The confederate flag painted on the roof was an issue for Watson’s wife, he said.
“I said it’s not about the confederate flag, it’s about the show and what it stands for,” he said.
And it stands for what again? Bad 80s television? Hayseeds in heat?
“It’s the most recognizable car. So years and years of persuading her, it didn’t help. Then finally we’ve never been to the Barrett-Jackson, because I’ve always played the Hope, now the Humana.
You know the Barrett-Jackson does conflict for me as well. That's always the weekend of my favorite rare wine auction in Paris. Anyway, go on...
"So I took it off this year. So a friend asked us to go and it was just sitting there.”
And the price was right.
“I wasn’t going to go much more money than that,” Watson said. “Because they were predicting a lot higher numbers, but for some reason it just fell in my lap.”
Rich Lernersums up Kyle Stanley's Sunday as "breezing across Torrey Pines in all his Camilo-ness, like a movie star – trim, fit and cool as if in an Esquire fashion shoot – and then in five agonizing minutes he’s a 15 handicap making triple. What a brutal game."
If you wanted to get a flavor of just one panel at the Clinton Foundation event, here's a panel hosted by Jerry Tarde and featuring Travis Bogard, CMO, Jawbone; James Curleigh, CEO, KEEN Footwear; Casey Wasserman, Chairman and CEO, Wasserman Media Group; Michael McCallister, CEO, Humana & Bob Lanier, basketball legend.
Reader Matt passed this photo along from someone on site whose name I'd reveal except that he would be spending the next Farmers Insurance Open watching from outside the gates.
Unfortunately, Kyle Stanley did make an 8 on the last hole and as Doug Ferguson opens his game story, "Brandt Snedeker won the Farmers Insurance Open in a playoff not even he thought was possible."
On Wednesday at Torrey Pines I was on the range and impressed with a player's swing, so I turned to a colleague who cares about such non-major winner types and he informed me it was Kyle Stanley. It's a shame I didn't make the third round Farmers Insurance Open leader my fantasy pool pick this week since he's got a five-shot lead over Huh, Rollins, Haas, Bai, Tringale and Blixt to name a few golfers you've probably not heard of.
Now, I know some will say this is the worst leaderboard they've seen in ages, particularly in light of the Tiger Woods-show in Abu Dhabi. But there are actually a couple of reasons to tune into the final round from Torrey Pines.
First there's Stanley's charming honesty about his prodigious driving distance, as Helen Ross notes in her story about the leader's plans to play boring golf Sunday. Check out what he says about his ridiculous length (311 off the tee this week):
Q. Brandt was really impressed with your length off the tee today. It's the first time he's said he's played with you. Have you always been that way as a golfer and how much of an advantage do you see it giving you out there?
Yeah, I mean, for some reason I've always been long.
Pssst...you're supposed to say it's all the core work you're doing, Kyle! Go on...
I don't know why, because I'm not the biggest guy in the world. But you take a golf course like this where you're hitting 7‑irons into par‑5s and short irons into long par‑4s, it definitely helps. I mean, it's helped me a lot this week.
Q. How do you account for your length? You must have a theory or people have examined it.
KYLE STANLEY: I don't know. I've done some stuff up at TPR where they put the 3‑D on you and stuff like that. But I think it's about moving the right part of the body at the right time. But that's about all I know.
Can't be the ball or clubs!
Later on...
Q. Is there any competition on TOUR among the long drivers? Is that ever a thing? Have you had to work on dialing back the distance to get more accuracy?
KYLE STANLEY: Yeah, as far as distance goes, I think it's probably the least important stat if you're not hitting fairways. I don't really pay much attention to it. I think it's fun for the fans to see guys hitting the ball long. But as far as we're concerned if you're hitting it 340 crooked, I'd rather hit it 300 or 295 on the fairway.
Just think, in five years there'll be a guy who says he'd rather hit it 340 in the fairway instead of 385 crooked, and the USGA ball study will be almost wrapping up!
Players were plenty chatty at Torrey Pines about the PGA Tour's controversial Q-School concept and the ones I spoke to all came away with a similar conclusion: they have more questions now than before, and their sense is that the tour isn't even entirely sure what the point of the initiative is. On the record, a couple of stars were asked about it when they visited the press center.
Tod Leonard looks at the possible impact of the Golf World player course ranking on venues like Torrey Pines, printing some of the player issues with the designs and with last year's high-rough and narrow fairways.
Most of the time it seems the agenda and the inevitable hypotheticals concerning it become belabored and exhaustive. However, this meeting and the meetings the rest of the year will be as important as any since the inception of the PGA Tour playoffs. The playoffs were an easy sell - and easy to explain in the beginning. The players like it when you throw money at them. When they perceive, rightly or wrongly, that there job is going to be less secure next year than it is this year even those players who have never spoken in a player meeting will stand up and be heard.
The path to the PGA Tour is changing, that seems inevitable. This week will find out just how dramatic those changes will be.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning Drive, is co-host of The Ringer's ShackHouse is the author of eleven books.
Karen Crouse on Bubba Watson driving his Confederate-flag painted Dukes of Hazzard car purchase around Scottsdale.
