This week we leave the AARP behind for the Lone Star State, Army Town USA (San Antonio – I swear that really is its nickname), and the Valero Texas Open, one of the PGA Tour’s older events dating back to 1922. With so much history, we decided to look to the past to inform this week’s hot takes: 2003 Texas Open winner conquering hero, Tommy Armour III, was nice enough to share his thoughts on this tournament, which we’ve sprinkled throughout the preview (expect a much deeper dive from us on TA3 in the near future – the man embodies virtually everything that NLU stands for, both on and off the course.). To preface TA3’s thoughts, it’s important to keep in mind it was at the Texas Open in 2003 that he set the current PGA record for lowest four round scoring total at 254 (-26). This event used to be a birdie bonanza before it abandoned La Cantera and set up shop at TPC San Antonio (more on that tragedy later), but TA3’s performance was obviously next level. We asked him what he attributed this record setting performance to, and he said,

Well, I had a lot of good friends with me down there that week and we were eating dinner every night, just hanging out, and I had just started going out with this girl for about five, six months, that was some of it…and there was this masseuse giving me some great rubs that week and working my vibe well, and I had a great caddie that week in Stevie Duplantis, who’s no longer with us. It was just a nice little perfect storm.”

Loose relaxed vibe off the course? Check. Loose body in and out of the bedroom? Check. Phenomenal caddie (one of the best ever) on the course? Check. Tommy Armour IV, who attended the Texas Open in 2003 and also caddied for his Dad later in his career, also shared with us that TA3 had recently started working with the “Putting Arc” and honing his version of the “Stack and Tilt” golf swing mechanics. Somebody call Clooney and Marky Mark, we’ve got the script for a sequel to 

! Per usual, we digress. Let’s get to the preview!

For years this event was played at the aforementioned La Cantera where players were treated to sweeping views of South Texas and a HUGE roller coaster named ‘The Rattler,’ the crown jewel of “Six Flags Fiesta Texas.” This picture over to the right kind of reminds of the gorgeous views of the Pacific at Pebble, and the scene feels a lot like what we’ll experience at Augusta in a few weeks, right? For 15 years it played host to this event until it was simply outgrown. At less than 6,900 yards, it would be shortest course on tour today, and unless they wanted to have that coaster running through one of the fairways and have a windmill up on the green, it was just too easy.

Naturally, organizers decided to pack up shop and head over to a club with nary an ounce of character or charm. The TPC San Antonio features two courses, the AT&T Canyons Course (home to a Champions Tour event) and this week’s AT&T Oaks Course. Seriously, AT&T bought the naming rights to both courses, so you know they suck before you even get to the first tee. And true to form, the Oaks course is widely regarded as an unfortunate choice of venue (

third worst on tour in this player survey

). The Greg Norman design (with an assist from Sergio, who actually collaborated on the design…presumably this coincided with El Nino dating the Shark’s daughter) is described as “a complete disaster”, and that “pride and ego got in the Shark’s way.” It’s too long, and it was suggested that the greens should be “blown up.” But hey, let’s get pumped for the 2014 Valero Texas Open everyone!

It’s South Texas, the land of black gold and Shiner Bock. There’s fierce hometown pride in San Antonio, and a plethora of local good ole boys. I’d expect a crowd of bountiful blondes and laid back bros with fat ‘lippers’ especially visible with a quality HDTV. Sprinkle in some Valero Oil BSD’s and savvy independent wildcatters enjoying the local cuisine of queso-smothered TexMex, and you’ve got the classic San Antonio social scene of young and old co-mingling outdoors. The only thing bigger than the guns may be the belt buckles: Don’t mess with Texas, y’all.

Marty Laird charged down the home stretch birdieing his final three holes to get his damn trophy! The final round 63 bested Rory, Horschel, 5-hour Furyk and a host of others. It was Laird’s 3rd career victory on Tour and I’m literally out of anything else interesting to say about him, which fittingly encapsulates his career to date I think.

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

 – one of his few missed cuts last year occurred here which you know has to be in the forefront of the young Texan’s mind. He’s an almost automatic top-25 these days, which is a bit surreal considering he can’t legally enjoy a Shiner after his rounds yet. Call this one a hunch. Guy’s competitiveness and intensity week in and week out is impressive and stands out against the field, a quality we love in these relatively ‘lesser’ events.

 – only start at the TPC San Antonio was last year when he finished T3. This just feels like an event 5-Hour Furyk should thrive in. Nondescript, overlooked, etc.

– this guy is tailor made for the TPC San Antonio. Since the event moved there in 2010, Chucky has gone T13, T2, T13, and T3 last year. Having a really solid 2014 with 9/10 made cuts, 6 top-25’s and 3 top-10’s.

 – guy is playing as good of golf as just about anybody this year. 8 top-25’s and 4 top-10’s in 12 events this year. Has played the Valero at TPC San Antonio twice–WMD’d in 2010 after a first round 85, then went T41 in 2012. Would love to see this guy cash in his great play with a win.

 – I’m personally insulted by this line. 50/1? He’s made 10 cuts in a row and was in the mix last week until some struggles (and by struggles, I mean a final round 83. We’re willing to look the other way on this one.) Finished T5 last time he played here.

 – has never played this event. In great form coming off last three weeks (T8, T25, and T19) after a rough stretch of MC’s in February. Knocking on the door for his first Tour win.

 – top 25 finishes here last two years (his first two on tour). Saturday 75 held him back last year. MC last week, but he’s been in form for much of the season. Nice value.

 – emceed proceedings in 2011, then came back with solid results in ’12 (T29) and ’13 (T7). Has made a boatload of cuts this year (10/13) though did not last week at Bay Hill.

 – T61, T4, and T23 in last three years here. Made 9/13 cuts this year but has MC’d 2 of last 3 events. Bet this one at your own risk – he’s in dire need of some good juju but this could jog some good vibes.

For a tournament that is lacking storylines, the field is actually sneaky good. However, with the Masters coming up in two weeks, and the expectation that you won’t be leaving your couch for the duration, we suggest you get out and play some golf if you can. If not, may not be a bad weekend to buy some goodwill with the family/slaypiece/wife, and cash that in when the azaleas are in full bloom in two weeks. You’ll thank us later.

Just to give you feel for how legendary TA3’s win was in ’03, let us share how he celebrates: He and his posse peeled out of the La Cantera parking lot right after the win, and drove the four and a half hours home to Dallas so they could party at 

 (no word on how this is pronounced – I vote for “Titay”). At the end of the morning night, TA3 forgot the Texas Open Trophy. Had to go retrieve it the next morning after they opened up.

This event was demoted to a slot DEEP in the Silly Season in 2007 and 2008, opposite the Ryder and President’s Cups, before regaining a coveted spring slot back when the Tour euthanized the Bell South Classic in Atlanta (partially in response to Mickelson razing the place in 2006). The Texas events have some of the best history of any on tour (for instance, this one dates to 1922) and yet they get jacked around and disrespected. Ideally the four Texas events would be an actual “Texas Swing” – a monthlong foray into a celebration of golf in a state that loves the sport. There’s some work to be done, however, as three of the four tournaments held in the state are on godawful tracks, between this hot mess, Houston (Redstone/GC of Houston/Whatever They’re Calling it) and Dallas (TPC Las Colinas – though it sounds like they’re moving to greener pastures). Colonial’s carrying the torch for the entire state!

Mickelson’s appearance this week is special. Either there’s a fat, under the table appearance fee exchanging hands, or Lefty knows he needs reps. Between appearances at the Shell and Valero tournaments, and his ExxonMobil deal, dude is doing WORK for big oil. BP needs to get this guy in the fold!

The ladies are out in Carlsbad this week for the Kia Classic, being held at Aviara Golf Club. The name suggests bird sanctuary.

Koepka and Uihlein are in the field this week – both presumably using sponsor’s exemptions. Just saying.

Web.com tour is back stateside after a month off the grid in the Southern Hemisphere. Chances are most of the locales they visited down under are more worldly than this week’s host, Broussard, Louisiana.

here’s a classic Sports Illustrated bit on TA3 from ’02

I hope they show it during coverage this week–there’s a really nice reflection pool and memorial off the 9th tee at TPC San Antonio, scene of Kevin Na’s 16 in 2011. #NeverForget

Valero Texas Open Preview/Live Thread

My initial reaction upon reading about the EurAsia Cup kicking off this week was utter confusion. Didn’t they literally just contest this thing? I felt like a 

 trying to discern if the taped, late-night coverage I watched a few months back actually happened; if the hilariously low-budget 

 I fell in love with actually existed; and if those greens they played on were really as burnt-out as I fondly remember. We even ripped off the following tweet in the aftermath of Europe’s stunning 8.5 to 7.5 comeback victory:

The Euro comeback to win the Royal Trophy was the stuff of legend. Far surpasses ’99 Ryder Cup. Entire Asian continent must be DEVASTATED.



— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) 

As it turns out, all that incredible stuff did happen–The Royal Trophy is real. And so is the mind-boggling fact that just three months later there is 

Europe v. Asia team competition happening–the EurAsia Cup. What’s the difference between the EurAsia Cup and Royal Trophy? Actually quite a lot, including a juicy power battle. We break it down for you below.

. Regal and prestigious. Dress for the international team competition you want to be, not the one you are.

. Nice use of the golf ball as a globe. Points subtracted for the corporate presence though. The Royal Trophy looks generic enough to have been a part of any late-90’s golf video game.

: annual competition contested exclusively in Asia. This past year marked the seventh edition of the event. It’s played in late December. Not prime.

: biennial competition which will rotate between European and Asian locations. This is the inaugural event. Although this is a Ryder Cup year, the vision is that it will eventually become the answer to the United States’ President’s Cup event, keeping the March slot to allow Asian players to compete in both events.

. Biennial is the way to go here, and rotating the locations between Europe and Asia makes the most sense to really cultivate interest and rivalry. Royal Trophy has the historical head-start, but if nobody really knows it’s existed, then has it?

: Jose Maria Olazabal, Europe. Y.E. Yang, Asia.

: Miguel Angel Jimenez, Europe. Thongchai Jaidee, Asia.

. This was tight. Jose Maria has the green jackets, the innate Spanish cool, and exudes class. Miguel has next-level cool, similar class, an amazing Spafro, but no green jackets. Push. Y.E. was a power-lifter who came from behind to rip a major from Big Cat. Thongchai is best known for being out of his depth in WGC events. Y.E. by a wide margin.

: It’s the brainchild and legacy of the late, great Seve Ballesteros. It’s run by his family’s company, Amen Corner, and they’re pissed about the posturing of the European and Asian Tours to fully own and exploit an Asian/European team competition. As Iain Carter writes in his 

 on the EurAsia Cup, Seve wrote the following shortly before his death in 2011 concerning the prospects of another event rivaling the Royal Trophy:

“The Royal Trophy is an event which has a very special place in my heart. It is a legacy of mine that I passionately desire to leave for future generations. We have been informed by the European Tour that the Asian Tour is interested in developing an event in this very same format. I sincerely hope that the news I have received is a misunderstanding and that the Asian Tour will be willing to join us in the Royal Trophy on mutually acceptable terms but will not be intending to copy it. This would certainly not meet the standards of morality and fairness which are the trademark of our sport.”

: Uhhhhh, hope you can sleep at night, Euro and Asian Tour Suits. 

As mentioned, the EurAsia Cup is a wholly transparent play by the European and Asian Tours to take over the ripe Asian/European team competition space and fully own and operate the event.

. We’ll roll with Seve here. Period. But business-wise, it’s an early-round knockout by the Suits. They’ve picked their spot and struck with precision. The ref’s gonna need to get in and stop this thing soon.

No doubt the EurAsia Cup is going to win out in this power struggle. It has the resources, will and might of the European and Asian Tours behind it. It has the better format and a better logo. It’s a clean, crisp operation with enough corporate backing to succeed. Not sure what will become of the Royal Trophy (or their Twitter account), and really, that’s a shame. Ideally, I’d like to see the powers-that-be within the Euro and Asian Tours come together with Seve’s family and Amen Corner to build-up and celebrate this important legacy of his. But it appears that won’t be the case. As 

, there appears room enough for only one of these events.

Royal Trophy v. EurAsia Cup: Tale of the Tape

It had been rumored for years, so it hardly came as a shock 

 in Dublin, Ohio was closing after the 2014 season. While there is a very small chance that the course could still be purchased by the city and remain as is, I would say the closing and subsequent housing development is several years overdue. Sentimentally, I can’t believe that the place I spent so much of my childhood at, and the place where I learned the game, will cease to exist at this time next year. While the vast majority of you reading this likely have never heard of this course, I’m sure there is a similar place where a lot of your early golf memories are housed.

The reasons for the closing of Riviera Country Club are clear. Dublin is an continuously growing suburb of Columbus, Ohio, and of course plays host to the Memorial Tournament every year at nearby Muirfield Village Golf Club. When the club was built in 1970, Dublin had a population of less than 1,000 people. It’s now home to a population of greater than 40,000, with 3 high schools, a new development popping up every year, and more country clubs than fingers on your hands (holy white flight!). Seriously just look at the image below (Riviera is the course in the bottom left corner).

From a birds eye view, there looks to be more golf course than residential acreage. Remember that NONE of these courses were there when the Riv was built in 1970! An entire suburbia developed around it, and the track is now bordered by a middle school to the north, a high school to the southwest, another country club to the east, and houses everywhere in between. The course is so close to Muirfield Village that the club rents out its parking lot to paying customers during the Memorial tournament every year. Bottom line is…. the bottom line: the course is not making money anymore.

The course was founded by the American Italian Golf Association. Growing up playing the course, and later working in the bag room, the stories and legends of the past days of the club seemed to grow year by year, ranging from the alleged shootout in the parking lot in the 1970’s, to exaggerated betting numbers for some of the membership’s highest stakes players. To this day I have zero understanding as to why a course called “Riviera” was built in the middle of a bunch of cornfields (

: see below for answer). Over the course of my 10 years killing time at the club, I think at some point every member with a last name that ended with a vowel had been rumored to have some sort of tie to the mob (OK, maybe that’s why). Judging by the items I found left in golf carts over my 5 years working there, there is no doubt in my mind there was dirty money flowing through that place on a near daily basis. The rap sheet on some of these guys was long enough that even as a 17 year-old I knew not to ask questions, and as a guy working for tips, I quickly learned that some of these guys would be my best tippers. While the closure affects me and saddens me, the members and founders of the club are the ones that are truly feeling it. Long time member Dominic Guglielmi added the following:

“I have memories going back to being a little kid and going to the Christmas parties they had. My parents had their wedding reception there, and my grandpa literally helped build the course. He remembers building the sand traps on the right side of #8 near #7 tee, and every time I hit it there, I blame him. I could go on and on. There are so many memories.”

“I plan on being there at the course right up to the last day they are open. I don’t know if I can watch them take bulldozers to it though. It would be pretty emotional.”

When my family joined the course in the early 2000’s (for what seemed like a great deal at the time), I was ecstatic. My best friend Frankie was also a member at the club, and we would spend the next half-decade getting dropped off at 9 am and getting picked up after the sun went down. Hours were spent ruining the turf at the driving range, making the range picker’s life miserable, distracting actual paying members, admiring the older kids that could bomb it past us, and dreaming of the day we’d be able to pipe a driver over the hill at the back of the range that sure seemed a lot further away back then than it does now. Seemingly every day we’d be trying something new we had seen on the Golf Channel, tinkering our swings, and wishing we could buy the gadgets from the Golf Channel infomercials (you can hit an Adams Tight Lies off the cart path!). We’d walk at least 18 holes, eat some quesadillas, and either head out for more golf, play more games on the range, take a bucket of balls to the chipping green, have an 18-hole putting match, or watch golf in the clubhouse. I literally could not approximate how many rounds of golf I played at this course with Frankie.

I also have incredible memories playing evening golf with my dad there. We would take a cart out and get in as many holes as we could, often completing 9 holes in about an hour fifteen if we had the course to ourselves. I would try to show off that I was good enough to play the black tees now, and would bore my dad with the hole-by-hole details of my round from earlier that day. With the wind down, and the sun setting, my fondest golf memories were learning the game from my dad during those hours. The course was so peaceful, and the game felt so simple during those times, and to a 15 year-old kid, there wasn’t a single worry in the world. We’d often end the nights playing the dramatic par-3 9th hole, over water, in the complete dark, which required absolute silence after hitting the ball to listen for either the thud of the ball hitting the green, or the splash of the watery grave in front.

The course itself is really nothing special. It’s built on the flattest piece of land you’ll ever see, all 18 holes sandwiched into a pretty small piece of real estate. Not short, but not exceptionally long ethier. Some really 

 (the 12th hole is a 220 yard par-3 that remains the only hole on the course that I’ve never birdied). I can safely say that I have memories from every single hole. The sprinklers coming on behind the 4th green and destroying my dad as he prepared to chip. Frankie taking a cart out to the 16th hole to meet my dad and I on one of our evening 9’s, and on his first swing sticking a 6-iron to 2 inches (and Frankie subsequently hitting 6-iron on that hole every single time regardless of the wind or the distance). Driving the green on the 1st hole from 370 (that no one believes to this date). Constantly choking on the 18th hole in my quest to finally break 80. Playing for free with some of the NLU crew back in our college days after spending the day at the Memorial drinking and betting on the hill adjacent to the 12th green.

While the course itself wouldn’t wow an outsider, to me, it will always be my home course. My passion for the game was born here, and I can honestly say that this place helped shape my life. I went from a spoiled member of the club with no concept of money or the real world, playing unlimited rounds and hitting an unlimited amount of range balls, to working in the bag room and learning the values of a work ethic, client service, and saving money. The days spent on the clock in the bag room are almost equally as memorable. I remember working 20-hour days during the club championship (sleeping in my car for 4 hours in between), and betting on my favorite members with other employees. Getting called up to “The Big Show” (Tuesday night Men’s League) was a rite of passage, and the hardest shift to get assigned to, as that’s where the biggest tips came (I’ll never forget the first and only $100 tip I got). Anyone who was anyone played on Tuesday Night’s, and the “organized” prize money had to pale in comparison to the side pots. Mondays meant the course was closed, and open for employees to play. It was the norm to zoom around three times in about eight hours, stopping after 27 holes to change into a fresh cart. A heated putting competition broke out on the concrete in the cart barn during the down times, which always ended with us trying to act busy when a rogue member came in wondering where his clubs were.

I knew every member’s name (well, every member that was a good tipper). If you took care of me, I took care of you. There were certain guys who were consistent, and you knew who they were. Then there were the wild cards, who may stiff you on Wednesday, then drop a $20 spot on you on Friday (likely contingent on how much they won or lost that day). When I was a freshman in college, I got my wisdom teeth taken out, and my gums got infected. I had to come home and have emergency surgery on the night of the 2004 presidential election, and my surgeon happened to be one of my favorite members, and (not coincidentally) the best tipper. He laughed when I tried to slip him a $20 as a joke when I was hopped up on morphine. The days of working for tips taught me a lot about client service, and it influences the way I tip to this day.

The memories of Riviera Country Club will never fade, but it does not sit well with me that the course will no longer be there. Even though I’ve played Riv maybe once a year for the last 5 years since moving away, and I can’t imagine not having this course to go back to when I want to re-live some of the best memories from my childhood. In June I plan to play the course one last time with Frankie for old time’s sake and see if I can get that birdie at number 12 that’s eluded me all these years before it, and the rest of Riviera, disappear into history.

It’s been a year and a half since this post. The club did not open in 2015, and the property is left to drift into oblivion before the bulldozers come in and turn it into housing. I sent my wonderful mother out on assignment on her bike to photograph the course as it stands today, in September of 2015. I can recognize the holes from the pictures you took, but you likely won’t be able to tell that there was a golf course here with decades of memories. It’s hard to put into words the gut feeling I get when looking at these photos, but I figured they were worth sharing. RIP, Riviera.

The 18th hole, from the tee, September 2015

Saying Goodbye to My Childhood Golf Course

Here’s the color-coding key relating to player’s names:

1) Thoughts and prayers to Jimmy Walker’s Genghis Khan-like YOTTO campaign. Actually, that’s a bit over dramatic–he can get back into the rarefied air that is Tiger ’99 , but he’s gonna have to bank some more wins. I’m not saying that’s impossible, I’m just saying I ain’t counting on it. Top-10 all-time YOTTO is firmly in play though.

2) Bubba, DJ, Pat Reed and Harris English are still your fearsome foursome making a certifiable leap this year. Each won between $1 to $3 million last year, and each is poised to significantly increase that take this year. With a major win, your POY favorite is undoubtedly in this group (unless someone goes ballistic this spring/summer).

3) Three guys who didn’t earn a penny on Tour last year are making their respective names and presences felt this year as shown in our YOTTO Index. We know all about Vic Dubuisson’s locks and moxy, and Chesson Hadley has ‘snapped’ up attention with his win in Puerto Rico and strong play in Florida, but the name not many people are talking about is Will MacKenzie. The two-time Tour winner has found great form, reeling off 8 top-25’s in 12 events, including 4 top-10’s (as many as he had in the previous five years combined). More than that, though, he’s still exuding crazy amounts of cool. In a 

, MacKenzie credited his improved play on his impending divorce, which is bizarrely awesome. And hey, good news for the ladies too!

4) The last player worth discussing this week is Ryo (from Sergio) Ishikawa. Still just 22 years old, Ryo finally appears to be converting the hype and talent into real results. In 12 events this season he’s already posted career highs in top-25’s (7), top-10’s (3), and money earned ($1.13 million to date). He sits #12 in the YOTTO Index and would seem to be here for the duration of the year. He’s done all this through outstanding iron play–he ranks among Tour leaders in approach proximity from multiple distances: #1 from 75-100yds, #7 from 100-125yds, #4 from 125-150yds, #3 from 150-175yds, and #34 from 175-200yds. If he can nuke that flatstick for a week or two (ranks 122nd in strokes gained putting), he should have a good chance at earning his first win.

YOTTO Update

Matt Every rose on Sunday while everyone melted down all around him. Adam Scott could not make a putt to save his life (63 putts on the weekend). Every tried to give it away by making a poor decision on a punch out on 16 that lead to a bogey, and by missing a 5 footer on 18 that would have guaranteed a win. The win was the first of his career and of course gets him into the Masters for the first time. Shockingly, the method of complaining on twitter about not getting in did not work for him:

Some Claritin D will clear that right up bro

 Before we had even started the live thread Thursday, Adam Scott had fired off a 62, and Gerry Lester Watson, Jr. had taken an 11 on number 6, and withdrew with “allergies.” This excuse would make sense if the tournament wasn’t played TEN MINUTES from Gerry’s house. As someone who has battled allergies for decades, I know how miserable they are, but this is not an injury. His withdrawal is a slap in the face to any and all of the alternates that would have killed for a chance to play in this tournament, and it’s a slap in the face to Arnie as well. Golf is a humbling game. It’s embarrassing to shoot a high score, I get it. I’ve been there. But quitting is infinitely more embarrassing than shooting 11 over par. Everyone goes nuclear from time to time. You can handle it like a little bitch and take your ball and run home, or you can be a veteran like Lumpy (who shot 80 on Thursday) and go out and pipe out birdies until they make you leave. We certainly aren’t going to be one of them, but people paid for tickets and show up to watch Gerry play.

Whether he is -11 or +11, they want to see the towering tee shots and the shot shapes (and probably want to see the Tour Sauce) in person. If you enter the tournament, you play it out, unless you’re injured and at further risk of injuring yourself. Continuing to play with a running nose and some sneezes put him at zero risk of further injuring himself. This isn’t a Tiger situation with a faulty back that could clearly be damaged further. This is 

 from your home. Your profession is to play golf outdoors, and you can’t be prepared for the outdoor conditions in your backyard? Get outta here with that shit.

 Adam Scott blowing what was once an 8 shot lead pretty much sums up everything we’ve seen from Masters favorites over the last month or so. Between Tiger’s back injury, Jason Day’s thumb, Phil’s dialed back schedule (no top 10’s this year?), Rory playing almost no golf (3 stateside events this calendar year), we’re not exactly flying into Masters week with a lot of momentum from our biggest names. Way too early to sound the alarms, but at least get it on your radar that we could have a Mike Weir-like disaster on our hands for the 2014 Masters.

was in the news for all of the wrong reasons again

, although its hard to blame him this time around. While we support a creative post shout yell if it gets a giggle out of us, there is absolutely no place in the game for the harassment of players during the course of play. Save that shit for the NASCAR track. Yelling at him and distracting him more sure as hell isn’t going to increase his pace of play.

 Matt Every was quietly having a really solid 2013-2014 before this win, so this wasn’t out of nowhere. This week was his 5th top 10 of the season, and it’s only March. We’re a house divided at NLU as to how we feel about Every. On the one hand he’s gone out of his way to propagate that arrogant, edgy Floridian who goes out of his way to advertise that he doesn’t give a shit.

His hilarious pot bust in 2010 created a stereotype that sort of set the tone for the next few years, as 

he didn’t exactly handle that like a mature adult

. Here was his interview at the 2012 Sony Open about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7frSiOlL6c

Conversely, though, how is this any different than NLU favorite Spencer Levin (who we’ve labeled as a breath of fresh air and trumpeted his praises for his not giving a shit ways)? The biggest difference seems to be that Spence is California cool, while Every’s got that rough-around-the-edges Florida grit that isn’t exactly an endearing quality. He made some noise with these comments on Saturday: “A lot of fakers out here just‑‑ just because you wear stupid clothes doesn’t mean you have style. It means you wear dumb clothes.” While he’s clearly still immature, Matt Every seems be taking baby steps to turing the corner from brash, Big Break bro, showing small glimpses of maturity as he creates some credibility (we imagine that being a Big Break graduate is kind of a scarlet letter in tour circles). He’s not for everyone, but he’s a nice counterbalance to some of the drones plying their craft on tour.

It’s tough for us to gain an understanding of someone based upon a few short interviews, sporadic tournament coverage, and a few blurbs in columns. So while we’re there’s positives and negatives with Every, the number of guys who went out of their way to congratulate him on his victory spoke volumes about him and suggests that there’s much more to him than comes through in limited coverage.

I spent an hour trying to figure out how to make the font on this section as small as possible. Remind us of this next time we get braggy about our picks.

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

For the second consecutive week, the NLU oil spill was obvious. Apparently Gerry was allergic to dry land on his way to carding an 11.

We were able to locate some footage of the event that the PGA tried to destroy:

Adam (we desparately need a nickname for this guy) brought the par 5’s to its knees all week, and eagled number 4 after piping it on from 270 out on his way to a 62.

The Florida Swing ends and gives way to the Texas Swing (doesn’t quite have the same ring to it). This is actually the real week we start looking towards the Masters, as neither the Valero Texas Open or the Houston open attract enough big names to keep us engaged. We’ll start rolling out our Masters previews this week.

Arnold Palmer Invitational Recap

, and leave your comments on the live action below.

Arnold Palmer Invitational Live Thread

The Florida Swing takes a quick jaunt on I-4 over to Orlando’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. This event is one of only five tournaments on the circuit that are true invitationals (others being Colonial, Heritage, AT&T National, and Memorial). This means about 20-30 less players, more leeway deciding who gets in, and no Monday qualifier. As such, Bay Hill typically features a slightly smaller field full of top-notch talent, many of whom are playing a home game (although Florida’s golf epicenter has moved 2.5 hours southeast in the past few years).

This year’s tournament lost some luster when Tiger Woods 

 to play at one of his favorite tournaments. Considering Tiger’s track record here (8 titles vs. 7 titles for the rest of the field), it’s safe to say that Arnie and the Golf Channel/NBC will be missing Big Cat this week in their home game (hat tip to 

 on that tidbit). I actually gave a half-laugh to the Bay Hill promos featuring Arnie cutting blades of grass one-by-one, while checking in with Tiger, Phil, and Bubba via phone with the closing line of “Arnie’s ready”. The field now lacks both of the first two names, as well as DJ, Dufner, Els, Furyk, JDay (still nursing that wrist injury), Kuchar, Rory (more on him further down the page), Sergio, and Spieth. The King takes great pride in this event, and for good reason. I share his certain disappointment with this year’s field. Arnie deserves better.

How much you got? After Honda, Cadillac, and Valspar, these guys are ready for a birdie-fest. Chances are that’s not in the cards. If you take Big Cat out of the equation, winning score hovers around 8 deep on a year-to-year basis. It’s not a brutal track, but there’s trouble lurking at every turn and slippery greens can compound mistakes in a hurry. Bay Hill features a strong set of par-5’s, with the 6th hole is one of the most unique holes in golf. It truly tests how big your stones are, as you can bite off as much as you can chew, but there is nothing to give you any idea of depth perception or sight lines.

The finish is similar to TPC Sawgrass up the road with a short, risk-reward par 5 16th with water, a challenging par 3 17th over water, and a stern par 4 finish to a green framed by water.

Overall, it’s a solid track that seems to be well respected by the players, so we are a bit curious as to why the field seems to be on the weak side this year. There’s no doubt in my mind that Arnie compares his event to Jack’s in the same way that he compares their playing careers, and we can’t help but note that his track and his event seems to play second fiddle to Muirfield Village and the Memorial when it comes to the invitationals. However, when it comes to the vibe…

The suburban Orlando cluster castles vibe is predominate. But Arnold Palmer holding court adds an air of regality to the proceedings. Casting aside his legendary record breaking majors, it is Mr. Palmer’s on-course persona and off-course legend that is inspirational. He’s the embodiment of cool. Jack may have won more, but who cares? If given the choice to switch lives with either of them I’d choose Arnie ten out of ten times. This week is essentially a celebration of Arnie. Can you find anyone that has a bad thing to say about him? The dude just has swag. Loved this story from Wednesday:

When Arnie was on his way to lunch, he asked a random tournament security guard if he wanted to join. (That's why he's The King.)



— Chad Coleman (@HashtagChad) 

2 top 3’s in the last 3 years. Primed off a T8 last week at the Valspar. Not great odds, but a no brainer fantasy play.

 – Pains us to say it, but it’s hard not to love Mr. Tour Sauce himself this week. Lives nearby, has had an excellent winter. He finished 4th here in 2012 and 14th a year ago.

– ZJ’s game travels pretty much anywhere. The speed of the greens will play in his favor. Uneven results here the last few years, but aside from an MC in 2010 he’s seen the weekend every year. He comes in well-rested and on the heels of some of the best golf of his career earlier this year. Hasn’t missed a cut since last year’s US Open.

 – Can’t accuse us of not being objective with our picks this week. Great track record here (2 top 4’s in his last three runs here), and played great at the Valspar last week on his way to a solo 2nd finish. I would have imagined better odds for him, but the bookies are onto this one. He’s teed up to make another run this week (although we may be headed for another Monday finish with his pace of play).

 – Finished 3rd a year ago, and we’re hoping the solid play from the Match Play will carry over.

 (We’ve been forced to shop at Whole Foods this week – discounts are hard to come by!)

 – In the top 21 each of the last 3 years here

 – Even our value fliers are horses this week. It just goes with the territory, as this just isn’t a tournament for first-time winners. Westwood cashed nice checks here on a perennial basis in the mid 2000’s, then bailed for a few years. He played mediocre last year. He’s gotta be itching to get back out there after going -4 on the weekend at Doral.

 – Finished top ten here last year. 200/1 is sweet. Duke showed signs of life last week, making the cut comfortably after two solid 71’s. Faded on Saturday for an MDF, but he’s making cuts every week. We’re in.

, kick back, and relax. You’re on golf-watching auto-pilot this time of the year. No need to go too hard.

Bay Hill’s normally a pretty good litmus test for how Tiger’s game is shaping up as we approach Augusta. Well it’s officially time to panic. As Soly battles back problems of his own, I understand what Tiger is going through by hearing his pain firsthand. Do I think he milks it for the cameras? No doubt. But it’s impossible to predict which swings are going to make your back act up, and which ones won’t. I just want Tiger to be back healthy so that the coverage and the storyline is about the golf, and not the injured #1.

Rory has elected to snub the King yet again, what’s his deal? Maybe his Grandfather wasn’t part of Arnie’s Army growing up across the pond (as all of our grandfathers were, along with the rest of the Greatest Generation), but as a student and potential legend of the game, he should have more respect for The King if he intends to sit atop the ‘Iron Throne’ one day. At least offer a standard BS excuse (or the real one: a meeting with the wedding planner he just can’t miss).

I posit that the video below is a top 3 SportsCenter commercial of all time (and if you disagree, Neil will meet you in the comments below):

On the subject of The King and his resume of commercial endorsements, I really admire the way this guy has stuck to his blue collar roots en route to making stupid amounts of money off the course. I highly recommend reading Tom Callahan’s phenomenal Golf Digest piece from 2009 – 

This piece was exactly what I needed to truly understand Arnie’s impact on the game, and on sports in general. Honestly, in my younger years I only knew him as that old guy with white hair in a sweater who would be +18 on Friday at Augusta. Then at a certain point I’d seen enough of him in those tire commercials that were a staple of my middle school years, that I started to dig a little deeper. I’ve had a man crush on him ever since.

Tires, The Golf Channel, air travel, cigarettes, the state of Pennsylvania, iced tea and lemonade, IMG. These are all things that Arnold Palmer espoused. All masculine, American stuff.

Keep an eye on Alex Cejka down in Panama for the Web.com event. He’s in a GROOVE so far this season. We’ve been remiss in not doing a couple hosel rockets on the Web circuit yet this year. That will change soon.

And if you were wondering what the #1 SportsCenter spot of all time is then step up your game. 

Arnold Palmer Invitational Preview

On behalf of No Laying Up, I can’t thank Jessica Korda (

) enough for letting me join the first ever LPGA Hangout today. If you missed it here’s the full, AND THANK GOD, slightly edited version:


At about 9:40, I was finally able to join the hangout, and the entrance looked a little like this:

I came in real hot, amped up to talk some golf! It took a minute for us to get in the flow and I appreciate everyone’s patience, though if you were behind the scenes for the first 9 minutes, this would certainly resonate:

I had a blast partaking on behalf of NLU, and with the technology figured out, we’d love to take part in future Hangouts! A few scalding hot takeaways:

Look for more coverage of the LPGA from us (gambling lines, YOTTO tracking, discussions of LPGA growth initiatives, etc.). While Jessica possesses truck loads of confidence and personality, her style was laid back and sincere, too – definitely cool by me. The breadth and depth of her answers reflected nicely and suggest a media savvy star. My only regret is not having more time to ask the 8-10 other questions I had ready to go, but I’m glad I settled in to let the pro, Kraig Kann conduct the Hangout (Also, I appreciate Kraig pumping a couple questions for NLU early before I showed up fashionably late – #Respect – more on K-Squared shortly). If Jessica ever has a few minutes down the road for a quick interview, the invitation is out there. We’d love to do a 

To highlight Jessica’s answer on the issue of slow play. This is truly is a problem at every level of golf from the local muni courses to the professional ranks, and Jessica phrased it well: Golf is an individual sport and pace of play vary’s with conditions and the course. It’s all about decision making. It comes down to individuals arguing with themselves internally about the best shot or best line, and sometimes we are our own biggest skeptics and we stall. It should be interesting to see how the different organizations within the golf world address this issue – judging by Kraig’s LPGA plug, ‘The LPGA improved 7 minutes on pace of play last year” – the LPGA is taking the lead on this. That’s a solid year-over-year improvement!

Did I mention Kraig’s a pro’s pro? First, I’m impressed by the LPGA’s forward thinking attitude on social media and the risk they took engaging a start-up blog in this hangout. NLU is indebted for the invite (and for the smooth handling of our brash entrance), and Kraig’s professional background as a broadcaster manifested itself as he made me right at home in this Hangout. He’s a class act, and is missed on the Golf Channel, but the LPGA is benefiting tremendously from his touch. As we highlighted in yesterday’s 

, the powers that be at LPGA seem to get it. They’ve identified opportunity abroad, decided to expand globally and are comfortable experimenting with different ways to market the tour’s stars. Taking advantage of Twitter and Google Hangouts gives fans the kind of direct access to their favorite players that could not have been imagined 5 years ago. Big up’s from the NLU squad!

Hanging out with Jessica Korda and the LPGA

(Photo above courtesy of Fly Boys Aerials, 

If you caught this past Sunday’s 60 Minutes piece on drones then read on. If not, 

After watching this feature I’m terrified. My family had a spirited discussion/brain-storming session about all the crazy, nefarious shit we have to worry about in the future with these: invasion of privacy (think paparazzi w/ NSA style tools), a bomb delivery mechanism for terrorists, mid-air collisions, etc. After getting that out of our system some positives emerged, namely the inherent possibilities drones offer in the world of sports broadcasting. Drones will make the SkyCam look downright archaic. There’s a long way to go before this is reality – first step is the FAA figuring out a set of rules, certifications, and regulations (good luck with that), then production crews experimenting, then leagues accepting the new technology but drones will be a reality down the road.

And when that time comes, golf will be a prime area to put drones to good use. it should be a boon for all parties involved (except maybe the tour pros) as production quality will go through the roof and production costs will fall. The aerial shots provided by blimps (and sometimes by helicopters and small planes) are such a large part of the telecast already, imagine having twenty or thirty blimp-like vantages around the course. The possibilities are endless (Imagine putting the pro-tracer feature on a drone? Or using one to find a lost ball?)

Obviously there’s a downside – players would treat drones as if they are a complete nuisance and would surely resist at first. After all, drones do make noise, constant whiny noise. Aside from the sound, are they really much more distracting than a boom camera behind a tee or on a green? Those float above the ground and are operated by professionals. Drones wouldn’t be any different – they’d be operated by professionals at a distance determined by tour standards. Wouldn’t be any more distracting than a bird (and Stevie Williams would have trouble nabbing one of these and throwing it in a lake).

Bottom line: drones are going to be a big part of lives in the future, we might as well seek out some cool uses for them. Read on for a deeper-dive…

CBS News examines the possibilities in the extreme sports world, specifically mountain climbing.

The Atlantic with a quick-hitter on drones in sports.

And Awful Announcing coming STRONG with a look at how Golf Channel is already experimenting with the technology.

Drones and Golf Coverage: A Perfect Match?

We’re privileged and excited to be co-hosting a 

 featuring 21 year-old (and already) 2x LPGA Tour winner Jessica Korda this evening at 7:15 pm EST. To help us prepare, we took a dive into the current LPGA season to see what’s shaking. Below are some quick insights and opinions; stop by and ask Jessica about any of this, along with specific inquiries about her game, her goals, and anything else you’ve ever wondered about concerning the LPGA.

The Race to the CME Globe (CME stands for Chicago Mercantile Exchange – think Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) is heating up early in the year. Paula Creamer (921 pts) currently holds a small lead over veteran Karrie Webb (742 pts) and NLU favorite (our loyalty is easily acquired!) Jessica Korda (587). Creamer is leading thanks in large part to her recent victory at the HSBC Women’s Champions event in Singapore. She earned the win with what is easily the highlight of the year: canning a monstrous, snaking 75-foot eagle putt on the 2nd playoff hole with her competitor, Azahara Munoz, already in for birdie. Walk-off wins don’t get any more exhilarating than that (

yeah, we see you back there objecting, Craig Parry

Speaking of the Race to the CME Globe, the LPGA season will hold its 5th tournament of the year this weekend as they contest the JTBC Founders Cup in Tempe, Arizona. It’s one of 32 worldwide events leading up to the CME Group Tour Championship this November in Naples, FL. Whereas the PGA Tour is now on the reach-around schedule and thus stealthily deep into their current season, the LPGA season is still in its infancy with an exciting year ahead. Recognizing the truly global nature of their tour, LPGA leadership continues to do an exceptional job of making it a true world tour (Finchy and his cronies need to take note and apply lessons learned to the shamefully domestic “World” Golf Championships). We’d also be remiss in neglecting to give a shout-out to the 

 – Mike Whan and Jon Podany, who (like three of us here at NLU) are Miami University (the one in Ohio!) alums. The LPGA seems to be on a really nice “traj.”

The guest of honor in tonight’s Google Hangout, Jessica Korda, sits 3rd at the moment in the season-long CME race. She captured the season-opening event, the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic, by one stroke over Stacy Lewis with a 72-hole score of -19 (273). It was Korda’s second career LPGA victory. The most impressive stat concerning Korda in our opinion, though? She hasn’t missed a cut since September 2012. That’s a span of 30 tournaments. We may have to ask Jessica what she tells people she does for living, professional golfer or pro check-casher – Bill Haas isn’t the only member FDIC anymore…impressive.

Of the top-50 women in the Rolex Rankings (basically the women’s OWGR), more than half (27) are from Japan, China, Thailand, or Korea (that also includes Tapei, where world #1, Inbee Park, hails from). Park, in fact, holds a fairly comfortable lead for #1 over Suzann Pettersen at the moment, though we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Suzann (and her 

) have run away and hid from the competition in the Most Physically Fit Rankings.

But back to the world rankings, and specifically the amount of world-class talent across the Pacific – we wonder if there is internal discussion to developing a Solheim-style contest (read Ryder Cup for the unwashed and uninformed) that pits the US vs. Asia? This seems like a no-brainer for the LPGA powers-that-be as they think about how to grow the tour’s popularity, carve our their own global footprint, and market an impressively diverse roster of talent. We’ll be sure to ask ‘ko-host’ on today’s Hangout, former Golf Channel impresario Kraig Kann. “Special K” moved over to LPGA back in 2011 as the Chief Communications Officer and basically oversees the growth strategy for the Tour at home and abroad.

Perhaps you know the name Lydia Ko. If so, and even if not, allow us to briefly inform you. This from her Wiki page–the 16 year-old New Zealander (she’ll be 17 in April) made huge waves last summer, when, still an amateur, she won two LPGA events (she didn’t miss a freaking cut in 25 events as an amateur!). She turned pro last October and currently sits 4th in the Rolex Rankings. In fact, she has such promise, the LPGA waived their age-18 requirement for membership.

One topic we’re really curious to hear Jessica riff on tonight, is the coupling of the Men’s and Women’s US Opens this year at Pinehurst. We at NLU think it’s a fantastic idea. Personally, I have to admit I haven’t been the most ardent follower of the LPGA, so this type of creative thinking definitely is meant to pull people exactly like me into the women’s event. Watching each event and being able to look at the other as a reference point will be amazing (especially if the USGA keeps the conditions as similar as possible, save for length). The event is still a few months out but I can confidently say that it’s mission accomplished (unfurl that banner!). There are grumblings about how the course condition will be for the ladies after a full week of play, logistical concerns regarding everything from lodging and grandstand setups to practice availability and what happens if there’s a need for a men’s 18-hole playoff on Monday. While these are all legit questions and I’m curious to see how they’re handled by the suits over at USGA HQ (concerns are probably overblown – the logistical “nightmare” at Merion last year and a couple years ago at Kiawah were both smooth). Geoff Shackelford, among others, pointed out that really the women should be playing first in order to boost galleries, etc. etc. which does seems ideal. Maybe that’s what will eventually happen. Perhaps too someday there will be more dual/piggy-back events between the LPGA and PGA. I know I’d love to see the women take on familiar tracks like Doral, Muirfield Village, Pebble and Torrey each year.

In that same vein, we’re curious as to what Jessica’s favorite tracks are on the LPGA circuit. Would love to know which courses she’d love to see the tour visit in the future, too. Since the women play from about 6,500 yards it would be refreshing to see events being held at venues that are either obsolete in the world of men’s professional golf (Cypress comes to mind – we can dream right?) or aren’t in the rotation due to logistics concerns (Royal Portrush for the Women’s British Open comes to mind).

 tonight and leave some questions in the comments below!

LPGA Early Season Update

Pat Perez set the pace in the early rounds only to fall off the map on Saturday, and he wasn’t alone. Brutal conditions prevailed and Copperhead played more like a major venue than that of a third or fourth tier (that’s for you Bailey) tour stop. Scott Langley (showed some moxie and impressed a lot of people), Kevin Na, and Will MacKenzie were all there at the end, only to see Senden lock up his second career PGA Tour win with the sort of short-game magic that’s evaded him in so many other pivotal moments (if he could putt I can think of an additional 6-7 various titles he would’ve won easily). Luke Donald’s game again showed signs of life, and Justin Rose had an encouraging week, overall (despite the godawful chunk…further down the page). Robert Garrigus has to be scratching his head after being en fuego the first two and a half days (to the point where people were crowning his ass) he kept it between the mayo and the mustard coming home on Saturday, only to crash into the concrete median early in his final round. Credit to him for a solid 34 on the inward nine to stay right in the mix and a T-4 paycheck.

Above all, Copperhead was as solid as advertised. It’s tough to say enough good things about the 16th hole (a truly great driving hole) and the pin position on the 13th hole on Saturday was awesome – not sure I’ve ever seen a green that narrow. Rough was fair, greens were pure, and conditions were tough. The fact that John Senden won further solidifies Copperhead as a ballstriker’s course.

Kevin Na made his appearance well known with his antics, which seemed to be the storyline from the weekend until he got the drop from coverage on Sunday. After being on the clock for most of the day on Saturday,

after the rules official left the grouping and wasn’t timing them, Na’s caddie said “are we being timed still?” Na responded, “No, we’re good”, and then proceeded to take 3 minutes (might be exaggerating) to play his shot. It’s completely unfair to Robert Garrigus, who had to play with Na on both Saturday and Sunday. Guilt by association means that when Na goes on the clock, so does his playing partner, and Garrigus got a bad time when hitting out of some cabbage despite being one of the fastest players on tour. What Na does is disrespectful to his playing partner and to the game.

With that being said, Na’s obviously made huge strides from the 2012 Players Championship Freakshow he foisted upon us. By all accounts he’s sped up his routine (most noticeably on the greens) and really made his pace of play a point of emphasis. Alan Shipnuck tweeted something along the lines of Na being one of the most interesting competitors in the world of golf, if not sports at large. While I bristled at first and chalked it up as hyperbole, when I actually sat back and thought about it I realized that’s not far off. Golf is such an individual game – each guy is out there by himself (albeit with the aid of a caddie) competing against 140-odd other guys, the course, and himself. When you manage to piss off virtually the entire sport and singlehandedly incite rule change discussions, as Na has done repeatedly regarding slow play, the tour circuit must seem like a pretty lonely place (hell, Garrigus’ caddie even said it wasn’t fair that he had to play with him two days in a row). And yet Na doesn’t seem to let it affect him. He’s one of the more forthright, engaging interviews on tour, he’s honest about his struggles, and above all of that, he’s got serious stones. Shit, he almost holed out on the par-3 17th hole this week with everything on the line. After the ball narrowly skated by, he stepped up and buried a 14-footer. Kevin Na’s got demons, but maybe those demons are in the process of building a competitive monster. He’ll win soon.

 As evidenced by the love we were offering on the tweet machine, Golf Channel is doing good work with the “Spotlight Coverage.” I hadn’t really noticed it until this week, but I honestly watched it in equal proportion to the NBC telecast. If you’re not familiar, basically they pick the three best holes on the course and just show those three holes exclusively. Sprinkle in copious amounts of the pro-tracer (the pro-tracer on the 16th tee was downright orgasmic. Side note: Chesson Hadley’s traj/line on that shot was beyond arrogant #respect). Then, add some on-point analysis from Curt Byrum, Scott McCarron, and others (really it’s a solid team effort, with zero ego involved), and golf stats that would make sabermetricians giddy (plenty of trackman stuff – highest spin rate on tour, lowest apex traj out there, longest distance to reach apex traj, highest percentage of right rough shots, etc.), and you’ve got yourself a potent second screen telecast. The other big plus is seeing nearly the entire field hitting the same shots, which is ripe for analysis and makes for fascinating comparisons (especially on that treacherous 16th tee this week).

If Golf Channel keeps this up, I may have to buy a second tv and throw the Spotlight on with sound and mute the NBC telecast on the other screen (maybe that’s not the best thing to say if we want this to continue). The sky’s the limit for this idea, and you have to give producer Keith Hirshland and the guys at Golf Channel props for green-lighting it. At the very least, it’s a great testing ground for some cool features for the main telecast. First class work.

For all the flack we gave Tampa, the hospitality area behind the 17th green got pretty live on Sunday. There were at least some bro’s out there trying to keep it real and give this event some cred, nevermind the smallish galleries. And there was a phenomenal “bababooey!” yell as Senden hit his approach into #17. You know we respect that.

Was great to see Graham DeLaet snap out of his mini-funk and nail down a solid result. He fought back from an opening round 75 (really not a bad round considering the conditions) to post 68-71-68 over the last three days. Not surprising to see him finish well considering his all-around game.

 Not sure I’ve ever seen guys yoyo up and down the leaderboard like what was seen this week. The relatively modest pace set by the leaders kept a huge chunk of the field engaged in the main action and made for a pretty fascinating wire-to-wire race. While this certainly didn’t translate into great cinema down the stretch (largely due to almost everyone pissing down their leg at one point or another), it made for some intense scoreboard watching. It also made for quite a few guys who cost themselves serious money/points this weekend (Goosen especially – that was tough to see Sunday, especially coming off his major medical exemption – he can lock his card up if he plays well his next three events). Some of the young guys faded down the stretch – Spieth and English come to mind. Not bad, just goes to show you this game ain’t easy, even for them.

On the YOTTO front, Will MacKenzie’s T-4 should bump him up well inside the top ten on the 2014 index. MacKenzie’s got a really impressive YOTTO going on in the crockpot right now – he’s tallied eight top-15 finishes in the ’13-’14 reach-around season. To be that high on the YOTTO index this far in without a top-3 finish is incredible. Like all things WillyMac, we’re jealous. Dude’s game is tight, his flow is righteous, and his story is as good as it gets. He’s up to $1.2 million on the year and shows no signs of slowing down.

Let’s hope Patrick Reed responds to his 

Perhaps the easiest oil spill of the year. JD took a 12 on number 16 on his way to a 90.

Here’s the footage. Burn units were on site immediately and the fiasco was well handled by the Valspar volunteers before the fire spread:

Justin Rose, the 7th ranked player in the world, hit one of the most special chunks you’ll ever see from a tour pro.

Get ready for a lot of Tiger this week. Between his ridiculous past success here, and the incredible scrutiny his back is under, and the countdown to Augusta nearing the legal drinking age, the microscope is going to be completely dialed in on his every move. There’s a hoard of people ready to panic if he doesn’t win this event by 4. If he plays poorly, we’re giving the full go ahead to panic.

Valspar Championship Recap

Read our preview of the Valspar Championship here

Leave your thoughts and musings from the Valspar Championship below:

Valspar Championship Live Thread

The Florida swing heads to the Tampa area this week for the Valspar Championship. In a book I recently read – 

The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America

, Tampa is used as the prime example of a city representing the decay of the greatest generation, the causes of the ’08 housing bubble, and what’s happened to the American Dream. Basically, everyone lives in suburbs that are half-full of over-leveraged families or half-developed with abandoned cluster castles. In this largely unplanned sprawl exists a public transit void, leading to a population addicted to finite/foreign oil, and the city itself is void of pedestrians and diversity (which leads to a lack of new ideas brought about by interaction and innovation in diverse urban areas). All in all, a pretty uplifting read, though I digress…

The point being, Tampa, with two and a half professional sports teams (the Bucs were relegated to fractional status thanks to the efforts of Greg Schiano), millions of rust belt transplants, a significant metropolitan area (2.9 million in 2011), and site of the most recent 2012 Republican National Convention, is a hot bed for three things: golf, lots of extremely old people, and a variety of strip clubs (more on those later). So you have a warm weather locale, with tons of old, conservative, white males who have the resources (over-leveraged or not) and time to play golf – so why does no one care about the Valspar Championship? Let’s dig into the preview to find out why…

The course sure as hell ain’t the problem. In fact, it might be the main reason why this event still exists. Located in the relatively random Innisbrook Resort (a Florida resort near the beach without beach access?), the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort is like the grown-up ballstriker’s version of Chuck E. Cheese. This is literally the only valid explanation for why this event has a solid field. Guy’s like the course.

Designed by Larry Packard, who passed away at the age of 101 back in January

, Copperhead seems out of place in central Florida. Framed by trees, old school “lines,” featuring smallish greens, and some subtle elevation changes that catch you off guard, this course demands accuracy and precision. At 7,300 yards it’s definitely not short, but it doesn’t discriminate against the shorter guys in the field, either (the list of past champions is all over the place (most recent first): Streelman, Donald (RIP), Woodland, Furyk, Goosen, O’Hair, Calc, Choi, Petterson, Vijay, Goosen (again), Choi (again), and NLU favorite John Huston in the inaugural event). Aside from Woodland, the formula seems to be fairways, greens, and avoiding big numbers (the poop brown color will be out in full force on PGATour.com this week – there’s an inordinate amount of big numbers here). It’s not really a birdie fest; it’s a tactician’s track.

That thing is legitimately scarier than a hat-less Jim Fury

The big feature is the closing stretch of holes 16, 17 & 18, which is glossed “The Snake Pit.” A long-ass par-3 stuck in between two man-sized par-4’s, this stretch regularly ranks amongst the toughest on Tour. No word on how long it’s been named this: we like to pretend it was dubbed the (Trouser) Snake Pit after the ’11 event in honor of Woodland’s tour de force. The only thing holding this stretch of holes back is the mandatory nickname. After the “Bear Trap” a few weeks ago, this one seems corny (even though it’s probably a harder stretch).

There really isn’t a vibe. Here we’ll touch on the main reason why this event has a negative Q-rating: this event has been wronged by Corporate America. You ready for this?: It started as The Tampa Bay Championship, an almost-silly season event in 2000 opposite the President’s Cup in the fall, was cancelled in ’01 due to 9/11 (it was to be played opposite the WGC American Express Championship), and returned in ’02 as the Tampa Bay Championship presented by Buick when Buick execs decided they weren’t sponsoring enough golf events (and probably because the demo’s for old people with disposable income for a new LaSalle in the region made them swoon). From ’03 to ’06 the event doubled down on being an almost unrecognizable car event as the Chrysler Championship (amongst other Chrysler events in Greensboro, Palm Springs, and Tuscon), playing in a vacuum the week before The Tour Championship (Florida, middle of football season – people probably didn’t even know this thing existed).

In ’07 Finchy’s cronies moved the event to the middle of the Florida Swing and Kirk Triplett brought his PODS swag to town in the the form of a two-year stint as the Portable On Demand Storage Championship (no word on whether spectators received free bucket lids). ’09 brought with it the advent of the Transitions Championship, which was essentially a week long celebration of Trevor Immelman and Kenny Perry. Transitions lasted four years, bailing out really hard in ’12. EverBank, a regional bank out of Jacksonville, magnanimously stepped in as a stopgap and essentially saved the tournament. Valspar came to the rescue this year, and we the fans get to learn about paint products. It’s a win-win! Somehow, amidst all of this corporate tomfoolery, this tournament has always managed to pay a substantial purse. Respect that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgf9cCnK_iE

Boo’s final round 63 stole the show and the wait must’ve been agonizing – dude was done with his round ridiculously early. In the end, Streelman was rock solid all day and his win elicited a lot of goodwill and well-wishes from all over the world of pro-golf. A former looper out at NLU’s future HQ (Whisper Rock), Streels is one of the nice guy’s on Tour, so it was a feel-good Sunday. His ballstriking was on-point.

Anytime DubP, Spieth, Harris English, Sergio, Harman, DeLaet, and Coetzee (stupid long) are on the first few pages, you’ve got yourself a girthy final board. All are in the field this week, except Coetzee and Serg who are skipping…

 – By this point on the schedule he’s a grizzled vet. This time last year he was fresh off a runner-up performance in Puerto Rico, fighting the non-member sponsor exemptions shot clock, starting to build cred, and from this event on played almost every event. Think about that–he balled out so hard last year while playing almost all of these courses for the first time. That’s insane. The oddsmakers are obviously putting stock in local knowledge, posting him just behind favorite Harris English (Too Big to Fail), and lumping him with Kuchar and the rotting corpse that is Luke Donald’s game.

Writing

Valero Texas Open Preview/Live Thread

Royal Trophy v. EurAsia Cup: Tale of the Tape

Saying Goodbye to My Childhood Golf Course

YOTTO Update

Arnold Palmer Invitational Recap

Arnold Palmer Invitational Live Thread

Arnold Palmer Invitational Preview

Hanging out with Jessica Korda and the LPGA

Drones and Golf Coverage: A Perfect Match?

LPGA Early Season Update

Valspar Championship Recap

Valspar Championship Live Thread

Valspar Championship Preview

YOTTO Update

Mike Francesa's Awful Take on Patrick Reed Laying Up

How to Act Like a Tour Pro: Part III

WGC Cadillac Championship/Puerto Rico Open Recap

Friday Links Foursome (What We're Reading)