Up & Down: Stricker still hot, but Riviera's not
As the PGA Tour moves from the land of celebrities in L.A. to the tournament of celebrities at Pebble Beach, CBSSports.com senior writer Steve Elling is in a golden state as he eyeballs the California Swing and beyond.
Up
The Big Cheese
Steve Stricker was ranked No. 2 in the world last season, for exactly one week. But it isn't like he has tanked since then. In his past 15 events receiving world-ranking points, he has finished in the top 10 a total of 10 times, including victories at Colonial, John Deere, Boston and L.A. He also teamed with fellow Cheesehead Jerry Kelly in the offseason to win the unofficial Shark Shootout. Forget moving to Florida to hone your game year-round. Stricker tried that once a few years ago, then moved back to Wisconsin. Maybe we should all be hitting balls out of an ice-covered trailer in snowy Madison, which is how Stricker warmed up for 2010. Now he's blown past Phil Mickelson to assume the No. 2 slot yet again. This Cheeser is so hot, I'm changing his nickname to the Big Fondue.
Speaking with authority Maybe it's a matter of personal preference, or maybe it's pure self-preservation, but plenty of big names have balked when it comes to offering a viewpoint on the slimy Tiger Woods scenario. Johnny Miller and Tom Watson have teed it high and let it fly. Watson said that Woods needs to clean up his antics on the course, too, while Miller finally chimed in during last weekend's NBC telecast from Los Angeles. "His integrity's been shattered," Miller said on the air. "They [fans and media] are going to want to know all these things, but he's going to have to face the music. He's going to have to show people he's done everything he can to repair his marriage and some genuine sorrow in his voice and feeling from his heart that he wants to change and make his life better." Maybe if the ever-immovable Woods hears it from enough people, he'll actually listen. For once.
Guess we know which one is Harpo
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin last week named, ahem, four assistants to help him run the team later this year, entering NBA territory with five coaches for 12 players. But before everybody shrugs this off as overkill, at least Pavin has bolstered a notable weakness compared to the Europeans -- the ability to entertain. By bringing along Paul Goydos and Jeff Sluman, two of the funniest and most insightful players of the past decade, Pavin has mercifully added an element of color, something counterpart Colin Montgomerie has in spades. In fact, Goydos might get quoted more often in Wales than Pavin, clearly the silent member of this Marx Brothers troop. Tom Lehman and sneaky-funny Davis Love were also added as assistants, and for Love, a future Hall of Famer, this amounts to an audition. He clearly stands at the front of the line for the 2012 captaincy if he wants it, and as far as we are concerned, the PGA of America ought to give it to him now. Remember, people, this is an exhibition, not the Olympics.
Viva Espana
Never before has the old axiom, "it ain't how, it's how many," proven to be more true. Anybody know its Spanish equivalent? Stealing the trophy in one of the European Tour's signature events, 46-year-old Miguel Angel Jimenez scrambled his brains out to beat world No. 4 Lee Westwood in a playoff in Dubai, despite taking the scenic route to the top. While Westwood kept bashing 3-wood shots to the green on the 18th hole, Jimenez was missing fairways, laying up, flirting with rock walls and greenside lakes, and missing putting surfaces. But by the time it was finished, Westwood blinked first and Jimenez was hoisting a celebratory glass and firing up another of his trademark stogies. The Spaniard has panache and a cavalier attitude that belies his competitive side, but he put on a short-game show down the stretch that would have made Seve proud. By the way, there are now eight players who are either age 40 or older, or will turn 40 by midsummer, in the top 31 of the world rankings. That includes Stricker, 42.
In case you missed it
The PGA Tour didn't get completely skunked last week in the decision-making department (and we haven't even addressed how badly they whiffed in anticipating the grooves controversy that has engulfed the last two tournaments). Airing during the Riviera event was a TV spot for the upcoming Players Championship, an event that also is run by the tour. The ad, which aired on NBC, was a veritable promo for the fifth major and featured a montage of players and shots from past years, plus snippets of past champions and likely title contenders. Noticeably absent was a single shot of Woods, whose appearance at TPC Sawgrass is by no means certain. So, in this regard, the tour took the proper tack. By my scorecard, with regard to making the right call, that raises its season total to ... one.
Down
California Dreamin' (and hallucinating)
The last time Riviera hosted a U.S. Open was in 1948. Think there might be a reason for that? The venue's overall acreage is too small and difficult to access, the city has a spotty record of supporting golf and there's no shortage of sites around the state and country with more elbow room and a comparable tournament pedigree. Riviera isn't lacking for ego, though. The Los Angeles Times was cheerleading Monday for the club to be considered for a future U.S. Open, perhaps as soon as 2018. Oh, really? The 1995 PGA Championship was held at Riviera and the crowds were less than anticipated, if not downright blase. The U.S. Senior Open was staged at Riviera in 1998, and there were more folks playing volleyball at Zuma Beach that weekend. Granted, the men's Open is a different animal entirely, which is exactly why Riviera won't work. The club is situated in the bottom of a bowl, surrounded by steep slopes and zillion-dollar homes on all sides, and it can't easily accommodate the three-ring fan-and-corporate circus the Open has become. Can they build five-story hospitality tents? They'd need to. As for the Times, perhaps this is what happens when one of the nation's most prominent papers doesn't have a golf writer. The paper claimed there were USGA folks on site last week, watching and evaluating. In reality, USGA staffers were at Pinehurst, attending the organization's annual meeting. "If there were people there, boy, I'm totally unaware of it," said Mike Davis, the rules and competition chief at the USGA. According to reports, a total of 40,000 fans attended the rain-soaked Riviera event last week. A U.S. Open, even if limited to 25,000 tickets per round, would mean close to 40,000 on the grounds per day, with marshals, security, TV rights-holders, media and concessionaires added to the count. How do suppose the notion of shutting down Sunset Boulevard would be received by the area's snooty residents? This is an area that went ballistic when a few rubber-neckers kept driving by O.J. Simpson's old home. It doesn't matter how much money Riviera wants to spend. No access = no success.
We should have seen this coming
There has been one true constant in the career of Phil Mickelson -- unpredictability. Three years ago, an entire automotive ad campaign was built around Lefty's occasionally head-scratching decisions and gung-ho mindset. So it should come as no real shocker that, despite much hyperventilating about how he was positioned to usurp absent Tiger Woods as world No. 1 if he played well early, Mickelson hasn't contended in his first two starts. Plenty of his detractors are rolling their eyes, muttering "same old Phil" around the office water cooler. But consider this -- he began '09 with a missed cut and two finishes outside the top 40, then won two of his next three starts and finished fifth at the Masters. So if Phil being unpredictable is all too predictable, that probably means he's going to start reeling off wins any minute now. To the Mick mashers out there, you have been forewarned not to gloat.
Riviera redux: Not a Fabulous Forum
If things were this disappointing when he was running the Lakers, they would have dubbed it "Slowtime." After installing L.A. legend and former Lakers general manager Jerry West as the tournament figurehead, the Northern Trust Open at storied Riviera hoped to imbue more regional excitement into an event that, even by sleepy SoCal standards, had fallen into a coma as far as public interest. It's impossible to call last week a success, though almost none of it was West's fault. Attendance estimates were placed at around 40,000 for the week, which is nothing short of forgettable. Some of the indifference can be chalked up to poor weather and the conflicting Super Bowl, but when the leaders finished on Sunday, there were fewer than 1,000 fans surrounding the final green. Another culprit is the PGA Tour's Championship Management wing, which took over the tournament this year and raised walk-up ticket prices from $30 to $50, grossly overestimating its position in the marketplace. According to reports, West cried foul at the increase, though there was nothing he could do. West has a one-year contract and his future status remains uncertain. Maybe another ex-Laker great, Elgin Baylor, could be hired, just for the sake symmetry. SoCal fans are already pre-conditioned to avoid his former product, the L.A. Clippers.
They were too busy wrecking Riviera to call
Nonetheless, Championship Management still ranks second among the bumbling tour's administrative branches in terms of biggest gaffes relating to last week. How else to explain how Champions Tour star Jim Thorpe was suspended via an insensitive e-mail message by tour officials on Friday? Granted, Thorpe wasn't answering his phone (I called him four times) and the commitment deadline for next week's Champions Tour events was approaching, but there had to be a better way to tell a guy that he was being benched until he enters federal prison April 1 for tax evasion. Thorpe apparently thought he would be allowed to play during his appeal. Chris DiMarco played golf Friday morning with Thorpe, an old friend. "He didn't say anything about a suspension," DiMarco said after the round. "He seemed excited about getting back out there next week." We can all argue over whether a guy who pleaded guilty to $2 million in tax evasion deserves to play and repay his debt to American taxpayers, but there's no disagreement as to whether he deserved more consideration when he was kicked to the curb. And you thought the IRS was callous and brutal? The tour not only can be questioned for making the wrong call, but for not making a phone call, period.
In the absence of fact, anything will suffice
It's time to engage in a favorite fan pastime -- ripping the media. This time, it's easier than a two-inch kick-in for birdie, and we'll supply the spiked foot. Last week a report was published in Australia claiming that Woods was set to play in the Accenture World Match Play Championship, which is two weeks away. Nevermind that he reportedly was in behavioral rehab, that he probably hasn't hit a ball in weeks, that tournament officials didn't confirm anything about Woods' intentions, or that Accenture has dumped him as a promotional front man. Other websites and papers picked up the story, claiming that various outlets had "reported" the same thing. No, multiple outlets posted variations of the same story, which had originated in Melbourne without a cited source, attributed quote or, apparently, vetted fact. In no uncertain terms, caddie Steve Williams shot down the speculation a few days later. Badly as Woods has handled his in-house issues, the media often haven't behaved much better while chasing the tale. Or its own tail. Or his tail. Pick one.
