J.B. Holmes: "I don’t understand what the big hoopla is all about."

Golf Channel's Tim Rosaforte caught up with J.B. Holmes following the Farmers Insurance Open fiasco that saw the Kentucky-native set up shot on the last hole of regulation.

Besides not realizing how long he was taking even as fans were lightly heckling, this assertion that Alex Noren could have just gone ahead and played suggests J.B. may be unfamiliar with how things work. This isn't the line at Starbucks when you can't decide between a latte and an Americano and just tell the person behind you to go ahead.

“If it bothered Alex, he could have said something and he could have hit,” Holmes said. “If I messed him up, I apologize. He still made a good swing. He smoked it. (Hitting 3-wood over the green and through the tunnel, next to the CBS booth.) I don’t understand what the big hoopla is all about. I was just trying to give myself the best chance to win the tournament. I didn’t want to mess anybody up.”

Another lay-up in the rough.

Video of Rosaforte's full Morning Drive report,

Holmes talked to Golf Channel's Chantel McCabe and reiterated most of the comments above, especially the surprise at the reaction. He reiterated that he would not do anything differently. Note that he was aware he had not been put on the clock during the round, freeing himself to pitch a tent in the fairway since he had no previous bad time (a second bad time would have resulted in a penalty stroke).

The two most disturbing quotes arrive at the end: "it's not like it took a half hour to hit the shot" and "this happens on tour, it's just not always on camera."

Matt Adams and I debated on Golf Central and you know how I feel, nothing here that can't be fixed by a few penalty strokes for a second bad time.

Architecture Summit Celebrates Sand Hills & Restorations

Bradley Klein reports on Golfweek's 2018 gathering of panelists and while no comparison to those kidnapping video webcasts fed over the Conde Nast servers, the gathering drew Tom Doak, Gil Hanse, Kyle Phillips, David McLay Kidd and others to talk design, restoration and other topics for the assembled voters.

Klein says the goal was "to assess an entire era, one characterized by a return to classic-era, ground-game basics."

At an opening session, architects Tom Doak, Gil Hanse, David McLay Kidd and Kyle Phillips drew inspiration from the landmark, low-impact, naturalized design of Sand Hills in Mullen, Neb., the 1995 design by Coore and Crenshaw that all but launched the back-to-basics design movement.

There was also this on the restoration side, making me even more eager to see Inverness again:

Designer Andrew Green talked about a very different restoration path taken at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Donald Ross’ 1919 design was highly studied after holding U.S. Opens in 1920 and 1931 – during which time its holes were extremely well documented and photographed. Green was brought in to fix some bunkers, but the project grew in scope thanks to the availability of adjoining land on which to build some retro-holes.

“For a club of that age to have extra property is unheard of,” Green said. The result, undertaken in 2017 without ever closing the existing 18-hole course, was to undo four ill-fitting modernist holes and eliminate them while restoring some of the old features and allowing the terrain to come through again. Green called it “what Mother Nature created and Donald Ross revealed.”

Tuesday 1-30-18 In Golf Instagram

One of the greats in the game is back to captain the Solheim Cup again.

Haotong Li, the first Chinese golfer in the world top 50 following his win last weekend in Dubai, has been added to the Genesis Open field at Riviera on a sponsor’s invitation.

Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner hosted some pretty great baseball players and The Great One for his annual charity event at Sherwood.

Lexi showing off.

Joshua Kelly with a tougher-than-it-looks bunker hole out.

2019 @solheimcupusa Captain, @juliinkster!

A post shared by LPGA Tour (@lpga_tour) on Jan 30, 2018 at 5:22am PST

Excited to get a chance to play the @genesisopen in a few weeks on the @pgatour #ThankyouGenesis #pgatour

A post shared by HaoTong Li 李昊桐 (@haotong66) on Jan 30, 2018 at 6:12pm PST

Wayne Gretzky and Justin Turner at Sherwood Country Club @jtfoundation10 @sherwood_country_club @redturn2 @dodgers 📷: @jon.soohoo

A post shared by Jon SooHoo (@jon.soohoo) on Jan 29, 2018 at 12:50pm PST

It’s all about having drive! 🏌️‍♀️⛳ #givesyouwings @redbull #mesmerizing #golfswing 👍

A post shared by Lexi Thompson (@lexi) on Jan 30, 2018 at 8:43am PST

Caddy goals! Tag a terrible bunker player 😂🏌️ MD4 wedge from @callawaygolf is 🔥 #golf #golftrickshot #teamHiTS #callawaygolf

A post shared by Joshua Kelley (@holein1trickshots) on Jan 29, 2018 at 4:22pm PST

"Like a bar on St. Patrick’s Day, the WMPO is given over to the raucous"

The Waste Management Phoenix Open arrives and while the event draws praise for injecting the PGA Tour schedule with energy and youthful antics, there is an uglier side, writes Eamon Lynch for Golfweek.

He writes:

There is much to admire about the WMPO in daylight hours, too. It has raised more than $120 million for charity and every year draws more fans than any other PGA Tour stop – 655,434 in 2017. But some other statistics aren’t so admirable.

Last year there were 118 arrests at TPC Scottsdale, most for alcohol-related incidents, a figure that doesn’t include DUI busts as spectators hook and slice their way home along the highways. The Scottsdale Police Department tried to manage the wasted, offering free Breathalyzer tests at the exit in 2016. Nine thousand fans – roughly 1.5 percent of attendees that week – took the test. Four thousand of them were over the limit.

It would be nice if more tournaments could create energetic mini-arenas, minus the DUI's. Matt Adams and I debated on Golf Central.

Options For The $12 Million To Be Spent On Torrey Pines South

The bad news: Torrey Pines has around $12 million or so to spend on work to update the South Course 16 years after its last major Rees Jones renovation. (Tod Leonard explained what was planned last October before the bids came in.)

The good news? The bids to update irrigation, install completely unnecessary bunker liners and to tweak many of the holes Jones didn't get right the first time, came in too high. Work planned for 2018 will not happen until contractors come back with better pricing, which means the work will be a rush job, more disruptive to play and do little to enhance the course for daily fee golfers.

This work should not happen until the City of San Diego catches up with the rest of the world and earmarks this money to creating more sustainable architecture that takes turf out of play. And more importantly, takes one of the great sites for golf on the planet and finds a design that accentuates this beautiful place.

You will not be shocked that I got a look at the notes for upcoming changes and they fail to inspire. Holes four and 17, which currently fail to take strategic advantage of the amazing canyons, are slated for try #2 by the Jones firm. No one is optimistic they will improve. But we won't know until late 2019. By then any redesign fiascos will be tough to remedy in time for the 2021 U.S. Open.

Given the incredible conditioning work by Rich McIntosh and crew to have Torrey Pines more immaculately presented than ever before, it's hard to fathom how $12 million will make things any better. More likely, the work will only disrupt South Course play, entrench the Jones insipidness for generations to come, and enrich some of golf construction's lesser contractors.

There are better ways to manage this money:

Option 1: replace the maintenance yard tent erected for the 2008 U.S. Open (logo still emblazened on the side, see photo). I can't think of a more absurd sight than the 2021 U.S. Open returning with the same lousy makeshift facility for story expensive equipment. If nothing else, the taxpayers of San Diego deserve not having to drive Torrey Pines Road and looking at a tent.

Option 2: Invest in a mutual fund, Apple or a penny stock to buy time and reconsider how to remedy the misuse of this magnificent site after the U.S. Open.

Option 3: Pay Rees Jones and friends $1 million to take three-year vacation, then give $11 million to spend on other rundown city courses and leave Torrey Pines alone.

Option 4: Put all of the money into saving the Torrey Pine, which, based on the bark beetles efforts at Torrey Pines Golf Course visible this year, is in serious trouble of existing as the primary tree by 2021.

Option 5: Donate to the Century Club in hopes they can buy another grandstand for Farmers Insurance Open fans who paid $55 to (stand) and watch golf. Two would be better than one!

Option 6: Cash out the $12 million, tease the briefcase full of green in front of Rees Jones, then ask a paraglider to dispense all of it over citizens sunbathing at Black's Beach. At least in that scenario you'd be giving back to the people.

ShackHouse 52: Farmers Wrap, Waste Management Preview

Joe House and I review the Farmer Insurance Open, including Jason Day's impressive win over Alex Noren in a Monday sudden-death finish.

You'll be shocked to know we discuss JB Holmes’s slow play and celebrate the return of Tiger Woods while previewing the Waste Management Open and Super Bowl-PGA Tour hybrid prop bets.

The full show, as brought to you by Callaway, makers of the new Rogue woods and irons.

Subscribe wherever fine podcasts are streamed.

Or listen here:

Dempster On European Tour Course Setup Griping

While Torrey Pines was playing tough, things in Dubai were declared too easy by some who didn't care for the low cut line. But as you read Martin Dempster's Scotsman commentary, it's apparent the Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club has been passed by. It's the darned Pilates and Yoga work these guys are doing, again!

Make sure to read the entire piece for context, but a few things stood out like this...

More than 100 players broke par in the first round when Jamie Donaldson led the way with a 62; that cut was six shots lower than last year and China’s Haotong Li recorded the most birdies – 30, which was three more than Tiger Woods made in 2001 – in the event as he also set a new winning aggregate of 23-under-par. That beat efforts from Thomas Bjorn (2001), Stephen Gallacher (2013) and Rory McIlroy (2015) by a shot.

The reason? Nutrition, you'll be shocked to find out, was not cited as a reason.

Length is certainly a factor in the modern game. It was scary at times to see the distance McIlroy, for example, was leaving himself for approaches into tougher holes like the eighth and 12th last week. Even Richie Ramsay, who is not in the same league as either Rory or Dustin Johnson in the big-hitting stakes, has managed to find a bit of extra distance with a new 
driver and is benefitting enormously from that.

This was not enough to prevent Rory McIlroy to be upset with himself for some tactical errors on Sunday, reports Brian Keogh.

Things You Can Do (Sometimes Twice) In 4:10

Nice work by the Morning Drive team of Kevin Schultz, Jonathan Burket and Kevin Ryan to come up with this graphic that I Tweeted early this morning and is making the rounds.

It is rather amazing to think that Kentucky's finest golfer took almost two Kentucky Derbys to hit that all-that-for-that lay-up, as Dottie Pepper noted.

 

Monahan Moves To Head Seat At Five Families Table

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan--because he doesn't have enough on his plate--moves to the top chair and Mike Whan slides over a seat for the next World Golf Foundation meeting.

For Immediate Release:

PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan Named World Golf Foundation Chairman for 2018

(ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla.) – World Golf Foundation (WGF) – the organization uniting the golf industry to support initiatives to grow the game – announces Jay Monahan, PGA TOUR Commissioner, has been named WGF Chairman for 2018 by the Board of Directors. He succeeds LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan.
 
Monahan was appointed the fourth commissioner of the PGA TOUR on November 7, 2016, officially taking office and succeeding former Commissioner Tim Finchem on January 1, 2017.
 
“I look forward to continuing to work closely with the members of the World Golf Foundation in our efforts to find new ways to bring this great game to a broader, younger, more diverse audience,” said Monahan. “We are excited about the state of our sport and confident that with continued collaboration, we can ensure its future growth and success.”
 
Monahan, who joined the PGA TOUR in June 2008 as Executive Director of THE PLAYERS Championship, had served as Deputy Commissioner since April 1, 2014; he assumed the additional title of Chief Operating Officer in early 2016, working directly with Commissioner Finchem on the entire scope of the TOUR’s business operations and strategy.
 
Monahan came to the PGA TOUR from Fenway Sports Group (FSG). He served as FSG’s Executive Vice President, leading the sales and business development team for the property ownership and representation divisions. Additionally, he directed FSG’s sponsorship sales operations for Boston College Athletics, the Boston Red Sox, Major League Baseball Advanced Media and NASCAR’s Roush Fenway Racing, among others.
 
“Commissioner Monahan’s leadership will be critical as we address several issues of importance to the game," says Steve Mona, CEO of WGF. “Raising awareness and promoting the game’s health, economic, environmental and charitable benefits are all key priorities and he will be instrumental in leading our efforts in these areas.”
 
Along with Monahan, other WGF Board members include: Pete Bevacqua, CEO of the PGA of America; Mike Davis, CEO/Executive Director of the USGA; Will Jones, Executive Director of The Masters Tournament Foundation; Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the PGA European Tour; Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, and Mike Whan, Commissioner of the LPGA.

8,500-Yard Crowd: Remember Torrey, J.B. & What You Ask For

Over the years the common refrain for dealing with distance gains has suggested higher rough and longer courses. Or, just narrowness and rough--anything but tweaking the rules already in place governing ball distance.

In recent months, the 8,500 yard number has been floated as the yardage needed to restore long irons and protect the golf ball from those who want to do it harm. This absurd, acreage-engulfing number apparently stemmed from Erin Hills which apparently resonated with some. Most felt a sense of irrational scale and emptiness post-U.S. Open, realizing the unproductiveness of chasing a larger footprint.

Torrey Pines South is a five-and-half-hour course in benign conditions, but takes the world's best nearly six hours if there is any decent wind, the usual stout rough and speedy greens. The South is just a touch over 7,600 yards with a only few long walks to post 2001 back tees--1 to 2, 9 to 10, 12 to 13, 14 to 15--nothing like many lengthened courses where players can spend up to 20 minutes of their round just walking to added tees.

And while this should not have to be pointed out, it takes longer to play an 8,500 yard course than a 7,500 yard course and definitely more time than touring a 6,500 yard course.

The 2018 Farmers could not be completed Sunday under sunny skies even with an earlier start than Saturday. And while J.B. Holmes is legitimately mocked for his rude final hole pace, do not lose sight of the overall pace issues faced by 77 elite players: longer and narrower is not a healthy solution.

2018 Farmers Ratings Up 38%, Record Number Stay With Playoff

According to CBS Sports, Sunday's final round coverage of the 2018 Farmers Insurance Open earned a 2.9 overnight rating/6 share, up 38% from last year's Jon Rahm win and the highest-rated Sunday for this event in five years.

Saturday’s third round coverage earns highest rating for the Farmers in seven years with 2.3/5, up 53% from last year.

And when coverage shifted to Golf Channel during the Jason Day-Alex Noren playoff, a record audience for the cable network tuned in.

From Golf Channel PR:

VIEWERSHIP: Coverage of @FarmersInsOpen playoff (7:15-8:30P) yesterday on @GolfChannel earned a 1.86 Overnight Rtg. Marks highest Overnight Rtg ever for Golf Channel “handoff” coverage & highest-ever Overnight Rtg for a PGA TOUR telecast on Golf Channel. pic.twitter.com/cJUYT0lULV

— Golf Channel PR (@GolfChannelPR) January 29, 2018

Roundup: The Early Tiger Opening Week Reviews Are In

I'll open with my 800 words for Golfweek that includes an assessment from Nick Faldo and my view that the success here sets us up for a new Tiger in many ways, including a Limited Schedule Tiger. And that's just fine. Worked for Hogan.

Rex Hoggard of GolfChannel.com found Woods’s Sunday round strangely predictable but is overall positive, with some assessment from caddie Joe LaCava as well.

Bob Harig of ESPN.com considered the week a hit with Woods finishing injury free. He also features some thoughts from LaCava.

Tiger Tracker actually files an assessment as well. TT's middle name is not Tont, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Tiger's next start beyond the Genesis Open is not clear.

Round four highlights for Tiger: