Bryson On Why He Passed On The Netflix Opportunity

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Promoting the upcoming PIFSIPSIA in Saudi Arabia, Bryson DeChambeau explained why he passed on participating on the Netflix docuseries expected next year.

I thought the answer was interesting in the assertion that the deal was not “very well for my side of it,” meaning there was no money and besides having his own YouTube channel with occasional behind-the-scenes looks, this regarding his peers. From GolfChannel.com’s Ryan Lavner:

As for those players who are slated to appear (a full list can be found here), DeChambeau said, “There’s a lot of great people on there. If I was to go on there, yeah, it would be cool to see, but I feel like there’s a lot more interesting stories. You’ve got Harry Higgs. You’ve got numerous others. I don’t want to take the light away from them for their potential to grow themselves in a manner that’s unique to them. They have the opportunity to grow a lot more than I do in that regard.”

Shirtless Shark To Get The 30 For 30 Treatment

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Quad subscribers know from the latest edition that I remain mystified by the Lakers’ 33-game win streak not rising to the level of full-production, full-NBA cooperation status for a documentary. But it seems the Shirtless Shark is!

Thanks to reader JM for Ben Koo’s Awful Announcing report on producer Connor Schell and director Jason Hehir tackling at Norman “30 For 30”.

A little over two years ago, we wrote about Connor Schell leaving ESPN to start his own production company. This week, tucked away in a Variety article with updates on Schell’s production company that included news of some key hires (more on that later) and projects, was a very noteworthy nugget.

Schell and Geist will continue a relationship with ESPN and produce “30 for 30” installments. Currently the studio is at work with [director Jason] Hehir on a “30 for 30” about professional golfer Greg Norman titled “Shark.”

Hope they are ready for some last minute updates depending on how the whole LIV Golf Investments thing works out.

Fried Egg: Donald Ross's East Lake To Get New Set Of Eyes, Master Plan

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The home of the Tour Championship may be in for a refresh and restoration after architect Andrew Green has been hired to create a master plan. Sounds like two more TC’s with the current Rees Jones interpretation of Donald Ross before we see substantial improvements. Developing…

"Looking back to move forward - Britain’s restoration opportunities"

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UK Golf Guy David Jones queried a range of people, yours truly included, about restoration and what classic British courses could use some dusting off and light sprucing.

In contrast, British projects are a little less high profile. There are some exceptions, such as at Woodhall Spa, Moortown and ongoing work at The Addington, but relatively few of the really classic British courses have been touched.

Clubs may be put off by the extravagant sound of a ‘restoration’, and indeed some of the budgets in the US are truly mind-boggling. Upcoming work at Yale is said to be costing $25 million. 

Dai Thomas makes the point that a multi-million pound budget isn’t necessarily needed to make significant changes. He say, ‘What many courses need in the first instance is comprehensive tree removal and wider mowing lines. Mowing line work doesn’t really cost much if anything. Tree removal usually does cost quite a bit but once done makes a huge difference’.

Check out what the experts nominated here.

Player Commitments, Timeline And Major Buy-In For PGA Tour's Netflix Entry

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Dylan Dethier of Golf.com had the most details on Wednesday’s news surrounding golf’s Drive To Success clone green lit by Netflix.

While it’ll get the PGA Tour headlines, production has barely begun. So as I noted in The Quadrilateral, there are several surprises, including the buy-in from the Five Families. Or that so many players committed and so much information is being shared with so little “in the can”.

Dethier said the first interviews just occurred and we probably can’t expect the docuseries for a year. And there was this on editorial control:

“We do not have editorial control,” a Tour spokesperson said. “We will be involved to the extent that Netflix and the producers have the access they need to film at our events. We want them to make a great show, and we all agree the documentary needs to be as authentic as possible.”

The enthusiasm of Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has been crucial in getting to this point. People familiar with the process were impressed with his open-mindedness and that he became a crucial voice in bringing the project to market.

“Everything that I’ve experienced so far is that the Tour is fully invested in making the realest possible reality,” said one source close to negotiations.

Open-mindedness=ok with F bombs as long as they’re on Netflix.

Again, it’s a long ways off…

While both Netflix and the Tour declined to comment on an official release date, filming will continue through the end of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, wrapping with the Tour Championship at the end of August. Following the model of Drive to Survive, the show’s first episodes will likely be released as hype builds for the following Tour season in early 2023. In other words, golf fans may not see any of this footage for another year. They’ll hope the show is worth waiting for.

Players committed to the project as Tweeted by the Tour:

Quadrilateral: Munis Near Majors Under Threat, News And Notes January 13, 2022

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Author Resurrects Golf Legend's Life And Mysterious Death

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Over at LPGA.com Sarah Kellam has filed a sensational read on The Murder of Marion Miley and author Beverly Bell. The story is true but Bell has fictionalized dialogue to bring this unbelievable story to life for a modern audience.

“I tried to write it non-fiction. I had gotten like a hundred pages in and it was the most boring thing that you've ever read,” Bell said. “I finally decided I had to have dialogue. The flexibility of using fiction and dialogue (made it) a lot easier. I don't know if you can say writing a book in three-and-a-half years is easy, but that's what I had to do because I had a full-time job and I was writing from about 4:30 to 6:30 every morning.

Miley was one of America’s great female amateurs who was murdered at Lexington Country Club in a sadistic plot.

You can check out the book here at Amazon.

Lowry On Playing The Crown Prince Classic: "I earn a living for myself and my family...I need to go there."

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Shane Lowry, answering questions from journalists to promote the Saudi International, offered this rationale for taking Saudi Arabia’s money in the upcoming PIFSIPSIA that also looks like a precursor event to a league tour:

"Look, obviously there's no hiding from the people writing about this tournament or what they're saying about us going to play, but at the end of the day for me, I'm not a politician, I'm a professional golfer," Lowry told a virtual media session.

"I earn a living for myself and my family and try and take care of those, and this is just a part of that, and I need to go there."

R.I.P. Tim Rosaforte

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Tim Rosaforte hard at work during the Association of Golf Writers dinner, St Andrews 2015 (Geoff Shackelford)

The longtime reporter has passed after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 66. Far too young but his needless suffering is over.

I wrote about Rosie here upon his retirement and stand by all of it and then some. We got off to a rough start but became friends and he was a super mentor to younger golf writers. And then, as a Golf Channel contributor where he was always humbly asking how he did or what he could do to get better. That humility on top of his work ethic made him one of a kind in our business.

Craig Dolch, his good friend and long time colleague, filed this wonderful remembrance of Rosie.

A few photos from my collection that I love. Especially the top one from the 2015 Association of Golf Writers dinner where Rosie was working late! (A wider version is below.)

Jaime Diaz remembers his longtime Golf World and Golf Channel colleague in this piece. I’ll post more as they come.

When I last saw Tim, in September in Florida, his short-term memory had faded, but he needed only a little prompting to remember people and places and moments from the past. Still easy company. He even chuckled a few times at a name or an old punch line. “We had a good time,” he said. “I hope I have more.” When he saw I was having trouble answering, the old empathetic interviewer returned, and he didn’t’ press. “You know,” he said, “it’s OK.”

A roundup of remembrances from the team at GolfDigest.com, where Rosaforte was a fixture in the now-shuttered Golf World.

Some images I found in my collection featuring Tim through the years:

Watson To Join Nicklaus And Player As An Honorary Starter

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The next logical starter based on his history with the Masters has been invited by Chairman Fred Ridley to participate starting in 2022. The full statement from Augusta National Golf Club:

Fred Ridley, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament, announced today that two-time Masters champion Tom Watson will join Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player as an Honorary Starter beginning Thursday, April 7, 2022, at the 86th Masters Tournament.

“I am honored that Tom has accepted our invitation,” said Ridley. “I look forward to commemorating his love for the game and impact on the Masters with his millions of fans across the globe as he hits a tee shot alongside two of the Tournament’s other all-time greats, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.”

Watson won the 1977 and 1981 Masters Tournaments and finished runner-up three times in his 15 top-10 showings at Augusta National. He is one of 17 players to win multiple Masters Tournaments, and his 72.74 scoring average ranks fifth in Tournament history.

After competing in the Masters as an amateur in 1970, Watson made 42 consecutive starts from 1975-2016, the fifth-longest streak in Tournament history. His 58 subpar rounds are second all-time behind Nicklaus (71), and he holds the record for most consecutive years with at least one subpar round (21, 1975-1995).

“Augusta National in April is one of my favorite places to be,” Watson said. “With the many fond memories of both watching the Masters as a youngster and then competing in the Tournament for so many years, I am greatly honored to join my friends and fellow competitors, Jack and Gary, as an Honorary Starter in this upcoming Masters. In both of my victories, Jack was on my heels. And when Gary won his third Tournament in 1978, I was there to help him put on the Green Jacket. Moments like those stand out in my career, and the opportunity to share the Honorary Starter tradition with Jack, Gary and the Masters patrons will be very special.”

The tradition of Honorary Starters at the Masters began in 1963 with Jock Hutchison (1963-1973) and Fred McLeod (1963-1976) performing the duties. Other Honorary Starters include Byron Nelson (1981-2001, non-consecutive), Gene Sarazen (1981-1999), Ken Venturi (1983), Sam Snead (1984-2002), Arnold Palmer (2007-2016), Nicklaus (2010-present), Player (2012-present) and Lee Elder (2021). The introduction of the Honorary Starters and ceremonial tee shots historically precede the first tee time of the Tournament’s first competitive round, signaling the official beginning of Masters competition. The 86th Masters Tournament is scheduled for April 4-10, 2022.

Californians: Help Oppose AB 672

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A bizarre California assembly bill that briefly appeared and never went away apparently needs to public input immediately.

If you’re a Californian, the SCGA makes it quite easy to write to your state assembly member in advance of a January 12th hearing. Here is the synopsis from the SCGA and where you can easily contact your representatives:

AB 672 (Public Golf Endangerment Act) would require California’s Department of Housing & Community Development “to administer a program to provide incentives in the form of grants to local agencies that enter into a development agreement to convert a golf course owned by the local agency into housing and publicly accessible open space; space used as a golf course shall not be considered open space." That’s 22% of the state’s golf stock that hosts upwards of 45% of the state’s golf play and roughly 90% of the game’s growth and diversity programs. It singles golf and only golf out for dismemberment; no other park, open space or land preservation use is similarly jeopardized, guaranteeing that golf and only golf will be sacrificed up for redevelopment. Your opinion is the one that counts most with the legislators who will determine whether golf will be sacrificed up or treated the same as every other park and recreation activity in California. Let them know what you think; act today!

Here is the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance’s take:

A radical anti-golf attack in the guise of an “affordable housing” bill, California Assembly Bill 672, will be considered in January 2022 by two committees of the State Assembly – the Housing & Community Development and Local Government committees. The proposed law would appropriate $50 Million from the State General Fund as a bounty to entice cities to replace existing municipal golf courses in “densely populated areas” with high-density “affordable housing” developments. This appears intended as just the first step towards dismemberment of the State’s great network of municipal golf courses.

Five Clubs Pod With Jack Nicklaus Discussing Governing Bodies On Distance: “I don’t really know what they’re doing”

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Gary Williams discusses the past, present, and future of the game with 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus as his 82nd birthday nears.

As most know, Nicklaus has been on top of this topic for around fifty years and some of his comments in the podcast suggest he’s exasperated at the state of affair, especially with the upcoming 20th anniversary of the “joint statement of principles” on distance. He also discusses the water issue and the disparity now between the professional and amateur thanks to equipment best suited for high swing speeds.

Nicklaus tells Williams the USGA said they were going to get the issue addressed two years ago, then COVID paused the process and again more recently, “nothing happened.” He concluded, “I don’t really know what they’re doing” and ultimately asked, “How long is going to take them to 'research’ the issue?”

We do know the current comment period ends this May, with a likely hint of some plans to do something. So in that sense there is some optimism a stand will be taken, though far too late.

The distance talk starts around the 15:00 mark:

R.I.P. Bob Shearer

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Tony Webeck with a remembrance of the former Australian Open champion Bob Shearer, who passed away at age 73 Saturday.

Born and raised in Melbourne, Shearer shot to prominence by winning the 1969 Australian Amateur and then joined the professional ranks the following year. 

In his playing career that stretched across four decades, Shearer amassed 27 professional wins including the 1983 Australian PGA Championship at Royal Melbourne Golf Club and the 1982 Australian Open at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney, defeating Americans Jack Nicklaus and Payne Stewart by four strokes. 

Shearer won twice on the European Tour in the 1975 season (Madrid Open and Piccadilly Medal) and in 1982 won the Tallahassee Open on the PGA Tour and lost in a playoff to Ed Sneed at the Houston Open that same year. 

And his friend Mike Clayton filed a wonderful collection of memories about Bob’s life. A teaser:

Bob won his PGA around the East Course at Royal Melbourne, but it was a brilliant seven-shot win in the 1974 Chrysler Classic over the Composite Course which marked him as a man who played Royal Melbourne as well as anyone.  Royal Melbourne greenkeeper Claude Crockford had the greens so difficult the third-place man, Lee Trevino, famously told the locals they had better get a picture of him going out the gate, “because you won’t ever see me coming back in”.

If you have twenty minutes this YouTube posting of Shearer’s Australian PGA win starts with the club’s pre-tournament fire before hosting Shearer’s upset win over Nicklaus.

Sentry TOC: Three Players Break 19-Year Old Scoring Record In One Week

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Even though the course was lengthened not long ago and it’s the first event of the calendar year, a pretty significant was broken at Kapalua. But three players. In one week. After 19 years.

Just filing it for the next time we have to hear how scoring isn’t changed so don’t you dare take away my right to buy a longer, straighter $600 driver made of carbonwood!

The final round highlights of Cameron Smith’s impressive 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions victory where the 28-year-old earned his fourth Tour win in 157 starts and moves to 10th in the world.