Chatty: Tiger's Giving Rides On The Jet, Admitting The Oddity Of His Riviera Struggles And Still Taking This Comeback Slowly

This new Tiger sure is fun, if nothing else for writers who used to fear a clipped answer now getting the kind of responses that show off why Tiger is not only one of the golf's all-time most engaging figures, but one of its smartest.

Golf is "new to him," and a few thoughts for Golfweek on his lengthy, engaging and insight-rich press session.

Doug Ferguson considers the mentor role Tiger has taken with young players, including Justin Thomas who Woods gave a jet ride to from Florida and seems to genuinely like.

Tiger has changed shafts and lofts in his driver in an effort to not repeat the Torrey Pines struggles.

GolfDigest.com's Brian Wacker focuses on just how long it's been for Woods at Riviera and how much has changed in the Big Cat's world.

Jason Sobel considers a hypothetical Woods schedule for ESPN.com and throws in some fun suggestions. And this Tiger might even consider them!

A par-3 swing I posted and a driver swing:

@tigerwoods on 16 at Riviera @genesisopen practice

A post shared by Geoff Shackelford (@geoffshac) on Feb 13, 2018 at 9:05am PST

🌲⬆️🌲

A post shared by PGA TOUR (@pgatour) on Feb 13, 2018 at 9:52am PST

Coming Soon To A Theater Near You: Governing Bodies Engaging With The Golf World On The Distance Issue

The distance chatter around Riviera has included a great deal of shock over R&A Chief Martin Slumbers conceding that the line has been crossed, with nearly everyone I talked to then saying something to the effect of: "but a year ago they said everything was fine."

And I would note, that stance was taken with no shortage of hubris in some parts of the world.

I suspect the position reversal will be the first stumbling block faced by golf's governing bodies when they begin to discuss what to do about the distance explosion. And those discussions will be a big part of 2018, at least according to a Slumbers comment from Alistair Tait's Golfweek story:

Slumbers wouldn’t say what the governing bodies are planning, but they’re intent on reducing distance.

“There are a lot of options. There’s a lot of work still to be done with a lot of people, and engaging with not just the game but the equipment manufacturers and all sorts of things, but that work we now feel needs to be done."

I sensed after hearing different views at the PGA Tour level today that the R&A and USGA may not realize how few friends they've made over the years. Former R&A Chief Inspector Peter Dawson and his condescending, inconsistent positions were referenced more than once.

Those with opinions on both sides of the aisle will expect an explanation of the status quo position. Otherwise I don't expect the conversations to last very long.

Perhaps the upcoming distance report will address why there is a change in position when it was apparent long ago that there were issues on multiple fronts. If not, the discussions Slumbers referenced above will not go smoothly.  Or very far.

Another Pro Golfer Bites The Twitter Dust: Lee McCoy Complains About Children, South America

I can't put a finger on what might have gone wrong for Lee McCoy--wait I can, he has proven to not know what he doesn't know and is a defender of backstopping. The Bobby Jones Award is not in his immediate future.

Seems the Web.com Tour player took to Twitter to complain about South American children wanting some more than a free autograph for coming out to watch the developmental tour play in their country and also insulted the country.

As Joel Beall reports for GolfDigest.com, the offending McCoy Tweets now sleep with the fishes and McCoy has taken the Grayson Murray path of suspending his account. And we know that how well that turned out for Murray.

McCoy tells Beall he has learned his lesson.

"To say I learned a valuable lesson would be an understatement," McCoy said. "More importantly I want people to know that I am, and always have been, a strong supporter of growing the game and doing everything I can to give back to the community."

Grow that game!

Video: Why Take On Riviera's 10th Hole Bottlebrush?

Why there are still non-native shrubs on the fascinating 10th at Riviera is a question for another day, but the obvious answer is that they now serve as a defense of a hole rendered too easily drivable. They were planted long ago for no good reason and have been kept to keep the hole from becoming even more of a bomb-and-gouge-fest than it already is.

For the purposes of this Golf Channel Morning Drive piece, I try to explain why taking on these shrubs is the lesser of two tenth hole miss evils.

A New Year Means Lydia Ko's Been Firing People!

Lydia Ko may be 20 but she's now projected to surpass caddie and coach firing totals of every legendary golfer--combined.

Golfweek's Beth Ann Nichols reports on the latest changes that saw Gary Gilchrist replaced as her instructor by Ted Oh and Jonny Scott taking over the bag.

And it's all just normal...

Ko’s management team said “it’s just a normal transition and exploration that everyone does in their offseason. They’ve only been working together for one to two months. She is hoping to make a great result with them.”

Tiger Woods Rekindles His Unusual Riviera Relationship

All systems are a go as Tiger Woods returns for the first time since 2006 to play a PGA Tour event at Riviera.

His memories are mostly good here, as are his Riviera stats. But there was that unfortunate last appearance in 2006 (WD, illness) and other issues that kept him away from what is now the Genesis Open run by his foundation.

I write for Golfweek about the unusual relationship Woods has had with the course and everything that has changed since his last appearance.

Given where he was a year ago--not able to attend even basic tournament functions--that we're at this place a year later is a credit to his doctor and Tiger's renewed focus. Couple that with a stellar field and it should be a fun week.

In other Woods news, Golf Channel's Tim Rosaforte says Woods has not decided on his next start, with a looming Friday the deadline for next week's Honda Classic.

Negative Campaign Ads Come To Golf: Hurley Attacks Spieth

When you're campaigning to chair the PGA Tour's Player Advisory Council to table slow play discussions started twenty years ago, declare caddie parking in Memphis a crisis and send Jay Monahan's calls to voice mail, you go negative. At least that's the risk Billy Hurley is thinking in his campaign for more chairmanship votes than Jordan Spieth.

No matter what side of the aisle you sit on, concede that Hurley's gone to the best ad makers in the business.

For those of you who don’t know, I am running against @JordanSpieth for Chairman of the @PGATOUR Player Advisory Council. One final push for the voting that ends tomorrow pic.twitter.com/dO2uLiTg3B

— Billy Hurley III (@BillyHurley3) February 12, 2018

Instagram: Some Golfers Age More Gracefully Than Others

Gary Player is still tinkering with this swing and some Rory McIlroy-inspired posture looks pretty strong.

Jack Nicklaus tests a putter and some sock style that works at certain clubs in Australia and Bermuda.

And then there's Greg Norman.

Golf is a funny game that we all know a hell of a lot about nothing. Here I am in my 6th decade as a pro, tweaking my swing ever so slightly after I noticed @rorymcilroy standing more upright than me so I wanted to test out his stance. Thoughts?

A post shared by Gary Player (@gary.player) on Feb 12, 2018 at 12:54pm PST

The great Jack Nicklaus having some fun calling my @scottycameronputter ‘off market’. Maybe he should switch! #losttreeproam. Best conditioned greens ever

A post shared by Brad Faxon (@bfaxon) on Feb 12, 2018 at 8:07am PST

After 63 revolutions around the sun, time to celebrate!!

A post shared by Greg Norman (@shark_gregnorman) on Feb 10, 2018 at 7:59am PST

The Open Returns To The Old Course In 2021

As The Forecaddie notes, golf's worst-kept secret was made official with the awarding of the 2021 Open Championship to the Old Course at St. Andrews. As I noted when the news broke during Morning Drive today, this is bucket list stuff. So start saving your money!

The R&A's announcement includes some wonderful footage and images:

R&A Chief Slumbers On Distance: "We have probably crossed that line in the sand"

And there are a few more players coming through who have been brought up in a longer-hitting environment. So it’s a whole combination of things. I don’t really want to pre-empt the upcoming Distance Report, but that’s what we’re now thinking.”

John Huggan of Golf World talks to R&A Chief Martin Slumbers about The Open going to St. Andrews in 2021 as well as Turnberry's prospects (2023 now at the earliest), but the real eye-opening comments come on the topic of distance.

As with the USGA last week, Slumbers is hinting that the governing bodies saw huge distance spikes last year and will be revealing so soon.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the technology has made this difficult game just a little bit easier,” Slumbers said. “At a time when we want more people to play the game, I think that’s a good thing. But we do also think that golf is a game of skill and should be reflective of skill. If you look at the data, there has been a significant move up across all tours. We’re looking at the longest on-record average driving distance. Both of those have caused us and our colleagues at the USGA serious concern."

That sure sounds like a bifurcation case, but as we know the B word is forbidden in the rulemaking world!

Here are the strongest words out of R&A headquarters in a long, long time:

“For a number of years there has been a slow creep upwards, but this is a little bit more than slow creep. It’s actually quite a big jump. Our 2002 joint statement of principles put a line in the sand. But when you look at this data we have probably crossed that line in the sand. A serious discussion is now needed on where we go.”

Strap in, this is about to get interesting!

ShackHouse 53: Recapping the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am With The Bachelor Host Chris Harrison, Plus Tiger Woods Prop Bets

We discuss a fairly lackluster AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am finish (2:09), an incredible field in the upcoming Genesis Open at Riviera (36:08), and Tiger Woods prop bets (14:32) for the week.

Then, literally moments after wrapping up his first appearance in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Bachelor and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host Chris Harrison tells us all about the experience, how he got Jason Day as his pro partner and what it was like down the stretch in the second-to-last group Sunday. (45:57).

As always, this week’s show was brought to you by Callaway and the new Rogue family of woods and irons, now in stores!

You can subscribe wherever fine podcasts are streamed, at iTunes where your reviews are always appreciated and of course you can listen below:

Quick Clambake Wrap: Potter Fends Off All-Star Cast And Severe Finishing Hole Traffic Jam

A beautiful but strange finale at Pebble Beach left some feeling a bit woozy but eventually rewarded by a valiant Ted Potter Jr. win.  The journeyman followed a 62 at MPCC Shore with a final 69 at Pebble to hold off Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, among others. Play bogged down badly due to a combination of factors, yet Potter did not let it deter him from picking up a career-changing win.

Alan Shipnuck with a fun Golf.com game story on Potter's back story and tribulations.

Potter is a Srixon man, writes David Dusek.

Potter's post round remarks, courtesy of Kevin Casey.

There were the usual oddball antics with pro-am players on the course: Jordan Spieth nearly got hit by a Ray Romano sculled bunker shot. Tony Romo hit a bunker shot with on-course reporter gear on.

Martin Kaufmann would like to pretty much redo the entire thing as a TV show.

I've come to not mind the difference in this week versus others, particularly when CBS fires up the blimp shots and extra tech. The tracer at Pebble Beach was a huge upgrade.

Sadly those elements are not used on the Golf Channel portion of the CBS-produced coverage and it's really a poor look for the PGA Tour to go from plain-wrap TV to a normally produced show. To hold back blimp shots from Pebble Beach is downright weird!