Does The USGA's Pinehurst "Project Woodpecker" Hope To Spur The Creation Of Carlsbad East?

I couldn’t help but scratch my head reading Laura Douglas’ excellent Pilot story on the forthcoming marriage of the USGA and Pinehurst, complete with more majors, more USGA jobs and more exposure for golf lovers to the organization’s collection.

The downside? Some will not be thrilled at all of the tax breaks given to a for-profit resort and a tax-exempt 501(c)3 which specifically mentions such charitable organizations are forbidden from attempting “to influence legislation”:

County leaders unanimously approved a 10-year incentive grant for the project primarily in the form of tax breaks calculated as 90 percent of the total property taxes paid above and beyond the current property tax value — provided the USGA meets job creation and capital investment goals. Funding would be paid from new tax revenues collected as a result of the organization’s investment.

More disconcerting for those who believe the USGA is to govern the game is the suggestion of trying to create a new golf manufacturing and business community in Pinehurst. These are the folks in charge of regulating such matters, yet seem to be in the business of trying to be part of growing the overall golf business in North Carolina.

From Douglas in the Pilot:

“Their desire to construct a permanent home here also comes with a commitment to honor the traditions and respect for the game found here, and to preserve the historic nature of this community,” said Pat Corso, executive director of Partners in Progress (PIP), the county’s economic development arm.

Corso was president and chief operating officer at Pinehurst Resort when the first U.S. Open was held at No. 2 in 1999.

He noted USGA has committed to work directly with PIP to facilitate the recruitment of additional golf-related companies, including headquarters, research and development, manufacturers and associations.

“To have the USGA in Moore County puts our community in an enviable position as we look towards the future,” Corso said. “There cannot be a better suited project for our area.”

The reaction from Golf Pride’s Jame Ledford would appear to confirm this business push:

“I can’t think of a better opportunity for this community,” said Jamie Ledford, president of Golf Pride. “I could see this being something of a tipping point.”

He said USGA’s move could spur an even greater golf development cluster, potentially creating “an East Coast” version of the community that built up around Callaway Golf in Carlsbad, Calif.

“All you need to do is recruit just a handful of companies and with that come really attractive jobs for the community. There are a lot of jobs tied up in this opportunity, specifically, but you also need to think about downstream development.”

And here is the crux of the Project Woodpecker matter: does this mean the USGA is a pro-business support organization, or one that governs the game with only a regard for what’s best to support the sustainability of golf?

We’ll find out more Wednesday when the plans are explained in more detail.

USGA Moving Museum, Ball Testing, Green Section To Pinehurst

John Dell reports for the Winston-Salem Journal on the USGA moving some of its museum, Arnold Palmer Golf History Center, Green Section and ball testing from the recent multi-million dollar renovated Golf House to Pinehurst. The move comes less than a week after North Carolina’s legislature voted on a bill to subsidize a significant chunk of the cost for new satellite facilities with the USGA on the hook for at least $5 million worth.

”Project Woodpecker” requires the creation of 35 new local jobs and a staff of 50 for ten years, along with multiple championships and a corporate hospitality tent for local politicos.

From Dell’s report:

The moves of the museum, the ball-testing facility and the agronomy department from headquarters in Liberty Corner, N.J., were confirmed Tuesday by a source who did not want to be identified. A news conference at the Pinehurst Resort to make a formal announcement is expected Wednesday morning.

In exchange for up to $43 million in incentives from N.C. lawmakers to the USGA, golf fans in the state can expect to see more USGA events, including its most high-profile, played more often in North Carolina. Legislation requires the USGA to host a major men's championship at least once every five to seven years and one major women's championship at least every 10 years.

The Palmer history center was reopened in 2008 after a three-year $20 million renovation. Arnold Palmer attended the opening.

The Jack Nicklaus Room was added in 2015 and was attended by Nicklaus.

More recently, a three-story administration building was created and opened on the site with an undetermined price tag.

**Update: A GolfDigest.com story says only a wing of the museum is headed to Pinehurst (thanks reader NH), leaving the primary museum and history center in Far Hills. That certainly makes more sense in terms of recent spending, while still spreading the gospel of the game’s history at America’s golf mecca.

From the GolfDigest.com story by Mike Stachura:

The association’s primary headquarters would remain in New Jersey, as would the USGA Golf Museum and the Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History.

“We will be creating a golf museum experience for all the people that come to the Pinehurst area,” Annis said during the council meeting. “Our intent is to keep that facility [the current library and museum] and create an annex of sorts to ensure that we can share some of that history.”

Justin Thomas Is The PGA Of America's Player Of 2020, FedExCup Champ Finishes 5th

The best player of the year award for my money is free of politics and top secret votes. Unfortunately, it lands well before 2020’s schedule has played out. With two majors to go, the PGA of America has opted to acknowledge the PGA Tour’s wraparound schedule pandemic push that centered around the FedExCup holding its dates, followed by a “new” season this week in Napa.

In return, the system used to determine winner failed to acknowledge the FedExCup champ in the top 4 spots despite an incredible run by Dustin Johnson, putting the playoff’s place in a surprising historical context given the shortened season placing even more emphasis on those events (theoretically at least).

PGA Tour players and the Golf Writers Association of America will award POY winners in September and December, respectively.

For Immediate Release:

JUSTIN THOMAS CAPTURES SECOND CAREER PGA OF AMERICA PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Webb Simpson wins his first Vardon Trophy

Click here for the final 2020 PGA Player of the Year & Vardon Trophy standings

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (Sept. 8, 2020) – Justin Thomas edged Jon Rahm to capture his second PGA of America Player of the Year Award, presented by the PGA of America for excellence by a PGA TOUR professional.

Thomas, who won three season events, earned his second career PGA Player of the Year honor and first since 2017. 

Thomas collected 66 overall points, including 30 for winning The CJ Cup at Nine Bridges, Sentry Tournament of Champions and the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Thomas shared runner-up honors in the FedEx Cup with Xander Schauffele. 

Rahm finished with 56 points for his highest-ever PGA Player of the Year performance, while PGA Champion Collin Morikawa (54) was third and Webb Simpson (52) fourth, while collecting his first Vardon Trophy. 

Thomas won the season money title (20 points) based upon events prior to the 30-player FedEx Cup finale, and he finished third in the Vardon Trophy race for 16 points.
 
Schauffele posted a 265 total for 72 holes in the TOUR Championship, earning 10 points under PGA of America rules that reward the low scorer to determine the PGA Player of the Year. 

Since 1948, the PGA of America has honored the game’s best players with the PGA Player of the Year Award. It is presented to the top TOUR professional based on a point system for tournament wins, official money standings, and scoring averages. Points for the 2019-20 season began with the A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier on Sept. 12, 2019, and concluded Monday, Sept. 7, at the TOUR Championship.

With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the TOUR schedule, there was only one major championship -- the PGA Championship -- played within the regular season points system.  

In the Vardon Trophy race, Simpson finished with a 68.978 adjusted scoring average based upon 52 complete rounds. Rahm was runner-up at 69.127; followed by Thomas (69.128), Rory McIlroy (69.219) and Schauffele (69.227).

Since 1937, the Vardon Trophy, named by the PGA of America in honor of legendary British golfer Harry Vardon, has been presented annually to the touring professional with the lowest adjusted scoring average. With 11 PGA Tour events canceled due to the pandemic, the Vardon Trophy required a minimum of 44 rounds, with no incomplete rounds, in events co-sponsored or designated by the PGA TOUR. The adjusted score was computed from the average score of the field at each event.

The PGA TOUR also recognizes its annual Player of the Year, with the winner announced in September, determined by a vote of the membership.

U.S. Open: "Is the famed West Course set up for another Massacre at Winged Foot?"

Mike Dougherty of the Rockland/Westchester Journal News stopped in at Winged Foot where the rescheduled U.S. Open is set to start next week.

The focus appears to be on winning scores and rough, which is too bad since such projections rarely end well.

There is plenty of good stuff about the agronomic shift the club had to make due to the pandemic and the tournament’s new mid-September playing.

Speaking to superintendent Steve Rabideau about the hoped for outcome of preparations, it seems a high winning score would be gratifying.

As he reached into the rough to retrieve the golf ball Tuesday, Rabideau quietly offered a familiar refrain.

“Plus-8. Plus-8. Plus 8. … That would cap a very difficult summer,” he said. “And my guys know that’s what I’ve been thinking.”

Several of them were applying fertilizer to the rough nearby.

The USGA’s Jeff Hall says the team plans to “let Winged Foot be Winged Foot,” and from the sounds of this, I hope there are plenty of marshals ready to look for balls:

"There were extra hours invested and extra cost involved for water to irrigate the rough and nurse it through a difficult summer so it’s typical Winged Foot U.S. Open rough," Hall said. "They’ve done a masterful job ensuring the rough will be a key component in the golf course setup."

It will again be graduated, but less so than in 2006.

The primary cut will be narrower and will initially top out around 3 1/2 inches, according to Hall. It will only be utilized on a select number of holes. The danger zone will be more prevalent and start the week at 5-plus inches. Even the rough under the majestic specimen trees is dense.

In case you were wondering, the length of days is addressed by Dougherty. He reports the split tee start will begin 6:50 a.m Thursday and Friday despite a sunrise just a few minutes before that. However, the field has been reduced to 144 from the tournament’s traditional 156 with finishing rounds in mind.

ANA Inspiration Forecast: Extreme Heat But At Least The Winner Can Dive Into Poppie's Pond

While it’s hardly a surprise that September in the greater Palm Springs area is dangerously hot, seeing the forecast for this week’s rescheduled ANA Inspiration still elicits the obvious question: why?

Obviously television and other tournament needs somehow left this date to the women for 2020’s second major championship.

Still, the Desert Sun’s Larry Bohannan tackles the very legitimate question: how hot is too hot?

The LPGA decided last week to allow caddies to use carts.

Johnson Claims $15 Million And Now We Don't Have To Hear About The FedExCup Again Until Thursday

My daily Tour Championship Mindfulness session started after the 15th hole and ended with Dustin Johnson in the 18th fairway. In between I had this strange dream that he announced he was donating a nice chunk to a Tour charity hit hard by the pandemic AND finally marry Paulina. That’s why they’re called dreams.

Anyway, the 2020 playing at East Lake was mildly interesting at times, but without fans and only two dangerous shots to a PGA Tour (as Paul Azinger noted…8th and 15th tees), this 2020 Tour Championship will elicit as many fond memories as the year it was played.

Year two of the staggered scoring system ultimately rewarded the best player in the playoffs, where Dustin Johnson was -45, well clear of next closest competitor Jon Rahm (-29). But due to the staggered start, Johnson had to work much harder than necessary given his playoff dominance. I point this out for those taking seriously the importance and excitement of the season long race and playoffs.

The twist: a legit scoring system would have been even less dramatic Sunday if the old format was in place, with Xander Schauffele winning a Tour Championship and Johnson the FedExCup.

As Brian Wacker reports for GolfDigest.com, this is Johnson’s 23rd PGA Tour win and installs him as the favorite at Winged Foot in just over a week. The FedExCup as a piece to his Hall of Fame puzzle was noted by Sean Martin at PGATour.com.

If you’re looking for change, note that most of the game’s writers and in particular the younger set—hint, hint marketing mavens at Cult PVB—want a match play conclusion to this event.

From the Golf.com weekly roundtable where only the guy outside the coveted demo was not peddling a match play idea.

Golf.com’s gang:

Sens: I know a lot of careful, number-crunching thought went into it, but giving a professional golfer a head start at the beginning of a tournament is too absurd for me to accept. This isn’t a weekend club competition. Get rid of the handicapping.

Melton: I’m not sold on the current format. I know it makes viewing more friendly for the casual fan, but the lack of contenders as a result of the handicapped leaderboard can make it a bit of a snoozer. Incorporating some sort of match-play component to determine the FedEx Cup champ could be a fun twist that still allows for the casual fan to easily comprehend.

Zak: Stroke play for two days, then match play for two? Feels like we all want that. If we need to give the season a bunch of value, allow for FedEx Cup ranking to guarantee a spot in match play. 

Colgan: I love the idea of incentivizing strong performance, but I think — as my colleague Josh Berhow pointed out last week — the best way to do that is to shift to match play. This weekend was a great proof of concept for how beneficial it is to start a tournament at 10 under, but it was decidedly not a great proof that doing so manufactures compelling golf. It’s time for match play.

Bamberger: I’ve been down this road before: play all three tournaments, winner is the winner of one 216-hole event. Cut players after each round.

Emergency Zoom PVB style and pronto, because the 2020-21 season starts Thursday in Napa (smoke permitting).

Club Pro Guy’s take on the net championship concept might also be good meeting fodder.

My congratulatory letter to #FedEx Champion @DJohnsonPGA pic.twitter.com/bCoJPx5lR4

— Club Pro Guy (@ClubProGuy) September 8, 2020

Highlights from PGA Tour Entertainment:

2020 U.S. Open Flyover: Tenth Hole At Winged Foot

The “3-iron into some guy’s bedroom” (Hogan) at 190 yards will play 214 this time around, so 3-irons are unlikely even with the added length to offset better absorption of Vitamin D fueling linebackers-turned-golfers.

What is so charming about Winged Foot’s 10th when, on paper, it’s seemingly pretty simple?

There is the aesthetic factor, for starters. As Tom Nieporte, the club’s long time pro once said, “it’s like a painted picture, every time you play it”.

The hole is undeniably beautiful, simple and crying out to be painted. Most of the best holes sit on a landscape in ways that are attractive to an artist.

There is also the 10th’s location in the round. Buried elsewhere on the West Course it would undoubtedly be a much-talked about par-3. But put it in front of the clubhouse and the 10th takes on a different majesty, particularly since so few clubhouses in the world are accented by views of a par-3.

Then there is the cross bunker short of the green, somehow not filled in by a committee trying to appease less-skilled golfers or citing maintenance budgets, even though A.W. Tillinghast was just such a culprit during his PGA of America Tour. Such bunkers help create painting-worthy holes and disturb depth-perception.

The green provides a charming combination of elements. It’s elevated 8-10 feet above the surrounding ground, is steeply pitched and is somewhat pear-shaped, the opposite presentation of the preceding hole. Recoveries from the bunkers are rare and the overall effect is a green playing smaller than it appears. So think Postage Stamp, only 80 yards longer.

As with the other Winged Foot holes we’ve looked at so far, the restoration of putting surface space and hole location options adds so much character. I particularly love the 10th’s “infinity” look of the rear putting surface area peeling over the back. The effect from the tee, at least in this flyover, is to make an already intimidating shot look tougher. This, even though the addition of putting surface on the back slope could be used to a player’s advantage during this year’s rescheduled tournament.

No. 10 at Winged Foot is a 214-yard par 3 that features the deepest bunkers on the course, sitting 8½ feet below the putting surface. It's also the only hole to play in a westerly direction.

In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/XTmqeQyd3x

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 5, 2020

Report: Moribund PGA Tour "Playoffs" To (Mercifully) End Monday

2020 has been positive in one very small sense: it has spawned some spectacular, even unprecedented “playoff” naps. We’re talking circa 2012, 2014 level melatonin injections after mere minutes of tuning into the PGA Tour’s three season-ending non-thrill rides.

While I enjoyed some drool-inducers during Olympia Fields week, nothing has come close to Sunday’s third round siesta extraordinaire.

You know the kind: wake up to a golf telecast with no idea what day it is, what year it is, or what tournament is making that background noise.

The affairs at East Lake have been made worse by a random confluence of factors. There is the soul-crushing sight of watching the Johnson brothers reading greens, Feherty buttoning up in fear of a 904 party-pooper questioning his jokes, and the traditionally energy-light venue which somehow feels even more moribund than usual. I’m almost pining for the East Lake Cup college mascots to make a cameo. Almost.

Juxtapose this stagnant $45 million snoozer against compelling NBA games, NBC’s impressive Kentucky Derby coverage (where no controversy was ignored), and Sunday’s bizarro Djokovic U.S. Open antics, and the PGA Tour’s Super Bowl seems more unimaginably dull than normal.

Good news: just one more day in the 2019-20 season remains until players regroup from the playoff stress and assorted hard-contact injuries to start all over again next Thursday in Napa.

Until then, Dustin Johnson seems primed to add $15 million to his bank account on the back of an impressive fourth-straight week holding a 54-hole lead. He leads by five. But it’s such a joyless form of golf to watch that goes beyond on the, uh, placid demeanor of the leader. Risk and reward is almost non-existent. The players rarely smile or seem remotely happy to be there. The NBC telecast looks like a show with a slashed budget and sounds like a live infomercial. A far cry from the aforementioned big-time events where the storytelling and honesty lures the viewer in. But, this is what the players and Ponte Vedra brass demand no matter how synthetic and dull.

So if your Labor Day schedule is light, then 4 1/2 hours of NBC coverage begins at 1 pm ET. And if you’re wondering, Xander Schauffele would be leading a way more compelling final round setup if this was not a net championship.

But I doubt you were wondering.

2020 U.S. Open Flyover: Ninth At Winged Foot

The first par-5 reduced to a par-4 in 2006 returns to its three-shotter roots for the 2020 U.S. Open.

However, due to the influx of brussel-sprout based dieting and more players incorporating standing one-arm preacher curls into their workouts, a driving hitting the fairway should set up a long iron into the green.

The putting surface shape and contouring here is masterful, with the wide front gradually shrinking as the green goes. A simple looking green has so much going on with seemingly random contours and bumps, meaning even with its reachability, it should serve as a much better short par-5 this time around.

No. 9 at Winged Foot is a straightaway, 565-yard par 5 that played as the longest par 4 in #USOpen history to that point in 2006. Its greenside bunkers will pose a challenge for players attempting to reach the green in two.

In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/FlvkEKZjO9

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 4, 2020

Next Week's Champions Event In Sioux Falls Welcoming Fans Back With Plenty Of Precautions

Golfweek.com’s Adam Schupak reports on the Sanford International (September 11-13) becoming the first COVID-19 era event to welcome back the paying public.

Played at Sioux Falls, South Dakota’s Minnehaha Country Club the event is sponsored by the PGA Tour’s official COVID-19 testing partner and while typically well-attended, will be playing it extra things carefully knowing they are the first.

Schupak spoke to tournament director Hollis Cavner and writes:

All spectators are encouraged to take their own temperature before heading to the tournament. Upon arrival, FDA approved non-contact wrist thermometers will be utilized at each parking lot prior to spectators getting on a shuttle bus. Temperature checks will also take place at the main entrance for those that arrive without taking a shuttle. Anyone with a temperature of 100 degrees or higher will be turned away and asked to seek medical attention.

Fans will be given free masks, if needed, as well as gloves, if requested. The golf course has been roped so fans won’t be able to get as close to the players as usual. Stationary hand sanitizer units will be placed at entrances to public bleachers, hospitality structures, and the clubhouse. Portolets and restroom trailers will each be equipped with sanitizer pumps and handwashing stations as well. For the safety of the players and gallery members alike, autographs will be prohibited.

“We’re on 250 acres. Spacing people on 250 acres is like 12 people inside a Super Wal-Mart,” Cavner said. “We’re the guinea pig for bringing people back to golf with live crowds, so we’ve gone overboard to make sure we don’t have any issues.”

Not likely to be welcome at the tournament: retired company founder T. Denny Sanford, who is currently under investigation.

2020 U.S. Open Flyover: Eighth Hole At Winged Foot

Originally 413 yards in A.W. Tillinghast’s 1922 plan, the 8th is up to 490 yards for the 2020 U.S. Open. A distinctive left-to-right shape and overhanging trees forces an obvious shot shape. We might even see more than 8-iron hit into a par-4!

Another fantastic green complex restoration is on display, highlighted by the mid-right area jutting out into the bunkers and supported by slope. It’s not pinnable, but just adds one more fun feature that gives a player something to work a ball off of, but also a more pronounced penalty should they miss right.

No. 8 at Winged Foot is a dogleg-right, 490-yard par 4. The angle of the fairway will require precision in choosing and executing the line of play.

In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/odK0S9H0kX

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 3, 2020

"How the PGA Tour resumed its season, navigated a pandemic and played its way to the Tour Championship"

There’s a lot of sound recap info from Brian Wacker at GolfDigest.com explaining how the PGA Tour has made it to the 2020 Tour Championship in a pandemic. With a large, often unwieldy band of egomaniacs to coral, it’s hard to imagine a better outcome for pro golf’s return after June’s inevitable rocky restart.

Yet in reading the piece, it’s also quite easy to imagine how the PGA Tour needs to remain vigilant both with safety practices, scheduling and welcoming back fans. The early wake up call is a good reminder of how things evolved:

Having a plan helped. And while it wasn’t without its holes, continued adjustments made a difference. One such change included an update during the Travelers that a player would not be eligible for the tour’s $100,000 stipend if he tested positive after not following the outlined safety protocols. Monahan emphasized that the onus was on everyone involved and said, “We need you to do your part.”

It was a wake-up call, indeed. And, for the most part, the players, caddies and all involved got the message.

As Wacker notes, the lack of a positive test in some time might also be a result of players taking the at-home tests before boarding a plane.

While some unidentified players, according to multiple sources, have tested positive at home in recent weeks and as a result did no play again until returning a negative result, no one has tested positive on site at a tournament in nearly a month. The tour hasn’t canceled any more tournaments, and earlier this week, Monahan unveiled a robust 50-tournament schedule for its 2020-’21 season that will begin next week in California.

Could this explain the epidemic of back injury WD’s in recent weeks? We’ll never know but ultimately, if players isolated and did not infect others on planes, airports, hotels or on the PGA Tour, then the system worked. Perfect, it is not. But six months into the pandemic, imperfect is more than acceptable compared to the alternative.

2020 U.S. Open Flyover: Seventh Hole At Winged Foot

The 162-yard par-3 seventh at Winged Foot is the shortest of the one-shotters and if the green is hit in regulation, a solid birdie chance.

But this Tillinghast original is not “right in front of you”, with the elevated green likely making club selection of a nine iron or wedge to tricky for today’s under-par living Adonis’s.

The USGA flyover thanks to Deloitte:

The 162-yard, par-3 7th is Winged Foot’s shortest hole. Its challenging greenside bunkers sit 7 feet below the putting surface.

In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/lr6ZOg0d61

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 2, 2020

Kisner: "Without the fans, the tournaments aren't the same. The revenues aren't the same."

Well he’s certainly not wrong.

Kevin Kisner, as quoted by Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com on the eve of the $45 million Tour Championship.

“We need the fans back. Without the fans, the tournaments aren't the same. The revenues aren't the same,” said Kevin Kisner, one of four player directors on the Tour’s policy board. “We need them back.”

As a player director he’s privy to more numbers than the rest of us, so there is no reason to doubt him. Still, the Tour’s commissioner outlined a robust charitable outlay vision yesterday while holding firm on purses while others cut back. It’s hard to imagine ticket sales will aid as much as taking a million off a purse here and there. But it’s nice to see Kisner misses fans, as do most players and TV audiences.

"Project Woodpecker": North Carolina Politicians, USGA Joining Forces To Move Testing, Museum Operations Into Pinehurst?

One identifying characteristic of woodpeckers: they repeatedly slam their heads against a hard surface, often with little discernible progress.

Given how this mirrors the USGA’s approach to distance gains in the game over the last 20 years, maybe it’s fitting that North Carolina’s “Project Woodpecker” is rolling out the red carpet for a United States Golf Association move.

As Richard Craver reported for the Winston Salem Journal, the North Carolina state Senate—and subsequently the state House on Thursday—approved a bill offering up to $42.4 million in performance-based incentives to an unidentified group.

The nonprofit would have to create at least 35 new jobs and have an overall workforce of 50. The average annual salary could be $80,000. The project is projected to produce an $800 million economic benefit over 10 years.

Bill sponsors said during Wednesday's Senate Commerce and Insurance Committee that an announcement on the project could be made as soon as next week.

The Pilot of Southern Pines reported Friday that Pinehurst and Moore County elected officials will discuss in separate hearings Tuesday a $25 million business development project in Pinehurst that is expected to generate 50 jobs.

Both groups will vote on providing performance-based incentives to an unidentified organization that intends to build a new facility within Pinehurst’s village limits.

The Pilot said local officials have been tight-lipped about “Project Woodpecker” since early March.

The most recent version of House Bill 807 provides an obvious clue about the sports organization in question:

According to the bill, the group "is responsible for staging and holding championship events and agrees to hold championship events in the state with an aggregate economic benefit of $500 million."

The events must include one men's major professional championship event every five to seven years, with an economic benefit of $90 million per event, and at least one women's major professional championship event every 10 years.

There's also a commitment to conduct at least 13 additional championship events at state venues.

And here I thought venue selection was all about the architecture.

The business would have to invest at least $5 million in the project by Dec. 31, 2023. It would be required to have built at least two buildings of at least 30,000-square-foot of space.

The project would include an equipment training center for research, a museum and visitor center, and business departments. It must provide services for at least 10 continuous years.

Obviously this is surprising news given the incredible investment the USGA has made in its Far Hills campus in recent years. And the bill seems even more shocking when coupled with last 2019’s news of a very significant staff reduction through buyouts and early retirements to “evolve its organizational structure in an effort to drive greater impact and sustain a strong financial future.”

Or, maybe we now know: to clear out employees for new hires mandated by a new North Carolina law.

If the bill is indeed centered around the USGA, they will join other recent moves by the PGA of America, the PGA Tour and NBC’s Golf Channel to capitalize on tax breaks, government incentives and, sadly, to cull experienced staff.

In this case, the bill has been in the works for some time. To say it’s changed a bit, well, you tell me:

“expand groups of professionals qualified for appointment as medical examiners to include retired physicians, certified medicolegal death investigators, and pathologists assistants; defining when a body is claimed for the purpose of determining the method of disposal after the completion of a death investigation; and protecting the confidentiality of certain information and records obtained by the chief medical examiner concerning death investigations.”

Yes I know, hard to see the sports component there. But as Craver’s Journal story notes, the bill was “gutted and replaced”—YOU DON”T SAY! The updated language approved by North Carolina’s state senate and house on September 2nd and 3rd.

”An act to provide economic incentives for the purpose of bringing a sports championship employer to the state, increasing the number of jobs and research opportunities in the state, and increasing the number of jobs and research opportunities in the state, and increasing the number of championship-level events occurring in the state.”

Oh yeah, I see the overlap there. Both graph’s start with capital letters and end with a period.

Now, I know this is going to come as a shocker, fat cats wanted to make sure to have their very own USGA hospitality tent. From the bill, screen captured because I know you won’t hit the link or believe they’d be so transparent:

At least the fat cats are responsible for their bar tab.

With the bill’s language crafted pre-COVID, there is currently no mention of extra ventilation, temperature checks or even who will pay for those 2024 U.S. Open rapid saliva tests.

Until this is announced, the move or partial move remains all rather confusing when juxtaposed with recent USGA buyouts, a big Golf House restoration and last year’s expansion, healthy executive compensation, and now a southern operation required to hire 35 people along with a $5 million minimum commitment from the USGA’s significant coffers.

There may be a totally reasonable explanation and logic behind the move, we’ll have to see. Maybe more consistent exposure to pines will open up breathing channels and encourage the USGA to stop procrastinating and actually protect the game? It’s a theory, that’s all I’ve got since I reached out to a USGA spokesman this morning regarding the bill and have yet to receive a reply.