Video: Harvey Penick Piece From WGC Match Play Telecast
/They broke away from the spellbinding matchups last weekend to air this Jimmy Roberts-helmed piece on NBC. It’s a good watch if you were dozing or watching college basketball.
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
1.26: PGA Tour's Strong Ratings Run Upended By NCAA Tournament, Honda's Weak Field
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The Honda Classic drew what is fast becoming seen as one of the worst schedule slots on the PGA Tour: after The Players, a week before the WGC Dell Match Play and up against the NCAA Tournament.
Showbuzzdaily.com has all of last week’s sports numbers here.
March Madness has been madder than most this year, adding to the woes. The Honda drawing an opposite event strength field did not help. Then again the 2019 Valspar, the last comparable event held on a similar weekend, did not do much better despite drawing some quality players:
Faxon: Injury "Way More Serious Than Koepka's Letting On"
/Concerning words from Brad Faxon while talking on Michael Breed’s radio show:
“There was rumors around here, The Honda Classic was last week where I live, I was on the range with caddies and talking, and I have instructor friends, I think this injury is way more serious than Koepka’s letting on. I've heard, you know, patella injury, post collateral ligament, PCL. I've dealt with multiple ACL injuries, and I've heard rumors he's out for six to eight months. So I don't think the Masters has a chance. I'm not saying I want that to happen for Brooks in any reason. We need him on the TOUR. He's a hell of a player, but I think he's going to battle this one. PCL's a tough injury to get over. Couple that with the other parts of the knee that got injured and we may not know the true story … but I know we're pulling for him.”
Matt Jones Overcomes Brutal Pace, Nightmare Pairing To Win Honda And Head Back To The Masters
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Two-time Australian Open winner Matt Jones returning to the PGA Tour winner’s circle after major putting struggles was impressive.
But the faster-than-most Aussie had to deal with a dreadful final round pace that had the leading groups taking 4:20 (twosomes!) and alongside never-ready J.B. Holmes, who stumbled to a 79.
Holmes, not that he cares or will ever change, had his lack of preparedness to play called out during the NBC broadcast. (At least, the parts where I remained awake.)
From Craig Dolch’s story the Palm Beach Post on Jones winning the Honda and heading back to Augusta:
The five-shot victory tied the largest in tournament history, matching Jack Nicklaus in 1977 and Camilo Villegas in 2010. Jones had gone 174 starts since winning his first PGA Tour title at the 2014 Houston Open, holing a chip in a playoff to beat Matt Kuchar.
“I’ve had some tough times in between that (win),” an emotional Jones said afterward. “Seven years … I had some tough times putting, worked hard and it finally paid off.
PGA Tour highlights, including Jones showing emotion just seconds after sinking the final putt:
Koepka: "Only one way to go from here"
/The update from Brooks Koepka on his knee took on a noir quality.
But other than black and white photos, obvious efforts at rehab and smart wearing of Nike, it’s not clear what this means for the Masters.
The knee was injured during an accident while he was “with family” and caused Koepka to miss The Players and now this week’s WGC Dell Match Play.
Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch confirmed with Koepka via text that he had surgery for a dislocated knee cap and ligament damage. Koepka is rehabbing somewhere in the west. He did not say how the injury happened. But it was with family so…
Mickelson In No Hurry To Settle Down In Florida
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A little over a year ago California native Phil Mickelson surprised all at the American Express Championship he hosts by saying he was planning a move to Florida.
Now T27 heading into the Honda Classic final round Tom D’Angelo of the Palm Beach Post reports that Mickelson has yet to start construction on a Jupiter Island home.
Although Mickelson said “the plan” is to move here, he also said he wanted to “hold off” on talking about his reason for the decision. “A lot of great things around the area,” was all he would say.
When asked if he still could make the move from his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Cal., to Florida this summer, Mickelson, 50, said: “We’re looking at that as an option. We still have to build. We have a lot. We haven’t built on it yet.”
This week’s Honda Classic is near the Tour pro hotbed of Jupiter. Not that any of the big name locals bothered to play. Unless you count lot owner Mickelson.
WGC Match Play Draws Another Strong Field
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Always one of the best weeks of the year, the 2021 WGC Dell Match Play has lured a strong field this year despite its proximity to the Masters. I wondered if we might see more defections not wanting to risk a COVID positive so close to the Masters. Particularly after a Players week scene produced three positive cases.
One of those players, Gary Woodland, is not playing, nor are other recently injured stars who qualified: Koepka, Rose and Woods.
For Immediate Release…
Final field set for the 2021 World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play
Star-studded event features the world’s top-ranked players returning to Austin Country Club
AUSTIN, Texas – Tournament officials announced today that the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play field is officially set with 64 of the top 69 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) committed. The event returns to Austin Country Club, March 24-28, and will feature golf’s biggest stars for the only match-play tournament on the PGA TOUR.
Reigning FedExCup champion Dustin Johnson, 2021 PLAYERS champion Justin Thomas, World No. 3 Jon Rahm, 18-time PGA TOUR winner Rory McIlroy, former Texas Longhorn Jordan Spieth and defending champion Kevin Kisner are among the notables returning to Austin. The event annually boasts an international group of players and the 2021 tournament will be no exception, including representation from 17 different countries across the globe.
The field is comprised of 50 PGA TOUR winners with a collective 229 wins to their credit. Twenty-two players will make their tournament debut including UT graduate Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Sungjae Im and Matthew Wolff.
Final seeds for the 64-player field will be determined based on the Official World Golf Ranking as of Monday, March 22.
WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play field list as of Friday, March 19 at 5:00 p.m. ET:
Rank Player Country
1 Dustin Johnson (USA)
2 Justin Thomas (USA)
3 John Rahm (Spain)
4 Collin Morikawa (USA)
5 Bryson DeChambeau (USA)
6 Xander Schauffele (USA)
7 Patrick Reed (USA)
8 Tyrrell Hatton (England)
9 Patrick Cantlay (USA)
10 Webb Simpson (USA)
11 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland)
13 Tony Finau (USA)
14 Viktor Hovland (Norway)
15 Daniel Berger (USA)
16 Matt Fitzpatrick (England)
17 Paul Casey (England)
18 Sungjae Im (South Korea)
19 Lee Westwood (England)
20 Harris English (USA)
21 Matthew Wolff (USA)
22 Tommy Fleetwood (England)
23 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa)
24 Hideki Matsuyama (Japan)
26 Ryan Palmer (USA)
27 Cameron Smith (Australia)
28 Abraham Ancer (Mexico)
29 Joaquin Niemann (Chile)
30 Kevin Na (USA)
31 Jason Kokrak (USA)
32 Scottie Scheffler (USA)
33 Victor Perez (France)
34 Billy Horschel (USA)
35 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa)
36 Kevin Kisner (USA)
37 Max Homa (USA)
39 Marc Leishman (Australia)
40 Shane Lowry (Ireland)
41 Corey Conners (Canada)
42 Sergio Garcia (Spain)
43 Will Zalatoris (USA)
44 Robert MacIntyre (Scotland)
45 Bernd Wiesberger (Austria)
46 Carlos Ortiz (Mexico)
47 Jason Day (Australia)
48 Si Woo Kim (South Korea)
49 Lanto Griffin (USA)
50 Brendon Todd (USA)
52 Jordan Spieth (USA)
53 Mackenzie Hughes (Canada)
54 Matt Kuchar (USA)
55 Matt Wallace (England)
57 Bubba Watson (USA)
58 Brian Harman (USA)
59 Kevin Streelman (USA)
60 Russell Henley (USA)
61 Sebastian Munoz (Colombia)
62 Andy Sullivan (England)
63 Antoine Rozner (France)
64 Talor Gooch (USA)
65 Ian Poulter (England)
66 Erik van Rooyen (South Africa)
67 Adam Long (USA)
68 J.T. Poston (USA)
69 Dylan Frittelli (South Africa)
The match play bracket reveal will happen on PGATour.com at 10 am CT and you’ll be able to play along at dellmatchplay.com.
Padraig: "Bryson should be screaming for a rollback because it would give him a big advantage"
/Quite a few sites picked up Padraig Harrington’s kind “could have told you so” remarks about Rory McIlroy and the pursuit of speed. But the real headline can with his answer discussing what Bryson DeChambeau has done and why he should root for a rollback.
The full Honda Classic press conference transcript is here at ASAP. The full answer on a “curtail distance” question:
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Okay, I think -- right. I've got to think this through. One, everybody argues about speed, and the argument always tends to go about whether you like people who hit it long and playing golf with long hitting or you don't. But that argument is just personal opinion. You can't argue, if some person likes it, some person doesn't like it, whether the golf is more fun or not more fun. That is purely down to each individual person. So anybody who's arguing on social media, it's crazy because it's just personal opinion. It's not a factual argument.
I would say, though, golf ball going further means it's more expensive to build a golf course, it's more expensive to maintain a golf course. Golf ball going further definitely slows down the round of golf in terms of it's a longer walk, it takes longer, and that's the biggest issue with golf is the pace, the time it takes to get around. The golf ball going further also slows down the style of play because there's more bottle necks when people wait on par-4s and par-5s. Golf ball going further has meant that some golf courses are obsolete, some of the great courses, and the golf ball -- I shouldn't say golf ball. Equipment going further. And it could be an equipment change. It doesn't have to be a ball change. With the ball going further, equipment going further, it also means that golf -- and I see this at home. Golf is extremely dangerous at home. People wing it off fairways. You go to any regular club in Ireland, guys who are 25 years of age are hitting it 340 in the air and they don't know where it's going. I'm not saying good players, I'm talking just your regular guys hitting it miles, and you can't keep it on these courses because there's doglegs, so it's dangerous, so for those six reasons I think the game should be tailed back.
But the one thing that nobody seems to be getting in the whole of this argument, it's a massive advantage to the long hitters if they tail back the equipment. If they bring it back, it's a huge -- Bryson gains massively if they draw back the equipment. The longer you hit it, if you reduce Bryson by 10 percent, say he's hitting it 350 and he's now hitting it 315 and you reduce a guy who's hitting it 300 and you reduce him to 270, Bryson is okay. He's still that same percentage ahead but it's a lot easier to hit the golf ball on a golf course at 315 than it is at at 345 or 350. It is an incredible advantage to the long hitters if they tail back how far the ball goes.
If only more listened and appreciated that the distanistas really do love the long ball, just in proportion with the courses we have.
I'm talking it will encourage even more of a chase of long hitting because it's such an advantage.
And remember, doesn't matter what they do with the equipment going forward. You can't change now. You're going to have young guys coming out who swing a 7-iron at 110 miles an hour and that means that there's no lie in the rough, there's no tree in the way that they can't get over or can't get out of.
Of course if you take 8% off their drives maybe that 7 becomes a 6 or a 5 and magically the tree is in play.
As I said, I saw it with Tiger Woods. In 1996 he destroyed everybody because he was faster -- he was a good player and was faster, and Rory did the same thing.
Now we're seeing Bryson, he's obviously getting the limelight for it, and it's very impressive, but it will be -- he should be screaming for a rollback because it would give him a big advantage.
2.8: 2021 Players Ratings Hold Steady
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Steady is a huge victory as cordcutting chips into sports ratings, so 2021’s final round 2.8, while almost identical to the 2019 Players final round’s 2.75, means it was a successful for NBC.
ShowBuzzDaily.com with all the 2021, 2020 and 2019 numbers here. The 2020 numbers were of the short-notice 2019 Players after the tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Honda Classic Renames Media Center For Tim Rosaforte
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Nice touch here from the Honda Classic paying tribute to one of the reporters who was there from the beginning and as the event remains the PGA Tour’s longest continuous sponsor.
HONDA CLASSIC RENAMES MEDIA CENTER FOR LONGTIME GOLF WRITER/BROADCASTER TIM ROSAFORTE
Tournament creates Tim Rosaforte Distinguished Writers' Award to honor golf journalists
Tim Rosaforte has been covering The Honda Classic for more than three decades, first as a newspaper writer for the Sun Sentinel and Palm Beach Post, then as a writer for Sports Illustrated and Golf World and lastly as a broadcaster for NBC and the Golf Channel.
The Honda Classic announced Monday that it will honor Rosaforte, now retired in Jupiter, for his amazing career in golf journalism by renaming the tournament media center "The Tim Rosaforte Media Center."
In addition, The Honda Classic is creating a perpetual award in Rosaforte's honor - The Tim Rosaforte Distinguished Writers' Award. Rosaforte has been named the first recipient of the award by the tournament.
"Tim has been such a vital part of the history of The Honda Classic from his work as a writer and broadcaster to the emcee of so many of our pro-am dinners and sponsor events," Honda Classic Executive Director Kenneth R. Kennerly said. "It is only fitting now that he has retired from broadcasting that we find ways to honor him for his years of service to the game and to the community."
Affectionately known as "Rosie" to most who know him, the 65-year-old Rosaforte enjoyed a successful career in both print and broadcast journalism.
His career began in 1977 at the Tampa Times after he graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island, where he played linebacker on the football team. He moved from Tampa to the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale in 1981 and then worked at The Palm Beach Post from 1987-93.
Rosaforte's print career continued at Sports Illustrated from 1994-96 before he joined Golf World and Golf Digest as a senior writer. On the broadcast end, Rosaforte served as co-host of USA Network’s “PGA TOUR Sunday” program starting in 2003 and then moved to Golf Channel in 2007 as a reporter and analyst. He retired in December 2019 because of health issues and recently was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease.
“Tim is one of this generation’s great golf journalists," golf legend Jack Nicklaus said. "He has developed relationships and trust from so many in the game, and you always knew that if there was an important story to be told in golf, Tim was going to be the first call you received and usually the first one to report it."
Rosaforte is also a recipient of more than 40 writing awards and the author of five books. He was inducted into the South Florida PGA Hall of Fame in 2012 and received the PGA of America Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism in 2014 and became the first journalist to be given an honorary membership to the PGA of America. Rosaforte is just the 12th person to become an honorary member of the PGA, which is granted after a vote of PGA delegates to recognize individuals for their outstanding contributions to the game of golf.
The Memorial Tournament also recently announced Rosaforte as a recipient of the 2021 Memorial Golf Journalism Award.
"Tim has been an incredibly important part of the enormous growth of the game throughout South Florida over the past three decades," said Geoff Lofstead, Executive Director of the South Florida PGA. "He has been so important in telling the stories of the great players and all the great PGA professionals that administer the game on a daily basis."
Three Players Test COVID-19 Positive After The Players
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Three players are out of the Honda Classic after positive COVID-19 tests. This follows two weeks of Florida tour with the most significant galleries since the February’s Waste Management Open.
The players were Gary Woodland, Scott Piercy and Doc Redman.
Woodland Tweeted this:
Three players also tested positive before tournaments at the RSM Classic at Sea Island in November, and the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit in early July.
The positive tests follow two weeks of the Florida events on the PGA Tour allowing limited fans, with roughly 8,000 in attendance at Bay Hill and The Players Championship.
Besides the obvious hope that all three players are some of the lucky ones to experience minor symptoms, matching the most positive tests in a week should prompt a major contact tracing effort.
It could be a coincidence that all three players tested positive, but given the timing there is some chance they contracted the virus during Players week. Piercy made the weekend. Woodland and Redman did not.
The outcome of such tracing, besides potentially help alert others who may need to be tested, will have ramifications for protocols and fans at upcoming events.
Justin Thomas Rebounds To Win The Players In Grand Fashion
/So much impressed with Justin Thomas’s Players win but I’m not sure any number is more powerful than 14. While that many PGA Tour wins doesn’t put him in the upper echelon of greats yet, it’s a robust number in the modern game and at his age and upside.
And in the modern World Golf Hall of Fame, a PGA, a Players and 14 wins makes him a first-ballot lock 18 years from now.
For subscribers, I posted a winners/losers round-up with the Masters in mind over at The Quadrilateral.
Michael Bamberger on Thomas turning around his game after a rough start to 2021.
Taking in that scene, it was hard to imagine Thomas on a plane, flying home from L.A. “My head was not in a good place then,” he said Sunday night. Flying home from Abu Dhabi, surely the same. Flying home from his grandfather’s funeral, the same. Sending texts to Tiger knowing they are going to his hospital room? That can’t be a good feeling. They should be planning a scouting trip to Augusta.
Thomas’s ballstriking performance was one for the ages and rights a ship that was running adrift. Had he not missed the 18th green with a sand wedge, Thomas would have done something six others had done at TPC Sawgrass, notes GolfDigest.com’s Brian Wacker:
Only six times in the history of the Players Championship has a player hit all 18 greens in regulation at TPC Sawgrass. Thomas was on pace to do that Sunday before his final approach came up a couple of inches short.
He didn’t mind.
Thomas is a maestro with an iron in his hand and he was all week, but especially so on Sunday. To lose more than two strokes putting on the field in the final round and still shoot four-under 68 speaks volumes about how good his ball-striking was.
As I noted here with the Masters in mind, seeing a notorious left-to-right player hit such distinct draws is one thing. Doing it under pressure on holes that give him fits may have been the final round highlight. (With a tip of the cap to the tracer.)
The social posts:
And a starry, starry night send off to the week:
The PGA Tour’s final round highlights:
"Oh, God. I couldn’t pick a worse person to hit into.”
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While the director’s extended cut sleeps with the fishes thanks to PGA Tour takedown efforts, a truncated version was farmed out to Skratch (embed below). Either way, we have two things to savor from Saturday’s fun involving Jordan Spieth hitting into Rory Sabbatini.
—No one was injured after Jordan Spieth accidentally hit into Rory Sabbatini, who is notoriously not shy about highlighting behavior he hates. Should be a fun morning on the range Sunday!
—The director’s extended cut of this “Every Shot Live” instant classic sleeps with the fishes thanks to PGA Tour takedown efforts. However, plenty saved it prior to the Global Home’s censorship division doing what they do best. Transcripts coming! Creep factor is off-the-charts!
Anyhow, Michael Bamberger summed up the scene here in the Big Brother world of modern pro golf:
As best you can hear on the video, somebody, likely Spieth, offers a full-throated “Fore right!” After a little back-and-forth chat on the tee, Spieth says, “Is that Sabbatini? Oh, God. I couldn’t pick a worse person to hit into.”
The observation was funny because it was true. Also, because it narrowed the divide between them and us. Who among us hasn’t done and said something right along the same lines?
Spieth and his third-round playing partner, Collin Morikawa, offered some more personal observations. Everyday stuff, really, except boom mics at PGA Tour stops seem to be more sensitive and on more often than they ever have been before. (Ask Spieth’s buddy, Justin Thomas.)
Earlier this week the Global Home texted a prescient reminder to players about hot-mic possibilities this week.
One Man's Pain Is Another Man's Gain, Files: Bryson Appreciates Hearing That Rory Regrets Pursuing Speed
/I know he’s not taking pleasure in Rory McIlroy’s struggles but pride that a peer recognized the difficulty of “chasing speed” while still playing good golf as Bryson DeChambeau has done.
From DeChambeau’s third round press chat where he was asked about McIlroy’s comments from the day prior.
Q. I don't know if you heard what Rory said yesterday about he got into chasing distance because of what you've done. How does that make you feel?
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: You know, I appreciate it, first off. The second comment I would have that -- I wasn't trying to influence anybody. I was just trying to play my own game and hit it as far as I possibly could. And I knew there was going to be an affect. I didn't know what it would be or who would be affected by it, but again, golf is a weird game. This journey that I'm on is not taken lightly. I've tried to figure out a bunch of different variables that you have to in order to hit it straight, hitting it really far. I knew that there would be some people that would try and some people it would potentially not work for them and some people it may help them. So I really don't know that, but I do appreciate Rory's comments, it's kind of a sentiment almost and something that keeps me going every day.
It’s a journey not to be taken lightly, that he has right!
Rory Cites "Speed Training" For Recent Struggles: "I'm sort of fighting to get back out of that. That's what I'm frustrated with."
/The sight of Pete Cowen watching Rory McIlroy no doubt generated plenty of Players range buzz.
But after McIlroy posted 79-75, the admission of struggles tied to his speed pursuit last fall should offer a cautionary tale. After round two at The Players:
Q. What are you most frustrated with?
RORY McILROY: Probably the swing issues and where it all stems from, probably like October last year, doing a little bit of speed training, started getting sucked into that stuff, swing got flat, long, and too rotational. Obviously I added some speed and am hitting the ball longer, but what that did to my swing as a whole probably wasn't a good thing, so I'm sort of fighting to get back out of that. That's what I'm frustrated with.
I felt like I made some good strides. I played well at TOUR Championship, played well at the U.S. Open. I sort of look back at Winged Foot and I look at my swing there, and I would be pretty happy with that again, and then after Winged Foot I had a few weeks before we went to the West Coast and I started to try to hit the ball a bit harder, hit a lot of drivers, get a bit more speed, and I felt like that was sort of the infancy of where these swing problems have come from. So it's just a matter of trying to get back out of it.
Hey, leave the West Coast out of this. We didn’t make you go all in on launch angle golf!
Sorry, go on…
Q. Not to play amateur psychologist, but you're obviously one of the longest players on the PGA TOUR. Why do you think you went down that route?
RORY McILROY: I think a lot of people did. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't anything to do with what Bryson did at the U.S. Open. I think a lot of people saw that and were like, whoa, if this is the way they're going to set golf courses up in the future, it helps. It really helps.
The one thing that people don't appreciate is how good Bryson is out of the rough. Not only because of how upright he is but because his short irons are longer than standard, so he can get a little more speed through the rough than us, than other guys. And I thought being able to get some more speed is a good thing, and I maybe just -- to the detriment a little bit of my swing, I got there, but I just need to maybe rein it back in a little bit.
Sounds like a good plan.
