Quadrilateral: Major(s) News & Notes, April 21, 2022
/
Whew, busy week. Part catch-up after the Masters and plenty of other fresh stuff too.
The PGA Club Pro has sent 20 to Tulsa and I have their names!
When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Rebound! Mission Hills' Dinah Shore Course Is (Already) Back With A 2023 Tournament
/The LPGA and Chevron are reportedly eyeing something called The Clubs at Houston Oaks for the Dinah Shore/Chevron (From Beth Ann Nichols in Golfweek). But Mission Hills is already on the rebound with plans to host a Champions Tour event in 2023.
The PGA Tour Champions announced a partnership with healthcare company Grail to sponsor The Galleri Classic, named after Grail’s multi-cancer early detection test. The tournament will be March 24-26 on the Dinah Shore Tournament course at Mission Hills, which had hosted the LPGA Tour for 51 years. That PGA Tour Champions was last in the Coachella Valley in 1993, when Raymond Floyd won the final edition of the Gulfstream Aerospace Invitational at Indian Wells.
Wahlberg's Home Listed For $87.5 Million With "Five-Hole Golf Course"
/
It’s more like an elaborate practice area made of artificial turf, but it’s nonetheless worth a look if you’re in th market.
Jack Fleming of the L.A. Times with the details.
Wahlberg, who’s starring in the biographical drama “Father Stu,” bought the property for $8.25 million in 2009 and commissioned mega-mansion architect Richard Landry to build the home. Landry finished it five years later, fitting 12 bedrooms, 20 bathrooms and a myriad of lavish living spaces into the two-story floor plan.
Terraces line the second story, overlooking a park-like backyard with gardens, lawns, a grotto-style swimming pool, skate park and five-hole golf course with sand traps. Wahlberg, a Massachusetts native, also added a basketball court emblazoned with the Boston Celtics logo.
I’d say it’s a far cry from the great backyard golf courses of Hollywood elites, with Harold Lloyd, Jack Warner and maybe Bob Hope all able to make the case for the best.
Quadrilateral: Q&A With Bob Harig, Author Of Tiger & Phil
/
In this Tuesday Quadrilateral for all to enjoy, I review and chat with Bob Harig, author of Tiger & Phil.
Also, there is a preview of the Greg Norman 30 For 30 debuting Tuesday night on ESPN at 8:30 p.m. ET.
You can purchase Harig’s book here at Amazon or here at Bookshop.org to benefit independent sellers.
The Match Is Back Minus Its Founders
/
The sixth version of The Match is back featuring four of the NFL’s very best but minus Phil Mickelson or Fivesport as tournament partners.
Mickelson played the first four editions then served as a broadcaster in 2021. Fivesport was a co-partner in the event with Excel.
For Immediate Release:
Turner Sports Assembles Iconic NFL Foursome for Capital One’s The Match – Tom Brady & Aaron Rodgers vs. Patrick Mahomes & Josh Allen – Held at Wynn Las Vegas on Wednesday, June 1
TNT to Televise Premier Live Golf Event Featuring Four of Past Five NFL MVPs with Coverage Beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET
Top-Ranked Wynn Las Vegas to Serve as Host of the 12-Hole Challenge for Second Time
Turner Sports’ next installment of Capital One’s The Match, the Sports Emmy-nominated premier live golf event series, will feature a foursome of legendary NFL quarterbacks – Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers teaming up to face Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen – with four of the past five NFL MVPs taking the course together for the first time. TNT will exclusively televise the epic 12-hole event, to be held Wednesday, June 1, with coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET, from Wynn Las Vegas, the only golf course on the Las Vegas strip.
The competition will feature both previous Capital One’s The Match participants paired together – seven-time Super Bowl Champion and three-time NFL MVP Brady teamed with four-time NFL MVP and Super Bowl XLV MVP Rodgers. Rodgers is coming off a win last summer alongside Bryson DeChambeau, while Brady seeks to get redemption in his third appearance in Capital One’s The Match.
A pair of young superstars will be making their debut in the premier golf series: Super Bowl LIV MVP and 2018 NFL MVP Mahomes will be joined by fellow AFC signal caller and 2020 Pro Bowler Allen. Together the four elite gridiron stars have amassed an astounding 30 Pro Bowl, 86 NFL Playoff appearances and nine Super Bowl titles.
Live coverage of the match play event from the Wynn Las Vegas golf course will once again feature unprecedented access with players having open mics throughout the entire competition, including the capability to communicate directly with their competitors and the broadcast commentators. More information on the live production, including the commentator team, and additional details will be shared leading up to the event.
Capital One’s The Match at Wynn Las Vegas will be held at the Wynn Golf Club, which also hosted Brooks Koepka’s 5-and-3 win over DeChambeau in Capital One’s The Match last November. Wynn Golf Club is a 6,722-yard, par-70 championship length golf course and is considered one of the best courses in Las Vegas. Located on the site of the legendary Desert Inn Golf Club, the golf course, designed by Tom Fazio and recently updated by his son, Logan, offers elevation changes and uncharacteristic water hazards on 12 of the Las Vegas course’s 18 picturesque holes. The golf amenities at Wynn Las Vegas, a Forbes Travel Guide five-star luxury hotel, are regarded as second to none.
Turner Sports has televised five editions of Capital One’s The Match, with the series serving as a platform to support various philanthropical organizations. To date, Capital One’s The Match has raised nearly $33 million for various organizations and has donated nearly 17 million meals to Feeding America.
A partner since the event’s inception, Capital One will return as title sponsor of Capital One’s The Match. Further details about social, digital and broadcast brand integrations throughout the event will be shared in the coming weeks.
Partners also include Excel Sports Management as the tournament organizer, along with 199 Productions, Tom Brady’s global multi-platform content and production company.
Spieth Wins No. 13 At Harbour Town With Little Help From His Putting
/
Set aside all of the Easter and fatherhood swooning—oh it was flowing—the real standout component of Jordan Spieth’s 13th PGA Tour win came on the greens. He was not good. All-time bad in the strokes gained era.
“I won this golf tournament without a putter,” he confirmed after beating Patrick Cantlay on the first hole of sudden death to win the 2022 RBC Heritage Classic.
That he could capture his 13th win over a strong field with a balky putter makes this one of his most impressive career wins. Consider:
Spieth ended Saturday’s round with a short miss estimated at 18 inches. He then overcame this bizarre lie after driving the 9th green, blasting his next into the hospitality tent area and almost salvaging par.
Rules: Two Wacky Situations At Harbour Town
/Neither of these instances are particularly relatable to the average golfer. Nonetheless they’re unusual ones and if you had money on these players.
Nick Piastowski documents the bizarre scene involving Harold Varner in the 2022 RBC Heritage Classic second round. Varner contends that his ball was moved by a resident who picked up his ball from the original position to identify it and placed it out of bounds. The person denied this and the official agreed with the off-course spectator, though announcers on PGA Tour Live thought the man’s movements were questionable at the time.
“Without a doubt,” Varner said. “The biggest thing for me that I could sleep on is that there was out of bounds right of the creek, and the TV said it’s in the creek. There’s a golf ball right there. I’m not going to be naive and be like my ball couldn’t go there. So I did the right thing, and I said, hey, can you see if that’s my ball? At the time, we couldn’t find a bridge to get across the creek.
“It’s great. I won’t stop talking about it until I talk to Coxy. At some point, the players should have — if I wouldn’t have been there and didn’t see the guy move the ball, I don’t — cool, I’ll go back to the tee. But I’m looking there, and I’m like that’s not right. The rules are there to protect the players, I thought.”
When reached for comment by GOLF.com, a PGA Tour spokesman said, “Stephen is not going to comment on it until he has a chance to talk to Harold about it.”
If the fan had moved the ball from its original position, Varner would have been allowed to move it back to its original location, under under Rule 9.6, which states: “If it is known or virtually certain that an outside influence (including another player in stroke play or another ball) lifted or moved a player’s ball: There is no penalty, and the ball must be replaced on its original spot (which if not known must be estimated) (see Rule 14.2).”
Instead, Varner was hit with a penalty, and he double-bogeyed the hole.
Varner went on to miss a sudden death playoff by a stroke.
Dylan Frittelli was able to find his ball in Spanish moss and play it, but stood astride of his ball as an official appeared to be watching.
The PGA Tour announced a penalty on Twitter.
Frittelli took to Twitter after his round to declare “the rules of golf remain undefeated.”
Quadrilateral: Just A Little More Masters
/
An Easter Sunday edition of the Quad touches on a few leftover topics.
Morning Consult Poll On Sports And Fandom
/Ahead of the 2022 World Cup, Morning Consult wanted to see how soccer ranks against the other major American sports and found it’s still a sport of the future.
Nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults identify as soccer fans. Golf managed to log nearly identical numbers, with 7% polled identifying as avid fans and 23% as casual fans (to soccer’s 25%).
The list:
R.I.P. Jack Newton
/
The Australian golfing great died at aged 72 due to health complications.
Adrian Proszenko and Sam Phillips filed the Sydney Morning Herald’s tribute.
Newton’s Australian Open victory was one of three triumphs on the Australian tour – he also won once on the PGA Tour and was a three-time winner on the European Tour. Having turned professional in 1971 and won the Dutch Open the following year, the Cessnock-born Newton’s stellar career went on to include runner-up finishes at the British Open in 1975 and the US Masters in 1980.
“I always felt that if I came into a major with some good form, then I could be dangerous,” Newton said of his career. “That’s the way I played golf. Once I got my tail up I wasn’t afraid of anybody.”
Newton’s playoff loss to Tom Watson in the 1975 British Open at Carnoustie was particularly unlucky. In the third round, he had set a course record of 65, despite having injured an ankle so severely on the practice tee prior to the start of the championship that pain-killing injections were required just to get on the course.
In the final round, Newton was the leader during the back-nine but dropped shots in three of the last four hole. Meanwhile, a wire fence kept Watson’s ball in bounds on the eighth hole and the American miraculously chipped for eagle at the 14th to ultimately claim the Claret Jug by one shot over Newton.
After a near death experience in 1983, Newton stayed in touch with the game via television commentating, writing, golf course design and his Jack Newton Junior Golf Foundation.
Andrew Reid with that part of his life and the tributes from around the world.
The event has raised more than $3 million for charity over the years, while the Jack Newton Junior Golf Foundation has raked in upwards of $20 million for the development of the country's brightest young golfers since its establishment in 1986.
"Jack and I never started the Jack Newton Junior Golf with the mindset of generating such a significant amount towards golf," Jackie Newton said at the time.
"Jack simply loved the game of golf and we wanted to help children. To be in a position today, where we're now talking about these types of figures is truly incredible.
"We would both agree that this is arguably Jack's single biggest achievement in golf because it has impacted so many children and families over 35 years."
John Huggan interviewed Newton in 2008 for this My Shot item.
The R&A’s flashback film on Newton’s closest brush with an Open Championship win.
Task Force Shuffling: Davis Love Admits Order Of Succession "Kind Of Messed Up Right Now"
/Phil Mickelson’s presumed 2025 Ryder Cup captaincy appears to be in jeopardy, after Task Force founding member and driving force Davis Love admitted there may be a gap to fill. Since there are only so many Cup events and so many approved captaincy candidates, the math is easy on this one.
Introducing Fred Couples and Zach Johnson as chief cart drivers for this September’s Presidents Cup, Love was asked why Freddie has never been a captain.
Ryan Lavner reports for GolfChannel.com:
“Fred’s good in the locker room, in a practice round, as a captain – I thought he would have been a great Ryder Cup captain,” Love said. “He could still be Ryder Cup captain.
“We may have to fill a gap somewhere now. Our order is kind of messed up right now. So maybe Fred would be a great home game [captain] in New York.”
Maybe? Yes sir!
That’s as close as we’ll get to a sign from the internal rumblings of the force—a.k.a. their text chain—that Mickelson is out and Freddie may just be in.
Norman Calls Mickelson Reveal Part Of A Conspiracy, Saudi League Targeting Amateurs Using NIL Rules
/Just another week in the messy disruption effort by the Living Brand.
According to The Telegraph’s James Corrigan, four players of note have committed to the first LIV Golf event in London, including a "two-time major winner” that’s “in talks” with the group. Details have not been confirmed but Corrigan says the names are thought to “include Bubba Watson, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Kevin Na."
Soon after, Watson randomly shared his schedule this week on Twitter for those looking to make summer plans. It did not include any Saudi events, suggesting Watson was refuting the story.
Corrigan quotes Norman as saying the Saudi-backed “League” is going forward with full purses no matter who shows up and hopes this creates a domino effect where top players see guys they can beat winning silly money. Interesting strategy!
Corrigan also quotes sources saying the Saudis and the charming Crown Prince are "willing to up the ante if needs be and lose” $3 billion over three years.
Since they gave Jared Kushner $2 billion to play with, I think we can believe them!
And most amazing of all, Norman suggested that the release of controversial comments by Phil Mickelson was "part of a conspiracy to derail the venture.” The Shark may have forgotten that Mickelson gave a disastrous interview in Saudi Arabia to John Huggan first, making the release of Alan Shipnuck’s book excerpt mere validation that Mickelson’s rhetoric had jumped to a new level of dark and deranged.
Mickelson has also not refuted the accuracy of either interview.
Norman said the group is looking at using the Name, Image, Likeness opening to pursue amateur golfers.
Norman, in an interview with SI.com/Morning Read, said for those who do not want to turn pro or have college eligibility, LIV Golf is working on Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals that are now prevalent in college sports.
“I’ve always said from the outset I want to grow the game of golf the best way we possibly can for all levels,’’ said Norman, who is the commissioner of the LIV Golf Invitational Series and CEO of LIV Golf Investments. “I’ve been consistent with this. At the Shark Shootout (his team event in Naples, Florida), for 33 years I’ve tried to always invite a rookie, a younger player — Rickie Fowler, Matthew Wolff.
“It was to reach out to some kid to give him a chance to start experiencing something new. And we have every intention of doing that with this as well. Give them a pathway. Some of these guys are set to turn pro anyway, and this is an opportunity for them to experience something new.’’
Give them a chance to experience something new. Growing the game!
The revised amateur status rules do no appear to address such an endorsement deal to provide an advance. It’s both a clever move and utterly creepy since it could have leagues and tours pursuing deals with college golfers and even high schoolers.
Hypnotic: The Full Drone Tour Up Magnolia Lane And Through The Augusta National Clubhouse
/
Inspired by several of the recent incredible drone tours through buildings, I still can’t fathom how they did this given how intimate the clubhouse is.
Snippets of this were used on the broadcast this year, but seeing the full shot set to past comments really is special stuff. Not teeing off with a giant red bat and putting with a pool cue, but still pretty cool!
"Presidents Cup makes long-term commitment to Melbourne; set to return in 2028 and 2040"
/
Two more editions to come. Will it be Royal Melbourne or will another venue get the opportunity?
Presidents Cup makes long-term commitment to Melbourne; set to return in 2028 and 2040
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA, USA, and MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – The PGA TOUR today announced a long-term commitment to staging the Presidents Cup in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, with the biennial global team competition set to return to the iconic Sandbelt in 2028 and 2040. The 2028 Presidents Cup will mark the event’s fourth visit to Melbourne, matching Gainesville (Virginia, USA) for most Cups contested in one city.
The venue for the 2028 Presidents Cup will be announced at a later date. The Presidents Cup was staged at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in its three previous trips to Melbourne (1998, 2011, 2019), with the International Team defeating the U.S. Team in 1998 under the leadership of the late Peter Thomson, while the U.S. Team claimed the Cup in 2011 and 2019.
“Since the Presidents Cup was first staged in Melbourne in 1998, Australia and its passionate fanbase have played a leading role in the growth of the Presidents Cup,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “As the event continues to visit new corners of the globe, we remain committed to a presence in Melbourne and the Sandbelt region, a place our players and fans around the world hold in high regard. Our partnership with State of Victoria and Visit Victoria has been a winning combination, and we’re thrilled with the support we’ve received from Premier Andrews in securing the 2028 and 2040 dates.”
Australia was the Presidents Cup’s first international destination, and has since visited South Africa (2003), Canada (2007) and Korea (2015) in addition to twice returning to Australia.
“Securing two more Presidents Cups is a real coup for Melbourne, promoting our city to the world and providing a boost for tourism and jobs,” said Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Martin Pakula.
The Presidents Cup was last played in 2019 at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club, which saw the U.S. Team mount a thrilling comeback on the final day to claim victory over a renewed International Team in Australia. The Presidents Cup will return in 2022 at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 20-25, following a one-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re delighted that the Presidents Cup will be back in 2028 and 2040, cementing Melbourne’s position as a global events destination and the major events capital of Australia,” said Visit Victoria CEO Brendan McClements.
