Roundup: Peter Thomson Remembered

The remembrances are pouring in for Australia's greatest golfer and global golf ambassador emeritus Peter Thomson.

The New York Times obituary by Richard Goldstein. 

The Guardian's version by Peter Mason.

Golf History Today has put together a nice roundup page of some insights into the man and online videos.

Jerry Tarde remembers a longtime Golf Digest contributor, including this:

Over lunch at our offices in Connecticut, I once asked him about Jack Nicklaus’ design work. “Nicklaus courses are like Jack himself—grim and humorless, with sharp edges,” he said.

Martin Blake files a wonderful Australian perspective. This was one of many special anecdotes:

Momentarily he worked a day job in the AG Spalding factory in Melbourne, testing golf balls and promoting the product. But it did not last for too long and in any case, he was finding places to play around the world, notably on the bouncy, wind-swept courses of Britain. “I liked playing on a course where the ball bounces. As time went by, I found I had an advantage. Somehow, I comprehended that style of play, watching the ball bounce forward. But I had to learn both, frankly – bouncing and non-bouncing.’’

John Hopkins had several memories in this Global Golf Post quick take, but this was just extra special and spoke to the man after his playing prime (at least until Senior Tour golf):

A few years later another image of Peter Thomson formed in my mind. Covering Opens in the late ’60s and early ’70s, I would be sitting at my desk when Peter would stroll in to the media centre, possibly still in his golf clothes with a sweater placed jauntily over his shoulders and carrying a portable typewriter. He would settle himself at a desk and bash out 800 words about his play and that of others in that day’s Open Championship and get them transmitted to The Age, the newspaper in his native Melbourne, Australia, or so I believe. 

John Strege on how Thomson kept the golf swing very simple and shared his philosophy.

Mike Clayton says Thomson left the game in a better place in this Golf Australia piece.

In a special State of the Game, Rod Morri talks to Clayton about Thomson's life and his memories of the five-time Open Champion:

A lovely PGA of Australia tribute:

R.I.P. Hubert Green

The two-time major winner and 19-time PGA Tour winner passed away from throat cancer. He was 71.

His My Shot with Golf Digest's Guy Yocom is a great summary of his career and memories, including his near-Masters win.

He's best remembered for his U.S. Open win at Southern Hills, played under a death threat. The USGA's highlight film from that win:

Green's 2007 World Golf Hall of Fame Speech:

R.I.P. Peter Thomson

The Sydney Morning Herald's story.

And this from Golf Australia, with more remembrances of the five-time Open Champion, architect, writer, global ambassador and World Golf Hall of Famer coming soon. 

The family of Australian golfing great Peter Thomson announce his passing on Wednesday 20 June 2018.

He had been suffering from Parkinson's disease for more than four years and lost his brave battle at home in Melbourne surrounded by family at 9.00 a.m. Born on 23 August 1929, he was two months short of his 89th birthday.

The first Australian to win the British Open went on to secure the title five times between 1954 and 1965, a record equalled in the 20th and 21st Centuries only by American Tom Watson.

On the American senior circuit, he won nine times in 1985, setting a record that may never be broken. As well as a great player he was an outstanding contributor to the game, serving as president of the Australian PGA for 32 years, designing and building courses in Australia and around the world, helping establish the Asian Tour and working behind the scenes for the Odyssey House drug rehabilitation organisation where he was chairman for five years. He also wrote for newspapers and magazines for more than 60 years and was patron of the Australian Golf Writers Association.

In 1979 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his service to golf and in 2001 became an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his contributions as a player and administrator and for community service. 

Peter is survived by his wife Mary, son Andrew and daughters Deirdre Baker, Pan Prendergast and Fiona Stanway, their spouses, 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

They ask for privacy in their bereavement and will announce funeral arrangements in the next few days.

Two films of Thomson Open wins:

Rory McIlroy On Playing Golf For Fun

This has little to do with the U.S. Open, or maybe it will, but of late there has been a sense some of today's best players rarely get to play their sport for fun. Or seem to have fun.

From his 2018 U.S. Open press conference:

Q. Rory, most professionals don't like to play fun golf. You talk to them, they don't know anything about Friar's Head or National or any place else.

Can you talk about your what impetus is, meaning how do you approach a fun golf round versus a professional round? And the fun golf you played this week, does that put you in a different mindset for this week?

RORY McILROY: It does. Alex, I would say for maybe five or six years, I never played fun golf. It was all to do with getting ready to play tournaments, and this is -- you know, I didn't understand people that went out and played a lot.

But basically, it's been since my dad became a member at Seminole, and I was able to go over and play a lot of golf with him, that I really started to enjoy fun golf again and playing these different courses.

And it's a real treat to be able to show up at any golf course in the country or the world and get out and play it and have a bit of fun.

And I think it does put you in a different frame of mind. You're relaxed out there, and maybe that sort of bleeds into your mindset whenever you're here in a big championship. It's no different. I think that's the thing. If I've got a shot that I need to execute under pressure here this week, it's no different than playing that shot when I'm out there playing with my dad or my buddies or whatever it is.

So obviously, there is a separation of the two, but the more you can get into that mindset of being relaxed and enjoying it, the better you're going to play.

Adam Scott On Golfers Forced Out Of Their Comfort Zones

On the eve of the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson Classic, Adam Scott was asked about the PGA Tour locker room talk surrounding Trinity Forest and the uncomfortable demands the course will make.

Look, just most majorities just don't like different, do they? This is just different than what we normally roll out and play.

You know, people are going to get put out of their comfort zones and not many people like that, you know.

The greatest players have all managed to succeed out of their comfort zones and learn to love links or learn to love a parkland golf to succeed, and I think the greatest champions over time have all done that and whoever is going to be here this week will be someone who really embraces the different challenges of this golf.

You're not going to be able to fight it out there this week. You're going to have to go with it and hit a nice shot from 200 out one time and catch the wrong side of the hill and you'll have some putt that you would never feel like you deserve but that's a different style of golf than target golf that we're used to playing.

You're just going to have to do your best to two-putt it or however many putts you need to make to get down and move on and get the right rub of the green on the next one. That's probably the links side of golf. There's a bit more rub of the green, a little less predictability.

I think if I think about Tiger who has grown up playing golf in America but just had this instant desire to love links golf and win the Opens and he showed so much creativity in his game that was apparently just suited to win on the U.S. Tour, he embraced the challenges of all parts of the game and he did it all.

So, it's kind of how I see it. The guy that does that this week will do well.

Doug Ford Remembered

Golf's oldest living major champion, Doug Ford, passed away Wednesday.

Jim McCabe filed this excellent tribute and remembrance of a golf life well-lived.

For proof, consider that Ford – who considered a professional baseball career before choosing golf – was like a lot of young men of the World War II era and put military service first. After a stint with the Coast Guard Air Division, Ford returned to playing competitive golf, but didn’t decide to turn pro until 1949, when he was 26.

Why the delay? Ford said it was because he made a better living by playing money games. “In fact, he told me that (former USGA Executive Director) Joe Dey walked up to him at a tournament and said, ‘We know you play for money, so you can’t enter as an amateur,’ ” said grandson Scott Ford, a teaching professional on Long Island. “My grandfather told me that’s pretty much the day he decided he was a professional golfer.”

Here is Ford recalling the shot that won The Masters.

National Teacher Day Lets Famous Golf Instructors Say What They Really Think

The Forecaddie on two of golf's very best saying more than normal about their pupils. Nice work by Morning Drive's Damon Hack pulling these nuggets from today's guests.

Pete Cowen on Henrik Stenson's focus levels (hint, he's not jazzed).  Here's the clip from GolfChannel.com.

Butch Harmon on wanting to see Dustin Johnson work harder. 

And the Harmon clip.

Duval: "This was about being with a friend, reuniting, having our wives together for a few days"

Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk and former world No. 1 David Duval cobbled together a fancy 7-under-par 65 Thursday in the Zurich Classic.

Now a full-time Golf Channel contributor, the 46-year-old spoke to Ryan Lavner about what exactly he's trying to do at the Zurich, making a run at the title all that much more fun if he and Furyk can keep it going, plus other stuff.

One highlight:

And that could have been the extent of his season (save for his annual appearance at The Open), but he was drawn to the idea of the team format at the Zurich, to the idea of playing with Jim Furyk, with whom he’s been friends for the past 32 years, dating to their days in junior golf. So Duval reached out, asking the U.S. Ryder Cup captain if he wanted to team up, for old times’ sake.

“This was about being with a friend, reuniting, having our wives together for a few days,” said Duval, who estimated that he’s played more than 100 practice rounds with Furyk over the years. “Expectation-wise, I don’t know what they are for me. I don’t get to participate out here and compete.”

Ko: Leadbetter Responds To His Critics

Lydia Ko opened with a 70 in the Hugel-JTBC LA Open but the off-course discussion about her career trajectory continues. A few weeks after Kevin Van Valkenburg's ESPN The Magazine profile of Ko, where former instructor David Leadbetter's work is harshly evaluated by several golf observers, the famed instructor is pushing back.

Here is what might have prompted Leadbetter to respond, from Van Valkenburg's story:

Leadbetter helped Faldo remake his swing in the '80s, when he was the No. 1 player in the world, and he was Els' coach for nearly 20 years, when Els won three of his four majors. But he was also given the derisive nickname Lead Poison by tour players and media members after Wie, another teenage prodigy, failed to blossom. Wie, who recently won her first tournament in nearly four years, continues working with Leadbetter.

"Lydia Ko, from the time she was a child, everyone could see where she was headed," says Brandel Chamblee, a former PGA Tour player who now works as an analyst for the Golf Channel. "David Leadbetter completely changed the DNA of her golf swing. Why in the world would you do that? Because you want to put your stamp or signature on the masterpiece that is this kid?"

But Ko continued to play well before firing Leadbetter. She currently works with Ted Oh.

On his website, Leadbetter posted this rebuttal today. He targets Lydia's father and fatigue as key issues. 

Along with all of this, her father, a non-accomplished golfer, heard rumors that she needed to change her swing and made suggestions to Lydia to change it - independently of her coaches. Sean Hogan traveled with her to the LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship during the last part of the season and observed Lydia being very confused [with her swing].

Amazingly enough, despite all of this, she had an excellent chance of remaining No. 1 in the world with a solid finish at the last tournament of the year. She shot 62 (10 under par) in the second round and things seemed to be on track. Her last round, unfortunately, was very average and she just lost out on winning the LPGA Player of the Year.

In this day and age, we have ways of measuring energy output in the swing. In the last quarter of the year, she had lost 20% of her energy which could only mean one thing - complete fatigue. Unfortunately, to the unknowledgeable, this can be misconstrued as experiencing swing issues.

Harmon Is Longer Off The Tee And Plummeting Down The Driving Distance List

After beating Rory McIlroy 5&3 to advance in the WGC Dell Match Play, Brian Harman explained how he's gotten longer off the tee and fallen down the rankings.

Kerr On Ko: "Her game’s not in good shape"

No one wants to kick Lydia Ko when she's down, but given the turnover of coaches and caddies she's fired in recent years, this assessment filed by Golf Channel's Randall Mell from the Bank of Hope Founders Cup is noteworthy. (The event was won by Inbee Park, who held off world No. 363 Laura Davies among others, as Ron Sirak writes in this game story from Phoenix.) 

From Mell's story on Ko:

Ko came to Phoenix ranked 112th in driving distance, 121st in driving accuracy and 83rd in greens in regulation. She was sixth in putting average.

Cristie Kerr saw the struggle playing two rounds with Ko.

“Her game’s not in good shape,” Kerr said. “She seemed a little lost.”

More Impressive? Bryson's API Runner-Up Or His Use Of Big Words?

Big words gets my vote, though if there was any question about former U.S. Amateur Champion Bryson DeChambeau's ability to play with the big boys, he settled that by hanging in with a -15 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational performance, as Will Gray reports for GolfChannel.com. 

But as Kevin Casey notes at Golfweek.com, DeChambeau's post-third round answer on his recent injury could be equally as important. The quote from Bryson about his back issue:

"Well it was the QL and that really got inflamed for me. It was because my quadratus lumborum wasn’t working, my iliacus, longissimus thoracis, they were all kind of over working, if you want to get technical on that. But they weren’t working very well and I overworked them. Pretty much my lower right back was hurting and I rested it. How about that?"

Oh to have seen the looks on press room faces!

BTW, the back looks to be just fine in this shot posted by his friends at Cobra:

A week well played to match a #LifeWellPlayed by Mr. Palmer. #arnoldpalmerinvitational #rickiefowler #brysondechambeau

A post shared by COBRA Golf (@cobragolf) on Mar 18, 2018 at 4:18pm PDT

Rory: Time To Limit Alcohol Sales On Course

Rory McIlroy offered a constructive solution to the loud-loser issue that has crept up in recent weeks (well, and years at the Ryder Cup): limit alcohol sales.

I've suggested a cut off hour is badly overdue at tournaments featuring loud and abusive fans. But since most of golf's leaders would give their grandmothers the Heisman for the chance to belly-flop on a loose penny, we've yet to see a golfing equivalent of the 7th-inning cutoff.

Bob Harig of ESPN.com reports on McIlroy's comments following a round where one fan kept yelling out his wife's name.

"There was one guy out there who kept yelling my wife's name," said McIlroy, who shot 67 on Saturday to pull within two shots of leader Henrik Stenson. "I was going to go over and have a chat with him. I don't know, I think it's gotten a little much, to be honest. I think that they need to limit alcohol sales on the course, or they need to do something because every week, it seems like guys are complaining about it more and more."

"A sad journey for Paul Casey after holding Tiger Woods at bay at the Valspar"

After winning the Valspar Championship with a final round 65 and moving to 12th in the world, Paul Casey boarded a flight to England for a sad goodbye instead of a planned API appearance. 

The Daily Mail's Derek Lawrenson talks to him after the Valspar win sunk in for a player who has top six finishes in the last three Masters but who played with a heavy heart after learning of Mary Colclough's passing.  Her husband Ian was one of Casey's early supporters from his days at Burhill Golf Club. 

Lawrenson writes in his weekly golf roundup:

Once he received the sad news of Mary’s passing, there was never any question of that. And so he spent the long flight home reflecting on his conflicting emotions, and life’s fateful concoction of magic and loss.

‘I played with a heavy heart, and maybe that helped,’ said Casey, who had tossed away plenty of chances to win in America during a nine-year victory drought. ‘Ian was one of my best friends when I joined Burhill. He always looked after me and still does to this day, and Mary would always tag along for the ride.

‘One of those sad stories, and we all know one. Cancer sucks.’

Rory: "It's not the ball, it's not the equipment, it's the people that have got more athletic and have more speed."

A Sky Sports roundup at the Valspar Championship talks to European players commenting on the distance debate includes Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter.

All downplay any issues for different reasons, but McIlroy's comments were of note given his views on equipment influences. 

"For me there's no concern. It's not the ball, it's not the equipment, it's the people that have got more athletic and have more speed.

"The guys train better, they know what they're doing more, they have Trackmans so they can figure out how to swing it fasters and be more efficient. It's not the golf balls, it's not the golf clubs, I think it's just fine the way it is."

So if the equipment is not a factor--a farcical statement but let's work with the theory--then what's the harm in tweaks to the rules for elite players to keep courses a sustainable distance?  

I'm not sure I understand the line of rhetorical questions posed by Rose:

"Is the golf ball going further? Yes. Are we stronger? Yes. Is it a problem? Golf isn't getting any easier for the amateur and it isn't getting much easier for the pro.

"Are we getting make some courses obsolete by the distances we're hitting? Yes, but then again great designed golf courses don't need to be long."

So they're obsolete, but the courses do not need to respond to a changing game?

Obsolete would imply they are outmoded and in need of replacement. 

Onward...