The fate of golf would seem to lie in the hands of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the United States Golf Association. Can we expect that they will protect and reverence the spirit of golf?
MAX BEHR
The coolest thing about restoring the PGA Long Drive contest is not the charitable component or the fun for fans, but the PGA's re-creation of the money clip prize that Jack Nicklaus still uses to store his cash.
Andrew Prezioso reports on Louis Oosthuizen winning the Long Drive.
Here are shots courtesy of the PGA showing the 2014 clip and Nicklaus' 1963. Pretty sweet replication job:
With an hour delay tee times listed at PGA.com have been adjusted 50 minutes. Valhalla is wet and the air surprisingly cool this morning, with players playing the ball down today. But not surprisingly, scoring continues to be good with the soft conditions and impeccable course conditioning making the place vulnerable.;)
In case you don't get enough of it the 221 times it's played today, tomorrow and Saturday, here is Omega's relentless (and only) ad that will be airing this week before it is shipped down to Guantanamo Bay to be used as a torture device.
Link to PGA.com live feature group coverage until TNT comes on at 1 pm. ET.
Oh, and today's PGA post artwork is Lee Wybranski's poster for sale in the merchandise tent, a bourbon-label inspired gem featuring the par-4 13th.
After Tiger continued his mediocre play at Valhalla, the real drama came following the PGA Championship opening 73 when his camp and detractors spun the day. (Bob Harig's report here on Tiger's round that left the four-time PGA Champion two back of 64-year-old Tom Watson, who played in the afternoon when there was actually a little breeze.)
;)
Fitting that in the birthplace of Muhammad Ali, Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee and Frank Nobilo had it out on air over Trackman and the state of Tiger's shaft lean. It provided some of the most gripping Live From chatter in years! (Though we Issues Show guests are taking some credit for leaving behind some feisty vibes on the set less than 24 hours prior.)
John Strege transcribed some highlights from the sparring here. But if you want a more literary take on Tiger's swing, Matthew Rudy posted this earlier for GolfDigest.com's The Loop after talking to various instructors.
I just hope Brandel and Frank can recover from this row. And by the way, a hearty congratulations to Frank on officially receiving Team Tiger Marching And Chowder Society Status tonight! Tiger might even award you a clever nickname out of this, like Frankie or Nobsy!
Geoff
**Brandel took to Twitter to make clear there is nothing to see here...move along.
For those who thnk Frank&I were abt 2come to blows.
A)He'd kill me
B) I can outrun him
C)We argued over Shakespeare 2nts ago
D)I respect him
— brandel chamblee (@chambleebrandel) August 8, 2014Jason Sobel with the lowdown on Steve Flesch's crazy day that started behind a television desk talking about the PGA, was interrupted by a visit from Kerry Haigh to the set, and finished with him having almost gotten in as the 93rd alternate.
Sobel writes:
Robert Garrigus was the next alternate on the list, but he wasn’t on site at the course. Then Justin Hicks, but he wasn’t, either. Haigh checked, but nobody else was at Valhalla who could take a spot in the field should there be another withdrawal.
Until he got all the way down to No. 93.
It wasn’t an easy decision for Flesch. Just minutes removed from talking about the tournament on television, with remnants of makeup still caked to his face and – most importantly – his clubs at home an hour away, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to put himself in that position.
“The last thing I wanted to do was go out there with a rental set, drive it in the rough all day and shoot 85,” explained the Kentucky native. “But then I’m thinking, you never know. You go out there and scramble around, shoot even par, catch lightning in a bottle and then you can use your own stuff the rest of the week.”
Geoff
**Here's Todd Lewis' report on Flesch's almost-appearance. Great stuff.
Special thanks to the art department for the Louisville themed banner to kick off PGA Championship play.
There's a 40% chance the weather could get dicey this afternoon around 2 p.m. reports Nick Masuda, but so far so good at Valhalla where they're off and running in the PGA Championship.
The PGA.com live stream coverage started at 8:30 a.m. ET and will include the Tiger-Phil-Padraig feature group, with TNT coming on at 1 p.m.
I'll be live chatting at GolfDigest.com at 11 am here.
And thanks for the comments on site slowness, Squarespace tells me they are working on it! Apologies for any inconvenience.
I just copy and paste and let you decide.
Here's Tiger Woods, following nine-holes at Valhalla Wednesday. He tees off with Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington at 8:35 off the 10th tee Thursday. PGA.com Live Streaming begins, magically, at 8:30 a.m. ET. TNT coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET.
From the start of the transcript, the relevant stuff about his health.
Q. (Inaudible)?
TIGER WOODS: Probably yesterday afternoon. My range of motion was good. I started my firing sequence was back to normal the sequencing was good. If my sequencing is good then it's all good.
Q. How does it feel to be back?
TIGER WOODS: It feels great to be back here. The fans are enthusiastic. They're loud. They're into. It's a totally different golf course than what I played in 2000. These greens are all different. I have my book from 2000; it's useless. There's some new things that we have to learn out there. Joey has been here on the ground. He's got a pretty good handle on it. We'll run through some more of it as we go.
Q. (Inaudible)?
TIGER WOODS: It's not ‑‑ as I said, it's not the site of the surgery. This is something totally different. As I said when I landed, it jarred it and jarred it lose, made it come out. As I was explaining to you guys last week, I haven't been able to do my agility stuff because I'm still building back up, still playing. I can't do both at the same time. So when the season is over, in the off season, getting back to my agility work, my explosiveness, my power, all that stuff, back up to where I used to be.
Q. (Inaudible)?
TIGER WOODS: Yes. Make every putt.
Q. (Inaudible)?
TIGER WOODS: Say again.
Q. (Inaudible)?
TIGER WOODS: Pain meds, no. I'm not in any pain. That is the good part.
Q. (Inaudible)?
TIGER WOODS: Say again.
Q. (Inaudible)?
TIGER WOODS: I did ‑‑ I hit it in my hitting bag. So I was doing some video work, trying to make sure that my swing was where I wanted it and some of the things that I didn't like about it was going on last week. And I was able to basically make slow motion swings, make sure the ‑‑ what I was feeling and what was actually happening were matching up.
Q. (Inaudible)?
TIGER WOODS: Say again.
Q. (Inaudible)?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I did. I felt pretty good about how I played and the shots I hit. I need to get more feel for how this golf course is playing. I'm not used to seeing the chipping areas like this. We didn't have that in 2000. It was just deep blue grass. That's a bit of a different look and different options.
We're experimenting with some different clubs, shots. Trajectories, Strick and I were talking about how the bounce is actually pretty true. There's some different options which we weren't used to in 2000.
Q. And you're pain‑free?
TIGER WOODS: Pain‑free, yes, except for the headache of talking to you guys.
Analysis from scribes to come...
The arrival was surreal, even cutting short Golf Channel's coverage of Tom Watson's press conference, something I know Tiger would be upset about (if he knew).
But as I outlined in this Loop item of the 8 strangest things about Tiger making it to Valhalla in time to possibly play the PGA, the man appeared unscathed from Sunday's back spasms. Miracles do happen.
The Golf Channel video of the arrival...
There is no news on the Tiger front as of 11 a.m. ET here at Valhalla, which is bizarre in that Tiger is obviously not well enough to play this week, so dragging out a decision at this point is either (A) designed to get attention and have people talking about him--working--or, (B) he really is thinking of playing for no good reason.
He'll certainly want to take this advice from one of his favorite writers, John Feinstein, who I'll be sparing with alongside Jaime Diaz tonight on Golf Channel from 6-7 ET in a state of the game-themed Live From.
He's here!! State of the game discussion moves to 8-9 p.m ET! Plenty to talk about.
Anyway, Feinstein on Tiger. Sadly for the sake of interesting television, I concur...
Healthy doesn’t mean playing through pain or feeling good enough to give it a try. Healthy means pain free and feeling as if you’re able to do anything you want to do with a golf club in your hands. Because back problems tend to be chronic for anyone, but especially for golfers, Woods may not be able to get there. But he needs to at least make a serious attempt.
He needs to tell his agent, Mark Steinberg, to not call him to talk business. He needs to tell his sponsors to go away for a while, and he needs to cancel those overseas commitments for appearance fees. He doesn’t need the money. He needs to be healthy.
Anyone who hosts their PGA Champions Dinner at Churchill Downs--even though the legendary track is run by a wretched company of visionless heathens and home to the majestic Zenyatta's only loss--still earns the defending PGA Champ credit for creative dinner settings.
And I love the menu, reported on here by G.C. Digital, who somehow got access to the menu like he always does with these hard-to-get stories.
Now tell me, I see 17 former champions, including his Vijayness and John Daly in all his Loud Mouth glory, mercifully offset by Kaymer and McIlroy's Savile Row savvy, but who let Sandy Koufax in? (Seated next to Dufner in photo Instagrammed by wife Amanda.)
Geoff
**Of course, silly me. The menu is a tribute to last year. How could I forget?
I shouldn’t jinx things before Thursday’s first goose-bump-inducing telecast opens only to quickly launch into a series of TNT fall promos flowing from Ernie Johnson's lips. But you are now in year two of being spared from “Glory’s Last Shot” references only to have a new slogan to fear.
The former PGA of America Glory's Last Shot line was retired by new CEO Pete Bevacqua and no replacement was named last year, though as Ryan Lavner reported at the time, blame went around the room for getting rid of the lame line because, after all, the FedExCup looms as another shot at Glory. Oy.
While I’m guessing that “It’s Major” won’t be incorporated too often into the chatter, I can only imagine the brainstorming sessions at an unnamed (New York, of course) ad agency that produced this masterwork at a bargain basement price.
Personally, it's just too close to “It’s A Major,” the apparent starting point for the new slogan.
These guys are good!
Kind of a slow news day on the Tiger front until late, as I outline in this Loop item.
Here is the media alert from the PGA regarding registration that allows Tiger to drag this out as long as possible:
The deadline for registering for the 2014 PGA Championship was 5:00 p.m. (EDT) Tuesday, unless a player notified the PGA of America that he would be registering late. Any player who notified the PGA has up until his tee time in the opening round to register.
Geoff
**Rex Hoggard says that the PGA is reporting six others also needed this extension to register. It's major!
According to the PGA, Woods has until his 8:35 a.m. opening-round tee time on Thursday to register. Woods was one of six players this week to request an extension to register.
In the moments I took in the PGA's resurrected Long Drive contest here at Valhalla, it became apparently pretty quickly that this was a great chance for the point getters to have a few minutes of fun.
And for the point missers to shine.
My item at The Loop.
Geoff
**Bubba was asked about why he hit iron.
Q. You chose to hit iron off the 10th tee. Your thoughts on why you did that and your thoughts about the long drive contest?
BUBBA WATSON: My thoughts, I want to practice the game of golf. I want to learn this golf course. I haven't seen the 10th hole. I don't see that we should have a competition like that while we're playing a practice round and learning the golf course, trying to win a great championship. There's no reason to make something up in the middle of the practice round like that. That's just me. Like it or not, that's just who I am. That's just what I think.
I think the Par 3, that's something you're spending time with your family. The kids are out there. You're signing autographs, you're have the kid zone, you're signing autographs for kids. You have the choice to participate or not to participate. And this is just right there in the middle of your practice round when you're trying to see the course. Just kind of weird to me.
But I hit my 3‑iron perfect, though, right down the middle. Longest 3‑iron of the day. I won that competition, take that.
Q. (Inaudible.)
BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, it will be driver every day. I was just trying to prove a point that nobody cared about.
Q. There's been a lot of chatter on different avenues about your take on the 10th and the long drive. Do you find it surprising that you would be accused of taking yourself too seriously?
BUBBA WATSON: Me? Yeah, that's surprising. I am.
I'm here to win a championship. I'm not here to goof around (laughing).
No, it's just ‑‑ there's a couple things that just rubbed me the wrong way, and so ‑‑
Q. In what way?
BUBBA WATSON: I just see it, if it's going to be a contest, make it where you could participate and not participate. Calling your name on a Tuesday of a practice round, it just seems funny to me, just seems hokey to me, so I just didn't.
Q. And in a broader sense, do you worry at all or ‑‑
BUBBA WATSON: I worry all the time.
Q. Let me rephrase that. Do you care at all what people think of you?
BUBBA WATSON: Truthfully, no. Because the way I'm trying to live my life, read the Bible, follow the Bible; I can't worry about ‑‑ no matter what I do, no matter if I win every single tournament, half the world is going to love me and half the world is going to hate me no matter what. You can't impress everybody and you can't make everybody happy. It's hard enough trying to make my wife happy, so I don't need to worry about other people being happy.
I care about what you think, though, because you write big articles (smiling).
Geoff
**Oosthuizen charges late from the lane and steals it by two yards from Jason Day who was in the clubhouse at a whopping 338. Nice going Louis and to all the players who went through this painful, horrible exercise of being themselves and hitting driver on a driver hole on Tuesday of a major! And don't ask me who Johan Kok is, I have no idea.
Final Results of the 2014 PGA Championship Long Drive Championship
1. Louis Oosthuizen 340 yds.
2. Jason Day 338 yds.
3. Johan Kok 337 yds.
4. Gary Woodland 330 yds.
5. Rickie Fowler 328 yds.
6. Keegan Bradley 326 yds.
7. Danny Willett 322 yds.
8. Adam Scott 320 yds.
9. Sergio Garcia 320 yds.
10. Scott Piercy 320 yds.
Geoff
**From Luke Kerr-Dineen, Point Getter Padraig Harrington having fun:
