"Five hours is an hour too long. There's no reason why we can't get round any course anywhere in the world in any conditions in four.

"The deterrents have got to be tougher - that works in any walk of life. If there is a serious one it's amazing how quick it could be.

"I think we are all working together on it and it's a matter of trying to get it all together and try to make it fair for everybody."

It was only two weeks that Montgomerie was on the same subject and he commented then: "I'm a quick player and there's no doubt that the slow play of others has hurt me over the years."

Thanks to reader Nick for this unbylined Sports Business Journal note on Augusta National polling fans last month about their interest in LED video displays being erected on the course.

Glenn Greenspan, Augusta’s spokesman, said last week that the private club is compiling the data and has made no decision as to whether to set up video boards for 2009.
The inquiry was among several questions fans answered at 30 kiosks set up throughout the course, where they were asked about the event experience.

“It’s a question that needed to be asked,” Greenspan said. “We’ve seen them evident at other tournaments.”

Mitsubishi Electric signed a three-year marketing deal with the PGA Tour in 2007 that allows the vendor to install 11 high-definition video screens at several tournaments. (The Masters is not part of the PGA Tour.) Thirty-seven PGA Tour events have used them since the boards made their debut at last year’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. At that event in May, 90 percent of the fans polled by the PGA approved of the boards’ content, said tour spokesman Chris Smith.

“Otherwise, primary feedback has been more anecdotal,” Smith said. In addition to action highlights, the screens show up-to-date information on players and their individual scores, and are a tremendous upgrade over previous video boards the PGA Tour deployed, Smith said.

Great to see Peter Kostis calling out the higher-ups in the game over the race to the fastest green speed, though I'm sure I buy the argument that messing with pre-shot routines is really a major ramification compared to other side effects.

It's time for a rule change. Tournaments seem to be competing in a constant game of one-upmanship to see who can make their greens the toughest. In both the Masters and the Players Championship, players were penalized when their balls moved in windy conditions after they had grounded their putters. With greens rolling to 12 or 13 on the Stimpmeter and 35 mile-per-hour gusts blowing, it's going to happen. Folks, there is a reason why the greens at St. Andrews never roll very fast.

It's not fair that players have to adjust their pre-shot routines or risk getting penalized. The USGA should change the rule so a player can ground his putter and not be penalized if the wind moves the ball. The player would simply putt from the spot where the ball comes to rest. The current rule makes windy conditions a no-win situation for the players. Not grounding the putter can be just as dangerous because the wind can push the putterhead into the ball.

Tournament officials are making things hard enough by pushing greens to roll this fast. How about giving honest athletes a chance to make a good putt when things get tough?

Doug Ferguson reminds us that the USGA survived for 113 years without a corporate partner and now they have No. 4 since November, 2006.

Financial terms of the agreement were not released, although two officials aware of the negotiations said it was about $3 million a year. RBS has long been involved with the Royal & Ancient at the British Open, and recently signed on with the PGA of America. It also has a licensing agreement to use the Masters brand in advertising for BBC coverage.

"I think we're happy with the portfolio we now have in golf," said Allan Watt of RBS.

Pete Bevacqua, the USGA’s chief business officer, said the association’s goal was to find four strategic partners.

“We’re very happy with the portfolio we now have,” Bevacqua said. “We have no intentions of moving beyond four at this time.”

Jack Nicklaus was part of the painful conference call and sounded completely oblivious to pretty much every question asked (Annika's retirement, the Arnold Palmer Center about to open at Far Hills, etc...).

He later appeared on CNBC with some rude twerp who kept interrupting him, including when he tried to explain why the ball going longer impacts pace of play. He did say this before he was interrupted:

One of the problems we have today with the golf ball going so far is that the game of golf is taking longer and longer to play. 

My sources have been lacking, but after The Players and Annika's retirement announcement, they finally procured an instant message exchange between our beloved Commissioners.

DaBrandLady: tim, you there?

twfPGATour©: Yes, I'm still unwinding from a busy week. My sympathies Carolyn.

DaBrandLady: for what. i'm doing great! :)

twfPGATour©: Well one of your top-of-the-line products is deplatforming and discontinuing production.

DaBrandLady: oh annika?

twfPGATour©: Yes, what a shame. But I'm sure her Q rating will spike with a pregnancy and we know how that translates for your value streaming and interfacing.

DaBrandLady: hehe i know, it's great news all the way around. we're moving outdated product off the shelves and rollingout in fresh inventory that the targeted demo relates to! speaking of that, congrats on Sergio beating that frumpy non-demo guy.

twfPGATour©:  Thanks. But don't forget that she was is the greatest single product of our time in women's golf, I'm sure you'll miss her a little?

DaBrandLady: naw. her brand was tired, lorena's our macro brand now. more importantly, i wanted to tell you how I loved your 5 tips for managing well in last week's WSJ. it got me thinking that my staff and players might want to know my 5 tips.

twfPGATour©: They might.

DaBrandLady: may i run my 5 by you?

twfPGATour©: Do it now.

DaBrandLady: oh, are you in a hurry?

twfPGATour©: No. Do it now was my No. 1 tip for managing well, remember? I would put one of those eye wink smiley faces here but I don't know how.

DaBrandLady: oh i get it! hehe lololol

DaBrandLady: so okay here's my first tip:  brand it now.  

twfPGATour©: Hmmm...strong, to the point and sound strategy. You might think of punching up with some language on the qualitative analytics of measuring commercial inventory.

DaBrandLady: okay, dutifully noted!  here's no. 2: interface, interface, interface

twfPGATour©: Interesting, resembles the infrastructure of my tip No. 2, Communicate, communicate, communicate.  But I like it. Makes good business sense. I don't particularly care for interface with my players, but someone has to do it.

DaBrandLady: me neither. they can be such a problem. and so slow on the course!

DaBrandLady: moving right along, here's no. 3: seek brand strength at all costs, but recognize when to sacrifice value streams for cohesive platform interractivity.

twfPGATour©: That's strong. I haven't used interractivity in a long time. Such a vital concept.

DaBrandLady: i thought so too!

DaBrandLady: here's no. 4: remember that, as the leader of a charitable organization, you must also generate bench strength through constant refreshment of said organization.

twfPGATour©: That sounds much like some of the language we cooked up for last week's reshuffling press release?

DaBrandLady: well it is, i'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. it's just such a great metaphor.

twfPGATour©: You can run with it. I wish I had thought of that for my tip number 5. But you know I had little time to prepare my 5 Tips For Managing Well because I had misunderstood what they wanted and instead concocted my list of 5 Tips For Managing Wellness. I should have known the WSJ wouldn't be asking about my thoughts on Omega-3s.

DaBrandLady: well i would still read them!

DaBrandLady:  okay, finally, no. 5: you can pick your friends, you can pick your brand, but you can't pick your brand's nose.

twfPGATour©: I might end it with "but you can't pick your friend's brand"

DaBrandLady: oh right! that's what i get for reading my old fortune cookies without glasses!

twfPGATour©:  Well I hope the WSJ gives you a shot. I'm having my five tips embroidered to framed placemats for the 8 EVPs, the 22 SVPs and on throw pillows for the 32 VPs.

DaBrandLady: very nice touch! that's a lot of pillows!

twfPGATour©: No kidding. Say, carolyn, I hate to cut you off, but it's been a long week. We had to do over 90 minutes on slow play at a player's meeting last week and I have to write a memo to pretend I am following up.

DaBrandLady: ironical that you would have a long, slow meeting on slow play!

twfPGATour©: I'm really not believer in irony.

DaBrandLady: i'm not sure i know what it means.

twfPGATour©: Say Carolyn, I suppose we will have to keep giving the impression we are worried about this slow play issue. I've crunched value modulations on our network telecasts running long and it's a huge bonus for us when it happens, always good for a solid Nielsen point. So I'm not in any hurry to see things speed up. Is that how you feel?

DaBrandLady: wish we had that problem, but we're not on any networks in the late afternoon.

twfPGATour©: Well, in time perhaps. Give my best to...

DaBrandLady: He would say hi back if he were here!

Bill Fields hangs out at No. 17 during The Players and files this look at the hole and the history of the island green.

Also included with the story is this wild photo I've never seen, credited to the "Golf Digest Resource Center" (is that where you pick up homeopathic remedies for your swing?).

Jerry Potter does that informercial thing that only the USA Today has the cajones to try, this time with layering a monumental puff piece/suck up to advertisers with contributions from nearly everyone in the golf ball business. 

See if you can spot the theme here:

Garcia sealed the victory with a wedge shot on the par-3 17th island hole when the ball stopped 4 feet from the cup. Garcia's skill certainly was a factor, but all players are finding that the current generation of golf balls is far better than anything in the past.

Next...

Statistics can be misleading, but victories aren't. Titleist, which dominates the PGA Tour in players, has 11 wins this year; Nike has six, including Trevor Immelman's win at The Masters.

Callaway has two wins, but on the LPGA tour Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam have combined to give Callaway eight wins in 11 tournaments.

Clearly, the golf ball, whether a three-piece or a four-piece construction, is better than in past generations.

And finally...

As Nike's rep to the pro tours, Rick Nichols often pitches a new golf ball design to his father, Bobby Nichols, a former touring pro, who at 72 is all but retired from tournament golf.

"He always says, 'The ball is the same size as it used to be, isn't it? And, it's still round isn't it?' " Rick says.

The answer is yes to both questions, but today's golf ball is closer to perfect than at any time in the game's history.

And better than in past generations!

Come on Wally, even you had to find this one painful to read. 

Golfweek's Evan Rothman paints a picture for us of the press conference scene while his colleague Beth Ann Baldry talks to Suzann Pettersen about her disappointment in hearing the news. Meanwhile Brian Hewitt offers a few predictions about how this may play out.

Steve Elling catches up with Kathy Whitworth about Annika's decision to go out while she's at the top. Golf For Women's Dave Allen gets Lorena's "surprise" reaction to the news and also explains how the timing of the announcement came about.

Golf.com (here) and GolfDigest.com (here) offer career retrospectives while Ron Sirak learned of the news Sunday and therefore had a little more time to file this career obit.

Sorenstam's mastery of emotional balance was so complete she gave no hint of inner turmoil. In 2004 she won eight LPGA events and twice more overseas as her marriage to David Esch was crumbling. Divorce papers were filed the following February. She similarly kept her father Tom's prostate cancer battle the last few years private, never using that distraction as an excuse.

And, of course, there was the transformation she made in dealing with the attention that came with being so dominant. As a rookie Sorenstam was so shy she took a month off after winning her first U.S. Open because she wanted to avoid the media. In 2003, the year she played in the PGA Tour's Bank of America Colonial, she handled the nearly four-month buildup to her appearance with aplomb.

Dan Jenkins, the Golf Digest writer who has witnessed virtually every significant event in golf for nearly 60 years, has said Annika's opening tee shot at Colonial -- a 257-yard 4-wood off the 10th tee -- might have had more pressure on it than any single shot in the game's history. It was perhaps the most important shot in the history of women's golf and her superb execution in an opening-round 71, combined with the classy way she handled the attention, earned women's golf new fans and enhanced respect.

"Colonial was my mission," Sorenstam said Sunday as she looked back over her career. "It was my path, my journey and I felt like people accepted that, 'Hey she's an athlete, and she wants to get better.' I've always let my clubs do the talking. And I felt like people accepted me for that."

Steve Elling talks to the USGA's Mike Davis about finishing the U.S. Open on a reachable par-5 and the answer might surprise you.

"From a personal standpoint, nothing would please me more than to see giant swings in scoring on this hole," Davis told CBSSports.com. "A player eagling the 72nd hole to win would be a dream come true."

Somebody pinch me.

A day after Ogilvy had admitted he'd won the Open in ugly, cat-burglar fashion he'd not care to see repeated, Davis' surprising sentiments were relayed. A wry smile creased the Aussie's face as he though of Davis, an affable guy in his third year setting up the Open venue. Davis' tenure has been marked by innovation and an approach that players have broadly characterized as more conservative than his Draconian predecessors.

"Makes you wonder how he got a job working there, huh?" Ogilvy cracked.

But Mike Davis, the senior director of rules and competition for the USGA, said that number is deceiving. "I feel very confident saying we will not play that length one day of the championship," he said.

Davis said the USGA will utilize the variety of tee boxes available to them, resulting in a course that will play "somewhere in the neighborhood of 74 [7,400 yards] and change up to 75 [7,500 yards] and change." That's a big neighborhood, notwithstanding the USGA's benevolence in backing it down somewhat.

Reader Tim clearly wants to get me in trouble. From an unbylined AP story:

President Bush said Tuesday he was disappointed in "flawed intelligence" before the Iraq war and was concerned that if a Democrat wins the presidency in November and withdrew troops prematurely it could "eventually lead to another attack on the United States."

In an interview with Politico magazine and Yahoo News, Bush also said he gave up golf in 2003 out of respect for U.S. soldiers killed in the war, which has now lasted more than five years.

"I didn't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

When you can go fishing off Kennebunkport, dance around like a fool and hold hands with the King of Saudi Arabia, golf would send the wrong message?

The sport is doomed!

Thanks to reader Barrie for Ron Green Jr.'s story on Charlotte Country Club's Ron Pritchard restoration of a Ross design.

Sounds like another happy club...if there is such a thing!

The USGA hosted its annual U.S. Open media day to give the region's newspaper assistant copy editors, middle-of-the-night radio sports talk show hosts and club newsletter columnists the chance to spend six hours slashing around Torrey Pines for free.
Jay Rains addresses the press (click to enlarge).

As part of the trade out for being comp'd and receiving a cap and bag tag, the moochers had to sit through a press conference hosted by media relations man Craig Smith, with speeches from president Jim Vernon (who made a great impression, as expected), executive committee member Jay Rains (it's okay to smile Jay!), Torrey Pines superintendent Mark Woodward (talks faster than Marty Scorsese on speed), championship committee chair Jim Hyler (the next Prez) and USGA competitions director Mike Davis (the main draw).

Each offered remarks you can read here, including some fresh golf course setup insights from Hyler and Davis.  Following was a short Q&A and on beamed in DVD, defending champion Angel Cabrera interviewed by Alex Miceli.

A transcript of the Cabrera interview was passed out before the play button was hit, which allowed everyone who remained to track every painstaking minute, which turned out to be 20 for those of us who stayed around. Nothing against Cabrera, but it became obvious within a minute or so that no one really wanted to hear each question translated in Spanish, followed by the answer in Spanish before we heard the interpretation.

Note to USGA: editing was invented for a reason.

As the interview progressed, it became hard to hear Cabrera above the chatter among those still in attendance. The droves filed out to prepare for losing ten balls and posting their three-digit scores.

While someone surely appreciated the journalistic integrity of showing us questions and answers in Spanish, next time let's chop that baby up and whittle it down to the English portion of the proceedings, eh?

I have to admit it was fun watching the blue coats nervously looking at the crowd filing out and amongst themselves wondering if they should pull the plug.

That said, I'm very excited about the Open's return to Southern California and anticipate that the combination of San Diego's fun coastal vibe, the magnificent arena the course should be (thanks to tree removal) and the exciting setup touches being cooked up by Mssrs. Davis and Hyler, that it's going to be a special week.

Some general thoughts and photos after spending the last two days walking around Torrey Pines:


View from grandstand behind No. 5. The classic Open look is taking shape (click to enlarge)Golf Course - The South Course is in excellent condition. The heat wave we had a couple of weeks ago apparently made the kikuyu happy, so the fairways are excellent but not so thatchy that it'll prevent Woodward from speeding them up.  Even as wet as the course is right now with dense fog and some irrigating, I saw a lot of balls running.

The rough is dense, apparently a tad thicker than the USGA had hoped. Therefore they have slightly lowered some of the cut heights (see Davis's comments in the transcript). That said, it's predominantly rye and poa rough, with the occasional kikuyu lie. The first cut of rough will be reduced to 15 feet from 20 because Davis has decided that the course is already playing wide enough.
Healthy crop of rough just waiting to be trampled by spectators (click to enlarge)

The greens are in fine shape, still rolling a couple of feet slower than they hope to have them for the Open where they are aiming for 13 on the Stimpmeter Monday-Sunday. They still don't have the firmness, but there's plenty of time to deal with that.


A newly cut approach improves No. 4 (click to enlarge)The bunkering looks a lot better with longer rough, but not nearly as attractive or strategically placed as I'd like to have seen. Rees Jones decries the "collapsing" bunkers of Doak, Coore/Crenshaw and Hanse, yet he is okay with them at "seaside" courses like Atlantic. When I asked him why Torrey Pines didn't count as a seaside course, he reasoned that the public couldn't have handled such bunkers.

Oh yes, Rees and I chatted for a while in the midst of one of his on-course photo shoots...


Rees Jones (click to enlarge)Rees: He made sure to let me know that he was not in fact the vandal of Chamber Bay's lone tree, so it's nice to know that Rees is surfing the web in between press conferences, photos shoots and exclusive interviews.

In general the Open Doctor is very excited about Davis's plans to vary the setup of more than half the holes and will probably taking credit for having built so much variety into the course by June. Though I don't sense he's too wild about encouraging players to go for the par-5s at No. 9 or No. 18 in two.


The merchandise hangar (click to enlarge)Infrastructure: I paced off the merchandise pavilion as slightly over 100 yards long. And there's also a "satellite" location near the bus drop off by the 12th hole. The various corporate tent villages are coming along nicely and most feature great ocean views, though I did find the ones along No. 1 and near No. 2 tee to be a tad close to play. The Trophy Club (I don't know what it is, but I'm guessing it ain't cheap) sits in a stunning location on Torrey North's No. 2 hole, and just east of it is the media center which will feature an awesome patio and dining area overlooking the ocean. But it is surprisingly far from the drop off point, so scribblers bring comfortable shoes.
View from The Trophy Club (click to enlarge)

Speaking of the most important people in the world...

Media Hotel: I was bummed not to get in the Doubletree Del Mar since I've stayed there twice now at ridiculously low prices (thank you Priceline and Biddingfortravel.com). Besides housing 300 scribes, it's where the media parking and shuttle is located.  After driving around the business parks surrounding the Doubletree, I realized how little there is around the it in the way of local dining in an area with so much great local faire.   Then again, how can you not love a hotel that asks you at check-in to initial a pledge to respect it's no-tolerance-for-smoking-anywhere-on-the-property policy?  

Let the "I hate California" columns begin!

Douglas Lowe talks to Richie Ramsay about the negative influence of growing up a links tournament player, and what he's doing to hit the ball higher.

I caught up with the 25-year-old Aberdonian last week on the range at the Tolcinasco Castle course near Milan where he was preparing for the Italian Open with a row of some 20 different drivers behind him.

His shots were being assessed by a radar device that was designed originally to track missiles but which has been subsequently modified for golf balls.

"I am trying to hit the ball higher and this kind of technology helps," confirmed Richie, who learned his game on the Royal Aberdeen links and made his way right through the international ranks to the Walker Cup. "I can change my swing a little bit to achieve that, but altering the shaft and the weights in the clubhead can do the same."

Ramsay was a Walker Cup contemporary of the Americans Anthony Kim and JB Holmes, both big-hitting, high ball-flight winners on the PGA Tour this year. While such victories are inspiring, he was quick to point out that any suggestion that he and Lloyd Saltman are slower developers is not entirely fair.

"These guys are coming from college golf where they play top-class courses week-in, week-out," said Ramsay. "Then they go on tour and they play the same courses. People sometimes don't realise that when we played amateur golf, it was on courses like Royal Lytham and Royal Aberdeen. Then you come out here and it's completely different.

"For players like me who were brought up on links, it is a total change. I have to learn to hit the ball higher, especially with the driver. I also need a better flight for approaches to tight pin positions. That's the stuff I've been working on. I had a good result at the US amateur, but since then it's been a case of re-learning what I'm doing."

Sigh. What have we done to the game when growing up playing firm, windy links isn't the recipe to making you a better player?

Andrew Both reports on what could become a trend for Phil Mickelson that started last fall.

His manager, Steve Loy of Gaylord Sports, has left open the door to the possibility.

"Phil is not considering joining the European Tour at this time, but it is an option in the future, given the global nature of professional golf," Loy said today.

Mickelson's membership would be a massive boost to the European Tour, which is using its international schedule and some deep-pocketed multi-national sponsors to challenge the once all-dominant American PGA Tour.

Mickelson is believed to be considering the move due to several factors, including his sponsorship deal with Barclays Bank, the naming-rights sponsor of the Scottish and Singapore Opens.

...how long? I've been told by a few