By Ben Alberstadt
January 12, 2021
Good Tuesday morning, golf fans.
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1. PGA pulls 2022 major from Trump course
The AP’s Doug Ferguson…”The PGA of America cut ties to President Donald Trump when it voted Sunday to take the PGA Championship event away from his New Jersey golf course next year. The vote comes four days after the Trump-fueled riot at the nation’s Capitol as Congress was certifying the election victory of President-elect Joe Biden. This is the second time in just over five years the PGA of America removed one of its events from a Trump course.”
- “PGA President Jim Richerson says the board voted to exercise its right to “terminate the agreement” with Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey. “We find ourselves in a political situation not of our making,” Seth Waugh, the CEO of the PGA of America, said in a telephone interview. “We’re fiduciaries for our members, for the game, for our mission and for our brand. And how do we best protect that? Our feeling was given the tragic events of Wednesday that we could no longer hold it at Bedminster. The damage could have been irreparable. The only real course of action was to leave.”
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2. R&A: No return to Trump Turnberry anytime soon
STATEMENT FROM THE R&A…Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A…“We had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future. We will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself and we do not believe that is achievable in the current circumstances.”
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3. Another Tiger doc review…
Rolling Stone’s Maria Fontoura…”If you come to this film looking for shades of The Last Dance, ESPN’s 10-part saga about Michael Jordan and the Nineties Chicago Bulls, adjust your expectations. Yes, both offer portraits of dominant athletes maniacal in their focus, preparation, and will to win. Both are also firmly on the side of their respective heroes, even as they explore their foibles. But the projects are divergent in scope, temperament, and approach. Tiger lacks the same churning energy of The Last Dance, the sense of exuberance it showed in Jordan’s jaw-dropping skill, its delight in the petty feuds and deeply-held grudges that fueled his competitive fire.”
“This muted energy is partly due, of course, to the fact that golf is a very different sport than basketball; slow and methodical, solitary and interior. But these are also portraits painted with very different brushes. The ESPN miniseries juggernaut — itself a dominant cultural force, consuming online chatter and socially distant conversation over several weeks last spring — reveals Michael Jordan’s psychology primarily through how he plays. (As well as in interviews where His Airness plays the part, cigar and whiskey highball by his side.) Tiger reveals its subject through how he lives — or doesn’t. This is a tragedy in three acts.”
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4. Tiger’s agent on doc: “Another…salacious outsider attempt”
Our Gianni Magliocco…”The first episode of a new two-part HBO series entitled ‘Tiger’ aired on Sunday evening and Woods’ agent Mark Steinberg has now had his say on the series that chronicles his client’s life.”
- “In a statement released on Sunday, Steinberg denounced the documentary, describing it as painting an incomplete portrait of Woods.”
- “Just like the book it is based off of, the upcoming HBO documentary is just another unauthorized and salacious outsider attempt to paint an incomplete portrait of one of the greatest athletes of all-time”
- “The documentary is based on the book ‘Tiger’. a biography on Woods released in 2018, written by Armen Keteyian and Jeff Benedict, with the former listed as an executive producer of the two-part series.”
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5. Rory McIlroy drops to worst world ranking in almost two years ahead of return to action
Gareth Hanna for the Belfast Telegraph…”The 31-year-old is down to seventh after almost two months out of action as McIlroy hasn’t played since finishing in a tie for fifth at The Masters in mid-November. It is perhaps not unexpected, given that the PGA Tour teed-off for 2021 last week with the Sentry Tournament of Champions while McIlroy’s break continued. It was in Hawaii that Xander Schauffele’s tied fifth place was enough to jump up to fourth in the rankings, while Collin Morikawa and Bryson De Chambeau’s tied seventh spot saw them rise above McIlroy, to fifth and sixth respectively. It’s the Holywood golfer’s worst ranking since February 17, 2019, when he was out at number eight. The last time he was outside the world’s top five was just a month later on March 10, 2019.”
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6. International Ryder Cup stars descend on Abu Dhabi
EuopeanTour.com report…”The qualification process for golf’s greatest team event resumed with the World Points List at the Sentry Tournament of Champions on the PGA TOUR last week, while next week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship will restart the European Points List. The qualification period will conclude at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club, the third Rolex Series event of the season, on Sunday September 12, 2021.
- “The 12-man European Team will comprise the first four players from the European Points List, followed by the leading five players from the World Points List. Captain Harrington then has three wild card picks to complete his line-up, a decision which will be unveiled in the week after the 2021 BMW PGA Championship.”
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7. Tommy’s new sponsor
Andy Roberts for GolfMagic…”TAG Heuer has announced the signing of Tommy Fleetwood as a brand ambassador who will represent the TAG Heuer Connected Golf Edition.”
- “As the face of the TAG Heuer Connected watch Golf edition, Fleetwood, 29, will represent the luxury smartwatch on both the PGA Tour and European Tour.”
- “The Englishman will be working closely with the TAG Heuer Connected team’s software engineers in Paris and lending his professional expertise to further develop the already best-in-class TAG Heuer Golf app and enhance the overall player experience of the app.”
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8. Golf course design myths
Ryan Asselta for Links Magazine…”To dig a little deeper into the world of golf course design and some of the misconceptions about building courses, I talked with one of the bright stars in the industry: Rob Collins, Principal Designer of King-Collins Golf Course Design. King-Collins, comprised of Collins and Tad King, has gained cult-like status for their work on Tennessee’s now-famed 9-hole gem, Sweetens Cove. Collins has seen the highs and lows of the design industry and knows the many tales that his line of work has produced.”
- “You need a great site to build a great golf course…Some plots of land speak for themselves. Pebble Beach is blessed with some of the most pristine coastline in the United States. Sand Hills in Nebraska was a Midwestern gift from the golf gods. But for every natural beauty, there’s a great deal more landscapes that require a ton of grooming.”
- “There have been many sites that on initial inspection may appear to be unsuited for golf,” says Collins, who knows how daunting that initial realization can be, though he says that’s where the artistry comes into play.
- “Through creative design, shaping, and construction methods, a great golf course can be wrung out of difficult land.”
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9. What would you do if you were an equipment free agent?
Mark Townsend for Golf Monthly…“For a few weeks golf has an abridged transfer window where a handful of players make the headlines by switching clubs for the coming seasons, the biggest so far being Jon Rahm switching to Callaway from TaylorMade. So we’ve taken a fairly substantial leap of faith and offered the metaphorical keys to the golfing castle with our forum members to see what would make it into their bags and how they would dress should things be (very) different. From driver all the way to shoes, we asked our forum to tell us what equipment they’d use if they were free agents…”
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