The mandatory 10 year probationary period for Pinehurst #2 comes to an end this June when the U.S. Open returns to the site where Michael Campbell inflicted widespread sadness on the golf community at-large triumphed over Tiger Woods and the rest of the field at the 2005 U.S. Open. In order to rid the historic grounds of the stink that was left behind from this abomination, a restoration was required to wipe the memory of that disastrous weekend. Literally, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw were hired to rework every single hole, as is highlighted pretty masterfully 

 Fairways were widened by as much as 50%, offering more strategic options in playing holes from tee to green.





 All rough was eliminated, establishing two heights of grass: greens and everything else.





 26 acres of turf were removed, restoring natural areas of sand, wire grass, pine straw and a variety of native grasses.





 Eliminated during the winter months, allowing for firm, fast conditions throughout the year





 Thirteen new tees were added to the championship course, increasing the total championship length by more than 300 yards, to 7,565 from 7,214.





 Several bunkers were restored, eliminated or reshaped based on aerial images of the course from the 1940s, and bunkers were edged to create rustic appearance





 Only two (15 and 17) were modified slightly to increase hole locations. Changes weren’t necessary, they were already legendary.

The elimination of rough, and the way the fairways flow into the “natural habitat” areas reminds me of the way Alister Mackenzie designed fairways and greens to flow naturally into bunkers, particularly Royal Melbourne. This is the first hole:

has earned some of the highest accolades in the design realm – Bandon, Friar’s Head, Sand Hills, Streamsong are among the best and boldest designs of the last decade or so, but the Pinehurst #2 redesign signifies a bold (and natural) progression as this pair essentially took their shit next-level. Pinehurst is an undisputed national treasure. Hell the place glossed itself the “Home of American Golf.” The history, prestige, and upcoming tourney slate at #2 mean the stakes really couldn’t be higher. Coore & Crenshaw knew they couldn’t afford to mess this up, and what made it more difficult was the fact that this was a restoration of history more than a true design or redesign.

While the diehards all dream about a Bandon trip or somehow getting on at Sand Hills, the masses aren’t really privy to the aesthetics and philosophies in play here. Seeing the US Open (and the US Women’s Open) played here could change the way the masses think of what a golf course should look like, and more important, what they want their golf courses to look like (and wait until 

 next year). In thirty years, we’ll likely look back on this restoration as a seminal moment in the arc of golf design. Hopefully we’ll see people trying to copycat the philosophies in play here, creating a veritable chain reaction: at once breathing life into the game by making similar designs accessible, placing downward pressure on the cost of a round of golf, and maybe even forcing a new premium on creativity and shotmaking (we can dream). Let’s be clear: this is a bonafide golf design 

We’ll dive in a lot deeper into the U.S. Open obviously when the time comes, but for now, take a look at the hole by hole breakdown. It’s hard not to get excited for what really looks to a be a “different” U.S. Open at a historic track, redefined: For more 

First Look at Pinehurst No. 2 Restoration

Scott Stallings birdied the 18th to ruin what would have been an epic 6-man playoff with K.J. Choi, Graham Delaet, Jason Day, Pat Perez and Mark Leishman. Can’t imagine a better NLU scenario than six pro’s jousting on a reachable risk/reward par-5 (we detailed the 18th at Torrey Pines (South) 

). And while the 18th was certainly entertaining, the 17th hole more or less resembled this all weekend:

Gary Woodland’s rig is somewhere over on the right shoulder. Dude hit the eject button after his tee shot on 17.

We always love seeing dudes ball out early, post a score, and then run and hide in the clubhouse. KJ Choi did just that and then almost miraculously held on for a spot in a playoff. For the next hour and a half, a variety of guys posted -8 and it was looking like we were headed toward a six-man playoff, which would’ve been sweet regardless of who was involved. That some of our favorites in JDay, Choi, Delaet and DubP (and WillyMac if he hadn’t missed a 3-footer on 17) would’ve been participants is staggering to think about. Can’t help but be a little bitter about the what-ifs. I still remember watching the six-man playoff at Riviera back in the day – great drama.

Torrey Pines (South) played extremely tough through Saturday. Some like that, 

. For me, a tough test to these players is much more entertaining than the birdie fest we saw last week in Palm Springs, and next week in Scottsdale. This was more of a U.S. Open set-up than any other regular tour event in recent memory (save for maybe the Memorial), and was obviously a train-wreck to watch at times. But when you take the longest course on tour and then bring the fairways in and frame them with rough that doubles as a penal-colony, you get a pretty good sampling of who’s game is tight and who’s a bonafide ballstriker. Not surprisingly, we saw a quality leaderboard. Low scores don’t always mean high entertainment – this was substance over style.

The course played much easier Sunday – due mostly to much more favorable hole locations. One has to think that some griping and bitching went down on Saturday night.

It was a productive week for some NLU ballstriking favorites (Woodland, Spieth, Horschel, JDay, DoubleP). Also notable were solid finishes by foreign studs trying to assert themselves on the big stage – Matsuyama, Ishikawa, Colsaerts, and Dubuisson (faded on weekend, but made cut in first event on US soil) can all hang their hat on a solid result here.

On the subject of DoubleP – needing an eagle to secure a spot in the playoff, it was horrifying to see him lay up on 18 from 247 out, especially after he’d been nutting his hybrids all day. While he still made birdie, this was a low-point for those of us at NLU. DubP’s televised F-bomb on 17 after his putt somehow didn’t find the hole (seriously, it was ridic) redeems him a bit in our eyes.

Hat-tip to @kyleporterCBS for this gem in the top left…

When Nic Colsaerts hit a wedge into the 18th on Saturday that slowly crept into the water, I cringed, as it brought me back to the 2012 Farmers when my boy Kyle Stanley freakishly spun his wedge into the pond on 18. I did not know CBS would be so cold-blooded to actually show the replay! The “Soly, don’t look, hide your eyes!” texts started flowing in. At least Nantz made it around to mentioning that KFS triumphed at the Waste Management the following week. A reminder of how cruel golf can be. Two years ago, Brandt Snedeker and Kyle Stanley finished 72 holes tied for first at -16. This year, they finished in another tie at +5 and missed the cut.

While Jordan Spieth was pretty loose this weekend, it can’t be understated that he absolutely dusted BigCat on Thursday and Friday. Hats off to the kid.

Galleries got a little live down the stretch – certainly a preview of next week. At one point on the telecast you could hear a marshal yelling at the “guy in the Titleist hat” to put his phone away. I’m sure that really narrowed down the culprits.

Shoutout to the guy who kept yelling “KIRK HINRICH!” after Gary Woodland’s mammoth tee shots. Other than that there were some pretty weak “Bababooey’s!” tossed here and there but not a whole lot of new material on the shot-calling front.

Andres Romero did the same thing as Choi, just a day early, heading out early and shooting 67 on a day when the scoring average was nearly 74. Romero has a remarkable tendency to thrive when the conditions and set-up are toughest, and then limp in when things ease up, sometimes disappearing completely. It’s uncanny. He did this a few years ago at the British. We’ve dubbed him Keyser Soze.

It’s a shame Woodland didn’t win because it was essentially the Gary Woodland show for much of the weekend, with everyone marveling at his swing and at his newly found scrambling abilities. The highlight of my weekend was Woodland flipping his stick 

 after what he felt were at least half a dozen poorly struck drives and long-irons. It makes sense – Woodland oozes efficiency and intensity, so it’s not surprising that he’s adopted such an efficient club toss. Perfect example: he piped a 323 yard drive down the fairway on 18 on Sunday, and was furious for some reason. Reminded us of a Dante Bichette home run where he would let go of the club before even finishing the swing.

We’ll give ourselves a B- this week. Had some horses at the finish but too many early-outs.

CBS did a great job (particularly on Saturday) with their camera angles that give you an idea of how players shape their shots. The camera-almost-on-the-ground vantage is infinitely better than the high angle, where every shot looks like its headed off the property to the right (except in Stewart Cink’s case this weekend, where his shots were headed off the property no matter what the angle). Not sure why the Golf Channel and NBC don’t do more of these, and why they don’t stay with the shot longer. On a good HD television, you can see almost the entire ball flight which adds to the experience.

Welcoming the Feherty/McCord tandem back into the living room was such a warm, fuzzy feeling. Mix in some Kostis and it’s the best golf viewing experience out there. I honestly think Finchy could offer some sort of RedZone type channel where those three guys are just riffing on everything and shooting the shit. I’d pay for a monthly subscription to that.

After a stellar first hour of coverage, and with a big-dick leaderboard, CBS’s coverage of the back-nine during the final round disappointed. Too many important shots weren’t showed live (Woodland’s drop on 17, DubP was nearly forgotten about, etc.), commercial breaks felt bunched, and the telecast kind of limped home. Felt Faldo was on his game – spry and cheeky all the while.

Golf Channel’s early coverage on Saturday and Sunday was solid – Terry Gannon is underrated. The coverage was basic, but in a way that’s refreshing. Perfect weather with the fog off in the background, close-up shots with shoulder-mounted cameras, gorgeous shots of the 3rd hole, in-depth coverage of a few featured groups. Felt like it was golf coverage without all the bullshit.

The Konica Minolta BizHub SwingVision camera is back and better than ever. First-class stuff from Peter Kostis.

What Michael Block did on Saturday was pretty special. First, Tiger should be forever indebted to him for ensuring his 2014 debut didn’t result in a DFL of those that made the cut:

Second, I’ve got some curious questions…Has anyone ever heard of Michael Block? Did anyone confirm that he was actually entered into this tournament and playing on the course? Looking at his scorecard and shot chart makes you think that 

 actually got pgatour.com to fabricate this character just to make it look as if Tiger didn’t finish DFL. Seriously, how does THIS happen?…

Let’s start with the 3rd shot. Either he shanked a flop shot, or he was paid under the table by the Tiger Woods Foundation to take a dive coming in. Then the 3 putt from 16 feet, including a missed 2 footer. Seriously, how is this not being investigated? Here’s how his card ended up:

Alright, we tore Michael Block down, now it’s time to build him back up (unless this was Steiny covering his tracks). His bounce-back at 18 is what we’re all about. NO LAYING UP! Blasting it onto the par-5 18th in two and two putting for birdie and a round of 86 is absolutely something I’ve experienced before.

One of our favorite events of the year is this coming week at TPC Scottsdale: The Waste Management Phoenix Open. This event hits close to home for Fil and Tron, who had their lives changed irrevocably after attending the ’07 tourney. Get ready for one our liveliest preview pieces yet!

Farmers Insurance Open Recap

In case you don’t follow any golf-related people on Twitter, allow me to tell you this week the PGA held its annual merchandise extravaganza down in Florida. Featuring over 1,000 exhibitors crammed into the Orlando Convention Center, it’s a cornucopia of everything and anything you could ever imagine related to the game. Many exhibitors use the show to unveil their latest and greatest products, producing a certain level of buzz around equipment, gizmos, or gadgets.

This year, however, perhaps the biggest buzz was created by Mark King, outspoken TaylorMade CEO, as he publicly outlined company-sponsored initiatives designed to grow interest in the game. As James Achenbach details in his Golfweek.com article, “

King: Bigger Cup, Larger Ball Can Grow Golf

,” the specifics of these initiatives involve enlarging the cup, enlarging the ball, and providing people oversized equipment with which to whack said big balls.

How big does King propose the cup be made? Achenbach notes in his article the plan is for:

“a 15-inch cup. The normal cup is 4.25 inches in diameter, so the 15-inch version tends to look like a wash tub to most players.”

Achenbach describes King’s dystopia idea further saying people would use:

“a new ball and new clubs invented by TaylorMade engineers. The ball is oversized, and so are the clubheads (the set includes only four clubs, one of them a putter).”

Where would people play this version of ‘golf?’ Achenbach writes,

“King said about a dozen courses are poised to immediately install the larger cups. Many more courses, and golf-course management companies, have expressed interest.



The plan at this point is to cut two cups on every green: standard and oversized.”

I would appreciate TaylorMade’s efforts to “grow the game” if I didn’t believe they were just completely transparent attempts to drive sales. I get it, though. King’s the CEO of a public company (subsidiary of a public-company to be exact), and public companies have numbers to meet. But damn, what he’s proposing isn’t golf, it’s a mutant, bastardized version of the grand game. Baseball played with oversized balls and oversized equipment isn’t baseball, it’s freaking softball.

Really, and at the risk of proselytizing like some morally-superior schwaldo, I think this idea only gets past the ‘Horrendous Idea by Overwrought Focus Group’ stage because 

as a society have a heightened need for instant gratification. It’s endemic of the way things are; people have too many distractions, too much rushing around to do. We’re all on the move all the time, if only in our own minds. We don’t have the desire to hone a craft. We don’t have the patience to build requisite skills. We want things distilled down for easier, faster consumption. We want to play golf well without having to struggle to play golf well.

Successful companies are successful for a reason, though. Namely, they market and deliver what people want. So I’m terrified that people actually want this.

 want this and it’s actually going to be a thing, dear God, please don’t bring this freak show to actual courses. Raise up a Big-Top and run this circus far away from golf sanctuaries. The last thing I need is to be grinding over my birdie double-bogey putt and worrying about how I’m going to circumnavigate a f*ing bathtub-sized crater in front of me because some jolly dipshit got snookered by the merry hucksters of ‘Corporate Golf’ to bat around an overstuffed ball with humongous freaking clubs for a few hours and pretend they’re golfing.

Golf is the continual reach for perfection, knowing it’s not attainable, but savoring the winding journey nonetheless. (You bet that’s a life metaphor!). Leave the damn game alone. And get off my damn lawn.

This Guy Has a Terrible Idea

The Farmers Insurance Open is back at Torrey Pines this week, and San Diego fans have been provided with more excitement at their professional tournaments in the last decade or so than perhaps at any other course in the country. Good for San Diego-ans though, because they clearly have it pretty tough out there:

In their defense, they did have to sit through 6 years of Norv Turner, and have a baseball ballpark where hitter’s careers go to die. But once a year the Farmer’s comes around, and there is almost always drama on the finishing hole at Torrey Pines, a true risk/reward par 5 that separates the NLU favorites from the pretenders.

Before we get to the putt heard round the world, there was this from the 3rd round of the 2008 U.S. Open. A winding 30 footer for eagle to take the lead going into Sunday:

 to this crowd. I’ve never heard a crowd sound so loud through the television:

Then of course came Sunday. The Big Cat draining this 12 footer to force a playoff with Rocco Mediate:

(I’m pretty sure Ahmad Rashad has confiscated every possible good clip of this off youtube, and keeps it for himself, watching it nightly before going to bed.)

The shot that almost was. Trailing Bubba Watson by 2 on the 18th on Sunday at the 2011 Farmers, Lefty memorably had Bones tend the flag from 72 yards away.

Have to love the FIGJAM quote from Phil in the video: “I’m trying to fly it in, and if it doesn’t fly in, it’s gonna skip, and I want to try to bring it back in. So when I get a wedge shot at 72 yards, I can usually fly it within a yard 95% of the time.” 95% of the time he can fly it within a yard!? Reminds me of one of my favorite Phil stories (tweet from Colt Knost):

I told Phil one day he’s pretty good with his wedges, he replied “no, I’m really f’ing good with them” #legend #usopen

This is a tough one for us, as NLU favorite Kyle Stanley lost a 3 shot lead on the final hole when his wedge shot that appeared perfect, freakishly backspun into the water (1:00 mark):

Stanley went on to lose in the playoff, yet miraculously redeemed himself a week later at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, coming from 8 shots behind in the final round to notch his first PGA Tour win.

Here’s to hoping that this Sunday we don’t see Stew Cink laying up and two putting to win.

Drama Theater: The 18th at Torrey Pines

If this doesn’t get you geeked up, I’m not sure what will (play this while you read – it sets the tone)….

The Farmers Insurance Open (San Diego Open for traditionalists) sprawls out across the North and South Courses at Torrey Pines on Thursday and Friday before settling on the much more difficult and defined South Course for the weekend. Torrey remains one of the most beautiful and scenic courses in the world, despite the fact both courses get over 92,000 (!) rounds per year each. The South is a big ballpark (think Petco Park) at 7,643 yards, while the easier North plays to a meager 6,874. Little known fact about the course is that it overlooks the 

 (the link is safe, no nudity). The man-made canals of last week’s cookie-cutter Palmer Private Course at PGA West give way to breathtaking views of the shores of La Jolla, which signifies the start of the real PGA Tour season.

The South Course famously played host to the 2008 US Open, Tiger’s one-legged triumph over Rocco, so it has a legacy to match the scneic views. Fresh off last week’s avian genocide (birdies galore), it’s going to be a little weird seeing guys pumped to make par, especially on the weekend. The main scoring opportunities on the South Course are the four par-5’s, but measuring 560, 613, 541, and 572 yards, respectively, they possess plenty of girth and certainly aren’t auto-birdies.

The winning recipe is to get as fat as possible on the North Course, where the par-5’s are extremely vulnerable (listed at only 520, 548, 507, and 485 (!!!) yards, respectively) and the 326-yard, par-4 2nd played as the second-easiest par-4 on Tour last year. Then you strap up and go about your business on the South Course, constantly picking your spots and taking care not to make big numbers.

Once the tournament hits Saturday it becomes a veritable BSD ball-striking convention. Tiger has won the event seven times in thirteen starts, while Lefty has three wins in his career (though nobody likes to mention his last win came way back in 2001). More recently, in non-Tiger years, heavy-hitters like John Daly (’04), Nick Watney (’09), and Bubba Watson (’11) have captured the hardware, though Ben Crane (’10) and Brandt Snedeker (’12) have proven distance isn’t a definite requirement.

Tiger, Phil, Jason Day, Hunter Mahan, Graham Delaet, Bubba, Westwood One, and Nick Watney are among the pros who haven’t seen much action, if any, in the young season. Between this beefed-up field and the aforementioned all-star track, this event always feels important, even if it’s only late January. After a couple of low-wattage events in a row (“the tour needs ditch-diggers too” – 

), the expectation is for a top-shelf leaderboard and subsequent champion.

Tiger did his thing and coasted to a four-shot victory (272, -14) that was never really in doubt, despite some wayward drives coming in during his six-hour round on Sunday (it took 3 hours and 45 minutes to play the last 11 holes!). Although his 69% GIR and 0.649 strokes gained putting per round are fairly unassuming, Tiger played the par-5’s 12-under for the week and made a total of 21 birdies and 2 eagles.

We wonder, does the City of San Diego levy property taxes against Tiger?

As was indicated above, this is our first big-boy event of the year. Most of the field probably has a mindset going on…

: Tiger, Phil, Day (Jason, not Glen), Poulter, Snedeker, Spieth, Keegan, Westwood, and Billy Haas (Member FDIC).

 Horschel, Spencer Levin, Rocco, Andres Romero, KFS, Matsuyama, Woodland

From a pure fantasy perspective, this is a week to unload the heavy artillery. Tiger, Phil, Sneds, Haas, Day, Mahan, etc. Get the big-boys locked and loaded across the board. This isn’t a week to go mining for value.

. Almost impossible not to take The Cablinasian here. Don’t load up on the dogs too hard.

. T2 in 2013, WIN in 2012, T9 in 2011, T2 in 2010. The guy gets around Torrey Pines like one of those hang-gliders that Golf Channel will show roughly 2,314 times this week.

. Three straight top-10’s in this event. Four top-25’s in four starts this year. Should be there on Sunday.

. Didn’t miss a cut on Tour last year, including a T9 at this event. Shot a final round 66, which was lowest on the South Course. First PGA Tour start of the year after a nice silly season down under. Extreme big-game hunter and YOTTO candidate. Would be a worthy champion.

Solo 3rd at the 2008 US Open, hasn’t played here since. Solid early season player. The level of talent you’re getting here at 33/1 is worth the gamble.

Value Fliers (‘value’ being relative due to nature of top-flight champions):

. Last year opened 66-69 before fading to T39 with a 76-75 weekend. If he found something in that 64 to close the Humana, watch out.

. Ranks 2nd in total driving, 2nd in ball striking, and 7th in par-5 scoring. If he can put together a good putting week (ranks 153rd in strokes gained on the year), he’ll be on the front page come Sunday. Finished T27 here last year after fading a bit with a 74 in the final round.

. We absolutely believe that at some point KFS is going to confront his epic 2012 collapse here and win this event. Outside of the majors, this has to be at the top of his to-do list. His ballstriking stats remain top-shelf, dude just needs a spark with the putter and he’ll be in business.

. We’re irrational in our affinity for Spencer, so take this one with a grain of salt. That being said, he’s banked a few top 25’s here and prior to his health issues last year (missed all of ’13 after injuring his thumb in a belly-putter accident…seriously) posted a first round 62 in ’12.

When the big guns come out, so do the galleries. The wayward drives may actually hit people, and you’ll be able to hear real applause and legit cheers for the first time in 2014. CBS will sprinkle in the sights and sounds of SoCal at every turn (aforementioned hang-gliders galore, surfer bros/chicas wandering the premises stoned to the bejesus and decked out in their Billabong duds and hater-blocker sunglasses), making everyone wonder at least a few dozen times why the hell they don’t live in San Diego (where you could play Torrey South for $61 on weekdays as a City resident). This is essentially a tune-up for next week’s all-out desert rager over in Phoenix. Most notably, this is the first of many times this year that we’ll hear Jim Nantz greet us with a “Hello, friends.”

A hearty welcome back to Peter Kostis, who is officially cancer-free, and will be on the telecast providing pithy, on-point commentary. Kostis’ baby is the Konica Minolta BizHub SwingVision feature, which is essentially a public service at this point, and should be respected as such – 

This event has been renamed 13 times! Notably, from 1968 to 1980 it was named the Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational. Still trying to figure out how a tournament can be an “invitational” but yet be “open”? It went on for 13 years under this title from 1968 to 1980.

Shouts-out to Victor Dubuisson, who is making a cameo appearance on the US tour (to my knowledge he’s never played an event in the US). Aside from sporting world-class lettuce, Dubuisson captured copious amounts of NLU respect when we heard he maintains a crib in Cannes (his hometown), despite having switched his permanent residence to the microstate of Andorra (most likely for tax purposes). The guy oozes playboy vibes, and he’s long off the tee to boot. Is it bad that part of me wants him to miss the cut and just pimp hard down in San Diego all weekend? That hair plays anywhere, but especially in San Diego

Speaking of lettuce – not sure about anyone else, but a part of my soul dies every time I see Charley Hoffman’s new ‘do. I feel like he sold out to “The Man.”

Can we petition Golf Channel to get Steve Sands back out on-site and reign-in Todd Lewis? I miss Sands. And Lewis is like a homeless-man’s Tom Rinaldi (who’s a poor-man’s Jimmy Roberts, and I really don’t even like Roberts).

Is Mickelson redesigning the North Course

 or what? How has this not been green-lighted yet? The two drivable par-4’s he proposed are obviously NLU-approved.

Bubba, Mickelson, and Day are paired together the first two days. We love JDay, but shame on Finchy for missing a golden opportunity to shoehorn Weir into a gloriously diverse left-handed combo platter.

Favorite group for the first two rounds is the trio of Tiger, Spieth, and Jimmy Walker. There’s a definite master/apprentice feel to this one, and Walker is certainly in form and no slouch himself.

Farmers Insurance Open Preview

The big news coming from Humana was Patrick Reed’s opening trio of 63’s and game of hide-and-go-seek he played with the field. Banking his 2nd career win, as Soly pointed out in the 

, Reed has quietly moved into heady company–he’s one of three guys age-23 or younger with multiple Tour victories (Rory McIlroy and Harris English being the other two).

To be completely honest, even with his breakthrough win at the Wyndham last August, the first (and really only) thing I associated with Patrick Reed was his petite-blonde wife on the bag. Until his torrid start in the desert this week, I had failed to notice Reed is so relatively young, comes from the much-ballyhooed Augusta State collegiate stable, and has a new caddie (he and his wife, Justine, are expecting their first child in a few months). In other words, he is the 

type of under-the-radar, big-game owner the YOTTO Index is designed to parse out. And on that front, not surprisingly, Reed made a huge move up the rankings this week after winning (up 260 spots to #14 with a mark of 89). Assuming his strong play continues, Reed will be house-hunting in the YOTTO neighborhood very shortly. Tell the Mrs. that the schools are great and there are plenty of other young families around.

ZJ and Harris English flip-flopped the second and third spots in the top-5, with #1 (Jimmy Walker), #4 (Chris Kirk) and #5 (Ryan Moore) remaining the same.

Besides Reed, there were a handful of other large jumps this week. Ryan Palmer moved up 234 spots to #27 with his solo 2nd, Stuart Appleby gained 127 spots to #70 with a t-9, and Charley Hoffman also t-9’d moving up 115 spots to #59.

Due to small-sample sizes, the bottom of the board includes names you may recognize like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson, Steve Stricker, Brandt Snedeker, Jim Furyk, and Hunter Mahan. These guys had varying degrees of ‘good’ 2013’s and haven’t played many events thus far in 2013-14. That begins to change this week in San Diego. We’ll see who, if any of them, can get their Emeril on and kick up 2013 results a notch or two this year.

YOTTO Update (Humana)

Patrick Reed needed almost all of the 7 shot cushion he built up over the first three rounds by firing 63-63-63, as he struggled to a final round 71. His 2 shot win marks the second of his career, as he held off late charges by Ryan Palmer, Zach Johnson, and Justin Leonard. He also withstood a 

Patrick Reed is only 23 years old! The list of current 2 time winners under the age of 23 is a short one: Harris English, Rory McIlory, and Patrick Reed. No other option but to be completely impressed by what he did this week. I don’t care how easy the courses are. Three consecutive 63’s is mind blowing.

this week, his wife is 5 months pregnant. An incredible “coincidence” that his win at the Wyndam Championship was almost exactly 5 months ago? She may be preggers with twins now….

Reed was paired with Tommy Gainey the first 3 rounds. He beat him by 

Birdies were given out like welfare checks (and now it all makes sense: Finchy brought Bill Clinton in to implement elements of his 

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996

 over the next few years). Finishing -20 didn’t even net you a top 10.

The Gary Woodland-Billy Horschel pairing was an intense, tasty treat. It was like a raw 22 oz bone-in strip (Woodland – dense and aggressive) paired with a throaty left bank Bordeaux, maybe a Chateau Margaux (Horschel – equally intense, tannic, but also elegant w/ that Polo deal). Two ball-striker-extraordinaires/NLU favorites.

. Let’s hope this booing thing continues!

I’m pretty sure Holly Sonders thought she was actually playing in the event. She had the crowd waves down, and spent as much time as Lefty does signing autographs and doing interviews after the round.

If the Humana keeps on this path, it’s going to be more of a vehicle for fitness propaganda than a golf tournament. And Bill Clinton spent more time in the booth than Jack Nicklaus does during the Memorial, which says a lot.

, we suggested the following players for your fantasy lineups, or your bets. Here is how they fared:

Field – We suggested this week being as good as any to make a “field” play, and Patrick Reed indeed was part of the “field” pool. Overall it was a mixed bag – we’ll try to rebound this week.

On the 358 par 4 8th on the Palmer Private Course, the group in front cleared the green for Woodland to hit. The hole does not play downhill, and the wind was barely blowing. He flew it pin high. This is everything we stand for.

NLU Oil Spill of the week (brought to you buy BP)

Keep in mind how insanely easy the courses on this tournament are. To shoot 80 on that course and in those conditions was special, as Fil summarized 

The parents are back from their vacation this week and the kids are grounded for throwing a bash while they were gone. Torrey Pines, TPC Scottsdale, Pebble Beach, and Riviera – possibly the best stretch of the entire year. Coincidentally, Zach Johnson announced that he’s taking the next four weeks off. I’ve got no problem with guys taking time off, but to play Hyundai, Sony, and Humana, and then skip Torrey, Phoenix, Pebble, and Riviera is like getting invited to play Augusta but calling it quits after the front nine so you can head to the range and work on your traj. ZJ’s a purveyor of perhaps the most buttery wedge game on tour, as well as an upstanding gentleman, but it’s tough to reconcile the fact that, outside of the majors, he seemingly puts more stock in second and third tier events than some of the cornerstones of the premier non-majors (and while Torrey and Phoenix are definitely bomber tracks, the Pebble rotation and Riviera suit his game well). Not to mention he has 11 top 10’s in his last 14 events!

Also back from hiatus is the CBS broadcast crew, one of the many reasons the next four weeks are so tasty. The production quality is top-flight, the banter is unmatched, and more than anything it feels like an actual telecast instead of a prolonged conversation between “Rog” and “Johnny.”

Check back tomorrow night for a run-down of everything you

Humana Challenge Recap

. The only comment the user left was that his brother-in-law could not afford a Scotty Cameron, so he bought a beat up one and gave it to him for his birthday. You really should check out the step by step pictures that he posted 

Brother-In-Law of the Year - Amazing Scotty Cameron Restoration

With a mere 231 yards into the 18th hole at the Palmer Private Course, Zach Johnson did what he does, which was lay up. This is our nightmare. The crowd (jokingly) threw some boo’s at him, to which he responded that he was in a divot. The Golf Channel zoomed in and Faldo called him out. See video below:

This layup was followed up by Holly Sonders of the Golf Channel going for the green from slightly closer. She didn’t make it over, but at least she tried.

Zach Johnson Showered with Boos For Laying Up from 230

The coolest man in golf pulled off a shot that only a guy who wouldn’t even bother to fix his hair for his 

Going for the par 5 in two (naturally), Couples blocks it way right, but for all we know he was trying to do that. He ricochets it off the lava, off the cart path, down to the hole to 8 feet for eagle. And he of course drained the putt.

Fred Couples Ricochets It Off Lava to 8 Feet

Because NLU’s all about the lifelong pursuit of knowledge, if only for knowledge’s sake.

This is one of many economic fundamentals I consistently can never 

 remember. So if only for my own edification, and perhaps maybe any of you who struggle with this distinction, I present the following example in hopes of finally cementing this shit once and for all (hang with me here):

Let’s say a golfer–what the heck, let’s make him a 

. Our proud Masters champion is getting back into the flow of a new PGA Tour season like any other year; playing an early-season, West Coast 

Now this particular tournament happens to occur on some of the easiest tracks this (or any) professional will encounter all year. Our pro promptly struggles, to put it delicately, in his first round, shooting a 

 on a course that will yield a cumulative scoring average about ten shots lower on the week.

Let’s now discuss this performance using our economic terms, ‘real’ and ‘nominal.’

The rough relationship we will want to always remember is 

 amounts (be they interest rates, wages, values, or golf performances) are expressed without accounting for inflationary influences (i.e. inflation rates), whereas 

 amounts are expressed with inflationary effects factored in.

For our example above, the equation we will apply mirrors that used to calculate real vs. nominal wages.

 performance * (1 + [% Change in Difficulty over Base Course])

So to conclude, in our example we would express the Green-jacket winner’s performance, 

, having applied the necessary, significant increase in course difficulty (based on the relative strength of the courses he will encounter the rest of the season), we can best express our pro’s performance as…


Aerial view of LQCC following Immelman’s round

*Note: Actually doing the math here will produce a ‘real’ golf score, in absolute terms, less than 79. We’ve exercised an artistic license a little bit. If we’d been discussing wages, lower would equal ‘worse.’ Obviously golf performance is not oriented in a similar manner.

Economic Lesson of the Day: Real vs. Nominal

In honor of Webb’s first shank of the year, we dug this video up from the top of the search results for best shanks on YouTube. Make sure you have headphones, Feherty and Peter Kostis reacting is worth the price of admission.

We shouldn’t dog Paula Creamer. She was in the bunker. And she’s a sass.

Big Cat’s Shank is the definition of a Hozzle Rocket…FIRE THE LASER! #ProjectVulcan

The best one has to be Mahan. While our boys in the booth (and Rog out on location) are slobbing his ‘consistent ball striking,’ Mahan promptly fouls one into the first base dugout.

Can you say Hozzle Rocket?

Here at NLU, it is our privilege–nay, it is our mission and duty to share scenes like this:

Hey Johnny, Jack doesn’t care about your 63 at the US Open.

Johnny Miller Served by the Golden Bear

Humana Challenge. Just doesn’t have much ring to it. While it’s certainly understandable that the organizers wanted to inject some new life (and funding) into this event, for many it will always be the Bob Hope Classic. In the years since his passing this tournament has struggled to find it’s footing, so it made sense on a lot of levels to bring Bill Clinton into the fold a few years ago and add some cache to the event. Clinton actually played the event as a SITTING PRESIDENT in 1995 along with Gerald Ford and George Bush version 1.0. (Holy Secret Service nightmare!)

After altering the format from five rounds to four a few years ago (and 

 George Lopez in the process), the Tour is FINALLY abandoning the celebrity format (if you could even call them that – can you imagine being the PR intern tasked with adding some pizzazz to this D-List cast 

?). It was one thing when you had legends like Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Ike Eisenhower teeing it up on a yearly basis, but these days one annual celebrity pro-am is more than enough (no thanks on the six hour rounds and cloying television coverage). However, instead of doing away with the Pro-Am format altogether, Finchy opted to keep the corporate money flowing and allow wealthy white dudes to still buy their way in. We see you working, Boss Man!

It’s really not necessary to do a deep-dive on the courses this week; they’re hilarious resort courses and are the equivalent of setting up a sporting clay’s course in an 

 (which, ironically, these tracks are). Picture the exact opposite of The Open Championship rota and that’s what the Coachella Valley offers – a variety of perfectly manicured tracks in the birthplace of target golf and water-management 

. This year’s trio features two PGA West courses (Palmer Private and Nicklaus Private) and La Quinta Country Club. All three courses are short, have nothing resembling rough, and perfect greens. Birdie bonanza.

Brian Gay’s victory was especially impressive as he defeated not only the 150-man field, but also anyone who cares about fashion, along with organizers’ hopes of a dynamic, young winner.

Last Name does NOT adhere to stereotypes around fashion.

The tragically-dressed short-knocker vanquished two power plants (CH3, Lingmerth) to snatch his fourth career victory, going 25-deep over the four rounds which was pretty much in line with previous years. Notably, the top-20 finishers included young guns Lingmerth, Kokrak, Horschel, Chappell, and Stallings (who played the 18th hole with his hands around his neck, costing himself a spot in the playoff), who all collected well over $100k and relieved some status pressure in the process. Don’t think it’s a coincidence at all each of these guys went on to experience serious success in 2013. In total, four rounds of 62 and seven rounds of 63 were turned in. (It really is a shame two-time champ Phil Mickelson doesn’t at least visit every few years).

So has the switch to a relatively normal format made a difference? Not really, but then again, if the tournament has improved it’ll take a couple years to really manifest. As it stands, five of the top-30 (OWGR) are in the field but the Humana remains the quintessential early-season cash-grab. 150-man field, Web.com style birdie-fest, early season event (again) lacking the heavyweights – you’re gonna see the kids trying to get away with as much as they can before the parents come back next week at Farmers. Doesn’t seem to favor any particular type of player – prior to Gay and Mark Wilson’s victories the last two years, it was won by bombers Billy Haas and Jhonny Vegas.

Basically, all of the par-fives are very reachable on every course. While the other two courses are pretty unremarkable, Palmer Private features a couple of drive-able par-fours and a savory finishing stretch with a Mickey Mouse par-three (love it). It’s just tough to highlight scoring holes when they’re all scoring holes.

ZJ, Keegan, Billy Haas (Member FDIC; plays a shitload of desert golf), Webb, Sneds, and Harris English

Players Providing Us Joy (for various reasons):

 Mike Weir, Kevin Na, Y.E. Yang (he lives!), Steve Jones, Nicolas Colsaerts (why is the ‘Muscle’ not playing the big desert event?), and Chris DiMarco (must’ve paid his way into the Pro-Am)

Gary Woodland (25/1). Runner-up finish here a few years back, primed to break out again. Can out-muscle layout.

Bill Haas (25/1). Great value, quintessential horse for course. Past champ also lost this tourney in a playoff and largely owned it prior to struggling the last two years. Would be surprised if he doesn’t regain form here.

Billy Horschel (30/1). Finished T-10 last year. Came on strong at Hyundai then took last week off to troll fair-weather FSU fans on twitter. This set-up should suit his game. Not overly long, but menaces pins. Think old-school Duval.

Jason Kokrak (50/1). Bomber is charging hard with three top-20’s in four events this year. Collected a top-10 here last year. Is gonna win sooner rather than later.

Pat Perez (60/1). Poster-boy for the NLU lifestyle looked strong last week. Past-champ here is good value. Birdie aficionado.

Kevin Chappell (60/1). UCLA product finished with final round 62 last year.

Luke Guthrie (60/1) & John Peterson (80/1). Couple of ultra-talented youngsters who can go low. Fit the mold of rising talent who can use a strong result this week as a springboard to a big year.

Field (5/2). Lowest odds offered but a decent play considering the easy course set-ups and wide-open nature.

Guarantees: perfect weather; a smattering of cougars in the gallery; some uber-bro’s who made the trip over from L.A.; Golf Channel force-feeding health tips down viewer’s throats (as a condition of the Humana sponsorship) and talking incessantly about how fit Bill Clinton looks. Overall, this is an event caught between a glorious past and a cloudy future. If the tour ever rigs an event, this might be the one. Rickie Fowler is playing this year and a win from him would provide some serious marketing wattage.

I find it curious there are six courses at PGA West and they don’t even play the tourney on the best one. Here’s 

. Would be interesting to see a return to the Stadium course one of these years. I say you replace the Nicklaus Private course with this one and keep Palmer Private and LaQuinta so the players get totally mind-fucked the one round they play on Stadium. Guys are shooting 63’s over at the other two and 73’s at Stadium.

Always felt the Mississippi opposite-field cash-grab event (now the “Sanderson Farms Championship”) was miscast as the Viking Classic (even though Viking Range is based in Missisippi – who knew?). Viking should’ve swooped in to sponsor this event when Chrysler/US taxpayers bailed in 2008 – the celebration of the Viking spirit would’ve been in full force; Tour pro’s pillaging and plundering everything in their sight.

Brace yourself: Johnny Miller shot a final round 63 to win this event in ’76. He’ll probably reference it on multiple occasions during the telecast.

Corey Pavin won this event twice, and as was the case at the Hawaiian Open, attempted to rename it the “

 Open.” Come to think of it, Pavin won the same event twice five different times (Honolulu, Los Angeles, Houston, Colonial, and Milwaukee (RIP)). Pretty remarkable. And he lost Hartford in a playoff twice. Shit, he went to a playoff nine times in his career, going 5-4 with all four losses coming at the hands of an opponent’s birdie. Hat’s off to Corey Pavin (seriously).

No Laying Up

Writing