MEDIA ADVISORY: "Bivens Fully Aware That She Will Be Asked Tough Questions"

From The Golf Channel:

LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens to Answer her Critics on Friday’s Sprint Post Game on The Golf Channel

WHO: Carolyn Bivens                      Commissioner, LPGA Tour

Steve Sands                          Sprint Post Game Host

Brian Hewitt                           Sprint Post Game Analyst

WHAT: Carolyn Bivens will appear on Friday’s Sprint Post Game news program on The Golf Channel, following the conclusion of the third round of the Evian Masters.  Fully aware that she will be asked tough questions, Sprint Post Game will provide a forum for Bivens to answer her critics, explain her positions and to defend her record.

Yes, fully aware that they'll be doing something unusual, like actually asking tough questions!

WHEN: Sprint Post Game

Friday, July 28, 9:30 – 10:30 p.m. ET

WHERE:The Golf Channel

This ought to be fun. I mean, to see if The Golf Channel asks tough questions...

26!

Gary D'Amato reports on Corey Pavin's front nine 26 at Milwaukee:

"I've never done anything like that before," Pavin said. "It was pretty exciting for me. It was quite a front nine and rumor has it it's a scoring record on the Tour, which is nice. It was just kind of a magical nine."

Pavin birdied the first six holes, missed a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-3 seventh and then birdied Nos. 8 and 9.

"I kind of messed up (No.) 7, didn't I?" he said.

His 26 broke the Tour's nine-hole record of 27, shared by four players, including Andy North of Madison. Robert Gamez recorded the most recent 27 in the third round of the 2004 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Pavin had a legitimate chance to become the fourth player in PGA Tour history to shoot a 59, but missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-3 14th and failed to get up and down for birdie from 40 yards on the par-5 15th.

Here's Pavin's scorecard, with that lone par on the front nine.

And how long before this prompts a post on Bomb and Gouge or you know where about how all is well because the Tour's shortest hitter just shot 61?  

"What is your favorite color?"

Thanks to reader Charlie for submitting this year's leader in the clubhouse for Rally Killer of the Year Award.

Q: Your father is not your caddie anymore. Do you miss having him on the bag?
MICHELLE WIE: Honestly, not really. (laughter)

Q: What don't you miss?
MICHELLE WIE: Umm, well he is in the room. No, but it was fun when he caddied for me, but he is getting old. He cannot carry that big bag around. He wouldn't make it around. (laughter)

Q: What is your favorite color?
MICHELLE WIE: I like all different kind of colors, purple, pink, blue, green. Pink I like, obviously because I am a girl. I really like all different kind of colors. It really depends on my mood. When I am really, like morbid, I really like black. But I like all different kinds of colors.

Ben and Stewart

Sounds like, ah I won't go there. Gary D'Amato writes about the "special friendship" between Stewart Cink and Ben Crane, who have bonded.

Part of the bonding process included a hiking trip where Crane and Cink go separated from their group. (Insert slow hiker joke here.)

Taking AIM With Michael Bamberger

Sports Illustrated writer Michael Bamberger has authored this week's cover story on Tiger Woods's win at Hoylake as well as a new book on director M. Night Shyamalan and his new film.

After returning from Hoylake, Bamberger kindly took a few minutes chat about The Open Championship for this site's occasional Taking Aim series.

GeoffShac:    Your game story focused on Tiger, but I'm curious what you thought of Hoylake

MBamberger:    I thought Hoylake looked dull, and there was nothing about it that would make me want to play it. But when you heard the players talking about, especially Tiger, it was a reminder that they see courses completely differently.

GeoffShac:    so even after seeing how it rewarded thought, you still can't get excited about it?

MBamberger:    I'd play it in a minute, because I think you can understand these courses only if you've played them yourself. But no dunes, no sea, no wind--nothing to get too excited about.

GeoffShac:    What did you think of the weekend hole locations?

MBamberger:    Excellent. Kept the players on their toes. The R&A did a superb job of setting up the course.

GeoffShac:    Andy North and Nick Faldo hinted that some were a bit over the top, with many seemed to be designed to induce pars after the low scoring over the first 36. No?

MBamberger:    I didn't feel that--just progressively harder over the course of the week, which I think is appropriate.

MBamberger:    The greens were puttable--if that's a word--so that you could put the hole most anywhere.

MBamberger:    But to chip it and pitch it you needed big-time game.

GeoffShac:    Where does this performance of his rank among his best and others you've seen?

MBamberger:    It was a stirring performance because of his father's death, his year, the leaderboard. But hitting one driver, and playing links golf in little wind, it's not the complete test an Open sometimes is. Still, an inspiring thing to be around.

GeoffShac:    Do you view it as a weakness of Hoylake that it did not force him to hit driver?

MBamberger:    No, not Hoylake's fault. Damn ball goes too far.

GeoffShac:    Ah, good answer!

GeoffShac:    Did you play any golf over there, or was it all work?

MBamberger:    Usually I play, but this time I didn't.

GeoffShac:    Have you ever played or seen links golf in conditions like the players saw at Hoylake?

MBamberger:    I wans't there, but when I asked Tiger about his win at St. Andrews win 2000, when I was writing him up as Sportsman of the Year for the magazine, he kept going back to how still it was.  I couldn't get him off that.

GeoffShac:    And finally, I have to ask about your new book...

GeoffShac:    how did that come about?

MBamberger:    The Night book?

GeoffShac:    Yep

MBamberger:    I met him, was struck by him, asked if I could hang out with him. He said yes and I wrote it up as I saw it.

GeoffShac:    This is two non-golf books in a row (basically, not including your fine anthology from last year)...will you be getting back to golf or sports with your next?

MBamberger:    I appreciate the question, Geoff, but I'm looking forward to just working my day job for a while--no plans at all.

GeoffShac:    Cool. Keep up the great work and thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions

MBamberger:    A pleasure, Geoff, and thanks for all you're doing to help keep the game sane. You play Sebonack yet?

GeoffShac:    no, but I sure hope to see it soon...I'm sure it's interesting, though maybe not as interesting had Doak been able to do it by himself :)

Rubenstein: Don't Forget Nicklaus In '66

Lorne Rubenstein writes in his latest column (if the first link doesn't work, try this Google Canada search page) about a similar no-driver strategy employed by Jack Nicklaus in 1966.

Jack Nicklaus did something similar when he won the 1966 British Open at the Muirfield Golf Club in Gullane, Scotland, except that he used his driver 17 times out of 56 opportunities.

The ball didn't fly as far then, even for Nicklaus, so the strategies are comparable.

Nicklaus, then 26, and golf's powerhouse as Woods is today, used his driver on most holes during his first practice round. He used the driver fewer and fewer times in subsequent practice sessions, until, as he wrote in The Greatest Game of All, his early autobiography, he came to a conclusion.

"By the eve of the championship there was only one hole, the long fifth, where I planned to drive with my driver in any wind, and there were only a handful of other holes, all lengthy par-fours, where I planned to take my driver in certain kinds of wind," Nicklaus said. "Everything considered, this amounted to the best preparation I had ever given a tournament in terms of learning a specific course."

Rubenstein also shares some of his email exchanges with Donald Steel on the Hoylake and his design career. 

"You don't see shots like that in the U.S."

Gary Van Sickle in this week's SI Golf Plus, writing about Hoylake and helping to make up for the Monarrez debacle:

Yes, Royal Liverpool had issues: The traffic was terrible, with the worst backups at any major since the 1993 U.S. Open at Baltusrol, and daily crowds of 40,000-plus made spectating difficult. But the course itself was a winner. It was resistant to scoring, especially considering the weather and the lack of wind, the main defense of a links. Colin Montgomerie said the course was so fast that it must've been playing at "about 5,500 yards in real terms" rather than the 7,258 yards on the scorecard. Plus, with four par-5s reachable for everybody -- even short-hitting Fred Funk eagled the 18th -- par was really 70, if not 69. Knock two strokes off par and Woods's winning score of 270 is only 10 under. Not bad for a course that held its first Open in 1897 and was part of Bobby Jones's Grand Slam in 1930.

The bunkers are the thing at Royal Liverpool. There are 92 of them, and they're deep, have steep faces and are placed exactly where they can cause the most damage. The fairway bunkers especially are in essence one-stroke penalties. To avoid them Woods put the two-iron in his bag for the first time in eight months. "It's the best-bunkered course I've ever played," said Jerry Kelly, who finished 26th. "I'm one of the straightest players out here, and even I was hitting three-irons off the tee to stay short of them. They're no picnic."

During the third round Kelly did wind up in one. Short-sided at the par-4 7th, he blasted his ball as high as he could, then watched as it ran downhill and into the cup for an unlikely birdie. He raised his arms as if to say, Can you believe that?

You don't see shots like that in the U.S. With luck, we'll see them again at Royal Liverpool.

Curtis Cup Reminder

Gerry Dulac ponders Carol Semple Thompson's task as Curtis Cup captain this week. This is a good time to issue a VCR/DVR reminder that Golf Channel will be airing the Curtis Cup from Tom Doak's Pacific Dunes.

TGC air times:  Saturday 7/29    7:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET, Sunday 7/30    7:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET

Golfdom Double Feature: Blogging and Bunkers

Now posted is my Golfdom feature on blogging and my July column on potential impact of the Muirfield Village bunker furrowing on the golf maintenance world. The column includes this plea:

"The game and expected conditions have simply gotten too expensive for the average facility to sustain, and bunker maintenance is a very expensive part of most budgets," Coldiron said. "Golfers expect what they see on TV tourneys on a daily basis."

Working with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America staff and superintendents Kerry Satterwhite and Sandy Queen, Coldiron is attempting to develop a public golf forum at the Golf Industry Show next year that deals with ways to help public course superintendents who are bearing the brunt of a struggling game.

"Although Muirfield and the tour are doing this furrowing for different reasons, the return of bunker maintenance to a more reasonable level will help make the game more affordable in the long run," Coldiron says.

The group wants to address how the pressures of reduced revenue and increased cost have put undue pressure on many superintendents and their operations. But instead of beating a dead horse, Coldiron and friends want to offer insights, ideas and hopefully support to the unique situation faced by many public golf operations.

He would like your advice on topics and speakers who can lend ideas to struggling facilities. E-mail him at turfman@one.net

Van Sickle Looping

Gary Van Sickle is caddying this week for Andy North, which means Van Sickle will have to do double duty: loop and come up with one-liners:

I overslept due to severe jet lag, got started late and didn't get to the course until 10:10. As I hustled to the range, I noticed North was already out there hitting balls. As I walked up, he was being pulled aside by a TV crew for an interview. "I'm late," I told him. He grinned. "Can a caddie get fired on his first day? Is that possible?" he joked.

I went over to his bag to wait, took the towel over his bag and dipped it into one of the buckets of water located behind the hitting area. A good caddie always has a towel with one wet end so he can wipe down clubs and golf balls. North already had two dirty clubs from hitting balls so I spiffed them up. Just part of the job.

"The essential problem with the British Open is that it's always played on links courses"

Sounds to me like Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press has spent a few too many days under the hot sun studying the misunderstood genius of Warwick Hills. Or, he just needed to fill some column space.

I've made up my mind. I hate the British Open.

And don't give me this "cradle of golf" and "oldest championship" argument. I don't care. If you want antiquity, go visit pyramids.

This is golf. Or at least it's supposed to be golf. Instead, we have to watch the best golfers in the world strike balls that land and roll another 50 yards on courses so rock-hard and dried-out they make I-94 look soft and supple. And I'm getting tired of it.

I'm tired of seeing so many pot bunkers in play it makes the course look like the face of an acne-riddled teenager.

This is special:

The essential problem with the British Open is that it's always played on links courses. The U.S. Golf Association's definition of a links course is "tracts of low-lying, seaside land (that) are characteristically sandy, treeless and undulating, often with lines of dune ridges and covered by bent grass or gorse."

Basically, these courses were built on fallow ground that linked the sea to farmland. My bet is that golf was invented when two Scotsmen looked at the useless land and one said to the other, "Fancy a game of hitting a rock with a stick for four hours?" If only the other guy had said, "Nah, let's visit the pyramids," we all would have been a lot better off.

Dealing With Slow Play

Golfweek's Jim Achenbach gets plenty of interesting reader mail on slow play remedies.

Bamberger: Once More, With Feeling

From Michael Bamberger's Sports Illustrated game story on the Open Championship:

But links golf has always been about iron play -- and wind. By Tiger's count, he missed only three iron shots all week. O.K., the wind was very meager, not a totally thorough test. Still, in an era when the long iron is practically dead, Woods showed his long-iron play is alive and well. He controlled his distances by controlling the trajectory. The excellence of his strikes was announced by the clouds of dirt and grass kicked up by his clubhead.

Will he get to 19 professional majors, one past Nicklaus's record total and Woods's holy grail? It'll be hard. One a year from 2007 through 2014, when he'll be 38, would do it, but that's a huge task. Yes, golfers these days are competitive beyond 40. Tom Watson and Fred Funk, combined age 106, made the cut last week. But Woods has been playing on the big stage for 15 years already. For any pro to play at the top of his game for a decade is substantial. With all that he has accomplished, it's daunting to think he has nearly a decade more to go (at one a year).

But we know more about him now, this golfer and man in transition, than we did when he stood on the 17th green on Saturday, when he could have gone either way in the championship's final 19 holes. We know now that Tiger Woods, playing for his mother and his wife and himself and his legacy and in his father's memory, is capable not only of stunning golf, but also of summoning his talent when he most wants it. It didn't happen at Augusta, it didn't happen at Winged Foot, but it happened at Royal Liverpool, and one for three in golf is outstanding. We know that he's evolving as a man in appealing ways. (Nicklaus did the same in his 30s.) We know now that his father's death did not rob him of emotion. If anything, it did the opposite.

Tiger's long, sobbing postvictory hug with Williams brought to mind another famous golf embrace. Not the hug Tiger shared with his father in '97, when he won the Masters for the first time, at age 21, by 12 shots. That was all about, "We did it." That was all about, "We showed 'em." The hug on Sunday brought to mind a scene at Augusta in '95, when the winner, Ben Crenshaw, was comforted by his caddie, Carl Jackson, days after Gentle Ben had buried his teacher and surrogate father, Harvey Penick. The SI cover line was, ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING. Still works.

Dawson To Carnoustie: Get Brown

Mike Aitken writing in The Scotsman:

Carnoustie has been instructed by the Royal and Ancient to turn off the sprinklers and prepare a links for next summer's 136th Open championship which echoes the brown of Royal Liverpool rather than the lush greenery of Augusta.

Well aware the last Open held at the Angus course in 1999 was the most controversial of recent times - the test was so difficult the players dubbed the links "Carnasty" and Paul Lawrie's winning score of 290 was six over par - the R&A has also pledged to monitor the conditioning of the course over the next 12 months and ensure there is no repeat of the penal high rough which lined narrow fairways at the 128th Open.

At Hoylake yesterday morning, Peter Dawson, the chief executive of the Royal and Ancient, was asked if he shared the concerns of those who regard the presentation of the Angus links as the polar opposite of the fast, running course which hosted the most recent championship. Although it looked beautiful, Carnoustie was perhaps too verdant earlier in the season. It almost seemed as if the links had become a venue better suited to hosting the US Open, the pinnacle of narrow fairways and high rough, rather than the seaside game played on the ground at the Open.

Dawson replied: "Interestingly, we have had conversations with Carnoustie on exactly this point. They've turned the sprinklers off for us over the past few weeks and we're going there next week to see how brown it is.
 
"We think Carnoustie is a terrific venue, a great golf course which will put on another fantastic Open. But I must be honest and say we have a view that it could be a bit drier. Not that it's soft. It's just not as hard and fast as one would traditionally like to see."

And what's our favorite in-house architect for a governing body doing at Carnoustie?

Dawson also confirmed the changes at Carnoustie to the third, sixth and 17th holes. "We've worked on three holes. The third has been re-configured quite substantially. On the 17th, the right hand side of the driving zone has been mounded. At the last Open there that was a flat area covered by rough. Since the rough has been taken away and re-turfed, it didn't grow back very well. So we put in mounding. And the bunkering on Hogan's Alley has been adjusted."

Faldo-Azinger Pairing May Return For Future Opens

Richard Sandomir writing in the New York Times:

Faldo has already signed a new deal with the Golf Channel, but he said that he could work for ABC during the next three British Opens, while he expects Azinger to return to playing more regularly.

Norby Williamson, the senior vice president for production for ESPN and ABC Sports, said: “We’re interested in pursuing a course of action that keeps them together. We’re in discussions with Paul.”

Sandomir also has this on Sunday's rating:

Perhaps the thought of such an unsightly delicacy sent Sunday’s final-round overnight rating down 4 percent, to a 5.0.

Everywhere else it was reported as being up (4.9 to 5.0 generally seems like an increase, but maybe not to the paper of record?). Toni Fitzgerald in Media Life reports the rating was up 2%:

Ratings for this year’s two previous majors were down compared to last year, and the Tour, desperate to end its late-summer and fall declines, is one year away from instituting a first-ever season-ending playoff structure in hopes of goosing viewership.

Thus even a small boost for Sunday’s British Open ratings had to be considered good for the game. Woods’ victory, his first major championship of the year, averaged a 5.0 overnight household rating Sunday, up 2 percent over last year’s 4.9 when Woods also won the tournament.

If final ratings released later today hold, the final round could rank as the second-best final round in the past two decades, trailing only Woods’ record 6.4 for his 2000 victory...