Category Archives: Op-Ed

Brooks Koepka Wins 2nd Consecutive U.S. Open

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Brooks Koepka won his second consecutive U.S. Open by a shot over Tommy Fleetwood at Shinnecock Hills. Koepka shot a final round 2-under 68, and became the first back-to-back winner of the U.S. Open since Curtis Strange in 1988-1989.

Fleetwood shot a final-round score of 63 but came up one shot short.

One of the big controversies from this U.S. Open is when Phil Mickelson seemingly lost is mind temporarily on the 13th hole on Saturday when he missed a bogey putt and then ran to hit the ball again before it could roll down a slope and off the green.

This is very much the same kind of move that John Daly did at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in 1999 when he tried to putt a ball from a collection area up onto the green but didn’t quite hit it hard enough.  As the ball rolled back down on its way to where it was just played from, Daly strutted to it and “polo”ed the ball up the slope and across the green.

As I remember the incident, it was in the second round and Daly had played great on Thursday and talked about how great the course setup was, until he struggled on Friday and suddenly the course setup was “a joke”.

Back to Mickelson in 2018 on Saturday.  He claims he did what he did in order to not have to chip back up onto the green again, so he decided to hit the moving ball, take a 2-shot penalty for hitting a moving ball, and then finish the hole and move on to the next one.

Mickelson’s “use” of the rules is stretching the whole idea of players using the rules to their advantage (usually this happens when they get free relief or a drop where they get out of a bad lie and into a position where they can recover). I don’t think this use of the rules is good for the game of golf, and basically is like cheating.  During the broadcast, David Fay, former president of USGA and Fox’s rules expert, said that if he were part of the USGA’s current decision making process that he would have recommended disqualification for Mickelson’s actions.

Anyways, Here are some of the highlights from the final round:

 

 

 

Amateurs Playing in 2018 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

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I remember when watching the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am was fun because of all of the celebrities taking part and stress out over “making the cut” to play the final day.

Now it’s a boring tournament as the majority of the amateurs taking part seem to be corporate executives, and even the “celebrities” are not really A-list.  Who would you be interested in seeing from the list below?  Seriously, outside of Bill Murray, the NFL players (like Tony Romo, Aaron Rodgers, Larry Fitzgerald), there is not an A-lister to be found.  Where is the new Jack Lemon and Clint Eastwood?

Here is the list of the amateurs that I found on GolfWeek.com:

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So Yeon Ryu Wins Controversial ANA Inspiration

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The first LPGA major, the ANA Inspiration (formerly the Dinah Shore Classic), is usually one of my favourite events to watch.  It is usually very competitive, and typically comes down to the final hole where players can make anything from eagles to double-bogies. It also happens to have one of the best victory traditions in all of sport, where the winner (and her caddy and friends) take a leap into Poppy’s Pond next to the 18th green.

This year the tournament was marred by a controversial penalty called on Lexi Thompson, which turned what looked to be a runaway victory for Lexi into a fight to the finish where she lost in a playoff. The ANA Inspiration was just not inspirational.

The penalty in question was submitted via e-mail (apparently) and took place during the Saturday round. During the final round, the e-mail was sent and Lexi was informed of the penalty while playing the 12th hole.  The penalty was 4-shots.  Two shots for incorrectly replacing her ball on the putting green after marking it, and two shots for having signed an incorrect scorecard.  She went from having a 2-shot lead in the final round to being 2 back.

This tweet may show when the penalty took place:

https://twitter.com/corioz/status/848701764631236609

 

Based on the video evidence, Lexi appears to have replaced her ball in a slightly different spot than she picked it up from. Paul Goydos tweeted that this “rule is broken every time a ball is marked”, as it is impossible to replace a ball to the exact position that it was picked up from.

Did Lexi break a rule? Apparently yes.  Does she deserve to have a 4-shot penalty placed on her 24 hours later?  No.  She deserves, at worst, a two-shot penalty for incorrectly replacing her ball on the green.

Many feel that viewers or spectators should not be able to call in rule violations. Does a player deserve to go unpunished, and win, when they are seen to have violated the rules? Personally, I think it would be worse to have someone break the rules and go unpunished and win, than have what happened Lexi today. “Getting away” with breaking a rule and winning is not what golf is about. I have no problem with viewers calling in rules infractions, as it is done. However, maybe there needs to be a statute of limitations.  If the Golf Channel replays the 1997 Masters and I see that Tiger Woods repaired a spike mark and not a ball mark, or his ball moved slightly on the green and he didn’t notice and then putted it, can I call in and have Tiger disqualified 20 years later? I think any penalties submitted by viewers need to be enforced before the player signs their card after the round where the penalty took place.

Regardless of the outcome of this, as to how the rules might be changed or enforced, there will be problems. Sorry for the rambling, but I don’t know if there is a truly right answer to how this needs to be handled.  Whichever side if the issue you’re on, the other side can say it’s not fair (i.e. if it came to light that Lexi had broken the rules and not been punished, would there not be outrage the So Yeon Ryu had the tournament stolen from her?).

Lexi handled it with class, and birdied the final hole to force a playoff, which Ryu won with a birdie on the first hole.  And where was Lexi while Ryu was doing her victory leap?  Signing autographs.  That’s a champion.

 

After today, I think it’s fair to say that the golf gods owe Lexi Thompson.

UPDATE –

Found this statement from the LPGA posted on twitter:

 

A Couple of Finishes at Bay Hill When Tiger Won

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This is the week of Bay Hill, and the first time it’s been played since Arnold Palmer passed away.  There is no Tiger this week, and he’s won the tournament eight (8!!!) times.  NBC just showed a highlight of Tiger’s winning putt in 2009, but I was hoping they would have shown Tiger’s winning putt from 2008 (yes, he won both years with a birdie on the 72nd hole).

I prefer the 2008 finish because he threw his hat.

Here is the putt from 2008.

Here is the 2009 finish.

And then here is Arnold Palmer’s final full shot in a PGA event (at Bay Hill in 2004 at the age of 74).

Yahoo Fantasy Golf Pool for 2017

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Yahoo Fantasy Golf is back for the 2017 season.

Feel free to join my 2017 Golf Pool through Yahoo Fantasy Sports. Sign up at the Yahoo Fantasy Golf front page and join the group with the ID and password.

Group ID#: 273
Password: caddyshack

The first tournament for the Yahoo Fantasy Golf season is the Tournament of Champions, January 5, 2017, and the pool runs through the Tour Championship.

Thanks.