Phil Mickelson Receives (Much-Deserved) U.S. Open Special Exemption

A six-time runner-up with the U.S. Open returning to his hometown, this was a no-brainer use of the special exemption.

Glad everyone got on the same page…

USGA Announces Special Exemption for Phil Mickelson into the 121st U.S. Open Championship  

Five-time major winner to play in his 30th U.S. Open 

LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. (May 14, 2021) – The United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced that Phil Mickelson has received a special exemption into the 121st U.S. Open Championship, which will be conducted June 17-20 at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, Calif. 

“Phil Mickelson’s incredible USGA playing record and overall career achievements are among the most noteworthy in the game’s history,” said USGA CEO Mike Davis. “We are thrilled to welcome him to this year’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.”

Mickelson, 50, is a six-time U.S. Open runner-up, most in championship history, and has recorded ten top-10 finishes in 29 appearances. He won the 1990 U.S. Amateur Championship and was a member of the 1989 and 1991 USA Walker Cup Teams and the 1990 USA World Amateur Team.  

“Winning the U.S. Open has been a lifelong and elusive dream, and I’ve come close so many times,” said Mickelson, a San Diego native. “You can’t win if you don’t play. I’m honored and appreciative of the USGA for the opportunity and look forward to playing in my hometown on a golf course I grew up on.”

Mickelson seeks to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods and become just the sixth in history to win all four majors. Among Mickelson’s 44 career professional victories are five major titles – the 2004, 2006, and 2010 Masters Tournaments, the 2005 PGA Championship, and the 2013 British Open Championship. In addition, Mickelson has represented the USA on 12 Ryder Cup teams and 12 Presidents Cup squads.  

Mickelson is the sixth player since 2010 to receive a special exemption into the U.S. Open. The list includes Tom Watson (2010), Vijay Singh (2010), Retief Goosen (2016), Jim Furyk (2018), and Ernie Els (twice, in 2018 and 2019). Hale Irwin is the lone player to win the U.S. Open playing on a special exemption, doing so in a 19-hole playoff over Mike Donald in 1990 at Medinah (Ill.) Country Club to claim his third U.S. Open title. 

The 121st U.S. Open will be the third USGA championship to be played on the South Course at Torrey Pines Golf Course, which hosted the 1998 U.S. Amateur Public Links won by Trevor Immelman, and the 2008 U.S. Open memorably won by Tiger Woods in a 19-hole Monday playoff over Rocco Mediate. The U.S. Open will be the 85th USGA championship conducted in the state of California. Two weeks earlier, the 76th U.S. Women’s Open will be played at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.  

Quadrilateral: Q&A With Dottie Pepper, Author Of Letters To A Future Champion

While she’s a former Kiawah resident and a pivotal part of the CBS announce team, that takes second fiddle in this Q&A to Dottie Pepper’s remarkable new book.

As I noted in The Quadrilateral introduction, there has never been a book like Letters To A Future Champion in golf’s vast library. I think it’s an especially important read for a young golfer aspiring to greater things. Those searching for necessary comfort to offset the blows this game delivers will also take heart in George Pulver’s letters.

It’s also just a very understated autobiographical story of a player on the cusp of Hall status who, like many women of her generation, were not afforded some of the opportunities today’s players enjoy.

You can read more about Letters To A Future Champion here and also find an easy link to purchase a copy of this magnificently produced tome.

Details Of Cancelled NCAA Women's Regionals Keep Getting Worse, TPC Louisiana Offers To Host

TPC Louisiana is open and willing to host the @NCAA Women's Regionals following the recent cancellation. Let us know if we can help. pic.twitter.com/uNK4xW2kGE

— TPC Louisiana (@TPCLouisiana) May 13, 2021

While the failed NCAA Women’s Regional in Baton Rouge is unlikely to be salvaged due to timing issues, the sequence of events and lack of action to address issues just keeps getting worse.

From ESPN.com’s Tom VanHaaren, explaining that teams practiced Sunday and again Tuesday afternoon following rains and saw the lack off effort to getting the course’s flooded bunkers playable. Or to rule them ground under repair.

A similar scenario played out Tuesday, but the teams were allowed to practice on the course later that day.

The coaches were told the bunkers on the course were a concern, with standing water making them unplayable. The rules officials did have the option to mark the unplayable bunkers as such, which would give the players relief if their ball entered the marked area.

"I specifically asked the head rules official why we can't play, what do we have to do," Kieschnick said. "The answer was that 'We don't think you get the right champion if we don't play the bunkers.' I said, 'Well, you're well within your rights to make those ground under repair; that's truly your opinion.' You don't know if that determines the right champion or not -- that's an opinion."

Approximately 12 coaches from the participating teams went to the games committee Tuesday to get some questions answered. The objective was to determine whether there was a way to resume golf and a way to get the tournament in by the Thursday deadline.

Part of what confused the coaches was that the bunkers and standing water were presented as the big issue but they did not see an attempt to clear the water or repair the course. According to Kieschnick and another source, there were no pumps on site to pump the water off the course.

"A great coach said, 'If bunkers are the problem and you're doing nothing about the bunkers, we ought to leave right now,'" Kieschnick said. "That was on Tuesday. They didn't want to take the bunkers out, but this happens all the time and we can do this. When bunkers are the problem and nothing is being done, that's really hard to swallow. It was bizarre."

As noted yesterday, host LSU made it to the finals thanks to the committee simply advancing the top seeds.

Forgive my ignorance, but why did they get home course advantage to begin with? Did I miss a memo?

Haney V. PGA Tour Gets July 6th Trial Date

The PGA Tour’s effort to have Hank Haney’s lawsuit thrown out has apparently failed.

According to filings, Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz, II set the date of July 6th.

Last week a rebuttal to the Tour’s attempts at having the case thrown out was revealed by The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan. The filings revealed ignorance of the women’s game and even how the PGA Tour Radio partnership worked. Also included where emails—that I’ll circle back to on a slow news day—shows how they make sausage down in PVB. Digestive enzymes are recommended.

There are also PIP ramifications. Big time.

Given the crux of Haney’s SiriusXM downfall centered around his flippant take on the women’s game, The Athletic story raised questions about the PGA Tour’s care for the LPGA Tour it was representing in media rights negotiations.

I dissected some of that here.

The Quadrilateral: Major(s) News And Notes, May 13, 2021

The weekly news and notes focus mostly on the PGA and prepare you for next week in all sorts of ways, so check it out here.

A lot of The Quad goes back behind the paywall next week and I know you won’t want to miss my thrilling PGA missives. Info on the newsletter is here, and the subscribe button is here. A year is cheaper than a dozen “longer and straighter” golf balls.

Tokyo Olympics Issues Make The Experience Sound Pretty Pointless

To be clear: Jon Rahm really wants to play the Olympics and calls it a dream.

But prior to his AT&T Byron Nelson appearance this week he explained why players are going to be passing on the Games. And the issues go beyond money or timing or format.

From Golfweek’s Adam Schupak’s story about Rahm and his remarks:

“The Olympic committee are not making it very easy for us to choose it, simply because up until not too long ago we couldn’t go to our site or tournament hotel until Wednesday and we had to stay in the Olympic Village until then,” he said. “As I understand from what I been told there is at least one- to two-hour drive to the golf course. That’s a lot of time to be in the car going to and coming back from the Olympic Village, and then you can only go to the hotel on Wednesday. Your family is not allowed. You’re not allowed to go to any other events. There are just so many restrictions.”

Rahm left out that most feel the Tokyo venue might feel hotter than Memphis in July, making Memphis in July suddenly appealing.

"Are you serious?" Baton Rouge Women's Regional Cancelled

Here’s the scene in Baton Rouge when officials canceled NCAA Regionals without one single shot being played over the course of three days. pic.twitter.com/JtchPN9zlt

— Golfweek (@golfweek) May 12, 2021

The NCAA Women’s Golf regional hosted by LSU was called after not playing for three days due to torrential rains. NCAA rules do not allow the competition to continue after Wednesday, making for an easy decision to send the top seeded teams on to the finals.

Except, the optics were not good. The tournament director said the course was “playable, it’s not playable at a championship level.” That was compounded by the stunning player reaction in the video obtained by Golfweek posted above (which is also quite beautiful in hearing such passion from the players but won’t give the seniors their opportunity back).

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols notes the optics problem that included an inability to get comment from the NCAA’s on site rep, and also signs that the committee and course passed up windows to play.

For days now, several coaches have maintained that there were windows of time in which golf could have been played. Miami coach Patti Rizzo walked all 18 holes on Tuesday afternoon and said that maybe four or five bunkers were in bad shape. She did not see any of the maintenance crew working on the golf course during that time. She suggested to the committee that the par-4 seventh hole be shortened to a par 3 to adjust for the standing water in the fairway.

Young, who has served on NCAA committees for several years, like Rizzo, felt that the decision-makers in Baton Rouge were unprepared. Young was one of several coaches who noted that she hadn’t seen a single pump on the golf course.

Also problematic is the appearance of the home course possibly not doing all it could and having the host school benefit. From GolfChannel.com’s Brentley Romine:

It’s worth noting that the host school, which happened to be top-seeded LSU, does not dictate the final decision, though university employees do run the golf course and therefore would play a role in the process. The Tigers were among six schools to advance to next week’s NCAA Championship, along with Ole Miss, Baylor, Oregon, Maryland and Alabama. The three highest-ranked players in Golfstat not on advancing teams also made it through: Houston’s Karen Fredgaard, Miami’s Nataliya Guseva and Sam Houston State’s Hanna Alberto.

Another video of the incredible scene:

@GolfDigest @GolfChannel @NCAA @GolfweekNichols @USGA @Golfweek_Jules @GolfweekRingler @golfweek @golfweekron

— Sara Byrne (@sarabyrne01) May 12, 2021

GolfChannel.com: "Super League Golf will continue to linger as long as there's player 'interest'"

It’s fascinating to see how many players who will not rule out the latest world tour concept even as it’s been revealed to be even more directly funded by Saudi Arabia. Or that it’s a possibly-stolen concept and all of this after PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan (reportedly) drew a line in the sand.

Fascinating given that it feels like a shift for some players from a year ago when the Premier League concept was discussed. But why?

Do players see signs of the European Tour either fading away or getting swallowed (and inevitably muzzled to death) by Cult Ponte Vedra? That would condense their loyalties have been condensed to a pair of options.

Also surprising: there are more blatant Saudi ties to the “SGL” concept and the money source does not seem to have caused players much concern.

Or maybe, as I wrote in The Quadrilateral Monday, these outside hostile takeover attempts will just keep happening because of market forces and the unwillingness of the Tours to address some fundamental issues making them vulnerable.

Anyway, GolfChannel.com’s Rex Hoggard filed this look at player comments and the surprising open-mindedness or shifting curiousities. One standout portion:

Asked about the then-PGL concept last year, Adam Scott also seemed to be squarely in the “interested” category.

“Selfishly, for me, there is some appeal. I might have the opportunity to park myself up in Australia for a little bit if I’m being selfish,” Scott said.

And Patrick Reed said this, “Honestly I have my team grabbing all the information about it, and I don't know enough about it yet to really say anything about it, but once we get all the information, I'll go make my mind up later on."

Tommy Fleetwood appears to have adjusted his outlook toward the SLG since he was asked about the proposed circuit last year.

“Money is one side of it, world ranking points is a side of it. The Ryder Cup is always such a huge thing on people's minds, European and American,” he said. “There's a lot that goes into the criteria of why people play where they play. … I know [Monahan] has a very, very firm stance on it. We'll see where that leads.”

Kiawah Primers: Scot Sherman Q&A And The Ocean Course In 4K

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Absent hole-by-hole flyovers I have the next big thing: enough to whet your appetite for next week’s PGA Championship and an update on Kiawah since we last saw the Ocean Course in 2012.

Golf architect Scot Sherman kindly takes us through the course in Part 2 of my Quadrilateral Q&A.

In Part 1 we discussed Pete Dye and the challenge of keeping his courses up-to-date without ruining the Dye.

Andy Johnson takes through specific changes since the last PGA there along with this Fried Egg look at the Ocean is especially good on a big 4K screen:

Goodell & Friends Hoping To Play Pine Valley, Augusta National And Cypress Point In A Day

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and others are apparently planning the ultimate one-day trifecta: Pine Valley, Augusta National and Cypress Point. Or is it?

GolfDigest.com’s Daniel Rapaport Tweeted revealed the audacious trip plans:

A little birdie tells me that next week, a group including Roger Goodell will play Pine Valley, Augusta and Cypress—all in the same day.

Can't quite wait for summer solstice because Augusta closes for the summer. Will start at crack of dawn at Pine Valley.

That...does not suck.

— Daniel Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) May 11, 2021

If you’re wondering about timing, several have done the math and feel this first world footprint-unfriendly day is doable as long as the Commish and friends play each round in three hours and face no delays.

This is not the first bold attempt at playing multiple classics in a day.

Thanks to reader Tuco who reminded me of this 24-hour trip featuring the Old Course at St. Andrews, Winged Foot and Pebble Beach. They used the Concorde and a couple of short private flights to pull it off.

The golfers? Bobby Clampett, George Peper, Brian Morgan and Hughes Norton.

''I've dreamed of something like this,'' said Clampett, a 23-yearold professional, ''ever since I was a little kid.'' At 1 P.M. Sunday, Clampett completed his play in the British Open, shooting a 288 over all, four over par. Then, accompanied by George F. Peper, the editor of Golf magazine, who had conceived the marathon, Hughes Norton of the International Management Group, which represents Clampett, and Brian Morgan, a Scottish freelance photographer, Clampett flew from Southport, England, to St. Andrews, the starting point of the golfing odyssey.

AT&T Byron Nelson: Spieth Speaks Of COVID Bout, Time Off

Hey we have Jordan Spieth in the interview room today, tell us whatcha been up to…

HALEY PETERSON: We would like to welcome Jordan Spieth to the interview here at the AT&T Byron Nelson. You're making your 16th start here with six top-10s already, including three consecutive, and this is your first tournament back since the Masters. Tell me how your game has been feeling with a little bit of time off from tournament play.

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I'm not exactly sure yet. I took kind of a week off, and then I ended up, actually, getting COVID, so then I was out for a little while. And then so I'm just kind of starting to get it back the last week or so and kind of get back on track. And so I've only played a couple rounds and so I'm looking to kind of maybe knock a little rust off that I didn't think would necessarily be here. But, yeah, I feel good. I feel strong. I feel ready to go for a good stretch of golf coming up.

HALEY PETERSON: First time the tournament's been held here at TPC Craig Ranch. But being a Dallas native how familiar are you with this golf course.

I need to look through some record books, but I believe that could be in the running for all-time great moderator-induced rally killers.

JORDAN SPIETH: Not as familiar as most in the area. I played Q-School here and I think I played one or two junior tournaments and that's about it. I played last Wednesday, just came out and played with my dad and my agent and just to kind of check it out. I mean, I obviously knew all the shapes of the holes and stuff like that, but it had been really nine years since playing in a tournament. So it's in great shape. The greens are beautiful. They're rolling way quicker today than they were last Wednesday, as you would expect it. And then it looks like, as bad as the weather is yesterday and today, we're going to get a really good four days for the tournament, which is not always, it's a little rare in the springtime to get four good ones. So hopefully this course should drain better than just about any in town and that should make it pretty, get pretty kind of -- it will change from Thursday to Sunday quite a bit.

HALEY PETERSON: We'll open it up to questions.

Always a good idea.

Q. Are you a hundred percent?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I feel good. I've been able to do everything I can normally do the last week or so.

Good to hear he’s well.

For those looking to see how well he knows this week’s venue, the rest of the transcript is here.

Ratings: 2021 Wells Fargo, Walker Cup, Regions Tradition

Sunday’s Wells Fargo won by Rory McIlroy finished with a 1.77, up a tick from the 1.58 that the AT&T Byron Nelson earned on a similar weekend two years ago (no 2020 event was played due to the pandemic). CBS is touting it as the most watched round of the Wells Fargo since 2015 (Tweet below).

The Walker Cup conclusion drew a disappointing .16 in a Sunday evening window, but did outdraw the first senior major of 2021.

Showbuzzdaily.com has all of the Weekly Sports ratings here.

As always, I’ll note streaming numbers are not available.

Sunday's Final-Round Coverage of @WellsFargoGolf Scores Strong Viewership pic.twitter.com/j00IUR5qsK

— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) May 11, 2021

Taylormade Sold To Korea's Centroid Investment Partners

The price was undisclosed by KPS Capital Partners, but they are believed to have paid around $425 million 2017 for the clubmaker and unconfirmed online reports are floating $1.7 billion as the sale price.

For Immediate Release from KPS:

NEW YORK, May 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- KPS Capital Partners, LP ("KPS") announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its portfolio company, TaylorMade Golf Company, Inc. ("TaylorMade" or the "Company"), to Centroid Investment Partners ("Centroid"), a Seoul, Korea based private equity firm. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

TaylorMade is a leading global designer and manufacturer of golf clubs, balls, bags and accessories with #1 or #2 market positions in most of its key products and geographies. For over 40 years, TaylorMade has brought innovative, high performance product technologies to golfers worldwide and is represented by some of the world's best Professional Tour athletes in the game; including World #1 Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, Matthew Wolff, Sung Hyun Park, Charley Hull, Maria Fassi and Sierra Brooks.

KPS acquired TaylorMade in 2017 from adidas AG in a highly complex global corporate carve-out transaction involving the separation of shared facilities, employees, distribution infrastructure and material commercial arrangements. 

Highly complex global corporate carve-out transaction. That’s juicy.

TaylorMade was transformed under KPS' ownership into a fully independent, focused golf equipment company that achieved market leadership in all its key product categories and experienced the highest growth rates in the industry.

Guess the ball isn’t a key category. Good to know!

TaylorMade invested heavily in industry leading equipment technologies, introduced a series of revolutionary new products, achieved significant market share growth in golf balls,

Oh…

built new manufacturing and distribution facilities, and successfully refocused its marketing strategy, including the expansive build-out of one of the most advanced digital platforms in the business.  As a result of these initiatives, the Company rapidly progressed from generating material operating losses between 2015 and 2017 to substantial growth in profitability each year under KPS ownership.

David Shapiro, Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of KPS stated, "TaylorMade demonstrates KPS' ability to see value where others do not, buy right and make businesses better. KPS recognized the value of the iconic TaylorMade brand, its cutting-edge product portfolio, the talent of its world-class management team and employees and the opportunity to align the Company's cost structure with the market realities."

Alignment is key. Please, keep patting yourself on the back…

Mr. Shapiro added, "We congratulate and thank CEO David Abeles, TaylorMade's management team and the entire organization for their tremendous dedication to the brand and Company and their passion for the game of golf.  The Company is well positioned for continued growth and industry leadership and is poised for accelerated growth in the important Korean market as well as the rest of Asia under Centroid's ownership."  

David Abeles, Chief Executive Officer of TaylorMade, added, "Our partnership with KPS has been extraordinary. It has been inspiring and incredibly productive to work with the team across the firm. From the beginning, KPS had the vision to recognize the strength and potential of the TaylorMade brand and business. Under KPS's ownership, TaylorMade has become a far better company by investing in our operations, product technology pathways, product development processes and, importantly, in our people. TaylorMade has never been better positioned for future growth than we are today."

Paul Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal counsel and Morgan Stanley and Allen & Co. served as financial advisors to KPS and TaylorMade.  Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.

Golf Stocks Skyrocket Even Without A Major Technological Breakthrough!

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Remember when we used to hear how the game only can grow with club buying opportunities?

The wretched pandemic continues to make tee times hard to get. Meaning, voila, club and ball sales are through the proverbial roof.

You mean, just having more people play for some reason was the key all along? Not a big breakthrough overcoming regulatory hurdles?

Shocked I tell you.

Progolfweekly with this on Titleist and Footjoy parent Acushnet:

Titleist and FootJoy parent has adjusted upwards its outlook for the full year 2021. The company said it expects sales to be in the range of $1.79 billion to $1.87 billion – up approximately 14 percent at the midpoint compared to 2020.

Acushnet reported Q1 sales of $581 million and earnings of $85 million, each up significantly from Q1 of 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic was beginning to impact businesses across the country.

“Of course, these expectations assume no significant worsening of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic including additional significant incremental closures of global markets and additional supply chain disruptions,” said Tom Pacheco, Acushnet’s Chief Financial Officer.

“With a very strong first quarter and the second quarter, which we expect to be about 75 percent to 80 percent higher than 2020.

“We project very healthy first half sales gains as compared to both 2020 and 2019.”

Callaway is thriving on the back of club and ball sales along with a couple of shrewd acquisitions. From Mike Freeman in the San Diego Union Tribune:

The Carlsbad company relied heavily on its core club and ball business to drive financial results as the once stagnant game continues its renaissance. Rounds played surged 24 percent in the U.S. alone during the first quarter, according to industry research firm Golf Datatech.

More surprising was the solid performance in Callaway’s apparel arm. Its TravisMathew and Jack Wolfskin brands did well despite lingering COVID-19 restrictions in important markets. Emerging e-commerce sales led the way.

Callaway’s overall revenue rose 47.5 percent to $652 million compared with the same quarter last year. Adjusted net income reached $77 million, or 62 cents per share -- up from adjusted earnings of 31 cents per share a year ago.

Despite the uptick in profit, the company warned of likely cost increases in the coming year, Steve Pike notes.

The stocks are soaring:

@Titleist @FootJoy parent Acushnet Co., closes today at $51.76 after hitting 52-week high of $53.50. @TheGolfClub @back9boys @Golf_Tips @AnnLiguori @GeoffShac @LinksNation #Golf #titleist #footjoy #acushnetco #golfbusiness #golfcompanaies #golfstocks #sports #sportsbusiness

— Steve Pike (@StevePike9) May 10, 2021

@CallawayGolf stock price jumps from $29.93 close to $31.45 in after-hours trading following report of record Q1 revenue of $652M and earnings of $272M. @GeoffShac @TheGolfClub @back9boys @Golf_Tips @GolfNewsNet #Golf #callawaygolf #ELY #golfbusiness #golfnews #golfblog

— Steve Pike (@StevePike9) May 10, 2021

World No. 1 Johnson WD's From Byron Nelson Citing Knee Discomfort

Maybe the most unusual thing about the news of World No. 1 Dustin Johnson WD’ing from this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson: the announcement was made by the PGA Tour.

With PIP dynamics and Johnson as a prime target of Golf Saudi for its Super Golf League, you have to wonder if this was a way to prevent Johnson from accruing points on the back of a WD? PIP watchers must know!

Gosh what a lame program.

Anyway, this was probably just the Tour wanting to help an injured player save time by doing the statement-issuing instead of a traditional social media announcement. Right?

His WD leaves the event with three top 10 players in the field before next week’s PGA Championship.