"Braggadocious Brooks stands out for reasons that are obvious."

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Nice work by Eamon Lynch to explain for Golfweek readers why some are so offended by Brooks Koepka’s blunt ways:

Boastfulness isn’t much embraced in professional golf. A sport that prides itself on being a gentleman’s game is predisposed to treat bombast as vulgarity. Through that muted lens, Walter Hagen was viewed as more carnival barker than confident champion. Greg Norman held his ego largely in check until he moved wholly into business, at which point it was a brand asset. Even at his peak, Tiger Woods lets his clubs speak for him, though that didn’t stop the sniping about his aloofness and fist-pumping being unbecoming.

Golf has long lionized stars who conduct themselves as though inhabited by the ghost of Byron Nelson: courteous throwbacks to a time when sportsmen were free of profanity, scandal and indictments. Blandness over bluster. Against that colorless standard, Braggadocious Brooks stands out for reasons that are obvious.

Matt Every Suspension And Poll: Is Marijuana Performance-Enhancing For Golf?

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In some dark corners of the internet you’ll find outrage that tour player Matt Every’s second suspension for being in the vicinity of Mary Jane is a sign of some sort of tone-deaf problem. Even though the drug policy is set by WADA, the PGA Tour has issued warnings ad nauseum to players reminding them of the policy and a common sense belief that marijuana could be a performance enhancing, some think it’s a different beast.

Eamon Lynch at Golfweek does not believe so:

Count me among those who believe recreational drug use that doesn’t improve performance is no one else’s business. But all players know the Tour policy is in line with stringent World Anti-Doping Agency protocols. That’s what Every signed up to.

This week was a gentle reminder of the pitfalls inherent in the PGA Tour’s old marketing line, “These Guys Are Good,” which implies there isn’t a jerk, blowhard, cheat or abuser among them. Most guys are good, to be fair, but the Tour’s reputation need not be symbiotic with those who play it. Hitching its image to the conduct of individual players risks the Tour being embarrassed with every minor transgression, and crucified when a major one invariably comes.

That Every has already served three months for a prior violation, continued the use and did not apologize in issuing a statement, suggests either he may continue the practice when he returns to the PGA Tour.

“For me, cannabis has proven to be, by far, the safest and most effective treatment,” Every said. “With that being said, I have no choice but to accept this suspension and move on. I knew what WADA’s policy was and I violated it. I don’t agree with it for many reasons, mainly for my overall well-being, but I’m excited for what lies ahead in my life and career.”

While he says the doctor who has treated him since age five could not provide any other alternative remedy for his issues, Every has never suggested he filed for, and was denied, a Therapeutic Use Exemption. Nor has the PGA Tour deviated from WADA with regard to marijuana, as they have in a few other areas.

Which brings us back to the core issue: is marijuana potentially performance enhancing?

I have no idea but given that Matt Every stuck with it after one suspension and never suggested he ever applied for its use medicinally, it was not performance unenhancing.

Whether pot usage is enough to alter outcomes is another story. But in the grander scheme, as its usage is legalized in more places and a younger generation sees it as harmless, golf and WADA may need to study its impact on performance. I don’t need a case made but there may be a surprising number of fans who struggle to understand what the big deal is all about.

So…simple question based on your views of the game and what you know about cannibas…

Is marijuana performance enhancing for golf?
 
pollcode.com free polls



"Tonight’s event, for Woods, really is about GOLFTV. "

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While it’s hard to take The Challenge too seriously given that the purse is lower than the original Skins Game (1983) and a third of what Mickelson, Mediate, Choi and Ames played for in 2008 before sending Skins six-feet under.

Still, there should be plenty of things to watch for in the midnight ET event on Golf Channel, which is carrying the event in America while GOLFTV Powered by the PGA Tour beams the Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama and Jason Day exhibition to the rest of the world.

Michael Bamberger at Golf.com thanks Tiger for spicing up what would have been just a nice, average fall night for late night golf viewers. But he also makes clear in this Golf.com column this is about Tiger clocking in and earning some credits on his GOLFTV Powered By The PGA Tour deal.

Tonight’s event, for Woods, really is about GOLFTV. His contract with GOLFTV looms large in his life. Woods has done only one interview about winning his fifth green coat win since leaving Augusta National on Masters Sunday, and that interview was a GOLFTV production. The interview was conducted by Henni Zuel and it lasted 28 minutes, but Woods likely got credit for an even half-hour. It’s an excellent interview, by the way, but too short.

Woods will surely have more to say about that Masters win in his memoir, Back. No publication date has been announced. In the interest of synergy, GOLFTV could film Woods while he is writing his book. That could be interesting.

No one should have to see that, or whoever it is doing the transcribing.

Anyway, as Bamberger correctly notes, the game face will come on later in the week in the inaugural Zozo Championship where we’ll find out the state of Woods’ game.

Hovland Sets New Mark: 19 Straight PGA Tour Rounds Under 70

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This Golfweek item was posted after the PGA Tour rookie posted a 69 to set the mark of 18 under-70 rounds in a row.

Viktor Hovland followed with a second round 69 in the CJ Cup to make it 19.

More astounding may be the sight of only one round over 71, as seen in this Tweet (again, before round two’s 69):


"Caracas Country Club: Where the 0.01% Await Socialism’s Collapse"

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Bloomberg’s Ethan Bronner takes us inside Venezuela’s Caracas Country Club, where the dress code standards have been slipping. But given what’s going on outside the club gates, it’s a minor issue for the historic club situated amidst a crumbling country.

It may seem remarkable, if not obscene, that a citadel like this exists, and thrives, in the middle of one of the world’s most violent and distressed cities, the capital of a country whose economy has collapsed and where malnutrition and disease rates are soaring. Millions have emigrated to escape the grind of finding enough to eat, of living without reliable electricity or tap water. And here, inside a gracious hacienda where chandeliers twinkle overhead, there is renewed focus on sartorial protocol.

Bronner’s piece goes on to consider the many striking and bizarre issues facing the country club set in a place of turmoil.

Brandel: Koepka Was "Disrespectful" Toward McIlroy

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I was hoping for something less level-headed, but Brooks Koepka’s good buddy Brandel Chamblee makes a solid case in refuting the World No. 1’s recent remarks. Saying he’s added “fuel to a rivalry that definitely exists,” Chamblee convinced me that Koepka’s “he hasn’t won a major in five years” jab was, in fact, disrespectful when viewed through the context of golf greats.

The 2020 PGA Tour Off-Season Will Last All Of Seven Days...

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For those who grew restless during the expansive two-week off-season following the 2018-19 PGA Tour season, The Forecaddie has great news: this week’s Korn Ferry Tour schedule release has that tour’s playoffs going head-to-head with the PGA Tour Playoffs so that the two tours finish on the same weekend.

That’s to give the players a much needed one-week vacation before the 2020-21 season starts September 7th. Which is also the first week of the NFL season, traditionally.

So much for getting away from the start of football season.

Something Went Terribly Wrong With The Ryder Cup Ticket Sale, The PGA Of America Has No Explanation And Fans Have Turned Into Non-Fans

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Twitter gripes can be found any time tickets go on sale for an in-demand event. And while I have no scientific way of gauging the outrage over Wednesday’s “lottery” to purchase Ryder Cup tickets, it would appear unprecedented.

Worse for the enormous uptick in complaints and volume of scorned patrons has kicked off the 202 Ryder Cup countdown in nightmarish fashion.

But I bring some good news. More on that momentarily.

The primary issues involve the lack of a lottery sensibility detected by fans and a landslide of unsuccessful outcomes due to a combination of technical problems. The situation appears to have been worsened by immediate offers to the unsuccessful buyers for purchase of wildly marked-up prices on the PGA of America’s exchange partner, PrimeSport, with Sunday prices already starting at at $427.50 per ticket.  

The PGA of America, 2020 Ryder Cup hosts, had no further comment beyond a Tweet citing unprecedented demand. 

If you have the time, read the replies to that Tweet. The sheer volume and intensity of the complaints is pretty staggering given how many ticket buyers should have walked away with something for the highly anticipated event.

Despite the onslaught of unhappy replies covering the gamut of frustration to accusations of price fixing, the mood worsened when a second Tweet—receiving just as many angry replies—suggested to those unable to buy tickets from the PGA of America’s secondary market provider and purveyor of travel packages, PrimeSport.  A similarly disastrous post with equally vitriolic replies appeared on Instagram.

The notice to buy marked-up tickets greeted some waiting as long as three hours for the chance to buy Ryder Cup tickets. That’s a bit like being turned away from the nightclub and then being asked to pay for the privilege of sweeping the red carpet.

When combined with extensive reports of processing issues and “high volume” customer support messages, the reactions were extensive and ugly. The words “scam” and “fraud” and “class-action lawsuit” were widely bandied about, with fans questioning the year-long collection of email addresses only to sense there was little organization behind the lottery process.

I asked on Twitter about positive experiences and while some replied in the affirmative, the majority continued to reply about a terrible process, even when they did get through.

The entire affair is, if nothing else, a huge wake-up call for the PGA of America heading into the highly-anticipated affair. Demand to attend the matches appears unprecedented. This should have come as a surprise to no one given the passionate Wisconsin and worldwide Ryder Cup fan base.

Still, the inconsistency in wait times, experiences and overall satisfaction suggests the web technology was woefully unprepared for Wednesday’s sale. Even buyers who got through reported long waits, glitches and expressed gratitude after multiple click attempts helped finalized their purchase.

What this means for the on-site experience remains to be seen, but recent Ryder Cups have seen huge crowds despite only a few groups on the course at a time (Saturday and Sunday). Hazeltine National, host in 2016, worked well enough despite what appeared to be way more fans than the even could handle. But finding places to walk and sit at Hazeltine’s farmland-turned-golf course is a much different affair than Whistling Strait’s farmland-turned-rugged Pete Dye design.

I asked the PGA’s spokesperson for a ballpark on the number of daily tickets being sold was, but the PGA would not disclose. Needless to say, we also will never know how many tickets were guaranteed to the third party exchange beyond the pre-allotted travel packages.

So that good news I mentioned?

This year’s PGA Championship, aggressively priced and featuring huge ticket quantities scooped up by third party-exchanges, were sold at rock-bottom prices. While it’s hard to imagine $6 Ryder Cup tickets next September, do not be surprised to see another fire sale. Or maybe Captain Steve Stricker’s request will be realized, though given the difficulty of navigating Whistling Straits, be careful what you wish for:

What's More Bizarre, 58 Penalty Strokes Or Taking 23 Holes Before Anyone Noticed?

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The Senior LPGA Championship at French Lick and all of its hideous catch basins produced no shortage of strange sights and stories. But none more bizarre than Lee Ann Walker’s 58 penalty strokes after 23 holes of her caddie lining her up. Walker’s playing partners realized she was violating the rules and explained so to the part-time golfer.

From Beth Ann Nichols’ Golfweek story:

Walker shot 127-90 in her Senior LPGA Championship debut at French Lick Resort.

“This may be my claim to fame,” said Walker, a 47-year-old who works in real estate in Southport, North Carolina. “Not exactly how I was looking to do it.”

Walker’s playing partners, Laura Baugh and Laura Shanahan-Rowe, brought the infraction to Walker’s attention on the 14th hole (her fifth) of the second round. Walker immediately called over a rules official to explain the situation.

Earlier this year, the USGA and R&A implemented a change that prohibited caddies from lining up a player on the putting surface under Rule 10.2b.

Walker went on to explain that this was her first competitive effort since 2011 and 2012. Ok. But playing partners? Caddies?

While I get that it’s touching she still signed for her 127-90 opening rounds, it’s pretty strange this many people were so blissfully ignorant of the rules.

Koepka Sees No McIlroy Rivalry Based On Major Performance; Credits CJ Cup With His Life-Altering Wyndham Rewards Win

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Daniel Hicks of AFP appeared to have an exclusive with world number one Brooks Koepka on Wednesday, who took assessed a rivalry with Rory McIlroy in comments that went viral.

"I've been out here for, what, five years. Rory hasn't won a major since I've been on the PGA Tour. So I just don't view it as a rivalry," Koepka told AFP ahead of his defence of the CJ Cup in Jeju, South Korea which begins on Thursday.

While Koepka’s tone tends to make people believe this is a swipe or right hook to the jaw, it seems more like his matter-of-fact approach than anything else. And he’s not wrong about McIlroy’s recent major record.

Less matter of fact was this painful effort to appease sponsors and sensors in PVB. From the interview transcript at the CJ Cup:

NICK PARKER: And honestly, this last year, getting the win started here helped you win the Wyndham Rewards and then also you had two eagles for the Aon Risk-Reward Challenge for another (inaudible.) How big is that, getting the season started right with both those and helped you along the way?

BROOKS KOEPKA: You've got to get off to a good start. To get off to a good start here is big. If you look at the Wyndham, the Aon, the FedEx, none of that happens without winning here, so you've got to play good every week. That's the beauty of the PGA TOUR. Every round does mean something whether you believe that or not. Even if you're back in 30th, 40th place, there's always something to play for and that's why I think Aon and Wyndham have done an incredible job of making every round, every shot mean something. That's important and that's what as pros you should be doing anyways. But it makes it fun for us coming down the stretch never really knowing what's going to go on, we've always got something else to play for.

Koepka, as you may recall, passed on the Wyndham Championship, as did most other top players, winning the Wyndham Rewards without actually playing the final event.

Mickelson Concedes His Epic Cup Appearance Streak Is Coming To An End

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Of the many incredible “streaks” in golf history, few speak to a level of consistency over nearly 25 years than Phil Mickelson’s Cup run. Since 1994 he has played on every Presidents and Ryder Cup team.

Sean Martin reporting on Mickelson’s pre-CJ Cup press conference concession that a 2019 Presidents Cup Captain’s pick is unlikely and undeserved.

“There are much better options of players that have played consistently at a high level that deserve to be on the team,” Mickelson told reporters at the CJ Cup. “Even if I were to win, I have not done enough to warrant a pick.

In that time, Mickelson has won 21.5 Ryder Cup points and 32.5 Presidents Cup points.

He holds the record for most matches played in the Ryder Cup, most appearances and is just two points shy of Billy Casper’s all time American mark.

Guardian: LPGA, LET Takeover Talks On Again

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Ewan Murray reporting for The Guardian says an LPGA Tour takeover of the Ladies European Tour may be in the works again. After meetings at the Solheim Cup.

The LPGA Tour had launched what is essentially a takeover bid more than a year ago, only to be rebuffed by the LET’s now outgoing chief executive, Mark Lichtenhein. Explaining that failed move to the Guardian in 2018, the LPGA’s commissioner, Mike Whan, said: “I think the idea of us running it, it becoming an LPGA Tour and their top players having a direct pass to the LPGA … they didn’t really love either of those things. I don’t necessarily understand those concerns but I respect them.”

Lichtenhein’s departure was announced in the immediate aftermath of Europe’s enthralling Solheim Cup victory at Gleneagles. Every member of that European team was an LPGA Tour member, a first in Solheim Cup history.

Why, Oh Why Files? Senior LPGA At Pete Dye's French Lick Mountaintop Mess

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Earlier this week Ron Sirak wrote for LPGA.com how the second of two senior women’s majors was vital to growing the game.

Any golfer who tuned in to the first two rounds of the Senior LPGA, they would have been treated to the silliness that is legends and other former LPGA greats trying to navigate a mountaintop mess in rural Indiana. On top of French Lick Resort’s “intense” Dye course, the overall look would make no one want to play this distance-fueled iteration of the game: a dearth of spectators, players taking carts kept on the paths, caddies sending them off with a couple of clubs (because who needs broken ankle?), and no shortage of ridiculous sidehill stances leading to drop-kick hybrids. There was even defending champion Laura Davies taking a tumble in round two (she’s ok, video below).

Here’s the worst part: the resort features a charming, lovingly restored Donald Ross course that would seem more fitting than the 8,102 yard (80.0 Course rating/148 Slope) Dye course that was built in hopes of attracting a modern-game major.

Why aren’t these LPGA greats playing the walkable Ross?

Why would anyone think any tournament should be played on a mountaintop where players are constantly at risk of broken pride or a broken ankle? (Especially two years in a row.)

Scale is everything in golf. We revere a walkable course that gets the most out of its acreage. We want to play those places and spectate on them. Tournament golf should not be an undertaking in survival. Mountain goats, we are not.

But hey, on that note, Juli Inkster leads after a second round 69 and Golf Channel has final round coverage starting at 3 pm ET.

Tiger Woods Joins The Tiger Woods Book Race, But When?

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With the announcement of a new autobiography on the heels of his 1997 Masters retrospective, Tiger Woods is pounding the keys in an apparent effort to close in on two other upcoming books. But without a publication date mentioned, it’s not clear when Back will be on shelves.

What is clear: Tiger seems determined to counteract what he sees as a lot of misinformation either existing or forthcoming. From the press release:

Woods said, “I’ve been in the spotlight for a long time, and because of that, there have been books and articles and TV shows about me, most filled with errors, speculative and wrong. This book is my definitive story. It’s in my words and expresses my thoughts. It describes how I feel and what’s happened in my life. I’ve been working at it steadily, and I’m looking forward to continuing the process and creating a book that people will want to read.”

Besides the recent Armen Keteyian and Jeff Benedict biography, a pair of books appear to be in the can, or appearing soon.

Noted author Curt Sampson’s Roaring Back is set for an October 29, 2019 release from Diversion Books.

The write-up sounds like a warts-and-all work similar to past Sampson books, so we won’t hold this write up from the publisher against him:

Sampson also places Woods’s defeats and triumphs in the context of historic comebacks by other notable golfers like Ben Hogan, Skip Alexander, Aaron Silton, and Charlie Beljan, finding the forty-three-year-old alone on the green for his trajectory of victory against all odds. As this enthralling book reveals, Tiger never doubted the perseverance of the winner in the mirror.

Skip Alexander? Aaron Silton? Charlie Beljan? I know I have a bad memory, but boy do I have some research to do on those historic comebacks.

Then there is Michael Bamberger’s book, slated for a late March, 2020 release date. From the publisher’s teaser:

Michael Bamberger has covered Tiger Woods since the golfer was a teenager and an amateur, and in The Second Life of Tiger Woods he draws upon his deep network of sources inside locker rooms, caddie yards, clubhouses, fitness trailers, and back offices to tell the true and inspiring story of the legend’s return. Packed with new information and graced by insight, Bamberger reveals how this iconic athlete clawed his way back to the top. The Second Life of Tiger Woods is the saga of an exceptional man, but it’s also a celebration of second chances. Being rich and famous had nothing to do with Woods’s return. Instead, readers will see the application of his intelligence, pride, dedication—and his enormous capacity for work—to the problems at hand. Bamberger’s bracingly honest book is about what Tiger Woods did, and about what any of us can do, when we face our demons head-on.

Heavy! I mean, it’s no Charlie Beljan comeback story, but what is.

Ultimately, it’s fantastic that Woods is working on a book and likely to share his story and views as he did with the 1997 book. It is curious that he has chosen to follow up his ‘97 Masters book already and, in theory, with a lot of great days ahead of him. But we’ll take what we can get.