The Fried Egg Podcast: Is An Equipment Rollback On The Horizon?
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Andy Johnson and yours truly chatted about an array of topics, with a focus on the distance rollout and the repercussions for players and course design.
Hope you enjoy!
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
2022 Valspar Ratings Stink; The Players Lowest In At Least 20 Years
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We should draw a line through ratings for the rain-delayed, Gold Man-infused 2022 Players. But it’s still notable that live action during the weekend windows drew such putrid ratings for NBC.
Paulsen at SportsMediaWatch.com writes:
Monday’s rain-delayed final round of The Players Championship averaged 1.35 million viewers on Golf Channel, with the conclusion of the third round putting up 302,000 earlier in the day. Weekend coverage on NBC averaged a 1.6 and 2.56 million last Saturday and a 1.8 and 2.91 million last Sunday, the latter the tournament’s smallest Sunday audience in at least 20 years.
Some of this has to be the rain-delay forcing second and third round coverage into the NBC windows Saturday and Sunday. But the network’s inability to market “the product” like they could just a few years ago should be a concern down at the Global Home.
Last weekend’s 2022 Valspar was won for the second year in-a-row by Sam Burns and rated ever-so-slightly better than the Honda Classic in the same slot last year.
But both were hammered by the NCAA tournament but the Valspar at least drew a strong field. The ratings affirm that golf can’t compete with a surging NCAA Tournament and continuing a rough start to the PGA Tour’s 2022 Nielsen numbers. Going against Saturday’s 5.18 rating for Michigan-Tennessee and Sunday’s 6.19 for Duke-Michigan State, the Valspar was not able to crack a 1 on Saturday and drew a 1.49 Sunday.
The Honda Classic in the same post-Players/NCAA first weekend slot as the ‘22 Valspar:
Oakland Hills Adds 2034, 2051 U.S. Open's And Four More Amateur Championships
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The USGA staved off, well, no one by securing Oakland Hills for future majors and top amateur events. The latest announcement adds to previously announced U.S. Women’s Opens for the fabled South Course.
For Immediate Release for championships not immediately happening:
LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. (March 22, 2022) – Historic Oakland Hills Country Club, in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., has been selected as the host site for the 2034 and 2051 U.S. Open Championships as well as four additional prestigious USGA amateur championships, starting in 2024.
“We could not be happier to bring six additional championships to such an iconic venue as Oakland Hills,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA chief championships officer. “Since its first U.S. Open in 1924, Oakland Hills has provided a supreme test for the game’s very best, and it will continue to do so for professionals and amateurs alike in the coming years.”
Adding to the two U.S. Opens and the two U.S. Women’s Opens in 2031 and 2042 announced in January, Oakland Hills’ South Course will host the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur, 2029 U.S. Women’s Amateur, 2038 U.S. Girls’ Junior and 2047 U.S. Amateur. The club is set to host a total of eight USGA championships between 2024 and 2051. It will become the fifth club to have hosted a U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur, with Pebble Beach set to join those ranks when it hosts the U.S. Women’s Open in 2023.
“This is a significant and meaningful day for all of us at Oakland Hills,” said Rick Palmer, club president. “The commitment of two U.S. Opens as well as four top amateur championships is a testament to the fabulous work of everyone at Oakland Hills. With a total of eight USGA championships coming to our club starting in 2024, we can’t wait to add to our storied history. We look forward to continuing our championship golf tradition at Oakland Hills and our long-standing relationship with the USGA.”
The South Course at Oakland Hills, also known as “The Monster,” was designed by Donald Ross and opened in 1918. It was renovated by Robert Trent Jones Sr. (1950), Rees Jones (2006) and Gil Hanse (2021). The most recent restoration, which aimed to return the property to its original early 1900s layout, included tree removal throughout the property and the reshaping of all 18 greens to their original specifications.
The club has played host to 11 USGA championships in its 104-year history, including six U.S. Opens, two U.S. Senior Opens, two U.S. Amateurs and a U.S. Women’s Amateur. In addition, Oakland Hills has also hosted three PGA Championships and the 2004 Ryder Cup.
The 2034 U.S. Open will take place 110 years after the first U.S. Open at Oakland Hills in 1924, when Cyril Walker prevailed over defending champion Bob Jones by 3 strokes. Ralph Guldahl won the first of his two consecutive U.S. Opens in 1937. In 1951, Ben Hogan won his third U.S. Open in four years, saying it was the “toughest 18 holes I’ve ever seen.” The 1961 edition saw Gene Littler capture his only major title and Jack Nicklaus earn low-amateur honors at age 21. In 1985, Andy North claimed his second U.S. Open, and in 1996, Steve Jones became the first U.S. Open champion to go through final qualifying since Jerry Pate in 1976.
Nicklaus would go on to claim a USGA title at Oakland Hills in 1991, when he won the U.S. Senior Open. Glenna Collett Vare (1929 U.S. Women’s Amateur) and Arnold Palmer (1981 U.S. Senior Open) are also among the legendary champions to hoist a USGA trophy at Oakland Hills.
To date, Michigan has been home to 33 USGA championships across 16 host sites.
State Of The Game 120: Latest Distance Report Analyzed
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Rod Morri, Mike Clayton and yours truly discussed the long-awaited follow-up from the USGA and R&A.
We discussed some of my reporting and comments from the R&A’s Steve Otto, featured here.
As always, State of The Game is available wherever podcasts are streamed. Or you can check it out here at the show’s page. Or just listen via the embed:
Mickelson Out Of The 2022 Masters; Winners And Losers
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Sports Illustrated’s Bob Harig was first to notice contrary to some meager press reports sidestepping credit. He filed a report here on Phil Mickelson sitting out the 2022 Masters and how the past-champion-not-playing status came to be.
Walker Cup Gets Moved To Even Numbers Years Starting In 2026
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The move of the biennial team matches to even number years implies the schedule impact of golf in the Olympics and a chance to help the World Amateur Team Championships apparently motivated the decision.
The announcement sets up matches in 2025 at Cypress Point and in 2026 at a UK venue to be determined, with previous announced U.S. venues Bandon Dunes and Oakmont moving up a year.
For Immediate Release from the R&A:
THE R&A AND THE USGA MOVE THE WALKER CUP MATCH TO EVEN YEARS BEGINNING IN 2026
21 March 2022, St Andrews, Scotland: The R&A and the USGA today announced that the Walker Cup match will be contested in even years from 2026 onwards.
The shift moves the biennial men’s team match between Great Britain and Ireland and the USA away from the World Amateur Team Championships which will be played in odd years beginning in 2023.
Phil Anderton, Chief Development Officer at The R&A, said, “We have looked at this carefully with the USGA and believe that this change creates the best schedule for the players and for the Walker Cup match itself. The Walker Cup is at the forefront of men’s amateur golf and we want to ensure that its status is reflected in its position in the golfing calendar.”
“The re-emergence of golf in the Olympic Games has had a ripple effect on the overall golf calendar and this is just the next step in that as we make sure team competitions have a balanced schedule and in this case, encourage participation by the world’s best amateurs without unnecessary conflict,” said John Bodenhamer, chief championships officer, USGA.
The World Amateur Team Championships announced in 2020 that it would move to odd years to avoid a same-year conflict with the Summer Olympic Games.
The 49th Walker Cup match will be contested from 2-3 September 2023 at St Andrews. The home of golf has hosted eight previous Walker Cups, more than any other venue, most recently in 1975, when the USA defeated GB&I, 15½-8½.
And in the buried lede department, the announcement also moves the 2034 U.S. Open scheduled for Oakmont up a year to 2033.
It’s not clear if the two have much link or if the USGA just wanted to free up 2034 for Oakland Hills.
Asian Tour Loses Its London Stop Before It Was Ever Played
/Reader R pointed out that the Asian Tour schedule no longer features the previously June stop near London because that event is now on the LIV Invitational circuit’s 2022 schedule.
The Asian Tour announcement for the new “international series” was on February 1 and the London stop was the centerpiece for growing the tour along with an additional $100 million from the Saudi sugar fund.
"We are on the threshold of a new era for Asian golf," said Cho Minn Thant, Asian Tour commissioner and CEO.
"The International Series is a new upper-tier of elite events, the likes of which the region has not seen before, that will mark the start of a phenomenal period of growth for the Asian Tour.
"It also signifies the beginning of our relationship with our new strategic partner LIV Golf Investments and its CEO Greg Norman."
Indeed it did.
Distances That Were Supposed To Level Off Are Growing At A Steady Rate
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From the R&A/USGA 2021 Distance Report
No kidding, right? But there are also numbers showing the PGA Tour’s longest have leveled off again. So Mike Stachura considered the USGA/R&A distance report and boiled a key number that might justify not only a hard stand but the dreaded “r” word.
Then again, there is a fundamental difference between looking at the rate of growth in distance compared to the actual growth. In the last five years, distance on the PGA Tour is increasing at a rate of about a yard per year. That’s less than half what it was in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but more than double the rate from 1980-95. And when those increases are coming on top of a driving distance average that is in the mid-290s now compared to the low 260s then, that’s what has the ruling bodies concerned. It’s not the size of the distance gains, it’s that, at least to the ruling bodies, they don’t appear to be leveling off, despite all the equipment regulations. That’s especially concerning to them at a time almost two decades removed from their Joint Statement of Principles that declared “any further significant increases in hitting distances at the highest level are undesirable.”
Norman On Five Clubs Pod: Grow The Game, Grow The Game, Grow The Game
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Unlike the bubbly bro massage he received on Golf.com’s Subpar podcast, LIV Golf Commish Greg Norman faced real questions on Gary Williams’ Five Clubs podcast where he was pressed about that beheading-prone guy controlling the purse strings of Norman’s 8-event schedule.
Sitting in front of the Sydney Opera House minus his ears, Norman made one bit of news while producing pathetic answers on funding front.
First the news. This was an odd line to me for a series of eight, come-as-you go events for independent contractors.
“There are contracts, but I’m not going to give out any names on that,” Norman said when pressed on commitments to the league. He later said that invitations would be going out “very shortly.”
Contracts but invitations have not gone out. Interesting. Also, I get it that you need contract for to give away your likeness and stuff, but here’s guessing the fine print mentions more than that. As in, a lack of independence as a contractor.
Regarding the Saudi stuff, get ready for some robust “grow the game” nonsense. But do chuckle when the Shark notes the Saudi’s deep history of support for the game. You know dating to 2019.
G.C. Digital wrote a summary of the pod and noted these lines:
“We’re not a political organization,” Norman said. “And what we’ve done and what the PIF have done and what Saudi Arabia has done, like I said to you before, golf is good for the world and golf is good with Saudi Arabia.”
He later added: “My passion for the game of golf and growing the game of golf is my priority. … This is all about the game of golf and growing the game of golf. I’m not even going to go down that path of trying to get into a political discussion about it. I’m focused on growing the game of golf the best way I possibly can. End of story.”
It’s also fascinating to hear him talk about the “long process” and “massive amount of effort to build this enterprise, including all the stuff with the lawyers, blah, blah, blah. This would seem to be disregarding how the Saudi group unashamedly stole the Premier Golf League’s playbook they were once a funder of.
Anyway, if you’re doctor forbids you from hearing more than two “grow-the-games” a day, this isn’t for you. Here is the portion on Saudi Arabia that’s so telling (full pod embedded farther down or wherever you get your pods):
Norman also gave an interview to CNN’s Amanda Davies and delivered similar grow-the-game broken recordspeak.
"We're here to grow the game of golf. Money from Saudi Arabia has gone into the game of golf and since 2019, Saudi Arabia has put on the Saudi International," the 67-year-old said.
"That was co-sanctioned by the European Tour, now the DP World Tour. So the money's been there and the other tours have co-sanctioned these tournaments by Saudi money. Golf is good for the world and golf is good for Saudi Arabia too. We've seen it.
"Saudi Arabia has invested a lot of money into women's golf. They're the largest investor in women's golf today. So when you look at all the facts sitting out there, yes, our investor is Saudi money. I'm proud of that because, like I said, golf is good for the world and we're just going to grow the game of golf on a worldwide basis."
What an amazing fall for the living brand.
Old Soul: Revisiting The Ties Between Augusta National And St Andrews
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Updating a previously published story with the 2022 Masters in mind.
The story in question from Golf World in 2010.
While not embedded with the latest Quadrilateral entry honing in on the 5th and 11th holes at Augusta National, here is Joe McDonnell’s look at the 5th hole through the years.
Schwartzel Holes Out A Holes After Glorious Above-Shoulder Club Hurl
/I do wonder what master club hurler Tommy Bolt would make of Charl Schwartzel’s throwing angle here, given the potential damage to the shoulder and irrefutable evidence provided of an intentional throw (as opposed to grip slippage). But this fit of rage at the Valspar undoubtedly elevates him into elite club throwing world status.
But all was right in his world a few holes later when he holed out from 194:
Meanwhile...In Other Sovereign Wealth Fund News DP World Running Up Pension Find Deficit
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The Guarian’s Gwyn Topham and Rachel Hall explain the brouhaha over “P&O Ferries’ mass sacking of 800 British seafarers to replace them with agency crew as shameful and ‘completely unacceptable’, amid furious calls for action against the company’s Dubai owners.”
The story explains the dispute and throws this in at the end:
DP World bought P&O Ferries for a second time in 2019, for £322m, after selling it earlier in the decade.
The business is believed to have been making escalating losses, with the rising cost of diesel adding to disruption from Covid and post-Brexit paperwork in cross-Channel traffic. DP World said it had never taken a dividend from P&O Ferries.
DP World has also come under fire for a £146m deficit in the Merchant Navy Ratings pension fund, which includes retired P&O crew. Sources said the taxpayer could be liable for the shortfall if it was left unpaid.
DP World last year agreed to sponsor the European golf tour – at a cost of £147m.
The “European Pro Golf Tour” came up in the House of Commons as well. Thanks reader D for catching this that will have the branding experts running around in circles.
What A Change In Golf Ball Testing Might Do For Top Players
/GolfDigest.com’s Mike Stachura assesses the R&A/USGA joing announcement of specific “areas of interest” for future possible changes in testing. The item covers a lot, but a change from 120 to 125 m.p.h. change might mean exceeding the “Overall Distance Standard” and render many current golf balls non-conforming.
John Spitzer, the USGA’s managing director of equipment standards, said the 125-mile-per-hour number isn’t based on any biomechanical theory of human limitations with the golf swing. It’s based on the eye test.
“We don’t know if it’s enough, but we do have a little bit of a crystal ball in the long drive competition. So the question of whether [this kind of speed] is physically possible is answered based on what we’ve seen from those folks.”
As for the number of current balls that such a rule change might make nonconforming, Spitzer said it wouldn’t be all. “There’s a substantial number of balls that wouldn’t run afoul or would require only very minor tweaks,” he said. But when asked specifically whether it would be almost all of the balls played on tour, which based on current sales from Golf Datatech account for 35-40 percent of the market, he said, “Yes. It would be a much higher percentage but not all because there are certain players that fall in love with a ball that might be three generations back.”
Quadrilateral: Major(s) News & Notes, March 17th, 2022
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Plus, Korda, Masters on Seatgeek, Corrections, Reads, Listens and Tweets.
And just a reminder that as the Masters nears there wiill be plenty more Quads as the major season heats up. So sign up. You can write it off, too. Or at least read up on the whole newsletter thing here.
Also a housekeeping note: iPhone users can now read Substack newsletters in their new free app. I’ve been enjoying it for a few days now and the reading experience is way, way better. The notifications come eerily fast. While email will always be an option, the Substack app should cut down on posts getting lost in spam filters and makes the comment experience better. As with the email edition, you can scroll text without somehow opening up an ad or trying to close out a pop-up video.
How To Help University Of The Southwest Golf Team Victims
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A horrific accident involving the University of the Southwest golf teams has taken six beautiful souls and their coach. Two more more players remain in critical condition with burns.
Any Given Tuesday has created a page for the victims of the horrific tragedy involving the University Of The Southwest golf program. All funds will be given to the families of the victims. This is an opportunity for all who care and work in the college golf world to support a program in need!
And Bryson DeChambeau brought attention to another GoFundMe for Dayton Price of Canada, who is in critical condition with third degree burns.
A GoFundMe for survivor Hayden Underhill.
A page set up by the university to help the victims and their families.
