Jack On Muirfield Village's Heavily Bunkered 18th: "It looks like something I had to do to protect the hole."

Okay, now that Jack Nicklaus has said what we all know to be the case, the 18th at Muirfield Village doesn't look as good as it used to look. But it's not Mr. Nicklaus' fault that players were taking a short cut thanks to modern equipment, so he liberally sprinkled bunkers to maintain relevancy for the finishing hole at the Memorial. A lot of bunkers.

And now he acknowledges in this Rusty Miller note, too many.

"Every time I look on television, I look down and see all those bunkers along 18 and I don't think it's a pretty look," Nicklaus said, referring to right side of the landing area beyond a walnut tree. "It looks like something I had to do to protect the hole. All the other holes on the golf course are basically played the way they were designed. Eighteen is the only hole where they are able to circumvent the design. They take it over the corner and get it out there.

"To me, the finishing hole needs to be stronger."

Monday after the Memorial, Nicklaus will meet with superintendent Paul Latshaw to evaluate the tourament and the club will proceed accordingly. Nicklaus told the press Wednesday that a new tee could extend the hole by 30 yards to return the driver to relevancy on the finishing hole.

Though Latshaw did tell me the timing could be anywhere from ASAP to a few years from now depending on what Mr. Nicklaus says. With the Presidents Cup looming this fall, I won't be surprised if the new 18th tee is built sooner than later. The added bunkers?  That may take a bit longer to deal with.

Video: The Mood For Merion, 10th Hole Flyover

Considering just how difficult the par-3 9th could play, there is always the slim possibility that the 303-yard par-4 10th plays statistically easier.

As the flyover narrator notes, the hole is driveable by the entire field but will require a strong right-to-left shaped shot and a stomach for risk to do so. It may be just as fun to see who lays up or comes up with the best strategy to play to this 40-yard deep green.

Butch Says "By By" To Twitter After Watney Tweet

Instructor Butch Harmon has retired from Twitter following an unfortunate missive sent out about his pupil Nick Watney who posted Memorial rounds of 82-77.

Alex Miceli with the details of Harmon's offending comment--"Must be having some personal problems"--and a response from Watney.

“Interesting,” Watney said coming out of the exercise facility at Muirfield Village. “No comment.”

After the Tweets were vanished, Harmon announced his retirement from the social media platform.

Thank you to all of you who have chosen to follow me, but after a big mistake today I'm off twitter best to all . By By

— Butch Harmon (@43BH) May 31, 2013

Update on 2013-05-31 22:09 by Geoff

**Stephanie Wei has the offending Tweets plus a fantastic response from one of Harmon's followers.

Dogs Eating Out Of $50 Mikasa Pasta Bowls And Other Golf Tournament Home Rental First World Problems

Dan Geringer talks to a Main Line real estate broker named Sara Moyher about the travails of renting homes near Merion for U.S. Open week.

She also reveals the inflated rents that neighbors of Merion expect for their palatial estates, and her own experience from the Aronimink/AT&T National years. Thanks to reader Len for sending this in.

"I went out and bought new sheets and towels," Moyher told the Daily News. "I needed them anyway. Our renters had a dog, and the dog ate out of my $50 Mikasa pasta bowl. That's the worst thing that happened. We went to Sea Isle for the week, and it was great. We were happy as heck, man."

So Moyher, who spent thousands to develop her own website and has rented 15 of her 47 listings at $3,000 to $8,000 for the Open, was surprised at some homeowners' overblown expectations.

"Some people told me, 'The only way we'll rent our house is if we get 10 grand,' " Moyher said. "I told them, 'You won't take 8 grand? It's free money.' People have given up 8 grand like it's 20 bucks. Turn their noses up at 8 grand? I'm sorry, it just cracks me up."

Video: The Ideal Muirfield Village Viewing Spot

We went out to explore the best spectating spot here at Muirfield Village and if you are coming to the Memorial, I nominate the trifecta of 11 green-12 tee-13 fairway.

Pebble Beach Green Changes Just The Beginning Of Future Plans?

Jerry Stewart reports on the new range already under construction at Pebble Beach and also mentions the 9th green changes that apparently will be part of a longer term program to restore more square footage to the badly shrunken surfaces.

Thanks to reader Joel for the story alert and this photo of the green from last week. The bunker is an apparently homage to Apple's iCloud logo.

The biggest change to the green has been the reclamation of 600 square feet of surface area that had been lost from its original size. The reclaimed area is on the left side of the green, which will allow a new pin placement directly behind the primary bunker protecting the green.

Crews have also softened the grade in the middle of the green, lessening the severity of its back-to-front slope in order to improve playability in severe weather conditions. Being tucked on the coast, the green, which was one of the course's fastest during the 2010 U.S. Open, has no protection from high winds.

All that remains in the renovation on No. 9 is for the new grass to grow in. Due to the changes, an alternate green has been used. Like many of the improvements made to Pebble Beach over the past few years, the changes on No. 9 are subtle and in keeping with the intent of the course's original design.

"It's the beginning of plans to make some changes to a few of the greens," Perocchi said. "The ninth green is the first one."

Ageless: Captain Couples Edges Tiger & 14 Y. O. Guan Almost Does

Tiger said his red-hot putter was undermined by a couple of bad reads but an overall decent ball striking afternoon, even if his Presidents Cup Captain and Hall of Fame geezer Fred Couples beat him in their (requested) head-to-head pairing. By no means is this a setback in his quest to win an amazing 6th Memorial or to get his game ready for Merion (unlike McIlroy's 78 in the benign morning conditions).

Dave Shedloski reports on the Woods, Couples, Bradley pairing.

"I won't lie to you, I asked to see if I could get paired [with Woods]; it probably might be my last time playing with Tiger," said Couples, who withdrew from last week's Senior PGA Championship because his bad back flared up. "Maybe at Augusta I might get paired with him. If he can be leading after two rounds again, maybe I'll get a shot at him. So I was blessed to play with him. And my goal when I play with him always is to try to hit it solid and stay out of his way. And today was a good one. I did beat him."

The 14 year-old Tianlang Guan missed a short putt on the last to post a still-impressive 72 in the afternoon when unpredictable breezes created headaches for the last few groups.  Doug Ferguson's assortment of notes covers Guan's late round and also includes an item on how fast the course is playing, another on Rory and a look at the cell phone task force at work.

Ashleigh Ignelzi and I talk about the opening round from the Nationwide Digital House, which is led by Charl Schwartzel (65), followed by Scott Piercy (66).

Homa Grabs NCAA Title But Not Before Another Depo!

Capping off a dream season that included an amazing 61 at LA North en route to the Pac 12 title, Cal's Max Homa captured the NCAA individual title at Capital City Club.

Ryan Herrington reports on the win, which came after Homa's second detention session before the committee.

"Personally coming in as a freshman I couldn't imagine being in a nationalchampionship let alone contending," Homa said. "To come out and beat [the best players in the country] when you need to, it just makes you feel so much better about your own game."

Lance Ringler reports on a slow play penalty costing Texas A&M a chance to advance to the match play.

Update on 2013-05-31 02:24 by Geoff

**Nick Masuda breaks down the eight teams and their opening day matches which kick off the NCAA's team match play.

Rory: "The game just isn't all there at the minute."

Rory McIlroy opens with 78 at Muirfield Village, two weeks from the opening round of the U.S. Open.

Bob Harig with McIlroy's post round thoughts.

Update on 2013-05-31 02:00 by Geoff

**Jeff Rude doesn't feel like we're going to get a Rory v. Tiger duel anytime soon, mostly because McIlroy is probably distracted.

McIlroy is in the midst of splitting from his management team and forming his own agency. One can surmise that has been weighing on him, has clogged his mind some. But he says no.

“Once I’m here I’m focused on what I need to do,” McIlroy said. “Right at the moment it’s not happening for me.”

Up 19%: "Golf Channel Posts Most-Watched May Ever"

Plenty of interesting numbers in this press release on Golf Channel's big May, 2013.

I've included the Big Break numbers since I know that's all the kids really care about:

GOLF CHANNEL POSTS MOST-WATCHED MAY EVER, 19% INCREASE IN VIEWERSHIP YEAR OVER YEAR
 
As 2013’s Fifth Consecutive Most-Watched Month, May Garners Nearly 17 Million Unique Viewers for Golf Channel
 
PGA TOUR’S THE PLAYERS Championship Posts Most-Viewed Week and Most-Watched Week Records for Event on Golf Channel
 
GolfChannel.com On Pace to Set Best Ever Marks for Key Metrics
 
ORLANDO, Fla. (May 30, 2013) – Golf Channel’s tremendous momentum continues through the month of May, which was the network’s most-watched May ever.  Golf Channel has now opened 2013 with five consecutive record-setting months, an unprecedented accomplishment since Golf Channel became the cable home of the PGA TOUR in 2007.
 
Golf Channel drew 16.9 million unique viewers in May with a wide-spectrum of programming driving these record numbers, which have been built upon Golf Channel’s success in 2011 and 2012 as the fastest-growing television network among those serving 80 million-plus homes – a two-year span of unprecedented viewership growth since the network became part of the NBC Sports Group.  For 24-hour Total Day (6AM-6AM), 133,000 average viewers per minute were tuned into Golf Channel in May, representing a 19% year-over-year increase compared to May 2012 (112,000), 58% vs. May 2011 (84,000) and 49% vs. May 2010 (89,000), according to data released today by the Nielsen Company.
 
Viewership highlights from May include:
 
TOURNAMENTS:

·         Most-viewed and most-watched PLAYERS Championship week for Golf Channel in the event’s history with 11.5 million unique viewers (+23% YOY) and 212,000 average viewers per minute for 24-hour Total Day (+25% YOY), respectively.

·         Golf Channel’s early round coverage of THE PLAYERS on Thursday (1.73 million viewers) and Friday (1.7 million viewers) becoming the network’s 18th and 19th rounds or programs in 2013 with more than 1 million viewers.
 
NEWS:

·         LIVE FROM THE PLAYERS audience peaking on Sunday, May 12 with 1.4 million average viewers leading into and out of “Golf Channel on NBC” coverage (1:15-1:30 p.m. and 7:15-7:30 p.m.)  
·         MORNING DRIVE up 19% with 51,000 average viewers per minute vs. May of last year (43,000), including its highest hour of the year outside of Masters Week with 155,000 average viewers on Saturday, May 11, from 8-9 a.m.
 
ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING:

·         BIG BREAK MEXICO season premiere becoming the second most-watched debut for BIG BREAK with 279,000 average viewers.
·         FEHERTY episode featuring Rocco Mediate on Monday, May 13, matched this season’s premiere with Jack Nicklaus as the most-watched FEHERTY in 2013 with 193,000 average viewers.

Video: Pre-Memorial Tournament Q&A With Bill Haas

To kick off the Memorial this week I interviewed Bill Haas in the Nationwide Digital House about the course and what he's doing to improve his record here.

Later on we have videos coming from the course, including the 16th hole spot where Tiger chipped-in from in 2012, a talk with Paul Vermuelen of the PGA Tour about a wild-looking green firmness reader and a visit to the incredible Nicklaus Museum.

Live first round Memorial coverage begins on Golf Channel runs from 2:30-6:30 p.m. with a replay from 7-11 p.m.