Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I’m calling this weekend 9. Think of it as a place to warm you up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will have thoughts. We will have advice. We will have tweets. But only nine in all, though sometimes perhaps more and sometimes perhaps less. But who am I? The following paragraphs tell some of the story. It can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
There was no shortage of talk about the shortage this week.
On Tuesday, at World Challenge of Heroes, Tiger Woods had thoughts about it. The shortage, he said, was one of the pillars of the soon-to-be-new-look PGA Tour. If there are potentially fewer tournaments, that could increase the importance of those that remain, the idea goes. Or you’ll miss golf when there’s no golf.
“The shortage thing is something that I know scares a lot of people,” Woods said, “but I think if you have a shortage at a certain level, it’s going to be better because it’s going to get more eyeballs because there’s going to be less time.”
That seems fair.
Right?
Wednesday, about 10,000 miles away, in Australian Open, Rory McIlroy the thought. He noted that he and the others were playing in Melbourne. And that there were 20 professionals at Hero. And that there was the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa. (And he didn’t mention that the 50-and-up band is playing Skechers World Champions Cupand the LPGA is playing its final round of Q-School, which is arguably the biggest event this week, if life-changing moments are important to you.)
“I think because there’s so much golf and there’s so many tournaments, the eyes are separate,” McIlroy said. “And the interest in each of those tournaments this week is probably not as high as it should be. I think this tournament in particular because of the history, because of the tradition, deserves to be a stand-alone tournament, a week on its own.
“We hope that one day the powers that be can create a program where the biggest and best tournaments in the world, the oldest and the ones with the most heritage can stand up and stand on their own.”
This seems more fair.
The rationale behind reducing the PGA Tour schedule is sound. Tournaments after championships seem odd — after all, you don’t play a regular-season game after the Super Bowl or World Series. The schedule of a tour almost every week from January to November is also a lot.
But pro golf isn’t just the PGA Tour. And PGA Tour players play everywhere, too. At PGA Tour-related events, like this week. On the DP world tour, like this week. TGL. Kick-and-laughlike the Skins game on Black Friday and next week’s Golf Channel games. Shoot, maybe there’s another day where there’s a LIV Golf crossover. And what does the casual golf fan see? Golf, golf, golf. And that’s great for those who love golf on their screens, no matter the day, week or month.
But lack is then just a word.
Will this change? You hear whispers. McIlroy is often talked about on the world tour, and he probably isn’t just talking about getting his voice heard; he is part of the conversation. Also consider another topic of PGA Tour redevelopment.
Simplicity.
“So not only the players understand it,” Woods said, “but the fans can understand it, what’s going on week-to-week, week-to-week, how they can follow and how we can make it better.”
Let’s see if we can find eight more items for the 9th weekend.
A take from the week
2. This exchange between Keegan Bradley and a journalist on Wednesday at the Hero World Challenge stopped me. The reporter’s question is in italics.
If you were to give yourself a letter grade for this season, what would you give yourself?
“Well, that’s a tough question because I’m really proud of the way I played,” Bradley said. “I think in many ways it’s the best year of my career. My rookie year I won a major twice, so it’s going to be tough to beat. But with everything that’s been going on, I’m really proud of how I played.
“But when you factor in losing the Ryder Cup, I mean, it’s an ‘F.’ Without – you have to go and earn it and this grade is different. It’s really hard to rate. I was talking to my coach. He said, ‘Remember, you won this year.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t remember that at all.’
“It was a unique year. I think a year that no – really no other player has ever experienced. I’m proud of the way I played of course, but the end of the year was difficult.”
We can argue about Bradley’s performance as Ryder Cup captain (and there are decisions we should be critical of). But is there another American currently playing who is more invested in the event?
Is there any way it can be absorbed?
A delivery for the weekend
3. As mentioned above, this week’s highlight event will be the LPGA Q-School. The 90-hole tournament runs from Friday to Tuesday and the leaderboard can be found here here. (Thursday’s first round was postponed due to unplayable course conditions.)
Next week, the PGA Tour will hold Q-School.
4. The best story at LPGA Q-School? It could be Kim Kaufman, who was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago. You can read more about it herethrough a story from Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols.
A guide story for your weekend
5. Robby Payne of Unboxed Chrome tried to get Gemini 3 to be his son’s swing coach. Payne’s story can be read here.
A golf story that interests me
6. Min Woo Lee recently accepted Sister Minjee’s Greg Norman Medal – considered Australia’s highest individual golf honor – and the acceptance speech might be one of the best things I’ve heard all year. You can watch it below.
Another golf story that interests me
7. Weekend 9 doesn’t often get into politics, but this was good.
Scott Morrison of the University of California-Berkley, in a story for phys.org, wrote here about a study looking at whether PGA Tour pros’ play was affected when they played with pros with opposing political views.
Another golf story that interests me
8. That was good. Lydia Blackstone of wjcl.com wrote here about how a pair of golfers at Crescent Pointe Golf Club in Bluffton, SC, helped save a beach cow on the 9th hole of the course.
What golf is on TV this weekend?
9. Here’s a roundup of golf on TV this weekend:
– Friday
9:30 p.m. (Thursday) – 1 p.m. ET: Crown Australian Open second round, Golf Channel
04:00-09:30 ET: Nedbank Golf Challenge second round, Golf Channel
Noon – 4 p.m. ET: World Cup, ESPN
1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. ET: Second Round of Hero World Challenge, Golf Channel
– Saturday
9:30pm (Friday) – 1pm ET: Crown Australian Open third round, Golf Channel
04:00-09:30 ET: Nedbank Golf Challenge third round, Golf Channel
Noon-2 p.m. ET: Round 3 of the World Hero Challenge, Golf Channel
2:30pm-5pm ET: Hero World Challenge Round 3, NBC
– Sunday
9:30pm (Saturday) – 1pm ET: Crown Australian Open final round, Golf Channel
04:00-09:30 ET: Nedbank Golf Challenge Final Round, Golf Channel
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ET: Hero World Challenge third round, Golf Channel
13:00-17:00 ET: World Cup, ABC
1:30pm-4:30pm ET: Hero World Challenge Final Round, NBC
What are you emailing me?
10. Let’s make 10 articles! This was in response to my story last week who tried to understand why the term ‘skin’ is used in the skin game:
Based on your research, it seems to me that going back further, people have been “risking their skin”, with the skin being a synecdoche (I just wanted to use the word) for the whole person for a long time. This will likely translate into having skin in the game, initially perhaps in gambling situations.
One suspects that a competitive golfer didn’t like to play only against the course, or bet only on a two-dollar Nassau, but wanted every hole to be more interesting. He then egged his playing buddies to get some skin in the game on each hole. Perhaps the hunter’s bragging about how many jelly (skin) he bagged didn’t hurt the image.
11. Let’s make 11 articles! This was in response to my story about the car accident i was in — and the title provided by the e-mailer was great (I’ve kept the name secret).
Enjoy reading your thoughts and stories! Glad you are ok after the accident! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday). To quote a friend, ‘Keep breathing’
Fish Whisperer, Bourbon Taster & Raconteur
A non-golf/golf thing
12. So about that accident…
It had happened as I was returning home to help my grandson with a college visit. Actually, a college golf visit. And on Thursday, the young man shared the post below:
;)
