Protecting Par at Quail Hollow? Follow The Money!

Scott Hamilton of Golfweek reports that finally we have justification for a tournament protecting par:

Lots of birdies at this week’s PGA Tour stop – the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte, N.C. – could produce dividends for the title sponsor’s select customers.

Adding a new wrinkle to its sponsorship, Wachovia, the nation’s fourth-largest bank, has debuted its “Save Like A Champion” initiative. It will reward customers enrolled in the bank’s Way2Save savings program with an interest rate in June, July and August equal to the tournament’s winning score in relation to par. In the past five years at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, that number has ranged from 10 to 13 under.

Sunday Dramatics: Andy North Wins; Vows To Keep Lulling Us To Sleep With His Commentary

And I missed all of it attending the LA Times Festival of Books (yes, we read here in southern California).

This NY Times wire service compilation covers the basics, including Adam Scott's win at the Nelson and the team of Tom Watson/Andy North winning the Legeds.

This AP story explains how there's life in the old Swede yet. Annika even had Paula Creamer shaking. Literally.

And there's and ESPN.com report summing up the most exciting win of the day, Darren Clarke's Asian Open win.

For those of you who watched, anything we should know about? 

65 Hitting 2 of 14 Fairways?

Fairways hit has become an overrated stat with the landing strips so hard to hit these days. Not to mention the fact that any decently designed course likely rewards side angles of approach that are now covered in rough, but I still did a double take at some of Alex Turnbull's ShotLink highlights following third round play at the Nelson: 

Sergio Garcia – 4 under par
• Sergio shot the low round of the day (5 under 65) despite hitting the fewest fairways in the field in the 3rd round (2 of 14).  He ranks 2nd to last in the field for driving accuracy (38.1%) for the week yet ranks T3rd in the field for greens in regulation (70.3%).   

Our friends in Far Hills may want to copy and paste that for the ban U-grooves presentation. That is, whenever you get around to that. Then again, maybe Sergio's finally putting better thanks to Stan Utley:

• Of the 16 greens Garcia has missed thus far, he’s successfully salvaged par 14 times ranking 1st in the field for scrambling percentage.  Entering the week, Garcia ranked T107th on TOUR for scrambling from around the green (58%).

• Sergio Garcia’s 128 ft of putts made in the 3rd round was more than both his 1st and 2nd round distance of putts made combined.

EDS, PGA Tour Back In The Saddle Again

I know, I know, they were never that far apart.

But it's fun to see EDS CEO Ron Rittenmeyer talk about being "jerked around" on Monday and re-upping Nelson Classic sponsorship through 2014 on Wednesday.

"We believe in this tournament and appreciate the tremendous impact it has in the Dallas community, and we are excited about the opportunity to play a key role in its future," said Ron Rittenmeyer, chairman, president and chief executive officer of EDS.

It's What "Byron" Would Have Wanted...

This week marks the 83rd re-opening of the TPC Las Colinas after a renovation. Naturally, everyone is thrilled about the second coming of Deere Run, with talk of "traditional" features and fulfillment of Lord Byron's dreams.

Player consultant J.J. Henry:

"To see everything come full circle, I can't believe what kind of shape the golf course is in," Henry said Tuesday, when course officials showed off the renovations. "We always talked about what would Byron want. ... I think he is up there smiling today at what was accomplished."

Traditional square tee boxes and white-sand bunkers throughout the course and the cascading waterfalls next to the 18th green are among some of the changes.

Is there another form of waterfall besides cascading that I'm not familiar with?

Henry played with Tony Romo, Trip Kuehne and Harrison Frazar in a recent exhibition, and Jimmy Burch reports good news for Tiger: it's all right in front of you.

Trip Kuehne: "I've played here since 1986 and this is really the first time you could get on the tee box on every single hole and you knew exactly what you needed to do. D.A. has told you where you need to place the ball on every single tee shot and the challenge is to get out there and place it. It's a very playable golf course, and it's in great shape."

"We kind of got jerked around a bit, and I'm not happy about that"

Bill Nichols talks to EDS CEO Ron Rittenmeyer about dissatisfaction with the PGA Tour. I don't recall reading a CEO being so upset with the tour since Booz Allen's Ralph Shrader, and we know how well that worked out.

Rittenmeyer, talking about Tim Finchem:

 "Our title sponsorship comes to a close in two years, and if he wants us to continue, he's going to have to come to the table and help us," Mr. Rittenmeyer said.

Regarding the current date...

 "We kind of got jerked around a bit, and I'm not happy about that," Mr. Rittenmeyer said. "I made it kind of a personal goal of mine to see this course improve. So now we've accomplished the course. The next thing is to accomplish the right dates to field the best set of players. And the PGA Tour has got to help market this to their players."

And on the FedEx Cup... 

Mr. Rittenmeyer said the Tour's new FedEx Cup reduces the importance of regular events. The season-long format, which debuted last year, includes three playoffs for the FedEx Cup and the Tour Championship. Points earned in regular events determine playoff seeding.

"I wasn't happy with the FedEx Cup, and they know that," Mr. Rittenmeyer said. "They did it to get some more excitement, some more money in the game. But we didn't get a vote, and we didn't get to discuss it."

The Boo Files: "This golf is a crazy game. That's why I only want to do it for so long and get out of it."

Boo Weekley successfully defends his Heritage Classic title, drops three aint's and two reckons, and as usual provides more transcript entertainment than the rest of the PGA Tour's finest combined.

Q. Did you ever doubt yourself today?

BOO WEEKLEY: Yes, once or twice I did. I mean, I just kind of aggravated -- like on 10, I got probably the lowest point I got all day was on 10. They just put us on the clock, you know, we're under two minutes or two hours on our time, you know, and it's kind of hard to believe they had us on the clock. The guys in front of us were playing pretty quick. It kind of got aggravating and, okay, there you go, you kind of give it away now hitting shots like that. That was my lowest point.

It was the guys in front going fast, not Boo and buds playing slow. I like that rationalization.

Q. Do you think the adrenaline and your emotional state today had anything to do with you getting the rights?

BOO WEEKLEY: No, ma'am, I had the rights all day. I had them all week with the driver and a little bit with the iron. I was standing on the tee box or on the practice round this morning and I had the pulls.

This golf is a crazy game. That's why I only want to do it for so long and get out of it (laughter).

Not yet please.

Q. Golf has always had an elitist label on it. Do you think you might be an inspiration to guys out there who talk like you and chew like you?

BOO WEEKLEY: I'm pretty sure I do. I hope it's mostly the kids. That's who you want to touch anyway is the kids. And I hope they don't chew.

SI's Gary Van Sickle filed this Boo tribute on the golf.com Press Tent blog, including this killer Boo story (along with one other, so hit the link.)

I was standing behind the 18th green at the end of Saturday's round when CBS commentator Jim Nantz climbed down from the telecast tower and ambled toward the players' scoring trailer. I talked to him for a minute but he was interested in getting some face time, he said, with Boo. They had never met, Nantz said.

When Boo signed his card and came out, Nantz was there to introduce himself and have a short, smiling conversation.

Later, after Boo finished another rollicking interview session in the press tent, I asked him about meeting Nantz. "Wail (that's southern for "Well"), he said he just wanted to put a face with a name," Boo said. "He was real nice."

"What was the conversation about?" I asked, "Did he ask any deep questions?"

Boo shook his head. "I don't even know what he does," he said.

"He's a golf commentator," I said. "I'm sure you've heard him on college basketball or football."

"Wail, either I don't watch much of that or I just don't listen," he said, non-plussed.

"He only plays about 15 times a year anyway"

A wire story on surprise and shock at news of Tiger's knee surgery includes this comment from Tim Clark:

"He only plays about 15 times a year anyway," Tim Clark said. "So it's not going to do a lot" to affect the PGA Tour.

Last year Woods played in 16 official events, meaning that if he misses the Wachovia and Players, he's likely going to have to add one event this year to maintain full membership privileges.

Four playoff events this time, perhaps?

Steve Eubanks posts a Yahoo piece on the prospects for Tiger's recovery as well as what he might face in the future.

"Why bother trying?"

I normally don't pay attention when non-golf folks dare to write about golf, but in the case of Tiger and his peers seemingly being afraid of the man, I think Bill Plaschke's outsider take is worth noting. I'm not quite sold on this data though:

At least one study has shown that other golfers' fear of Woods is not only palpable, but measurable.

According to eight years of data collected by Jennifer Brown, a doctorate candidate in agricultural and resource economics at California, tour regulars average nearly a stroke higher in tournaments that include Woods.

Brown formulated her theory in a paper titled "Quitters Never Win: The (Adverse) Incentive Effect of Competing With Superstars."

She discovered a .80 stroke differential when golfers are confronted by Woods, a number that rises during periods when Woods is hot, and decreases during those rare times when he is perceived to be in a slump.

"This shows that if you are competing against an opponent you believe will win, you think, 'Why bother trying?' " said Brown, whose study has been embraced by several national media outlets.
 

"I would say given the efforts that I've seen this week, I would plan on making this a permanent stop."

What little I saw today of the golf in Houston, it appeared the organizers have really pulled off something special by emulating Augusta's setup to lure more players. Steve Campbell explains the promises made to players, the thinking behind the event's setup and quotes Phil Mickelson.  There are also these bits from Mickelson's pre-tournament press conference that speak to how good a job they did. Love that they even mow the grain toward the tee as Augusta does.

Q. Why did you decide to play here this year?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I was told, and accurately, that they were going -- the golf course was going to be set up similarly to Augusta. It was tremendous. The greens are fast. The fairways are perfect and tight. They even mowed the grain into you in the fairway just like Augusta does. There's no rough.

The first cut just like Augusta. It's a great place to get ready for next week. I'm very appreciative that the tournament made such an effort to make the course so similar.

And...

Q. Phil, lot of guys yesterday kind of said the course is set up similar to Augusta but there's only so much they can do. Can you kind of address? Do you think it's ideal preparation or only so much you can do?

PHIL MICKELSON: It's ideal. It really is. It may not be exact, but all the shots that you have to hit next week, you have the same conditions here. You have the same shots out of the first cut, same shots around the green, tight lies, grain into you. It's very similar. It was just a tremendous job. I'm very impressed.

 Q. Is it too early to say you'll be back here again next year?

PHIL MICKELSON: It might be too early, but I would say given the efforts that I've seen this week, I would plan on making this a permanent stop.

Update on 2008-04-04 15:21 by Geoff

Stephanie Stradley at AOL Fanhouse shares this video of Redstone super Roger Groettsch talking about what went into the Augusta-like preparation.

"Finchem believes it adds to the telecast and thus the boom won't be banned."

Tim Rosaforte interviews his boss at NBC to follow up on the Bubba-Elk incident and find out if the Tour is going to ask the networks to back off. Mercifully, they are not. (Oh, and don't you love the photo of Bubba and Elk chatting it up after the round. No eye contact, stiff body language...)

Anyway, Rosaforte writes: 

I've heard that one high level player and caddie don't like the boom mike listening in on their decisions. I also remember controversies that erupted years ago when a seven-second delay wasn't enough time to censor Fred Couples at La Costa and Curtis Strange at the TPC Sawgrass. Thankfully, the use of sound is an element that comes down from the top; Finchem believes it adds to the telecast and thus the boom won't be banned.

"One veteran wondered aloud how a guy with 64 career starts can carry himself as a player with 15 wins or 15 years in the big leagues."

John Hawkins weighs in on the Bubba Watson outburst with a less than ringing endorsement for Bubba's ways. And not to pile on, but there was also this incident to remember back in January.

"We should have caught that for prime time and didn't."

Steve Elling, the Hogan, Snead, Nicklaus and Woods of press room cussing, a true master of the medium, says these fancy new microphones picking up saucy language may turn out to be a very, very...bad thing?

But still, there's no reason the masses in the audience must be involuntarily subjected to Watson's screed, right? Some citizens, not to mention the FCC, take a dim view of this sort of speech.

Someone has lived in Orlando way too long. This is interesting:

Oddly, the Golf Channel rightly saw fit to bleep out the objectionable language in its post-game news show, where the disagreement between Watson and Elkington was examined in detail, but let the objectionable language fly live and nationwide in the raw replay. That's irresponsible or lazy, if not a bit of both. According to Golf Channel spokesman Dan Higgins, there is no fabled seven-second delay on the broadcasts and the re-airing of the comments without editing was a mistake the network acknowledges.

"That's something we have to improve upon," Higgins said Monday. "We should have caught that for prime time and didn't."

I seem to recall the "crawl" during the rebroadcast was offering up a teaser about the incident. Hmmm...

If you didn't catch Bubba apologizing to God, country and every volunteer who has ever been subjected to an entertaining on course spat between millionaires, here it is on PGATour.com.

Why People Hate The Rules Files: Stewart Cink DQ'd In N.O.

Jason Sobel explains what happened to Cink and John Vander Borght explains the thinking behind the rule, which makes little sense. Why can't we just play it as it lies? Sheesh.

"Oh, I puked my guts out, no doubt about it."

No matter what you think of Woody Austin, you have to love his honest take on Sunday's final hole meltdown in New Orleans where Andres Romero took the title. Photo courtesy of golf.com.

His post round comments:

Q. Woody, tough day out there today. It's tough to say, but you admitted it, you said you choked it coming in the last nine holes.

WOODY AUSTIN: Oh, I puked my guts out, no doubt about it. I didn't have control of my golf swing and I put two hands on the steering wheel and was trying to steer it around, and it caught me at the end.

Q. Talk me through 18 because we got you on our sound talking to Brent about that second shot. You wanted to go for it, and it sounded like he wanted you to lay up.

WOODY AUSTIN: Well, I mean, he was just asking if he thought I could get it out, and I could have got it out. The only reason why I topped it or whatever is because I didn't go down in and get it. Again, I flinched, like I said, and it really -- it really wasn't that hard a shot as I made it out to be. But again, like I said, I'm not afraid to admit, when I choke, I choke, and I choked.

Update on 2008-03-31 13:43 by Geoff

John Strege chimes in on Woody Austin and Sunday's final round.