Luck Will Have It! Aussie Curtis Wins U.S. Amateur

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Lucky because even Curtis Luck is a tough name for USGA President Diana Murphy to rearrange as only she can!

Not that he cares, as Luck wins golf's most prestigious amateur title and all of the perks that go with it. He becomes the third Aussie (Travis, Flanagan) and first wearer of a manbun to win the Havermeyer Trophy.

Sure, Luck dashed hopes for a trophy ceremony Grand Slam by President Murphy, but alas, the damage on the USGA leadership front has been done.

Ryan Herrington at GolfDigest.com writes about Luck's secret weapon on the bag, dad Curtis, who kept things light, allowing for a turnaround of epic proportions.

Rather than risk doing more damage with his putter, he conceded the par putt of his opponent, Brad Dalke, and walked off 1 down.

At that moment, Luck heard a voice offer some meaningful, albeit straightforward, advice.

“OK,” said Stuart Luck, Curtis’ 46-year-old father who doubled this week as his caddie, “now we need to play some good golf.”

The brief moment of levity—“He usually likes being very obvious with his statements out on the golf course,” Curtis would say later—helped the No.7 ranked amateur in the world shrug off the stumble and re-set himself.

Jeff Babineau at Golfweek.com notes in his game story that Luck will remain an amateur to enjoy the scheduling benefits that come with the title.

Luck, who will now stay amateur, can fill out his 2017 schedule with starts at the Masters (traditionally, the U.S. Am winner gets invited), U.S. Open and British Open, as well as traditional starts in PGA Tour events such as the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Memorial.

As for holding off on turning pro? As they say back home in Australia, no worries, mate.

“It was something I always was thinking might happen,” Luck said. “I’m very happy with staying amateur.”

Herrington also wrote about a fun touch by the Oakland Hills chef Dan Vallone.

Here are the USGA highlights.

And an interview with the winner.


Women's Olympic Ratings Wrap: Nice Final Day

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In spite of a forecast-driven tee time change that killed chances for a lengthy NBC look-in, viewers tuned in to Golf Channel for the medal day of women's Olympic golf. Hopefully some international numbers will trickle in at some point like they did with the men.

For Immediate Release...

Golf’s Return to the Olympics Posts Record Viewership for Women’s Golf
 
Golf Channel schedule for the Olympics featured the most live coverage ever for a women’s golf event (34.5 hours), which was bolstered all week with an additional 35.5 hours of live news coverage with Golf Central’s Live From The Olympics and Morning Drive. In total, Golf Channel dedicated 124 hours of programming to this week’s women’s golf competition and as a result, generated record-breaking viewership. Wrap-up of Men’s Final Round is below.
 
Saturday, August 20: Final Round

Golf Channel’s coverage of the conclusion of the Olympics’ women’s final round is the highest-rated and most-watched in more than six years for peak 90-minutes of coverage from any women’s stroke-play event on cable in any daypart, including primetime (11:15 am-12:45 pm ET; 0.54 US HH rating, 803,000 average viewers), dating back to the 2010 Women’s British Open on ESPN (8/1/2010; peak 90 minutes, .59 US HH rating, 824,000 average viewers).

Coverage peaked with 924,000 average viewers (12:15-12:30 pm ET), the most-watched peak finish for any women’s golf event on cable in more than six years since the 2010 Women’s British Open on ESPN (8/1/2010; peak finish, 1.275 million average viewers)

Despite leaders teeing off earlier than plan on the account of potential bad weather, average viewership for the final round (691,000 average viewers) was +77% vs. Friday’s comparable 3rd round coverage (390,000 average viewers)
 
Friday, August 19: Round 3

Golf Channel’s afternoon coverage of the third round is the most-watched third round in more than five years for any women’s stroke-play golf event on cable in any daypart, including primetime (Noon-3:36 pm ET; 0.28 US HH rating, 390,000 average viewers), dating back to the third round of the 2011 Women’s British Open on ESPN (7/30/11; 476,000).

Golf Channel’s Friday afternoon coverage of the third round was up 212% among average viewers and up 180% for U.S. household rating vs. the same Friday in 2012 opposite the London Games.
 
Thursday, August 18: Round 2

Golf Channel’s second-round coverage is the highest-rated live weekday round of any women’s golf event (at the time, now second behind Olympics Round 3) in more than two years in any daypart, including primetime (Noon-3:14 pm ET; 0.23 US HH rating, 316,000 average viewers), dating back to the second round of the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst (6/20/14; 0.44 U.S. HH rating on ESPN2).
 
Wednesday, August 17: Round 1

Golf Channel’s coverage tied as the highest-rated round one of any women’s golf event in 2016 (Noon-3:54 pm ET; 0.17 US HH rating, 217,000 average viewers), matching the rating for coverage of the ANA Inspiration Major Championship, which aired in primetime (3/31/16, 7:12-9:12 pm ET).

In general ratings news, New York's Eric Levit considers the fall in overall Olympic viewership numbers by the most important generation to have ever live, and wisely notes that even they get it wrong sometimes.

Women's Olympic Golf Set Up For Grand (And Starting Earlier For Weather) Saturday Conclusion

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After years of wondering about possible medal scenarios, we're set up for a fun finish to the women's Olympic golf, assuming the thunderstorms hold off and a few more fans show up. Friday's high winds produced some stellar golf and separated the leaderboard.

Steve DiMeglio sets up the concluding day, where Inbee Park looks to add to her Hall of Fame career with a gold medal, and who knows, possibly her last significant appearance on a grand stage. American Gerina Piller, still searching for her first pro win, played what she called a possible career round to get herself in the final group and in medal contention.

Park will also be pursued by Lydia Ko, vaulted herself into the medal race on the back of an 8th hole ace, her first ace ever in competition. Rex Hoggard on Ko's hopes to medal and face off with Inbee Park.

Here is the video.

China's Xiyu Lin previously made the first hole-in-one in women's golf history on Friday at the same hole, which, I can say having seen it in person, is no easy hole location to get to.

Bob Harig explains what happened to first round leader Ariya Jutanugarn, who was +12 thru 13 Friday before WD'ing with an injury.

Aditi Ashok was hanging in nicely through 10 but the winds and a tough stretch of holes took the Cinderella story out of contention. However, India's 18-year-old representative has nothing to be ashamed of.

Marianne Skarpnord found herself in a DJ-oscillate situation and it was all caught on camera along with the conversation with an official, all picked up thanks to an aggressive audio technician. Hoggard explains what happened and why the ruling went the way it did.

An unbylined IGF story ID's all of the family members caddying in the women's competition, and it's a long list.

Speaking of caddies, Mike Clayton is on the bag for Australia's Su Oh, who posted a 66 and moved to within five strokes of the bronze position. An unbylined Australian Olympic Committee story includes quotes from Oh mentioning her golf architect looper.

Here's the Golf Channel lowdown on Saturday's tee times, which were moved up due to an ominous afternoon weather forecast. :

-Live final round coverage of the Women’s Olympic Golf competition gets underway at 6 a.m. ET on Saturday morning on Golf Channel, immediately following Golf Central Live From the Olympics, airing from 5-6 a.m. ET.
 
-In order to avoid potential inclement weather in the afternoon, groups will be going off split tees on Saturday (No. 1 and 10), with the leaders beginning their final round at 7:39 am ET. Barring any playoffs, the expectation is for golf to conclude around 1 p.m. ET, with the medal ceremony immediately following.

Here is the latest on ratings:

Golf Channel’s second-round coverage is the highest-rated live weekday round of any women’s golf event in more than two years across all dayparts including primetime (Noon-3:14 pm ET; 0.23 US HH rating, 316,000 average viewers), dating back to the second round of the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst (6/20/14; 0.44 U.S. HH rating on ESPN2). Additionally, the Olympics round two is the most-watched Thursday of women’s golf coverage since round one of the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open on ESPN2 (6/19/14; 437,000 average viewers).

Olympic History For Brazil! First Slow Play Penalty

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You know Victorial Lovelady had to be taking her sweet time if they IGF official on the case, Grant Moir, was going to give the first slow play penalty in Olympic history to a host country participant.

After a dreadful pacing the first day that could be attributed to nerves, a tougher course and the overall slow play problem that plagues the game, players were warned to pick it up in round two. The difference was noticeably early on, but according to Alistair Tait, Brazil's Lovelady did not do enough after a 10th hole warning.

Lovelady, playing in the company of Tiffany Chan of Hong Kong and Swiss amateur Fabienne In-Albon, already had been warned for wasting time on the 10th hole. She was adjudged to have picked up a second bad time for taking too long on the par-4 15th, turning what should have been a par into a bogey.

Lovelady suggested she had to back off some shots because home country fans unaware of golf etiquette were making noise at the wrong times, prompting her to back off.

As Tait notes, some will see inequity given that the men were playing at a consistent 5 hour clip each day, which would seem to put a dent in the traditional player excuse that size of field is the problem. The field is more than half the size of the usual major golf event.

Shoot, even green speed can't be blamed, as the Rio Olympic course surfaces are in the 11-11.5 range, a good foot slower than a typical PGA Tour event or major.

Video: Tom Watson & Caddie Struggle Over A Simple Yardage

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I heard about it on social media and mercifully some brave soul posted it on YouTube. Undoubtedly the USGA will try to take it down, but I've been assured by all who know caddie Neil Oxman, his job and longtime friendship with Tom Watson is more than safe.

ProGolfWeekly.com sets up the situation from Scioto last week where Watson finished T54.

Here's the full clip on YouTube:

Women's Olympic Golf Is Here: First Round This And That

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They've been all in from the beginning. Player enthusiasm, a Commissioner who cleared the schedule and an intense desire from some nations to establish themselves through Olympic golf brings a potentially fun mix to the women's competition.

Olympic Broadcast Services has the action all day--glorious weather to start, so glorious the smells have even subsided--so check your local listings. In the U.S., Golf Channel will be on for nearly nine hours, starting with the opening 7:30 am (6:30 am ET) tee shot by Brazil's Miriam Nagl. According to this unbylined IGF story, she's proud to follow in the foosteps of Adilson da Silva, who gave such an inspired performance for the host country.

Not surprisingly, Lydia Ko is excited about playing for Olympic gold this week. With her ball striking and scrambling ability, she's an obvious favorite. Steve DiMeglio of USA Today on Ko's Monday media chat.

“I love my sleep and I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten up at 7 a.m. to watch someone else play,” Ko said about her alarm going off Sunday so she could go to the golf course and watch Team New Zealand’s duo of Danny Lee and Ryan Fox in the final round of the men’s tournament.

Inbee Park, the top ranked Korean and only Hall of Famer in the field, sounds more and more like her playing days are finished. Will this be her last start in a significant event? She wasn't saying, but she also made clear what her priorities are, as I file for GolfDigest.com.

The American contingent gave a great impression in their pre-Olympic press conference, and Bob Harig details the thoughts of Stacey Lewis, Lexi Thompson and Gerina Piller coming into the competition. (All three felt good about the course, Rio and the chance to go to the Closing Ceremony Sunday.)

Lexi Thompson's dad Scott is on her bag this week, Rex Hoggard reports.

Bill Plaschke notes that these games have been dominated by the American women, which would bode well for golf if golf ever made sense.

Jay Coffin on the room LPGA Tour officials made for the Olympics, with this nice zinger from Commish Mike Whan.

“I have a difficult time looking at somebody who is 25th on the money list and say ‘great job at the Olympics but now you’re 29th on the money list,’” Whan said. “That didn’t seem like it was going to play for us.”

Will there be another gold for Britain? Catriona Matthew and Charley Hull are strong medal contenders and are inspired by Justin Rose's win.

7 things you need to know about the competition from Golf Digest.

Your leaderboard watching can be done here.

Here is an IGF overview of the tee times.

And the groupings along with other info at the official Rio website.

Long Driver Sadlowski Retiring To...Play Pro Golf

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As much as I'd love to mention how the World Long Drive athletes and their form of higher, faster, stronger would fit in these Olympic Games in Rio, because it's a conversation to be tabled for another day.

However, Canada's Jamie Sadlowski is taking an unconventional path to pro golf: transitioning from elite (2-time) World Long Drive champion to Web.com Tour school. A.J. Voepel explains:

Sadlowski began competing in long drive events when he was 14 (he hit it 370 in his first qualifier). But there’s no questioning his overall game: he’s 3-for-4 in cuts made on the Web.com Tour, (the latest coming earlier this year and in 2015), and is also 1-for-2 in cuts made on the Mackenzie Tour- PGA TOUR Canada (his latest in 2013).

He explained on last night's Callaway Live:

This & That After Justin Rose's Gold Medal Win

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As the women prepare to take center stage, everyone at the Rio Olympic Golf Course is still buzzing about the men's competition.

If you're still interested in the men's side of things, here are just some of the stories that caught my eye in the aftermath of golf's return to the Games...

Golfweek.com with an excellent wrap up of the social media posts by players who teed up in Rio, starting with Justin Rose's Tweet. "Best week" would make for a relentless drinking game.

Rory texted Justin Rose a congratulations, Alistair Tait reports.

“I did get one from Rory. Absolutely. He said he was very, very proud, and said he was pulling for me. He said he could see how much it meant to me and congratulated me. He was very complimentary. Obviously, he watched.

“He made the point that he really wants golf to succeed as an Olympic sport. He has some opinions that are very personal to him, and that’s fine, but as a whole, he’s very, very much behind golf succeeding in the Olympics.”

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune says Sunday's finish earned golf its place in the Games.

Doug Ferguson with notes, including how a two-man aggregate team competition would have ended, how Jason Day watched one hole of the Olympics and Rickie Fowler's quick departure to go accrue points in North Carolina.
 

Rose won the gold but dropped two spots in the FedEx Cup points standings because the PGA Tour couldn't take a week off. Shoulda played the Deere Sir Justin!

Mike Johnson with Rose's clubs that won the gold.

Jay Coffin with Rose's thoughts on how he will display the medal, possibly.

Matt Kuchar will have to pay taxes on his USOC bonus money, oh, and he fell asleep with the bronze around his neck. Alex Myers with the explanation.

Henrik Stenson could be understood for feeling less excited about silver than Kuchar is about his bronze. Sam Weinman explains at GolfDigest.com.

I really hate dwelling on the number of golf pros who lacked the vision or love of sport to make the journey here. But, we must give them their due!

Joe Posnanski lets the absentees know that they "blew it" when it came to sitting out the Olympics, an easy thing to do now. Nonetheless, some of the slaps are enjoyable.

Interesting his memo is directed at Jordan Spieth, with others CC'd:

You blew it in two ways. One of those ways has been discussed at length but it remains true – you blew it for golf. It seems that in the countless warnings and cautions and bad omens leading into these Rio Games, you forgot something basic: Just how BIG the Olympics really are. Leave it to USA Boxing coach Billy Walsh, in his glorious Irish brogue, to explain: “There were, what, 40 million people around the world watching Pacquiao-Mayweather?” he asked. “We have 3.5 BILLION people watching the Olympics. Forget everything else. This is the biggest (bleeping) show on earth.”

The biggest (bleeping) show on earth, guys, and you had a chance to be a part of it.

Strong reactions from Nick Faldo and Rich Lerner on Golf Channel's Live From.

Analyst Nick Faldo: “The gold medal is bigger than our game of golf. This was putting golf on the biggest stage in the world, the Olympic Games, where we are just part of it.”

Host Rich Lerner: “This was a fresh breeze that blew right through the sport, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. There were far too many grim press conferences with some young golfers the last couple of months and there was just an awful a lot of negativity. And I think this is about the happiest I’ve seen the sport in a long, long time.”

 

And I explain at GolfDigest.com what happened to Justin Rose's winning ball. You won't believe where it sat for 45 minutes, or where it's headed.

A volunteer assigned to golf finally heard from Rio2016 that she was needed. Unfortunately she was still home in Spain, having never gotten a reply.