Ryder Cup Course Setup: How Low Will They Go?

Today’s Quadrilateral kicks off Ryder Cup week looking at course setup ploys dating to the 1950s and how in many ways the gamesmanship was taken to strange new places in the last two Cups.

Plus, I wonder not very subtly whether Whistling Straits a different beast for the home team? And round up some random preview reads and Tweets.

Two items I don’t want you to miss just in case reading about course setup ploys in one newsletter is asking a lot on a Monday: Ward Clayton has the stunning tale of Skip Alexander’s place in Ryder Cup lore. This was a totally new one to me and fascinating to learn about.

And The Fried Egg offered this vignette and discussion of the venue:

Johnny: "Too many announcers want to be friends with their fellow players, even though they’re announcers."

Great stuff top to bottom in part one of Adam Schupak’s conversation with Johnny Miller, but his comments on the state of golf announcing and long broadcast windows is of particular note.

I’m sure sensitive flowers will be put off by the reference to himself as the “one Simon Cowell” in golf, but get past what is essentially true and read the full answer.

GW: Have TV golf announcers gotten too soft? 

JM:  Well, they’ve always been soft. There’s only been one Simon Cowell and you’re looking at him.

This is a really an important thing I’m going to tell you. The greatness of golf – whether you’re a 100 shooter or whatever – is how well you can finish off your milkshake bet or whatever. The greatness of golf is handling your nerves and your choking point and whether you can perform when you need to.

So to ignore that, which has been basically ignored by every golf announcer except for me, and say a guy has swung all over, he’s choking – my very first tournament, Peter Jacobsen has got this downhill lie over water in front of the green, and when you try to hit it over water on a downhill lie, like 15 at Augusta, and you try to hit it high off that downslope, you either hit it thin or fat, that shot. It happened to Seve when he hit it in the drink at the Masters. I said, this is like the perfect situation to choke on.

Now, I didn’t say that Peter would choke on that shot, but no one had ever said choke in the history of golf, OK. Now, I’m not bragging, but that’s the way I viewed the game. It’s how well can you handle the choke factor, and to sort of ignore that because it’s uncomfortable or – you don’t have to say choke, but to not talk about the pressure, that’s why people loved Tiger is because he could actually raise his level to win tournaments. He was the opposite of folding under pressure. He was the best ever at that, better than Jack even.

Fighting words!

Here’s the strongest case made by Miller:

The great champions can lift their game to get the job done or make the great shot, and I was willing to go there. Too many announcers want to be friends with their fellow players, even though they’re announcers. I don’t know, they just don’t talk about it.

The people are starving for the truth. They’re starving to know what’s really happening. But you can’t just say a guy is choking. You have to say the guy has played fades all week long, now all of a sudden he’s hitting hooks, you know he might be choking. Or he hasn’t missed a putt inside six feet, now he’s missed three in a row. In other words, you can’t just pick it out of thin air and say the guy is choking. I would never just say it without showing you why it’s choking. It would be unfair to say a guy is choking. A guy who’s never hit a hook and he starts duck hooking it on the last five holes, he might be choking. If you’re hitting shots you’ve never seen before or it’s not you, you’re not handling the pressure. You’re folding.

I don’t know if anybody will go there again. Maybe they don’t need to. But I think it’s part of the greatness of golf how well can you handle pressure.

I was glad to see him not shy away from questioning his longevity in an era of all day broadcasts since it highlights the issue of prioritizing showing a ton of shots over storytelling or drama.

I’d rather be going nowhere fast than somewhere slow. I like to be going fast, so for me to be on the air for the Ryder Cup for 11-12 hours straight was like – that was so not me, I can’t tell you. That’s where golf is going. It’s getting where the hours that they’re demanding to cover and all the coverage, I got out at the right time because that’s just – if they said, come on in and do the last four hours, that would be fine, but I don’t have the patience to – golf has gotten almost crazy compared to what I knew.

When I first started announcing, two-hour coverage was normal. At the Masters, they just used to do the back nine on Sunday, right? Or did they do it on Saturday, too? I guess they did. Yeah, it’s changed so much. But you know, I think it’s good. It’s just not good for me. I probably wouldn’t have lasted 29 years if I had to do that kind of schedule and not only just Saturday and Sunday, but now sometimes you’ve got Thursday and Friday of the events.

Whan Expands On USGA's Role In Distance Debate, Provides Timeline Update

New USGA CEO Mike Whan continued his busy interview schedule, this time, appearing on the Fried Egg podcast with Andy Johnson to talk distance.

This is not going to please those who feel restoring lost skill or design dynamics is needed:

“I think we’re going to establish some guidelines. I think those guidelines are probably going to slow some of the pace of progress over the next 10 or 20 years.

But are [equipment manufacturers] going to figure ways around that to continue to push the envelope? I’m actually counting on it because I think that’s what makes the game exciting. I also think that I have a responsibility to make sure that, when you look at [this issue] over the next 50 years, the decisions we made to control some of that pace didn’t obsolete every course in the country.”

As previous generations of the USGA leadership have felt but ultimately were unable to back-up with action.

Regarding timing:

”I think at this time next year, next summer, we’ll be talking about some real specific suggestions, recommendations, and be going through the same process [of taking feedback]. In the beginning, we put out the distance results. We then talked about some of the areas we want to look at. We’ve listened to feedback. I think, come this off-season, we’ll take all that feedback in and try to determine some specific directions. And then we’ll do the same thing. We’ll put it out there and let people [give] feedback.”

The suspense is not killing us.

He’s taken an interesting tact on where courses are built going forward, which I think would have been practical for his predecessors some time ago to acknowledge. Today? I’m not sure enough are going to be built for this to matter, but the sentiment is appreciated:

“More importantly, do you think there’ll ever be an urban golf course built again if it needs 8,600 yards to build the golf course? People say to me, “Well, you don’t need 86 [hundred] unless you’re building a golf course for the top elite.” But I’ve never met somebody who’s got a plan to build a golf course who doesn’t want to have a course that can host major championships. I just don’t think we want to make this game only a suburban game, only a game for the wealthy.”

Whan also spoke of finding a place in the equipment rules that have engineers working hard to circumvent the rules in the spirit of innovation and “energy”. Kind of like they’ve been doing for the last thirty years.

“But I think my job is to make sure that there’s as much energy about the future of this game three years from now as there is today, and 20 years from now as there is today. I want engineers to wake up every morning and say, ‘I see the rules that he put in place, but I’m going to spend a lot of hours today working on how to get excitement even within that space.’ I can’t throw a wet blanket over that or I’ll lose one of the things that makes this game truly exciting and great. If I see a package under the Christmas tree that looks like a golf club, I’m just like anybody else: I get pretty excited about ripping it open because maybe there’s two strokes of handicap in that box. And I don’t want to lose that excitement.”

Shop to drop (your handicap)!

Of course, that’s been the approach of the last few decades and average handicaps have not dropped substantially but costs have gone up. And until the pandemic, the number of people playing has steadily dropped under this approach. One born out of feeding the desires of public-traded companies, not necessarily the majority of golfers.

You can listen to the full pod here:

"Patrick Cantlay won $15 million using golf equipment that is up to seven years old"

Once the Ryder Cup is behind us all signs point to the distance discussion heating up and Golfweek’s David Dusek added some fun grist with this story on Patrick Cantlay’s bag.

It seems the FedExCup winner is playing old stuff which is the endorsement industry equivalent of stepping on the first tee with dirty toilet paper stuck to your shoe.

In most other worlds it would be a compliment that something made not that long ago was still so functional it delivered a $15 million payday for its user. Heck, most timeless brands take pride in the timelessness of the product.

But this it a planned obsolescence business driven by appeasing perceived Wall Street demands and the whole permanence thing is bad for business. Always something to remember as the whining begins this fall about stifled innovation , the end of growing the game, infringing on the rights of athletes, blah blah blah…

It’s quite a sob story until you realize someone played great golf with what most manufacturers consider antiquated equipment.

Yet if they were offered some bifurcation to free up the opportunity to innovate? They won’t like that either.

Barbara Nicklaus Cup To Feature Mixed College Team Event

While golf’s CEO types greenlight ad campaigns to show they care about the women’s game, some in the sport are actually delivering what folks might find “worth watching” on occasion: a mixed competition.

While the European Tour pushes individual formats of interest, college golf’s Barbara Nicklaus Cup provides another intriguing blueprint for something like the Olympics or perhaps an event not yet created.

From Dave Shedloski’s report on Ohio State coach Therese Hession’s effort to create the event and its format:

Each school will field six players from each men’s and women’s team to compete in four mixed foursomes and four singles matches in head-to-head contests against each of the other three schools. Each match counts for one point with a maximum of eight points per contest. The school with the most points after the three separate rounds will be the winner.

Members of the winning school will receive Muirfield Village Golf Club pin flags signed by both Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, said Hession, who hopes that a trophy might be created for the occasion in the next few years.

And two days at Muirfield Village should make for some fascinating match play.

Quadrilateral: All Ryder Cup News, Notes And Latest Drama Report

This week’s free-to-all News And Notes hit the dreaded max-email length, but I got in all the fun stuff from today’s NBC conference call where Paul Azinger suggested Brooks Koepka should relinquish his spot if not 100% in.

Koepka responded, says he’s ago and Bryson has made a mess of his hands prepping for the upcoming Long Drive.

All of that plus TV notes and schedules, Golf Channel’s 2008 Ryder Cup doc and notes about cheap tickets and good eats in Sheboygan. It’s a doozy of a Quadrilateral so sign up or upgrade to paid so you don’t miss next week’s daily coverage of the Ryder Cup. And if you’re new to the whole newsletter thing, here is the Quad’s homepage.

State Of The Game 115: Ryder Cup Preview With Andrew Coltart

Andrew Coltart’s a six-time European Tour winner, former Ryder Cupper, current Sky Sports commentator and proud Scotsman. He joined Rod Morri, Mike Clayton and yours truly to discuss all things Ryder Cup and a little Solheim Cup as well. I think you’ll really enjoy this one, especially some of Coltart’s insights into this year’s team.

You can give Andrew a Twitter follow here. He will be in Wisconsin next week covering the event for Sky Sports.

Links to your favorite podcast app landing pages for SOTG are here, or you can listen via this embed:

Steph Curry To Join Golf Channel's "Live From" As Part Of New High 8-Figure NBC Deal

Variety’s Matt Donnelly reports on Steph Curry’s “sweeping, first-of-its-kind talent deal with Comcast NBCUniversal” that will feature Curry all over NBC and Universal, including next week’s Ryder Cup.

The “high eight-figure” agreement includes Curry’s Unanimous Media and covers all of the conglomerate’s various businesses.

It’s an impressive, if not urgent, move from Comcast NBCU, led by Brian Roberts and Jeff Shell, to secure talent with mass appeal in a landscape littered with blank checks from the streamers. NBCU has always touted its vertical integration program “Symphony,” but the Curry deal looks and feels like an aggressive play to realize the full power of its portfolio.

First up for Curry on the sports side is joining NBC Sports’ Golf Channel for coverage of the ultimate team golf event, the Ryder Cup. He will create original content for the channel’s acclaimed “Live From the Ryder Cup” coverage and GolfPass, which will be featured internationally on Sky Sports.

In the New York Post story there was this B-speak gem:

Aside from the Unanimous deal, Comcast NBCUniversal said its been developing a “symphonic cross-portfolio approach” of entertainment content deals with talent like Meghan Trainor and Miley Cyrus, Seth MacFarlane and Justin Lin.

Cantlay Voted By Peers As Player Of The Year Despite Struggles In Majors

I reviewed the PGA Tour Player of the Year vote in the latest Quadrilateral and rounded up the Tweets puncturing the case for Patrick Cantlay deserving the award over Jon Rahm.

Nothing against Cantlay’s season, but for players to so openly ignore major success, prompted the question and attempted answer: do they put cash ahead of majors?

Anyway, for posterity and some laughs from the case for Cantlay (seven top tens when Rahm had 15 in 22 starts), here is the full Player Of The Year press release:

FedExCup Champion Patrick Cantlay voted 2021 PGA TOUR Player of the Year

California native earns Jack Nicklaus Award after four-win season 

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – The PGA TOUR announced today that FedExCup Champion Patrick Cantlay has been named the 2021 PGA TOUR Player of the Year as voted by the TOUR’s membership for the 2020-21 season. Cantlay won four times on the season including back-to-back victories in the FedExCup Playoffs. 

Cantlay, who will receive the Jack Nicklaus Award for winning PGA TOUR Player of the Year, was selected for the honor over (alphabetically) Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English, Collin Morikawa and Jon Rahm.

“On behalf of the PGA TOUR, I would like to congratulate Patrick Cantlay on being honored as the 2021 PGA TOUR Player of the Year,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “Receiving this award through a member vote reflects the respect his peers have for Patrick. His play throughout 2020-21 was phenomenal, and in stepping up to win consecutive FedExCup Playoffs events and the FedExCup, Patrick was at his best when it mattered most in our season.”

With wins at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, BMW Championship and TOUR Championship, Cantlay (4) was the only player with more than two during the 2020-21 season. The last player with four or more victories in a single season on the PGA TOUR was Justin Thomas in 2016-17.

Cantlay shot a final-round 65 to win the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP by one stroke over Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas, with his second win of the season coming via a playoff against Collin Morikawa at the Memorial Tournament. At the BMW Championship, Cantlay set the record for most Strokes Gained: Putting during the ShotLink era (14.577) en route to defeating Bryson DeChambeau in a six-hole playoff. He beat Rahm by one stroke at the TOUR Championship the following week. Every player that finished runner-up to Cantlay in his four wins either won a major championship or THE PLAYERS at another point in the season (DeChambeau, Morikawa, Rahm, Thomas).

In all, Cantlay made 24 starts and recorded seven top-10s, with top-five finishes at The American Express (2nd) and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (T3) complementing his four titles. He was the only player to finish in the top 30 in the four major Strokes Gained categories (Off the Tee, Approach the Green, Around the Green, Putting).

Cantlay joined the PGA TOUR as a member for the first time in the 2013-14 season but made just six starts over the next three seasons as he recovered from a back injury. In 2016-17, Cantlay qualified for the TOUR Championship despite making only 13 starts and finished 29th in the FedExCup standings. He won twice on the PGA TOUR before the start of this season (2017 Shriners Children’s Open, 2019 the Memorial Tournament) and has now qualified for the TOUR Championship in four of the last five seasons.

PGA TOUR members who played at least 15 official FedExCup events during the 2020-21 season were eligible to vote.

Gary Williams In Coversation With Phil Mickelson On The Ryder Cup, Course Setup, Future Golf Leagues

Longtime Golf Channel host Gary Williams has launched a new chat pod/YouTube show with a strong “get” in Phil Mickelson. The pod can be obtained through your favorite podcast app.

There’s lots of great stuff here on course setup, the Ryder Cup, his career, upstart leagues and more. I’ll dig in later on a few of Phil’s remarks but wanted to share this and wish Gary the best with his new venture!

Quadrilateral Ryder Field Trip Attendance Report And Uniforms First Look

Steve Stricker had his second small ding in as many days. First it was Billy Horschel not being on his radar and now it’s the “entire team” practice session lacking three key players.

As I note in this Quadrilateral for paying subscribers, there is a legit excuse for two but Koepka’s no-show has to be causing concern about his ability to play. Particularly given the violent nature of his wrist collision with an East Lake tree root.

I also cover the uniform unveiling for Europe on Monday and they appear both strange and embarrassingly expensive.

Video: The Average Golfer Goes To Shiskine And Machrihanish Dunes

Needing a little therapeutic viewing? To a remote Scottish locale where the ground is incredibly firm and fast?

The Average Golfer has posted two lovely trips around Shishkine and Machrihanish Dunes. Enjoy!

Quadrilateral: Harrington Picks Experience

Today’s edition looks at Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry and Ian Poulter rounding out Europe's totally worthless, wildly-undermanned, statistically hapless Ryder Cup team.

The slow build of that silly narrative is explored in this edition for all. Plus, USA is established as the betting favorite and BMW PGA winner Billy Horschel takes inspiration in Stricker's non-phone call. Not even a courtesy call Strick? Hmmm…

Quadrilateral: Major(s) News & Notes, September 10, 2021

This week’s News and Notes went out to paid subscribers only after I sent a few free ones early this week reviewing the Solheim Cup and Steve Stricker’s picks. My apologies in advance, but there is always the option to subscribe for the price of one Starbucks latte a month.

Today I look at the unreal bit of “Like” punching by the Reed Twitter account, some grand Whistling Straits preview coverage, more on 2023 Ryder Cup host Marco Simone and a note on Royal Portrush getting the 2025 Open.

2021 Tour Championship Ratings Down A Tick And Generally Stink For a $46 Million Investment

I realize that a variety of metrics are used to justify a $46 million payout and the many millions FedEx pays to sponsor the season-long chase. Still, when you look at the 2021 Tour Championship ratings and the zilch-buzz factor in the golf community last weekend, they’ve got to handle a lot of packages to justify the tab.

Amazingly the payout will go up next year. At least the ratings stand a chance of inching up a shade when they aren’t going against Alabama football, as they did this year and prompting Saturday’s meager 1.14/1.85 million viewers.

According to Showbuzzdaily.com, the 2021 final round drew a 2.30/3.97 million for part of the telecast which, for the second year in a year, was broken up in the ratings listing. Presumably the average audience size for the 1:30-6 pm window would drop below a 2 if they tallied the numbers in more traditional fashion. And I’m going to guess that a rating below 2 causes the purple and orange phone to ring in Jay Monahan’s office.

Sunday’s first ninety minutes drew a 1.36 with only U.S. Open tennis and the Solheim Cup as early sports viewing competition.

The 2020 Tour Championship finished on Labor Day Monday and drew a 2.42/4.00 million. That telecast’s ratings were also broken up into two numbers to goose the average. The early window drew a 1.51.

As for the far more satisfying Solheim Cup, Saturday’s NBC window drew a .41 and Sunday’s garnered a .59, with an average viewership of 878,000 on NBC. The four-hour Saturday afternoon coverage on Golf Channel drew a .28 and a 432,000 average viewers.

Monday’s singles spread out over a six-hour window on Golf Channel averaged 588,000 viewers.

**Paulsen at Sports Media Watch broke down both the Tour Championship and Solheim Cup ratings and noted this about the PGA Tour’s numbers:

Dating back to the start of July, 16 of 18 PGA Tour windows on broadcast television declined from the last comparable year.