Bryson: "No matter what rules they give me, I'm going to try and do my best to maximize my athletic ability."

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How refreshing to see Bryson DeChambeau tackle a question about distance, equipment rules changes and Martin Slumbers’ recent remarks with both class and wisdom.

Many players might bristle or give signs of a narcissistic blow. Mercifully, DeChambeau is confident that the recent advantage he’s gained would likely remain if the governing bodies ever did something to lessen the role of technology over skill. He seems fine with any rule change and willing to take responsibility for adjusting to the rules. Many a lesser man would have taken all of this personally.

From today’s pre-Memorial Tournament presser:

Q. I wanted to ask, Slumbers talked about the fact that they're going to have to address what's going on, and you seem to be now the newest poster boy for this. Would you be upset if they rolled things back in regards to equipment because you've shown them that you can hit the ball as far as you can hit it?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Hmm. No, I wouldn't. No matter what rules they give me, I'm going to try and do my best to maximize my athletic ability. They can't take working out away from me. I know that. At least as of right now. Whatever -- look, 1998 the COR test was put in stone where you couldn't have a certain number off the face, and they've used that ever since. It's now a CT test. The ball speeds coming off the face are what they are, and they really haven't changed that much. If anything, the clubs have gotten longer, the shafts have gotten stiffer, and we can swing it faster with more control. Back in the day, the shafts were a little more flexible, and LA Golf Shafts has provided me with a shaft that's super stiff, super stable and allowed me to swing at the speeds while retaining the same control with the face.

Yeah, it's a lot of work on my end, too, to gain strength and to swing it hard, to train. It's a lot of hard work. People don't realize how hard I've worked to get here. It's been working out for at least an hour every single day for the past five, six months, fixing my body when it breaks down. I have to go, okay, I've got to go fix my body and work out and train in the right way to be able to tolerate all these forces going through my body and out of my body.

So in regards to whoever is saying we're going to have to look at equipment, I've got no problem. I'm, again, just going to look at my game and how I can improve it in the best way possible, no matter if they roll the ball back there's still going to be a percentage difference. Even if it gets rolled back there's still going to be a gap. Whether it's closer now, it is what it is. I'm not really worried about it. I'm just going to keep trying to make those athletic gains so that I can be the best golfer that I can possibly be.

Commissioner Jay Monahan, who is on the record as pro-distance, was asked about DeChambeau and distance in his pre-Memorial session with reporters on hand. He mentions how DeChambeau disrupted himself (his bacon and milkshake supplier would concur) and then largely dances around the R&A/USGA position.

Q. Jay, two things. Obviously the discussion most of the time seems to be on COVID, but the other part of the equation has been a lot on the length of Bryson DeChambeau. I know that you've had what I assume is the policy in the past of saying you're very comfortable with the golf ball, where it's going, so forth and so on, but slowly but surely you're starting to hear the critics say, this is something that we have to address again. Just to confirm, what is your position on the length issue?

JAY MONAHAN: Well, my position hasn't changed. You asked really two questions. You raised Bryson, I think, what Bryson has done. Bryson was able to use the time off in a way that I don't think anybody could have envisioned, and what he's done has been remarkable, in a short period of time. I go back to what he accomplished at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and there's a ton of focus on how far he's hitting the ball, and rightfully so, and how he has disrupted himself to be able to put himself in the best -- himself and his game to put himself in the best position to compete and to win, but look at his putting statistics, finest putting week I believe on TOUR this year, and to me it was a great demonstration of his skill.

As it relates to distance, I think the fact of the matter is that we always have looked at distance. We look at it over a longer term horizon, not in a short-term horizon, so if you look at our data right now, average driving distance is up slightly year to date, it's down relative to two years ago, and I think that the USGA and the R&A came out with their report, they issued that report, they said that they're going to work with their industry partners, including us, to identify solutions.

That process has obviously stalled. When it takes itself back up, we're going to be a part of that conversation and make certain ultimately that we represent what we think is in the best interest of PGA TOUR, our players and our fans.

But I think that any time you have a player that is doing what Bryson has done, I think it does call attention to driving distance. But I think you have to look at the manner in which he prepared himself to do that, and some of the remarkable things that he's doing in the process, some of which other players talked about over the last couple days

DeChambeau and Monahan’s sessions can be viewed here:

Tape-Delayed Workday Charity Open Wins The Sports Weekend

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Even with the outcome having been determined, the fill-in Workday Charity Open on CBS edged FS1’s prime time NASCAR to rank as last weekend’s top rated sports broadcast, notes Sports Media Watch.

Showbuzzdaily.com has the full listing here.

The Workday final round from Muirfield Village, won in a playoff by Collin Morikawa over Justin Thomas, competed against NBC’s live airing of the American Century Championship.

Compared to the same weekend in 2019, the Workday easily beat the John Deere Classic while the American Century held steady.

Even Tiger Watched Last Week's Workday Thriller On His Computer

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Tiger Woods returned to Muirfield Village for a practice round with Justin Thomas and spoke to media soon after. The session didn’t reveal much, though the big buried lede came when discussing last week’s Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village when Collin Morikawa and Thomas went to a playoff.

Tiger revealed that he was watching on his computer like most after CBS successfully produced excellent live early round coverage for Golf Channel, then sent viewers to its app and website to watch continuing live coverage all so the final round could be shown on tape in its regularly scheduled time slot.

Q. You've been in this situation before, too, but I'm sure you saw on Sunday J.T. holes a 50-footer. If there's a crowd around like Memorial usually gets and they react to it, how much harder is it for Collin to make his putt?

TIGER WOODS: A lot more difficult. I just think that the energy -- even it felt weird as I was watching on my computer at home, like 14, when Collin hit the ball on the green there, and granted, they've never had the tees up there during the Memorial event, but if they were and had that same situation during a Memorial event, to have someone drive the ball on the green that close to the hole, I mean, that whole hillside would have been going nuts.

Now, I’m speculating here, but work with me: Tiger Woods went to Stanford, he has a big yacht, he loves sports, and watches a lot of those sports on TV in the comfort of his home. I’m thinking he has a pretty nice TV setup, maybe even a “guy” who set up a sweet system complete with surround sound, Sonos through the estate and every channel known to man.

And he went to his computer to watch the live stream because, well, it was just easier.

Yep, streaming still stinks.

Anyway, speaking of going nuts: imagine if Tiger’s in contention for historic win No. 83 this week and storms again force tee times to move up (50% chance for Sunday as of now).

Could this mean a repeat of last week’s complicated and unsatisfying approach to serving viewers?

“Going nuts” is one way to think of how the sports viewing public will behave if it’s deja vu all over again.

Nicklaus On Memorial Winner's Tradition: "I'm going to shake their hand...I'm not going to give them COVID-19"

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ESPN.com’s Bob Harig reports on Jack Nicklaus’ most intriguing pre-Memorial Tournament press conference comment: the 80-year-oldlegend intends to maintain the tradition of greeting the likely winner with a handshake after they’ve completed 72 holes.

"I'm going to shake their hand. I going to walk right out there and shake your hand," Nicklaus said during a virtual news conference at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. "If they don't want to shake my hand, that's fine. I'll give them a fist bump or an elbow bump, but I'm not going to give them COVID-19, so that's -- I wouldn't put anybody in that position. I wouldn't do that, and if I was in any danger of doing that, I wouldn't shake their hands.

"And incidentally, I like shaking their hand, too. I think that's a great tradition, but it was as much fun for me as I hope it is for them."

The PGA Tour has repeatedly asked players, caddies and officials not to shake hands or even fist bump, though Commissioner Jay Monahan and Rory McIlroy couldn’t help themselves at Harbour Town. But the view of Nicklaus stands out because he had recorded a PSA back in March imploring younger generations to protect those of his age group.

"Many of you kids, you're going to a lot of places that may bring that home to a senior citizen. I don't think that's what you want to do," Nicklaus said. "Let's all make sure we wash our hands. Let's make sure we're very smart about where we go, and when we go, let's try to stay away from public places. Let's just be smart. Americans have always been smart, and Americans have always gotten through these things, and we'll get through this one."

The PSA:

Report: PGA Tour Eyes U.S. West Coast For 2020 Asia Swing

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There is a key detail missing in Doug Ferguson’s AP report saying the PGA Tour is exploring a move of its fall Asia swing to the west coast of the United States.

Naturally, there will be no creativity shown with field size and format but some fall west coast golf is a nice alternative. Tough conversations will have to take place with sponsors whose primary sponsorship interest lies in bringing top players to their part of the world.

So no, those aren’t the details missing. It’s something else.

Wait, I’ve got it!

The rest of the world, flattening the curve, will want no part of a mostly-American group of golfers, their luggage handlers, and a tour featuring COVID-19 positive-testing-but-not-negative groupings (going off in two twosomes with GMac quietly added to that dubious division).

I think that’s what’s missing in this reporting?

Ferguson writes:

The tour has begun exploring the idea of moving each to the western part of the United States for this fall only. Even if the coronavirus situation is stable in Asia by the fall,

Eh em…it’s stable now, minus India and Indonesia while at the same time today the CDC director made a dire prediction for the American fall. But go on…

it's unlikely many of the top players would build a trip to the Far East into their schedules just a few weeks before the Masters on Nov. 12-15. Any move was described as being a long way off. Two people aware of the talks said one possibility for the Zozo Championship was Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. That's where Woods previously held his World Challenge in December, and it was recently the site of a PGA Tour Champions event. The CJ Cup in South Korea is scheduled for the week after Las Vegas, leading to speculation the PGA Tour would look into staying in Vegas for two weeks. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the discussions are in the early stages, and other sites are under consideration depending on the title sponsors.

Again, nice intentions and I a necessary pivot by the PGA Tour. But at some point, the pro golf world is going to have to come to accept that the glove may not be very welcoming to Americans.

Memorial To Feature Strongest Non-Major Field On Record Even With Some Dead Weight

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With the world’s top nine players and Tiger Woods turning up in Dublin, Ohio for the rescheduled Memorial, strength of the 133-player field appears set to be historic (see above embed).

That said, as a few pointed out on Twitter today (below), the field features several sponsor invites of former champions from long ago who haven’t shown signs of relevance in a some time. Namely, Carl Pettersson and Vijay Singh.

Singh, 57, has yet to make a cut in 2020 in seven starts, has on top ten the last four years on the PGA Tour, and has made just 12 cuts in 42 starts during that time.

Petterson, 42, has made one PGA Tour start the last two years and since 2016, has made eleven made cuts in 60 starts with three WD’s and one top-25.

They apparently received these invites, Singh having won in 1997 and Pettersson in 2006.

There is also the curious invite of recent BYU senior Peter Kuest. He is the 2020 Memorial field instead of this year’s Jack Nicklaus Award winner, Pepperdine’s Sahith Theegala. The move is particularly odd since the current Nicklaus Award winner typically attends tournament Sunday to meet Jack Nicklaus. Usually the Nicklaus Award winners are unable to play due to conflicting dates with NCAA golf.

For those hoping to see Tiger Woods referree a wrestling match between Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau the first two rounds, the ole Featured Groups role of the dice didn’t deliver:

Royal Dornoch Unveils Revised And Improved Seventh Hole

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Photo by Matthew Harris

Photo by Matthew Harris

One of the world’s greatest golf courses looks improved with a revised 7th. Gorse is gone, contours exposed and a hole that always felt oddly out of place now provides an aesthetic high point.

Golf Architecture’s Richard Humphreys details the work by Mackenzie & Ebert that is still to include new tees for the 8th hole.

The work was first proposed after a course review in 2013 and approved by the club in 2015. “I very nearly did not include this concept because it felt almost inconceivable that the members would agree to alter the hole,” said Tom Mackenzie. “It was resoundingly approved – lesson learnt.”
 
“The view from the seventh tee is one of the most famous in the world of golf. Is there a first-time visitor to Dornoch who has not taken that photo down over the course? It seemed frustrating that once down off the tee, the sea disappeared until the green on the highest part of the course. There was plenty of room to the right, so logically, it made sense to rotate the hole that way so that the entire hole enjoyed the same view with a new sea vista behind the green.

You can see the location of the new hole corridor in this Google Earth screen capture:

Royal Dornoch’s 7th, old (above) and new (under construction)

Royal Dornoch’s 7th, old (above) and new (under construction)

And then there is the 8th, needing to be lengthened as more golfers have incorporated intermittent fasting into their lives, picking up 20 yards. MacKenzie (and I having been blessed to visit Dornoch twice nearly 30 years apart).

 “The added advantage was that it freed space to restore the eighth, which had been overwhelmed by new clubs and balls. Thirty-seven years ago, when I first moved to Dornoch, even the best players chose whether or not to drive down the scarp. Many opted to stay on the upper level to benefit from a much better view and line to the green. Today, virtually every player drives down to the bottom. The removal of the old seventh green allows the hole to be extended and the tee shot realigned so that the drive is almost parallel to the top of the slope.”
 
The old seventh green was added to the course in 1946 when the course was extended.

MacKenzie was also primarily behind the upgrade of another hole set atop high ground on a stellar links: Cruden Bay’s 9th.

For those who’ve been or those who dream of getting there someday, Royal Dornoch recently posted a nice reminder of the round the course on the golf world’s radar:

Upcoming Majors: California Closes Most Indoor Operations, New York Tightens Visitor Requirements

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With major championships now in site, there are the inevitable complications.

California is hosting the PGA Championship in San Francisco County, on Governor Gavin Newsom’s monitoring list of counties seeing restrictions on essentially any indoor gathering. How this will impact operations at the Harding Park, remains to be seen. CNBC’s Noah Higgins-Dunn reports.

Meanwhile in New York, the Wall Street Journal’s Melanie Grayce West reports on the state installing new safeguards against travelers entering the state with COVID-19. Major forms to be filled out and a summons for non-compliance. There is also the quarantining for visitors from several states.

More than a dozen states, including Texas, California and Arizona, are on the state’s quarantine list. Travelers from those states are required to voluntarily quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in New York. Mr. Cuomo has repeatedly said that the spread of Covid-19 in New York was caused by travelers arriving from Europe at New York’s airports.

Scheduled for September 17th-20th, the U.S. Open in Mamaroneck, New York is to be preceded by the PGA Tour’s 2020-21 season opener in Napa, California.

Poll: Should Golf's Governing Bodies Accelerate The Distance And Skill Discussion?

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Before you vote, here is why I’m asking.

R&A Chief Martin Slumbers said in a new interview with the MailOnline that his organization is as focused as ever on implementing some sort of equipment rules changes. However, the current pandemic has caused the governing bodies to be “conscious of the golf industry having the time to recover.” He goes on to say the topic of distance will be back, “because it does need to be discussed.”

While the world does have more important things to focus on, we know now that the pandemic has already accelerated trends and expedited disruptions. If rulemaker minds have been made up, why not act sooner than later, he asks rhetorically?

That’s the point golf architect Tom Doak makes in this Golf Club Atlas thread.

If they wanted to make changes, what better time to make them than when everything is in upheaval?  That's exactly when capitalists pounce on the opportunity to do things they want to do.

But when you DON'T want to make changes, that's when politicians say "it's too soon" to consider new policies and that "we don't want to be reactive," or "people need time to grieve."  So we might as well start grieving, because it sounds like this report is going to limit the options for change.

One other point: the game has seen a surge in popularity and rounds as courses reopened and golfers fled to safe places to exercise. Getting to get back and search (or buy) ten more yards has not fueled this newfound golf popularity, so what better time than now?

So I think you know how I voted. But as someone has has found it hard many days of late to treat golf news with any seriousness, I can relate to the opposing position. (But Wally, only one vote a day!)

Pandemic: Should the governing bodies accelerate the distance and skill discussion?
 
pollcode.com free polls

CBS Partners With NASCAR Disruptors For Races With "The human being controlling the machine, not the machine controlling the outcome"

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SBJ’s John Ourand explains the new partnership between CBS and SRX, a NASCAR disrupter led by hall of famers Tony Stewart and Ray Evenham.

The parallels with the Premier Golf League are hard to ignore, from claims of wanting star drivers and to not threaten NASCAR (right!). There are also short-track races, tighter prime-time TV windows, tighter sponsor integration, but one huge difference: an effort to return emphasis on driving skill over technology.

Go figure.

From Ourand’s story:

SRX is most excited about the way drivers will compete on those short tracks. Evernham will design, prepare and build traditional stock cars that are capable of running on different surfaces and different types of tracks, such as paved or dirt.

“We want to make that machine be a big part of it, but it’s got to be the driver, crew chief, the human being controlling the machine, not the machine controlling the outcome of the competition,” Evernham said. “That combination of driver, crew chief and machine, no computers telling you what to do, no simulation. It’s really about the competition, how well that driver and crew chief can make that machine go against one another.”

R&A Chief: "You can do things with the ball. But it's the relationship between ball and club which is most important"

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Mailonline’s John Greechan has posted a lengthy set of quotes from R&A Chief Executive Martin Slumbers reviewing the decision to cancel The Open Championship, normally played this week.

But it’s his comments on technology and skill that will get the most attention. While the headline writers love the Bryson DeChambeau remarks, Slumbers makes clear that when times improve the topic of distance will be revisited.

It’s the specifics on how they may act that advance the discussion more. While the specifics should not surprise anyone who reads the R&A and USGA Distance Insights report, the regulatory approach is now pretty clear.

”Once we feel that the industry is stable again, which isn't going to be tomorrow, because we don't know what's going to happen over autumn and winter, we will be coming back to that issue in great seriousness.

”It is too simple just to say change the ball. Way too simple. You can do things with the ball.
'But it's the relationship between ball and club which is most important, to me.

”The fundamental change in the golf ball since 1999-2000, with the introduction of ProV1 technology, is the ball spins less.

”And drivers have been designed so it spins even less, which makes it go further.”

Or, farther. Either way, it’s good to know the intent is to target both ball and clubface.

Shack Show Episode 19: Does anybody CARE about the VIEWER?!!

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I don’t want, in any way, to diminish Collin Morikawa’s exciting win in the Workday Charity Open. It’s pretty thrilling for golf to have a young star who has so much upside delivering such consistency and also showing that playing four years in college, the Walker Cup and, in general, the old fashioned way to the pro ranks.

However, it was a bit of a broadcasting placement debacle compounded by the pandemic and opportunity golf has to gain new fans. I was hardly alone in this assessment. (To be clear, CBS’s crews are doing amazing work in the midst of pandemic constraints.)

So, here’s a short Shack Show rant about Sunday’s weirdo tease of early live golf hinting at a fantastic young gun showdown in early Golf Channel coverage, only to be interrupted by beancounters, clashing corporate interests and those ironclad contracts that forget about the viewer.

Morikawa Secures Signature Win At Workday Charity Open

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First off, great job by the PGA Tour staff and forecasters who correctly got the final round finished with an early start to the one-off Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village.

Second, thanks to Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland for a great show of some young-gun golf. Thomas had a weird day and, well he’s still a PGA Championship winner with twelve PGA Tour titles, huge upside, amazing drive, and undoubtedly many more wins the way he delivers most weeks. He said this one “will hurt” (Steve DiMeglio reports from Dublin, Ohio) but I’m not sure anyone who knows golf views this as anything but a tiny blip in Thomas’ career arc.)

But the win by Morikawa—assuming you could stomach the disastrous live golf handoff to streaming and which I addressed on an emergency Shack Show rant—was impressive. A 23-year-old who has been on the Tour just a year, and only a few weeks removed from a heartbreaking loss, and, most amazingly, a winner at storied and difficult Muirfield Village his first four competitive rounds there, speaks to the SoCal/Cal/Walker Cup star’s absurdly promising career start.

I loved the Golf.com Confidential thoughts on Morikawa’s incredible ballstriking and steadiness:

Dethier: Morikawa hit four or five truly spectacular golf shots from over 200 yards on Sunday. Two near-aces. A kick-in eagle. A driver to 15 feet. He’s an absolute sniper and it was really fun to see him get rewarded, despite almost missing from 18 inches just to get into that playoff.

Sens: You hit it as close as he does over and over, you’re going to be in the mix. A lot. Dead-eye ball-striking aside, he also has a calm about him. At the first event back in Texas, he hit some glitches throughout the week but each time was able to right himself and keep himself in the mix. The putter betrayed him, ultimately. But clearly he’s got something special going on between his ears as well.

Bamberger: Great fundamentals. Cool manner. Seems to have no distractions in his life. He’s about the golf. We’ve seen it before most recently with Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. He follows in that tradition.

Final round highlights from PGA Tour Entertainment:

In the final round of the 2020 Workday Charity Open, Collin Morikawa defeated Justin Thomas in a three-hole playoff to claim his second-career win on the PGA...

Trump Before His 266th Round: "Obama played more and much longer"

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Look, don’t bother to send me your hate mail, all for pointing out that the President is lying about the frequency of his golf habit and just consider how this can’t be a good look for the sport. 266 (at least) to 98 days on the links, for those who like numbers.

As golfers, I think (hope) we’re all in agreement that it’s wonderful any President of the United States loves the sport and uses his (maybe hers someday) days off to whap it around the links.

Why President Trump has to justify his habit by lying about his predecessor’s frequency of play after bashing President Obama for the same habit, when it’s all documented, will never be clear. But ultimately it’s a poor reflection on the sport that such fudging of the truth is the embodiment of the nation’s most famous golfer.

Then again, there’s this thread of posts by Adam Davidson on Trump International Aberdeen. Yowsers (and thanks reader Don).

Anyway, the Presidential Tweet followed by several others justifying his golf, with ensuing posts belittling his predecessor:

Golf Channel Report: PGA Tour Events To Continue Without Fans, Pro-Ams Through Playoffs

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Rex Hoggard reports on what was inevitable given the COVID-19 situation and pro golf showing it’s functional without spectators. The lack of fan energy down the Sunday stretch is a loss, especially at the upcoming PGA Championship and U.S. Open where we have seen roars through a course influence the outcome of a major.

That said, anecdotal evidence suggests television viewers are not missing the commentary of drunken idiots and enjoying some of the picturesque views through courses.

On a business side, the loss of pro-ams through September will be devastating for charities given that most tournaments use pro-am and spectator revenue to fund their donations.

With the Masters 16 weeks away, The Guardian’s Ewan Murray wondered earlier this week how and event protective of many cherished traditions—Sunday roars through the pines high up the list—can be played this November without fans.

Yes, Augusta could invest in the most advanced technology that checks the temperature – or pulse, or aftershave – of spectators upon entry, but this resource might really be better deployed elsewhere.

Next weekend, the world’s best golfers should have been lining up at Royal St George’s for the Open. Given the ongoing scale of coronavirus, the R&A unquestionably made the right call in postponing for 12 months. In the absolute best-case scenario, the Claret Jug would have been awarded to the winner of a vastly diminished event, even before needless pressure on public services is contemplated.