Northern Trust Open This And That Preview

The Glen Campbell Nissan Presented by Nissan Los Angeles Northern Trust Open kicks off Thursday with 27 of the world top 50 and more goose-bump worthy, the top five in the current FedExCup Standings (big props if you can name them!) and a noticeably less robust continental breakfast in the media center.

For handicapping purposes, Riviera has traditionally been a horse-for-course venue with a huge reward on experience at what's left of George Thomas's design. The club and consulting architect Tom Marzolf unveiled a new fifth green since the old artistry by Thomas and Bell had run its course after 84 years and was in need of an atrocious replacement that would continue the slide to a reimagination of the design into one putting players on the defensive. The early week reviews of the new fifth green have been positive, just as they were for the new 8th hole back in '02. And then they played the hole in competition.

The windy weather forecast suggests a bit of a disadvantage for Thursday morning tee times and it's pretty hard not to like one of the established names starting later on who will likely get a nice morning Friday, highlighted by Phil Mickelson at 12:12 off the first tee and who, according to Alex Miceli is at 12-1 in Vegas, a very nice price.

In the most self-important place on the planet--the media center--the PGA Tour helped us get through a cold, rainy Pro-Am Wednesday with a bunch of pre-tournament pressers. I'm proud to say the most engaging players all day were Pepperdine golfing greats Jason Gore and Andy Walker. Both are playing this week on Northern Trust sponsor exemptions and are worth keeping an eye on Thursday. Farrell Evans posted a nice story on Walker with some bold quotes from the Wave.

UCLA's Patrick Cantlay stopped in and while his answers are still clipped, he seems to be warming to our inane questions, search for probing insights and the overall nonsense that is a pre-tournament press conference. This exchange was a lot funnier in person...

Q.  Being a younger player, do you use social media as a tool to reach out to your fan base?

PATRICK CANTLAY:  I don't, no.

Q.  Why not?

PATRICK CANTLAY:  I don't really like it, to be perfectly honest.  I just like doing my own thing.  I'm fine if no one knows what I'm thinking or no one knows what I'm doing on Friday afternoon at 1:57.  I'm just cool with being myself and kind of doing my own thing.

Later on, Cantlay was hitting balls next to his Walker Cup teammate and University of Texas freshman Jordan Spieth. And while the range means nothing, Spieth looked far more comfortable with his swing. His body language exuded confidence, while Cantlay appeared to be working out a few issues. If Spieth can adjust to the kikuyu and imposing nature of Riviera, his recent play suggests he might make some noise. To translate for those of you a bit distracted, if ESPN cared about golf, they might find a way to call a good performance here by Spietch Lin-like.

Finally, defending champion Aaron Baddelay has been remarkable on the masterful tenth hole, something documented by ShotLink's tracking of the numbers since 2003. Perhaps next year when the PGA Tour's digital coverage expands you'll get to watch more of the play on this hole. And I know where I'll be Thursday.

Oh, the ShotLink graph...click to expand...