The way things are going this year on the PGA Tour the only guy with an association to this number who has not been in contention is Kiefer Sutherland.

At this week’s WGC Trump Championship it is soon to be 24 year-old Patrick Reed leading by two going into the final day at the vastly improved, better than ever before, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, Trump Doral Blue Monster.   Patrick has won twice on the tour, with another six top tens, in the last 12 months and cashed in just under $4 million for his efforts.  Currently 44th in the World Ranking and rising.

Last week it was 24 year-old Russell Henley putting the smooch on the crystal at the Honda Classic, he outlasted another 1989 phenom Rory McIlroy in a four-way playoff at PGA National.  He too has won twice in the last year, with four other top tens, and added about $3.2 million to his bank accounts along the way.  Currently 46th in the World Rankings.

The week before at the WGC Match Play it was the Australian Jason Day and Frenchman Victor Dubuisson, who together average about twenty four and a half, playing an awe inspiring five-hole playoff to decide that championship in 23 holes.  Fourth in the World Golf Rankings, Day is an old man at 26 with two tour wins and close to $16 million in winnings on the PGA Tour since he toddled on the scene as an 18 year-old.  Dubuisson, looking like Johnny Depp (who the wife insists is forever 24), has won the Turkish Open, took second in the WGC Match Play, third in DP European World Championship, and fifth in the Volvo Golf Champions racking up about two million  euros in the last six months in European Tour events.

Harris English, also 24, won at St. Jude and Mayakoba in the last year along with 13 other top ten finishes.  Winning close to $6 million over that period he is currently 3rd in the FedEx Cup standings.  This 24 year-old looks like a lock for an American Ryder Cup Team position.

Better equipment, rigorous fitness, stiff competition at a very early age, and absolutely no sense of awe of their elders on the PGA Tour has these young guys feeling their oats and winning repeatedly before the age of 25.

It is obvious, these young guys do know Jack…….who happens to be returning to Fox on May 5th for a ninth iteration….24: Live Another Day.….

March, 2014

Here is a shock for you, men in Great Britain and Ireland in the 19^th century loved to bet on anything- horses, archery, parlor games, and, of course, golf.  To make the golf competitions workable they had to come up with a method for leveling the field between players of different ability so creating a course handicap became important to facilitating the wagers.

There first effort  in the mid-1800’s was to take the average of a man’s lowest three scores of the year at their home course and subtract it from the scratch score for the course to create a handicap.  This was fine at the home course but it did not travel well to away games where the courses were not of similar caliber.

The next iteration came from an unlikely source the Ladies Golf Union.  In the 1890s these adventurous women assigned a course rating to member courses to create a calibrated standard for the comparison to the average scores.  This actually worked quite well in establishing a handicap system that was reliable from club to club.

The mind numbing required reading materials from a USGA Handicap Seminar

When the game sauntered across the Atlantic it did not take much time for the blue blazers at the newly formed USGA to put their arms around this establishing a similar approach.  At first the USGA let each course establish it own course rating but it became evident in a hurry that this led to farcical results.  So they too created an objective method of issuing official course ratings.  Now they had a way to create objective handicaps that would be mobile enough to support inter-club competitions.   By using the three best scores of the year the first principle of handicapping was also clear-it would measure potential not playing ability.

As it further evolved it became evident that using only three scores a year favored the better player who could more reliably play to such a narrow sample of potential.  So they began computing it from larger subsets of the scoring records of players and eventually landed on the sample of 10 best of the last 20 scores.   They threw in the caveat of a “Bonus for Excellence” by using a multiplier of 96% to determine a player’s final handicap index.  This was to reward the better golfers a slight edge in head to head competitions with high handicappers.

The last piece of the puzzle was the implementation of Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) in 1974 which created a variegated method for maximum score on a hole based on the player’s Course Handicap.  This helped to smooth the curve on scores being posted by individual players.

It is worth noting that the word “Par” never appears in the discussions of handicaps or their calculations.  Rather the USGA created two ratings to support the handicap system.

The first is the Course Rating which is a baseline objective calculation of a course’s difficulty to a scratch player-it does not address how the course would be played by an average player. A course rater goes through the course simulating the positions off the tee of a scratch golfer (average 250 yards out) and takes into consideration factors of difficulty they face from hazards and objects they must traverse to play each hole.  By compiling these scoring factors they come up with a course rating for the relative difficulty of the course to a scratch player.  This Course Rating is established for every tee length.

In the mid-1970’s the USGA introduced a second rating through the new Slope System aimed at determining the relative difficulty of playing a course to the bogey golfer rather than the scratch golfer.   Once again they use the driving distance of a player with about a 20 handicap and determined the scoring effect of hazards and objects they face in playing out the hole.  This is called the Bogey Rating for the course.  The Slope Rating measures how steep the rise is between the Course Rating and the Bogey Rating on the course-the steeper the rise the higher the Slope Rating.  The Slope Rating is intended to show the relative difficulty of the course for a non-scratch player from each tee.

Here is the basic math.

Calculating a Player’s Handicap Index:

-Take the top 10 adjusted gross scores (after ESC)  of the last 20 for a player

-Subtract the Course Rating from each score to get a Handicap Differential

-Average these 10 differentials and multiply by 96% to get players Handicap Index

Calculating a Player’s Course Handicap:

-Multiply the player’s Handicap Index by the Slope Rating for the tees being played and divide this by 113 to get their Course Handicap for this tee.

Note: This is a measure of potential and should only be achieved about 20-25% of the time.

Using Course Handicaps in Competitions:

-If all competitors are playing the same tees the relative value of their Course Handicaps determine how many strokes adjustment needed to be applied to their medal scores.  If they are playing match play the difference between their Course Handicaps is given as a competitive adjustment to the player with the higher handicap.

-If competitors are playing from different tees the USGA stipulates an adjustment must be made to the Course Handicap of the players for the advantage of playing the forward tees.

Player A playing from a Blue Tee with a Course Rating of 70 whose Course Handicap is 10 from those tees will have a potential Target Score of 80 for the day.

Player B from the Gold Tee with a Course Rating of 66 whose Course Handicap is 9 has a potential Target Score of 75.

Player B playing from the shorter tee length it calculates to a 5 shot advantage in the potential score for the day.

The USGA says that the competitors must adjust their Course Handicaps by this additional factor equal to the difference between the Course Rating of the two tee lengths to make it a fair competition (in this case 4).  The Course Handicap of the player from the longer tee can be increased by this factor or the Course Handicap of the player at the shorter tee can be reduced.

In developing this Handicap System the presumption on the part of the USGA is that all players try as hard as they can on every hole in a posted round and that they will post all the rounds that can be posted.

The reality is that personal integrity is the only guarantee of accurate score postings.  In spite of the valiant efforts of Handicap Committees at clubs nationwide, the inaccuracy of Sand Bagger and Vanity handicaps will haunt competitions from now until doomsday.

If you yearn to delve into the nuances of the USGA Handicap system in more detail visit the website of former USGA Senior Director of Handicaps, Dean Knuth  (Pope of the Slope).  Dean is the walking and talking authority on all things handicap and his site is quite readable.

February, 2014

The leaderboard of this week’s Northern Trust Open looks more like the roster of the Witness Protection Program than a glamour PGA Tour event.  A.W.O.L. are Woods, Scott, Stentson, McIlroy, Mickelson, and much of the rest of the top 20 on the World Golf Rankings.  Going into the Sunday finish unfamiliar names like Will McGirt, Sang-Moon Bae, Cameron Tringale, and Charlie Beljan are dominating the first page.

Seemed like everyone and his cousin were in the mix come Sunday

This is kind of a shame since Riviera Golf Club, a George C. Thomas original and the host club of this event for almost a century, is one of the coolest venues the troupe plays all year.  The guys who love the place will tell you this is a player’s course.  It requires imaginative strategy from tee to green and flawless recovery execution to prevail here.  Adding one’s name to the list of past winners like Hogan, Nelson, Palmer, Mickelson, Elkington, Couples, and Faldo is a real career feather in the cap.

With the help of a four month drought drying out the greens and a couple of high tech Transformer rolling machines working the fairways this course is playing hard and fast like a major venue, which it has been on three occasions.  The normally soft and spongy Kikuyu grass has proved bouncy instead and it has facilitated seismic moves up and down this leader board for the less brawny hitters that usually suffer here.

The guys don’t see many classic tracks like this that require so much forethought off the tee and into the green.  Reachable par fives on 1, 11, and 17, brawny par fours that can be three-shotters, especially if the drive is wayward off the tee, and a gut wrenching driveable 315-yard par 4 10th which rewards and punishes with equal discrimination.

The genius of Thomas’s design is that the pin position on any given day can require an entirely different optimal approach line.  Add to that amazing green complexes which can leave an array of unforgiving short side recovery shots from the sticky, strangling Kikuyu.  Experience and humble deference to the challenges will help avoid the evil decree to the scorecard and maybe determine the winner at the end of the day.

In the early going a couple of Master’s winners, Charl Schwartzel and Bubba Watson have rocketed up the leaderboard with five birdies each in the first eight holes.  With 10 guys within 4 of the lead at the midway point this looks like full-impact bumper cars around the back nine.

The glare proves to much for the witness protection crew as they slither out of the limelight and it comes down to names more familiar down the back stretch.  After his promising first nine, Jordan Spieth makes three bogies on the back derails his chances.  Schwartzel bogies 13 and 15 with a South African sandy for birdie in between on 14 finishing fourth.  Brian Harman’s bogie and bounce back birdie sequence on 10 and 11 keeps him in touch a couple back but there is no magic after that.  Dustin Johnson birdies 11 and 15  to close within one but fails to birdie the reachable par 5 17th and comes up one shy.

Bubba among his people stares down his drive on the revered 18th at Riviera

Bubba Watson chasing his first win since the 2012 Masters birdies 11 to reach 14-under and then slips General Lee into cruise control.  He centers a couple of knee-knocker 10-foot par putts on 12 and 13 to maintain spacing and makes conventional pars over the next four.  What’s left for Bubba is to negotiate the Eucalyptus trees protecting the angle on the difficult finishing hole, find the narrow green in the greek amphitheater, and make a par-no small task at Riviera.

Bubba cooly smoothes a knock down driver about 290 down the sprinker line, a short club to 15 feet, and one putt for 64 and all the Skittles.

Wow, 64-64 at Hogan’s Alley on the weekend with no bogies….now that is trusting it.

February, 2014

The only thing missing on Saturday at Torrey Pines South during the Farmers Insurance Open was the USGA logo on all the banners.  The narrowed fairways, long rough, and firm greens of a U.S. Open setup were all present and gave the guys fits.  Average score on Saturday was a about 75.  The number one player in the world, who owns this track, shot 79 and missed the third round cut for the first time in his career.  This was an all-you-can-eat buffet of humble pie if I have ever seen one.

Apparently the shrill voices of the media powers did not go unheeded-they wanted to make sure that Sunday was not a demolition derby broadcast.  As such the set up on Sunday was much more forgiving-a little water on the greens and fewer Clark Kent phone booth pin positions suddenly made for a sporting afternoon at Torrey Downs.  By the time the last group reached the fifth tee 19 guys were within three shots of the lead.

It might take a racing form to keep track of all thoroughbreds with a chance in this race.

The sheer beauty of Torrey’s 1st hole belies the difficult test that lies ahead.

Charley Hoffman wasn’t happy with the 75 he shot on Saturday that included four bogies on the South Course.  He went out after yesterday’s round for some secluded work on his game with his Trackman and said he found something and ought to be in contention on Sunday.

His opening nine was five-under including a hole-in-one on the postcard third and three other birdies getting him to seven-under and within one of the lead.  Guess that technology did have something to share.  A bogey on ten and Charley went into a par stall over the next seven looking like one of those hang gliders just hovering a couple out of the reach of the lead. His birdie on 18 was too little too late as he would finish at seven-under.

Many guys got to hanging about the lead before their draft abandoned them.

Trevor Immelman threw two birdies and an eagle on the board in his first eight to reach seven-under as well.  But he bobbled badly on the ninth taking four shots from in front of the green to make a bogey and stall his momentum.  Two more bogies on 10 and 12 pretty much put his hopes under the posies.  But this is a major champion and three birdies over the next four holes percolated him back within one of the lead.

Even the old nags liked their chances.  K.J. Choi starting the day at two-under bogied the first and then ran off seven birdies over the next 14 holes to grab a share of the lead at eight-under.  He was the first to post eight-under so it was whittle and wait for another couple of hours for K.J.

The youngsters were to be heard, Spiething in tongues, as Jordan continued to talk to his ball trying to coax some birdies and make a run at his second PGA Tour win.  But for every step there was a misstep and so it was just another Sunday schooling for him. Jason Day, the talented 26 year-old Australian, was knocking on the door the entire day. After an opening bogie, he made five birdies to grab a share of the lead at eight-under on the fourteenth.  His bogie-birdie finish would mean that the best he would do was grab a whittling chair next to K.J.

The bombers always do well over the 7600 plus yards of Torrey Pines, the longest layout they play all year on the PGA Tour.  Gary Woodland, Marc Leishman, and Scott Stallings hit it as far as anyone out there and all have first hand experience with the trophy presentations at tour events.

The five-par 13th was one of the few good scoring opportunities on the inward nine.

Woodland had towardness problems, only hitting 3 greens in his first thirteen holes but used a reconstructed short game and a stable full of one putts to stay on par.  Leishman by contrast hit half the fairways but used his strength to find 75% of the greens and remain in the chase.  Stallings made six birdies through fourteen holes and was the first one to reach nine-under and momentarily interrupt the whittling.

There were others-La Jolla native Pat Perez,  Canadian Graham DeLaet,  young Ryo Ishikawa, and Will MacKenzie-the leaderboard permutations seemed endless.

Plenty of jockeying remained to be done down the difficult home stretch at Torrey.  Hitting the fairways and making key putts was going to decide this….it was only a question of how many noses were going to be in the photo finish image.

The 17th was a long iron-short iron but among the leaders it took no prisoners today.

When the dust settled it was just one.  Scott Stallings made a bogie on sixteen but redeemed himself on the par 5 eighteenth hitting the fairway and hoisting a long iron across the pond to safety by just a yard.  Two confident putts for birdie and his nine-under total held off the five other show ponies at eight-under.

Quite a finish this proved to be one exhausting afternoon of spectating.

January 2014