Three Players Test COVID-19 Positive After The Players

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Three players are out of the Honda Classic after positive COVID-19 tests. This follows two weeks of Florida tour with the most significant galleries since the February’s Waste Management Open.

The players were Gary Woodland, Scott Piercy and Doc Redman.

Woodland Tweeted this:

From AP’s Doug Ferguson:

Three players also tested positive before tournaments at the RSM Classic at Sea Island in November, and the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit in early July.

The positive tests follow two weeks of the Florida events on the PGA Tour allowing limited fans, with roughly 8,000 in attendance at Bay Hill and The Players Championship.

Besides the obvious hope that all three players are some of the lucky ones to experience minor symptoms, matching the most positive tests in a week should prompt a major contact tracing effort.

It could be a coincidence that all three players tested positive, but given the timing there is some chance they contracted the virus during Players week. Piercy made the weekend. Woodland and Redman did not.

The outcome of such tracing, besides potentially help alert others who may need to be tested, will have ramifications for protocols and fans at upcoming events.

Behind The Scenes Doc: ESPN Debuts "The One in November"

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ESPN is debuting "The One in November," billed as a “first-ever look behind the scenes” at Augusta National Golf Club” in advance of 2020 Masters tournament.

The 30-minute doc debuts Tuesday, March 16, at 7 p.m. ET. and has several more airings to come, including an ABC showing the Saturday prior to the Masters.

The pitch:

The 2020 edition of the Masters was unprecedented. Postponed to November from its traditional April dates and staged with no patrons for the first time in its history, the Masters overcame numerous new challenges in making the annual, world-class event a reality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The film chronicles the days leading into the Tournament, following those on the grounds who are responsible for planning and executing a renowned and unprecedented sporting event. Viewers will see and hear from officials and executives from the organization, who offer a rare glimpse into their roles in preparing for the Masters.

Viewers also will see Fred Ridley, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament, honor Lee Elder, who was first Black man to compete in the Masters in 1975. Ridley announces Elder’s inclusion as an Honorary Starter at the 2021 Masters and the creation of the Lee Elder Scholarships at Paine College in Augusta. Other storylines include Cameron Champ’s experience as a first-time player in the Tournament, as well as preparations for the traditional Champions Dinner hosted by 2019 Masters champion Tiger Woods.

The film was produced by Augusta National Golf Club in association with Boardwalk Pictures. A preview wasn’t quite what I expected as behind-the-scenes intrigue, but it’s something different for sure…

Justin Thomas Rebounds To Win The Players In Grand Fashion

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So much impressed with Justin Thomas’s Players win but I’m not sure any number is more powerful than 14. While that many PGA Tour wins doesn’t put him in the upper echelon of greats yet, it’s a robust number in the modern game and at his age and upside.

And in the modern World Golf Hall of Fame, a PGA, a Players and 14 wins makes him a first-ballot lock 18 years from now.

For subscribers, I posted a winners/losers round-up with the Masters in mind over at The Quadrilateral.

Michael Bamberger on Thomas turning around his game after a rough start to 2021.

Taking in that scene, it was hard to imagine Thomas on a plane, flying home from L.A. “My head was not in a good place then,” he said Sunday night. Flying home from Abu Dhabi, surely the same. Flying home from his grandfather’s funeral, the same. Sending texts to Tiger knowing they are going to his hospital room? That can’t be a good feeling. They should be planning a scouting trip to Augusta.

Thomas’s ballstriking performance was one for the ages and rights a ship that was running adrift. Had he not missed the 18th green with a sand wedge, Thomas would have done something six others had done at TPC Sawgrass, notes GolfDigest.com’s Brian Wacker:

Only six times in the history of the Players Championship has a player hit all 18 greens in regulation at TPC Sawgrass. Thomas was on pace to do that Sunday before his final approach came up a couple of inches short.

He didn’t mind.

Thomas is a maestro with an iron in his hand and he was all week, but especially so on Sunday. To lose more than two strokes putting on the field in the final round and still shoot four-under 68 speaks volumes about how good his ball-striking was.

As I noted here with the Masters in mind, seeing a notorious left-to-right player hit such distinct draws is one thing. Doing it under pressure on holes that give him fits may have been the final round highlight. (With a tip of the cap to the tracer.)

The social posts:

And a starry, starry night send off to the week:

The PGA Tour’s final round highlights:

Antoine Rozner Sinks 60-Footer To Win Qatar Masters

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Granted, it wasn’t golf’s strongest field Antoine Rozner beat in the Qatar Masters but he did it in grand fashion (embeds below).

After leaving himself a long way from the pin on the last, it looked like Rozner needed two putts for a play-off but he drained an incredible double breaker over the ridge to sign for a 67 and finish at eight under.

India's Gaganjeet Bhullar and South African Darren Fichardt finished alongside Migliozzi a shot off the lead, two clear of Welshman Jamie Donaldson and England's Richard McEvoy.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMZ9nMcnQ_F/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

"Oh, God. I couldn’t pick a worse person to hit into.”

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While the director’s extended cut sleeps with the fishes thanks to PGA Tour takedown efforts, a truncated version was farmed out to Skratch (embed below). Either way, we have two things to savor from Saturday’s fun involving Jordan Spieth hitting into Rory Sabbatini.

—No one was injured after Jordan Spieth accidentally hit into Rory Sabbatini, who is notoriously not shy about highlighting behavior he hates. Should be a fun morning on the range Sunday!

—The director’s extended cut of this “Every Shot Live” instant classic sleeps with the fishes thanks to PGA Tour takedown efforts. However, plenty saved it prior to the Global Home’s censorship division doing what they do best. Transcripts coming! Creep factor is off-the-charts!

Anyhow, Michael Bamberger summed up the scene here in the Big Brother world of modern pro golf:

As best you can hear on the video, somebody, likely Spieth, offers a full-throated “Fore right!” After a little back-and-forth chat on the tee, Spieth says, “Is that Sabbatini? Oh, God. I couldn’t pick a worse person to hit into.”

The observation was funny because it was true. Also, because it narrowed the divide between them and us. Who among us hasn’t done and said something right along the same lines?

Spieth and his third-round playing partner, Collin Morikawa, offered some more personal observations. Everyday stuff, really, except boom mics at PGA Tour stops seem to be more sensitive and on more often than they ever have been before. (Ask Spieth’s buddy, Justin Thomas.)

Earlier this week the Global Home texted a prescient reminder to players about hot-mic possibilities this week.

"Sheriff department's investigation into Tiger Woods crash scrutinized"

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USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer continues to report on Tiger Woods’s crash in Rolling Hills Estates while in the area to shoot content for a GolfTV film.

Schrotenboer writes:

But the available evidence in the case indicates Woods was inattentive or asleep when his vehicle went straight into a median instead of staying with his lane as it curved right, multiple forensic experts told USA TODAY Sports. Woods also told deputies twice that he didn’t remember how the crash occurred and didn’t even remember driving after surviving the crash with broken bones in his right leg.

The story goes on to poke several holes in the Sheriff’s approach to the case and early declaration of an accident occurring due to issues with Hawthorne Boulevard.

One Man's Pain Is Another Man's Gain, Files: Bryson Appreciates Hearing That Rory Regrets Pursuing Speed

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I know he’s not taking pleasure in Rory McIlroy’s struggles but pride that a peer recognized the difficulty of “chasing speed” while still playing good golf as Bryson DeChambeau has done.

From DeChambeau’s third round press chat where he was asked about McIlroy’s comments from the day prior.

Q. I don't know if you heard what Rory said yesterday about he got into chasing distance because of what you've done. How does that make you feel?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: You know, I appreciate it, first off. The second comment I would have that -- I wasn't trying to influence anybody. I was just trying to play my own game and hit it as far as I possibly could. And I knew there was going to be an affect. I didn't know what it would be or who would be affected by it, but again, golf is a weird game. This journey that I'm on is not taken lightly. I've tried to figure out a bunch of different variables that you have to in order to hit it straight, hitting it really far. I knew that there would be some people that would try and some people it would potentially not work for them and some people it may help them. So I really don't know that, but I do appreciate Rory's comments, it's kind of a sentiment almost and something that keeps me going every day.

It’s a journey not to be taken lightly, that he has right!

World No. 1 Is Passing On The Olympics (Again)

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Last year Dustin Johnson signaled he would pass the Tokyo Olympics and men’s golf competition.

He has done so again for the postponed games, reports ESPN.com’s Bob Harig.

"It's right in the middle of a big stretch of golf for me, so that was the reason I was kind of waffling on it a little bit,'' Johnson said from the Players Championship, where he is out of contention. "It's a long way to travel, and I think the WGC [World Golf Championship event] is the week right after it. The British is a couple weeks before.

"It's a lot of traveling at a time where it's important to feel like I'm focused playing on the PGA Tour.''

He’s eager to get to Memphis in July, something you don’t hear every day.

Rory Cites "Speed Training" For Recent Struggles: "I'm sort of fighting to get back out of that. That's what I'm frustrated with."

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The sight of Pete Cowen watching Rory McIlroy no doubt generated plenty of Players range buzz.

But after McIlroy posted 79-75, the admission of struggles tied to his speed pursuit last fall should offer a cautionary tale. After round two at The Players:

Q. What are you most frustrated with?

RORY McILROY: Probably the swing issues and where it all stems from, probably like October last year, doing a little bit of speed training, started getting sucked into that stuff, swing got flat, long, and too rotational. Obviously I added some speed and am hitting the ball longer, but what that did to my swing as a whole probably wasn't a good thing, so I'm sort of fighting to get back out of that. That's what I'm frustrated with.

I felt like I made some good strides. I played well at TOUR Championship, played well at the U.S. Open. I sort of look back at Winged Foot and I look at my swing there, and I would be pretty happy with that again, and then after Winged Foot I had a few weeks before we went to the West Coast and I started to try to hit the ball a bit harder, hit a lot of drivers, get a bit more speed, and I felt like that was sort of the infancy of where these swing problems have come from. So it's just a matter of trying to get back out of it.

Hey, leave the West Coast out of this. We didn’t make you go all in on launch angle golf!

Sorry, go on…

Q. Not to play amateur psychologist, but you're obviously one of the longest players on the PGA TOUR. Why do you think you went down that route?

RORY McILROY: I think a lot of people did. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't anything to do with what Bryson did at the U.S. Open. I think a lot of people saw that and were like, whoa, if this is the way they're going to set golf courses up in the future, it helps. It really helps.

The one thing that people don't appreciate is how good Bryson is out of the rough. Not only because of how upright he is but because his short irons are longer than standard, so he can get a little more speed through the rough than us, than other guys. And I thought being able to get some more speed is a good thing, and I maybe just -- to the detriment a little bit of my swing, I got there, but I just need to maybe rein it back in a little bit.

Sounds like a good plan.

Going Forward, Bryson Won't Be Discussing Possible Alternative Start Lines

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After the PGA Tour installed internal OB earlier this week, Bryson DeChambeau has learned his lesson.

No more teasing potential bold approaches to courses.

Last week’s Bay Hill winner telegraphed a possible alternative route to the 18th hole and the PGA Tour Rules staff responded with OB stakes left of TPC Sawgrass’ 18th.

And now Bryson, in contention again this week, learned a valuable lesson.

Q. What was your reaction when they told you about the internal OB on 18?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I understand it. I probably shouldn't have said anything. Knowing that now, I won't, now I won't ever say any lines that I'm taking anymore, but that's okay. I understand it. I've got no issues with it. I understand why, from a safety precaution reason, totally get it. But I'm going to keep myself a little quiet next time for lines that I'm going to try to obtain.

This was also fascinating in explaining why he looked left of the lake:

Q. Do you even have a driver play off of 18? Is there one?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No. Not with my dispersion.

Q. What would you be doing? You'd be trying to aim it where?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I'd be trying to hit a rope hook down the same kind of curve of the fairway.

Q. It just doesn't make sense?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: If I overdraw it it's in the water. If I hit it just a little straight it's in the trees. There's nothing -- I've got nothing there. That's why I was thinking about going down 9. Dangit.

And if there was any doubt about not previewing future alternative lines, well he’s off to a good start.

Q. I know you said you didn't want to talk about where you might start cutting angles after what happened this week, but when you look at courses going forward for the rest of the season, are there places where you feel like you can do what you did at No. 6 last week?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Not as drastically as what I did at No. 6, but there are holes where it gives you a much better opportunity to have an advantage on that hole, if it can be played in the way that I'm going to try. It's a little bit bigger risk, but maybe it's a bigger reward.

Q. I'd ask you where but clearly you don't want to tell me.

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Sorry.

17th At TPC Sawgrass: 23% Of Balls Miss The Island On A Pretty Calm Day

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Antics on 17? On a pretty calm day by Ponte Vedra standards? Fun! Unless you were playing.

The 2021 first round antics will go down in Players history as one of the stranger days on this much-studied hole. Similar carnage has occurred but never on such an agreeable day weather-wise.

From Ryan Lavner’s GolfChannel.com report:

The 17th hole measured 143 yards in the opening round and was the second-hardest hole on the Stadium Course. On a teeny par 3 that required no more than a 9-iron, and oftentimes just a pitching or gap wedge, the hole surrendered just 30 birdies, had an average proximity of 27 feet and doled out plenty of pain.

There were 13 double bogeys and nine others, two of which were extraordinarily awful. In all, 35 shots – a whopping 23% – found the water.

“That’s not a fun hole today,” Nick Taylor said, and that’s coming from the guy who hit one of the best shots of the day: to 5 feet.

It’s the most talked- and written-about par 3 in the world – and for good reason, amplified by the setting and its position in the round, so close to the finish line, with such potential to be a round-wrecker.

I saw very few shots go in where I thought, oh he was hosed. It appeared most were just a little aggressive or slightly pulled their tee shots. That upper left hole is awkward in that the hole location is just left of center for a righthander, meaning it’s easy to hit a slight (or full) pull.

Ben An was 1 over for the day when he made 11, second only to Bob Tway’s 12, doubled the last for 83.

An’s brush with history got plenty of social coverage:

An posted this later on:

NBC had it’s patented slow-mo reaction cam and boy did it get work Thursday. You can also see Kevin Na’s back went out on him, as it’s prone to do. And before he posted 81 and WD’d. As he’s prone to do.

Belmont Redo Update: "Trying to offer a bit of something for everyone.”

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Josh Sens checks in with Belmont in near Richmond and the reimagination of the old Tillinghast course and home to the 1949 PGA Championship is almost complete, with a First Tee facility, 12 holes, a par-3 course and a bright future as a community centerpiece just three years after facing extinction.

Putting their heads together with Scot Sherman of Love Golf Design, Schneider and his First Tee colleagues pitched the county with this proposal: they would transform Belmont into a multi-faceted facility, turning the 18-hole course into a 12-hole routing while converting the remaining ground into a community-focused hybrid, composed of a driving range and short-game area, an 18-hole putting course and a six-hole par-3 course. Inspiration for this blueprint came, in part, from other unconventional success stories around the country, including Sweetens Cove, in Tennessee, a nine-hole underdog-cum-architectural darling; Goat Hill Park, a come-one, come-all muni in Southern California; and Bobby Jones Golf Course, in Atlanta, where an 18-hole layout had been modified into a wildly entertaining, reversible nine-hole track.

What those courses had in common was respect for golf tradition, married with a hearty sense of welcome and a keen attentiveness to the tenor of the times. They paid homage to the past even as they pointed toward where the game was headed.

The plan for Belmont sprang from those same ideas.

“If you look at our culture today and all the folks that golf is trying to reach, there are so many different interests,” Sherman says. “You’ve got the serious golfer, the golfer who’s just getting started, the golfer who maybe only has an hour-and-half after work to play—we were trying to offer a bit of something for everyone.”

As Sens and Sherman highlight, Belmont’s just the kind of project golf needs as a model with so many muni’s facing similar needs to be reinvented or face redevelopment.

One note not mentioned in the story: the fine work by Fried Egg’s Andy Johnson three years in highlighting the course and dreadful direction it was headed, including a less-than-subtle inside job by an architect to capitalize on bunker liner construction covered here as well.

You can follow Belmont’s progress here on Instagram.

Major(s) Notes, March 11, 2011

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This week we learned Augusta National’s tax bill, major concerns for two major favorites, horrifying Masters radio news and a progressive maintenance plan for the U.S. Women's Open.

And it’s all in the latest Quadrilateral.This and so, so much more for the low price of free to read once a week and even free to sign-up.

Every Shot Live Reminder To Players: "Be mindful of what you say and do on course"

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Apparently creeped out the Big Brother vibe of the text, multiple PGA Tour players shared the above text from the Global Home. At least one player even posted an apology in advance on social media:

This is all prompted by Every Shot Live that debuted last year for one round:

Live streaming of every shot hit at THE PLAYERS Championship will get underway Thursday morning from TPC Sawgrass. Nearly 100 cameras will capture roughly 31,000 strokes taken over approximately 430 rounds played.

The feature will be available free Thursday via PGA TOUR Live on NBC Sports Gold.

Trying To Figure Out The TPC Sawgrass Bias Against A Bias

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I love Justin Ray not because he’ll crunch the numbers so we don’t have to, but he genuinely uses the new trove of statistics in such creative ways.

In his latest installment for PGATour.com, Ray tackles the utterly bizarre lack of back-to-back winners at TPC Sawgrass. And also attempts to detect any rhyme or reason as to who might succeed there.

Besides learning there are two events with longer droughts without having a back-to-back winner, I also learned there may be no explaining the lack of any discernible TPC Sawgrass bias.

In 2018, Webb Simpson won his first PLAYERS title despite losing strokes to the field on approach shots. A staggering 95% of his strokes gained for the week came on shots around the green and on putts.

Contrast that to the winning formula McIlroy utilized the following year, when 85% of his strokes gained came in the form of tee shots and approaches. He gained less than 5% of his strokes on the field with his putter, the lowest percentage of any PLAYERS champion the last 15 years.

Those jumpy trends persist throughout recent history when analyzing PLAYERS champions. In 2018, Si Woo Kim gained more than 35% of his strokes over the field on tee shots. In 2007, though, Phil Mickelson actually lost strokes on his tee shots, but managed to win thanks to spectacular iron play.