When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
I know, a piece of golf man jewelry that was on the wrist of Jack Nicklaus for for fifty years should go for $1 million.
Some thought it would match Paul Newman’s nearly $17.7 million watch price, but as Forbes noted, the opening bid was for $500,000 and two minutes later the auction closed at a $1 million bid.
Proceeds from the sale will benefit children's health care via the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation.
Patrick Reed’s Presidents Cup press conference was carried live on Golf Channel and his attempt to answer questions about his Hero World Challenge run-in with the rules included an odd rationalization. From Bob Harig’s ESPN.com story on Reed’s remarks and the notion of cheating:
"It's not the right word to use,'' Reed said after a practice round at Royal Melbourne, where the Presidents Cup begins on Thursday. "At the end of the day, if you do something unintentionally that breaks the rules, it's not considered cheating, but I wasn't intentionally trying to improve a lie or anything like that. If I was, it would have been a really good lie, and I would have hit it really close.''
What an odd way to think.
Maybe Patrick’s new irons feature a sand shock absorption feature? Because I’m fairly confident no one who has played golf for any length of time would claim they are unable to see or feel the type of contact with the ground he displayed.
Video of the session, which includes Reed saying the matches are “personal” now that International team members have called him out:
P Reed pleads ignorance and says 'cheat' is "not the right word to use".
— Justin Falconer (@justinjfalconer) December 10, 2019
Adds "It's now turned from wanting to beat those guys to now turning personal... so it's gonna be a fun week." Hooboy. #PresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/4CqZHFKLj0
Meanwhile there was little sugarcoating of the Reed situation on last night’s Live From the Presidents Cup (video embedded below):
Brandel Chamblee – “In general, the team will have the appearance of a well-oiled machine, but deep down, the marrow of this team, they will be affected by this controversy. Their DNA as a team has been altered. There are no two ways about it.”
Chamblee – “I have never seen a more obvious breach of the rule than this. One that is not in any way – nobody who watches it in any way will be able to acquit him of what transpired [at Hero World Challenge]. His comments aside, this was a gross breach of the rule. The court of public opinion is a lot harsher than the rule book. The rule book is going to give him two shots. The court of public opinion is going to make him pay for this for a long time.”
Nobilo – “Public opinion says this is far more egregious, but the rule book disagrees with that. That is why were are almost in a double jeopardy situation. If there is anything positive that does come out of this situation, is that this rule is addressed going forward.”
Chamblee – “To have somebody on your team who so flagrantly abuses the rules of the game of golf, and there is no more sacred rule in the game of golf than play it as it lies. They [the U.S. Team] have a couple of hurdles against them. They are on foreign territory and now they have ceded the higher moral ground to the other team.”
Chamblee – “The whole team made a deal with the devil when he was chosen for the U.S. Team. All of the baggage that they thought was going to come with him has multiplied exponentially with what happened last week. I cannot imagine that Tiger Woods’ choices for teammates for Reed can be anybody other than just himself.”
Jaime Diaz – “Everything was smooth and safe but for one thing. He didn’t think he moved any sand. Players are too good and have too much feel to not have a sensation like that. It is just hard to believe. I think this is going to hang him up forever.”
Jim Gallagher, Jr. – “This week might be difficult for Patrick Reed and it could be difficult for his partners. That is the hard part. The captains are trying to deflect it and go forward, but I don’t know if it will keep deflecting because this is growing into a life of its own.”
While junior golfers are now regularly clad in corporate logos, have their own tour reps and even endorse brands on their social media bios, the governing bodies are contemplating letting them take those endorsements to another level.
In Ryan Herrington’s Golf World look at where loosened and reimagined amateur status rules may go, he notes this late in the piece.
Where USGA officials see the most opportunity for potential changes to the amateur rules to have a meaningful impact is if restrictions on accepting money for expenses were to go away. Particularly in the case for junior golfers whose families don’t necessarily have the financial resources to compete beyond a very local basis.
“We just feel like would be a game-changer,” Winter says. “Yeah there would be logos in junior golf, but it would give so many more kids access. And it would in some ways democratize what is a pretty expensive sport by giving young players the ability to not only compete in golf but just experience golf in a more robust way, to really level the playing field.”
While I have little doubt there are cases where this will be true and might do wonders for de-emphasizing privileged upbringings, I would hope some in the sport might question the need to corporatize our youth at increasingly younger ages.
Less noticed from Rory McIlroy’s lengthy Morning Drive appearance was his answer on passing up the European Tour’s Saudi Arabian stop, hosted by the dreadful Crown Prince.
While McIlroy considered himself hypocritical for watching last weekend’s heavyweight bout from Saudi Arabia, he is passing up a reported $2.5 million offer on moral and incovenience grounds, notes G.C. Digital.
"I’d rather play a couple of events on the West Coast and not have to travel all the way to Saudi Arabia," he said. "It’s just not something that would excite me.”
McIlroy hasn't revealed the early part of his 2020 schedule, but last season competed at Kapalua, Torrey Pines and Riviera Country Club. While travel and adhering to a winning formula are part of McIlroy's reasons for skipping the Saudi event, there is another.
"There's a morality to it as well," he said.
Even though Ernie Els believed certain pairings were a given based on personalities, his 15th Club-supplied data has said otherwise.
As Ben Everill reports for PGATour.com, the International team’s awful record in this event means Els has to side with the data over his gut.
Els won’t reveal his International pairings until Wednesday afternoon (Tuesday midnight ET) when the five Four-Ball matches are revealed, but he’s not about to waver. Data takes precedent over personality.
“I just have to keep my head down and keep stressing to the team it is about just that -- the team,” Els said. “The guys know where they stand. It’s very clear of what we expect and what we are doing on Thursday and Friday, especially.
“I have changed a little bit here and there where if a guy is not far off and they fit personality-wise, but I am really sticking to my data. We have to try something different. We have to play the guys where the planning points.”
Now we’ll get to see just how much analytics compete on a stage like Royal Melbourne.
While the issues are complex, that no definitive answers are coming for nearly two years on amateur status seems both odd and not surprising.
However, given California legislation that will expedite pay for college athletes and the crumbling notion of what it means to be an amateur golfer, mean waiting two years is too long.
For Immediate Release:
USGA AND THE R&A TO MODERNIZE RULES OF AMATEUR STATUS
LIBERTY CORNER, N.J., and ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (December 9, 2019) – The USGA and The R&A are conducting a review of the Rules of Amateur Status to make them easier to understand and apply.
The comprehensive evaluation is part of the continued joint effort to modernize the Rules by reducing complexity and ensuring the Rules effectively guide how the game is played today.
As part of a review process that began earlier this year, the governing bodies will seek the perspectives of golf’s stakeholders as an integral component of the review process, including elite amateur golfers, golf event organizers, national golf associations, professional golf associations and other industry partners.
All the same boilerplate stuff from the distance study releases. But go on…
The aim is to provide the golf community with a modernized set of the Amateur Status Rules in late 2021, with the goal of an effective date of January 1, 2022.
Thomas Pagel, senior managing director of Governance at the USGA, said, “One of golf’s greatest benefits is that it can be played by all ages and played for a lifetime. It is our goal to ensure that the fundamental concept of what it means to be an amateur golfer is clear and retained to promote fair competition and enjoyment for everyone, while still addressing many issues that seek to protect the game. This is a forward-thinking approach and engaging golfers is a key component of doing what’s best for golf.”
Grant Moir, director – Rules at The R&A, said, “We will be looking at the Rules of Amateur Status carefully and considering ways in which we can modernize them and bring them more into line with the way the modern sport is played. The code remains a fundamental framework for amateur golf and we will be listening to the views of players, officials and associations to give us a fully rounded view of how we can improve them.”
More listening to the players to shape rules related to the players. What could go wrong?
Meanwhile, what’s an amateur status press release without a mention of the dreaded hole-in-one prize issue?
In a separate move, effective January 1, 2020, the USGA and The R&A will introduce one change to Rule 3-2b of the Rules of Amateur Status, which regulates hole-in-one prizes. The Rules will no longer limit the prize an amateur golfer may win when making a hole-in-one outside a round of golf, including “stand-alone” and “multiple-entry” hole-in-one events. It is hoped the change will help to promote the game and cater to new audiences as well, and eliminate unnecessary restrictions for event organizers.
New Rule 3-2b will read as follows:
Rule 3-2b. Hole-in-One Prizes
An amateur golfer may accept a prize in excess of the limit in Rule 3-2a, including a cash prize, for making a hole-in-one during a round of golf on a golf course.
Now, about the takedown notices and amateur status threats aimed at teenagers who post a video on YouTube…
Never good when other pros are mocking you…
View this post on Instagram@preedgolf how did I do? Or was the camera angle bad? Asking for a friend
A post shared by Colt Knost (@coltknost) on
I rarely disagree with Rory McIlroy much these days as he’s become one of the game’s sharpest observers.
But his view of Patrick Reed’s blatant lie-improvement at the Hero World Challenge fails to inspire.
From today’s Morning Drive interview with Robert Damron and Paige Mackenzie, as reported on by G.C. Digital:
"I don’t think it would be a big deal if it wasn’t Patrick Reed. It’s almost like, a lot of people within the game, it’s almost like a hobby to sort of kick him when he’s down," McIlroy said Monday on "Morning Drive".
Said McIlroy: "I think the live shot isn’t as incriminating as the slow-mo. It’s hard, because you try to give the player the benefit of the doubt, right? He’s in there, he’s trying to figure out what way to play the shot.
“It’s almost like it’s obliviousness to it rather than anything intentful, in terms of trying to get away with anything.”
However, added McIlroy, “It doesn’t make it right what he did.”
The full interview is better than the text given how uncomfortable McIlroy sounds having to address Reed’s nonsense:
I suppose Tiger Woods may take Patrick Reed on as a playing partner and as Captain, it’s his call.
But even Woods may have to abandon his Captain’s pick after an embarrassing brush with integrity and stick him with someone else.
Patrick Cantlay, who has played with Reed in the Zurich Classic and has the demeanor to deal with whatever might come Reeds’ way in Melbourne, seems the best candidate.
The third installment of the writing and golf-focused McKellar journal is now available here for purchase.
Tommy Naccarato and I profile Santa Anita Golf Course in Southern California, an almost entirely forgotten architectural gem that was once celebrated as a community asset annually with the Santa Anita Open (won three times by Lloyd Mangrum).
The list and variety of stories is pretty spectacular and I believe well worth the money compared to what’s left of today’s golf magazines.
Congrats to purveyors Lawrence Donegan and Thomas Dunne on another sensational issue.
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We’ll never know the number of golfers he entertained, enlightened and informed, and it really doesn’t matter. Anyone who came in to Archie Baird’s golf museum at Gullane got a crash course in golf.
The great man has moved on to the Big 18 in the Sky, but his legacy lives on in his museum and the joy he gave golfers who had made the pilgrimage to East Lothian.
From Malcolm Duck, who shares this from Alistair Good, longtime head professional at Gullane:
We lost one of golf's warmest and most charming characters earlier today. Archie Baird gave those who were lucky enough to meet him, 95 fun filled years. His knowledge and love for golf made him one of the game's great sources of information. As a collector and archivist he educated many on the finer points of the game and particularly his love for foursomes play. His encyclopedic knowledge was regularly sought by many of the world's foremost collectors of historic golfing literature and artwork. He absolutely loved golf and this was clear for all to see. He loved his competitive foursomes matches at Gullane and even at 92, this picture captures well his cheeky, often mischievous satisfaction moments after winning another Dinner Match.
Archie always looked upon the bright side and although we will all miss him, thinking of him will always make us smile.
Our heartfelt thoughts are with his wife Sheila and family.
The tributes to this great man and brilliant character have just begun…
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While this is not a deep dive into the intricacies of the magnificent Royal Melbourne, the use of a composite course this week might confuse. There are twelve West Course holes and six from the East, and the place is firm and fiery according to Ian Ransom in this Reuters preview story.
So if you’re interested in a sense of the routing and holes in play, this YouTube posted effort by ProVisualizer should help you get a sense of place, scale and the holes used.
Of course, the very details that make the place great aren’t always evident. Just take the first hole, a simple looking drive and pitch in this, but filled with so many fascinating elements due to the green’s pitch away from the fairway. I have many fond memories of watching matches tackle this hole in 2011 and highly recommend spectators set up shop there. (Speaking of that, tickets for all days are still available…)
Jacob Polychronis of Fox Sports shares the shockingly blunt assessment of International Presidents Cup team member Cameron Smith
Speaking after the final round of the Australian Open, Smith issued a forceful statement regarding Reeds’ lame blaming of camera angles.
“If you make a mistake maybe once you can maybe understand, but to give a bit of a bull***t response like the camera angle – I mean, that’s pretty up there,” Smith said.
“I hope the crowd absolutely gives it to not only him but everyone (from team America) next week.”
Marc Leishman issued a similar endorsement, though his tone was far less forceful.
If only we knew what was going on behind the scenes…in the PGA Tour fines department. Just wondering: are Smith and Leishman going to get fined for encouraging heckling of a peer, while lie-improver Reed goes unfined?
The policies of the PGA Tour will never let us know.
Either way, Thursday’s first session just got more interesting.
Some fun on Twitter in case you’d retired your account…
Patrick Reed in the bunker pic.twitter.com/9xja4yRW7Z
— Ryan Ballengee (@RyanBallengee) December 6, 2019
The Patrick Reed footage if you haven’t seen it yet: pic.twitter.com/tqOAXmWl67
— NCG (@NCG_com) December 7, 2019
Patrick Reed post round sit down with Tour officials...pic.twitter.com/DEEQvlFrbo
— Jamie🦅Slonis (@JamieSlonis) December 6, 2019
This was Reed a few years ago and got away with it! pic.twitter.com/6Ju29iip9w
— DZ Golf (@DZ_Golf_Nam) December 6, 2019
Oh wait, the last one was real…
Long before the light bulb and indoor plumbing, one golf rule was paramount: play the ball as it lies.
Even in those silly days when bunkers were full of footprints and no one had thought to put a rake out, you took your hickory and whapped away without improving your situation. If you did, the hole was lost.
Enter stroke play, better 2019’s new rules chipped away at the principle, despite the best efforts of the USGA and R&A to protect this all-important clause. Allowing players to move rocks in bunkers, tap spike marks and graze the ground in areas where they once could not, was bound to have some impact.
More specifically, it was bound to encourage some to bend the spirit of the rules (Matt Kuchar), and a previous rule-bender to blatantly break the rules (Patrick Reed).
These two are hopefully outliers. Most players still are very careful around their ball and when placing their club down. But an increasing number seem to have no issue placing a club down behind the ball to push down rough or sand or even tightly cut grass. The old days of gingerly addressing the ball out of fear of being seen as improving your lie, may be out.
And the new simplified rules still address this vital notion of not altering the area around the ball.
4. Remove or press down sand or loose soil.
But in Reed’s case, the Hero World Challenge two-stroke penalty and blatant improvement of his situation (twice), was not improved by the sheer audacity of the act, and the odd statements after his round. From Brian Wacker’s story quoting Reed, who blamed the camera angle and insisted he could not detect his club moving the sand until seeing the replay.
“I wish [the cameras] were actually directly on the side of me,” Reed said afterward, “because it was in a pretty good footprint … and I felt like my club was that far behind the ball when I was actually taking the practice stroke, which I felt like I was taking it up. And it was … obviously, it was hitting a little sand. I didn’t feel it drag. But … whenever you do that, if it does hit the sand, just like if you’re in a hazard area and you take a practice swing and it brushes grass and the grass breaks, it’s a penalty. Whenever they brought it up to me and I saw it, it definitely did drag some of the sand. Because of that, it’s considered a two-stroke penalty.”
And there was a fascinating assessment from PGA Tour rules official Slugger White, who some might expect to be incredulous given that the player, when confronted with overwhelming evidence, blamed the camera angle and insisted he did nothing wrong.
From Dylan Dethier’s extensive look at the incident for Golf.com.
“He could not have been more of a gentleman,” White said. “He was unbelievable. He said — he had a different look at it. The angle that we had was behind and he’s looking from on top, so he may not have — I don’t know if he could have seen it as clearly as we did, but he could not have been a better gentleman.”
I’m not sure that bodes well for future incidents of this kind, where the fundamental rules of the sport are so blatantly broken and the player is praised for not admitting what can be seen by most.
Ultimately, however, the timing is awful given Captain Tiger Woods’ effort to help Reed reclaim his place as a top American player by selecting him for the Presidents Cup team. Heading to Australia, where the Fanatics await and will be armed with some loud one-liners, meaning the heckling could get ugly.
But there is also the simple matter of how Reed’s peers and teammates view him. The blatant nature of his violation may have been best summed up by Rickie Fowler after seeing the tape. From Dethier’s story:
“I mean, I don’t even know what you have to review,” he said.
A closer look at Patrick Reed’s two-stroke penalty during Round 3 of the Hero World Challenge. pic.twitter.com/z2aqkajnYq
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 7, 2019
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
