Category: Golf

The PGA Tour’s Disconnection

Image courtesy of golfmagic.com

This past weekend we witness Collin Morikawa win the PGA Championship at the tender age of 23 years old.  I am sure it will be considered a great achievement by the young gun and in any other time I would have felt the same way; but I do not.

The PGA of America and the PGA Tour chose to play the PGA Championship in, of all places, California.  California has been on lock-down since the Wuhan Corona Virus arrived in America.  Californians have not been able to go to work, go outside without masking themselves, children have been out of school, restaurants have been closed and some have even gone out of business.

If the virus is so bad that Governor Gavin Newsome must keep the State shutdown; why did the PGA of America think that it was okay to play a golf tournament in such a place?

I sent an email to the PGA of America asking this same question and never got an answer, so they left no option but to speculate as to why they made this decision.   Was it television money, advertising, or sponsors?  Only the PGA of America and the PGA Tour know the real motive.

The PGA of America could have chosen a better venue or postpone all together due to the pandemic, instead they decided to go with it with complete disregard for the people of California.  This is the disconnect of the PGA of America and the PGA Tour.  They live in their own little bubble forgetting that many Americans are still without jobs and fighting to stay afloat, while they go around jet setting playing golf.

I understand that this is their job, but they also must be sensible to the situation of ailing Americans, and they are not.  They think that by honoring common criminals with tee times or pandering to a sector of the population based on false narratives and innuendos, it takes care of everything.

The United States Golf Association has also decided to hold their annual national tournament in another State that has been ravaged by the pandemic and are facing the same restrictions as those of the people in California. 

The USGA is playing the tournament in the State of New York of all places.  Thousands of New Yorkers have died due to the pandemic, mostly because of the governor’s failure to act properly, and people have not been able to resume their lives with some type of normalcy.  I also contacted the USGA for comment, but they did not answer my email.

What are these people thinking?  These professional organizations are completely disconnected from the reality facing America and they have chosen to go on.  The PGA Tour wanted to be the “first” sport to come back and they did, but their return has been driven by sponsor’s money and television deals.

As a golf enthusiast and player, I will remember this season as the “Season of Disconnect” by the PGA Tour.

The PGA Tour was the first, but their disregard for fellow Americans makes them last in my book.

The Not So Open United States Open Golf Championship

Not “Open” for Joe Q. Public Photo courtesy of USGA.com

The USGA has decided to host the 120th United States Open at Winged Foot Golf Club from September 17-20, 2020.

Today, they announced their exemption categories with some interesting changes to include one that will qualify certain players who otherwise would have not qualified.  Phil Mickelson comes to mind, who is currently #66 in the World Golf Rankings and is not qualified to play the tournament. 

The USGA knows better, so they changed the exemption from the usual top 60 to 70.  I believe this was done to bring back Phil Mickelson to Winged Foot where he lost the opportunity at the 2006 U.S. Open title to eventual winner Geoff Ogilvy.

Is this fair?  Not by a long shot.  This is typical USGA money grubbing market value garbage.

What makes the United States Open Championship an “Open” championship is that is supposed to be opened for qualification to anyone who wishes to qualify if they meet the minimum requirements.  Otherwise is nothing more than a tournament full of professionals and elite amateur players. 

This was the rationale given by the USGA, which is poppycock. 

“The decision to cancel local and final qualifying for this year’s U.S. Open was deeply disappointing, but we are pleased to still provide the world’s best professional and amateur players the opportunity to compete for this historic and coveted championship,” said John Bodenhamer, senior managing director, Championships”.

“The exemption categories for this year’s championship at Winged Foot Golf Club were carefully developed to mirror a representative U.S. Open field, and we are excited that players will still have an opportunity to earn a place in the field through a variety of categories.”

“A representative U.S. Open field”; is he kidding?  This is nothing more than a PGA Tour event on steroids.  A U.S. Open without local qualifiers is not an “Open Championship”.  This is garbage and should be called out for exactly that.

Let us go back to the Phil Mickelson conundrum.  Mickelson is currently #66 in the official World Golf Rankings as of the cutoff date of March 15, 2020.  The USGA did not have to change this exemption category, but they did, in my opinion, to accommodate a player who would not have qualified otherwise.  Were they afraid Mickelson would not accept a special exemption invitation?  What if he didn’t?  He did not earn the spot, is that simple.

Therefore, I am not a member of the USGA and will never be.  I refuse to give my money to an organization who claims to care about the game, but instead is all about the money.

The USGA should have done the right thing and cancel the tournament until that time in which “Joe Q. Public” could locally qualify for the tournament.  This is the spirit of an “Open Championship”.

The Open Championship, a.k.a. The British Open, understood this and the Royal & Ancient made the right decision by cancelling the tournament.

Once again, the USGA has made a bogey when they could have made an Ace.

https://www.usopen.com/content/us-open/2020/articles/exemptions-for-2020-u-s–open.html

The PGA Tour wanted to be the First

Golf Professional Nick Watney Photo courtesy of Titleist.com

It was bound to happen, and it happened without fans.  The first PGA Tour professional to test positive for the Wuhan Corona Virus.

Golf Professional Nick Watney tested positive on Friday for the Wuhan Corona Virus and had to withdraw from the tournament.  Thankfully, he is feeling relatively well and has self-quarantined in accordance with “CDC Guidelines”.

Having said all that, I do not get how he tested positive on Friday after testing negative upon arrival to Harbor Town.  The virus has a 14-day incubation period which means Watney was either already positive, and the test was faulty, or the Tour dropped the ball royally and now are trying to cover their tracks. 

If I am going by the science, I will have to say the Tour screwed up.  Otherwise, there is no way Watney could test positive in just a couple of days.  I will leave that to the so-called experts, but it should be mentioned these testing kits are not 100% accurate.

I am also curious as to why the Tour disclosed the identity of the player and if this is in violation of HIPAA Privacy Rules.

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/index.html

For months the PGA Tour, and their television and radio pundits, have been bragging about been the first ones to come back to action after the interruption caused by the Wuhan Corona Virus.  Well, they got their wish.  Not only they were the first professional tour to come back but got the first positive.

All along the Tour and Commissioner Jay Monahan were reassuring the public, but some things cannot be controlled, and this is one of them.  It was bound to happen, and it will happen again and again.  The virus will run its course and that is that.

What is next?  The Tour has a couple of choices.  Either continue the season knowing that it will happen again or cancel the season.  I think they should continue the season and they should allow fans back in.  Without tracing chips and with tons of common-sense practices.

The Wuhan Corona Virus may become a part of our lives, like the seasonal flu, and that is something the Tour is going to have to grapple with and decide. 

Congratulations PGA Tour, you won this Championship.

Nick Watney is first on PGA Tour to test positive for coronavirus
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PGA Tour Return: A Quadruple Bogey with an Out of Bounds

PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan. Kneeling instead of Leading. Photo courtesy of golfergalore.com

The PGA Tour returned this week to Colonial Country Club and the Charles Schwab Challenge, after almost 3 months of inactivity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of course, no fans were allowed.  Massive testing and precautions were taken to ensure players, caddies, and staff were properly taken care of.  I guess it was better to err on the side of caution, although I think it was an overkill based on the information available.

Unfortunately, for the tournament, the country has been in a tailspin after the tragic death of a black man named George Floyd in the city of Minneapolis while in police custody.

The PGA Tour and Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan wasted no time to turn that tragedy into a publicity stunt by saving the 8:46 a.m. tee time to honor Mr. Floyd every day with a moment of silence.

The Tour was nowhere to be found when it came to honoring the memory of the many police officers who were injured or killed during the riots. The Tour missed a huge opportunity at been a vehicle for unity.

Let’s talk about the tournament for a moment.  For me, it was a big snoozer.  I didn’t realize until this week, the importance of those annoying “in the hole” or “baba booey” screams from the galleries.  The fans are such an important part of the game, even players acknowledged how “weird” it felt.  I agree 100% and I hope the Tour takes a second look at this.

I have to say, the most entertaining part for me was listening to Sir Nick Faldo and his “one liner” analysis.  The golf itself was pretty good, but I could not watch for more than twenty minutes.  I can only take so much of Jim Nantz and the golf silence was deafening.  It was like watching a long televise practice round and it was utterly boring.

Back to the social aspect of the broadcast.  I want to give huge kudos to Harold Varner III.  Varner III, one of the few black golfers on the professional tour, didn’t fall for the obvious race baiting coming from the media circus.  He did not brush away what happened, but he refused to engage in a social tit for tat with the media, instead choosing to talk about his game.

On the other hand, Tony Finau, who’s not Black, but from American Samoa, went on a social tirade on social media.  Short of saying all white people were racists, Finau went on to say he was with Black Lives Matter.  I am sure Mr. Finau has no clue what Black Lives Matter is all about, but like most athletes, he thought he sounded pretty good propping an organization who calls for white people to be eliminated from the face of the earth. 

When it comes to honoring Mr. Floyd, the Tour should have done better research when it decided to honor Mr. Floyd with a moment of silence by leaving the 8:46 a.m. tee time open. 

They should have known that on September 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m., American Airlines, Flight 11, hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center killing all passengers onboard. This time is reserved every year, by every television network, to honor the memory of the victims of that tragic event. How the Tour didn’t know this is beyond me.

In my opinion, this was a mistake of major proportions that went mostly unnoticed by the golf media and golf pundits. 

They also missed a big opportunity in promoting unity by not acknowledging the many good police officers who do a great job.  Many of these police officers provide security during tour events and are avid golfers and fans of the game.  For this, the Tour scored a quadrupled bogey, with an out of bounds.

The PGA Tour decided to kneel instead of lead, and for that they’ll never get a social mulligan.

PGA Tour scorecard?  Way, way over par.