Images From Torrey Pines: 13th Green

There are mixed feelings about this one. I love that balls with too much spin might come back down off of #13 green at Torrey Pines South. And superintendent Candice Combs is wise to protect this collection area...of sorts, with netting and ropes. But something also is just not right when there's a need to cover an area to prevent a sea of divots. In this case, the weak turf in the approach, which appears to be the product of lousy soil, seems to be making it too easy for balls to spin off the green, down the hill and to this ledge.

 

Images From Torrey Pines: 16th Tee

This is a view from the tee that will be used during June's U.S. Open, but not during Buick play this week. It's great to see the sage scrub canyon, unfortunately the bunkers are still those copy and pasted clunkers from Bethpage Black.

 

Phil Would Rather Stay In Bed Than Face Scribblers

And I was so looking forward to hearing his take on Kelly Tilghman.

Greetings From San Diego, Vol. 1

Arrived today at Torrey Pines where a light, cool drizzle gave way to a beautiful afternoon so that pro-am number nine could finish in all their glory. I walked the back nine, and because it's so bloody cold you can't go outside and have nothing better to do, some food for consideration...

The good...

The U.S. Open hosting South Course is in fine condition. The greens look especially good considering the beating they are taking with all of the Pro-Am play. The rough is benign for the most part, and the fairway widths generous by today's standards (24-31 yards for the holes I paced off, most were 28 on the number...). In other words, expect a fun tournament with some decent scoring and excitement.

The really good...

Tree removal. Lots of it and plenty of trimming too. It's no coincidence that one Tour official told me this is the best he's seen the course in nine years. There are several stunning views that have been opened up, and the Torrey pine's are actually the predominant tree. Considering this is the only place in the world you can see them in abundance, it's a nice touch.

Also, the reworked 18th fairway landing area is much better. It's a generous 31 yards and very inviting for guys to hit driver, which will encourage many to go for the green in two.  I hope it stays close to this configuration for the Open.

The really, really good...

The Lodge at Torrey Pines. Other than the poor soul who has to dress up like a Scottish bagpiper to greet front door guests, the place is stunning in every respect. If you love Greene and Greene craftsman architecture, the replication of their details makes it a modern day architectural marvel. Especially compared to...  

The bad...

The lack of any intelligent purpose to the holes other than hitting it high and straight is beyond belief. It's just a shame considering how much potential there was to embrace the canyons and take advantage of the nice natural ground. Prior to the renovation there were several hole locations that rewarded drives placed on certain sides of the fairways. I don't see that in the current South course.

The ugly...

The shaping. Not only are the bunkers soulless, the tie-in work around the greens is awkward and abrupt. It also appears that poor topsoil was used to elevate the greens because many approaches are thin.

All in all the place is at least feeling like a U.S. Open venue. The scale is grand and the views lovely. And yet it could be so much more interesting strategically, particularly in utilizing the natural features.

Images to follow... 

Bob Hope Photo Caption Fun

Courtesy of GolfDigest.com's weekend photo slideshow...what's Jim Weathers whispering in Long John's ear?

 

Trahan Wins Hope; Hundreds Witness It

So much for easy freeway access and boatloads of parking translating to gallery participation...Mark Lamport-Stokes reports on D.J. Trahan's win, but I've yet to see an attendance number published.

"No, not unless somebody hits me."

More for the Boo Weekley files. Following round 3 at the Hope:

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Could you just to start out, could you just go through your card on your birdies.
BOO WEEKLEY: I think I birdied, well, I birdied 1, then I birdied 2.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: But what did you do?
BOO WEEKLEY: Oh, really I don't even know. I don't remember all the holes.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Forget it.
BOO WEEKLEY: I'm sorry.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: That's all right. That's all right.

And this beautiful exchange: 

Q. How do you like this weather compared with Scotland?
BOO WEEKLEY: Compared to who?

Q. Scotland. You were in Scotland in July. Remember?
BOO WEEKLEY: Oh, yes, sir. It's all right. It's a little too dry out here for me. I'm waking up in the morning time early in the morning and nose bleeding and stuff, I'm a little chaffed, you know, I mean I got a rash and it's just a little dry for me. I like it a little more humidity.

Q. Your nose bleeds in the morning?
BOO WEEKLEY: Yes, sir.

Q. Only here?
BOO WEEKLEY: Well, I mean, yes, I mean it's just dry. I'm not used to this dryness.

Q. It doesn't bleed back home.
BOO WEEKLEY: No, not unless somebody hits me.
(Laughter.)

"It's also frustrating for Joe Ogilvie and Brad Faxon and David Toms, and also our independent directors"

Mark Lamport Stokes reports that Stewart Cink is taking exception to players who take an exception to the exceptional new cut rule:

"It's frustrating to me knowing that I put in a lot of time personally into decision making with the policy board," Cink told Reuters after Thursday's second round at the Bob Hope Classic.

"It's also frustrating for Joe Ogilvie and Brad Faxon and David Toms, and also our independent directors," the 34-year-old American added, referring to his colleagues on the Tour's policy board.

"We put a lot time into these decisions, there's a lot of study that goes on and then when something comes around, a lot of players blow the whistle and say: 'Hey, we didn't know.'

"Well I don't know what else we can do. We tried to notify everybody in at least three or four different ways, and that includes managers and spouses.

"Somebody needs to get the message to these players of the changes that are going on on their tour. It is their tour. It is very frustrating."

"The tour sent an e-mail when the change was approved in November."

Doug Ferguson follows up on the cut controversy with this item in his notes column:

The Player Advisory Council considered four options before approving the proposal that only the nearest number to 70 play on the weekend if the cut includes more than 78 players. The proposal passed by a 75 percent margin.
 
The other options were top 60 and ties; top 65 and ties, as is done in Europe; the nearest number to 70 regardless of how many players finishing top 70 and ties; and a Saturday cut of top 70 and ties which Jeff Sluman has advocated for years.

Hey, now there's a great idea.  And we know how much traction those usually have. 

The most bogus complaint of the weekend was that players didn't know about the new policy. That's their fault. The tour sent an e-mail when the change was approved in November. It was in the "green sheet" report they get in the mail and in lockers. It was available on "Tour Links," the players' web site. And it was attached as a cover sheet to the 2008 regulations everyone received.

I have no sympathy with the player's plight considering the above.

But more than that, how can you feel for them when they play so terribly slow? This rule was brought on in large part because of pace of play. Granted, distance advances have totally changed the pace of play dynamics on many courses by introducing longer walks to new back tees, automatic fairway waits on nearly all par-5s and long waits on short par-4 tees that never existed.

Still, PGA Tour players are horribly slow. So unless they adopt something like the USGA's new pace of play policy that actually penalizes slow play and read the memos sent their way, do they really have a gripe? 

"PGA Tour officials, though, said Lopez didn't have the power to promote the Hope in such a manner, thereby killing the diary."

L.A. Times columnist T.J. Simers says he wanted to do one of his entertaining 24/7 column series where he follows a figure around and documents all. But he's claiming "PGA Tour officials" shot it down.  I'm not sure I'm buying it, but here's what he claims:

I HAD plans to attend the Bob Hope Classic this week in the desert -- thinking maybe somebody should go.

It's a dying PGA tournament, as you know, and aren't they all when Tiger isn't playing?

This one is so far gone it's not on network TV this weekend, has none of the top 20 players in the world, and will be competing for attention here with the NFL, Lakers and UCLA taking on USC.

But I still thought it'd be fun to shadow the Hope's celebrity host, George Lopez, like I did Oscar De La Hoya before his last two fights, and like the week-long trip to Nebraska -- write four or five Page 2 diary columns on the Hope.

Lopez, proving he's willing to do almost anything for the Hope, agreed to make himself available 24/7, including parties, dinners and an invite to caddy for him Saturday.

PGA Tour officials, though, said Lopez didn't have the power to promote the Hope in such a manner, thereby killing the diary. The concern, of course, what happens if one of the golfers is seen wearing a lampshade at one of the parties? How would it look on Page 2 if I couldn't put a name to a face of one of their players?

It was a legitimate concern since the tour is now loaded with players who lack identity -- the exception being JohnDaly, who wouldn't draw a second look if he was wearing a lampshade, because that's John Daly.

The PGA Tour's idea of hyping the dying Hope was to make three players available for interviews Tuesday, and if I told you three of the six names here belong to golfers -- Lane Frost, Charley Hoffman, Billy Bishop, John Ware, Anthony Kim and RichardJohnson -- could you pick them out?

Hoffman is Hope's defending champ, and was joined in the interview tent by Kim and Johnson. The other three names belong to men who really are dead.

"If the tour can change courses to get Tiger, they could do the same for Phil. It would save The Hope."

Tim Rosaforte says he'd rather hang in Abu Dabi than the desert this week, offering this Classic Club related quote from Joe Ogilvie:

"What's somewhat frustrating is that the player directors have almost zero power over venue," Ogilvie said. "No matter how much we say we feel like we're making a mistake going to these golf courses, it kind of falls on deaf ears."

More powerful though was Rosaforte pointing out the irony of this week's Westchester-to-Ridgewood-to-appease-Tiger-move, and the likely permanent loss of Mickelson from the Hope as long as they stay at the Classic Club:

If the tour can change courses to get Tiger, they could do the same for Phil. It would save The Hope.

Tour Comments On Ridgewood Letter...Sort Of

From Golf Central's January 15 edition, reporting on the Ridgewood Country Club letter first reported here:

"The B.C. Open. The International. The Kemper Open. All three were tournaments that didn't fit into Woods' schedule. All three have since disappeared from the schedule."

Started the day of with a nice warm chuckle courtesy of Doug Ferguson AP's Jeff Gold quoting Ty Votaw on the Westchester situation:

A tour spokesman insisted Monday a final decision had not been made.

``I would say that no decision has been made to terminate our agreement with Westchester,'' tour spokesman Ty Votaw said, adding talks with Westchester are continuing. ``Those discussions may or may not result in a joint decision to keep The Barclays at Westchester.''

Reports that the 2008 edition would be moved to Ridgewood were ``premature,'' Votaw said.

Premature to about 40 people in Ponte Vedra!

Meanwhile Sam Weinman is full of great points in this post-mortem on the prematurely reporting:

The B.C. Open. The International. The Kemper Open. All three were tournaments that didn't fit into Woods' schedule. All three have since disappeared from the schedule.

"This is a factor with a lot of tour events. They all want him as a competitor because he brings crowds, he brings attention, and he obviously brings ratings," said Neal Pilson, a Chappaqua resident and former president of CBS Sports who now has a private consulting business. "Tiger has a greater singular influence on golf than anyone in the era of television, and that includes Jack Nicklaus or Tom Watson or Greg Norman. He's a phenomenon unto himself."

Granted, The Barclays scenario would not be one of a tournament disbanding, but a tournament simply looking to relocate from its longtime home. For the people who have long considered this tournament their own, though, it might as well be the same thing.

What's interesting to note is that if The Barclays remained in its customary June spot either before or after the U.S. Open, much of this would have been avoided. There still might not be any Woods, but the set-up time in the quiet spring months wouldn't be such a point of contention.

Throw in the problems with the Western and now this, and it really is remarkable how much turmoil these little playoffs have created...off the course.

Letter To Ridgewood Members...

...with phone numbers deleted to protect the innocent.

Considering the tour's efforts at Westchester to improve the corporate tent situation, this letter leaves me with the impression that the tent stuff was just a stalling tactic. Not that there's anything wrong with that...well, you be the judge.

Subject: 2008 Barclays

January 14, 2008

Dear Fellow Member,

This letter was scheduled to go to you sometime during the 4th week of January, but events of the past few days have caused us to send it now. The purpose of this communication was to have been to announce that our club had reached an agreement with the PGA Tour to host the 2008 Barclays Classic, the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoff. Word of our discussions with the PGA Tour was leaked to Golf World and perhaps other media. A story appeared on the Golf World website last Friday and on the Golf Channel on Saturday. Neither we nor the Tour had a hand in the leak. We do not yet have a final Agreement. However, we expect that it will be finalized and signed in the near future. Following is some information regarding the event that I am confident you will find exciting.

“Guess Who’s Coming to Ridgewood” was the headline on the MGA Magazine cover in 1990 when the “Big 4” of golf were about to compete in the 1990 US Senior Open at RCC. Now again we can ask the same question. Except that this time it refers to the best professional golfers in the world, who will be coming to our Club to compete in the Barclays Classic which will be held from August 18th to the 24th.

As many of you know, over the years our Club has hosted a number of important golf tournaments, including the 1935 Ryder Cup matches, the 1974 US Amateur, the 1990 Senior US Open and the 2001 Senior PGA Championship. Late last summer, the PGA Tour asked the Board if it would consider hosting the 2008 Barclays Classic. After holding PGA tournament events at the Westchester Country Club for some 40 years, including the 2007 Barclays, the Tour wanted to make a change in the venue.

At first, we were skeptical. Would our great Tillinghast course stand up to the test? Could we pull it all together in less than a year? Could we handle the crowds if Woods and Michelson both played and were paired in the final group on a sunny Sunday afternoon? Would the disruption to our member’s enjoyment of their club be worth the money? However, when all the facts came together, it became readily apparent that given the nature of the event and the immediate and residual benefit that could accrue to our club, it was an offer that we should not refuse. And so, after several negotiating sessions with the TOUR and three special meetings of the Board, where the upside and downside considerations of hosting the event were debated, the Board voted overwhelmingly to accept the Tour proposal, subject to a formal Agreement. This is where we stand today. Once we do have an executed Agreement, the news will be posted on our website and we’ll get the word out to you as quickly as we can.

Let me summarize what this event will mean to our Club and our members. First, the Barclays will be played over a special Championship course described on the attached. At par 71 and stretching 7,304 yards, the layout should provide a good and fair test for the golfers.

For a 30 day period preceding the event, play will be limited to members only and cart use will be restricted on the Championship course to rope designated paths. From the 16th to the 24th of August, the golf course will be closed to member play. The practice range will be closed from August 17th thru the 24th. Regular member play will resume on August 26th. Special member events over the Championship course are being planned and more information will be forthcoming.

The set-up of tents and sky-box pavilions will take about 6 weeks prior to the event but this construction will largely be limited to the perimeter of the five finishing holes and care will be taken to minimize the imposition on the play of members and guests. No construction will take place during special event days like the Club Championship, Clambake, etc.

For the tournament, our members will be able to purchase a special Ticket Package to watch play during the tournament week. Arrangements for ticket holders will be made to provide parking in a designated VIP area and access to the Champions Bar and Grille and Patio which will be designated for members only use.

And finally, the club will benefit financially. The package, although not overly generous, is acceptable. We have a minimum financial guarantee and a cap on our out-of pocket expenses that will ensure a reasonable profit. In addition, there is significant upside profit potential that is largely dependent on hospitality sales and attendance. One of the special things that the Tour does is to donate profits from their events to charity. Such is the case with the Barclays where an expected $850,000 will be donated, with a minimum of $350,000 of that total going to local charities to be selected jointly by RCC and the Tour.

The PGA Tour is not the same organization as the PGA of America that ran the 2001 PGA Senior Championship. The Tour runs a number of important PGA events and has a full-time staff of professionals dedicated for this purpose. Among this staff are the individuals who have conducted the past events at Westchester CC and they will be responsible for the bulk of the work related to putting on the Barclays. Therefore, we are confident that we will see an outstanding, well organized event that will showcase our great Ridgewood Country Club. Members who wish to volunteer their services during this event will be given a priority.

Our club will likely be in the national golf spotlight for a time after the Tour issues its press release and the news becomes more wide spread, and we should be prepared. I will be acting as the spokesman for our club for any information about our club or the club’s hosting this event. Inquiries by any media should be directed to me so that we can provide a concise and uniform response.

We will keep you posted on news and information and on the progress of the preparations for the event but I know that there will still be many questions. Please feel free to direct your questions to me or any member of our Board of Directors.

Sincerely,
Alex Khowaylo
President

"We did not have the kind of success that we expected given that we were elevating The Barclay's to a Play off event."

In the letters covering the demise of Westchester CC as a PGA Tour venue, you will note that Ed Moorhouse expresses his concern about the corporate hospitality potential. Below is the Tour's letter to the club dated just over a month ago laying out the new parameters expected by the Tour.

It's interesting that in such a short time Ponte Vedra determined that the newly outlined specs were not going to be met by the club, and voila, they were off. Or was this just a clever, lawyerly way of getting out of the deal in a quest to leave a course that Tiger Woods won't play at (and one that was a giant headache for the Tour)?