NPR asked me to come on and discuss us crazy people that got up in the middle of the night to watch the Ryder Cup, and to discuss the Bingo contest. It’s brief, but I managed to sneak in a streaker mention.

https://ia601401.us.archive.org/27/items/nolayingup_gmail_NPR/NPR.wav

NLU's NPR Visit

We eschewed a traditional preview for the chance to lay down some quick and dirty thoughts/predictions before the Ryder Cup begins on Friday:

The overarching narrative coming into this event (and deservedly so) is Team Europe’s recent dominance. Winners in 4 of the last 5 (and 7 of the last 9) events, what do you attribute this to, and is it cyclical or systemic?

 First reaction was systemic, in that the culture of EuroTour golf promotes camaraderie and cooperation inherent in group play, but then I looked at recent results and the American team results have been pretty solid overall. It’s actually the individual record that sticks out. So I’ll posit that it’s a mix of both. Golf (and sports in general) are inherently cyclical. Sorry to cop-out on this one.

: I feel like we’re dealing with such a small sample of actual golf being played that it’s hard to really read into the results this much. When you think about it, we’re talking about three days of golf played every two years. Just look at all the things that had to happen in 2012 for the Europeans to win. The US was up 10-4, and if ANY of these things DON’T happen, the U.S. wins:

Stricker misses his 12 foot birdie on 18 on Saturday to halve the match.

Poulter birdies the last FIVE holes on Saturday to win 1-up (!)

Rory gets a police escort to make his tee time on Sunday

Rose birdies the last two holes (including a 35-footer on 17) to beat Phil 1-up on Sunday

Furyk bogies the last two holes to lose 1-down to Sergio and needs the Heimlich

Stricker bogies 17 and fails to birdie 18 to lose 1-down to Kaymer

Go back to 2010, and if Stewart Cink doesn’t miss two putts inside of six feet in his last four holes, the U.S. wins that Cup as well. (Seriously, that doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves. He owes Hunter Mahan a muffin basket a week for eternity). Yes, I’m working in the hypothetical, but the last pair of Cups have been as close as physically possible, they just haven’t gone our way.

: I think Soly makes a strong to quite strong point above. Match-play and over the past decade, Ryder Cup Match Play has a very thin margin of victory. It’s important to point out the USA has been extremely competitive in defeat, but also important to note the dramatic fashion in which the USA has collapsed in recent years; the way the snowball rolls back on them. That type of defeat leaves a mark, and for me, it points to Euro dominance being systematic. They have an edge for whatever reason. It could be the outsiders camaraderie or a scrappiness to prove that even though these Euro’s play primarily on North American soil, they want to prove golf talent is far from home-grown in the USA. That is just one jolly theory, but the point is winning becomes a habit. When the pressure builds on Sunday, having that memory of sinking clutch putts and that experience of winning in a tight contests, I think that pays dividends.

: It’s most likely cyclical and I agree with most of Soly’s points above in that small samples can yield misleading motifs. However, it is tough to dismiss 7 of 9 with a wave of the hand. More than anything, I think Team Europe has enjoyed a bit more collective and individual chutzpah of late. Take Ian Poulter–for all that’s been made of his Ryder Cup record (12-3), and rightly so, it’s still hard to understate the tone he helps establish for Team Europe: “I love the fight of it. You get to stare your opponent straight in the face, and sometimes that’s what you need to do.” The guy is a maniac!! I love it! I don’t think it’s coincidence that one of two American wins of late was when Anthony Kim brought this same cocksure attitude to Valhalla in 2008 (when they literally had to rip AK off Sergio in Sunday singles.) In a team competition between the world’s best, the x-factor appears to be who wants it more. Of late, that distinction has been with Team Europe. Here’s hoping Pat Reed, Spieth and Fowler can start to change that.

Which American/European has the most to gain this weekend? The most to lose?

For Amurricans my first thought was Jordan Spieth, but since the overriding expectation is that his temperament and style of play will thrive in this environment, I’ve gotta go with Five-Hour Furyk as my choice. His past performance in this event is tragic, but I think he’s primed for redemption. His form is tight and he’s got that crazy look in his eye! Tom Watson has the most to lose for his uninspired captain’s picks. I don’t really view the European team in the same fashion, as they all hail from different countries and aren’t subject to the same pressure. However, I suppose the newcomers could certainly make a name for themselves. And Westwood could use some success to close out the year.

: I agree on Furyk. No one needs a strong performance worse than he does, considering he’s likely most to blame for the collapse in 2012. I’ll also say Patrick Reed can really turn around public opinion of him if he can conquer Ian Poulter’s soul and forever put an end to the Top-5 jokes. Fowler’s got the most to lose. He’s seen as the leader of this group as far as playing ability due to the incredible run he’s had in the majors this year, but he takes a step backwards if he’s not able to put some points on the board for the U.S. For the Euro’s, I’d say that Poulter has the most to lose, and a rookie like Gallacher or Donaldson has the most to gain. The reason is simply expectations.

 I love the Furyk and Reed calls above, but I have to go with Bubba. Despite Soly’s call that Fowler is the leader of this squad, I’d say the masses on both sides of the pond will look at Gerry Watson Jr. as the face of the USA team, and for this reason, I think he has the most to lose. Let me re-phrase, “Bubba-Golf” has the most to lose if he plays poorly under pressure on foreign soil. Whether it’s a rosary, a moment of silence, or even a slight genuflection as Bubba approaches the first tee, it’s time to #PrayForTedScott people.

For the Euro’s I think Victor Dubuisson has the most to gain with a strong showing this week. Whether it’s a head and shoulders sponsorship (best lettuce in the game right now) or world-wide recognition as a ball-striking savant, Dub-V (it works I swear) has a huge opportunity. After his strong toe-to-toe showing against Jayyyyson Day in the desert earlier this year, we know he has oodles of match-play game.

: I think Spieth has the most to gain. He’s played his way into some big-boy spots on Tour already, but also drawn criticism for his failure to close. I think his overall game is greater than the sum of its parts, which speaks to an ability to grind. If he can have a monster Ryder Cup, perhaps run down a Rory or Poulter in singles, and lead the US to an upset abroad, I think it could be a real springboard going into next year. Could be the key to unlock big, big things for him. On the flip side, I think Furyk has the most to lose. His abysmal Ryder Cup record is already well-documented and a blemish on an otherwise sterling career. If this is his last Ryder Cup, it’ll be his last opportunity to change that narrative. He doesn’t want to forever be remembered as a butt in Ryder Cup futility jokes.

For Team Europe, I think the rookies (Gallacher, Donaldson, and Dubuisson) have the most to gain for reasons mentioned. Of the three, Dubuisson probably the most. With France set to host the 2018 Ryder Cup (which is hilarious in a lot of ways), a strong showing this week can set Vic on a path culminating in leading Team Europe on his home soil in four years. The most to lose is probably Rory, though that’s nitpicking. Whatever happens this week, he’ll still enter next season half-way to a ‘Rory Slam’ and the clear cut World’s #1. A bad week here doesn’t do much of anything to change that, perhaps only giving a potential foe (like Spieth or Fowler) confidence to play with him. (If you think I’m reaching here, you’re right, I am).

The European pairings usually fall along national borders. Given this, which Euro pairings would you like to see that we probably won’t?

Any combination of Serg/DubV/Rory would be megatasty, IMO. The golf would be surpassed only by the staggering amount of talent in that gallery. I also think a Bjorn/Stenson pairing would be too obvious, but the Big Dane and the Big Swede teaming up in a show of Scandinavian solidarity would warm my soul.

 I’d love to see Rose/Poulter take on Keegan/Phil in a heavyweight bout of overconfident swashbucklers. Also, love The Dub-V/Sergio (from Rio) pairing Tron proposes.

: I’m dying to see Donaldson and Gallacher paired against Reed and Walker just to see if they get the “dropped from coverage treatment” in an event where only 16 players are playing at a time.

: Given the legal fun G-Mac and Rory are involved in (or their management teams anyway), that’d be a delicious pairing purely for curiosity’s sake. I’ll also agree Serg and Dub-V paired together would yield splendid amounts of awesome.

If Capt. Watson were offered a deal to be even up going into Sunday singles, would he take it? Would you? If so, talk to me about how you’d order the American lineup, and the matchups you’d hope to see (as both Captain and jingoistic fan).

 Absolutely. I think the strength of this team will be in Sunday singles. I’d lead with Furyk, just to get him out of the gates early, keep him out of his own way, and ensure that a huge putt isn’t resting on his stick. Would throw Bubba out there early. Close it out with Johnson, Fowler, Spieth, Mickelson. Put everyone else somewhere in between. As for dream matchups, I absolutely will be rooting for Sergio on Sunday (Serg, God, Family, Country for me), so him paired against Bubba would be delicious. Rory/Rickie and Spieth/Poulter are other dream matchups.

: For sure he’d take that. I think the order of lineups on Sunday is completely overrated. All of the matches are worth the same points, and I don’t really believe that much in the “momentum” factor of one singles match affecting the others. That may seem blasphemous based on what happened last year, but it’s not like you can predict who certain guys are going to get matched up against. Did I successfully not answer the question?

 I think both coaches would take an even start on Sunday, and what theater it would be. I think it’s time we saw a Ryder Cup that’s a dead heat and not some lopsided comeback. On Sunday Singles, I’d like to see Furyk and P Reed out early with Spieth, Rickie, and Phil closing things out (Phil is the closer here).

: I’d take it, and I agree Capt. Tom would too. I’d order the Americans on Sunday in the following fashion: Spieth, Kuch, Watson, Webb, Mahan, Walker, Furyk, Reed, Keegan, Phil, Fowler, and ZJ. Lead off with competitiveness, hid some questions marks in the middle, and stack closers late. I’d imagine Team Euro would follow a similar line of thinking.

As a fan, there are a couple matchups I’d absolutely salivate over. Spieth/Rory is as good as it gets in my opinion. I also think Poulter/Reed would be fascinating (You’re a top-5 guy, Pat? Let’s see you run down the Euro soul collector). Phil/Sergio would be a a swashbuckling, ballstriking festival. Furyk/Westwood could be a great retirement match. Essentially, I’m most interested in Spieth and Patrick Reed. I want them to draw Euro thoroughbreds. Great acid test for each.

Alright, let’s get to it–winning side and score, please. Also, feel free to throw in individual point predictions if you’d like.

 Trailing heading into the final day, Amurrica vanquishes the continent, 15-13 (there hasn’t been a non-halfpoint final tally since 1992!) on the back of strong singles play from the young and the hung. Wading into point totals would be an ill-advised proposition for me, but I will venture out on a longgggg limb predicting Furyk and Rickie to go undefeated. And once the Ryder Cup is mercilessly wrapped up, we can FINALLY turn our attention 

to a team competition that actually matters

: I placed a bet at 10/1 that Europe would win 15.5-12.5, so I’m sticking with that as my prediction. I just can’t imagine a scenario where the first two days go well enough for them to pull it out Sunday. Anything can happen though (hot take!).

: I think an underdog American team rally’s to win on Sunday. Why? Because that’s what I want to see, and I think too many people have hailed the Euro team too strong setting up a great opportunity for a young USA team to make a splash with help from veteran grinders looking for redemption!

: My head says Europe 15.5 to 12.5, My heart says USA! USA! USA! by the score of 15-13. As far as individual points go, I hope (for his and Tron’s sake) Furyk has a big weekend. If I were placing bets, I’d wager on Spieth (8/1) and Reed (16/1) as top American point scorer, and the Big Swede, Stenson, (6/1) as top Euro point scorer.

If you’d like write your predictions in Internet ink, please do so through the comments–it’ll be awesome to marvel at our collective inaccuracy Sunday evening! Enjoy the action this weekend, and if you’d like, get in on our completely free, no strings-attached 

 for the chance to win a Callaway 1-wood.

Ryder Cup Prognostication

 of Grantland.com organized an auction fantasy draft between myself, 

. Spanning three countries and seven hours of time zones, we were each given $50 to spend however we wanted. Here were the rules:

We followed a specific bidding order, and alternated who opened the bid.

The players were ranked in order of world ranking (Rory first, etc.)

When it was your turn, you either bid on the player available, or you were out for that player. You continue going until you’re the only one left standing at the last price you bid.

You can have as many or as few players as you want.

Wins are worth 3 points, ties are worth 1, and losses are worth -1.

My first takeaway was that this was a lot harder than I thought it would be, and a lot harder than it looks. My strategy was to try to obtain as many players as possible. I think the team that has the most matches played will win this bet. I tried to let the others spend their money, and my hope is I would clean up on the middle market guys, and hopefully get six players. It didn’t work out quite the way that I had planned, but I don’t hate my team. Some reactions:

Shane Ryan better be picking the US to win. He’s got 5 US players. He’s all in on the Phil/Keegan pairing, as well as the Bubba/Webb pairing.

Jim Furyk is a steal at $10 considering the form he’s in, but his Ryder Cup history is iffy at best.

We were running out of the money by the time Ian Poulter came along, so getting him for $11 was a steal.

Stewart took 3 of the first 7 players off the board, and didn’t have enough money to make another pick.

The gchat conversation over which this was held will never be shared, ever.

How would you rank the five teams above given the format? Here are my power rankings:

Ryder Cup Fantasy Draft

We’re absolutely jacked about the Ryder Cup. I’ve been game-planning on how I’m going to tune in on Friday morning at 1:30 AM for about a month now, and we’re here to reward anyone that is getting up insanely early to watch the proceedings this Friday. We present, Ryder Cup Bingo.

 at Callaway, the winner of the bingo game will get a 

. Send an email to nolayingup@gmail.com by 3:00 Eastern on Thursday (please include your twitter handle). We will reply with your bingo card later this week when the list is finalized.

 You must be following @NoLayingUp and @HashtagChad on twitter.

 You must tweet out a picture of your card with us tagged in it once you’ve hit Bingo. 

The first correct bingo card that we get will win the driver.

 Chad will audit the proceedings (verifying that we’re not just randomly selecting one of our buddies as the winner).

 The cards a complete random draw. Some stuff obviously has a higher probably of happening than others, but that’s the fun of the random draw.

 You’re relying on me watching this and determining this with my own eyes. So I suggest timestamping when your bingo boxes get covered, and I can always go back and review (I’ll be recording). Otherwise, I’m going by what I see the first time around.

Here are the following Bingo options. Your card will be randomly generated from these options. We will track and cross these off as they come in, and we will make the final determination on any borderline calls.

Replay of Rickie Fowler at 2010 Ryder Cup

Scoreboard is referred to as “red” or “blue”

Euros referred to as “heavy favourites”

Hunter Mahan 2010 Chip, Patrick Reed’s top 5 comments

Dan Hicks longingly mentions the Olympics or says this has an “Olympic Feel to it”

“Gleneagles is not a traditional links course”

Announcer imagines Tiger watching in some form

The word “swag” or “swagger” is mentioned

(More ideas to be added through the week)

Ryder Cup Bingo Contest

The Tour Championship is unimaginative, anticlimactic, and an inadequate coronation for the PGA Tour season, let alone the FedEx Cup ‘playoffs.’ It’s time for the powers-that-be to seriously rethink the format, freshen things up, and work to make the annual event something we can really get excited about. There’s really no excuse for golf fans to be more captivated by the minor league Web.com playoffs than the FedEx Cup playoffs, yet here I am, again totally underwhelmed by the current iteration of the Tour Championship/FedEx Cup finale and much more interested to see which guys win their Tour card via the Web playoffs.

So what can Finchem and crew do? The easy option would be to make the Tour Championship a one-and-done match-play event (in concert with euthanizing the WGC Match Play) whereby the top-32 guys after the BMW are seeded accordingly and given the opportunity to compete for the $10 million annuity and honor of ‘Tour Champion’ mano-a-mano. The bracket could be engineered to give the top 2, 4, or whatever guys byes and thus reward their season-long excellence. In all, pretty standard-fare stuff to organize and implement by the Tour office, and I think a vast improvement on the status quo.

A more complicated idea would be to rip a page from the FIFA World Cup playbook, get exotic with the Tour Championship, and stage a match-play based event involving both round-robin group play and a knockout style tournament. Here’s how I would construct it:

The leader of the regular season FedEx Cup standings gets a bye into the knockout stage of the Tour Championship and is seeded #1.

The top three players (aside from the regular season leader) in the FedEx Cup standings after the BMW Championship receive byes into the knockout stage and are seeded #2, #3 and #4, respectively.

The next best 16 finishers in the FedEx Cup standings after the BMW Championship qualify for Group Play at the Tour Championship.

One week, Thursday through Wednesday, ideally at a baller West Coast venue (for primetime TV purposes)

Group play is comprised of four randomly drawn groups, each consisting of four players (to be done live Sunday night on Golf Channel following the completion of the BMW).

Group play occurs Thursday through Saturday with contestants playing one 18-hole match each day.

Group winners are decided on total record, advancing to Knockout Play (in the event of a tie, players break the tie on ‘Tiebreaker’ Sunday).

Two-man ties are broken in match-play format on Sunday (already beat the guy? Too bad, beat him again). Three-man ties are broken by stroke play on Sunday.

The 4 group winners advance to Knockout play beginning Monday.

The 4 group play winners are slotted into the knockout bracket based on their respective position in the final FedEx Cup leaderboard so that the #1 seed gets the lowest finisher, #2 seed the second lowest, etc.

Monday is an 18-hole quarterfinal match (airing on Golf Channel in primetime).

Tuesday is an 18-hole semifinal match (again in primetime, and again on Golf Channel).

Wednesday is a 36-hole Final in primetime on NBC.

: Rory McIlroy (regular season FedEx leader)

: John Senden, Jason Day, Russell Henley, and Matt Kuchar

: Jordan Speith, Jimmy Walker, Patrick Reed, and Martin Kaymer

: Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia, Cameron Tringale, and Hunter Mahan

: Zach Johnson, Adam Scott, Bill Haas, and Jim Furyk (Group of Death…I think???)

Thursday through Saturday is Group play, with 8 singles matches being contested each day. Sunday is ‘Tiebreaker’ day, where any Group ties are settled and winners declared (if you clinch on Saturday, great, you get a day off).

That’s three, most likely four, highly entertaining, quality days of golf. And this is just Group Play.

Note: I’ve anointed the following Group winners (with their FedEx Cup standing in parentheses): Jason Day (#10), Jordan Spieth (#11), Rickie Fowler (#9) and Adam Scott (#12).

 (Good versus evil, errrrrrr, golf boy versus golf boy)

two American golfers growin’ up in the heartland)

 (This match may be judged on number of GIRs bagged, a true ball-striking celebration)

Tell me you’re not excitedly tuning in Monday night for those matches, let alone the possibilities on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Most importantly, though, the Tour Championship would be transformed from a math-heavy, mostly boring, four-day limp home to a seven-day extravaganza featuring intriguing matches each and every day. No math. No projecting of FedEx positioning Thursday afternoon. We can make brackets and run gambling pools. All in all, this seems like a no-brainer to me. Do it, Finchey!!

If you have better ideas, please share them in the comments below. And if you like the current iteration of the FedEx Cup/Tour Championship please share *that* below too–you’ll be the first person I’ve met who does.

Re-imagining the Tour Championship

This is it. 29 guys vying for $10 million at the home of Bobby Jones. It’s phenomenal irony that such a cash grab takes place on the home track of the greatest amateur ever (not to mention a hell of an engineer). Per usual, I digress, so instead of bringing Stephen Hawking in to explain the FedEx Cup Playoffs algorithm, we’ll just send you over to 

-esque breakdown of the playoff structure. The goal here is to highlight the tournament itself, and with Tron Carter on the ground for the weekend drama, NLU should have some unique (and scalding) takes that build off this preview.

First a brief history digression. East Lake Golf Club is located just East of downtown Atlanta and was the first home of The Atlanta Athletic Club, which commissioned the golf course in 1904. After growing from 7 to 9 to 17 and finally 18 holes under the supervision of Tom Bendelow, the AAC membership brought in Mr. Wolf Donald Ross to bring things up to a championship level right about the time legendary member Bobby Jones entered High School beginning a 5 decade run as a bastion of Southern Aristocracy. But, in 1966, The AAC fled North to Suburbia leaving the East Lake property to fend for itself in inner city Atlanta. 

 highlights it’s fall from 1963 Ryder Cup host to East Lake’s “course two” demolition to make way for The East Lake Meadow housing project aka “Little Vietnam.” Unfortunately for members, these guys were playing through:

Whoa. By 1993, East Lake was in such disrepair, it became a trial run for urban revitalization after the crack epidemic. With a cash infusion from The East Lake Foundation (i.e. Coca-Cola and Atlien Real Estate Mogul Tom Cousins), East Lake enlisted Rees Jones to save the day. The video above does a good job explaining this transformation. Today, East Lake has played host to the Tour Championship since 1998.

 from the Tour website. It demands length off the tee but also places a premium on being on the correct side of the fairway. The par 3 finishing hole is a rarity these days, but it’s a strong hole (MUCH stronger than the one a couple months ago at Greenbrier) and provides a solid theatre for the fans. #6 is one of my favorite holes to watch, if only for the Sully-Sullenberger-style water landings on the long par 3. Overall, a great course to finish the season on, especially after seeing other classic layouts recently (Wyndham, Barclays, BMW).

Again, the video above should give you a sense of the “Vibe” that used to surround East Lake and still gives a pretty accurate feel of most of downtown Atlanta (still trying anything it can to revitalize on the corporate Atlanta dime as families move to the Northern suburbs and the City lets the Braves flee North as well…thanks Kasim Reed). Expect to hear a significant amount of Jeezy (

 is STRONG btw) as you walk from the Turner Field parking lot over to the Tour Championship shuttles. That’s right, there is no parking as the course is boxed in on all sides by low, Zone 6 apartment blocks and new condominiums in East Atlanta.

Once inside the grounds, things take on an air of “tradition,” as the home of Bobby Jones. This is really a big Coca-Cola party, which means they play up the antebellum Atlanta vibe HARD. Oh, and expect a ton of Kuchar Fans.

The Big Freaking Swede, Henrik Stenson took home the hardware last year outlasting Jordan Spieth’s coming out party and what may be Steve Stricker’s final act…Of the three, only Spieth earned the rebuttal this year.

(all lines courtesy Ladbrokes.com, the Official Bookmaker of NoLayingUp.com)

 (16/1) finished second last year and is currently trending in the right direction on the road to Gleneagles. He almost feels like a post-hype sleeper at the moment (if that’s possible for his age). And don’t look now, but 

 (25/1) is TIDY these days. After finishing T2 at the Wyndham, he’s gone T15, T9, T16 in the first three events of the Playoffs. If I had to pick one skill that Bill Haas possesses, it’s the ability to earn gratuitous amounts of money without doing anything noteworthy. Sounds like a FedEx Cup winner to me! The 2011 champ looks strong. Lastly, 

 at 20/1. As we’ve noted the last few weeks, when Billy gets hot, he stays hot. Add in this quote, and I’m sold:

“If I were a betting man, I’d put some money on me.”

As there’s only 29 dudes in the field, not much to riff on here.

Rory (3/1!!!!!!!!) limped home with a final round 74 in his only previous appearance at East Lake, otherwise playing solid golf. But 3/ 1 is ignorant. Matsuyama (40/1) makes his East Lake debut on the heels of a solid week at the BMW and is the sleeper pick here.

Though the money adds a significant amount of drama, the fan experience at the Tour Championship lacks pop. With only 15 groups on the course all four days, and some players with no chance of winning, you don’t see much golf.

I’d love to see Coca-Cola add a little ‘Flare’ to the winning prize. Though a conservative, old school brand, Coke is one of the most forward thinking marketing operations in the world. People, They’ve built a museum to sell more celebrate the history of sugar water! I’d love to see a life time supply of Coke on the line, or even better, the opportunity for the winner to bring back one of Coke’s zombie brands (I’d vote SURGE! if only for the commercials…BTW, were the late 90’s real?). Something tells me Webb Simpson would be all over this.


The Euros head up to Holland (Soly’s new home in approximately three weeks) this week for the KLM Open, where freaky-deaky Dutchman Joost Luiten defends his title on the 6,600 yard (!!!!) Kennemer Golf & CC. Right down the road is The Hague, where Bubba will be detained if he causes an international incident at The Ryder Cup in a few weeks.

For those of you who haven’t checked in on the Web.com Tour Playoffs, make it a point to do so this week, as they’re interrupting the funereal proceedings up in Buckeye Nation at OSU’s Scarlet Course, probably the strongest campus-golf track in America. The relegation style setup is reminiscent of EPL soccer, with the guys lowest on the TOUR totem pole have to beat the top performers from the Web.com season. Tour cards on the line and guys are playing like it. Personally, I’ll be rooting for Spencer Levin to build off of last week’s strong performance and gain his card for next year. 

 on the characters. Talent galore, but still fitting that it’s September and the big boys are jousting in Georgia while the minor leagues are hanging out in Big Ten country.

Check in with the NLU Gang all week on twitter whilst we do our usual hood-rat act: 

The Tour Championship Preview

It’s been reported in several places this week (

) that Dustin Johnson is going to be paid $175,000 for finishing 30th in the FedEx Cup standings, despite the fact that Dustin is on a “voluntary leave of absence.” That’s not sitting well with some people, but I’m not one of them. To begin this quick primer, I present to you, the FedEx bonus money distribution 

I was engaged in a lengthy twitter debate with Geoff Shackleford on Monday night on this subject (

, if you care to) when I responded to a post of his that was titled “

.” While I respect Geoff’s opinion (and I’ve been a fan of his work for many years), for many reasons, I did not agree with the assertion that the money was not earned. Let’s start with this tweet:

 It’s a playoffs bonus pool. Shouldn’t you have to show in the playoffs to get it?



— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) 

Notice in the chart above, that nowhere on the PGA Tour website does it describe the money distribution as 

 specific money. It simply lists the final FedEx Cup position, and the corresponding payout. Despite not playing in any of the playoff events due to his “voluntary leave of absence,” DJ still sits at 30th in the FedEx Cup standings. He was 4th in the FedEx Cup standings when his voluntary leave began, and despite enormous amounts of points being handed out through the first three playoff events, only 29 players finished with more points than DJ. What I’m struggling to understand is why some think he doesn’t deserve the money for finishing in 30th?

The PGA Tour has received a huge amount of criticism for their lack of transparency regarding player fines, suspensions, and other disciplinary actions. You’re not going to find anyone who agrees with their policy, except for maybe DJ himself. Everyone knows that Johnson’s “voluntary leave of absence” was anything but voluntary. 

When it was reported by golf.com that DJ was suspended

 due to a third positive drug test, the PGA Tour responded with the following 

“With regard to media reports that Dustin Johnson has been suspended by the PGA Tour, this is to clarify that Mr. Johnson has taken a voluntary leave of absence and is not under a suspension by the PGA Tour.”

It’s one thing to criticize the tour’s policies, but its another to call them liars. Do I think they’re skating by on a technicality? Absolutely. But they explicitly stated that he’s not suspended. Golf.com responded:

“The difference may be seen as semantic. Faced with a suspension for a failed drug test, a Tour player has the right, under published Tour guidelines, to appeal his penalty. The Tour was preparing for Johnson to lodge such an appeal. But Johnson waived that right and decided to take his self-described leave of absence.”


The tour’s stance remains that DJ is not suspended. He took a “voluntary” leave presumably to get around the suspension. You can roll your eyes at the technicality, but I think it is critical in this scenario. So if he’s not suspended by the tour, why wouldn’t he be able to collect his 30th place money? Even if he was suspended, could he collect?

The playoffs do not function like normal tour events. There are no alternates, and no priority systems involved. If you’re in the top 125 at the end of the regular season, you make it into the Barclays. If a player gets injured or has to withdraw, number 126 does not get into the event. That continues all the way through the Tour Championship. I could not disagree more with the premise that Dustin Johnson is taking a spot away from someone else (Stuart Appleby finished 31st in the FedEx Cup standings) at the Tour Championship. If Jason Day withdraws from the event (a reasonable scenario, given his WD at the BMW), Appleby still does not get in. 

The finale, the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola in Atlanta, will be comprised of the top-30 qualifiers following the BMW Championship… In the event that a player who qualifies for a Playoff event chooses not to play in that event, there will be no alternates, and the field will be shortened.

That’s air tight right there. Dustin Johnson was never removed from the FedEx Cup standings, which makes sense, considering the tour that administers the FedEx Cup has explicitly stated that he is NOT suspended (and I’m still not sure he would get removed even if he was technically suspended). Also, consider the fact a Masters exemption is given to “those qualifying for the previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship (Top 30 in FedEx Cup prior to tournament).” Again, Appleby did not qualify for the tour championship. So on what grounds could the tour say that DJ shouldn’t get his money? A win and seven top-10’s earned him 1,769 points, which was good enough for 30th. Dustin is going to get his money.

Controversy around Dustin Johnson's $175K Payday

Horschel! Billy made par save after par save and held off a charging Gerry Watson for his second career PGA Tour victory one week after a chunked 6-iron on the 18th hole cost him a chance to beat Chris Kirk in Boston.

Horschel’s Saturday 63 gave him a three shot lead heading into the final round, and that proved to be enough, as Sergio and Ryan Palmer folded like lawn chairs on the back nine with a bizarre series of layups, airmails, bladed chips, and shanks. We’ve been tooting the Horschel horn since the beginning of time. He’s got so much game, it was really only a matter of time before he broke through. We wrote this not exactly bold prediction before the WGC Cadillac Championship:

“Just assume he’s going to be in our picks on an ongoing basis, even if his form has been a touch off recently.He’s gonna win once in his next 20 events, believe in the value now?”

Room to spare! This is the 17th event since that was written. Horschel proved that when his putter is on, he can compete with anyone on tour. We’re legitimately proud of you, Billy. And needless to say, beyond pumped.

) It was inevitable that the Ryder Cup talk was going to be revisited. Here’s what Billy had to say in his press conference:

“I’m sure Tom Watson isn’t kicking himself for not picking me. I’m sure he wants to kick me for not playing well sooner.”

The focus now should not be on why Billy didn’t get a captain’s pick. It should be, why did they have to decide the captain’s picks 24 days before the event started? I wrote last week about how recency bias seemed to lead the “Chris Kirk ’14” Ryder Cup campaign. Kirk followed up his win by finishing 15 shots back of Horschel this week, and SHOCKINGLY I haven’t heard any of those people say anything about Kirk this week. One hot week does not mean you are trending, and it certainly doesn’t mean you’re going to play well in Scotland.

What I do see now is people reacting like it’s completely ridiculous that Watson left Horschel off the team. While I think Horschel fits the profile of a Ryder Cup player perfectly, can you blame Watson for not picking him based only last week’s tournament? That was just his second top-10 since the Hyundai, and the last shot he hit was a chunk under extreme pressure that went in the hazard. Billy’s quote above sums it up perfectly. He didn’t play well enough in time to get selected. Hell, a few weeks ago, he was tweeting at us with his on Ryder Cup opinions:

…. I'll take Sneds everyday that ends in Y. You can have Todd.



— Billy Horschel (@BillyHo_Golf) 

All that being said, a T2 followed with a win is a trend. And after ranting about recency bias and how current form means very little, do you think I want Horschel on the Ryder Cup team?

And I would have said the same thing about Kirk if he followed up his win with a top-5 or top-10 performance. A trend is a lot more telling to me than one good week. Mahan getting a top-10 at the PGA, then winning the Barclays? That’s a trend. So that brings me back to the question above. Why are the teams decided so far in advance? Why can’t we wait until the FedEx Cup cash grab is over? So much can change in a week, much less three weeks. If picks are made today, I would guess that Horschel would have gotten a pick over Simpson. And I’d be feeling a lot better about our chances.

 As exciting as Horschel’s win was, Sergio’s lay up on 17 and subsequent collapse was a complete disaster. From 253 out (at altitude it likely plays closer to 220, or less), he laid up to 83 yards, airmailed the green, and then bladed a chip in the water. He made 8, and fell to a T4 finish. To make matters worse, he was two back of Horschel at the time. Sergio, you’ve made over $50,000,000 in your career on the course alone. Are you really playing for 2nd place? We spend more time defending you than most, so don’t let us down like that. No laying up, bro.

) Rory ended the regular season with three consecutive wins. Two of them were majors. The other was a WGC. That launched him to first place in the FedEx Cup standings. He’s followed that in the playoffs with top-25’s in all three events, and top-10’s in two of them. His reward. He’s dropped to 4th in the FedEx Cup Standings. He’s played the three playoff events 8 shots lower than Chris Kirk, yet Kirk passed him and sits in first. Playoffs!

) When Rory was not busy four putting the 12th hole (

), he was caught mocking ex-fiance Caroline Wozniacki’s incident from earlier this week where she got her racket stuck in her hair. You’re still checking in on her matches, man? This was kind of childish (via 

Morgan Hoffman came into the playoffs in 124th position, and has balled out like a guy who’s got nothing to lose. He shot 62 (course record) on Saturday, and followed it with a 63 to make it to the Tour Championship, and into the Masters next year. Bad ass.

Oil Spill of the Week (Brought to you by BP)

As noted above, Sergio’s oil spill was two-fold. First, the layup from 253.

Then the meltdown that followed. How many acute angles can you count?

The Tour Championship at East Lake outside of Atlanta. NLU will have boots on the ground with Tron Carter!

BMW Championship Recap

Chris Kirk emerged from a three month slump with a two shot win over Geoff Ogilvy, Russell Henley, and Billy Horschel. Horschel had a great look to tie or potentially win it on the 18th, but chunked his 6-iron from 211 yards out, sending NLU nation straight to the whiskey.

 I’ve had a blast with all of the ridiculous Ryder Cup speculation that has gone on the past few weeks. Most media types and talking heads on TV are literally updating who they think should get captain’s pick consideration on a hole by hole basis. Keegan birdie… TOM WATSON HAS TO BE SMILING! Bill Haas’ name is on the leaderboard… COULD HE GET A CAPTAIN’S PICK!? This would be Russell Henley’s second win of the year… DOES HE GET CONSIDERATION!? Our society has a knack for recency bias, but it reached a tipping point for me this week. The NBC broadcast team sure didn’t help the matter, and if you were playing any kind of Ryder Cup drinking game, you’re more likely to be sending drunken texts to your ex right now than you are to be reading this.

Let’s think this through, people. In 25 days, the U.S. and Europe will face off in Scotland in a three day match play event. Just because this is the last tournament before Watson makes his captains picks on Tuesday, it does not mean that (insert player)’s performance on a Monday in Boston is going to mean anything when standing over a 6 foot putt in Scotland. This shot by shot power rankings update would make a lot more sense if the automatic qualifiers were still to be determined, but that’s not what a captain’s pick is. If you’re Tom Watson, how does Kirk’s win give you ANY assurance that he’s the right guy for Gleneagles? If Horschel knocks that 6 iron from 211 yards to 8 feet and makes the eagle for the win, does that mean he should be on that jet across the pond instead of Kirk? Does his chunk mean he can’t handle the heat? We’re really going to let ONE shot make the difference in the captain’s picks? If Cam Tringale wins next week, are we going to wish he was a captain’s pick?

I’m thinking that Tom Watson is putting a LOT more thought into his picks than this roller coaster of emotion and overreaction to (very) recent results. A week ago, Hunter Mahan was the “it” guy after a really mediocre season was seemingly wiped out with a win at the Barclays. Now Chris Kirk wins the Deutsche Bank (his second top-25 finish since June 1), and he’s the sexy pick. If you like Kirk for a captain’s pick, I really hope you had him on your list on Friday afternoon as well (where he shot 73), and that you aren’t just overreacting to three hot rounds. The Ryder Cup doesn’t start for 25 days, and just 24 days ago, Kirk was shooting 74-72 to miss the cut at Valhalla. And don’t get me wrong, I like Chris Kirk! He had a fantastic start to the season, but his last few months have been very quiet.

The point is, a LOT can change between now and September 26th, just like a lot has changed between today and what happened three weeks ago. That’s what makes Watson’s job so difficult. Past performance is hardly an indicator of future results, especially when dealing with a sport as volatile as golf. It’s Watson’s job to pick the three guys that he thinks are going to help the team the most in Scotland. It not his job to look at the most recent leaderboard and start picking names from the top. A player’s recent performance should certainly be a factor, but it should not be THE deciding factor. Otherwise, that defeats the purpose of the captain’s pick, and we should just have all 12 spots go to the top 12 guys on the points standings.

 Awesome to see Horschel back in the mix this week. He was absolutely whipping the club through the hitting zone, and was genuinely upset with shots that were more than ten feet offline (#TourSauce). Kirk hit some really (channeling my inner Johnny Miller) skanky shots coming down the stretch, but made everything he looked at (until the 18th). Horschel’s chunked 2nd shot into 18 was an absolute stomach punch for us. And to help make the point above, I would have still had a hard time putting Billy on the Ryder Cup team with a win. I think his persona fits in great with the event, but this is just his second top-10 finish since the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, and that came at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. That being said, it’s great to have you back Billy, and don’t count him out of a run at the FedEx Cup here over these next few weeks. Last year, when Horschel got hot, he stayed hot for a loooong time. Two more hot weeks could mean $10 million. Playoffs!

 I’ll try to make this part quick, since I’ve worn out the Ryder Cup already. I think that Watson is going to take Bradley, Mahan, and Simpson. I’m not thrilled with it, but I would be hard pressed to go any other route. Those guys have experience, and 

as discussed on our podcast last week with Grantland’s Shane Ryan

, I think that matters. They all seem to be strong chemistry guys, and they’re all in solid form. They’re the three that I trust the most. So let’s go lose 16.5-11.5!

Gary Woodland went nuclear on the front 9 on Sunday to the tune of 29 on the par 36 side.

This was the second of back to back triples that Brendon de Jonge started his tournament with on Friday. He was able to clean the oil off the birds and drop enough of them to at least make the 36 hole cut, before missing the 54 hole cut.

Honorary Oil Spill goes to our boy Billy Horschel, who tried to hit a flop shot into the 4th green, but bladed it 40 yards over the green, only to get up and down for par:

Scott Langley won this award this week before even hitting a shot:

 with a side of crowd acknowledgement this weekend. 

Adam Sarson has put together the first draft of #TourSauce GIF’s

The BMW Championship heads to Cherry Hills this week, which is going to be interesting, considering no one really has much experience on this course. Ladies and gentlemen, the FedEx Cup Playoffs!

The Web.com Tour Playoffs are truly compelling. We’re going to try to discuss this on a podcast this week. Tune in to the coverage on Golf Channel this week if you get the chance.

Deutsche Bank Championship Recap

Tiger Woods has pumped a load of money into professional golf. That’s not up for debate, and it’s certainly not a revelation to anybody. However, that reality is rather nebulous and lacks context. Sure, I’ve noticed tournament purses growing like weeds; looked upon the size of recent endorsement deals with wide eyes (see: McIlroy, Rory); and figured numerous, faceless Suits have cashed out-sized checks behind the scenes, but that’s really been the extent of it.

The genesis for this piece occurred last April when I read the following comments from Phil Mickelson to 

“I’ve told [Tiger], and I’ve said this before, nobody has benefited more from having Tiger in the game than myself…It’s unbelievable the growth of this game. And Tiger has been the instigator. He’s been the one that’s really propelled and driven the bus because he’s brought increased ratings, increased sponsors, increased interest, we have all benefited, but nobody has benefited more than I have, and we’re all appreciative.”

The last two points Lefty made: 1) Nobody having benefited more than him; and 2) Every member of the Tour being appreciative, struck me flush like one of Big Cat’s wayward drives of late.

Here was the second-best golfer of the last 15 to 20 years, a guy who’s Q-rating is second only to the BigCat over that time, exclaiming his genuine appreciation for the financial windfall Tiger has brought, and doing it on the eve of the Masters to boot. 

if FIGJAM is this reverential toward Tiger, what’s the sentiment among the other guys on Tour? And more specifically, just how much money has Eldrick made these guys?

I’m comfortable with the following estimate:

(2012 real dollars) deposited into the bank accounts of his competitors.

After that number has sunk in, let me quickly walk you through how I arrive at that astronomical figure.

Before showing my work, here are some working assumptions and general notes about this analysis:

Writing

NLU's NPR Visit

Ryder Cup Prognostication

Ryder Cup Fantasy Draft

Ryder Cup Bingo Contest

Re-imagining the Tour Championship

The Tour Championship Preview

Controversy around Dustin Johnson's $175K Payday

BMW Championship Recap

Deutsche Bank Championship Recap

Tiger Tax Part 1: Assessment

Ryder Cup Grab Bag

The Barclays Recap

The Barclays Preview

Ryder Cup Walk-up Songs

Wyndham Championship Preview

RIP Robin Williams

Previewing the Final Round of the PGA Championship

PGA Championship - Live Blog