Sunday
Aug102008
Monday PGA Championship Clippings
I bring you good news!
We won't have to see a major at Oakland Hills and it's excruciatingly awful 18th hole anytime soon!
The USGA is going another direction with its Open venue selection. It's also hard to imagine them wanting to work with a club that likes the kind of narrow-fairway-lined-by-a-strip-of-pumped-up-rough-golf we just witnessed, and a club which still has not fixed the worst finishing hole in major championship golf. (All three members of the Jones clan have had a shot at it, and yet 18 still is goofy...actually, that explains everything with their family dynamic. It could be the only hole all three have worked on and it remains dysfunctional...coincidence? I think not.)
Anyway, so no U.S. Open anytime soon and the PGA is booked until 2016, except for an open date in 2014. However, I suspect that as long as the American auto industry remain$ in the dump$, the incentive to return is meager at best. It couldn't have helped that Verne Lundquist estimated the 15th hole gallery watching Ben Curtis to be about 150 in size!
So let's read about "the Monster" one last time for the forseeable future, starting with lede's covering Sunday's win by Padraig Harrington.
Vartan Kupelian in the Detroit News:
The Walk of Champions has a new face. It belongs to Padraig Harrington. Oakland Hills Country Club doesn't. The South Course is still the South Course. It's still a monster.Doug Ferguson's AP game story:
Padraig Harrington isn't interested in sentimental story lines that keep popping up at the majors. He's too busy winning them, and writing his name into the history books.Larry Dorman in the New York Times:
Padraig Harrington of Ireland made more history than even he realized at Oakland Hills Country Club on Sunday when he snatched the 90th P.G.A. Championship from Sergio García’s grasp and refused to let go. Three weeks after his successful title defense of the British Open at Royal Birkdale, he became the first European in the modern era to win the British Open and P.G.A. Championship in succession, and the first to win the P.G.A. since Tommy Armour in 1930.James Corrigan in the Independent:
Padraig Harrington denied Sergio Garcia his first major yet again last night in scenes so remarkably reminiscent of last year's Open. Just as at Carnoustie the Irishman with the manic eyes broke the little Spaniard's heart and just as at Carnoustie the difference between the pair was so small, while the contrast of fortunes was so great. For unbridled ecstasy see Harrington, for Garcia see bitter agony.Lorne Rubenstein zeros in on the closing hole antics.
There was something surreal about what happened to Harrington during the final round, and what he made happen.
Clearly, tough questions about heart remain to be answered by a group hardly lacking in ability. "It's all about experience and getting into position to see what it feels like," said Faldo after watching the final-round retreat of his young compatriots at Augusta earlier this year. "But one bad shot at the wrong time can scare you. They are all young and they have to come back better prepared. Majors test every nerve ending in your body.
"They have to get rid of that voice of doubt in their minds. You need the self-confidence and the bottle. And you have to hit the millions of balls you have to hit to think you deserve success. Whether this group actually has it or not remains to be seen. They certainly have talent. And they are getting into position. Now it is down to their determination to succeed."John Huggan considers the plight of England's finest, who really stunk it up this week.
He made a mistake by not making sure he laid up into the fairway out of the bunker that he hit from the 18th tee. But he caught a decent lie in the high rough and said that was a good break. Garcia also thought so.
“There's guys who get a little bit fortunate in majors,” Garcia said. “They manage to get things going their way. Unfortunately, it hasn't happened to me.
“That doesn't mean I'm not on the right track. I'm looking forward to the challenge. It's just a matter of time.”AP's Larry Lage delivers notes on Phil Mickelson, Masters exemptions and explains what happened to J.B. Holmes on the first hole of the afternoon round.
The winner's press conference is here, the other transcripts here.
Sergio's post round chats are here and here. Uh, about No. 16...
Q. Is there any one particular shot you would like to have back again, one particular shot?
SERGIO GARCIA: Not really.
Q. Or is it more than one?
SERGIO GARCIA: No, I felt like -- I felt like I gave it my best. Obviously what I'm not going to do is get on the 16th hole and try to hit it 40 yards left of the green. I mean, that's not the way I play. I tried to put a good, solid swing to the middle of the green and hopefully it goes there. If it drifts a little bit, perfect; came out of it just a touch, and just went in the water.
But then I hit a great putt on 17. I don't know why it didn't break. It lipped out. And then 18's just a tough hole.
But no, I felt like I responded well and he was obviously very good on the back nine and things just happened his way.Golfweek's summary of 18 notes includes some tough commentary on Sergio's post round press conference.
Matthew Rudy declares winners (Padraig) and losers (Sergio, J.B., and U.S. Ryder Cup team) and is also pretty tough on Sergio in particular, also not buying his post round remarks about fate not going his way.
Speaking of the Ryder Cup, here are the Americans who clinched spots, courtesy of PGA.com. Stop laughing Faldo.
Mark Lamport Stokes talks to Mike Weir about this year's majors.
"It seems like every year the majors are getting harder and harder," Weir told Reuters after carding a one-over-par 71 in Saturday's third round at the U.S. PGA Championship.
"This year we have played in a lot of wind. Almost every week, even a normal week on the Tour, we have played in a lot of wind.
"The Open championship had winds stronger than the others and then we've had it tough again this week as well," he added, initially referring to last month's British Open at Royal Birkdale.
"I would definitely say this year is the toughest set of majors I've ever played."Doug Ferguson notes that it was a tough year and points out that Justin Leonard made all four cuts yet was never under par after any round.
Jaime Diaz says that course setup criticism missed the mark because Kerry Haigh "got fooled by Mother Nature" and the early week "perfect storm" of sunny, dry weather. That sounds familiar...oh right, that was the USGA's excuse at Shinnecock. That pesky, sunny, breezy, dry weather does have a way of exposing courses already too close to the edge, doesn't it?
(Which reminds me, nice call by Frank Nobilo on Golf Channel thanking Mother Nature for saving this tournament.)
On the tournament operations side of thing, Susan Whitall blogs at Detroit News about a lot of things, including the lousy food options Sunday.
And finally, Francis X. Donnelly (what's the X stand for?) reports on the merchandise pricing...
The PGA Golf Shop teemed with people milling about $6 ticket holders, $39.62 umbrellas, $70.75 jackets.
They also snatched up $61.32 handheld periscopes, $7 shot glasses, $95.28 polyester vests with fake-fur necks, and $750 paintings of the 18th hole.So $750 for a painting of the 18th hole? That's expensive garage wall material.
Sunday, August 10, 2008 at 08:35 PM
Reader Comments (28)
your act is growing tiresome. You bash Oakland Hills and the 18th hole and yet you never even bothered leaving ur cushy Cali pad. It's so easy to criticize and bitch. Get off your hobby horse and try to actually check things out instead hiding behind ur computer screen while going on these inane anti-capitalistic rants and criticism of golf courses you don't even look at in person.
Some people (like Flemma) did not like OH until they visited this week and were pleasantly surprised at how great a course it is and ADMITTED it.
Yes, it's very tough but it also yielded good scores to superior shots. That's a great golf course by most people's standards. I talked to 5 people who just loved OH and how strong a test it is. "Best course of this year's majors by far" said one.
Just look at the list of OH champions. Nuff said! I am also good friends with a member and the club and USGA are talking about an Open in 2016-2018. If that doesn't work I guarantee you the PGA will be back and the 18th hole will still be there to torture you. It didn't seem that Paddy, Curtis and Stenson couldn't handle it.
Since u are such a critic of anything and everything, there's plenty of other things for u to complain about besides a golf hole. Remember this saying: "one that constantly looks for faults rarely sees anything else" Why don't you chew on that one for a while.....
Do you actually think he is a writer? Pulllllehzzzeeee!
If I see one more gimmicky quip from him, I'm going to scratch his eyes out with a fountain pen.
Flemma.....You must be joking! Please tell me you are joking?
Getting back to Oakland Hills, I found the entire thing to be great material which to go to sleep by. Just turn on the TV, go to CBS and its just like the best nap in the world.
It's "You" not "U" Why don't you go chew on that for a while. Open a dictionary while doing it.
Fucking idiot.
My new favorite quote of the week.
The 18th at Oakland Hills and the rest of the course aren't awful. 18 is awkward but it was when Ross built it and a few bunkers and changing teh par from 5 to 4 is moot.
Professional modern golf is its own animal, blame the equipment - ball go far (and straight, don't forget) and driver is now easiest club in the bag. Blame those protecting the sanctimonious "par", but Oakland Hills even with its hideous bunkering schema is still one of the world's best. Forget fair (read coddling Mr. Allenby)
One last one, don't disparage Padraig Harrington as unworthy and give me "Ohhhhhhhh we neeeeed Tiiiiiiiger". So the casual adrenaline-driven crossover sports fan didn't tune in, big whoopie. This tournament beat the hell out of the US Open this year, just as the Open Championship did. Multiple levels of drama unfolding faster than you can follow. And we got to see J.B. Holmes look like the idiot he is.
We Euros can't wait for the Ryder Cup.
For all the articles that have Flesch only one birdieing 18 might want to check out Stensons scorecard....
Are there any articles on why the Paddy/Wi/Garcia group was on the clock when the group behind was a full 2 holes behind (no doubt due to JB Holmes). Didnt seem to make any sense at all.
The only way I can defend him, though, is to say that winners (and he IS a winner, just not at the major level, yet) often have this attitude--that they cannot have possibly been at fault or to blame for their loss. It's often touted by sports psychologists as something positive for a golfer to have, this attitude that they simply don't screw up. I read an article about this phenomenon in one of the golf magazines many years ago, and several Nicklaus quotes were used as examples of this attitude. One quoted him, I believe, as saying that he made a putt, but "it just didn't go in." In another, there was some laughter over his blaming an errant bounce off of "the seed head of a fescue" for causing one of his drives in the British Open to end up in a bunker.
Anyway, I thought Sergio's play showed that he has at least conquered the putting demons, to some degree. The putt on 17 looked great, the stroke, anyway, maybe he hit it a fraction too hard, but it didn't look like a choke stroke. Now, whiffing a short iron 30 yards off line off a perfect fairway lie, well, I think he's kidding himself if he says he didn't choke there, but I don't really fault him for not admitting to a choke.
The position of the trailing group is not relevant. Harrington/Garcia/Wi were put on the clock because they were 'out of position' per the Pace of Play Policy that was in effect (undoubtedly, the final group was also put on the clock).
While there are some differences in how 'out of position' is defined at various tournaments, you will never (and I hate to say 'never') find one that defines 'out of position' based on the location of the group behind.
Harrington is one of the nest pressure putters though so that could see him through when the horsehoe drops.
Sergio also needs to just let the press write a story, rather than giving them anything. Just say I lost, I got beat.
Looks like "anon" validated your argument citing Jay Flemma and the great list of champions at Oakland Hills. I guess anon must related to Steve Jones.
1. The Gallery at 14; the point made by Verne Lundquist is a valid one, but please remember it was a day with on and off rain, and that is nearly the farthest reach of the course. Oakland Hills, with the recent experience of the Ryder Cup, has created perhaps the greatest infratructure arrangement in all of tournament golf. I realize that feature's almost a negative for Geoff and his fellow purists, but it is what it is. I think a lot of people had taken some cover, probaly many in the corporate tents where they could watch on huge plasma tv's, etc.
2. It is highly unfair to blame Oakland Hills for the recent Reesification. They consented, to be sure, but 98% of the membership is totally and thoroughly out of the loop on specific changes to the golf course. The changes are all a result of Rees Jones' operation, and the likes of the course setup guys under Kerry Haigh and Mike Davis.
3. I actually spoke several times with Jay Flemma, who spent the entire week working his ass off, talking to as many people as he possibly could, and doing his best to look at the course with fresh eyes and an open mind. I think that Jay worked 14-16 hours every day of the tournament.
4. I can understand it when someone like Tom Doak says that he has better ideas for the landing area on 18. (I think Tom'e ideas for what to do to 18 are quite modest in fact.) But the blanket criticism of the hole -- it's too hard, not enough birdies, etc., is really wrong and unfair. I think 18 is a uniquely good finishing hole; and I think that for exactly the same reason that I (and Geoff S. too, I think!) would say that 13 at Augusta is a great hole. It is one of those in-between-par holes! Sure, 18 is a Par 4.5! So is 13 at Augusta! Would everyone be happier if OHCC 18 was labeled a Par 5? And we finished with 40% of the field making birdie? It's really okay with me, if that would make everyone happier.
5. The bottom line -- the changes to Oakland Hills have been solely in response to technology advances. Rees Jones has basically said to the world, "I'll fix your course for major championships if that is what you want, becaue if you want a major championship, you'll have to do it. The PGA, the Tour, the USGA -- they'll tell you that you have to do it." That is quite unlike the OHCC Greens Committee meeting on a Tuesday night and trying to cook up ways to do things to their golf course.
I have said here, and elsewhere, that I am always astonished that there is not a massive cry among the members of OHCC, Winged Foot, Shinnecock, Riviera, Brookline, etc., that the USGA do something about equipment. But there really are few people at those clubs who 'get it.' They see major championships as the end-all affirmation of their courses, and they regard any architectural complaints as attacks on their golf courses by whiny millionaire players and topic-starved golf writers. It is weird.
Finally, there is Peter Kostis, who sounds nuts even when he says something that is entirely sensible. On Sunday, Kostis offered a broadcast comment that basically repeated Lorne Rubenstiein's observation that strategy had been killed at OHCC by the narrowing of the fairways. He's right. Rubenstein was right. But the reason for that narrowing has been the distances, produced by the balls in the Pro V era, which are in turn produced by Kostis' paymaster, Titleist. To hear Peter Kostis complaining about the tightening of the fairways and the heavy rough, is like hearing Tony Soprano complaining about rising crime rates.
I saw that Kostis' CBS sports cap bore an adidas side-logo. That is an oddity. has Kostis done a deal with Taylor Made-adidas Golf Co.? Like his business partner Gary McCord? Is Kostis still a paid consultant to Titleist?
Lehman would most likely agree. He should have been the champ in '96.
p.s. Tough luck, Serg. Your "destiny" thwarted again.
I appreciate the comments, but I can't buy technology as the source of the problem with Oakland Hills setup. I'd say a desire to produce a certain winning score drives what we saw. The club loves the hard-is-good nonsense as they do at Oakmont. That's fine, whatever floats your boat. But don't expect everyone watching to enjoy the same approach to golf.
As for No. 18. I have played it prior to the most recent redo. It's awful. The landing area should have been fixed after the 1996 Open. The tee shot is not strategic, nor is it interesting. It's just goofy and good shots are penalized just as often as poor ones. The second shot is long and difficult but again, I don't see anything to inspiring there. It would be far more interesting as a reachable par-5, but that would mean red numbers and that gets us back to the desire to protect par.
As for Kostis wearing adidas, I think that's a CBS deal. He would have chimed in here if you hadn't complimented him!
Chuck, please. You must be joking! The thought of Jay Flemma even being allowed a credential is rather, well obviously a sign of just how screwed-up the entire system is.
Half the time he was organizing his social schedule for dinner and a menstrual cycle, let alone write anything intelligent about golf. To even suggest him as a LEGITIMATE member of the press or media is a huge joke. It all proves one thing: Jay has no doubt gotten to you also....What was it, a law suit, suing you for mental anguish?
Flemma, if you should be reading this, WAKE THE F U C K UP ! ! ! !
You are not a writer. I
Apologies in advance if you should get a legal writ telling you to remove my posts regarding this nitwit....
I wish he would just cease and desist at thinking he is a actual member of the media.
You prbably already know that I agree with you about the "protection [of par] racket]". It is a dumb goal, when it leads to phony alterations of the course. I don't defend much of what was done to the course. All I am saying is that given the task that was presented to Rees Jones -- make this a sever test for major championship play, given the status quo in the quality of that play -- he acted reasonably. It is the status quo in technology that is unreasonable.
Certainly, I see some of the "keeping up with Oakmont" kind of attitude; Your description of "hard-is-good nonsense" is as apt as anything I can think of. But really, Geoff, the only decision those clubs have to make is whether or not they wish to host a major. Once that decision is made, it is out of their hands. I hope you agree with that much. Perhaps that is where the line needs to be drawn. To have memberships say, "We won't host you again unless you do something about the equipment, because we won't reconfigure our course, again." Maybe that is already done, quietly and discretely. Too bad, I say, if it is not turned into a bigger issue. But could somebody do me a great favor and let me know which major-quality clubs are doing/saying that?
What ion God's name will be going on at Merion if there are a dozen J.B. Holmeses by that time?
"What ion God's name will be going on at Merion if there are a dozen J.B. Holmeses by that time?"
WOW. is that a good question. even if there are NOT a dozen JB Holmeseseseses, what does Tom Marzoff (Fazio) have up his sleeve? goodbye 12/5/15 greens? can it get any longer?
I decided to go to Jay Flemma's site and see what the ruckus was about..
I would qualify the writing on his blog as an unmitigated tour de disaster. The problem is the grammar and focus. Each deliberately conflicting sentence and anecdote with the additional subclauses most of which have their own subclauses and end up as convoluted and utterly meaningless paragraphs devoid of purpose.. Sort of like my previous sentence!
But hey Chuck seems to like it.. Still doesnt seem to deserve all the harsh rhetoric.. It is just writing.. Albeit not my cup of tea.. But hey controversies means hits for web pages and for advertisements!
You fell hook line and sinker for the snake oil sold on BSG and now you fall for Flemma's poor writing. Check out the link to this site (Shakelford) on the "highly successful" Flemma blog that gets one response per 50 articles and see what he is about.
As for Jay, I had never met him nor even spoken with him until this weekend. I know first-hand how much time he spent at Oakland Hills, and a good bit about where he went, who he talked to and what kinds of questions he asked. I don't work for Jay, or his site. I'm trying to figure out what I wrote that was good, bad or indifferent about Jay that somehow made me his consigliere.
I'm nothing more than a member, an ordinary participant, at BSG and at GCA, (GCA is where I just recently encountered Jay). I don't work for any of them, don't represent any of them, and I speak only for myself. Still, I suppose the internet is a wonderful place for anonymous drive-by comments like "you fell for... the snake oil sold on BSG...and Flemma's poor writing."
At BSG, I suspect I'm thought of as something of a skeptic on the subject of unusual, prototype and tour equipment. And, as a proponent of a ball rollback, I am mostly the red-headed stepchild of the site. I generate enough debates on my own, thank you very much, without being pulled into ones with which I have nothing to do.
Does that clear it up? Because I don't want to be a distraction to Geoff's website.
I've spent some considerable time in a press tent. Trust me when I say this: the activity there isn't festive or party-like or social. It's just a bunch of writers and photographers trying to eck out a living. Jay is not part of that group. You were too far easily impressed with this ice cream cone. He's a whack job that deserves breakfast, lunch and dinner at Bellevue, dressed in a strait-jacket accompanied by two white coats.
Don't get me wrong, when a Billy Shipski, Jim Murray, etc. used to visit the press tent, there was a certain aura to the air--royalty. Jay, well when he is in the press tent, you want to call an exterminator for rat infestation.
GCA? Well, it would figure Jay would be hanging around a site like that too. Wait a second. Let me get this right, he was informing the group over there of his daily travails, correct? I'm sure his anecdotes and daily ramblings were as exciting as the tournament. As Rodney Dangerfield once said, Dance of the living dead!
There is no doubt in my mind, and I'm sure others will agree, this is what impressed you with his schtick.
There are no Ferdinand Xerxes -- all F. X.'s are Francis Xavier's
Ignatius Loyola started the Jesuits, Francis Xavier, Aloysius Gonzaga among earliest members thus all the colleges and high schools named for them -- the Jesuits specializing in education. They were all Basques, thus the odd sounding names -- Basque unrelated to any language on the planet. The X in Xavier pronounced as a Z like xylophone in Germanic tongues, like the H in Hacienda or Javier in Romance languages. But in Basque it is a consonant that sounds like both simultaneously and if you don't learn it as a child you can never make the sound.
A few of us like to go by the initials as a nickname.
your loyal reader and contributor
F. X. Flinn
I think you got it all going for you. That and a catchy screen-name that just screams, "Hey, I am a serious member of the golfing press."
You're like the Herbert Warren Wind of web trolls!
With regards,
F. Uck Chuck