1. Australian Open postponed
Disappointing, but ultimately not surprising stuff. With COVID-19 trending upwards in Australia since the beginning of the month and the impossibility, essentially, of international players arriving for the tournament by air, Oz Open postponement was inevitable.
- AFP report…”This year’s Australian Open Golf Championship was postponed Tuesday because of the coronavirus pandemic but officials said they were hoping to restage the event early in 2021.”
- “Melbourne’s Kingston Heath Golf Club had been due to host the 105th edition of the historic championship, the world’s fifth oldest professional golf tournament, in November.”
- “But with the country battling a surge in COVID-19 cases and the game’s stars facing major tournaments moved to later in 2020, Golf Australia operations manager Simon Brookhouse said they would instead look at a “January to March 2021 window”.”
- “Coupled with COVID-19 travel restrictions and quarantine measures, that means it would be almost impossible to assemble a world-class field in Melbourne.”
2. Awful news: Villegas’ daughter, 22-months-old, dies
Condolences, to Villegas and family, first and foremost. What can you say about such wretchedness-the death of a child whose short life was permeated by pain and suffering? Words fail.
- The news, via an AP report…“Camilo Villegas’ daughter, Mia, has died at just 22 months old after cancerous tumors were found in her brain and spine.”
- “Four-time PGA Tour winner Villegas revealed last month that he and his wife, Maria, took their daughter to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami for scans in March as they suspected she was not well.
- “Mia underwent surgery after the tumors were found, and the Villegas family was informed more treatment would be required due to persisting issues.”
3. Renee Powell Grant
Golf Channel’s Randall Mell…“The LPGA today announced the first recipients of the newly established Renee Powell Grant, which is designed to assist LPGA*USGA Girls Golf sites in creating partnerships and outreach opportunities with youth organizations serving Black girls.”
- “Powell followed Althea Gibson as the second Black player to compete in the LPGA. Powell is currently the head professional at Clearview Golf Club in East Canton, Ohio, the course her father built with a “Golf for Everyone” vision.”
- “I think this grant program might help to bring young girls, African American girls and other minorities into the game of golf and to show them that there are people who played before them and that it’s a great sport,” Powell said. “We need to really do a little more to change the culture of what golf is all about, in particular growing our Girls Golf programs and being very inclusive.”
- “Initial grants totaling $25,000 will be awarded to five LPGA*USGA Girls Golf programs in Ohio, Powell’s home state and the site of the LPGA restart amid the coronavirus pandemic, with this week’s Drive On Championship to be followed by next week’s Marathon Classic in the Toledo area.”
4. Homa isn’t leaving Twitter after all
Golf Digest’s Ryan Herrington: “Max Homa Twitter fans, you have reason to rejoice: Your man’s Twitter sabbatical is over. On Monday afternoon, the 29-year-old let his voice be heard once again on the social-media platform.”
- Homa tweeted…”Had a nice little detox from Twitter. Felt kinda like a juice cleanse but with fewer bowel movements. Still some, no doubt, but fewer. Anyways, it’s good to be back. Hating hours are closed indefinitely, myself included. This is gunna be a positive place in this pit of despair”
5. Blunt assessment from Pete Cowen
Derek Lawrenson for the Daily Mail…“You can always rely on Brooks Koepka’s short-game coach Pete Cowen for a straight-shooting verdict.”
- “Asked about the struggling American’s prospects of successfully defending the season’s first major in San Francisco next week, or his WGC title defence starting in Memphis on Thursday, the blunt Yorkshireman replied: ‘If I was a racehorse trainer, I’d say he had absolutely no chance!'”
- “After he had stopped laughing, Cowen added, in a more serious vein: ‘We all know Brooks is the man for raising his game at the big events – and this is going to be his biggest test yet, because he knows he’s not swinging the club well and he’s not happy with his game. But we all know golf, so let’s see if we can help put him back together again.”
6. More of the dumbest things in golf
Good work by E. Michael Johnson at Golf Digest to round these up…
- “Having to play a ball from a divot in the fairway…You’ve ripped the tee shot down the middle and your playing companions admire it with comments along the lines of, “That’s only good if you like perfect!” Except it’s not. Some dumbass before you took a divot the size of Montana and failed to replace it or fill it in with divot mix, leaving you muttering WTF and cursing your bad luck. The USGA has done a solid job in trying to make the rules fairer and easier to understand but failing to include a divot as “ground under repair” is a failing in need of fixing. Like yesterday.”
- “14-way dividers in golf bags…I know I’ll get roasted for this one and I simply don’t care. As I said once before, bag companies tout these abominations of humanity by stating how much wear and tear they’ll save your clubs. We’re sorry, but we don’t need to coddle implements that we strike into the ground and into a hard ball at close to 100 miles per hour with regularity. Plus, how can you slam your club back into your bag after a poor shot when you have to have pinpoint accuracy to do so. Give me an old-fashioned five-way divider any day.”
- “Cozying up to the beverage cart girl…Yes, you’re absolutely right. That lovely 20-something young lady is absolutely in love with your 40-, 50-, 60-something pot-bellied self. Yeesh. It is perfectly fine to be polite and engage in conversation, but stop the overt flirting tactics and realize that $10 tip you dropped in order to impress her is as useful as setting money on fire. Stop being creepy, order a drink, chat for a moment and drop her a couple of bucks for the effort. Proper, as the Brits might say.”
7. Chris Como’s living room
Excellent stuff from Sean Martin at PGATour.com writing about a place central to Bryson DeChambeau’s transformation during the pandemic: his instructor’s living room…
- A morsel from a great piece well worth reading in full…”This wasn’t a decision about acoustics or interior design. Como, one of the game’s most innovative instructors, wanted to build something unprecedented. He created a unique space that’s served as a catalyst for the transformation that has captivated the golf world.”
- “While sales of at-home training aids skyrocketed during the pandemic, Como took it to another level. He loaded his new home in the Dallas area with thousands of dollars’ worth of gadgets that would make any golf academy green with envy. There’s also a squat rack, free weights, a basketball net and hockey goal in the living room.”
- “It’s like a golf bachelor pad,” said University of Texas junior Pierceson Coody, the world’s 16th-ranked amateur and a longtime student of Como’s.
- “It’s not all for fun and games, though. The room has an austere aesthetic, with bare, brown walls and windows covered in protective foam. That’s because Como’s Living Room Lab, as it’s been termed, is the site of serious study. It’s golf’s version of DriveLine, the high-tech baseball training facility that started in a Seattle warehouse and has transformed the game at the highest level.”
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