"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.

R.I.P. European Tour's Proposed Florida Swing

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The bizarre idea to play three European Tour events in Florida following the Masters has died. It was a two weeks old and a horrible idea from the start.

John Huggan with details of the condolences sent to European Tour members by Chief Keith Pelley.

“The concept of playing in the United States was always part of our continuing investigation to explore all avenues to allow you to play a full schedule,” wrote Pelley in his latest note to European Tour members, one seen by Golf Digest. “Even though we are not now going across the Atlantic, the offer to stage events in Florida was a generous one by the PGA Tour and shows the strength of the Strategic Alliance between our two tours that we announced late last year.”

How long before Strategic Alliance is trademarked?

Webb On Olympic Golf: "Going halfway around the world for that time frame in that part of our season is really tough"

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There are 11 Americans in the OWGR top 15, guaranteeing four spots in the Tokyo Olympic golf this July.

While Webb Simpson is currently the 8th ranked American, the date, location and time of year make it possible he will get called upon should players ahead of him pass.

And sounds like he’ll be passing too:

Q. Where do you stand on the Olympics?

WEBB SIMPSON: Oh, that's a tough one. I think it would be an honor to represent the country. Nothing against the Olympics, but I'm personally more interested in trying to win majors, The Players Championship, the FedExCup than be a medalist in the Olympics. Part of it is exciting for me, but the thought of going halfway around the world for that time frame in that part of our season is really tough for me to swallow.

I haven't made any kind of mental decisions yet, but it would be a hard one for me to go to, knowing what's at stake here on the PGA Tour.

While his playoff-motivated answer will no doubt delight the Ponte Vedra crowd, having players this year saying they’ll chose the playoffs over Olympic glory will not help make golf’s case for staying in the Games.

Men’s Olympic golf is scheduled to start in Tokyo on July 29th, just 11 days after The Open Championship concludes.

"The PGA Tour pro who saw COVID-19 coming"

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COVID-19 has been awful, unpredictable and it remains hard to fault most leaders for decisions they made with so many unknowns.

So it’s a bit much though not unexpected to see the PGA Tour trying to weave a fresh narrative related to last year’s Players Championship cancellation.

Two long features with identical details went live today (here and here) carving out the executive decision-making as historic, if slightly caught off-guard by last year’s cancellations in other arenas. Golf was the last major sport to shut down and did so reluctantly.

The Tour tried to forge ahead with a disastrous TV deal rollout and the Players even though warning signs of potential trouble were in place for weeks.

Lee Westwood, who stayed in England, could see the PGA Tour was moving slow to grasp reality. Lucas Glover lamented the lack of a proactive approach. And C.T. Pan was also not surprised by the direction of the virus and withdrew on Players eve (the only player not compensated for his time as a result).

GolfDigest.com’s Dave Shedloski caught up with Pan about his foresight, which looks downright prophetic compared to that of executives who still allowed a concert and first round to go on with fans, then told fans they could not come for round two before eventually cancelling the tournament.

Though it pained him to do so—truly, because the Players Championship is one of his favorite events—Pan withdrew that morning from the tour’s flagship tournament after it became obvious the strange new virus that he had heard about for months not only had gained a foothold in America but now was beginning to rage across the country. The coronavirus pandemic was taking hold.

“Yes, things happened fast between Arnold Palmer and Players, but to us, given what we had heard, we didn’t think things moved fast enough overall,” he said hesitantly, not wanting to offend or be critical of anyone. “Honestly, it’s hard to track the original time, but it seemed to have started back in November [2019] in China. It took only a few months to really spread with the European countries hit first. No one was really ready for it anywhere. The WHO [World Health Organization] was not telling us much. All I’m trying to say is that by last year at API it was already here.”

PGA Tour Aligns With Amazon Web Services To Build "Data Lake" For Golf History

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In a staggering move that has executives all over golf asking, why didn’t I think of that, the PGA Tour and Amazon Web Services have combined to create the single greatest piece of golf B-speak nonsense.

I’ll leave it to Sean Martin to reveal in this story for PGATour.com because it does involve the most exciting part of this announcement:

AWS will help the TOUR store real-time and historic content that will give fans and media access to content dating back to the 1928 Los Angeles Open. This “data lake” will contain video, audio and images that AWS technology will tag for easy cataloging. This will help the TOUR and its content partners search, review, annotate and package new content and give them instant access to key moments in the TOUR’s history.

Now that sounds fun. Let’s get that lake filled with data!

As for the real reason behind this deal...

In a newly announced partnership that promises to revolutionize how fans consume the game, the PGA TOUR has partnered with AWS as it looks to modernize the way golf content is created and distributed. The AWS partnership comes at the perfect time as the TOUR grows its global media services. A range of AWS services will be utilized in this new media landscape to simplify content delivery, create new digital experiences, and provide enhanced access to archived broadcast footage and highlights.  

“We are excited to utilize AWS media services to further enhance new and existing innovative services for our fans,” said Scott Gutterman, the PGA TOUR’s Senior Vice President, Digital Operations. “Features like Every Shot Live and TOURCast will now be powered by AWS, which will allow for a more streamlined process and overall better product for our fans.”

Translation: we’re going to help them get closer to real-time streaming so we can make live betting happen.

The Tour’s dreams of live betting is quite unattractive in a world where streamers get excited texts from their cable-subscribing friends and must wait ten seconds to find out what happeed.

These latency issues are hugely problematic when other fans (or other interested observers) can beat the linemakers and algorithms who are on a delay. AWS to the rescue for not just golf, but all of sports streaming.

Justin Thomas: "I'm...just worried for his kids"

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Even after learning of Tiger Woods’ serious car accident in Rolling Hills Estates, the PGA Tour went ahead with a pre-planned call featuring Justin Thomas.

Given how close he is to Tiger, it was admirable of Thomas to muster the mood to talk all things WGC and speak so movingly about his concern for Woods’ children.

Nine questions in he was finally asked about what should have been on the only topic in the minds of most press operations. And to see what was asked before and after shows why it might have been best not to have this session at all and just let Justin share his concern on social media.

But we have the Workday WGC at The Concession And Not In Mexico City to promote, promote, promote!

Q. How concerned are you that--if you were playing well when you had that success, how concerned are you with how you're playing at the moment?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I don't know if "concerned" is the right word. I obviously always want and wish to be playing better, but yeah, not exactly where I want to be with my game right now. But just like this game, you always work to try to get out of it when you're not doing your best. So just got to keep working on it and hope good things start happening.

Q. Justin, not the greatest question, but have you heard about Tiger and do you have any reaction to it?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I'm sick to my stomach. You know, it hurts to see one of your--now one of my closest friends get in an accident. Man, I just hope he's all right. Just worry for his kids, you know. I'm sure they're struggling.

Q. On a lighter note, you played the golf course today. One of the reasons that they call this course The Concussion was the greens. How are the greens and especially how are they as you chip up to them?

Oy. Vey. Gevalt.

The point missing here both on the PGA Tour and press side is just off the charts.

But again, tip of the cap to Justin Thomas for being a good sport in a trying circumstance.

Haney v. PGA Tour Moves To Restricted And Sealed Phase

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Rex Hoggard updates us on Hank Haney’s lawsuit against the PGA Tour for interfering in his ability to make a living. It sounds like the sides are talking.

Silence. There is a predictable ebb and flow to legal action when it comes to the Tour, and if this week’s filings were any indication, Hank Haney might be on the winning end of the recent silence.

Haney sued the Tour in 2019 after he was fired by Sirius XM Radio for racist comments regarding the LPGA. After being initially suspended by Sirius XM Radio, Haney was fired because, according to his lawsuit, the Tour had “long attempted to disrupt and interfere in Haney’s business” following the release of his book, “The Big Miss,” in 2012 that chronicled his years as Tiger Woods’ swing coach.

On Wednesday, the U.S. District Court of the Florida Southern District ruled that the docket for Haney’s case was “restricted/sealed until further notice” as the two sides continue mediation and discovery.

The Tour’s policy is to not comment on ongoing litigation, but if previous lawsuits are any indication (see Singh, Vijay) sealing the file is not a good sign for the circuit.

Rory Wins! Becomes First Non-American To Sit On PGA Tour Policy Board

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That’s Chairman McIlroy in 2022.

Not sure why he’d want this in his life but here goes…

Rory McIlroy elected PGA TOUR Player Advisory Council Chairman for 2021 

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – The PGA TOUR announced today that Rory McIlroy has been elected Chairman of the Player Advisory Council (PAC) by the TOUR’s membership for the 2021 calendar year. Voting ended on Thursday, February 11.

The 16-member PAC advises and consults with the PGA TOUR Policy Board (Board of Directors) and Commissioner Jay Monahan on issues affecting the TOUR.

Rory McIlroy, who prevailed over Russell Knox and Kevin Streelman, will succeed Jordan Spieth as a Player Director on the PGA TOUR Policy Board next year, serving a three-year term (2022-24). He will join James Hahn (2020-22), Charley Hoffman (2021-23) and Kevin Kisner (2020-22) on the Policy Board.

McIlroy, 31, of Northern Ireland, joined the PGA TOUR in 2010. An 18-time PGA TOUR winner, including the 2019 PLAYERS Championship and four major championships, McIlroy is one of two players to win multiple FedExCup titles (2016, 2019). When he assumes his role of Player Director in 2022, McIlroy will become the first international player to serve on the Policy Board, which dates back to the TOUR’s first season in 1969.

In November, the TOUR announced that the 2020 Player Advisory Council would extend its term through 2021 due to the vital role the PAC played in navigating the TOUR’s response to the pandemic. 

2021 Player Advisory Council
Ryan Armour
Paul Casey
David Hearn
Harry Higgs
Billy Horschel
Zach Johnson
Russell Knox 
Anirban Lahiri
Peter Malnati
Rory McIlroy (Chairman)
Ryan Palmer
Jon Rahm
Kevin Streelman 
Justin Thomas
Harold Varner III
Johnson Wagner

Daniel Berger Eagles Final Hole Of Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Blessedly Minus The Pro-Am

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How nice was it not to hear the words, “and there’s Larry The Cable Guy”?

Or, Ray Romano has come into view of our cameras.

Don’t get me wrong, I support the Pebble Beach pro-am concept and know that it brings in new fans to golf when certain entertainers or athletes are involved. But gosh it was fun to see Pebble Beach played an hour faster and unencumbered by former A-listers and briefcases.

Add in CBS presenting a zippier show than in the past filled with those stunning drone and blimp shots…

This was fun too:

A special shout-out must go to the PGA Tour staff using a fun mix of tees to liven-up the setup. From a 139-yarder at the 5th to Sunday’s shorter 10th tee, the switch-up from normal pro-am years was welcomed. And no change was more exciting than seeing players going for the 18th in two. The day culminated with this stunning final hole eagle by 2021 winner Daniel Berger (Steve DiMeglio’s Golfweek game story here):

The tenth tee setup Sunday got some nice graphics and social media support. Always great when course setup is highlighted…

And the PGA Tour photography team produced some beauties, including this:

A Sad Contrast In Field Strength: This Week's AT&T VS. Next Week's Genesis

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A quick review is in order to put the putrid turnout for the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am into perspective.

  • The Official World Golf Ranking puts the strength of field at 141.

  • Last week’s two events had strength of field scores of 395 and 463 (Saudi International and Waste Management Open).

  • The 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach features zero top 10 players and only five inside the top 50

  • The field has just 23 of the world top 100 and only 55 of the world top 200 WITH NO OTHER EVENT ON THE CALENDAR THIS WEEK.

  • There are 14 players outside the top 1000.

  • In 2020 the only fields with weaker SOF: Bermuda Championship, Sanderson Farms, Barracuda Championship, Safeway Open and Puerto Rico Open. The biggies.

  • There is no pro-am format this year, with play whittled to Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hills

  • John Daly is playing on a former PGA Champion exemption. That’s a tournament he captured 30 years ago this year. We are on our sixth American president since that win.

  • AT&T or some form of the corporation has been one of the tour’s longest running and most devoted sponsors now propping up two events featuring opposite-event quality fields.

Well, I guess you can’t say now-retired CEO Randall Stephenson’s company earned special interest thanks to his ongoing role seat on the PGA Tour Policy Board.

The event is obviously getting hit by a ton of surrounding “playing opportunities” of high quality or easy money (WGC Formerly of Mexico City).

Still, it’s Pebble Beach and one of the cornerstone events that built the Tour. Shameful.

But northern California’s loss is southern California’s gain. I’m not complaining, just sad for Pebble Beach.

Here is next week’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera sports a loaded field minus tournament host Tiger Woods.  

The numbers:

  • 7 of the world top 10

  • 20 of the world top 30

  • 30 of the world top 50

The tournament announcement summing up the field:

The Genesis Invitational field is highlighted by seven of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, including World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, World No. 2 Jon Rahm, World No. 3 Justin Thomas, World No. 4 Xander Schauffele, and World No. 6 Rory McIlroy. Johnson, the reigning FedExCup Champion and 2020 Masters Champion, is joined in the field by 2020 PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa (World No 7), and 2020 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau (World No. 9).

 The field features 19 past major champions in total including Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Gary Woodland and Adam Scott who returns to Riviera where we won in 2020. Scott is joined by past winners at Riviera J.B. Holmes (2019), Bubba Watson (2018, 2016, 2014), Johnson (2017), James Hahn (2015), and Charles Howell III (2007). California native Rickie Fowler is making his first tournament start at Riviera since 2014.

"Who performs best on Poa annua?"

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7th at Pebble Beach (Geoff Shackelford)

7th at Pebble Beach (Geoff Shackelford)

Ex-Golf Channel stats maestro Justin Ray has been doing especially stellar work of late and files this beauty on poa annua greens like those found at Pebble Beach.

As always, hit the link and I’m not pasting here who the top poa putters are but this bit was fascinating given how much players believe afternoon putting is impossible (and often looks so based on the ball bouncing):

Players have made 68.3% of putts from 4-8 feet on all putting surfaces since 2015. When isolating those numbers to just poa annua greens, the make percentage drops to 66.5%. While that differential of less than 2% sounds small, it can add up. For instance, that’s the difference in ranking 20th on TOUR in make percentage from that range and ranking 42nd. Putts made outside of 10 feet feature a smaller differential, as the make percentage drops from 15.2% on all surfaces to 15.0% on Poa.

And the tee time information was positively strange:

When a player tees off between 6 a.m. and 10:59 a.m. local time on a course with poa annua greens, they average +0.095 Strokes Gained: Putting per round. When teeing off from 11 a.m. through 4 p.m., that number drops to -0.086, a differential of nearly two-tenths of a stroke per round.

Make percentage between 5-10 feet tell a slightly different story – that green speeds changing during a round itself may impact putts made percentage. The earliest tee times – those from 6-8 a.m. – have a make percentage from 5-10 feet of 55.4%. When teeing off from 9-11 a.m. hour, that number drops to 52.4%, before incrementally increasing in the later tee times to 53.3%.

Ratings: 2021 Farmers With Reed Controversy Off Slightly On CBS, Golf Channel Ratings Take Hit Without Tiger

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Not much year-to-year change for CBS at the season-opening (for them) Farmers Insurance Open according to ShowBuzzDaily. The PGA Tour moving to CBS and the NFL taking the week off meant golf won the sports week.

The 2021 final round on CBS dropped slightly from a 2.14 averaging 3.24 million in 2020 to a 1.95/3.1 million in 2021. Coverage last year include Tiger Woods within striking range and coverage impacted by news of Kobe Bryant’s death.

Embedded in the numbers are some signs of the Woods effect and Golf Channel’s ratings rough patch.

Weekend lead-in coverage numbers were down significantly from 2020 when Woods was in contention. Friday afternoon’s coverage essentially cut in half without the legend around.

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Reed Mess Highlights The PGA Tour's Complicated Relationship With Golf

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So many forces and so many strange things happened down at Torrey Pines this weekend. There were winners, losers and warning signs.

I tried to put them together and what this means for the game, the rules and the rulemakers (who also run majors…The Quadrilateral’s focus).

This one is for paid subscribers only.

But the membership committee is not opposed to new subscribers.

Patrick Reed Continues To Bulldoze The Spirit Of The Rules

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Apparently no one told Patrick Reed to not touch the ball unless absolutely necessary. Golf’s like soccer that way.

And you certainly don’t do anything around the ball that could look like you are improving your lie. At least, in the old days before the PGA Tour transitioned to a players-first culture when Tim Finchem retired and marketers took over the executive ranks.

So even with an image-killing incident at the 2019 Hero World Challenge and other run-ins with lie improvement, Captain America has resumed his assault on the most important rule of all: playing the ball as it lies.

Sadly, his 2021 Farmers Insurance Open third round actions were not denounced by the PGA Tour in any way. Official Ken Tackett, who has stood down Bryson DeChambeau’s more absurd relief requests, was debuting in a new role for CBS that will see multiple rules staffers sit in to explain situations. Just a half hour into the new role he was put to a test and mopped up for Reed, sadly. In his defense, Tackett’s paycheck comes from the players. He technically works for Patrick Reed and a cult of personality based in Florida that believes PGA Tour golfers are above golf’s rules. Still, that Tackett could not call out Reed’s premature touching of his ball despite the incredulous reactions of CBS’s broadcast team, has a nefarious aging very poorly.

If you were not watching or following on social media this all sounds a tad silly so we’ll review the facts below for posterity. But there has been a great deal of focus placed on the way Reed’s ball bounced and then purportedly embedded. It is very true that it was almost impossible to embed and therefore need relief. However, Reed was clearly told by a volunteer that she did not see the ball bounce. Fine.

But any elite golfer does not engage in what Reed proceeded to do next: pick up the ball and drop it aside while declaring it embedded, but wanting a second opinion too. If it’s even possibly embedded, you mark and slightly lift up, holding the ball with two fingers to replace it as it sat, and do this preferably under the supervision of a playing partner or official.

Instead, this is what happened:

A careful or proper approach did not happen because Patrick Reed has a complicated relationship with playing the ball as it lies. Especially since after an incident like Saturday’s where he’s (reportedly) told his actions were “textbook,” as he claimed in post round interviews. (A follow-up interview of PGA Tour rules official John Mutch confirmed this to Golf Channel.)

Let’s review some of the evidence, starting with the tape of Reed approaching his ball and starting off ok by yelling to his playing partners he was checking for an embedded lie—but then spiraling from there.

The volunteer was wrong, the ball did bounce and while that was an unfortunate mistake, Reed picking up the ball as quickly as he could AND discarding it, instead of holding it in his fingers to replicate the lie should it not be embedded, suggested he had no intention of ever playing from that lie.

By the time rules official Brad Fabel arrived, there was nothing much for him to look at but the “lip” of the embed he apparently detected under finger after having asked where the ball had gone.

Then there is the bounce issue. The PGA Tour was supposed to have a rules official monitoring telecasts and this would have been a fine moment for that official to radio in that the tee shot bounced. This would signal that Reed’s ball probably did not embed. However, everything transpired quickly and with Reed having moved the ball, it may have all been moot.

The bounce shows an embed was highly unlikely:

After the round CBS stayed on many minutes past their allotted time to break down the situation and wait out Reed, who was busy on his cell phone. The entire time the CBS on-air was skeptical of the story and claims, including lead announcer Jim Nantz who interviewed Tackett after hearing Reed’s case. Tackett made an even less compelling case that Reed had conducted himself professionally the second time around.

Jay Rigdon at Awful Announcing covered the first effort just 35 minutes into the telecast, which was also did not inspire confidence.

Twitter was also not kind to the on-air official.

The quibbling will continue and Reed will have to live with the consequences. But make no mistake: he has openly exhibited a contempt for the spirit of the rules. The PGA Tour has not given any indication this is a problem.

In the good ole days this would have just been one of those “silly rules of golf” things that people could have mocked. However, with legalized betting and the PGA Tour’s hard push of that new revenue source, a cavalier approach to the rules and the players who bend them will ultimately prove disastrous.

Rory’s Running For PAC Chairman, Should Knox And Streelman Even Bother?

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Rory McIlroy must really love talking slow play and strategic alliances because as Rex Hoggard reports, the Northern Irishman-turned-Floridian is setting himself up for a full time job in addition to playing: Player Advisory Council Chairman.

McIlroy would become the first non-American to ascend to the job, which also puts the election victor on the PGA Tour Policy Board.

Meetings in a natural light setting await!

From Hoggard on McIlroy’s interest in boosting the recently announced “landmark strategic alliance” between the PGA Tour and European Tour:

“I’ve enjoyed being on the PAC the last couple of years and I think that with what’s happening between the PGA Tour and the European Tour I have the ear of the PGA Tour and I have the ear of the European Tour,” McIlroy said following his opening-round 68 at the Farmers Insurance Open. “I just feel like I’ve been around a long time and I feel I can maybe help facilitate things and maybe guide things in a certain direction for what I think is better for everyone.”

He also likes conference calls and votes that count:

“I’ve enjoyed getting to know more about the Tour business, I’ve enjoyed being a part of the calls that went into being able to play out here with COVID conditions,” McIlroy said. “Sometimes on the PAC it’s great to be involved and it’s great to have your voice heard but that’s all it does. You don’t have a vote and being PAC chair, being on the policy board you have a vote and your voice actually counts.”