Will Bethpage Finally Get Its Chance To Shine?

/

The forecast--minus a possible Friday evening disruption--looks encouraging for The Barclays at Bethpage Black. You may recall that the two U.S. Opens and one Barclays played at the rejuvenated Tillinghast course have been tainted by excessive rains and really terrible course setups.

According to John Mutch, advance man at Bethpage for the PGA Tour, the course is in superb condition and the forecast finally offers hope that we'll get to see four days of golf where the only drama is created by the players. I could do without 3 1/2 inches of rough, but hey, we don't have to play it!

Of course, there is also the FedExCup playing out. In celebrating its 10th anniversary, Brian Wacker reminds us of this momentus anniversary (players who cash in remain the only known passionate supporters). 

I still can't think of a major competition in the sports world that instills less passion or interest. But as long as FedEx wants to pony up $40 million or so a year for a non-playoff that could be oh-so-dramatic if it were an actual playoff, we at least have three fun upcoming courses to watch on TV (Black, TPC Boston, Crooked Stick).

Given the success of the Olympics and the many suggestions for intriguing Olympic formats offered over the last year, coupled with soft PGA Tour ratings of late, this year's playoffs may be in for a rough ratings ride. Perhaps the viewing public making an even stronger statement than normal about an algorithm-based competition will force changes that make this an actual playoff with actual tension.

Zach Johnson Is Irritated By The Olympics Putting A "Kink" In Golf's Major Championship Schedule

/

I give Rory McIlroy a bit of a pass on his only-watching-Olympic-sports-that-matter jab because (A) he at least supported Olympic golf at one time, and (B) may have been annoyed by Peter Dawson's comments the day prior. But now Rory can send Zach Johnson a big thank you note!

Why would the veteran Johnson unwisely go down the "matter" path that so scarred McIlroy and caused the lad unnecessary grief? Especially after two sensational weeks where the golfers who went to Rio reported emotions ranging from life-changing to mentioning new perspectives on their sport?

Anyway, let's let Zach dig this hole with the NY Post's Mark Cannizzaro, taking copious notes and also sharing positive views about Olympic golf from many others.

“Oh, I didn’t watch golf,’’ Johnson said. “I’d rather watch the sports that should be in the Olympics. I’d rather watch the athletes who train for four years for that one week. I’d rather watch swimming and diving, track and field — the athletes that are relevant for one week. All of our [golf] athletes are relevant 24-7, 365. I just don’t see the need for golf to be in the Olympics. Same thing with basketball. It’s relevant all the time. LeBron James, Kevin Durant? They’re relevant all the time.’’

"All of our [golf] athletes are revelant 24-7" eh?

Speaking of relevance, I'm fairly certain that Zach could have walked through the Olympic Village with his caddie wearing a name-labeled bib, the Claret Jug in hand, all while singing the Star Spangled Banner, and still would have been guessed by most as a masseuse for the USA sailing team. But go on...

Johnson said he’d rather see amateur golfers play in the Olympics if golf continues to be an Olympic sport.

“Make it a team format and give amateurs and college players, who don’t have the relevancy [pros do] a chance,” he said. “That would have been more interesting. For those guys who played, any time you can represent your country, it’s a pretty awesome endeavor. But we have so much international golf as it is. And the fact that it put a kink in our schedule this year irritates me. To mess with the four tournaments that matter most [the majors] because you’re at the Olympics, I’ve got a strong, strong disdain for that.’’

Those pesky Olympics putting kinks in schedules with their millions and millions of viewers messing with the relevancy of golf's majors.

Johnson comments speak to a level of distance from the situation that sadly reinforces the pre-Games view of grossly-out-of-touch and spoiled PGA Tour players. Perhaps he'll address his views in more depth during his pre-tournament press conference. Wait, those are for relevant golfers only, sorry.

Furyk's 58 Was Even More Flawless Than We Thought

/

From Luis Rivera of the PGA Tour's Shotlink system:

Originally we had Furyk hitting 13 of 14 Fairways in his magical round of 58, his tee-shot on the 7th hole landed extremely close to the intermediate cut. After further review the tee shot was indeed in the fairway.
 
This historical round of 58 was nearly flawless with Furyk hitting all 14 fairways and all 18 greens in regulation. Since 1992, 45 players (49 times) have hit every fairway and every green in the same round.
 
In fact, Furyk was the last player to accomplish this feat at the 2015 Deutsche Bank Championship. Furyk became 1 of 3 players to hit every fairway and every green in a round 3 or more times.

Player                   # of times
T. Clark                 3 times
B. Lohr                  2 times
J. Furyk                 2 times

Russell Knox Makes Strong Case For '16 Euro Ryder Cup Team

/

Anyone who saw the stirring, slightly crazy finish to the 2016 Travelers knows Russell Knox capped off a wacky day in style.

And then he reinforced his self-confidence by declaring himself hard to pass up for a Ryder Cup spot should he not make the team on points.

Brian Wacker at GolfDigest.com with the post-round comments and assessment from Cromwell:

“If I don't make the team, I can't think I'm worthy of a pick,” Knox said. “It's his decision. He can pick whoever he wants, and that's the luxury of it. If I make the top nine, then I deserve to be on the team. If I'm No. 10, he can quite happily pass on me, and that's just the way it is.”

The final round highlights include the big last green putt by Knox:

Wes Bryan: Trick Shot Artist A Year Ago, Battlefield Promotion Today

/

Adam Stanley at PGATour.com has all the details on Wesley Bryan's incredible 2016 Web.com Tour season concluding with a Digital Ally Open win that is his third of 2016.

That sets him up for a battlefield promotion which gets him in next week's John Deere Classic and the Wyndham, if he chooses. Then it's off to the Web.com Tour playoffs if he chooses, or he can just prepare for putting the tour card he'd already secured to use in September.

His third win of the season came after he hit, what he called, the shot of his life, on the par-3 17th. After he, J.T. Poston and Grayson Murray all made birdies on the par-4 18th, they retreated to the 17th for what turned out to be the final time. Murray missed his chip long, and Poston left his putt short. That set the stage for Bryan, who had left himself about 2 feet for the win.
There was never a doubt.

 The promotion no longer carries the weight it once did due to the wraparound schedule change that has the Web.com Tour season starting too late for a three-time winner to get elevated to the big tour for enough starts. However Bryan's accomplishment is inching him up the world ranking and will remind folks of his rise from viral video trick shot artist (with brother and sometimes caddy George), to second stage Web.com Tour school graduate last year, to holding a PGA Tour card in such a short time. Well done Wesley!

Wesley's full bag from his third win, and his Twitter account.

The winning putt at the Digital Ally:

The Perks Of Firestone: Seeing What Happens When Top Players Actually Get To Hit Driver

/

There isn't much to get excited about with this year's WGC Bridgestone, especially given that without it on the schedule in an Olympic year, the players would have a lot less to gripe about with excessive playing options.

But we march along so the boys can collect their easy $50k, world ranking points and--silver lining alert--huge driving distance numbers!

As Mike Stachura explains after seeing Justin Thomas hit a 413-yard drive, Firestone remains one of the few courses were players can hit driver on nearly every non-par-3. But with an earlier date on the schedule and less humidity, Stachura says the field's 317.3 yard average from last year should be down this year.

If it's not...

What’s the number to beat? Aside from last year’s 317.1-yard mark, the tournament with the highest driving-distance average in the last year was the Shriners Hospital Open in Las Vegas last fall at 305.4.

Now, is it fair to say that if the average this week surpasses last year’s number, there should be more concern about driving distance increasing? Statistically speaking, it’s merely one set of data that carries as much weight in determining trends as does the driving-distance average at Harbour Town for the RBC Heritage, which this year was 278.8 yards. That’s, in a nutshell, the point the USGA was making in its recent report about the relatively modest growth in driving distance over the last dozen years or so.