Q&A With Dan Jenkins, Vol. 6: Merion

The U.S. Open's return to Merion marks Tweeter Supreme and mutiple-award winning writer Dan Jenkins' 60th U.S. Open, a milestone he marked in the June Golf Digest with his favorite players, courses, holes and even constructive criticism through the years. And for the sixth straight year, he answers my softballs in anticipation of America's national championship.

Previous U.S. Open Q&A's can be read in order, here, here, here, here and here.

GS: Big return to Merion, judging by your comments in the June Golf Digest, this is a favorite US Open venue of yours? How so?

DJ: I guess I like Merion a lot because of these things. History, "Merion lightning" (the greens). flag baskets, quarry holes. It's one of my three favorite courses to play and look at, the other two being Pine Valley and Cypress Point.

GS: Your man Hogan sealed his comeback at Merion. Was it his greatest performance?

DJ: Merion wasn't Hogan's best golf, just his timeliest and most historic. His best golf came in the last round at Oakland Hills in '51, and all week long at Oakmont in '53. Study his career and you find  his game at its best when his obstacles were the toughest.

GS: Did you ever talk to Hogan about Merion, the 1-iron or the Hy Peskin shot?

DJ: I do wish I'd been at Merion in '50---I didn't start covering the majors until '51---but I talked to him about it many times over the years. It wasn't a 1-iron, by the way. It was a 2-iron. That's what he always told me. Once in later years he even said it was a 3-iron. To get more of this you'll have to read my "journalism memoir" that's coming out from Doubleday sometime around the first of the year. The Mystery of the Stolen One-Iron at Merion is part of two long chapters on Ben.

GS: Does the book contain any words of wisdom about the state of journalism and the media industry in this time of "transition"?

DJ: Of course it does. But nothing to put in a scrapbook.

GS: Sergio, your sometimes Twitter alter ego, will be setting foot on American soil for the first time since his fried chicken remark. Will you be brokering peace settlement talks between he and Tiger and Tiger and Sergio and your ownself?

DJ: Knowing me, Geoff, surely you know I don't much care about Tiger or his feuds, even those with Sergio, except for the comedy involved. I love it that people ask me about Tiger all the time. I really don't know what I'm expected to say. I do say he's the greatest putter I've ever seen, and the greatest reader of greens. But ask me to place him somewhere in golf history, and I still have him behind a lot of players who did more for the game at the time of their peak years, those gentlemen being, not in any particular order, Hogan, Snead, Byron, Jones, Hagen, Arnold, Jack, Gary, and even Demaret, Trevino, and Seve. But of course I'm a geezer.

GS: Is the journalism book it in that mysterious phase where the publisher accepts it and then spends a year sitting on it? What's it called?

DJ: I was dragged kicking and screaming to the title of my book that the publisher has insisted on:  HIS OWNSELF----A Semi-Memoir. I was thinking A Farewell to Arms had a ring to it.

See you at Merion.

McGrath's NY Times Cabot Links Travel Story

Charles McGrath's NY Times Travel story on golf at Cabot Links and elsewhere in the vicinity is one of the best travel stories I've read in a long time and is an absolute must read if you are considering a trip to Cabot. Not only are the observations and tips superv, but the overall presentation by the NY Times nearly makes up for the utterly ridiculous "Golfers are working out these days" cover story they posted earlier this week.

To match McGrath's insights, photographer Piotr Redlinski's images flesh out the presentation and he includes a video diary item as well with interviews of people like Cabot developer Ben Cowan-Dewar.

Besides the super information, this package is another one to add to the list of examples showing how the NY Times really getting this whole digital world thingy.

Philly Inquirer Lifts Paywall Restrictions For U.S. Open Week

Jim Romenesko reports and explains that the venerable paper's strong U.S. Open web page and multimedia effort convinced the beancounters to lift paywall restrictions while millions turn their attention to Philadelphia golf this week.

As always, I love to take in the local coverage for events like this so give them a look and reward the Inquirer for unlocking their host city coverage.

Not From The Onion Files: "12-year-old Ye Wo-cheng fails to impress on debut"

Nice catch by PaddyPower to Tweet this ESPN UK headline on 12-year-old Ye Wo-cheng's 79 in the Volvo China Open:

Ryan Herrington wrote about Wo-cheng's debut as well as the entries of a 15 and 16-year-old in the same event.

2013 Masters, Iconic Photography Roundup

The light and lens experts weren't given the best conditions Sunday on top of their already limited access yet they still came up with some amazing shots from the 2013 Masters.

Sam Weinman and Alex Myers pick the photos that defined the Masters, including Jewel Samadi's Getty shot of Scott's 18th hole putt.

golf.com posts SI's best stuff from round 4 including Robert Beck's wide shot of the winning playoff putt.

Golfweek features an Adam-only gallery, including an uncredited AP image from behind Scott's 18th hole putt in regulation.

Masters.co features an assortment of beautiful shots, including Scott Brown's amazing shot of Scott's outdoor green jacket ceremony that was also posted on Digg.

The Augusta Chronicle has several galleries, including Emily Rose Bennett's shots from the Green Jacket ceremony, Jon-Michael Sullivan's images of Scott, an Angel Cabrera gallery and a top 12 players gallery.

The Chronicle also sets their shots to a YouTube video set to Come On Aussie. There is also a mute option if you should so choose.

Report: 2013 Mercedes Benz GWAA Dinner Presented By Aberdeen Asset Management, USGA & PGA Of America

The Golf Writers Association Of America held its 44^th annual Mercedes Benz Awards dinner and a good time was had by a few. Evening highlights included host Tim Rosaforte’s opening dance number set to award winning ledes from 2013. Later, writer Alan Shipnuck taking time away from his studies abroad to give a heartfelt take on role Twitter-censoring plays at PGA Tour stops. And it was all capped off by PGA of America lifetime achievement award winner John Hopkins revealing the scourge of journalism today: bloggers who refuse confirm with multiple high-ranking sources what the conventional wisdom says before repeating the conventional wisdom in one's reporting.

With award winners accepting their plaques to the soundtrack outtakes from the Beverly Hills Cop 3, a crowd of 200 journalists, dignitaries and select active players recalled past Mercedes Benz Award dinners. Many regaled others with former Aberdeen Asset Management winners, clutched complimentary Scotch courtesy of the financial services sponsor, and even walked a green carpet into the dinner only marred by one fainter who passed out upon learning that Jason Sobel would not be accepting his prize in the Daily Columns division.

The reigning “Players of the year” Rory McIlroy, Stacy Lewis and Roger Chapman all appeared and spoke eloquently. McIlroy brought gal pal Caroline Wozniacki and almost made it to USGA Executive Director David Fay's speech, staying around longer than Tiger Woods ever has, prompting several knowing writers to check with one-another before re-affirming their belief that Woods is still a point-miser while their Rory is the future's great hope. But it was Hopkins’s resounding speech on the horror that is the modern blogosphere which culminated the marathon evening. A former Times writer, Hopkins thanked his "hero" Jim Nugent at Global Golf Post while lamenting the lost art of checking with as many as ten people to best understand what one should be thinking.

Bloggers, who file their views without confirming with others what opinions they should and should not hold most dearly, are threatening the art of journalistic conformity, explained Hopkins as the audience scrolled their Twitter feeds and deleted junk emails. So powerful was Hopkins’s message that I even contemplated making a few notes and checking with others to figure out what to think about his lecture. Then I recalled my role as a blogger, abstaining from taking notes and rattling off my impressions without regard for the opinions of the aristocracy. A most powerful message, indeed.

Holly Sonders Admits: She Has Trouble Saying Rory McIlroy

This news, which most had not noticed but will now, along with revelations can be seen in promo video set to rejected-reality show music for the Morning Drive star's Golf Digest photo shoot.

Sonders appears on the cover of the May fitness-themed issue which I've already seen on the newstand in my neighborhood.

"SI is a dead magazine walking."

Clay Travis analyzes the news of Time Warner spinning off magazines like Sports Illustrated and concludes that it's only a matter of time before print is gone and SI becomes another online Grantland.

I wouldn't agree, and certainly hope he's dead wrong. But then again this is shocking...

SI's descent has been a slow slide, preciptated by difficulty leaving behind print dollars to chase Internet dimes.

As recently as last year do you know what the posted rate was for a full-page ad in Sports Illustrated?

$392,800.

$392,800!

When you were making that kind of money, it was hard to get very excited about the opportunity of the Internet. You want to know who the companies were that got very excited about the opportunity of the Internet? The ones that didn't have the ability to sell full page magazine ads for $392,800.

In the halcyon days of print, the magazine business was amazing. Hell, all of print was. You might read the articles, but the magazine or newspaper existed for one reason -- as a mobile ad device to deliver advertisements to your doorstep. Yep, the first mobile ads were in print media.

Death, Misery Take Hit In 2012 GWAA Awards

Though the bar has been set pretty low, a shocking number of quality entries appear to have been honored in the 2012 GWAA Writing Contest where the judges largely shunned maudlin misery for actual writing about the sport its ownself!

If time allows I'll try to link the winners:

2013 GWAA WRITING CONTEST RESULTS

The following is a full list of the winners, including honorable mentions. There were a record 546 entries in the contest.

DAILY COLUMNS – 1, Dave Seanor, Yahoo! Sports, The false promise of Tiger Woods; 2, Jeff Rude, Golfweek.com, Vivid memories of Hogan and Nelson; 3, John Hopkins, GlobalGolfPost.com, In praise of the Amateur

Honorable mention: Ron Borges, Boston Herald, PoulterHeist; Steve Eubanks, GlobalGolfPost.com, A Selah for Furman; Jim McCabe, Golfweek.com, Remembering Furman Bisher; Josh Sens, Golf.com, Invited to The Country Club, finally.

DAILY NEWS – 1, Ron Green, Jr., Charlotte Observer, McIlroy slays field in PGA Championship; 2, Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.com, Bubba is part artist, part magician; 3, Ian O’Connor, ESPN.com, Olympic’s 16th Hole doomed Furyk.

Honorable mention: Tony Dear, Cybergolf.com, Win by Els is bittersweet; Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times, A new name in Masters lore; Jay Flemma, Cybergolf.com, Triple Double at Winged Foot.

DAILY FEATURES – 1, Jason Sobel, GolfChannel.com, More to The Jungle Bird; 2, Lisa Mickey, New York Times, A path to opportunity; 3, Jeff Babineau, Golfweek.com, Good attitude a must at Open.

Honorable mention: Gary D’Amato, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel; Chuasiriporn left game behind; Ron Kroichick, San Francisco Chronicle, Rory’s future is limited only by his drive; Jim McCabe, Golfweek.com, Euro teammates trust Poulter; Alan Tays, GolfChannel.com, Back on course after accident.

NON-DAILY COLUMNS – 1, Beth Ann Baldry, Golfweek, Creamer’s tearful farewell to Pops; 2, Jim McCabe, Golfweek, Jack: Heart of a champion spans generations; 3, Ron Sirak, Golf World, Pepper’s pardon.

Honorable mention – Jeff Babineau, Golfweek, A band of believers; Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Dufner is golf’s coolest man; Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Rory is not Tiger.

NON-DAILY NEWS – 1, Tim Rosaforte, Golf World, No rest for Rory; 2, Damon Hack, Sports Illustrated, Red Storm Rising; 3, Michael Bamberger, Sports Illustrated, Phil wins, Tiger loses at Pebble.

Honorable mention – Jim Moriarty, Golf World, Beach Party, Rory wins PGA; Jeff Rude, Golfweek, Duval returns to Lytham; Curt Sampson, Golf World, Collectibles, bidding for history; Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Rory, globe-trotting star.

NON-DAILY FEATURES – 1, Jaime Diaz, Golf Digest, Billy Casper, Out of the darkness; 2, Gary VanSickle, Sports Illustrated, Education of Tom Watson; 3 (tie) Steve Rushin, Golf Digest, Bad to the Bone and Jeff Silverman, Golf World, Book worms.

Honorable mention – Jim Moriarty, Golf World, Upside-down world of Randy Simmons; Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, How Jhonny V made good; Stina Sternberg, Golf Digest, Christina Kim: Tears of a clown.

SPECIAL PROJECTS – 1, Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Best Sunday ever; 2, Guy Yocom and John Huggan, Golf Digest, Rowdy Ryder Cup at Kiawah; 3, Gregg Dewalt, Times Daily, Revisiting Robert Trent Jones Trail.

Honorable mention: Mercer Baggs, Rex Hoggard, Randall Mell and Jason Sobel, GolfChannel.com, The year 1912 and how it changed the game; Peter Finch and Stina Sternberg, Golf Digest, How golf really treats women; Scott Michaux, Augusta Chronicle, Charl Schwartzel, rise of a natural.