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By Ben Alberstadt (ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com; @benalberstadt on Instagram)
August 14, 2019 Good Wednesday morning, golf fans.
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1. “Feeling better”
If you saw any of the video of Tiger arriving at Medinah, you saw USA Today’s Steve Dimeglio was basically there to greet him in the players’ parking lot. Who better than DiMeglio to turn to for the present State of the Tiger then? (image above via DiMeglio)
Full piece. 2. Reed’s ball change pays dividends
Good stuff from PGATour.com’s Andrew Tursky on Patrick Reed’s projectile switch…”While Reed has switched golf balls multiple times throughout 2019, he had settled into a Titleist Pro V1 “left dot” prototype. Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Golf Ball R&D rep, once explained to PGATOUR.COM that the TOUR-only, left-dot prototype golf ball spins “a little bit less and aerodynamically it flies a little lower.” For Reed, it was spinning too little and flying too low, thus causing control issues coming into the greens.”
Full piece. 3. Shackelford’s slow play take
“Until last weekend’s social media fueled outrage over Bryson DeChambeau taking his sweet time, there have been few seminal moments to point to as evidence that we’ve lost the plot. Now the sport has one, it’s just a shame that Bryson is the poster child as he’s a good-hearted soul who genuinely loves the game. While spectacularly immodest at times, he’s also incredibly sensitive to the health and perception of the sport more than most professional golfers.”
Full piece. 4. Thanks to video?
The AP’s game story master flexes his editorial muscles in a column on slow play pointing out that if, indeed, we are at some sort of a slow play tipping point, the Tour’s expanded video coverage will have played a key role
Full piece (and plenty of veteran perspective)
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5. Staggered scoring coming into focus
Golf Channel’s Will Gray…“The shift from points to starting strokes is beginning to hit home on the eve of the penultimate event, especially for those whose starting total at East Lake could shift by a stroke or two with each birdie or bogey this week at Medinah Country Club. One of the best statistical seasons of Rory McIlroy’s career has him in third place heading into the BMW, a position that would equate to a 7-under starting total next week. If the standings hold, he’d tee off three shots behind Brooks Koepka and one shot behind Patrick Reed, a winner last week at the first playoff event.”
Full piece. 6. Rory remembers
Golf Channel’s Will Gray…“McIlroy admitted that he hopes a bit of the “good vibes” from that week will aid him at this week’s 69-man event, where he will tee off behind only Brooks Koepka and last week’s winner, Patrick Reed, in the points race.”
Full piece. 7. Byrd appeals for a kidney for mother
Golf Digest’s Brian Wacker…”Social media can be a powerful tool-see the recent firestorm over slow play and it leading to the PGA Tour saying it will review its pace-of-play policy. On a far more important note, PGA Tour veteran Jonathan Byrd is hoping the power of social media can help his ailing mother.”
See Byrd’s full post here…and FYI the optimal donor would have “O positive or O negative blood”
8. First time in 32 years…
“…Padraig Harrington claims to have gone 32 years before losing his clubs on a flight … Until this week.”
Full piece. 9. “Idiotic”
An element of all the pace-of-play/slow play talk: green-reading books. Phil Mickelson, for one, doesn’t think they dial back the pace of the game at all.
Full piece.
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