(That beat could not be hotter)

A few notes regarding the telecast. Have we settled the debate on who unleashed the F-bomb on the telecast on the final hole of Hadwin’s 59 last Saturday? People are convinced it was Johnny, but that just doesn’t add up for me. Had to be Hadwin (discounting the fact that he’s Canadian and thus aggressively polite), I just can’t come up with a good reason why Johnny would’ve done that, much less that soon after contact on a drive that ended up in the fairway. Definitely not complaining – hopefully Golf Channel keeps the mics this hot all year and avoid the wrath of the FCC (an agency which certainly thinks (of the) young and plays hard). Speaking of coverage, CBS is back in action for the first time this year for weekend coverage, which naturally means more shots of paragliders set to cloying Beach Boys outros than of actual golf set to player-caddie convos. I particularly enjoyed this take from “1954 stud” in the comments section of Kyle Porter’s dutiful corporate-mandated announcement of golf being back on CBS:

“CBS needs to start its own golf only network. The Golf Channel is almost unwatchable as ti inserts NBC politics and the pc culture into golf. Sports channels should be about sports only… leave the social engineering to the political networks.

Strong. Even stronger is this bit from the CBS press release announcing the 2017 slate:

“CBS Sports continues an unprecedented level of production and technical enhancements for its golf coverage, including its Emmy Award-winning technical innovation SwingVision and the return of Smartcart. Last year CBS was the first U.S. network to debut Smartcart on select tournaments and will continue in 2017 on every PGA TOUR event. Smartcart technology allows announcers to analyze and telestrate a myriad of data including golf swings and shots, difficulty of holes, scorecards and compelling content from action on the course. In addition, CBS Sports continues to use Trackman on more holes than ever before and with enhanced statistical shot information.

They’re overcomplicating it. Show more golf shots, get rid of anything Faldo-related and save money on the other fluffy technology and just buy more trackman equipment. Hell at this point just let the PGATOUR 2LIVE Crew handle the whole thing more skillfully at a fraction of the cost. Could even fold Nobilo and Kostis into that mix along with the SiriusXM guys. Simulcast it on CBS, collect some ad revenue for the trouble, provide your affiliates with a lead-in to the local news and call it a day. Hopefully that’s the plan for weekend coverage once the TOUR ejects from the current contracts. Need you to do this for us, Jay. Huge. Quickly.

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As promised in the Sony Notes, I once again reached out to Andy Johnson aka “The Fried Egg” for his take on this week’s venue:

The South Course is certainly a stout test, made stouter by the 2001 Rees Jones redesign. In keeping with the Jones family tradition, Rees managed to wipe most of the character out of the course and create a needlessly grueling death march with deep bunkers and tight fairways…a great recipe for a course played by the general public 51 weeks a year.”

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Been on the grind this week at work so I’m backlogged as far as reading recommendations, but here’s what else I’m keen on this week

  • Intriguing pairings outside of the obvious ones: Matsuyama/Berger/Grillo; Swafford (I’m coming around on him – definitely enjoyed Swantek’s Talk of the Tour podcast with him this week – surprisingly candid and thoughtful)/Perez/CH3 (who is en fuego); Hoffman/Harrington/Sabo (eclectic ball striking fiesta).
  • Was scrolling through the leaderboards for the PGA LatinoAmerica Qualifying Tournaments down in Argentina and Colombia. Aside from one dude shooting a 99 (featuring a back nine 54 with three pars and a birdie!), I saw friend of NLU Tee-K Kelly fired a tidy 66 and is currently T11. Keep it up and we’ll have someone to track on the #NarcosTour this year.
  • Taking my usual fliers on Kizzire (170/1!!!) and List (80/1). Gonna happen one of these weeks.
  • The bizarrely sporadic Web Tour just finished up in the Bahamas and is onto South America for two tournaments in February, before a single event in late March in Louisiana, then to Vic National in Indiana and Mexico in April, and then the Dominican before finally settling onto the mainland for a couple events. Sadistic scheduling.
  • As my wife and I are expecting our first child any day now, I will likely be watching copious amounts of overnight European Tour coverage, with Qatar and Dubai upcoming. Sergio opted for the appearance money in Singapore last week in lieu of playing in Qatar, an event he’s had some success at. Ceding to the #Csuite, sad!

Hopefully it’s been a productive #GrowThe Game circle-jerk down in Orlando this week at the merch show and everyone gets home safely! I may be in and out on Friday but will be posted on Twitter during coverage Sat/Sun.