Tiger's Looking Forward To A (Golf Course) Proactive Chairmanship From Fred Ridley

Tiger Warren Wind's 1500 word blog post yielded the predictable glee over news of putting contests at the house with Rickie and Justin, but there were a few more intriguing references for the seasoned Woods observer.

Given his recent book and the extensive chapter on technology taking away much of the Augusta National he knew, this Woods line regarding new Chairman Fred Ridley suggests he's looking for changes.

All of the players are looking forward to becoming better acquainted with his successor, Fred Ridley. He’s an accomplished player and I look for him to be more instrumental on the golf course side of things and how it plays.

No more mowing fairways toward tees, maybe?

A firmer, tighter and faster Augusta National would show how ridiculously dated the course has become despite governing body claims of a distance flatlining over the last decade.

Either way, a throwaway line from Woods is a reminder that with the change in Chairmanships, something of note is around the corner.

How's This For A Tour Championship Plus One Scenario?

If the 2017 Tour Championship had been in 2019 when it could potentially change, here's how I would love to have seen it play out.

Remember, the schedule that year will likely finish on Labor Day Monday, meaning the Tour Championship could start on Thursday and end on Sunday.

Instead of everyone trying to figure out who is winning the FedExCup and overshadowing a golf tournament Coca Cola pays handsomely to sponsor, what if Sunday was mostly about the Tour Championship and the need to make it to championship Monday.

In the case of the 2017 Tour Championship, Xander Schauffele's win would have been a huge way to sneak in to the Monday finish. And what happens Monday?

Why six players at 18 holes of very simple stroke play for $10 million.

If the Tour Championship this year had cut to six--other numbers seem awkward--we'd have the guys broken into two threesomes or three twosomes playing Labor Day Monday for the big prize.

Here were the top six after play Sunday at East Lake courtesy of GolfChannel.com and I must say, kind of a perfect scenario of season long stars and playoff upstarts:

And here are the almost-finalists who had nice seasons and playoffs, but I think everyone would agree, were not deserving of making it to Monday's madness either because of playoff struggles or just not enough regular season success.

For those who don't recall the many times I've floated these scenarios where we send the algorithms home and just let the lads play golf, spare me the arguments that season long success must matter to the very end.

At some point we have to cut the cord and just make this a very simple shootout for the big money.

The entertainment will ensue and even better, sponsors will love it, television will have something to talk about that is actually more interesting than a mysterious mathematical formula, and the average fan will be able to follow along. Best of all, the sun will still rise in the east and set in the west.

Tour Championship (Schauffele), FedExCup (Thomas) Winners Crowned In Day Of Mathematical Mystery

Let's hope this was the second-to-last FedExCup final of its kind as the confusion over who might win the Cup with each birdie, bogey and blunder was not particularly as interesting as the Tour Championship conclusion.

By having an algorithm-driven competition juxtaposed with a real-time golf tournament playing out, Commissioner Jay Monahan now has a dream scenario to point at for separating the conclusions in 2019's schedule remastering.

The silliness of it trying to figure it all out does not take away from the incredible accomplishments of Tour Championship winner Xander Schauffele or FedExCup winner Justin Thomas. Both capped off breakthrough seasons of differing types.

While Steve Hummer is right in his AJC game story that there was a little bit of something for everyone, the average sports fan and the above-average corporate sponsor paying to be part of this spectacle could not be blamed for wanting a more clever conclusion to the season.

Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com explains a dream scenario that almost arose but failed to do so because of bit players in the drama.

If Koepka was the one who tempted us with a possible $10 million showdown between Spieth and Thomas, it was Kevin Kisner’s birdie at the sixth to temporarily move into the lead by himself that propelled Spieth into the projected points hot seat. Forty-five minutes later, it was Tony Finau’s birdie to close his week that prompted an equally dramatic flip, with Thomas moving into the top spot.

You get the idea.

A game that invests so much in individual accomplishments turns into a crowd-sourcing experiment at the circuit’s big finish, and it was no surprise that it was the play of those on the periphery that had such an influence on the outcome.

Thomas discussed the oddity of trying to win a title without knowing where you stand and as Brian Wacker notes in this Golf World item, the final round offered supporting reminders as to why the playoffs need work.

“I knew if I won, finished second, maybe tied second I probably had a good chance depending on what Jordan did today, but I truly didn’t know,” he said. “It is weird just because I compared it earlier to Q school … you almost get out there not trying to win, you’re trying to finish a certain thing.

Jeff Babineau at Golfweek on another big day for the Class of 2011.

Will Gray with notes and best of moments from the final day.

I would agree with this man that Schauffele did the best he could with the trophy lift, but the Calamity Jane just isn't conducive to the traditional trophy display...

The final FedExCup standings and bonuses.

The final round highlights of the Tour Championship Presented By the FedExCup:

"Michael Phelps: A Golden Shoulder to Lean On"

The headline-grabbing comments from Michael Phelps broke last week, but it wasn't until Sunday's hard copy edition of the New York Times did I get to read the entire (excellent) Karen Crouse story.

It's a fascinating look at the work Phelps is doing to talk about depression and substance abuse. Crouse detailed in this separate Times Insider item how she got the greatest Olympian to talk and about the location (Scottsdale National Golf Club).

Here is one of the excepts related to Woods:

Phelps contacted Woods through a mutual friend, the Golf Channel analyst Notah Begay III, who was Woods’s teammate at Stanford. A recovering alcoholic, Begay had reached out to Phelps around the time he sought help at the Meadows. Their first phone conversation lasted two hours.

Begay said Phelps was almost uniquely qualified to support Woods.

“Michael can provide honest and direct feedback, and that’s what athletes of their caliber need the most,” Begay said. “Athletes at their level of accomplishment, they have 100 people lined up around the corner trying to sell something to them or do something for them, and it’s hard to filter out, to decide, who is looking out for their best interests.”

PGA Tour's Peter Malnati Takes A Knee

Fourth year PGA Tour player and blogger Peter Malnati took to Twitter with more than 140 characters to express his support for fellow professional athletes "taking a knee" during the national anthem.

Update on 2017-09-25 04:05 by Geoff

**Ryan Burr interviewed Peter Malnati on Sunday night's edition of Golf Central:

Casey Leads, Kisner Copters Out: Another FedExCup Is (Mercifully) About To End!

Outside of player accountants, I know almost none of you will have the live updated FedExCup standings page open during Sunday's Tour Championship finale at East Lake. That's because the competition you hate having to explain to inquisitive friends is about to wrap another year of...promoted pieces telling us how great the FedExCup is.

At least something that might make more sense--splitting the Tour Championship from a FedExCup final day--is in the works pending player input. Until then, we'll be held hostage to the algorithms, which makes explaining scenarios very tough sledding (Wacker/GolfDigest.com).

At least this year there was the fun of Kevin Kisner helicoptering out of Atlanta to watch his beloved Georgia Bulldogs to remind us where most sports fans would rather be (DiMeglio/USA Today). Kisner Tweeted a photo and credited Justin Thomas for helping him find the ride (Hoggard/Golfweek).

At least there is Xander Schauffele emerging as a big time player almost out of nowhere, including after a terrible start to the season. (Babineau/Golfweek).

At least Justin Thomas doesn't care where he stands when the numbers crunchers tried to inform of his Sunday scenarios (Babineau/Golfweek).

And at least there is Paul Casey to root for, who has played spectacularly in "playoff" events without winning (Everill/PGATour.com) and whose track record in final rounds does not match his talent (Murray/Guardian).

Points leader Jordan Spieth is feeling mostly powerless in the chase for the Cup after a third round 69 (Hoggard/GolfChannel.com).

PGA Tour Considering Shocking Plan To Emphasize Entertainment And Clarity Over Current Playoff Conclusion

I'm getting ahead of myself here because, after all, Doug Ferguson's AP report on the possible FedExCup playoff change wil be taken to the players for feedback. You know, the same players who said 72-holes of stroke play is the only way for Olympic golf to be presented.

Still, the possibility of a playoff shakeup is exciting. Sure, Steve Sands will have to retire the white board and algorithm writers may protest a Sunday finish that is straight-stroke play, but we'll deal with that when it happens.

ShackHouse listeners know I floated two scenarios this week, including an algorithm-driven elimination system that whittles the field down after 36 and 54 holes.

And while I think that would be great fun, especially by injecting life into Tour Championship rounds other than Sunday, the scenario Tour officials are considering makes more political sense. In other words, it will hurt fewer feelings.

One concept being explored is staging the Tour Championship, handing out a trophy, and then the top FedEx Cup finishers playing the next day over 18 holes to determine the winner.

That's a long way off from becoming a reality, and it includes feedback from the players. One area of dissent is that the current system works fine.

Fine=draws ratings in the mid 1's consistently!

The Calamity Jane Story Updated

Really great work here by Jonathan Wall of PGATour.com to revisit the story of Calamity Jane and clarify the history of Bobby Jones' beloved putter. (The Tour Championship winner receives a replica.)

Besides explaining what the putter with 8 degrees of loft meant to Jones, Wall's piece includes a fun Q&A with Jones historian Sid Matthew at the end.

A teaser related to a Jones reunion with Jane in 1936:

Jones eventually walked away from competition at 28, on the heels of his historic victory at the 1930 U.S. Open that completed the then-Grand Slam that also included wins that year at the U.S. and British Amateurs and the Open Championship. In the years that followed, Calamity Jane would fade into the distance, but from time to time, Jones would reunite with his old friend and the sparks would fly.

As golf writer Bill Fields noted in a Golf Digest story on the famed putter, Jones brought the putter out of retirement at the 1936 Masters and promptly shot 64 at Augusta National with just 25 putts.

"It's just like an old friend now," Jones told The New York Times back then. "The ball kept going up to the cup and acting as though it had eyes."

It's Come To This Files: Sources Reveal Prez Cup Pods...

Remember now, I am coming off the Walker Cup where Captain Spider Miller had no assistant captains, drove a standard-issue cart around and stayed in the background, except to meet his players on some of the par-3 tees to offer club assistance if need be.

So it's going to take me some time to adjust to the pomp and obscene bloat that is the Presidents Cup, where assistant captains will be urgently shuttling around to monitor their pods. If only Paul Azinger had trademarked pods we could have avoided this...as reported by Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com:

Sources say Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar will be in the same pod as rookies Kevin Kisner and Kevin Chappell; Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed are with Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger; and Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler are with Justin Thomas and Charley Hoffman.

Although Stricker and his assistant captains have multiple possible pairings for each player and could just as easily pair outside the pods, it seems likely teams will emerge from each group, and there are predictable pairs.

I'll sleep better this weekend knowing the pod lineups!

Now, this wacky first tee setup captured by Chris Condon did get me more excited. This has to be the most intimate and potentially intense first tee setups of all cup events:

My first look at the first tee at #libertynational. Going to be an epic week!

A post shared by Chris Condon (@ckcondon) on Sep 21, 2017 at 4:04pm PDT

PGA Tour Plans To Keep Pants As The "Uniform"

There are first world crises and then there is the turbulent question of pro golfers wearing shorts in competition.

It sounds like the schlub sector of the tour has not been very vocal, perhaps after seeing way too many OB stakes masquerading as legs? Anyway, Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com talked to Commissioner Jay Monahan who reiterated that the players will be wearing pants for the foreseeable future.

“Having worked in other sports, when you get on the tee on Wednesday and you see a player playing in their uniform, the same way they are going to look over the next four days. Treating that event professionally, there’s a lot of value to that. You have to protect that.”

PGA Tour Pros Say Golf Is Healthier Than The Ratings Suggest

While Nielsen ratings are by no means a measure of a sports' popularity, I do think it's fascinating to see how much players quoted in this Karen Crouse New York Times piece suggest the game is healthier than flatlining ratings indicate.

“TV ratings are really not a measure of whether golf is popular,” said Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion.

His view is widely held by the pros, who see ratings as a flawed indicator of golf’s reach. Television is the pretty packaging. The substance of golf is the indelible — and wholly organic — image from the end of the P.G.A. Championship, when Jordan Spieth and a handful of other players stuck around long after they were finished so they could be among the first people to congratulate Thomas.

The show of sportsmanship highlighted golf’s capacity for competition and friendship. It made golf look cool and fun, the Tour veteran Charley Hoffman said, adding, “I think it can’t do anything but help the game.”

And...

Topgolf, a booming entertainment franchise with roughly three dozen locations around the country and several more to open soon, is an entryway to golf for adults. It offers a more relaxed approach and easy access to the game.

Do the barefoot man and the woman in stilettos count as golfers? Paul Casey believes so.

“They are still golf fans, they are still absorbing, or taking in — consuming — the game,” he said, adding, “I don’t think the game has any issues whatsoever. I just think it’s changing and it’s organic. I think it’s cool.”

Giffen Speaks As Anniversary Of Arnie's Passing Approaches

Josh Sens of Golf.com catches up with Doc Giffen, close friend, confidante and trusted assistant to Arnold Palmer as the September 25th anniversary of The King's passing approaches.

There are so many ways we miss people who were close to us after they’re gone. But is there anything in particular you miss about Arnold?

I should point out that Arnold was here in Latrobe about five-plus months a year, and in Florida the other six-plus months. And I did not spend time with him in Florida, only when he was here. Over the five-plus months, we would get together not every day but several times a week, when it was convenient. Usually around 4:30 or quarter to five in the afternoon, he’d say, "Come on up to the house and we’ll debrief." So I’d go up there, maybe with the two secretaries and another guy from the office, possibly joined by some of Arnold’s golfing buddies. We’d just sit around talk and have cocktails. A lot of the times, Arnold would make the drinks for us. Often, there was golf on television, or in some cases, a Western would be on. Arnold was a big fan of Western movies and novels

R.I.P. Charles Owen, Long Putter Creator

Former sports media reporter-turned-obituary-writer Richard Sandomir tackles the fascinating life and times of Charles Owen, the most important figure in creating the long putter.

Sandomir writes for the New York Times:

Weary of the many putters that had failed him, Owens drew up plans for an extra-long one and gave them to a machinist friend. On Christmas Day 1983, at a golf course near his home in Tampa, Fla., Owens tested the machinist’s handiwork, a 52-inch putter. He held it with his left hand against his chest; his right hand clasped it about halfway down the shaft. Within 15 minutes, he knew his new putter, christened Slim Jim, would change his game.

With the putter in his bag, he won two tournaments in 1986 and more money than he had ever had — a satisfying reward for an African-American golfer who had grown up poor in segregated Winter Haven, Fla., developed a passion for a game that was reserved mostly for whites and carved his first clubs out of tree limbs.

Parsons Touts Equality Of His College Golf Sponsorship Efforts

Alana Johnson reports for Golf.com on PXG announcing partnerships with six universities to provide 10 custom-fit sets to the men's and women's programs to divy up (*story incorrectly stated).

Given that five people start for a college team, this will leave some players out of the free equipment (first) world, but that didn't stop PXG's Bob Parson's from turning what might be a negative into a positive (verbal).

In a press release, PXG's founder Bob Parsons touted the company's commitment to delivering equal support to golfers within the University Program.

"It is beyond me that the men's and women's golf teams are frequently afforded different levels of support. At PXG, we make golf clubs for golfers. Period," said Parsons. "The schools we choose to partner with will receive equal sponsorship for both the men's and women's teams."

It's certainly admirable that Parsons is taking care of women's programs as equally as the men. But also fascinating to see a company suggesting the privilege of free gear has somehow been skewed by gender to this point. I certainly could see that at smaller programs, but from everything I've seen the larger women's programs are well taken care of. Anyone hear differently?

PGA Tour: Will Smart Schedule Sense Or Playing Opportunities Prevail?

Many in and outside of golf will be watching how the PGA Tour maneuvers through the next year in re-imagining its schedule around the rest of sports.

At ESPN.com Jason Sobel looked at why the PGA Tour season seems so long and does not see the situation changing. Also featured with his piece is a snippet of Michael Collins talking with Commissioner Jay Monahan about the PGA Tour historically playing a long season schedule.

I had a different take over at Golfweek.com: Monahan is having to send mixed signals to prevent a riot, but to make a Labor Day finish work and to restore some sense of a cycle and brief downtime that golf enjoyed pre-wraparound calendar, something has to give. Will the playing opportunities of those 50th to 150th prevail? Or will the tour shed a few events to tighten up the core portion of the calendar?