem to be a out the window once a player starts profiting off their likeness. The rules are pretty clear on this front.

However, exceptions for Tony Romo and Lucy Li would seem to open a player profiting off their likeness to point to those cases as amateur status-retaining precedent and therefore maintain access to USGA events or the Masters (should they be so fortunate).

The NCAA’s rebuttal is not expected until next month but given the number of athletes and schools in California, they’ll have a hard time containing this given the bill’s easy victory and support from top athletes.

It’s a huge mess, but one brought on by the NCAA’s refusal to find a solution as it rakes in millions and pays its head man $4 million a year on the backs of unpaid athletes.

R.I.P. Brian Barnes

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Alistair Tait files an excellent and very personal remembrance of a player he enjoyed covering, Brian Barnes. The English-born Scot, European Tour great, two-time Senior British champion and wild dresser passed away at 74 and is best known for his Ryder Cup career and two wins in 1975 over Jack Nicklaus in one event—in Nicklaus’ prime.

Tait covers the ups and downs of Barnes’ life but there is this gem from the week he will always be remembered for:

Barnes’s famous Nicklaus double was part of an Arnold Palmer set up. U.S. captain Palmer approached Great Britain & Ireland counterpart Bernard Hunt and asked him to name his best player to play Jack Nicklaus in singles. Hunt picked Barnes and the two captains arranged for the pair to play in the final morning singles match. Barnes ran out a 4&2 winner.

The Ryder Cup featured two singles sessions in those days. Barnes was surprised to find himself out against Nicklaus in the final afternoon singles match. He shouldn’t have been. Nicklaus wanted revenge, and had made sure Palmer fixed the draw so he could play the Scotsman again.

Barnes walked onto the first tee and Nicklaus said: “Well done this morning, Barnesy, but there ain’t no way you’re going to beat me this afternoon.”

Nicklaus birdied the first two holes, but Barnes fought back to win 2&1 in what would turn out to be the greatest day of his career.

Nicklaus hasn’t posted anything on social media yet but when he does I’ll include here.

This is a fun Golfing World piece on Barnes from a few years ago:

Wrapping Up Last Season Before Next Season Starts (Thursday): 2018 v. 2019 PGA Tour Ratings Comparison

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Robopz calls him/herself “anonymous 3rd-tier 4th estate type” but did some nice work trying to compare 2018 PGA Tour ratings vs. 2019. While the overall number was slightly down and a few events took steep plunges due to date change or a Tiger presence, overall a flat number these days is good news.

While golf is expensive to broadcast and the demographic isn’t as gullible and hooked on its phones as the coveted M’s, it still delivers a lot to sponsors, fans and beats airing informercials (I would hope).

Anyway, give him/her a follow here as you’ll find some other fun stats and info. You can click on the images to see them better:

Arnold Palmer's 90th Birthday: Plans Still Very Much In The Works For His Memorabilia

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September 10th, 2019 would have been Arnold Palmer’s 90th birthday and you’ll want to check out #lifewellplayed as the day goes to see some tributes to the King. (The Empire State Building will also be lit in the Palmer umbrella shades.)

While many fine stories will undoubtedly be posted, Roxanna Scott’s Golfweek update on Palmer’s memorabilia and some of the plans floated for displaying them. I vote for a permanent Bay Hill museum, but I don’t have a vote.

Scott reminds us of this year’s display at Bay Hill:

There are a few options Podany and his team are considering. The obvious one would be to create an archive or museum to learn more about Palmer’s life either in Latrobe or at Bay Hill. During this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, fans could see some of his trophies, clubs and other curated memorabilia that told stories of his days playing at Wake Forest, serving in the Coast Guard and winning seven major championships. The experience, which included a short film about Arnie’s career, reached thousands of fans during tournament week, said Cory Britt, vice president of strategic affairs for Arnold Palmer Enterprises and the Palmers’ foundation.

The Bob Hope Classic Saved Again: AmEx To Take On Sponsorship

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What fantastic news and a great get by Camp PVB to land a bluechip sponsor for the desert and one of the PGA Tour’s founding events.

Just maybe, now, a way can be figured out to make more top players turn up and tee it up for a tournament that meant so much to building the PGA Tour into what it is. (For starters, a Monday prime time finish on the national holiday and away from NFL playoff games would do wonders.)

Larry Bohannan with the exclusive details for the Desert Sun, including this obvious but still important point:

-Worldwide recognition: American Express will do more with the tournament than just advertise during tournament week. Expect to see ads during other PGA Tour events and even other sporting events mentioning that American Express is the title sponsor in the desert.

A former sponsor of WGC events, it’s an impressive restoration of a sponsorship partnership lost and as Bohannan notes and longtime readers will recall from a few years back (the AmEx TV’s!), it’s a sponsor that has shown great creativity in imagining ways people can enjoy a sports experience.


USA Dominates Sunday Singles To Win 47th Walker Cup, First Overseas Win Since 2007

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Alistair Tait of Golfweek says Team USA kept up the tradition of strong American singles play, winning eight of ten to capture the 47th Walker Cup.

With the win at Royal Liverpool, this USA team becomes the the first in twelve years to do so.

Crosby’s side is the first U.S. team since a 2007 Walker team at Royal County Down that included Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Billy Horschel, Webb Simpson and Kyle Stanley to win away from home. Before that you have to go back to 1991 at Portmarnock to find a U.S. win on foreign soil.

Crosby’s side is the first U.S. team since a 2007 Walker team at Royal County Down that included Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Billy Horschel, Webb Simpson and Kyle Stanley to win away from home. Before that you have to go back to 1991 at Portmarnock to find a U.S. win on foreign soil.

From the USA squad, Akshay Bhatia, Brandon Wu, Steven Fisk, Alex Smalley and Isaiah Salinda are all turning pro and Alistair Tait talks to them about ending with a Walker Cup win.

Brentley Romine details the American squads’ view of playing without pressure heading into Sunday as the visiting team, highlighted by a rousing speech from the team’s only returning player, Stewart Hagestad.

Greg Midland at the official Walker Cup site pens a nice game story the players will cherish, especially…

John Augenstein, the 2019 U.S. Amateur runner-up, had a bookend performance of hitting the opening tee shot of the competition on Saturday morning and then securing the clinching point when he won his Sunday afternoon singles match against Thomas Plumb, 4 and 3.

John Mummert and Chris Keane’s excellent photo gallery in lieu of video highlights which were unavailable because the matches were not televised.

And because you just know Bobby Jones would have taken a team selfie if he could, here is this year’s team selfie:

Spirit Of The Rules And Matt Kuchar Are Not Synonymous

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El Tucan technically was not entitled to a normal caddie payday after a big win in Mexico.

The pitch mark at the Memorial was his because someone said so, yet a replay said otherwise and a third opinion was asked for to get a better lie. It’s hard to watch.

And now coarse waste bunker sand is a loose impediment.

The newly revised rules opened the door for the latest questionable act of sportsmanship by Matt Kuchar. Players can now move a loose impediment in a bunker. As Kuchar demonstrated, it sand is course enough to be a pebble in the eyes of any official, then all of the tiny particles are loose impediments.

While using the rules of golf to your advantage is wise, it’s confounding to watch someone with a once solid reputation and plenty of cash in the bank to snub his upturned nose at the spirit of the rules. Again. In the same year. On television.

Kuchar takes well over the time allotted to play a shot while we are watching—television cut away after 40 seconds of Kuchar’s trench dig—and seems to improve his lie in the “waste area.”

Here is the video from last week’s European Tour event, the 2019 Porsche European Open where Kuchar missed the cut:

Technically, Kuchar did not violate the rules because this was not a bunker and a rules official determined the waste area to be made up of millions of loose impediments. (That this was the conclusion is another matter entirely.)

While players have pushed the spirit of the rules in many ways, this year’s revised language opened the door to an erosion of player values when it comes to how their ball rests. So far it hasn’t happened.

But there is no more important rule than play it as it lies. The fundamental rule of all rules. The one that started it all and the one good players take the most seriously. Especially when a camera is on them.

Kuchar may be an outlier when it comes to believing his is entitled to the lie he wants. Or this may have nothing to do with the new rules and all to do with Kuchar’s sense of entitlement. But if this is an attack on play it as it lies, then shoring up this waste bunker vs. sand and what’s a pebble, or what is not a pebble, needs addressing. The game is already slow enough with way too much touching of the ball (and ground around a ball).

We should not be surprised after this year’s introduction of spike-mark tapping and pebble picking that there could be a further erosion of etiquette. Still, no one else has been this brazen in pushing the boundaries of common sense and courtesy to the field. Let’s hope it stays that way.

We discussed on Morning Drive:



R&A: Televising Walker Cup "Complex And Increasingly Costly"

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As most have figured out by now, the 2019 Walker Cup can only be seen on social media or via late night highlight shows after getting extensive Fox Sports coverage in 2017.

Ryan Herrington reached out to the R&A to find out how their deal with Sky and Golf Channel eluded the Walker Cup and also provides background on prior event coverage. He got this statement regarding the creation of a world feed ala other R&A championships:

“Delivering high quality, live coverage from an event such as the Walker Cup is a complex and increasingly costly exercise. We decided for this year’s match to concentrate our resources on producing compelling highlights packages for our broadcast partners and high-quality content, including highlights, player interviews and behind the scenes footage, from our social and digital media channels. We have a responsibility to spread our investment across nearly 20 amateur events throughout the year and we believe we have achieved the right balance for this match.”

While I’m sure this would be a financial loser and a strong case could be made that the money could be better spent in other parts of the game, the Walker Cup only comes to the UK every four years and is more than just one of many championships. And in today’s world, much of an event’s stature is derived from being seen on television.

Video: A Couple Of Walker Cup Mood Setters, Bhatia and Hunter

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The official Walker Cup sites includes a nice meet, greet and persimmon testing (189 carry) with Akshay Bhatia, one of Team USA’s first three automatic selections and rising star.

Check it out here.

And for those who want to see 2019 Walker Cup host Hoylake in the old days, a couple of fun Pathe videos. Starting with Willie Hunter winning the 1921 British Amateur (with a wicked stymie play 40 seconds in). Hunter was eventually the longtime pro at Riviera in Los Angeles.

And what’s a visit to Hoylake without a little flashback to 1930 and Bobby Jones?

New Driver Testing An Upgrade, Except In The Dreaded Transparency Department

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We know the PGA Tour does a lot of things well, transparency when it comes to player violations isn’t one of those. While Commissioner Jay Monahan moved the organization into the 21st century with some improved clarity on who fails drug testing, the public still may be in the dark on a number of fronts about about player fines and suspensions related to things like slow play, club tosses, recreational drug use and courtesy cars abandoned in airport loading zones.

And now drivers failing improved and more regular testing.

Golfweek’s David Dusek rightly praises the tour for upping their game in conjunction with the USGA. And focusing on catching clubs and manufacturers possibly flirting with the rules is absolutely the correct priority. However, that’s where things shift to a protectionist mindset that doesn’t seem to actually discourage cheating.

In a letter sent to players and manufacturers this week that Golfweek obtained, the tour said, “While this testing program will test the clubs in use by players on the PGA TOUR out of necessity, it is important to note that the focus of the program is not on the individual player but rather on ensuring conformity level of each club model and type throughout the season.”

That’s fine for a player’s organization to protect their own, and I’d guess 99.9% of the time players are not aware they have a juiced club because of wear and tear changing the club’s dynamics.

However, without any transparency, what’s the punishment for a clubmaker to obey the rules when all of this is kept behind closed doors free of the public shaming necessary in place of any fine system? Because Dusek writes:

There have been whispers in locker rooms and parking lots that this player’s driver is too hot and this company’s drivers are dangerously close to being non-conforming. Random testing should stop the suspicion and spare players the embarrassment and humiliation that Schauffele must have felt in July.

Random driver testing is easy, quick and long overdue. Golf may be a gentlemen’s game, but even gentlemen want to know that the playing field is level.

That includes the public and other stakeholders, no?

To put it another way: the reaction to 2019’s Xander Schauffele episode seems to be a search for a way to prevent player embarrassment, not from reigning in clubs that cross the line, whether intentional or not. Isn’t the first priority to protect skill and the competition, not egos?

CT Creep Crackdown! PGA Tour Buttons Up Driver Testing Protocols

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Xander Schauffele and friends wanted a lot more testing and less transparency after having his Callaway fail a random R&A driver test.

While all players will not be tested at all majors, the PGA Tour did announce a very detailed and seemingly logical random testing system that should ensure any drivers exhibiting “CT Creep” are found and prosecuted. The USGA’s Equipment Standards Team will do the heavy lifting and players can now expect their gamer and any backups to be randomly tested at some point.

From David Dusek’s Golfweek report quoting the PGA Tour’s notice to players, which danced around the idea of hot drivers (aka cheating) by focusing on the CT creep possibility:

“Recently, we have become aware that drivers in play on the PGA Tour may be exhibiting a trait whereby through normal use, the clubface ‘creeps’ beyond the allowed CT limit under the Rules, despite having conformed to the CT limit when new,” the letter notes. “When such a situation occurs, in accordance with the USGA’s Notice to Manufacturers dated October 11, 2017 the club is deemed to have become damaged into a non-conforming state and may no longer be used in competition.”

The story goes on to explain the process of testing and how names will be drawn. There is also a Golfweek exclusive video featuring the USGA’s John Spitzer showing how their test works.

The Walker Cup Is Back And Where It All Started: Hoylake

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Royal Liverpool to be exact, continuing the R&A’s recent tendency to take an event that could go to more exotic locales to Open venues. (I will not complain in 2023 when the Old Course hosts again, assuming there are amateur golfers in 2023.)

But this is nearly 100 years since the first “unofficial” event that became the Walker Cup was played at Hoylake, so we’ll celebrate that near-anniversary when Chick Evans, Bobby Jones, Francis Ouimet and Captain William Fownes were part of a 10-man team that played against Tommy Armour, Cyril Tolley, Roger Wethered and friends.

Anyway…

Team USA arrives two years after routing Great Britain & Ireland in Los Angeles, with only Stewart Hagestad returning from that squad. And the GB&I squads have won four straight, as Declan McGlinley notes here.

You can meet Team USA here in slightly over-the-top fashion.

The Daily Mail’s Derek Lawrenson profiles USA captain Nathaniel Crosby, a former U.S. Amateur champion taking over for Spider Miller.

Matthew Jordan, a 2017 Walker Cupper and now professional golfer, gives a tour of his home clubhouse and the amazing memorabilia recalling past competitions.

Hoylake, a much-revised H.S. Colt effort, appears to be in fantastic shape…

In an apparent nod to the old British Pathe films, sights and sounds from the practice round (in color, minus the newsreel music:

Television coverage, sadly, is limited. Screen grabs from the official site of Sky and Golf Channel highlights shows:

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