Hearts are heavy on the PGA Tour this week, as players gather at Bay Hill for the first playing of the Arnold Palmer Invitational since The King’s passing last September.

It’s only fitting to start this post with one of Palmer’s last highlights, in his final appearance at Bay Hill in 2004. Never one to lay up, the 74-year old hit driver off the deck on 18 and pulled off an absolutely inch-perfect stinger, skirting the water and ending up pin high:

Palmer finished at 79 on the day, and PGATour.com served up a few 

The King will be missed this week (and always), and folks in Orlando are honoring his memory in several ways. The Tour unveiled a statue:

Smylie Kaufman and others have adorned their bags with Palmer’s iconic umbrella:

Love the AP umbrella on the bag this week! Thanks 





— Smylie Kaufman (@SmylieKaufman10) 

And on Tuesday, Morning Drive aired a snippet of a time-lapse video of different Tour players sitting at Arnie’s desk in his office at Bay Hill and signing memorabilia, just as The King did day after day.

But amid the memories, there is a golf tournament to play. And one with an interesting, and inclusive, history.

Pro golf has been played in the Orlando area since at least 1966, when the contradictorily named Florida Citrus Open Invitational was played at Rio Pinar Country Club. In 1979, the tournament moved to Bay Hill Club and Lodge, which Arnold Palmer had purchased five years previously. Known for long years simply as “Bay Hill,” the tournament was first played under the “Arnold Palmer” moniker in 2007.

As its name suggests, the Arnold Palmer Invitational has a lot more freedom in determining its field of players than most tournaments do. One of five invitational tournaments on Tour (the others being the Heritage, Crowne Plaza at Colonial, Memorial, and Quicken Loans/Sub-Prime National), the #APInv boasts a 120-player field with 18 sponsor’s exemptions, which is double the average number of exemptions available in a typical 156-player field.

Though it might irk the casual golf fan who loves to root for Rory or DJ, increasing the number of sponsors’ exemptions only ups the chances for something truly remarkable to happen. Case in point: 

Billy Hurley’s storybook win at last year’s Quicken Loans

Three years ago, the Tour put the Arnold Palmer Invitational on par (top-notch golf pun) with the Memorial, Tour Championship, and World Golf Championships, granting the winner of the AP a three-year PGA Tour exemption. With the backing of one of the game’s great players; the smaller, quirkier field; and now the added winner’s bonus, the Arnold Palmer Invitational has always been a well-attended event on tour.

Except this year, it’s different. With the World Golf Championship event moving from Florida to Mexico City, and the Match Play in Austin next week, many top players are… brace yourself… bailing on Bay Hill.

Paul Regali (@ghostofhogan on Twitter) dropped some 

I was holding back about pros skipping API but just can't.Absurd guy like Phil who steals AP's patent Thumbs Up move can't show up.

Unreal IMO. The ONE year u should play.IMO the selfishness is absurd.Im sure all have pre meditated excuses 

We talkin Arnold Palmer's tourney the year after he passes.I'd ride my bike from Oregon w/staff bag strapped to back to honor him by playin



— Paul Regali (@ghostofhogan) 

Oh but they blame the Tour switching the schedule.Never their fault.The selfishness is absurd 

It’s a complicated issue, because this year’s Tour schedule looks different than previous years. Players skipping Bay Hill (DJ, Spieth, Phil, JT) have a pretty strong reason to do so, with the next three tournaments being the WGC Match Play in Austin, the Houston Open (aka Augusta Lite), and the Masters.

Wherever you stand on the issue, we can all agree that Arnie’s tournament should retain its status as a premier event on the PGA Tour.

Bay Hill is one of several courses where Tiger Woods amassed enough prize money for a fleet of supercars. Big Cat took home eight titles here, including streaks of 3 (2001-03), 2 (2008-09), and 2 (2012-13). Six other players have won the event twice: Jerry Heard, Gary Koch, Tom Kite, Loren Roberts, Ernie Els, and Matt Every.

Oh boy. This is where things get good. Honestly, you might want to head to the tournament’s 

Berger’s and Johnson’s albatrosses were the first two of these rarest birds spotted at Bay Hill since the tournament moved there in 1979. Also, 

His win here brought him back to world No. 1 for the first time in over two years, and jumpstarted a season that ended with a PGA Tour Player of the Year Award.

It’s a three-minute video, but it’s worth it for that vintage Big Cat motion.

In possibly the most Greg Norman finish of all time, 21-year-old rookie Robert Gamez holed a 176-yard approach shot on the 18th hole, forcing Norman to birdie one of his final two holes to force a playoff. Of course Norman failed to do so, handing Gamez his first Tour win. The entire 

 reads like the man behind the typewriter had once lost a girlfriend to the Shark: the knife-twisting is deep and intentional. A sample:

Norman, who missed a 10-foot putt on the 17th green and a sliding 15-footer on the 18th green, has had a history of being stunned by sensational shots on the final hole of tournaments.



On the second hole of the 1987 Masters playoff, Mize chipped in from off the 12th green. On the final hole of the 1986 Professional Golfers Association Championship, Bob Tway holed a bunker shot at the 18th green. But when asked after Gamez’s holed 7-iron if he felt snake-bit, Norman said, ”No.”

Greg was extra salty after the win, saying: ”I still haven’t seen Gamez swing a golf club…If he can hole a shot like that, I guess he can play.”

Tom Kite laid down some foreshadowing for his 

 by chipping in to win a three-man playoff.

Dave Eichelberger won the event by three shots, but the real winner of the day was the weather. If 

 can be believed, the wind chill was a balmy 10 degrees at Bay Hill, with gusts up to 40 MPH. Eichelberger shot a 74, which was one of the best rounds of the day (Ray Floyd shot a one-over 72 for low round honors; Peter Jacobson took 88 strokes to get himself off the course). Eichelberger’s score becomes more incredible considering his attire: a ski cap, a golf shirt, 

a windbreaker, panty hose, and two pairs of pants.

Hale Irwin channeled most of Golf Twitter and 

on the NBC Sports schedule makers. Irwin won the event in a playoff over Kermit Zarley (presumed cousin of Mr. DeFrog), but the event had to be finished Monday morning after darkness suspended play Sunday night. Also, there’s a veiled Larry Bird reference in that story.

If you’ve somehow missed the PGA Tour’s 

 is a Tuesday must-read, particularly for the ridiculous Bobby Jones #traj at the end.

Can’t say I’ve followed the career of Andrew Jensen, but this 

 from Adam Stanley is absolutely worth your time.

Honoring Arnie: History of the Arnold Palmer Invitational

On Thursday, Pat Perez came out with some barrel fire takes on Tiger Woods on “Out of Bounds” on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio. 

Here is the quote that set golf Twitter ablaze:

“…he’s got this new corporation he started so he has to keep his name relevant to keep the corporation going,” Perez said. “So he’s going to show up to a few events, he’s going to try to play.., he’s going to show the Monster bag, he’s going to show the TaylorMade driver, he’s gonna get on TV. He’s got the Nike clothes; he’s gotta keep that stuff relevant, but the bottom line is he knows he cant beat anybody. He knows it… I mean he shot 77. That guy cant shoot 77. What does he do the next day? Aw my backs gone. He knows he cant beat anybody! I told you! He’s not gonna come out and play poorly.”

The quotes spread like wildfire on Twitter, and the masses grabbed their torches and set out to burn Perez at the stake (take a flip through the 

…. takes!). In a week that had “No Laying It Up” 

unintentionally got caught up in a political shit storm

, our mentions were hotter off that 2.5 minute audio clip than the outrage instigated by the dishonest political media. Sad!

The takes were not very wide-ranging, and almost entirely dedicated towards slamming Perez’s two-win resume. Probably because no one can argue with anything that he said.

This type of deflecting is what makes #TakeLife so incredibly frustrating, especially on Twitter. People wax on and on about wanting players to be open, honest, and to say what’s on their minds. Then once it actually happens, we line him up for the firing squad for not falling in line and saying the same cliches as everyone else.

Listen back to the audio above. Perez prefaces his take by giving Tiger the highest of praise about his impact on the game, clearly showing his understanding of how much of his own wealth can be attributed to the Big Cat. He then goes on the offensive, and says exactly what’s on his mind. On a show that he co-hosts. It’s literally a show where he shares his opinions. And he shares an opinion that no one (as far as I can tell) disagrees with. And people got mad!

The reality is, there are a lot of guys out there on tour thinking the same exact thing, and are willing to say so in private. Perez is the only one so far with the balls to actually say it in public. It’s worth noting that he’s talking about the 

 state of Tiger Woods, which we can all rationally admit is rather pathetic, right? At no point did Perez even remotely discredit anything Tiger has done in the past. So if you’re citing Pat’s resume and comparing it up against Tiger’s, you are part of the problem. If you’re going to tell me the prerequisite for being able to say anything even remotely critical about Tiger is that you need to have a better resume than him, essentially you’re saying Cat should be as untouchable as Kim Jung-un is in Pyongyang.

One would think that this doesn’t need to be said, but apparently it does. Just because Pat Perez has won two PGA Tour events doesn’t mean he can’t have an opinion on Tiger. He’s not comparing his own career to Big Cat’s, so when you cite his record, you’re moving the goal posts. In the golf take world, we’re mostly stuck listening to talking head’s spouting off the same recycled takes (myself not excluded), so why wouldn’t we put 

 stock in what a peer of Tiger’s has to say on the issue? If he was dissing on his career, and spouting off inaccuracies, I can understand the outrage. But the fact that no one wants to debate what Perez actually said, and only wants to fire shots at him for actually saying it tells the story on the level of credibility of the criticism.

Let me make it clear, if I haven’t already, that I like Pat Perez. He’s one of the few interesting characters on the tour that will straight up tell you exactly how he feels 100% of the time. If you want to disagree with his takes, by all means, have at it. The fact that his resume isn’t even remotely in the same realm of Tiger’s doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have an interesting perspective on the issue. You should absolutely pay more attention to someone who has been in the ring for the better part of two decades over someone like myself any day of the week. We have more than enough talking heads. We don’t have enough guys like Perez who are willing to put their honest feelings out in public.

Double P had already deleted his Twitter account on Monday, with the common theory being that it was related to the flak he was taking for pelting three unsuspecting fans with tee shots at Riviera last weekend. However, Perez made it clear through this Instagram post that he was very aware of the criticism.

Thank you @golfdigest for taking a clip out of my show using it incorrectly and letting people wear me out. Anyone that knows me knows that I am the biggest fan of Tiger and have the most respect for him.

A post shared by Pat Perez (@patperezgolf) on Feb 23, 2017 at 11:23am PST

He directed his disgust at Golf Digest for fanning the flame (although I’m struggling to see what they did wrong here). I did enjoy 

catching flak for not being a serious media member

 by not nailing down the timing of when Pat deleted his account, despite 

not ever saying anything about when he deleted his account

. Regardless of when he deleted it, I did find it rather convenient that his account was gone by the time he got around to sharing this take.

Pat Perez Goes In On Tiger, Outrage Ensues

Rory McIlroy teed it up with the president of the United States, Donald Trump on Sunday morning at Trump International. McIlroy rode in the cart for all 18 holes with the president, and told No Laying Up the following:

“He probably shot around 80. He’s a decent player for a guy in his 70’s!”

This picture was posted by Clear Sports, which also shows Paul O’Neill and Clear Sports CEO Garry Singer, although Rory confirmed to No Laying Up that they were not a part of the grouping. The four ball was rounded out by Nick Mullen from ISM, and Rich Levine (a friend of Trump’s).

Big battle today at Trump International with Clear CEO Garry Singer 

Rory said that he did not get the call to play until Saturday night asking if he would play Sunday morning. McIlroy is nursing a stress fracture in his rib, and was not planning to play golf until the following weekend, but said he had to make an exception for the president.

McIlroy also said that he played off the forward tees but did hit some drivers, and that TrackMan was telling him that his swing was nearly at full speed. Rory also confirmed to No Laying Up that his rehab is going according to schedule, and he plans to play in the WGC-Mexico Championship next week as scheduled.

Apparently this news contradicts a previous statement made by White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders. 

 that the president “played a couple of holes” earlier that day but that she didn’t believe it was “a full round.”

This story says McIlroy played 18 holes w/ POTUS Sunday, directly contradicting what WH told reporters 

Asked if Trump played a full round with McIlroy, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “He intended to play a few holes and decided to play longer.”

Rory McIlroy Played Golf With Donald Trump This Weekend

This week on the PGA Tour we have the newly named Genesis Open, which most folks either call the Los Angeles Open, L.A. Open, or simply “Riv.” I prefer the latter, as the venue, The Riviera Country Club, is arguably the best course on the regular PGA Tour schedule. It’s an absolute gem, a George C. Thomas masterpiece tucked a few blocks off Sunset Boulevard. Andy over at The Fried Egg put together a 

 complete with some stunning photos from Jon Cavalier.

Before we get into the history, let’s go on a quick Tiger tangent. First because this is his hometown event but he hasn’t played it since 2006, and much was made of his WD from both the event and the press conference this week. And second, because I’ve been made aware of some 

 Big Cat takes/rumors surrounding Riviera and this event that need to be aired out.

 is a wonderful resource for golf fans in many ways. It gives detailed overviews of nearly every significant golf course in the world, complete with photography and genuinely insightful architecture commentary. It also offers a 

 that seems ripped straight from the early days of the internet, colored emoticon faces and all. For the most part, this forum is populated by levelheaded golf fans discussing their favorite template designs, Raynor tracks, or 19th holes (I’m assuming. I don’t dive in there too much).

But the inimitable Tron Carter tipped me off to 

, which provides some scorching hot takes on why Tiger hasn’t played very well at Riviera (in nine pro starts his best finish is 2nd).

I would honestly recommend just clicking that link and reading the entire 35-post thread; it’s a remarkable cross-section of golf fan intelligence/obsession.

For those not inclined to click links, here’s the spark that started the fire.

Somewhat reasonable, right? Well, things get out of hand pretty quickly.

This is as close as you’ll get to one of those trollish “First” comments that you see on YouTube comments. Also, using the word “poaey” (a reference to the grass type responsible for 

) is a stunning display of golf nerd-dom.

The thread devolves from there. Here are some of the fieriest keyboard salvos, broken down by category.

“Where’s Your Degree in Agronomy From?”

In which internet commenters discuss how a different type of grass has stymied one of the best golfers of all time.

So I’m fairly certain this is the actual Tom Doak mixing it up in a grass discussion on the internet. He gets the benefit of the doubt in this argument. Stars, they’re just like us!

Tiger would have won if it wasn’t for that meddling kikuyu!

Yeah, because Bubba Watson doesn’t miss fairways.

And finally, the ultimate golf grass nerd post.

Alex Miller just went subatomic here. I’m thinking he and Bryson would have a lot to chat about. That is about as deep as you can go into grass without digging up dead bodies.

Johnny K is a man after PFTCommenter’s heart. That second post is something special.

This is the original guy who brought up the question. He clearly has an inordinate amount of time on his hands. My only guess is he’s in one of those minimum security prisons where they give you limited internet access.

Tiger Woods grew up in southern Los Angeles, so this event is his hometown tournament. His first appearance on the PGA Tour came here as a 16-year-old amateur in 1992 (

!). He played as an am the following year, and then played in ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’03, ’04, ’05, and ’06. He withdrew after the 2nd round in 2006, citing the flu.

After a run of consistent participation, why did Tiger suddenly cut ties with the Los Angeles Open after 2006? While some may blame poor finishes at the event or even the course itself, there are two alternate theories floating around.

Tiger Woods was banned from The Riviera Country Club.

I love sports conspiracy theories. Whether it’s the 

,” discussion about what happens in the shadowy margins of professional sports is always fascinating to me.

According to a source, Tiger had some choice words to say about SOMETHING at Riviera, and the club’s owner did not take kindly to that.

The owner of Riviera is Noboru Watanabe, a Japanese businessman whose 

 (all four posts of it) is nearly Seinfeldian in its self-promotion. If George Costanza had to create his own blog, this would be it.

And interestingly enough, in the “Black Swan” episode of Larry David’s 

, the gang butts heads with just such a golf course owner–a blustering, bombastic Mr. Takahashi, whose character is supposedly heavily influenced by Watanabe. Larry David is a member of Riviera.

So when Tiger mentioned WHATEVER HE DID, rumor has it that Watanabe blacklisted the Cat from setting foot on Riviera’s property.

For those less inclined to don the tinfoil hat, the story may just be that Woods and Watanabe got into some sort of spat, and Tiger decided that the L.A. Open needed him more than he needed the Open.

This theory isn’t nearly as fun to talk about, because it centers on an issue that is basically the opposite of the word “fun.” There are rumors that Tiger has boycotted Riv for the past decade due to racially insensitive remarks made about him.

It’s no secret that Tiger Woods’s golf game isn’t the only thing that turned him into the worldwide superstar that he is today. His ethnic background (what he calls “Cablinasian”) is a melange of different races, and his skin tone is one not commonly seen at the top levels of the pro game.

There are myriad stories of discrimination in Tiger’s rise through the amateur ranks. Most of them don’t involve outright racism, but are summed up nicely by this passage from Steve Helling’s book 

Tiger had never been barred from playing at clubs; in the 1980s and 1990s, people were too savvy to participate in such blatant racism. Instead, there was a general feeling of unwelcome that followed Tiger when he hit the links; he was an oddity, and not one that was necessarily appreciated or embraced. People would stare at Tiger in the clubhouse, not even trying to hide their gawking. It was as if they were silently wondering, “What is this kid doing here?”

Helling also quotes Tom Cunneff, a features writer for 

magazine, after Cunneff interviewed a 16-year-old adolescent Cat:

Prejudice definitely rubbed him the wrong way…It was the one thing he was passionate about…I could detect his anger about it.

 of a few high-profile racist incidents that Tiger’s endured over the years. But for every headline-grabbing event, there are probably a handful of unreported comments and throwaway lines that make their way to Tiger, a player who is clearly deeply conscious of the way other people view him.

If someone at Riv angered Tiger in this way, I can definitely see him cutting ties with the tournament for a long while.

Still with us? God bless you. Here’s some basic history of the LA Open for those needing to cleanse their mind and soul after braving the Tiger take boiler room/rumor mill.

The Los Angeles Open was first played 91 years ago at Los Angeles Country Club, a relatively new track at the time which bore the design imprints of 

… OK actually, three top-notch architects: Thomas, William P. Bell, and Herbert Fowler. The tournament bounced around the greater Los Angeles area for a while, alighting briefly at such privileged enclaves as Wilshire and Hillcrest, before finally settling at Riviera for good in 1973.

Fun fact: Babe Didrikson Zaharias (possibly the most multitalented athlete of the 20th century) became the first female to play on the PGA Tour when she qualified for the 1938 LA Open. No sponsor’s exemptions for the Babe. She played the event again in 1945, becoming the first and only female to make a 36-hole cut on the PGA Tour.

Also, a quick note. I refuse to stylize the Tour’s name the way that the powers that be insist on stylizing it. Any sane internet user would read the phrase “PGA TOUR” as a shout, and frankly, I won’t stand for it. This is golf. There are rules. And etiquette.

For a course where Tiger’s never triumphed, the winner’s list is still an absolute murderer’s row. Riviera is called “Hogan’s Alley” for a reason, as The Hawk won three L.A. Opens and a U.S. Open here in the 1940s. Among the extensive list of L.A. Open winners who only need one name: Demaret, Snead, Nelson, Mangrum (4 wins!), Palmer (3), Casper (2), Wadkins (2), Watson (2), Miller, Couples (2), Pavin (2), Faldo, Els, and Mickelson (2).

James Hahn got his first Tour win in a dramatic playoff over Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey. He birdied the tricky 10th before canning a huge 25-foot birdie putt on the par-3 14th to knock off DJ. Brendan Porath had an 

 of the final round at SB Nation, which also included a few words on Sergio’s very predictable collapse (up one with two to play, goes bogey-bogey to miss the playoff), and the outrageous nugget that none other than Retief Goosen held the lead after each of the first three rounds.

John Merrick won in a playoff over Charlie Beljan. I know nothing about either of these guys except that Beljan’s name reminds me of 

 targeting folks with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (for whom Methotrexate did not work well).

Also, according to one NLU founder, John Merrick “is the Osama bin Laden of #LPCP.”

Phil finished 2-1-1 in these three L.A. Opens, beating Steve Stricker by a stroke in 2009. Stricker got his revenge a year later when he took down the title by 2 strokes over Luke Donald.

Mike Weir went back to back. Wonder what 

With the exception of ‘91, every L.A. Open in the 1990s was, at least on the surface, incredible. Huge names on the leaderboard, a few tight finishes with a couple playoffs thrown in, and no discernible player style bias. You’ve got deadly accurate singles hitters (Pavin, Kite) to free-swinging bombers (Couples, Calcavecchia) to surefire Hall of Famers (Faldo, Els). What a time to be a golf fan.

 and took Riviera mega deep in Bowling for Soup’s favorite year, setting the tournament record at 264 (-20) with a 7-shot victory over Hal Sutton.

Tom Watson won his second L.A. Open in three years in a playoff over Johnny Miller, who was gunning for back to back titles.

Charlie Sifford won the second of his two PGA Tour titles at the 1969 L.A. Open. Today, the tournament honors Sifford’s memory through the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption, which allows one entrant into the L.A. Open who represents the 

 from The Hollywood Reporter (featuring the iconic foursome from 

) still gives a good overview of LA’s top seven country clubs–who plays where, what the dues are, and the general vibe of each club. Also, because it’s Hollywood, there’s a lot of talk about Jewish members and where they were/weren’t/are/aren’t welcome.

 by which Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama could ascend to No. 1 in the OWGR this week. If Hideki gets there, he will be the first Japanese player to be ranked # 1 in the world.

 from the 1992 L.A. Open. That hat is world-class.

L.A. Open History, Ft. Hot Tiger Takes and Rumors

“Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, all the young guys who came up through the college system and have had immediate success on the PGA Tour…they’ve always done that. Whether it’s the AJGA, or in college, or summer amateur tournaments, they’re just physically and mentally prepared to do what they have to do. And then there’s guys like me–late bloomers that have to go through the grind–and that’s probably the other 90% of us who are doing this for a living at our age.”

David Wetterich is a professional golfer. At 24, having graduated Cincinnati LaSalle High School in 2010, he is a year older than the first two professional golfers he names above. And while the new crop of Tour players like Thomas and Spieth are winning PGA Tour titles, making millions of dollars, and fighting for major championships, Wetterich is taking a much more winding road–in more ways than one.

If David’s last name sounds familiar, it’s likely because you’re familiar with his second cousin Brett. A rookie on the PGA Tour in 2000, Brett Wetterich bounced between the big show and the Nationwide Tour (now the Web.com Tour) before regaining Tour status in 2005, winning the 2006 Byron Nelson, and qualifying for that year’s ill-fated U.S. Ryder Cup team. At one point in 2007, Wetterich was ranked as high as 21st in the world.

While Brett was putting together his run, his cousin David (along with David’s two younger brothers Daniel and Matt) was growing up in a golf-crazy household in the suburbs of Cincinnati. “We watched all weekend when he won,” David says of Brett’s ‘06 triumph. “I remember that being an exciting time for us. I remember a few days afterwards, I listened to a radio interview of him, and stuff like that kept me more interested in the game. My family name [being] on the PGA Tour…gave me a little motivation.”

David used that motivation to secure a spot on the golf team at Division 3 Wittenberg University, in Springfield, Ohio. “I always had some kind of talent at [golf],” he says of his decision to pursue the sport after high school, “and I was better at it than other sports, so I decided I wanted to play in college.”

It’s not a stretch to say that Brett Wetterich’s mid-2000s success had a hand in the golf careers of all three of his cousins. David’s youngest brother Daniel is a sophomore on the golf team at Ohio State, and his middle brother Matt is a senior on the team at Xavier.

David was an All-American in 2012 at Wittenberg, and credits his coach for giving him the chance to compete at the collegiate level. “My coach Jeff Roope saw something in me, and ended up pushing really hard to get me. I ended up deciding to go there and it was a really good decision.”

At Wittenberg, Wetterich got a taste of the competition he’d be facing in the pro ranks right from the start: “I think I got to play in damn near every tournament all four years I was there. Glad I made that decision; playing gave me more experience and helped me learn throughout the whole playing process.”

Despite the strong memories of his cousin’s PGA Tour glory, Wetterich says that his consistent play and continued success at Wittenberg were the driving forces behind his decision to turn professional: “If I hadn’t gone there, I don’t know if I would have played golf; it kind of altered my decision as to what I wanted to do these days. But I am where I am now, and I kind of like my job.”

So where exactly is “here,” for Wetterich? Well, during the summer months, that question largely depends on the location of the nearest campsite.

The MacKenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada is the lengthy name for golf’s Double A circuit – the stepping stone to the Web.com Tour. A series of 12 events spanning the breadth of Canada, the tour has produced a slew of PGA Tour players including James Hahn, Tony Finau, and JJ Spaun. It’s a place to find the true grinders of the game – Canadians, Americans, Latin Americans, and even a few Europeans and Asian players all competing for purses that rarely exceed $200,000. Only the top 5 players on the money list at the end of the season earn Web.com Tour cards, with just the # 1 finisher being guaranteed full status on the Web.

Last season David Wetterich and his roommate Ryan Linton, a former standout player at Southern Cal, were two of the many pros trying to figure out how to play as many MacKenzie Tour events as possible without breaking the bank. The pair live in Pinehurst, so living at home was out of the question. Hotels and motels get expensive (and monotonous) quickly. And then Linton had a brilliant idea.

Why not drive from event to event, and live in the back of a camper?

“At first i was brushing him off like, ‘He probably won’t go through with it’–it didn’t seem exciting or appealing at the time,” Wetterich says of his initial reaction. Linton was gung-ho on the idea from the jump, and played well enough in a few Canadian qualifiers to gain conditional status on the MacKenzie Tour. Then he made his final pitch to Wetterich.

“He said, ‘I’m doing this, and I got a camper that’s big enough to fit one more person, and I’d like for you to tag along. We’ll have the time of our lives this summer,” David says. It was a compelling offer, and Wetterich finally caved.

The rig was a 21-foot Starcraft that just barely fit two grown adults comfortably (“We made a bed out of the seating area for me, since it was his camper, he got the queen bed,” David says). They stayed either at campsites or, on some occasions, in the golf course’s parking lot (no word on night putting sessions). They had a shower, though they didn’t use it much, preferring to bathe either at campsites or the course. And unlike many young adult males living together, they cooked their own dinners most every night. Calling in a delivery pizza to a camper at a golf course sounds like a good way to get arrested.

As life doesn’t work the same way it does in Disney scripts, the pair’s grand adventure was marred by the logistical and performance-related difficulties inherent in, you know, actually playing pro golf. Wetterich didn’t have any kind of status on the MacKenzie Tour, and had to Monday qualify into the three tournaments the pair played in. That meant a lot of late Sunday driving, and a lot of tired Monday golfing. Even still, the experience was one of the best of his young life. A sample of the extensive answer he gave on his description of his weeks on the road with Linton:

I didn’t get status so it was a coin toss if I was going to go. I missed the first Monday qualifier. The second one was in Victoria a week later and I said, ‘I’m gonna do a couple of them and see where it goes.’ I planned on being up there for two weeks, and I stayed up there the whole season. I flew into Vancouver, took the ferry over to Victoria on Vancouver Island, and Ryan picked me up from there, and we ended up going from one coast of Canada to the other. I went home for a week and met him in Ottawa, and he did a little chunk of the countryside by himself, but it was still a blast, it was the time of my life.

In addition to playing golf as a job, the guys managed to sneak in some bonus rounds across the Great White North, including a few at world-renowned Banff Springs in Alberta, Canada. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Golf wasn’t the only thing on the agenda during David and Ryan’s excellent adventure, as they had some of the continent’s best scenery and hiking at their front door. “Every night we’d have a campfire going when we could,” says David, “and we went on a lot of hikes, especially in British Columbia–we’d go on hikes everywhere we went.”

The MacKenzie Tour, like other smaller golf tours around the world, presents a challenging arena in which to succeed. Since the season is so short, it’s sometimes a matter of catching lightning in a bottle. “A lot of it is about timing; getting hot at the right time,” Wetterich says about this phenomenon. “Many guys have had one good month and it has springboarded them to the next level, or sometimes all the way up to the top.” Both Wetterich and Linton are still looking for that run of success – they missed the cut in each of their three tournaments.

Even though he didn’t see immediate success on the MacKenzie Tour, and acknowledges the tough road in front of him, Wetterich has no hesitation in his voice when asked if he’s going to run the whole thing back in 2017: “I plan on it…The plan is for both of us to get status and play the tournaments, not the Monday qualifiers.

“I know exactly how much it’s gonna cost, and the whole camper thing really cuts back on costs… I don’t know how much hotels were up there, but I feel like we were saving a lot of money at the campsites because they were only 40, 50 bucks at the most per night.”

David Wetterich lives on the fringes of professional golf. He counts his second cousin Brett and PGA Tour winner Jim Herman as friends that he can go to for advice, but his name has yet to crack the year-end MacKenzie Tour Order of Merit listing. His story probably sounds familiar to countless other aspiring PGA Tour pros. So often when we turn on CBS on Sunday morning and are greeted with shots of kitesurfers above the lush fairways of Torrey Pines, we forget about the thousands of players toiling in obscurity, digging divots on out-of-the-way driving ranges, and sometimes sleeping in camper vans in an effort to make a few cuts, and perhaps put together a career-changing run.

For now, Wetterich is planning his 2017 schedule. But this process is a bit different for David than, say, Jordan Spieth. In between practicing for a few Florida mini tour events and Monday qualifiers, Wetterich is working and caddying around Pinehurst. Three months out of the year he works in Cincinnati, cutting and scrapping spare aluminum to save up some money. His first big test comes the weekend of April 18-21, at the MacKenzie Tour Q-School tournament at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, FL.

The plan, as always, is to succeed, and then hit the MacKenzie Tour with Linton again this summer. A few Top 5’s, maybe a win, and there’s a chance to move up to the Web.com Tour. And as we’ve seen with Wesley Bryan, a couple of victories there can be life-changing.

Of course, when you’re on the road, it’s hard to see the (Canadian National) Forest for the trees: “Canada was fun–we went from one coast to the other, from Vancouver and Victoria to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It was a really fun time and I definitely look forward to doing it again. I think the whole camper thing enhanced the whole tour for Ryan and I. We got to have some fun and see a different country.”

There are many routes that lead to the PGA Tour, as evidenced by the huge diversity of origin stories and home countries represented on leaderboards and at the top of the OWGR every week. Wetterich is hoping that with a strong showing on the MacKenzie Tour, a little luck, and a lot of camping, his road winds its way up to the highest levels of pro golf.

You can follow David’s journey this summer on Instagram 

Camping Across Canada: David Wetterich’s Summer on the MacKenzie Tour

 that the U.S. Ryder Cup team was making two somewhat major changes to the selection of the team that he will be captaining at the 2018 Ryder Cup in France. They got it half right.

We’ll start with the good one. The system used in 2016 gave players 2 points for every $1,000 earned in a major championship (compared to 1 point for every $1,000 earned in a normal event). This is now changed to 1.5 points for every $1,000, with the exception that the winner of the major still gets double the points. Furyk said:

“Because the Major Championship purses are so large, and we thank them for that very much, but we’re looking at $10-$10.5 million dollar purses in the major championships. When you double the points in those events you in affect make a $20.5-, a $21-million dollar purse. In effect, they become weighted triple or a little more than a PGA Tour event.”

Nailed it! Credit where credit is due. He may have plagiarized this statement directly from a past podcast, but we’ll forgive him for not saying “as first reported by No Laying Up.” To me, playing well in a major championship in the same season is not necessarily an indicator that you for sure deserve a spot on the team, or that you will play well once the matches begin (see Willett, Danny). So don’t make them worth essentially triple the amount of points a normal tour event is worth. Pretty simple decision here.

Where they lost me is the second part. Although this is the second go around with what will still be known as “The Horschel Rule,” they still haven’t figured out how to make this line up with the calendar. Let’s replay how this rule first came about, and pay special attention to the timelines here.

In 2014, Tom Watson selected Hunter Mahan, Keegan Bradley, and Webb Simpson with his three captain’s picks (pause for laughter) on September 2, after the Deutsche Bank Championship. Billy Horschel stomped his way through Denver and Atlanta on his way to winning the BMW Championship and Tour Championship in the next 12 days, and every U.S. fan on the planet was left scratching their head wondering why we had chosen a team almost a month in advance of the event, and the hottest player on the planet was not on it.

I’m not going to look up the quote, but Watson said something along the lines of “families need to plan” as his reasoning for making his selections so early in the process. I can agree that there is an element to that, but this isn’t Hogan crossing the Atlantic in a boat at the ’53 Open. Every professional golfer at that level has a passport, and you don’t need a visa to get to Scotland or to France. You board a plane and you go. And in 2014, they had the luxury of a bye week after the Tour Championship. Again, what was the rush?

The committee (or task force or whatever you want to call it) reacted to this disaster by announcing that for the 2016 Ryder Cup, three captain’s picks would be made after the BMW Championship on September 12, and one final pick would be made after the Tour Championship on September 25. In others words, about 108 hours before the matches began, and about two hours before Ryder Cup week started up. 

 the Horschel Rule made sense for the 2014 schedule, but in 2016, it turned the Tour Championship into a play-in game, and essentially forced Love’s hand to select Moore. The pick ended up not mattering, and Moore performed well, but it was an unnecessary distraction, and did not exactly play out the way I would imagine the powers that be had envisioned.

Now, for 2018, Furyk has announced that he will make three selections after what is now the Dell Technologies Championship (formally the Deutsche Bank Championship) on September 3, 2018, and the final selection a week later after the BMW Championship ends on September 9 (

The Tour has not released the 2017-2018 schedule yet, so I can’t say for sure what the official date of the Tour Championship would be. Despite that uncertainty, I can’t fathom how the above approach is the best selection method. Let’s break it down in two different scenarios regarding the Tour Championship date.

Scenario 1 – Tour Championship immediately follows the BMW Championship, ends on September 16

: I believe this is how the schedule will play out, which is exactly the same place on the schedule as it was in 2014. This leaves an entire week off before the team departs for France, which is clearly a different scenario than 2016, where the Tour Championship ran right into the Ryder Cup the following week. If you’re even going to bother with using the Horschel Rule, why wouldn’t you save it for after this event? What’s the point of waiting one more tournament (the BMW) between your first three selections and your final selection? Are you really going to have that much more information after the BMW than you had after the Dell Technologies?

Sure, there is an aspect of planning and logistics. But you can’t tell me that the extra week that the 2018 schedule provides isn’t 

 easier from a logistics perspective than what unfolded in 2016. It’s not like an unsuspecting player needs to board a plan for Paris a few hours after the final putt in Atlanta falls.

Scenario 2 – Bye week after the BMW, Tour Championship ends on September 23

: As mentioned, I don’t think this will be the case, but I’ll at least give them the benefit of the doubt that this might be a possibility. If so, making the final pick on September 10 makes more sense, but why not just make all of the picks on that date? Again, what does that one tournament (the BMW) tell you that you didn’t already know?

If you’re going to use the Horschel Rule, use it after the Tour Championship. Select your first three after the Dell Technologies, then wait to see who is the most hot after the next two events. If you’re going to wait to use the pick, don’t do it a week later when there is still one event to go. And if no one gets hot, take the next best player on the board.

If you’re not going to use the Horschel Rule, make all of your picks after the BMW. You eliminate the distraction of the last few events being play-in events, your team is set three weeks in advance, and you’re relatively safe from leaving off a hot player. A guy not on the team that wins the Tour Championship isn’t necessarily going to be the best option for you in France two weeks later in a completely different format, on a totally different golf course.

This in-between option that they are currently going with serves almost no purpose, and does not line up with the calendar at all. Here’s to hoping that none of this matters.

U.S. Makes Two Changes To Ryder Cup Selection: One Of Them Is Good

Tron and I are going to team up for some notes/thoughts on the Phoenix Open this week.

For me, the Phoenix Open marks the true start of the golf season. The reach-around portion obviously doesn’t count, Hawaii is a complete novelty, and Torrey consistently underwhelms on style and substance. The energy around TPC Scottsdale combined with the liveliness of the broadcast (McCord, who I really like, is in full weirdo-mode) captures my attention and reminds me why I love watching golf. This year is special too for another reason–it marks the ten-year anniversary of my trip to the desert (making me feel exceptionally old).

A decade ago Tron and I were rolling into Phoenix off a near two-month bender in Colorado. We had technically dropped out of school (Tron maybe more so “technically” than me–I was a couple credits short of graduating, he was like a year-and-a-half short LOL). We drove down through the nether regions of Utah, braved blizzard-like conditions in Flagstaff, and finally found warm weather and a great time in Scottsdale.

Rare are the opportunities to experience a sporting event like the Phoenix Open where on the one hand I ‘knew’ quite a bit about it, but on the other really knew nothing at all. The most similar event I can compare it to is the Kentucky Derby. Everyone can watch the Derby and see the pageantry, horses, fancy dresses and stupid hats. What you have to go and experience for yourself is the third turn of the infield. It’s incredible. The full spectrum of public drunkenness and indecency. The horses are an afterthought, paid no mind except for maybe how the numbers stack up on your betting slip.

Well in much the same way that’s what awaits you in Phoenix. It looks and feels like a gigantic party on television, and unequivocally, it’s more so than you think on the ground. Again, full range of public drunkenness, though unfortunately a bit less indecency (although, Jesus, I can’t image what the Arizona St. coeds are or are not wearing these days). And like the Derby, many (most?) people couldn’t give less of a shit about the golf. It’s raucous, it’s profane, it’s scenic. It’s fun.

No Laying Up

Writing

Honoring Arnie: History of the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Pat Perez Goes In On Tiger, Outrage Ensues

Rory McIlroy Played Golf With Donald Trump This Weekend

L.A. Open History, Ft. Hot Tiger Takes and Rumors

Camping Across Canada: David Wetterich’s Summer on the MacKenzie Tour

U.S. Makes Two Changes To Ryder Cup Selection: One Of Them Is Good

Phoenix Open Notes

Thunderbirds, Rock Concerts, and Caddie Races: the History of the Phoenix Open

Farmers Notes

A Storied Affair: San Diego's PGA Tour History

2017 PGA Fantasy Primer

The Case for Daily Fantasy Golf

Sony Open Notes

Justin Thomas Put On An Epic Display Of #TourSauce At Kapalua

January 2017 Mailbag

Fore Left: The Story of No Laying Up

The Best Golf Tweets of 2016

Rory McIlroy To Use Callaway Woods and Irons, Odyssey Putter, Titleist Ball And Wedges At BMW South African Open