PGA Tour's New 9&9 Pro-Am Already A Hit

The Forecaddie reported last week that Tiger Woods practically moon-walked at Torrey Pines last week upon hearing that PGA Tour events could mimic the LPGA's longtime policy of nine hole pro-am rounds for players.

As Brentley Romine reports for Golfweek, everyone at the Waste Management Open was praising the first official day of 9&9, including Jordan Spieth:

“I’m a fan as long as the sponsors are enjoying it, too,” Spieth said. “They’re the reason we are here. A lot of times we get caught up in what the players want and we forget about why we actually have this. … I thought it was a good idea when it was proposed last year, just within the PAC because I thought the sponsors might actually enjoy it more. The opportunity to have somebody very engaged for nine holes and you get another guy fully engaged for nine holes versus sometimes it just gets long and for us players, it’s fantastic because I’ve got the rest of the day now that I can go out there and get work done."

A Better Than Average Day In Golf Instagram, 1-31-18

Clever sign from a cool kid on Waste Management Open Wednesday where most of the antics were not embed worthy.

A Starbucks barista did his or her best to keep Rory McIlroy humble.

Ru Macdonald with some recent drone shots of the new 7th at Royal Dornoch under construction, slated for play in 2021.

Peninsula’s South Course renovation by Ogilvy-Clayton-Cocking-Mead looks sensational in this Gary Lisbon image.

Eddie Gomez will make you feel better whatever excessive money and space you’ve devoted to collecting with his putter collection.

Sometimes golf-photographer Donald Miralle got up so we didn’t have to and captured a stunning “Superman Blue Collared Blood Red Strawberry Banana Moon.”

Kid gets it. ♻️

A post shared by PGA TOUR (@pgatour) on Jan 31, 2018 at 2:34pm PST

So close....

A post shared by RORY (@rorymcilroy) on Jan 31, 2018 at 10:14am PST

Work in progress 🚜 ⛳ Pictured the new 7th green at Royal Dornoch currently under construction. Once completed (2021) the hole will pivot right from the current 7th tee and measure 479 yards. Images via @royal.dornoch 📸

A post shared by Scottish Golf Podcast (@scottishgolfpodcast) on Jan 31, 2018 at 2:21pm PST

Golf Clubs with 36 holes have a challenge. Generally one course is preferred over the other by members and visitors resulting in a loading of play on one course. To be honest I am not sure this is going to be the case @peninsulakingswood on the edge of the Melbourne Sandbelt in Victoria, Australia. Both the South Course (pictured here) and the North Course are outstanding with some wonderful work by @occmgolf causing both courses to be on par with each other. This shot of the 6th hole of the South Course shows this challenging par 4 with bunkers flanking the fairways and a green that has its share of movement (as you can see with the shadowing). Wonderful club and set to rival Australia's best.

A post shared by Gary Lisbon Golf Photography (@garylisbongolf) on Jan 31, 2018 at 1:06pm PST

The renovations to my putter room are almost complete in this half of the room which will feature my @scottycameron @scottycameron.mg collection. Big thanks to Cheryl , who is putting the design touches for perfection. Trouble is that i need at least 5 more racks and more wall space!#scottycameron #scottycameronputters #scottycamerongolfgallery #scottycamerongallery #scottycamerongolfgallerytokyo #cameroncollector #putterporn #coverporn #scottycameronenthusiasts

A post shared by Eddie Gomez (@golfereddie) on Jan 30, 2018 at 5:36pm PST

30 January 2018 5:40am. Different location with a slightly wider focal length of the Superman Blue Collared Blood Red Strawberry Banana Moon. Like this pulled back view better as you can see more of our neighborhood. Shot with 500mm, Nikon D5, 1.5 second at F4, 2600 ASA. #iphoneonly #moon #wednesday #wednesdaywisdom #sky #cosmos #nikon #supermoon #bloodmoon #redmoon #bluemoon #encinitas #leucadia #sandiego #sandiegophotographer

A post shared by Donald Miralle (@donaldmiralle) on Jan 31, 2018 at 9:49am PST

Brandel Says He Can Fix Tiger's Driver Woes In Two Minutes

I'm fairly certain this is a lesson that won't be happening, but in the Golf Channel Podcast with Will Gray this week, Tiger-love/hater Brandel Chamblee proclaims that he's got the fix for Tiger's wayward driving.

From the online transcript dutifully posted by G.C. Digital, in case you're wondering, Tiger:

“And so I know that he’s trying to move off the ball, and he’s trying to stay tall. And if he does that, well, it’s game over. It’s game over. … I mean, I’m convinced, honest to God, if Tiger walked out here tomorrow, I would have Tiger driving the ball straight in two minutes. Two minutes. Two minutes. Because there’s no way he can’t do – all he needs to do is move three inches to the right in his backswing. That’s it. It’s game over from there. He can’t mess it up. But he doesn’t. He stays centered, and he drops down, and he turns left, and it’s like one bleeds into the next which causes another problem, which causes another problem, which requires another compensation. And you’ll never drive it good there. Never ever, ever. No one ever has; no one ever will."

Cue up those Curtis Strange tapes circa 1985 showing a nice three inch backswing slide, drink plenty of water and call Brandel's office if you have any more issues.

Shock: Phoenix Open's Annual Record Attendance Marks Expected To Fall Again

The Arizona Republic's John Davis says records are not just expected to fall as they do almost every day every year, but may fall hard at this year's Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale.

The reasons?

Warm temperatures, young stars, a good pro-am field and a new heat-seeking dart organizes believe will find a record attendance number the very first time they fire away at the board giving them record attendance number options. Just kidding!

The Phoenix Open draws the largest crowds in golf, with an estimated 655,434 fans attending last year. With the forecast calling for sunny skies and temperatures around 80 degrees every day this week, one of the strongest fields in the history of the event and an impressive pro-am lineup, that mark could fall again.

“With the field, the crowd and the pro-am lineup, in my opinion we have the right ingredients for an amazing week,” chairman Carlos Sugich said.

Of course, it is the best attended event on the PGA Tour and that's enough for most of us to be impressed without the annual fictionilization of the numbers. Cut them in half and they're still stupendous for a golf tournament.

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.