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Rymer: "Announcers want to cover the game in ways that are relatable to the fans. These days, in so many ways, that’s just not possible"

The Big Timer Charlie Rymer scores plenty of points in this look at how painful golf TV announcing has gotten and it’s not the announcers he blames.

The former Tour player and longtime Golf Channel personality addresses some of the worst Tim Finchem messes left behind, namely the wraparound schedule’s ability to kill the opening day buzz, the FedExCup’s continued problems, the relentless FedEx “impressions” effort (that’s been worse under the new TV deal) and where the PGA Tour hides announcers that don’t follow their lame scripts.

FedEx has the relationship with the PGA TOUR because it’s a good business decision for them. Somewhere in Memphis, a bean counter does all the fancy math counting up “impressions” and distributing the beans across silos and gives the deal a thumbs up. Because of that (and if you haven’t noticed), there’s a season-long bonus pool where PGA TOUR players get astronomical bonuses for their finish on the final list. They have this thing called the FedEx Cup Playoffs that end the season, and somebody gets $15 million and a really cool trophy. I’m pretty sure the winner doesn’t care about the trophy.

Players finishing all the way to 125 on the list get nice bonuses, too. Great for the players. Great for FedEx. Great for the PGA TOUR execs who put the deal together.

Problem is, the event has an awkward format that has evolved over the years and every few years has to get reinvented. When it was first announced by former commissioner Tim Finchem at a press conference in Atlanta, he indicated that the PGA TOUR has the deal and will now get to work figuring out the format. Fifteen years later, they’re still figuring.

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Report: Asian Tour Eyes London Area Stop

Pebble Beach and Cypress Point make you want to play. Spyglass Hill -- that's different; that makes you want to go fishing. JACK NICKLAUS

/ Geoff Shackelford

Golf organizations are generally territorial when it comes to crossing continents, so as troops amass on several borders this week, now we learn the Asian Tour is reportedly looking at an unthinkable incursion on DP World Tour territory this June.

Alister Tait reports that Aramco (eh em…) is going to sponsor an event the week before the U.S. Open. The site: Centurion Club north of London, just 31 miles from DP World Tour headquarters and formerly home to a couple of European Tour events. Tait writes:

Aramco appears set to run back-to-back men’s and women’s events at the course between St Albans and Hemel Hempstead. The $1 million Aramco Series London tournament on the Ladies European Tour is set for June 16-18, one of four Aramco sponsored tournaments on the LET along with Sotogrande, New York and Jeddah. The men’s tournament is pencilled into the week previous to the London date, clashing with the $1 million Scandinavian Mixed hosted by Henrik & Annika, a co-sanctioned event between the DP World Tour and LET.

It’s also no unreasonable to assume any event added to the Asian Tour is a placeholder of sorts for a tour run by LIV Golf/Greg Norman/Journalist Murder.


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Netflix, Schnetflix: LPGA Debuts "All Access" Doc On YouTube

With all of the euphoria over Netflix’s investment into a documentary series that’s at least a year away, nice to see the LPGA taking on such project on a more manageable scale. Even better, it’s almost here to view for free on YouTube.

The press release and YouTube page where you can see a behind-the-scenes look at LPGA life:

“LPGA All Access: CME Group Tour Championship”
Behind-the-Scenes Documentary to Debut on LPGA Platforms

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 31, 2022 – The LPGA today announced the premiere of “LPGA All Access: CME Group Tour Championship,” a behind-the-scenes documentary detailing the excitement, competition and glamour of the Tour’s 2021 crowning event. The series will air on YouTube and LPGA.com, with three 15-minute episodes debuting at 8 p.m. EST on Jan. 31, Feb. 1 and Feb. 2.

Filmed on location in Naples, Fla., at the 2021 CME Group Tour Championship, “LPGA All Access” will share exclusive moments with players, caddies, sponsors and staff, both on and off the course. Featured moments include:

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Pebble Blues: Even Korn Ferry Players Passing Up Clambake For Panama's Level 4 Status

There is no thrill in driving over an ugly hazard. ALISTER MACKENZIE

/ Geoff Shackelford

With Level 4 State Department status (“Do Not Travel”) you’d think going to Club de Golf de Panama might be low on the list of Korn Ferry Tour members. But every dollar counts when you’re trying to secure a PGA Tour card and money made at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am doesn’t mean a thing toward your season long effort so, not surprisingly, players are opting to take on the double whammy of crime and COVID over the Monterey Peninsula.

In that sense, this is a win for the KFT structure and speaks to the player determination to get their card. But passing up what was once a signature Tour event where the prominent and powerful gather is also quite surreal to see. Some good news: the worst crime areas cited by the Department of State are a decent distance from the KFT’s Panama Championship. They’ve got that going for them.

The AT&T has seen its field depleted by all the waivers granted to play the Saudi’s PIFSIPSIA stop on the Asian Tour. So with three courses and pro-am slots needing a pro, the opportunity exists to play Pebble Beach, Spyglass and MPCC like never before. Yet it appears the AT&T is headed toward a Charlie Beljan late-add at this pace. And some lucky big spender is guaranteed to get Grayson Murray for three rounds. Enjoy that!


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Special Saudi Edition Of Pros Say The Funniest Things Begins! First Up: Monty

There is no thrill in driving over an ugly hazard. ALISTER MACKENZIE

/ Geoff Shackelford

We know the grow-the-games will be flying this week when top player descent on Saudi Arabia for the PIFSIPSIA cash grab and audition for those two peas in a pod, Greg Norman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. I anticipate some fabulous rationalizations. But I did not expect Monty earn the week’s first eye-roll.

Andrew Wright summed up Monty’s contribution from a BBC interview at the Dubai Desert Classic.

"It's a shame it's come to this,” Montgomerie told BBC Sport. “We used to work well with the Asian Tour and now we are at loggerheads because of money. It's a problematic issue. It's that horrible, evil word, money. The mighty dollar ruling people's hearts and minds. 

“We never played the game for money on the European Tour when I first started out. I was trying to see how much better I could get as a golfer. Now it's all about that evil word, money. Let's hope the European Tour is closer to the PGA Tour than we've ever been before and we can fight it off."


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Hovland Heads To No. 3 In World After Dubai Triumph

There is no thrill in driving over an ugly hazard. ALISTER MACKENZIE

/ Geoff Shackelford

Highlighting world ranking status is not normally my thing but it’s mighty impressive to see Viktor Hovland win for the sixth time in less than two years and rise to No. 3 in the world upon winning the Dubai Desert Classic.

He had help from Rory McIlroy who needed to par 18 to join a playoff with Hovland Richard Bland. But found the water on his approach to the par-5 en route to a bogey six.

From Ewan Murray’s Guardian story:

Onlookers will speculate over whether McIlroy was correct to take on the last green from 260 yards. He had miraculously saved par from a bush on the previous hole, perhaps rendering a further dice with danger unwise. The counterpoints relate to McIlroy’s regular – and regularly successful – policy of being aggressive and that he was hardly planning to mis-hit a fairway wood. McIlroy did not become essential viewing by playing percentages.


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Patrick Newcomb Wins APGA Tour Event To Farmers Insurance Invitational

l have some reading to do because as the press release says below, the “APGA Tour is a non-profit organization with the mission to prepare African Americans and other minority golfers to compete and win at the highest level of professional golf, both on tour and in the golf industry.”

And the winner of the televised APGA Tour stop finishing Sunday at Torrey Pines has Korn Ferry Tour status, so why he is eligible is also unclear.

GolfDigest.com’s Tod Leonard was on hand and writes:

The APGA is a tour that was founded to give minorities more opportunities to play professional golf, but it has not closed the door on anyone either. Tour officials estimate that about 15 percent of the competitors are white, and Newcomb is one of those golfers. He qualified for the Farmers Invitational by finishing fourth on last year’s APGA money list, having started to play the tour in 2021 because it offered more events than other circuits during the pandemic.

I’m just going to leave it there and let you read Cameron Morfit’s game story at PGATour.com or the press release below, or below that, the funeral winning putt.

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What We Learned From The 2022 Farmers

Golf is the one game in which the player's ball is not subject to the interference of the opponent. It is a question of supremacy of accurate strokes without human interference, but there exists interference, nevertheless, and its name is 'hazard,' which is golfese for trouble. A.W. TILLINGHAST

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Farmers Initially Balked At Saturday Finish, Now Seems Here To Stay

Loads of good stuff can be found in this Bryce Miller column about the new and, apparently, permanent Saturday finish as long as the Farmers Insurance Open finishes on AFC/NFC Championship Sunday.

“Do you really want to know?” Farmers Insurance CEO Jeff Dailey told the Union-Tribune on Friday at Torrey Pines, when asked about his initial feelings. “It was presented as a choice at first. Do you go with Wednesday through Saturday? Or do you go to NBC and keep the Thursday-Sunday format?

“My initial, ‘upset’ reaction was, let’s go to NBC. Then cooler heads prevailed.”

Does this mean cooler heads prefer CBS to NBC?

Miller says the loss of the pro-am caused by a quick turnaround from the previous week cost the Century Club $1 million. But ultimately Farmers wants ratings and Saturday’s later finish is their best chance for the largest audience.

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Andrew Relinquishes His Honorary Membership In The Royal And Ancient

The best golfing grasses vary in color. They may be red, brown, blue, dark green, light green, yellow, and at times even white and gray. A golf course that is consisted entirely of one shade of green would be merely ugly. There is great charm and beauty in the varying shades of color on a golf course. ALISTER MACKENZIE

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David Hill Brought In To Help Norman-Backed League Change Golf On TV

A golf architect must approach each bit of country with an absolute open mind, with no preconceived ideas of what he is going to lay out, the holes have to be found, and the land in its natural state used to its best advantage. Nature can always beat the handiwork of man and to achieve the best and most satisfactory results in laying out a golf course, you must humor nature. WILLIE PARK Jr.

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Writers: Morikawa, Korda, Mickelson 2021 Players Of The Year

Full disclosure, I voted the Male Player of the Year was the the toughest category given the similarity in years between Morikawa and Rahm. But over the calendar year he had a slight edge if you ignored the Memorial mess. Previously, PGA Tour players voted Patrick Cantlay their Player of the Year and the PGA of America’s point system gave Jon Rahm the 2020-21 player of the year.

For Immediate Release:

MORIKAWA, KORDA, MICKELSON VOTED GWAA PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

HOUSTON (January 27, 2022) -- Collin Morikawa, Nelly Korda and Phil Mickelson have been named respective winners of the 2021 player of the year awards by the Golf Writers Association of America.

Morikawa, who turns 25 on Feb. 6, was voted Male Player of the Year for the first time. Korda, 23, earned Female Player of the Year honors for the first time. Mickelson, 51, who has never won the GWAA’s Male Player of the Year award, was voted Senior Player of the Year for the first time.

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Quadrilateral: Major News & Notes, January 27, 2022

A golf architect must approach each bit of country with an absolute open mind, with no preconceived ideas of what he is going to lay out, the holes have to be found, and the land in its natural state used to its best advantage. Nature can always beat the handiwork of man and to achieve the best and most satisfactory results in laying out a golf course, you must humor nature. WILLIE PARK Jr.

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Toughest Courses To Putt…Torrey Pines?!

The stretching out of holes to their last limit has often not only an evil effect on individual holes, but also on the layout in general and on the interest and quality of the course. It is refreshing now and then to find a club which has ignored the race for length and gone in for quality. ROBERT HUNTER

/ Geoff Shackelford

As the Farmers kicks off on its special Wednesday start, Data Golf posted the list of toughest greens to putt and Winged Foot continues to influence plenty of statistical categories. Hardly a shocker. But this week’s Farmers Insurance Open host and 2021 U.S. Open site Torrey Pines made the list twice. Much of this is the inevitable influence of “poa” and some of it highlights how a set of thoroughly unimaginative greens can wreak as much havoc as those with strong slopes (Augusta National).

Maybe without green reading books they’ll putt better?


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AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Announces Field, Celebs As Best They Can

There are tough jobs and then there is the task of dressing up this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, deserted by a number of stars and former champions given waivers to pursue PIFSIPSIA riches.

Certainly it’s not all bad, with great adds to the Pro-Am field in Mia Hamm and Mookie Betts. Otherwise, I’m not sure Der Bingle would know what to do with this…

MONTEREY, Calif., Jan. 25, 2022 – The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is poised to welcome back its unique vibe at this year’s tournament as spectators return to line the courses to watch the world’s top players join with celebrities, several making their debuts, in the popular pro-am format. The four-day tournament tees off Thursday, Feb. 3 with play on Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore course.

United States Ryder Cup teammates Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth and Daniel Berger, set to defend his AT&T title from a year ago, headline the professional field. Cantlay and Spieth finished tied for third place behind Berger who dramatically eagled the 72nd hole on Sunday to punctuate his victory. Other top professionals appearing are Matt Fitzpatrick, Kevin Kisner, Justin Rose and Maverick McNealy, the Stanford graduate who was runner-up to Berger in 2021.

Celebrities making their tournament debut include:

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2023 Drive, Chip And Putt Registration Open

I forgot where it happened but in the middle of a round which I was regarding with the usual distaste, a small voice within me said, you know, you don’t have to do this and I thought, No, by God, I don’t. A great wave of relief came over me and on D-Day 1968, I put the clubs up in the loft with the water tanks, closed the hatch, removed the steps and walked away. Nor have I for one second regretted it.
HENRY LONGHURST

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Same Old Story: Pretty Much No One Watches AmEx Final Round

I forgot where it happened but in the middle of a round which I was regarding with the usual distaste, a small voice within me said, you know, you don’t have to do this and I thought, No, by God, I don’t. A great wave of relief came over me and on D-Day 1968, I put the clubs up in the loft with the water tanks, closed the hatch, removed the steps and walked away. Nor have I for one second regretted it.
HENRY LONGHURST

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Women Better Then Men Files: Hilton Grand Vacations TOC Results

I forgot where it happened but in the middle of a round which I was regarding with the usual distaste, a small voice within me said, you know, you don’t have to do this and I thought, No, by God, I don’t. A great wave of relief came over me and on D-Day 1968, I put the clubs up in the loft with the water tanks, closed the hatch, removed the steps and walked away. Nor have I for one second regretted it.
HENRY LONGHURST

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No More Nice-Sounding Golf Orgs: "We Are Golf" Becomes "American Golf Industry Coalition"

The World Golf Foundation’s lobbying and educating efforts have a new name: American Golf Industry Coalition.

Clean. Tough. No grey area! We don’t need no stinking badges!

Let’s face it, the seemingly neverending threats to the municipal sport always seem to forget golf’s economic impact and it appears the group highlighting the $84 billion economy, 2 million jobs and $4 billion charitable impact decided it was time to send politicians a more pointed message with its name.

Acronym-wise it’s not ideal but neither was We Are Golf. But highlighting that there is a real industry with jobs and livelihoods on the line seems shrewd.

The website is now Golfcoalition.org.

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Santiago Tarrio Hits Backward Flop-Shot In Competition

The true line to the hole should not always be the center of the fairway. TOM SIMPSON

/ Geoff Shackelford

Here’s something you don’t see every day. Especially in competition. From the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship:


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