Checking In On Can't-Miss Akshay Bhatia After Four Starts

Through four PGA Tour sponsor invites, former world No. 1 junior Akshay Bhatia bypassed college golf after playing for the U.S. Walker Cup team, turned pro and has yet to make a cut. Granted, it’s not kind to fair on a teenager and most remain bullish on the 18-year-old as prototype of future greats by focusing on speed (Bhatia finished 36 holes leading the field in driving distance and was second-to-last Strokes Gained in putting).

Still, as Alex Myers writes for GolfDigest.com from the RSM Classic, the early signs are discouraging for those pinning their hopes on Bhatia as the next way young golfers develop and break through. He reports after talking to instructor George Gankas:

Bhatia was making his fourth PGA Tour start on a sponsor's exemption since turning pro, but is still in search of a first made cut. He's also got an uncertain schedule after failing to make it past the second stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-school.

"I'm not sure, I'll sit down with the team and we'll see," Bhatia said of his upcoming schedule. "But I have three (PGA Tour) starts left and I'll definitely do some Mondays and maybe go to Europe and play some golf over there."

While Gankas was glad to fill-in on the bag, the in-demand instructor who also coaches Matthew Wolff says it won't be a common sight.

"But I did enjoy it and he's a great kid," Gankas said. "And I think he's going to be one of the best players in the world."

Shouldn’t teenagers only be referring to their college “team”?

Golf Pro Sets Off Epic Falling Golf Bag Domino Effect

I believe this is a Dick’s Sporting Goods but am not positive. If anyone knows for sure and which location, we’d all love to talk to this poor lad…

View this post on Instagram

It wasn’t me. . . . . #golffail #golfshop #clubproguy #golfjokes #golfers

A post shared by AmateurGolf.com (@amateurgolf) on Nov 21, 2019 at 8:23am PST

Garrigus: "It’s OK to take Oxycontin and blackout and run into a bunch of people, but you can’t take CBD and THC without someone looking at you funny."

While he has his facts wrong on a few fronts, recently suspended CBD user Robert Garrigus scores a few points with his very legit gripes about the consistency of suspension penalties and the overall treatment by WADA and the PGA Tour of various substances.

From Adam Schupak’s reporting for Golfweek:

“I get suspended in the middle of the year. Matt Every gets suspended at the end of the year and he misses three tournaments,” Garrigus said. “There also needs to be some discrepancy there. There’s a gray area there, but the Tour has always been black and white.”

He needs to spend more time in California, because this sure isn’t the case, but I don’t doubt it is the way things are in most areas:

“The fact that it is socially unacceptable for cannabis and CBD right now blows my mind. It’s OK to take Oxycontin and blackout and run into a bunch of people, but you can’t take CBD and THC without someone looking at you funny. It makes no sense,” Garrigus said.

Hope! Mickelson Becomes Host To PGA Tour's Desert Stop

Along with a blue chip sponsor in American Express, the once-vital Bob Hope Classic now has a blue chip host in Phil Mickelson, who expands his role as the tournament’s front man.

Larry Bohannan with all of the Desert Sun details, including these comments from Phil, who even put on his best flip-flops for the presser.

“The last couple of years, we asked to give us a few years to really showcase what this tournament can do, and have needed and had the help of many people,” Mickelson said, specifically pointing to officials with Discovery Land, developer of Madison Club and other desert courses, and Lagardere Sports, which operates the tournament for non-profit Desert Classic Charities.

“Now we have the partner that we want to bring it to a whole other level,” Mickelson said, a reference to the new five-year sponsorship deal with American Express. “American Express asked that myself and my foundation take on a bigger role, the PGA Tour asked me to take on a bigger role. My wife and I, Amy, we’ve decided this is the right fit, and we want to have a more direct involvement with the charitable support and donation here in the valley.”

Fall Schedule Wraps Up With Low-Key, Low-Points RSM

While players rave about the RSM Classic and it’s made for great viewing at Sea Island thanks to some compelling visuals, the field of 2019-20’s final fall stop remains one of the weakest non-opposite fields on the schedule.

Eamon Lynch of Golfweek noted that no matter how you cut it, fall events continue to struggle to have the urgency of calendar year events.

This is a head start initiative for journeymen, an opportunity to bank points and coin before the elite return to vacuum up both in the New Year.

Even one of the more prominent guys in the field admits struggling to get amped up.

“I probably have the old-school mindset that the Tour doesn’t start until January,” said Zach Johnson, one of the many players enjoying a home game at Sea Island. “I’ve got to get out of that because there’s a lot of competitive golf and motivations to play in the fall.”

Lynch goes on to note the fourth exemption of Dru Love to the field by dad/host Davis Love, despite have made just 3 of 18 cuts in Tour.

"Here’s why Augusta National slipped"

Noel Freeman deserves kudos for taking the job of explaining why Golf magazine’s panel dropped Augusta National out of its top five courses on the planet.

His take was sympathetic with the dreadful plight of trying to keep up with the modern game:

Technological advancements and the rise of the so-called bomb-and-gouge movement are vexing dilemmas not only for Augusta National but also for tournament courses all over the world. But the feeling here is that Augusta has gone too far in its efforts to “modernize.”

The club could and should pay more homage to the design’s original intent by removing trees and rebuilding a firm course that presents players with more angles and therefore more options. The result would be both a more complete and more compelling test for players, and more interesting theater for viewers.

Prince Andrew's Royal Duty Retirement May Get Extended To Several Famous Golf Clubs

With news refusing to go away involving Prince Andrew’s ties to the lowly Jeffrey Epstein, The Telegraph’s Ben Rumsby reports that officials at Royal Portrush and Royal Liverpool are reconsidering their ties to the golf-adoring prince.

Portrush will be reviewing his ties to the site of this year’s Open after the Prince visited there in September before announcing this week that he is retiring from public duties:

“The allegations surrounding Prince Andrew, and especially the trauma and distress suffered by the victims of Jeffrey Epstein is a matter of deep regret,” the club said in a statement.

“Royal Portrush will continue to monitor the ongoing investigative process. There are no scheduled plans for him to return to the club.

“The council of Royal Portrush is acutely aware of the widespread public concern about these allegations, and Prince Andrew’s decision to step away from public duties will be discussed at our next meeting.”

Royal Liverpool Golf Club is on the record saying it would “not call upon” its patron’s services during his exile.

Not addressed? The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. While the list of associations ended with Andrew, the R&A has said nothing about his future role as honorary this and captain of that…

The Duke is also a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, which will stage the 150th Open in 2021. He is the only royal to have served on a committee there and was captain for the year of its 250th anniversary.

The R&A would confirm only that he was a member, while Women’s Open venue Sunningdale Ladies’ Golf Club declined to comment on the status of the Duke’s patronage there.

Should he disappear from circles over his ties to Epstein, the equipment manufacturers will lose one of their leading advocates for unregulated distance.

PGA Tour Still Slow Playing Updated Slow Play Policy

Rex Hoggard’s GolfChannel.com story from the RSM Classic gives the impression the PGA Tour PAC and Policy Board have signed off on giving their referees more leeway to zero in on slow-pokes.

Naturally, they remain in no hurry to usher in the policy:

The new policy is aimed at avoiding situations where players take an inordinate amount of time to hit a shot, like Bryson DeChambeau at The Northern Trust in August. The plan is to also empower Tour officials to take action if a player is impacting pace of play.

According to the Tour, the revised policy will go into effect in the second quarter of 2020.

Augusta National, Pebble Beach Take (Not Too Surprising) Hits In Revamped Golf Magazine World Top 100

Ran Morrissett now helms the revamped Golf Magazine World Top 100 ranking, long the most respected listing of the planet’s best architecture. And while it’s a little tough to take a list covering the world seriously when there are only 80 or so voters and five panelists are said to have not voted at all, the overall statement says the list is once again about architecture.

Gone are more than twenty panelists, former head Joe Passov and numerous courses that appeared to have bought their way onto the list. The full 2017 list can be seen here and not surprisingly, the controversial Ayodhya Links and Oitavos Dunes are gone this time around, with Nine Bridges and Trump International Aberdeen both plummeting (53 and 54 spots respectively).

Another sign of the changing times? These five courses were said last time to be destined for the top 100 but none made the list. Only one, Royal Aberdeen, made the magazine’s 2019 list of the 50 next best.

Here is the full ranking.

The print package includes the panel, criteria and some dazzling, slightly over-Photoshopped images.

(Note: accessing the list on a mobile device can be jarring as the outdated Golf.com platform is unable to display images and an ad while scrolling, leading to a terrible viewing experience. The early rollout today featured many other glitches and timeout problems reported on discussion groups.)

Anyway, the headline from the list revamp is the dip of Augusta National and Pebble Beach, as Josh Berhow notes in this item focusing on these two icons taking some hits from the architecture-focused panel dinging both for not keeping up with the times by emphasizing restoration.

Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters, dropped from 5th to 9th in the most recent ranking (its lowest ranking ever), and Pebble Beach Golf Links fell out of the top 10, from 9th to 11th.

This from an unnamed rater probably summed up the views of many sensing the architecture just isn’t dialed in enough to warrant top five status any longer:

The raters acknowledged Augusta National’s drop in the December issue of GOLF, saying “When the trend everywhere is to remove trees, widen playing corridors, increase playing angles and promote strategic and attacking golf, something had to give. We appreciate that Augusta National is in the uniquely difficult position of annually hosting the Masters. Still, the founding vision of Bob Jones and Alister MacKenzie matters, and a sense is starting to develop among panelists that the club is moving too far away from it.”

For The Low, Low Price Of $14 Million: "‘Open Doctor’ Jones ratchets up the challenge on Torrey Pines South"

I haven’t a clue how you spend $14 million at an exsiting golf complex—oh wait, Landscapes Unlimited was involved, I stand corrected.

You’d think for that amount Torrey Pines might take on some character but judging by the photos and descriptions offered by the San Diego Union Tribune’s Tod Leonard, the course appears to have fewer trees, more visible cart paths and additional bunkers in that inimitable Rees Jones style: looking like bad puzzle pieces dropped randomly from a helicopter.

Players arriving for future Farmers, the 2021 U.S. Open or simply to pay a green fee, will find more examples of Jones’s imprint. Most heartbreaking of the various changes outlined by Leonard come at the 10th. As someone who first played there in 1991 and remembers how charming the 10th hole and green complex once was, this was particularly dispiriting:

The next hole, No. 10, was arguably the most bland on the course.

“The back nine really started at 11,” Jones said., “The 10th was a driver, wedge every time.”

A new tee was built to make the hole longer, and the visual changed dramatically, with the left side of the fairway split with a bunker, while a right fairway bunker pinches the landing zone.

Judging by the photo above by K.C. Alfred, it should be encircled in yellow tape.

But hey, the views are great, The Lodge makes a killer burger and you can get great fish tacos within 15 minutes of the course.

LPGA's Whan Signs "Long Term Contract" Without Knowing Length, State Of TV Rights

The LPGA Tour’s turnaround and success under Mike Whan can’t be questioned given the dumpster fire he inherited his predecessor, Carolyn Bivens.

Still, I found his admission of a contract extension at the CME Globe finale fascinating on two levels: he claims to not know the length of his deal and this lands before the PGA Tour has announced a new television deal. You may recall Whan has farmed out the LPGA Tour’s next TV contract to PGA Tour negotiators as part of their effort to lock things up from 2022 and beyond.

From GolfChannel.com’s Randall Mell, who had the news first:

“It’s a long-term contract,” Whan said. “I don’t even know how long it is. I really don’t.”

LPGA president Vicki Goetze-Ackerman confirmed there’s a new deal in place.

“It’s a long-term contract,” Goetze-Ackerman said. “That’s all you’re going to get anyone to tell you. He has a vision for the future, and he wants to stay. He’s been fantastic, taking us from a dismal place in 2010 to where we are now, with a vision of an even stronger future.”

As for his legacy, Whan noted this:

“Whenever my tenure is over, nobody is going to remember who started the Founders Cup or International Crown. They are going to remember that there are a heck of a lot more women playing golf. In the next 20 years, you will see what’s happening in junior golf programs today happening in women’s golf. I think that’s what I’ll be most proud of when I’m sitting on a rocking chair someday.”

Next Week's Hong Kong Open Sounds Like It's In Jeopardy

The demonstrations in Hong Kong may prompt the cancellation of next week’s Hong Kong Open which is the—yes, really—co-season-opener for the European Tour’s 2019-20 schedule.

The week after their season-ending championship. Anyway…

Journalist Joy Chakravarty was one of a few to take to Twitter saying cancellation chatter is strong at this week’s season-ending Race to Dubai:

Hearing strong murmurs in Dubai that next week's @TheHKOpen has been called off because of the protests. Will have to confirm this with the @EuropeanTour tomorrow, but if true, I will miss watching the action at the beautiful Fanling course.

— Joy Chakravarty (@TheJoyofGolf) November 19, 2019

Golfweek's No. 1 Amateur Turns Pro: Andrea Lee Says Goodbye To Stanford Midseason

Joining other LPGA Q-Series grads and even non-grads relegated to the Symetra Tour, Andrea Lee took longer than her peers but made it official Tuesday: she’s leaving fifth-ranked Stanford mid-season to play professionally.

Even though she’s a senior with a potential NCAA Championship run and Augusta National Women’s Amateur in her future, Lee joins teammate Albane Valenzuela in saying goodbye to Stanford.

From Beth Ann Nichols’ Golfweek story:

“It was really hard for sure,” said Lee of the decision. “I had people telling me to stay, people telling me to go. Ultimately, I chose to turn professional, knowing that it was the best decision for me and my career. Just trusting my own gut.”

While it’s hard to fault Lee for pursuing her dreams, the situation in golf is even more stark than one-and-done in basketball because these players are leaving their programs mid-season.

As for the LPGA, there will probably be players who turn pro and give them Tour a boost, but who are the two best known LPGA rookies right now? Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi, who both played the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and deferred their LPGA status until the college season’s conclusion. Kupcho has made it to the 2019 season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

It's (Not Really) The Gym Time, Files: Kuchar Picks Up 10 Yards After Ball Switch

It’s all about the speed and gym work these guys put in these days. Oh, and some Trackman time, product development and bizarro regulatory complacency helps too.

From Golf.com’s Jessica Marksbury on Matt Kuchar putting a new ball into play at last week’s Mayakoba Classic and reaping noticeable benefits by switching to a Bridgestone Tour B X prototype.

During testing leading up to Mayakoba, Kuchar, who ranks 247th of 248 on Tour in driving distance (276.5 yards), found an additional 1.5 miles per hour ball speed with the ball, which equated to an additional 4 yards. With the rollout, Kuchar was consistently seeing an increase of 10.5 yards per drive.

Naturally what Kuchar done is undoubtedly within the rules, which begs the question: what’s the point of having rules if they can’t regulate the equipment to ensure an improvement in skill achieves the distance gain?

BBC's Masters Run Ends, Live Coverage Exclusive To Sky Sports Starting In 2020

The amazing run of BBC offering live major championship coverage since 1955 is now over, as the Masters and Sky Sports have signed a new deal starting in 2020.

Sky Sports has been part of UK Masters coverage since 2011. However, the move eliminates round three and four coverage that still aired on BBC, and requires a subscription to view.

From The Scotsman’s Graham Bean authored report:

The Beeb will still show highlights but for the first time since the 1950s there will be no live golf on the BBC.

The corporation lost the rights to show the Open live in 2017 after 61 years of free-to-air coverage and has now surrendered the Masters too.

From next year, Sky Sports will show exclusive live coverage of the tournament from Augusta. Sky also outbid the Beeb for the Open.

Up until 2011, the BBC screened live coverage from all four days of the Masters, but Sky Sports came in in 2011 and the Beeb was reduced to screening live coverage from Friday and Saturday only.