Washington Golf Alert

The LPGA as the Minor Leagues

That's Michelle Wie's parting gift to the LPGA. And by parting gift, I mean she has no intention of being a major presence on that tour.

Wie missed earning a berth at the U.S. Open, but for most of the day she played magnificently (her putter, as it has before before, let her down). If she wants it, it's only a matter of time.

Where does that leave the LPGA? Women as a group are not and never will be as strong or as fast as men, absent some kind of artificial engineering. Probably the best reason to segregate men's and women's sports is to push aside otherwise pointless comparisons.

But Wie will force those comparisons--makes them herself all the time. In her post-round interview on The Golf Channel, she said she expected things to be easier in the LPGA Championship at Bulle Rock. And they will be. On many occasions she's said in so many words that the women's tour is not where the world's best golfers play--and she wants to play with the best. Some of the great LPGA players understand what she's saying, and eventually the rest of the world will, took.

Here's Mercer Baggs, a commentator on The Golf Channel website in part of a long defense of Wie:

The final point of interest that was expressed by a few readers was: if women can play in men’s events then men should be able to play in women’s events.

That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I’d sooner believe that reality TV is real, that Barry Bonds’ head is a normal size than to believe that. As I said to one e-mailer, you don’t demote yourself from one tour to another just to better your odds of winning. A weak field full of professional men is stronger than the best field full of professional women. The field against which Wie competed in South Korea didn’t have one recognizable name it, but it still had more skilled players than the field for the upcoming McDonald’s LPGA Championship....

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Field Notes: Algonkian

We were turned away from Algonkian early Saturday morning after a heavy soaking overnight. The greens are too wet. Whatever, and off we ran to Herndon Centennial. But Algonkian is a regular stop on my local circuit, and well worth your visit if you're not impatient with flat courses.

That's the rap against it--too flat, too monotonous. It's more true for the front, and even there you have a couple of doglegs to make life interesting, especially the par-5 6th. From the whites it's 225 yards into the treeline turning left, or 247 from the blues. How do I know that? Algonkian has a super yardage guide that'll navigate you around the course quite nicely even if you're not all gadgeted-up like me. Once you turn the corner, you eventually face a broad sloped green with all kinds of evil pin placements, guarded by two bunkers along most of the front--I know them well--and the dark forest behind it.

But yes, you may wonder whether they're holding some of these holes in reserve for runway construction. The back is more varied, with modest elevation changes, and water hazards crossing the fairways on 11, 13 and 15.  The 406/424-yard (whites/blues) par 4 15th is one example--you need a good straight drive or a very confident second swing to erase fears of a narrow pond running at a sharp angle from 30 to 90 yards before the elevated green.

Algonkian is a bit longer than many courses I play (6720 from the whites), and it shows up on the par 3s-199, 178, 146 and 203 yards. Two of those are a stretch for me for par-freakin'-threes, but as often happens in golf, hitting long without effort turns out to be a good thing. And that first par 3, the 5th, is just as the yardage book describes it--You must reach the putting surface from the tee, carrying the moist, soft area fronting the green, or you will come up short.

The photo looks at the Par 9 green from an angle even I haven't seen during play--from the parking lot. It's not the most descriptive photo but at least suggests the parkland surrounding this course. Considering how built-up the DC suburbs have become, Algonkian will increasingly benefit in comparison to some other tracks where housing developments are marching around the remaining vistas.  Unlike its cousin, Brambleton, all you see from Algonkian is parkland and other holes.

Some years ago, the staff at Algonkian was so rude that a friend and I vowed never to play there again. Events conspired to bring me back, and somebody must have cleaned house because the attitude of everyone from the starters to marshals to the front desk generally ranges from proper to outright friendly. My friend has since passed on, and I said a prayer asking his forgiveness for breaking the pledge. I think he'd approve, and now I remember him every time I walk up that fairway where a ranger once berated us after we told him we'd try to pick up our pace. Don't try! he barked. Do! Sure bud, we'll take that from Yoda, but not from you. And now we don't have to.

Pros Declare Hazards Difficult

Jack Nicklaus raked his bunkers at the Memorial this week, and some of the tour pros are miffed, as related in this AP story from the Washington Post:

The large group at 69 included Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, Fred Couples and Nick Price, most of whom had one thing in common -- they could do without the furrows left behind in the bunkers by the gap-tooth rakes being used as an experiment this week.

"I don't like it at all," Price said. "It's a bit of pot luck, to be honest. You can get in there and have a perfect lie when it lands on top of a groove, then you can have another one that goes in the trough, and you've got no chance."

You have a chance not to arrive in a bunker.

Love didn't bother stopping to talk, perhaps because he would have said something that offended tournament host Jack Nicklaus. Mickelson, the most pragmatic of the bunch, was tied for the lead until he hit into a fairway bunker and made bogey on the 17th, and he failed to get up-and-down from short of the 18th for another bogey.

"Everybody has to play it," Mickelson said. "These bunkers are just a different variety than we're used to."

There are tough greens all around the PGA, and placing your ball in exactly the right place out of a bunker, especially if you're short-sided, can be tough. But escaping from most of these beautifully sanded bunkers is a piece of cake for the pros, and it really shouldn't be. I see The Golf Blog doesn't like Jack's setup, partly on the theory that competitors haven't had a chance to practice under the new conditions. Well, hit the green, guys. Problem solved.

Nicklaus Loves Washington Even If Finchem Hates It

I'm surprised there hasn't been more coverage in the Washington Post about the PGA-led Tim Finchem effectively heaving Greater Washington golf off the Tour, but there's this excerpt from a story by Leonard Shapiro story about the President's Cup and where the 2009 event will be held:

"We're obviously looking at RTJ [Robert Trent Jones in Gainesville Va.], but we're not wedded to that," Finchem said. "We're also looking at other possibilities."

One of those possibilities could be Harding Park in San Francisco, which has a contract with the tour to host several as yet to be decided events. But Nicklaus, whose U.S. team defeated the internationals here last September, offered a strong endorsement for the event to return to the Washington area.

"The Presidents Cup in D.C. worked very, very well," he said. "Presidents have participated and ex-presidents have participated. It's a big plus for it" returning to Washington.

If only Jack were PGA Commissioner. Since he isn't, we get this instead:

Finchem also said yesterday that Washington remains "in the mix" to host a tour event during its new fall series starting in 2007. He said the tour already has five confirmed fall events and hopes to bring the total to seven, with Washington in the running for one of the last two sites.

We still don't have a sponsor to replace Booz-Allen. And no wonder--this is like competing for bat boy after you've earned a varsity letter with the starting team.

Tim Finchem Hates Washington

A visceral, red-hot hatred. Why? Not clear. But it's the best reason I can come up with for his trashing of PGA golf in Greater DC.

Here's an update on the soon-to-be-former Booz-Allen, from AP in USA Today:

... The uneasy undertone stems from the PGA Tour's decision to move the tournament from the spring to the third weekend in September starting in 2007, offering a regular but less prestigious spot on the calendar. Booz Allen Hamilton chairman Ralph Shrader, feeling his company couldn't have the "world-class event" it wanted in the fall, decided not to renew the sponsorship contract.

Booz Allen's three-year deal expires with this year's tournament, June 22-25, leaving in limbo the tour's only stop in the Washington, D.C., area. ...

Drawing a marquee field in September will also have its challenges. Skinner expects the tournament to be played the week after the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup in alternate years, which might appeal to top players who didn't qualify for those team events. Also, Skinner said the PGA Tour is putting together "a package of incentives to get players to play in the fall," although he didn't have details....

Let's just call it the Disgruntled Loser's Cup and be done with it.  We'll have to bribe players to appear at the non-beloved Avenel so they can be watched on cable goliath The Golf Channel while begging the Redskins to schedule an away game. Thanks Tim!

Paging Tin Cup

Oh, how I love The Golf Channel's infomercials. Today they're showing an alarming system backed by Ernie Els, of which the Rockroller is just one tiny part.

Again With The Golf Ball

Last time I heard this mentioned it was from Jack Nicklaus; now the New Zealand Herald runs a story with Colin Montgomerie talking about changing golf balls to rein in long hitters:

...Eight-time European No 1 Montgomerie was among several players at the BMW Championship to applaud the changes masterminded by Els [at Wentworth].

 

But he said golf's rulemakers had to take a step back and provide more long-term solutions to thwart the continued advance in golf club technology which helps players power the ball vast distances.

 

"We are reaching a point where a decision has to be made," Montgomerie said.

 

"We cannot keep spending money using new land. We don't have to, we have an option. We can change the ball.

 

"I have said it for years and I'm not alone in my view."...

Monty talks about a larger golf ball and one with fewer dimples. Larger will help--not so long ago, The Royal and Ancient had a smaller ball than the USGA, and all things being equal the smaller one flew farther.

"Never" is a big word, but I don't see Monty's or Jack's revisions happening any time soon. There's such a deep link between golf technology and marketing..good luck with that.

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Memorial Day 2006

Today, it's about this.

Field Notes: Virginia Oaks

Virginia Oaks in Gainesville, Va., is an upper-middle course in Greater Washington terms--a cut above the Brambletons and Algonkians of the world, even though it snakes through a high-end housing development, but not up to the crazed heights of a Renditions or Raspberry Falls. In sections it's exceptionally hilly, and most recreational golfers will want to ride even when carts are not required (weekends before 2 p.m.). Don't be fooled by the first hole, a par 4 whose pan is mainly level and looks a bit cramped, snaking just enough around the left to obscure a clear view of the green from the tee. Yes, there are some blind shots throughout the 18 holes, but not to an extreme degree (and I hate blind shots). Virginia Oaks has some beautiful vistas including glimpses of Lake Manassas and the gazillionaire's Robert Trent Jones course. Some of the fairways are rippled with moguls and the greens are varied, devilish, and completely fair. The course was in terrific shape the day I played except for some irrigation or drainage work on the last third of the 18th fairway. Naturally this was the only hole where I managed par. A fairway hit, a green in regulation, two putts---who knew.

The photo does not convey the full terror of the par-5 10th, which starts with a blind shot over a dramatic sloping, curving fairway--I snapped it with the tee well behind me, recovering from the shock of having found my ball exactly where I aimed it. The "S" formed by this hole snakes uphill to the left toward the green. It's a roller-coaster ride, but it's also the kind of hole that makes a lot more sense the second time you play it.

My round made more sense the second nine that I played--and as I said above, I finally found a par. I use FairwayFiles.com for the stats.

'This Isn't Social Golf'

So, like, back off. The quote is from local amateur Pat Tallent in a Washington Post brief about the Metropolitan Mid-Amateur, which he won at the Army-Navy Country Club. Tallent is a 52-year-old--maybe's there hope for me yet.

Tallent sealed victory on the last hole by hitting a recovery shot out of the rough from 175 yards to within four feet of the pin, then two-putted for par.

No. There isn't.