Saudi Arabia Prepares To Welcome Patrick Reed, New Jack Nicklaus Design

Banner times in the Kingdom as a strong field is set to turn up at glorious Royal Greens for appearance fees, maybe some grumbling about the state of oil and presumably a safe week outside Riyadh. They’re having a little COVID uptick there, though nothing like Arizona where the PGA Tour is teeing it up this week.

Patrick Reed, fresh off his totally-perfect, by-the-book ball drop will be joined by Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrell Hatton, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and last week’s winner Paul Casey in the Saudi Invitational.

Meanwhile the country will also be welcoming Jack Nicklaus and his design team who announced their first-ever Middle East effort. From Brian Keogh at the Irish Golf Desk:

Nicklaus, the most decorated player in the game’s history, commented: “I am excited by this project and my first golf course design in the Middle East.  To be selected as one of the first international designers to work in the Kingdom is a great honour. I’ve already spent time looking at the topography of the land, images of the backdrop and terrain, and discussing with our design team a strategy for the course.  The design will fully integrate the natural environment and the beautiful Qiddiya landscape, bringing together green spaces and mountainous terrain to form a picturesque canvas for both a beautiful and challenging golf course.” 

Oh yeah he totally said that.

The full press release is here.

Jack Nicklaus: "That is hardly Augusta National at its finest or most challenging."

In today's first round of @TheMasters, what little bit of golf I saw after the rain was like throwing darts. There was no wind to speak of, the greens had no fire in them, and everywhere the ball hit just stopped. That is hardly Augusta National at its finest or most challenging.

— Jack Nicklaus (@jacknicklaus) November 13, 2020

Rising extra early to fulfill his Honorary Starter duties, Jack Nicklaus later watched the 2020 Masters opening round and didn’t care for what he saw of the rain-delayed golf. When play was suspended due to darkness, 50 players were under par, potentially shattering the single round record of 38.

Nonetheless, it’s a surprising criticism given the rain delay, the already soft state of the course and in a month when it’s normally finding its seasonal agronomic footing. It undoubtedly is not playing as the club might hope, but the bar should be a touch lower this year and I don’t think many will care.

Anyway, here is the Honorary Starter’s ceremony in the virtual dark. (Big holiday bonus to the emergency umbrella-holder for Chairman Ridley and his perfect lid.)

This morning Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player continued the Honorary Starter tradition that began in 1963. #themasters pic.twitter.com/sDC20f1avp

— The Masters (@TheMasters) November 12, 2020

A special caddie for a special Masters. #themasters pic.twitter.com/SXfI6CtAAc

— The Masters (@TheMasters) November 12, 2020

After the first ceremony, Nicklaus and Gary Player went to the media center for their annual confab. I don’t have access to the transcript but as Christine Brennan writes, she asked about Nicklaus’ presidential endorsement and Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the 2020 presidential election.

The foul mood’s origins are coming into sharper focus.

Nicklaus Knew Trump Endorsement “Would Cause Some Grief”, Suggests Hospitals May Be Fudging COVID-19 Death Data For Profit

The Palm Beach Post’s Tom D’Angelo followed up with Jack Nicklaus following last week’s provocative endorsement for President Donald Trump’s re-election. D’Angelo says the idea to make the social media endorsement came from Vice President Mike Pence.

“I’m delighted to do that,” Nicklaus, the North Palm Beach resident, said Friday, speaking about the controversial post for the first time. “I said, ‘You know how I feel about him. He’s been very supportive to everything we’ve ever done. He’s asked for nothing. If I can just on my own do that, I would be happy to do it.’

“And I know it was going to cause me some grief. So, that’s what I did.”

Later in the story, D’Angelo reports Nicklaus’s claim of hospitals attempting to profit by false-reporting COVID-19 deaths, a recent claim of President Trump.

Nicklaus told a story about two people he knows whose parents died from something other than COVID and, according to Nicklaus, they were asked if the cause of death could be changed to COVID and declined.

“The hospital gets more money with COVID death than they do another death,’ Nicklaus said. “I’m sure there’s been a lot of that.

Politico has reported that Nicklaus lobbied Trump on behalf of the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami seeking $20 million toward a mobile children's hospital project.

Jack Nicklaus Warns: “If we want to…not evolve into a socialist America and have the government run your life, then I strongly recommend you consider Donald J. Trump for another 4 years.”

Jack Nicklaus has endorsed Donald Trump again for President of the United States and four years later, is issuing a stern warning about the upcoming election and urging folks to vote for his candidate.

Offhand, I’m not sure that I recall a famous golfer wading this deep into ideology since the threat of world war.

The full post is pasted below just in case someone wakes up in the morning and reads the responses, but in the meantime here are the Twitter and Instagram versions.

Nicklaus Wins The Open After Woods Bogies Road Hole, Or So The Fantasists Say

The Open for the Ages is over and I’ll be honest, it was on too early in the morning for me to watch but I do look forward to watching even knowing the outcome.

From, Henry Dobereiner-Darwin-Longhurst or whoever crunched the numbers and divided it by the fan vote to produce an excuse to watch golf at St. Andrews and watch some links golf.

Nicklaus, the Champion over the Old Course in 1970 and 1978, trailed Woods by a single stroke with three holes remaining, but a birdie on the 16th lifted the Golden Bear back into a share of the lead.

Why, of course it did. And then Tiger three-putted the Road hole green…

Woods then bogeyed the 17th after missing the green to the left with his approach, meaning two closing pars were enough for Nicklaus to prevail with a final-day 68 and an aggregate score of 16 under.

Don’t spoil it for me by saying Jack threw his putter in the air. Judging by the choice to use 1978 Jack, I’m betting everyone is ok.

Anyway, the highlights, followed by the full broadcast:

Jack Nicklaus Reveals March Positive Test For COVID-19

As far as weather delay reveals go, Jack Nicklaus definitely dropped the most shocking of all during round four of the 2020 Memorial. Thankfully, he and wife Barbara (who also tested positive but did not experience symptoms, are both ok and grateful.

From Doug Ferguson’s AP story:

Nicklaus said his wife had no symptoms, while he had a sore throat and a cough. Nicklaus said they were home in North Palm Beach, Florida, from March 13 "until we were done with it" on about April 20.

"It didn't last very long, and we were very, very fortunate, very lucky," Nicklaus said. "Barbara and I are both of the age, both of us 80 years old, that is an at-risk age. Our hearts go out to the people who did lose their lives and their families. We were just a couple of the lucky ones."

Ferguson also notes this:

Nicklaus said that by having the antibodies, "theoretically we can't get it and can't give it. That's a nice position to be in.''

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a June 30 update, said it does not know if people who recover from COVID-19 can be infected again. It also said that even with a positive test for antibodies, "you still should take preventive measures to protect yourself and others."

The news capped a week started by Nicklaus insisting he could not pass the virus onto the Memorial winner during the traditional 18th green greeting. Now we know why he felt that way.

The full conversation with Jim Nantz:

Tiger, Jack Tied For The Open (For The Ages) Lead At St Andrews

Seve and Nick Faldo are just a stroke back! Louis Oosthuizen is just two back with a tight grip on low nightmare. This board is stacked! Golf Channel has the broadcast from 6-9 am ET Sunday, with TheOpen.com and YouTube also options.

The game story writer is already prepping us to not expect a Tiger-Jack runaway.

While much attention will focus on Sunday’s final pairing, a host of star names remain firmly in contention just behind Woods and Nicklaus.

The penultimate group will feature Seve Ballesteros and Sir Nick Faldo, the Champions at St Andrews in 1984 and 1990 respectively. Ballesteros and Faldo are only a shot off the pace after round three, along with five-time Champion Golfer Tom Watson, who is out in the third-last group with Louis Oosthuizen.

The Champion Golfer of the Year at the Old Course in 2010, Oosthuizen is two behind the leaders with 18 holes to play. John Daly and Jordan Spieth will also start the final round on 10 under and play together in another intriguing match-up.

Rory McIlroy and Ernie Els are the other feature pairing, although both sit nine shots adrift of Woods and Nicklaus.

The third round highlights:

Nicklaus To Governing Bodies: "Guys, stop studying it and do something, will you please?"

While there is no video posted of Jack Nicklaus opining during a lengthy Memorial round one telecast visit, the disdain in his voice was evident.

As Kyle Porter notes for CBSSports.com, the tournament host put the USGA and R&A “on blast” with his latest comments imploring action sooner than later.

"The golf ball is a very simple thing to fix and I've been preaching about it for ... 43 years I first went to the USGA," Nicklaus said in the Golf Channel booth during the first round of the Memorial Tournament on Thursday. "I mean, that's a long time to be studying something. Guys, stop studying it and do something, will you please?"

The man is 80, he should not have to be this exasperated.

The comments stood out because Nicklaus had complimented Bryson DeChambeau for playing stellar golf after his transformation.

And the remarks came on a day when players were routinely placing tee shots in locales unimaginable not long ago, perhaps aided by July’s warmer weather, winds and firmer ground than the Memorial’s traditional May date. Yes, agronomy played a role, but the carry distances, start lines and overall silliness of flip wedges into long par-4’s made the issue pressing.

DeChambeau registered the most incredible of the many long tee shots:

423-yard drive. 💪
Hits approach to six feet. 🎯
Makes the putt. 🐦@b_dechambeau gets back to even par.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/b7DOnHR5oo

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 16, 2020

Which reminds me. Earlier this week following R&A Chief Martin Slumbers’ comments about putting the distance decision on hold, we have a clear verdict on the website poll on this very question of whether the governing bodies should act during the pandemic:

Nicklaus On Memorial Winner's Tradition: "I'm going to shake their hand...I'm not going to give them COVID-19"

ESPN.com’s Bob Harig reports on Jack Nicklaus’ most intriguing pre-Memorial Tournament press conference comment: the 80-year-oldlegend intends to maintain the tradition of greeting the likely winner with a handshake after they’ve completed 72 holes.

"I'm going to shake their hand. I going to walk right out there and shake your hand," Nicklaus said during a virtual news conference at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. "If they don't want to shake my hand, that's fine. I'll give them a fist bump or an elbow bump, but I'm not going to give them COVID-19, so that's -- I wouldn't put anybody in that position. I wouldn't do that, and if I was in any danger of doing that, I wouldn't shake their hands.

"And incidentally, I like shaking their hand, too. I think that's a great tradition, but it was as much fun for me as I hope it is for them."

The PGA Tour has repeatedly asked players, caddies and officials not to shake hands or even fist bump, though Commissioner Jay Monahan and Rory McIlroy couldn’t help themselves at Harbour Town. But the view of Nicklaus stands out because he had recorded a PSA back in March imploring younger generations to protect those of his age group.

"Many of you kids, you're going to a lot of places that may bring that home to a senior citizen. I don't think that's what you want to do," Nicklaus said. "Let's all make sure we wash our hands. Let's make sure we're very smart about where we go, and when we go, let's try to stay away from public places. Let's just be smart. Americans have always been smart, and Americans have always gotten through these things, and we'll get through this one."

The PSA:

My friend @jacknicklaus wanted to share an important message: we need to be smart, be safe, be careful where we go. DON’T TAKE A CHANCE.

Our seniors are the most vulnerable population, but young people can get infected and spread the virus. #CoronaVirusUpdates pic.twitter.com/gcrV6rNtRQ

— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) March 15, 2020

Jack And Ernie Among Those Challenging Clubs To Give Back During COVID-19 Crisis

Victor Garcia at FoxNews.com explains the ClubsHELP cause supported by Jack Nicklaus, Ernie Els, Kris Tschetter and others to push golf and country clubs to give back to their community front line workers.

From Garcia’s story:

According to the organization, "Clubs HELP encourages clubs and members to connect with hospitals in their respective local areas to provide a much needed support network in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic."

The nationwide foundation has golf clubs that "adopt" local hospitals to give them the support and supplies.
"Barb and I are proud to be part of a children's hospital in Miami, one that bears our name with 17 outpatient clinics," Nicklaus said in the video. "And we have many, many workers down there. They all need our help too.  The workers at these hospitals have worked tirelessly, put through lives on the line for their work with COVID-19 virus."

"They need our help. We need to raise money," Nicklaus added. "We need to raise money the best we can."

Here is the signup page at ClubsHELP.

Jack Nicklaus issuing his challenge to Nicklaus-designed clubs and others:

Despite clubs being closed nationwide, members can still open their hearts to support hospitals and healthcare workers in the communities where they live & play. Visit https://t.co/yD7QO6sNUI and see how you can thank those putting their lives on the line to save ours! @ClubsHELP pic.twitter.com/r9b3pX3SyE

— Jack Nicklaus (@jacknicklaus) April 17, 2020

Ernie Els’ message:

Nicklaus Rolex Sells For (Only!?) $1 Million

I know, a piece of golf man jewelry that was on the wrist of Jack Nicklaus for for fifty years should go for $1 million.

Some thought it would match Paul Newman’s nearly $17.7 million watch price, but as Forbes noted, the opening bid was for $500,000 and two minutes later the auction closed at a $1 million bid.

Proceeds from the sale will benefit children's health care via the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation.

Nicklaus Outlines (In Great Detail) His Final (?) Overhaul Of Muirfield Village

This is a long one but certainly no shortage of meat on this bone!

For Immediate Release…

Muirfield Village Golf Club set to undergo course renovations for 2020 and 2021 

Dublin, Ohio – Muirfield Village Golf Club, home of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, officially announced today a two-phase course renovation project that will be overseen by the Club’s founder and course designer, Jack Nicklaus. The renovations will take place over the next two years and will include three new teeing grounds, rebuilt greens and bunkers, and a redesigned fifth hole.   

Phase One will begin this fall and include new back teeing grounds for the par-3 8th hole, par-5 11th and par-5 15th, as well as new rough area for the par-5 5th hole.

A new rough area?

The work will be completed by this May and used during the 2020 Memorial Tournament, June 1-7. Each new tee box will add yardage to its respective hole, with No. 8 increasing by 25 yards, No. 11 by 15 yards and No. 15 by 30 yards. The changes will increase the total course yardage from the tips to 7,462 yards. Nicklaus’ ground-breaking and innovative design—done originally with input from the late Desmond Muirhead and officially dedicated on May 27, 1974—first played at 6,978 yards.

Well, little more than input, but let’s not get lost in a credit battle when the real eye-opener is the nearly 500-yard increase. And that Nicklaus is adding more might suggest he’s either not confident in distance regulation, or feels even with some rule changes some day that the yardage is needed.

To begin Phase Two of the renovation, Muirfield Village Golf Club will close the course July 6, 2020, at which time all 18 greens will be rebuilt, including new sub-surface heating and cooling equipment. Bunkers will be re-built, tees leveled, and the irrigation system upgraded.

As fairways are regrassed, Nicklaus said he will create new fairway widths, but keep them “fairly generous off the tee,” which has been a trait at Muirfield Village.

All greens will be laser-scanned prior to the beginning of Phase Two in order to retain the general slopes of the original design, with any modifications taking place in the field by Nicklaus. “Once we decided to redo the greens, I realized I wanted to make some minor changes to the contours,” Nicklaus said.

Once a tinkerer, always a tinkerer!

Phase Two will also include a redesign of Hole No. 5. The new layout will include an expanded landing area and convert Muirfield Village’s first par 5 on the outward nine to a par 4 during Tournament play, making the layout a par 71 for the 2021 Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. “It’s the easiest hole on the golf course,” Nicklaus said. “They play a 3-wood or iron off the tee not to reach the creek, and then play a 5- or 6-iron into the green. I just want to create more landing area on the tee shot, so that quite often they will play driver off the tee, and then play 5 or 6 iron into the green as a true par 4.”

Sad, but true.

“This will probably be my last bite at the apple,” Nicklaus said. “I’ve done little tweaks on the golf course throughout the years, and some significant changes, like the par-3 16th. This time, we are going through the golf course, A to Z, and making sure we do everything at one time.”

One thought, just, you know, off the top of my head: maybe a little work on that new 16th too? Just saying…

“My director of grounds operations, Chad Mark, is a good man, and he helped talk me into it. He said Jack, ‘Once we’re in there, let’s just do this thing right!’ Once we decided to redo the greens, improve the irrigation system, redo bunkers and regrass fairways, the collective group—one that included Chad, General Manager Nicholas LaRocca, Head Professional Larry Dornisch and Memorial Tournament Executive Director Dan Sullivan—basically said, ‘Jack, if you are going back in there and do all this work, and the course is going to be down, you don’t want to go back to the membership and redo it again five years later for irrigation or three years later for bunkers. Let’s get the whole thing done!’ So that’s what we are doing.”

Mark has already developed a detailed timeline for the project and is excited about the work ahead.

Hopefully he consulted Chief Leatherlips.

“Working closely with Mr. Nicklaus, and with support from Nicklaus Design Associate Chris Cochran and our team at Muirfield Village, we envision the fairway bunkers and irrigation getting started after the 2020 Memorial and jumping into greens as soon as we can in July,” Mark said. “Once greens are completed in late August, and fairways and approaches are re-seeded to bentgrass, we will then finish the bunkering and push juvenile turfgrass toward maturity. Work in spring 2021 will include punch-work items with irrigation, compacting bunker sand, mending sod seams, and plugging any thin turf.”

Quick turnaround to the 2021 Memorial…

“We are very excited to carry out the vision of Mr. Nicklaus, and I think the end result will only further elevate an already spectacular golf course!”

Nicklaus emphasized that while many of the enhancements will make Muirfield Village Golf Club a better tournament venue, the renovation is also being done with the membership always front of mind.

“From what I have heard thus far, the membership is really excited about bringing the golf course back to state of the art, which they felt it was a few years ago,” Nicklaus said. “I want to make sure I do the best I can for the membership and for the Memorial Tournament. I’m putting in as many forward member tees as I can at Muirfield Village and The Bear’s Club. I will put in some forward tees at Muirfield Village while I am doing this. I have to make the golf course playable for its membership.” 

But….

“But my belief is that tournament golf should be a test to find out who is the best golfer that week. Far too many tournaments have eliminated the rough and firmness of greens, and that is just not my idea of what the game of golf should be. So I am going to stick with my old-fashioned beliefs about how the game of golf should be played and the way golf courses should be set up. How the USGA’s Joe Dey used to set up courses is how I learned and how I thought golf should be played. It’s the guy who drives the ball the straightest; the guy who plays the best iron game; the guy who is best around the greens and is sometimes challenged when he doesn’t play a good shot to the green; and the guy who putts well. The whole gamut of all shots is what the game of golf is all about. The game should challenge every facet of every club in the bag.”

Read into that however you like, but it sure sounds like the Golden Bear is tired of waiting around for governing body action on distance and defending skill.

Jack Nicklaus To Renovate His Muirfield Village Design (Again)

Tim Rosaforte reports on Jack Nicklaus announcing to the Muirfield Village members a planned greens redo, not the first for his co-design with Desmond Muirhead.

Most noteworthy may be the efforts to lengthen the 11th and 15th holes, two splendid back nine par-5s he’s been unwilling to stretch out. Does Nicklaus believe regulatory help is not coming and this is why he did so, or is he believing that even with some sort of change in equipment rules, the tees are still needed?

Jack Nicklaus stopped by Muirfield Village GC on Monday in what was described as a sentimental mood. The 79-year-old Golden Bear gathered together his management team to tell them the course he opened in ‘74 would be undergoing one final renovation under his watch starting 2020.

— Tim Rosaforte (@TimRosaforteGC) September 26, 2019

The renovations to Muirfield Village Golf Club will feature new tees on No’s. 8,11 and 15 that will be open for the 2020 Memorial Tournament. The Wow factor are the par5s playing 30 yards longer each at Nos. 11 and 15. New greens will be in play by May 2021.

— Tim Rosaforte (@TimRosaforteGC) September 26, 2019

Jack: “I Don’t Like The New Major Schedule”

In early August Jack Nicklaus appeared on BBC’s Radio 5 Live and his criticism of the new condensed major schedule was noted by Golf Monthly.

The comments came after Justin Rose pointed out concerns about the shortened major season and before Rory McIlroy joined the fray last week.

“I don’t like the new Major schedule, from the stand point that if you have an injury, or if you’re struggling with one tournament, all of a sudden the other one follows too closely, to get it back,” 18-time Major winner Jack Nicklaus told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“I’m not sure that that’s really a good thing for the game of golf, to have all your tournaments in about three and a half months. And I don’t think it’s good for the other tournaments on the Tour.

“The guys have got to skip a lot of tournaments – you saw that this year – guys weren’t playing in between Majors. And I think that’s a shame for the Tour.”

As host of the Memorial, Nicklaus is clearly monitoring the impact and not liking what he sees.

“I know that the all-mighty dollar is important, but I don’t think it’s so important that you really lose out on the tradition of the great tournaments that have been played for years and years and years.”

Nicklaus worrying about those surrounding non-majors events is admirable and something that the PGA Tour will have to examine before locking in the schedule long term.

The interview is not available online but a BBC site posting about Nicklaus’s comments focused largely on Tiger Woods. And included this:

"I think it will work against Tiger - unless he's really healthy," Nicklaus said. 

Nicklaus: Sebonack Will Get A U.S. Open Someday

Mark Herrmann of Newsday talks to Mike Davis of the USGA after recent Jack Nicklaus comments suggesting Sebonack will some day host a U.S. Open. The course is a co-design by Nicklaus and Tom Doak.

 Speaking at a Long Island Association luncheon recently, the 18-time major winner said, “I think we’re going to get the U.S. Open out there…and it won’t be long.” He wrote something similar when he served as guest editor of Golf magazine last month,

Davis, interviewed at this year’s Open here, said, “It’s one of many courses that has offered an invitation to host it. When it gets to that, there’s actually a team — I’m not necessarily engaged in that any more — but I daresay that there are probably 25-plus courses that have interest. The team does an analysis of every single course. I think it’s fair to say of every one of those that I’ve seen, is there a possibility? Absolutely.

The course hosted the 2013 U.S. Women’s Open and sits next to National Golf Links and Shinnecock Hills, host of the 2026 U.S. Open.