Quadrilateral: Major(s) News & Notes: October 7, 2021

The weekly free edition features the latest USGA tax filing revealing a nest egg is up to $755,000,000 thanks to a check from FOX.

Plus, more 990 analysis, a few Ryder Cup reads, and Augusta National is green again. So come for the tax form analysis and stay for the pretty pictures!

Quadrilateral: The 2021 U.S. Open Ratings Have A Story To Tell

No news and notes this week, sorry. I got going on this year’s ratings and decided it was a nice chance to revisit the Glen Nager projections.

But this one went to all followers of the Quad so sign up and you would have had this in the inbox to enjoy reliving the 2013 delusions of grandeur.

On that note, I went looking for one of the late, great Frank Hannigan’s letters about the Fox deal. It’s still a gem.

U.S. Open(s): Probably Can Have Only As Many Spectators As They Can Park On-Site

Tod Leonard gets an update from USGA CEO Mike Davis, who is working on the fluid situation of how many fans can attend the U.S. Open.

As California reopens and has seen a big decline in COVID cases, June 15th has been circled as the goal for full reopening of the state hosting the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open. And as feared, it’s not the tournament site that’s of concern.

It’s the long shuttle rides for the venues that pose safety concerns.

“What we do know, and I think this is pretty much final, is that both in San Francisco and San Diego, we’re just not going to be able to shuttle people from distances,” Davis told Golf Digest. “It’s hard for us, because how do we even plan?”

Both venues are 36-hole facilities but with little parking space within walking distance and need to preserve the “other” 18’s for possible tournament infrastructure.

This year at Torrey, Davis said that optimistically the number for the total people on the grounds, including players, USGA officials and guests, media, corporate sponsors and a small handful of general admission fans would be no more than 10,000. He mentioned possible figures of 4,000 and 8,000, too. With those numbers in mind, the USGA has sent letters to various volunteer groups, such as hole marshals, that their services will not be needed. The idea is to reduce the number to the fewest possible critical jobs.

"Bryson DeChambeau’s outsized impact in 2020 extended far beyond just his own game"

While he’ll probably lose out in the writers’ season-ending Player of the Year voting, 2020 in golf will forever be remembered as the year Bryson DeChambeau played a very different game en route to winning the U.S. Open.

Alan Shipnuck offered this in his year-end review of DeChambeau transformation and launch angle golf approach.

It’s hard to overstate the impressiveness of DeChambeau’s transformation; it was as if Tom Brady gained 40 pounds, made himself a fullback and then rushed for seven touchdowns to lead his team to victory. But could DeChambeau’s bruising new style prevail at any of golf’s Super Bowls, with their more penal setups? A strong run at the PGA Championship offered a clue, and then at the U.S. Open, in September, he overwhelmed one of the game’s brawniest courses, Winged Foot. The revolution was complete.

“It’s honestly hard to process what Bryson accomplished,” says Andy North, who won two U.S. Opens the old-fashioned way. “In so many ways it’s like he’s playing an entirely different game.”

Check out the rest of the piece here.

DeChambeau’s ultimate legacy may be the corner he put governing bodies in with 2020’s transformation. Any equipment rule changes potentially formulated pre-pandemic could look like they were targeting him if they attempt to impact launch conditions.

This is an optimistic take clearly since we’re more than 18 years since the Joint Statement of Principles and nothing has been done to protect the concerns spelled out back then during Bomb and Gouge, the prequel.

The Modest Beginnings Of Golf's 2020 Major Champions

NEVER give up on your dreams. From Carolinas Junior Boys' Champion to @TheMasters record-setter. The Carolinas couldn't be prouder of @DJohnsonPGA's accomplishments in this great game. #MondayMotivation at #TheMasters pic.twitter.com/xZ8mz49SmK

— Carolinas Golf Assoc (@CGAgolf1909) November 16, 2020

Nothing against elite country clubs or clubby junior golf circuits, but 2020’s three major championships were each won by sons of less conventional

Collin Morikawa, the PGA Championship winner at Harding Park, got his start at southern California’s Chevy Chase Country Club, which is not to be confused with Riviera.

Bryson DeChambeau, the U.S. Open champion at Winged Foot, refined his game at Madera’s Dragonfly.

And the 2020 Masters winner got his start at Weed Hill driving range, the family operation of golf architect Bobby Weed.

From Adam Schupak’s Golfweek story:

Johnson cut his teeth digging up the sod at the driving range that gave Weed his start in the golf business, Weed Hill. Johnson’s father, the head professional at Mid Carolina Club, would take him there as a young boy. Growing up in Colombia, just over an hour from Augusta National, the Masters was the biggest week of the year and Johnson recalled how every putting contest with brother A.J. was to win the Green Jacket. Here is a where a dream that would one day become fulfilled was born.

“They had lights on the range, and most nights I would shut the lights off when I was leaving,” Johnson said.

And there is this nice recognition of the Weed family:

Weed has built courses around the world, but none is as near and dear to his heart as the driving range he built in his hometown of Irmo, South Carolina.

It was 40 years ago and Weed, a high-school junior, talked his father into letting him convert some bean fields the family owned into Weed Hill Driving Range, where a bucket of balls cost 75 cents and Grandma called the shots until he got home from school.

“I remember getting off the bus and running up the hill and I’d go in there and ask, ‘Grandma, how’s everything going?’ ‘Oh, Bobby,’ she’d say, ‘these people have been out there tearing up your grass,’ ” Weed recalled.

“She would hand wash every ball,” he added. “She’d treat them like they were eggs in a basket.”

Check out the full story here.

"Rein in the ball or prepare for bludgeon"

One key to pro golf’s athleticism canard: this marketing narrative serves as a distraction from the real reasons the distance discussion never goes away. With more and more golfers hurt when their masculinity is damaged when it’s revealed their “athleticism” is only as good as the driver they are fitted with, the debate gets sidetracked. Then we easily forget that it’s the lost strategy of this great game fueling the the rollback question.

As Mike Clayton lays out for all schools of thought, strategy should still be the soul of the game and enough people miss it.

A key question for professional golf (a version of the game increasingly separated from the version played by the masses) is, “is brilliant, interesting design and the age-old concept of what constitutes strategy compatible with, and capable of, testing the best players in the game?”

“Increasingly not” is my not unreasonable conclusion.

I also enjoyed this as Clayton and friends do not downplay Bryson DeChambeau’s accomplishment at Winged Foot, but instead use it as fuel for the discussion.

Gil Hanse, Winged Foot’s consulting architect, charged with restoring AW Tillinghast’s famed and treacherous greens, might agree. Hanse watched DeChambeau’s opening 36 holes to witness whether he could pull off his unique strategy. It’s fair to say that he came away surprised, somewhat dismayed and impressed.

“It’s not a beautiful way to play golf. It’s not even shot making. It’s just kind of bludgeoning. I feel sad about the way golf is going. There are some arrows in the quiver if this style of golf renders architecture and strategy obsolete. But”, said Hanse, “it was impressive”.

2020: Golf In The Context Of Pandemic Era Sports Ratings

Paulsen looks at the declines in 2020 sports ratings and golf enjoys a split decision, with a big win for CBS Sports.

CBS’s “return” events are among the few sports up in the ratings, as was the PGA Championship (though I’d argue a surprising mere 3% given the fantastic finish and west coast prime time slot).

The U.S. Open’s move back to NBC/Golf Channel/Peacock and from Father’s Day to September proved deadly in the ratings department. Although comparable to other declines in the NBA and NHL.

Paulsen does not include NBC’s other playoff events, but they were flat to down.

The updated chart: pic.twitter.com/fJXFanuKOQ

— Sports Media Watch (@paulsen_smw) October 16, 2020

"Inside Bryson DeChambeau’s meticulous process to tame Winged Foot’s rough"

I’ll leave it up your judgement to decide how you feel about Bryson DeChambeau’s process to outsmart the Winged Foot rough, as outlined by Jonathan Wall at Golf.com. But you have to admire the dedication of both DeChambeau to give himself added confidence, and of the Bridgestone R&D to spend the last Friday night before Labor Day on a Zoom call talking shot pattern standard deviations.

Nice work by Wall and the folks at Bridgestone to piece together this U.S. Open aftermath piece on DeChambeau’s quest to prepare for the high rough and how his 8, 9 and PW would react.

With one of the fastest club-head speeds on Tour, DeChambeau figured he could generate sufficient spin, and a playable ball flight, from the rough to score around the course — even if he wasn’t finding the fairway with a nuked drive.

“If he normally generates 10,000 RPMs with a pitching wedge from a clean lie and knows a flier will knock the spin down to 7,000 RPMs, he’s able to calculate how much longer he’ll hit it in that situation. A lot of players are just guessing when they get a flier. The testing we conducted was all about helping him build those numbers for the clubs he figured he’d use often on approach shots — 8-iron, 9-iron, pitching wedge.

Again, tip your cap to him. But is this where we begin asking if things are maybe not headed in the right direction?

Padraig: Bryson's Doing A Twelve-Second 100 Meters, Has Another 20 Percent In The Tank

Martin Dempster quotes Padraig Harrington in advance of this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and the 2020/21 Ryder Cup Captain shared thoughts on a variety of topics. He’s also monitoring the weather that might have been this week at Whistling Straits (it’s literally as perfect as you could hope), but also chiming in on Bryson DeChambeau’s U.S. Open victory.

“With the capabilities at the moment, I would say Bryson is swinging at about, if you compare it to 100 metres, he’d be running at 12 seconds. The human capability, he’s running 100 metres at about 12 seconds at the moment, so he’s still got another 20 per cent more in the tank in terms of human capabilities for other players to come along.

He also made this prediction about the women’s game and the speed chase:

“I actually think the biggest change could come in women’s golf. You’re going to get a woman out there playing well into the mid-170s ball speed and would be competitive on the men’s tour.”

Something To Consider Next Time Around: Jim Nantz's Winged Foot Composite Course

The rescheduled 2020 U.S. Open was a success despite the horror of a six-under-par winning score and the West Course not getting the treatment from NBC’s budget-conscious approach vs. what CBS has been doing of late or what Fox’s Mark Loomis and crew might have provided with a normal budget.

As the USGA and Winged Foot discuss what’s next, including “anchor site” status according to Mike Dougherty’s reporting, another well-known member offered a pre-tournament suggestion for future Opens: a composite of the West and East Courses.

At the risk of getting called before some committee of point missers, CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz offered a way to better highlight the club’s more soulful East Course while retaining the best of the West.

From his Golf Digest column that is now online:

When Winged Foot hosts the U.S. Open next time around, I’d love to see a full representation of its two courses. I’m talking a composite of the famous and familiar West Course, and the lesser known but equally (some say surpassingly) magnificent East Course. On the surface it sounds like a radical idea, but I’ve long believed that a combination of the two would result in a design that is formidable, beautiful, sensible and unique in major-championship golf.

I’ve gone through the course a few times and I think its sensational. Yes, it’s only 7,266 yards and the driving range situation is complicated, but I only see one problem no one could have imagined pre-tournament: 370-yard plus drives at what would be Nantz’s “Dream Course” finishing hole, the West’s ninth hole.

Converted back to a par-5 this year, the longer hitters recorded some epic drives and faced huge decisions between wedge or nine-iron approaches, with Dustin Johnson capping the madness by launching one 418-yards Sunday.

That’s an issue for the governing bodies.

More impressively, in Nantz’s composite course the famous 10th hole West remains the 10th, the 1st the first—it’s a very severe green you know—and the current 18th West becomes the ninth. No one will shed a tear about that.

There is one long (200 yard) walk from the proposed 12th West to the proposed 13th (which is the fantastic mid-length par-4 15th West). This very minor annoyance sets up a stretch of East Course gems that would become the composite’s 14th to 17th holes. The East’s par-3 17th, a favorite hole of many, retains its number but a newfound prominence in deciding the U.S. Open outcome.

Nantz has given the USGA something to think about for that next time the U.S. Open heads to Winged Foot.

Check it out here at GolfDigest.com.

Danny Lee Apologizes For Shocking 6-Putt Not Seen On U.S. Open Broadcast

As I noted here, NBC carried eight hours of 2020 U.S. Open coverage last Saturday but Danny Lee’s unbelievable 6-putt meltdown did not make the show. Only after an influencer Tweet did the sequence make it on the Sunday morning pre-game show where it was decried as “not a great look.”

Tuesday, Danny Lee admirably pulled out the old Notes app, typed out an apology and posted it to Twitter. He says he has been battling a wrist issue—the reason cited for his WD—and will be taking some time off.

pic.twitter.com/liZZsTppG5

— Danny Lee (@dannygolf72) September 22, 2020

The 2020 U.S. Open's Overnight Ratings Are Not Good

Showbuzzydaily.com

The rescheduled 2020 U.S. Open provides a rare, and (hopefully) one-off look into what happens when a major championship moves to the fall against the NFL.

The numbers, courtesy of ShowBuzzDaily.com’s Mitch Metcalf, saw Sunday’s final round earn a 1.99 overnight rating, on par with the better “Return to Golf” events but easily a record U.S. Open low.

The previous benchmark for a U.S. Open final round came in 2014 when Martin Kaymer’s runaway win earned a 3.0 on NBC. However, that event was not going up against top-flight NFL matchups on CBS and Fox, where this year’s tournament was crushed by two dynamite games: Cowboys vs. Falcons and Chiefs vs. Chargers.

Against less competition Saturday, the 8-hour third round telecast averaged a 1.92, or 542,000 viewers in the only age group that purportedly shops.

NBC’s weekday coverage drew more decently, with a 1.33 Thursday and a 1.51 Friday.

Golf Channel’s first-year televising U.S. Open action appears have established record overnight lows which will almost certainly improve in 2021 when the event returns to June and a west coast venue.

Three editions of “Live From” surfaced in the top 150 cable shows, with Sunday’s post-final round edition earning a .03/171,000 viewers.

**Paulsen at SportsMediaWatch offered more on the various all-time lows and percentage declines.

Third round action averaged a 1.9 and 3.04 million, also the lowest on record. The previous lows were a 2.2 (2016 and 2017) and 3.20 million (2014). The telecast declined 32% in ratings and 27% in viewership from last year (2.8, 4.20M) and 24% and 19% respectively from 2018 (2.5, 3.77M).

The increase from Saturday’s third round to Sunday’s final round — just 5% — is the smallest on record for the tournament. Last year’s final round increased 57% in ratings and 74% in viewership over the third round.

NBC also averaged a 1.5 and 2.30 million for second round coverage on Friday (both -12%) and a 1.3 (-44%) and 1.96 million (-43%) for opening round action last Thursday. NBC’s weekday windows began in the afternoon, while last year’s comparable FOX telecasts aired mostly in primetime.

Some Reactions To Bryson DeChambeau's U.S. Open Win And What It Means For Golf

Tim Dahlberg of AP considers what Bryson DeChambeau’s win means for state of the game discussions:

The USGA and R&A are so concerned about the impact of long hitting on the game that they issued a report earlier this year that said, in part, that advances in distance off the tee were threatening to ``undermine the core principle that the challenge of golf is about needing to demonstrate a broad range of skills to be successful.’’

Now they may have to update that report. It was done before DeChambeau added 40 pounds during the pandemic break and began swinging at every tee shot like Barry Bonds used to swing at baseballs.

It was impressive to some, worrying to others. The fact is, golf has always evolved, from the days of hickory shafted clubs and gutta percha balls to today’s big headed drivers and balls that fly far and stop fast. But the beatdown DeChambeau gave Winged Foot this week might have been a tipping point in the debate over just how far the evolution of the game is allowed to go.

Michael Clayton writes for Golf Australia about what the key takeaways will be:

The first was that this was a dominant performance and his final round one to remember.

The second is teachers all over the world will be telling kids who watched on television and dream one day of winning a great championship that they had better learn to hit the ball 330 yards through the air, because there is nothing surer than that’s what the next generation will routinely be playing against.

Ultimately, though, watching DeChambeau with a driver in his hand is no more thrilling than watching Nicklaus, Daly, Woods or, indeed Bobby Jones, drive the ball.

Indeed, his biggest influence on the game is not likely to be his driver; but his understanding of data, statistics, probabilities and how they relate to strategy and the best shot to play.

The key for architects is to work out how best to disrupt the data without resorting to trickery – because this week the winner showed trickery in the form of narrow fairways and long grass can be defeated by power.

Alistair Tait wonders what all of these 375 yard drives mean for the Old Course in 2022 and Augusta, home of the next two majors.

A line had been drawn in the sand with Woods’s record 12-shot win, and the green jackets did something about it. Remember how they supposedly Tiger-proofed the course? Do they have enough time before the world’s best arrive in November to Bryson-proof the course Bobby Jones and Dr Alister MacKenzie created?

If Jack Nicklaus played a game Jones wasn’t familiar with, then imagine how the game’s greatest amateur would view DeChambeau’s approach?

Joel Beall at GolfDigest.com on where this leaves things with the distance debate.

No conversation in golf has been as heated as distance gains, and the USGA—which governs equipment regulation in this country—threw more logs into the fire when it stated in its Distance Insights report that said gains must stop. That verdict, how the USGA came to it, and where it goes from here, can be debated. But the performance of DeChambeau and Wolff and McIlroy on a course where just two players in five previous U.S. Opens have broken par is unequivocal: There is no defense against distance.

To many, Saturday afternoon sounded the alarm. In truth, the sirens rang earlier. The East Course’s ninth hole is serving as a makeshift range this week, with a net past the green guarding a parking lot. A few players have soared their drives over the de facto fence, including DeChambeau, who ended his third-round warm-up by raining balata into courtesy cars. As he walked to the first tee, the implication was clear. This course cannot contain them.

What Pandemic! Bryson Caps Off U.S. Open Win In Gloriously Gluttonous Celebration

Bryson DeChambeau thanked Netjets and Bentley for their support

Despite all sorts of restrictions on media access to players during last week’s U.S. Open, Golf.com’s Dylan Dethier managed to access all of Bryson DeChambeau’s post-win obligations and the ensuing Trump Westchester celebration.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, isn’t there a bubble restricting on-site media and indoor access to players out of respect for this whole pandemic thing? Picky, picky!

Some media just have all the access. Or a strategic business partnership with the USGA, announced here by another USGA partner, Morning Read, which is owned by their crisis management friends at the Buffalo Groupe. Did I digress?

Anyway, I’m sure safety came first at all times and masks, social distancing and…yeah right.

Dethier writes about the first of two steaks for the 2020 U.S. Open Champion:

A USGA staffer asked if he wanted food and his agent ordered a steak on his behalf: filet, medium, salt and pepper.

But first, more interviews. A hit on SiriusXM. A message for Rolex. A stop-off with Barstool. The car wash!

The herd headed inside Winged Foot’s clubhouse, which is one moat away from a castle and particularly dramatic at night. One large room had been set aside as a dramatic studio; that’s where DeChambeau did a series of sitdowns: Golf Channel. The Today Show. CNN. He told some stories I’d heard before, but they had renewed meaning in this context, particularly one: When his father was battling through dialysis, they turned to Finding Nemo for inspiration. “Just keep swimming” became a family mantra.

Bryson’s clubhouse dinner was captured by Golf.com video and I must say, it’s great to see the USGA welcomed media into the clubhouse. No doubt how the state of New York chalked it up.

We caught up with @b_dechambeau after his U.S. Open victory in the Winged Foot clubhouse.

Feeling inspired by Bryson’s transformation? We asked what advice he has for others looking to revamp their games.

“You can only have success from previous failures.” pic.twitter.com/UIjX857qAI

— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) September 21, 2020

Dethier also writes about the celebration moving to Trump National Westchester, 20 miles away.

The afterparty was at Trump National GC Westchester, in Briarcliff Manor, some 20 miles north of Winged Foot, DeChambeau has a close relationship with the Trump family and Trump Organization Executive Vice President Larry Glick; he’s one of several pros who sports the “Trump” logo on his golf bag and has played at several of their properties.

Eric Trump played the role of host and hype man, introducing DeChambeau like a conquering hero as he entered the grill room, trophy in hand. The two most famous men in the room made for quite the side-by-side: Eric, who’s 6’5 and lanky, next to Bryson, who’s 6’1 and not.

It goes on with another steak to keep his weight up. Either way, looks like a good time was had by all…

Congratulations to @brysondechambeau on his incredible win at the #USOpen2020! We love you and are proud of you buddy!! @trumpgolfwestchester #TrumpGolf 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Congrats @brysondechambeau 🥂🏆 A well deserved victory! #USopen

DeChambeau later posted some photos of himself sleeping with the trophy—smiling so naturally—and in one final thank you to Netjets and Bentley.

Still a dream. @usopengolf

Back to work, off to Denver to see @greg.roskopf. Thanks to my partners @netjets for the upgrade and @bentleymotors for always helping me ride in luxury. #bentleyambassador #netjetsambassador #netjets

2020 U.S. Open: Bryson By The Numbers

From the USGA’s notes after Bryson DeChambeau’s 2020 U.S. Open win:

• Champion Bryson DeChambeau tied for fifth in greens in regulation (46), despite tying for 26th in fairways hit (23). 

• DeChambeau’s total strokes gained of 7.90 is the fourth-highest by a champion since 1960. Johnny Miller (10.77 in 1963), Arnold Palmer (9.29 in 1960) and Jack Nicklaus(8.19 in 1967) were higher.

• This was just the third time since 2000 that the champion was the only player in red figures (Tiger Woods in 2000 and 2002).

If the fairways hit number stood out, it was historic but also not that far off from a couple of recent wins.

From Ryan Herrington at GolfDigest.com:

Consider this: Since 1981, no U.S. Open winner had hit fewer than 27 fairways, according to Golf Channel. Here’s a listing of the champs with the fewest fairways hit in the last 40 years.

Angel Cabrera, 2007, Oakmont, 27 (ranked 48th for the week in accuracy)

Tiger Woods, 2008, Torrey Pines, 30 (ranked 56th)

Webb Simpson, 2012, Olympic Club, 31 (ranked 13th)

Scott Simpson, 1987, Olympic Club, 31 (ranked 42nd)

Interestingly, while DeChambeau hit the fewest fairways compared to the four others, he ranked T-26 for the field on the week, which is the second to Webb Simpson.

As for the rest of his game, the short game performance isn’t getting enough attention. For four rounds at Winged Foot:

In other number news, Bryson’s eyeing the 48-inch driver for November’s Masters with 360-370 average yard drives in mind, writes GolfChannel.com’s Rex Hoggard.

Also, 245 is in play if he can get to the gym and his arteries can take it. From Bill Pennington’s New York Times game story:

DeChambeau is 6-foot-1 and 235 pounds — he gained 40 pounds this winter in an attempt to swing more forcefully — but on Sunday evening he was asked if he wanted to become bigger before the Masters.

“Yeah, I think I can get to 245; it’s going to be a lot of working out,” he answered.