Chamblee Gives Us One Final Tour Of Golf Channel's Orlando Home

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I’ve yet to see any plans announced by Golf Channel parent company Comcast or NBC Sports to send off the Orlando campus in style—or even acknowledge the end. So we’ll have to rely on this somber-but-respectful iPhone tour from Brandel Chamblee who shows off the many incredible elements headed for the trash bin of corporate consolidation history.

As someone who was an occasional guest there, it was hard to watch knowing how several hundred great folks won’t be returning to tell stories about the game they love. (Not to mention the effect this will have on what’s left of the “product” beyond reruns of tournament rounds.)

Founded 25 years ago, the operation has been geographically downscaled by Comcast and is moving to Stamford, Connecticut where original programming, features and other staples of the channel will not making the journey to that golfing mecca home of NBC Sports.

The studios Chamblee takes us through include one named for co-founder Arnold Palmer, who christened the new home of Morning Drive just seven years ago.

Thanks for this Brandel:

Olson Suffers Unimaginable Loss On Eve Of Rain-Delayed U.S. Women's Open Finale

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With a U.S. Women’s Open Monday finish at Champions, Amy Olson sits just one shot back of Hinako Shibuno. But the former North Dakota State star will be playing with unimaginable sadness after learning of her father-in-law’s unexpected passing on Saturday.

Beth Ann Nichols deftly handles this heartbreaking story for the Olson family.

The updated TV times for Monday’s finish where Shibuno aims to win her second major of 2020:

Twitterers Make Clear Kuchar's Frugalgate Past Has Not Been Forgotten

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While Matt Kuchar and Harris English’s dominant QBE Shootout will be forgotten quickly—if it was watched at all—but Kuchar’s past caddie frugalness dominated the comment section of an otherwise nice PGA Tour tweet devoted to his son.

Cameron Kuchar, who will play with his dad in the upcoming PNC Challenge, looped for the old man at QBE and Twitter readers made clear they are concerned about the lad’s winning compensation.

You can read all of the replies here. A sampling should someone accidentally hit the delete key.

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Whew, Race To Dubai: Westwood Claims Third Vardon Trophy

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The European Tour averted a silly Race to Dubai outcome with Lee Westwood becoming the oldest player to ever take the season-long points race. Scenarios included players with no starts in Europe and one with just two leading going into the final event.

Instead, a longtime European Tour member who supported his tour in the pandemic-shortened season took the title.

From Ewan Murray’s Guardian story on the win by Westwood becoming the oldest winner of the prize, as well as Matthew Fitzpatrick’s tournament victory by one over Westwood.

“The motivation’s never changed,” Westwood said. “I get up each day and do the job I love. I’ve always wanted to be a golfer and I don’t want it to end, so I’m prepared to keep working hard and put myself in the line of fire and try to get into contention in tournaments.

“It’s where I’m most comfortable and what I love doing. I love the work away from the course and the gym and on the range, the hard work that people don’t see, I love that. I don’t need to motivate myself very often.”

With muted celebrations, this was Westwood’s reception in the player lounge:

McKellar Journal Issue 4 Available And Now All Four Issues Get The Boxed Set Treatment

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Longtime readers know I tend to advocate the post-Christmas, what-can-we-buy-that-no-one-got-us guy. And in 2020 I plan no shortage of efforts to highlight the many nice holiday treats from big and small operations who make the sport just that much better.

But before I hopefully send you to those deals, my McKellar issue 4 arrived today and it’s another beauty from Tom Dunne and Lawrence Donegan.

You can see just some of the stories here.

I contributed a short piece on the importance of a golf course name and what they tell you about the architecture.

Even more exciting? The first four issues can now be purchased in a boxed set for just $60, a magnificent holiday gift for anyone with a shred of golfing taste. Check it out here. It’s beautifully done. Not to mention housing a rich presentation of writers, views and places in golf.

Slugger, Russell Speak On Retirement And Huge Changes In Rules Administration World

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Adam Schupak does a nice job packing a lot into this story and Q&A on golf losing a combined 160 years of experience at the top of the rules administration game. The players: White, Russell, Paramor and McPhee. Sounds like a law firm!

In the U.S., as reported here Monday, Slugger White and Mark Russell will be winding down their PGA Tour days as tournament directors and officials. White is hanging up his walky talky sooner while Russell will take a longer last lap around the country as he hands things over to Gary Young.

But the loss of golf’s four most prominent faces at applying the Rules of Golf at essentially the same time begs the question: how do the PGA Tour and European Tour begin to replace that institutional knowledge?

“The most important thing to me over the years that I thought I was responsible for was hiring the best possible people,” Russell said. “I’m extremely proud of the people that Slugger and I have hired and I’m sure it will carry on.”

“It’s a lot of years and you take a lot of experience with you,” White said. “I hope I’ve given some of that experience out and I’ll be around for a little bit. They know what they’re doing and they’ll be fine.”

In the Q&A White tells the story of his first ruling after retiring as a player. Of course, it was Jack Nicklaus who called for an official.

PGA Tour Outlines A Very Sensible Early Season Return Of Limited Fans*

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Of course you know it’s *Scottsdale that wants 8000 a day and to continue its (indoor) corporate hospitality. A move which, combined with the uh, clientele, seems like a recipe for disaster. And there are the optics which are dicey in the best of times.

Their plans also seem bold after the Houston Open experiment was capped at a purported 2000 a day and did not exactly give the impression we’re quite ready as a society to gather in huge crowds. I mean, 2000 a day.

Otherwise, the plans for early season events are impressively conservative, restrained and in compliance with local officials, no doubt an arduous and painful process to work through.

Especially when there is the Waste Management Open still wanting to do its thing, albeit scaled down. Brian Wacker writes for GolfDgiest.com:

The tournament with the highest annual attendance on tour—in 2018 it had a record 719,179 fans for the week—will allow up to 8,000 fans per day next year, by far the most of any PGA Tour event to date. Scott Jenkins, who is chairing the tournament for the host organizers, The Thunderbirds, in 2021, told Golf Digest last month that the plan was to build a one-story structure to accommodate fans at the par-3 16th, which has in recent years had a three-story grandstand surrounding most of the hole.

We can only hope they build it in way that is well ventilated. spaced and limited, but it’s also a bit amazing they want to take the chance.

Rustic Carnage Caught On Tape: 60 MPH Gusting Santa Ana Winds For SGCA Championship

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I’m not sensing a good time was had by all at Monday’s SCGA Tournament of Club Champions.

The event was held this year at Rustic Canyon where I spent over 200 days on site and never experienced the Santa Ana’s that in recent years prompt course closures on days like this. But I digress.

Christopher Powers at GolfDigest.com wraps up the Tweets and video postings by some, including the postings by 100-shooter Andy Ho, the club champion at The Vineyard who enjoyed the course during Sunday’s low 70s, wind-free practice round (just saying).

Powers writes:

The wind was so bad that it caused 24 players to withdraw, in addition to one DNF (did not finish) and one NS (no start). It's hard to blame them after hearing what it was like from someone who played in the event. Andy Ho, who won his club championship at The Vineyard GC and shot 100 on Monday, tweeted out some inside info:

The full, agonizing video of the antics at 16 green were posted here by Ho.

And there was this:

Incredibly, Ho's 100 was not the high score of the event. Six players shot higher scores, including a 51-over 123. Just two players broke 80, the winning score a six-over 78 from Silver Lakes CC's Ricky Montanez. In another tweet, Ho claimed that there was just one birdie carded in his foursome the entire day, and it came from a player who also made a 10, 12 and an 18. That player is Grant Beachley, who shot the 123:

But a huge tip of the cap to Beachley for finishing the round and posting. You have my full admiration and the Golf Gods must some day reward your persistence.

Sound on:

Wait, What? Reed, Morikawa Vie For European Tour's Race To Dubai After Just Two Combined Non-U.S. Starts

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There are lame season-long points races and then there are just plain non-sensical, credibility-zappers. While the pandemic undoubtedly cut into the chances of leader Patrick Reed or contender Collin Morikawa from a spot start or two in Europe, that leader Reed played twice outside of the U.S. (Saudi Arabia, Wentworth) and Morikawa has zero Continental starts, making this week’s concluding competition all a bit absurd.

But as Derek Lawrenson reports, one of the “Race” contenders who did play a robust European Tour schedule, Lee Westwood, defends the format on the grounds that Reed and Morikawa turned up in Dubai.

“I can see why people might consider it weird if he won the race but we waived the rules on the number of events you have to be play for reasons we all understand,” said the veteran Englishman. 'I'd rather give him the credit for coming over here and playing. He's seizing his chance to make history owing to his major win and the pandemic.

Reed goes into the season finale starting Thursday in pole position, but Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood and Westwood all have their fate in their own hands, knowing a victory would be sufficient to dislodge the former Masters champion.

The Race purse has been lowered to $7.5 million from $10 million, with $1.5 million going to that season-long winner.

The Ball Goes Too Far Files: U.S. Women's Open Features In-Range Fences To Stop Shots

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Photo of Houston’s wall by Golf.com’s Zephyr Melton

Photo of Houston’s wall by Golf.com’s Zephyr Melton

This week’s U.S. Women’s Open host has a two-sided range tee and 300 yards between the two. But as players now travel with foam rollers, eat more protein than carbs and are far superior athletes to any generation to ever play the game, ther was not enough room at Champions Golf Club, apparently.

From Brian Wacker’s GolfDigest.com story of 2020’s second bizarro “wall” at a women’s major:

The range is 300 yards long, and the fencing on each side is only about 30 yards in front of where players are teeing off, meaning it makes for not just an awkward look, but awkward shots, too.

“I'm not thrilled about it, to be honest with you,” said Danielle Kang, who is making her first start since a runner-up finish at the LPGA Drive On Championship-Reynolds Lake Oconee in late October. “I do a lot of wedge work. I do my wedge numbers with head covers every single day, so that's kind of bringing in a lot of obstacles for me.”

Zephyr Melton broke down the silly situation for Golf.com and noted another issue besides the oddity of hitting over a normal-height chain link fence.

For tech-reliant players, though, the barrier still presents a problem, because it impedes Trackman monitors from zeroing in down range on pins and can make for some wonky numbers.

“We just had to figure that out ourselves,” said native Texan Cheyenne Knight. “It’s different, but maybe after the cut they’ll take it down — it’s kind of weird.”

September’s ANA Inspiration featured an in-play fence/wall at the 18th green in place of a corporate tent, impacting the finish and earning its “Great Wall of Dinah” nickname from writer Beth Ann Nichols.

Hoggard: Medinah To Replace Harding Park For 2026 Presidents Cup

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Nice scoop from GolfChannel.com’s Rex Hoggard: Medinah No. 3 will land the 2026 Presidents Cup originally planned for TPC Harding Park, which is set to become a regular PGA Tour stop site in 2021.

And as seems to be the tradition at No. 3, a master plan and renovation is likely to happen (again) between now and then. As Hoggard notes, which The Fried Egg reported exclusively first, the firm of Ogilvy, Cocking and Mead will be getting their hands on the often-changed layout.

Geoff Ogilvy, an assistant at the last two Presidents Cups, is a likely captaincy candidate for those 2026 matches.

Ratings: Mayakoba, LPGA Remind This Is A Time Of Year Suited Best For The Silly Season

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Played in the traditional Hero World Challenge slot, the 2020 Mayakoba Classic (.41/NBC) filled in for the cancelled tournament with a terrific field but was not watched outside of PGA Tour headquarters, The Villages and the Oklahoma State golf team house. To give an idea just how much people don’t want to see tournament golf right now, the lowest rated college basketball game (Baylor-Arkansas women) was on par with Golf Channel’s first early round broadcasts of the Mayakoba.

Showbuzzdaily.com has all of the numbers, including the 2019 Hero’s ratings for comparison (.91/NBC).

The LPGA fared even worse, with no day of the Volunteers of America Classic cracking the top 150 cable broadcasts last week.

The sports taking place in their traditional December slots—football, college basketball—appeared to do just fine, while the sports pushing their product in a non-traditional slot are not resonating as much with fans.

In golf’s case, the recent Match 3 fared well enough and I suspect next week’s PNC Challenge will do very well with Tiger and Charlie Woods in the field. To have any audience beyond the most core of golfers, this is a time of year best suited silly season golf and doesn’t ask us to even pretend to care about a season long points race.

Guardian: Premier Golf League "Pressing Ahead" With Events For Golf's Independent Contractors

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Despite the news-dumped landmark strategic alliance announcement between the European Tour and PGA Tour, The Guardian’s Ewan Murray says the Raine Group’s Premier Golf League is forging ahead with event plans.

The Raine Group, venture capitalists who came close to an agreement with the European Tour, believe the finest golfers in the world – as independent contractors – can still be coaxed to play in competitions not sanctioned by the sport’s traditional tournament organisers.

There remains concern among some at the upper levels of professional golf that, by coming closer, the PGA and European tours are not boosting the market by allowing competition. Meanwhile, Raine are not going away.

It would take major contraction or a financial collapse of the European Tour for a full PGA Tour monopoly to take hold. And great news! The European Tour is “categorically” flush after laying off 68 people and the world is grand shape. Never better.

Anyway, Murray suggests the PGA Tour presented an offer the European Tour could not refuse.

Documentation seen by the Guardian understood to have been shown to the European Tour board cited, as examples, potential scheduling conflicts and increasing the number of minimum events that players must enter to retain PGA Tour status. The notion of PGA Tour qualifying events in Europe, the lobbying of major championships regarding eligibility criteria, pressure on broadcasters over coverage and impact on the Ryder Cup were all even mooted as possible outcomes. As things stand, the PGA Tour has no formal involvement in the Ryder Cup whatsoever.

A Ryder Cup bluff. Bold.

Of course, none of the threatened actions Murray reports would do anything to improve the product of either tour in any scenario. The ploys merely hold off an existential threat. That’s no small thing, but also demonstrates how far some folks are going to hold together the current model even as the times will inevitably demand some type of pivot by all tours.

R&A Confirms Hoylake And Troon For Future Opens, Further Postponing A Turnberry Decision

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Royal Troon

Royal Troon

While the Hoylake (aka Royal Liverpool) and Troon had already been awarded Open Championships in 2022 and 2023, they were to be pushed back a year by the R&A’s 2020 Open cancellation. There was some thought we might see a trade to keep Troon on track to celebrate the centennial of its first Open in 2023, a big part of the February announcement.

But it appears no trade was made and each course will now slide back a year. So now 101 years later we’ll celebrate Arthur Havers’ game story-killing win over Walter Hagen and Macdonald Smith.

Moving Troon to 2024 also makes any talk of a return to Trump Turnberry moot until at least 2026 given their proximity. But ‘26 seems like a potential St. Andrews year or, if the R&A is in the mood for anniversaries, 100 years since Bobby Jones won at Lytham and St. Annes.

The move also gives the R&A another year to find a media hotel better than the haunted and haunting Adamton Country “House”. Have you ever seen a grander entrance?

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Anyhoo…

VENUES CONFIRMED FOR THE OPEN IN 2023 AND 2024

7 December 2020, St Andrews, Scotland: The R&A today confirmed that The 151st Open will be played at Royal Liverpool from 16-23 July 2023 and The 152nd Open will be played at Royal Troon from 14-21 July 2024.

The Championships have been rescheduled following the cancellation of The 149th Open at Royal St George’s this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Open will be played at the famous Kent links from 11-18 July 2021.

Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, said, “We have been working closely with Royal Liverpool and Royal Troon and the relevant local agencies to reschedule the Championships.

“We are grateful to everyone involved at the clubs and at our partner organisations for supporting our plans and showing flexibility to adapt their own schedules. We can now look forward to seeing the world’s best players competing at these outstanding links courses in 2023 and 2024.”

Michael Johnson, Captain of Royal Liverpool Golf Club, said, “Without doubt the golfing world greatly anticipates the return of The Open after the hiatus of 2020 and Royal Liverpool Golf Club is delighted to fit into the revised schedule alongside our friends at Royal Troon. We must thank The R&A for its continued support and look forward to welcoming competitors and spectators alike to Hoylake in 2023.”

Desmond Bancewicz, Captain of Royal Troon Golf Club, said, “Following the most unusual circumstances this year, affecting all our lives, Royal Troon Golf Club looks forward with eager anticipation in hosting The Open in 2024 for a 10th time and sends their very best wishes to The R&A and Royal St George's Golf Club for 2021.”

This will be the 13th time the Championship has been staged at Royal Liverpool and the first since Rory McIlroy lifted the Claret Jug there in 2014.

The Open will return to Royal Troon for the 10th time following Henrik Stenson’s memorable final round duel with Phil Mickelson before claiming victory in 2016.

Future venues:

  • The 149th Open will be played at Royal St George’s from 11-18 July 2021

  • The 150th Open will be played at St Andrews from 10-17 July 2022

  • The 151st Open will be played at Royal Liverpool from 16-23 July 2023

  • The 152nd Open will be played at Royal Troon 14-21 July 2024