"Rio deserved a more balanced, less hysterical prologue, just as it deserves a more balanced, less triumphal epilogue."

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Two respected journalists and Olympic Games veterans tied up the loose ends of Rio and suggest that the pre-Olympics coverage was badly overblown given Rio's winter time weather (and therefore, no mosquitos).

Alan Abrahamson was the longtime Olympics beat reporter for the LA Times and now has his own site, 3 Wire Sports, devoted to Olympics coverage.

He writes:

The developed world’s assessment and pre-Games judgment of developing Brazil smacked, in many instances, of smug privilege if not the very worst strands of colonialism and imperialism. Why expect Rio to be London or Vancouver?

Social media amplified the predictions of catastrophe. A threat on Reddit was dedicated to the “Apocalympics.”

Consider the Zika thing — which, among other consequences, purportedly led to the withdrawal of many top male golfers from golf’s debut at the Olympics.

The World Health Organization said last Thursday that no one appears to have caught Zika at the Games. That means, according to WHO, “spectators, athletes or anyone associated with the Olympics.”

To be even more direct — not one worker at the Rio golf grounds.

Yet the world’s top guy pros wouldn’t or couldn’t go?

Turns out, you had a better chance of dying from running into a swarm of angry capybaras who had just tasted the press room coffee.

(The on-course lack of a Zika issue was pointed out here first (June 29, 2016) that no members of the crew had been infected, yet, the world's top golfers who stayed away didn't get a link sent their way.)

Christopher Clarey of the New York Times, who has covered the Olympics since 1992, admits to falling for the pre-Games coverage and laments it.

Exhibit A was the four cans of mosquito repellent, bought in the United States, that were sitting unused on a table in my hotel room, a still life to fear.

This is not to imply that the Zika virus has not been a major issue in Rio or that water pollution in Guanabara Bay does not remain one. But it is to make clear that a lot of us in my business got it wrong when it came to the impact those issues would have on the Olympics themselves.

“All we do is read what’s in the headlines, and the headlines always scare you,” said Bubba Watson, one of the leading golfers who did elect to play in the Games when many opted out.

Rio deserved a more balanced, less hysterical prologue, just as it deserves a more balanced, less triumphal epilogue.

Ryder Cup Team (And Other People Visit) Gillette Stadium

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I see most of Team USA's Ryder Cup 2016 players, the Captain and Vice Captains. And there's Jim Furyk, whose fate as player or cart driver is TBD (but he's sporting an appropriate 58 jersey, but a not so appropriate Patriots jersey for a lifelong Steelers fan(atic)).

Oh, and because he's not on the team, PGA of America President Derek Sprague.

ICYMI: Herm Edwards On Callaway Live

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Coach Herm Edwards was guest on Callaway Live this week and if you catch any part, make sure to see his locker room pep talk on the state of golf.

Also, the pleated pants (they're coming back in style!) and his Cypress Point story are quite fun. Though when someone is telling Crosby Pro-Am stories from Cypress Point and playing with Peter Senior when he was a rookie, you know he's been at this golf thing a while.

The full show:


Two other very recent shows of note: Greg Maddux and Akbar and Megan Christi, purveyors of Seamus Golf.

Vandenburg A.F. Base Golf Course Closing Over Water Costs

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One of the best military base golf courses in the country is another casualty of California's drought and rising water prices.

Dave Alley of KEYT files a full report from the nearly 60-year-old course.

"It's the price of water," said Col. John Moss, 30th Space Wing Commander. "The price of water and what it requires to water the course has just gotten to the point where it's prohibitive for us to be able to afford that. This year alone would have cost us several hundred thousand dollars to water the course and it's just money we don't have."

The course, which opened to public play in 2005, has been sustained by non-appropriated funds during that time span. However, escalating water costs has made operating the course financially unsustainable. As the price of water has risen steadily over they years, the base has had to tap into MWR funds to cover costs.

"We are taking immediate action to ensure we are good stewards of our funds," said Josie Cordova, 30th Force Support Squadron (FSS) deputy director. "When the MWR Fund is in danger of bankruptcy, that threat includes potential closure of our other base support functions."

To help cut costs, the course implemented a series of measures over the past several years to conserve water, including installing more efficient water infrastructure.

"We stopped watering the middle of the fairways and reduced the amount of water we were putting in the course overall and ultimately we're at the point we're at now and we were only watering the greens and the tee boxes and even that wasn't enough," said Col. Moss.

I've played the course many years ago and saw it again in recent years and it's a gem on great terrain. Really a shame.

Special Olympics Golfer Has His (Plainly Marked) Clubs Stolen

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Good spot by Kevin Casey at Golfweek.com to get your blood boiling, as we learn that Special Olympian athlete Keith Kee had his clubs and Special Olympics-marked bag stolen at a Bartlett, Tennessee golf course. Kee was there to play golf with his coach John Sprott.

“With Special Olympics on the bag, whoever stole them must have known who they belong to. For me, that’s more egregious than just stealing someone’s set of clubs,” Sprott told WMC Action News 5.

The full WBTV report from Chris Luther includes a full description should you live in the area and spot the heathen who committed this act.

R.I.P. Ken Carpenter

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If you've been around golf long enough, you know Ken Carpenter's name and work from the pages of Golfweek and Golfweek.com.

While he had moved on to teach journalism at Valencia College, Golfweek's Jeff Babineau says Carpenter, who died Sunday at age 59 after a battle with cancer, left behind many friends in golf after he and his wife established a legacy of generosity and giving.

Carpenter befriended a caddie at Cruden Bay in 2000 that began a long friendship.

When former Golfweek senior writer Jeff Rude and I visited Scotland years later, it was Chris’ late dad who picked us up. Chris wrote Monday about Ken’s last trip to Cruden Bay, in 2000; he wanted so badly to break 80 that day, and was 3 over with two holes to play. But he’d finish 9-6 and shoot 80, managing to chuckle about it later, as only he would.

This morning, halfway across the world in Scotland, the flag flies at half-staff at Cruden Bay, an honor the venerable club usually reserves only for members. That’s how Ken Carpenter touched people.

Also warming are the many stories flowing in from his former students at Valencia College, where Ken was a journalism professor for 12 years. It was one thing to spend many years at newspapers and magazines pounding in agate, editing copy and writing catchy headlines. But as a professor, he truly was able to impact lives and steer kids toward a passion, his passion, bringing refreshing life to an industry most view as fading to black in a hurry.

Luke Donald As A Ryder Cup Pick Story Gets More Interesting

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Alex Miceli at Golfweek.com with the explanation from William Hill's Joe Crilly as to why they got suspicious and cut off bets on Darren Clarke's three Ryder Cup picks.

Miceli writes of the action on longshot Luke:

The betting came not from its web or mobile sites, but from differing Hill retail locations throughout England, mostly in the northeast of England.

“They were only small bets, the biggest of which was I think 200 pounds,” Crilly said of the Donald bets. “They were only small bets but they were of the frequency on a special market like that that you wouldn’t necessarily see on a special market and thus somebody had an inkling that something was going to happen.”

Both Tim Rosaforte at Golf Channel and James Corrigan at the Telegraph are reporting that Donald will not be a pick. Instead, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters will be the 2016 captain's picks. Clarke makes the picks Tuesday at 7:30 am ET.

USGA, R&A Eye Rules Overhaul As Grow-The-Game Initiative!?

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We've known the governing bodies have been meeting for some time to work out simplification of golf's bloated Rules book, but it's a bit disappointing see from the initial rollout that this will be branded as a grow-the-game cause.

I find that disappointing because (A) golf needs another grow-the-game initiative like another 72-hole stroke play even, and (B) the numbers of interested golfers staying away from the sport due the rules are outnumbered by those sitting out due to cost and time.

Brian Costa, writing for the Wall Street Journal, was the first to get to channel the hoped-for USGA message which is not, "we've made the rules a bloated mess and are fixing them." Instead, it's, "the rules can be intimidating to new players and we're here to change that. #growthegame"

“This is just a chance to reset,” said USGA chief executive Mike Davis. “The idea is if we get this right, many more golfers will embrace and understand the rules.”

The USGA is hoping to release a draft of the new rules for feedback from recreational players in 2017, though it could be another few years before they take effect.

John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s head of rules, competitions and equipment standards, likened it to the 1971 publication of the Living Bible, a more accessible version of the King James Bible. “I think it’s fair to say that some golfers, perhaps many, are intimidated in picking up the rule book,” Bodenhamer said. “We want to be able to help golfers with that.”

Again, I just don't think many golfers are sitting on the sidelines because of the density of the Decisions book. There are many golf fans on the fence right now about the governing bodies given the various TV rules situations. But beginners upset at the seven ways your can drop the ball as outlined in Decision 18-2? No.

There also is effort here by the USGA (in particular) to get the conversation away from their handling of situations like Dustin Johnson at Oakmont and onto an everyday game impacted by the rules. However, the USGA perception is no longer one of a body that doesn't care about the average man. Instead. it's viewed as one that is insensitive to all classes of player in the implementation of the rules. Fixing that perception will be beneficial from all of these closed door meetings with the R&A.

To understand their branding/PR issues, consider this quote from Daniel Summerhays, picked up by CBS/Golf Channel mics during Barclays round two play as Rory McIlroy thought his ball moved on the green.

 

 

At least in the minds of tour players, the USGA and R&A tried to fix the issue of balls moving on greens cut to absurdly low heights, and still didn't get it right.