We just so happen to be in week three in our all-encompassing review of the 2015 calendar year in the world of golf. We’ve talked about the great troika of the modern era, namely Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlory, as well as the special performances and accomplishments of the year on the links. This week we’ll talk about things that happened this year that will impact the game throughout the following years.
On an individual note, Inbee Park, arguably the best female golfer on the planet, won her seventh major championship this past August at Donald Trump’s Turnberry Golf Club on Scotland’s western coast. Winning the Women’s British Open meant that Park had won four different majors during the course of her 10-year career. Prior to capturing the British at Turnberry, she had won the Inspiration (Dinah Shore) in 2013, had taken home three consecutive Women’s LPGAs in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and had accumulated a pair of Women’s U.S. Opens in 2008 and 2013. Personally, I thought it was a pretty cool accomplishment for Inbee Park. After all, just five men have career grand slams, namely Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods, and six other women besides Park have done the same. That group includes Louise Suggs, Mickey Wright, Pat Bradley (Keegan’s aunt), Juli Inkster, Annika Sorenstam, and Karrie Webb.
However, mere weeks after Park’s win at Trump Turnberry, the talking heads started challenging the legitimacy of Park’s accomplishment. In today’s LPGA world, there are five majors. The Evian was elevated to major status a couple of years ago, and Park has never won that event. Of course, if you want to get really technical, Suggs and Wright have the Women’s Western on their list of majors, Juli and Annika won the duMaurier (Canadian Open) as majors before it went by the wayside, and believe it or not, Karrie Webb has five different majors to her credit although none of the five is the Evian. The LPGA Tour hasn’t always been as financially stable as the PGA Tour, and it has had majors close up shop and be replaced. From my weak perspective, congrats to Inbee Park for accomplishing the career grand slam. After all, it’s hard to describe a grand slam as the collection of five different major titles.
Speaking of Trump Turnberry, the classic coastside links course that was the site of the 1977 Duel in the Sun between Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, has been removed from the British Open rotation by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. The R&A responded to recent political commentary by American presidential candidate Donald Trump, who just so happens to own Turnberry as well as several other upscale properties in the British Isles. The European Tour is heavily sponsored by Arab world financial interests and Trump’s recent commentary about Muslims obviously raised some eyebrows among the Open Championship bluebloods.
This past summer the R&A scheduled outside the proverbial box when it awarded the Open Championship to Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush for 2019. Initially, it appeared as if the British Open folks were in the process of adding more venues to the game’s oldest championship. Instead, it appears as if they’re simply adding one and subtracting another.
The R&A along with their fellow rules making partner, the United States Golf Association, have come out with their every four-year amendment to the Rules of Golf. The additional rules will officially take effect on Jan. 1. The most talked-about rules change is Rule 14-1b that will basically outlaw the long putter and the belly putter. More specifically, you can use those clubs but you cannot anchor them to a part of your body such as the sternum area or the stomach area. This will obviously impact a couple dozen well-known golfers, including the dominant golfer on the senior tour, Bernhard Langer, as well as four-time major champion Ernie Els, and other major winners such as Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott and Webb Simpson. We may never again see Adam Scott on a leader board, and for someone like Bradley who has used the long putter since he was a teenager, it will be hard to imagine how easily he will adapt. Only time will tell. Just don’t take Tim Clark in your fantasy golf league.
Rule 18-2b will probably only effect top-notch tour pros who are playing in front of the wide eye of the television. It used to be that if the camera picked up a rules violation, even though the golfer wasn’t aware of it, then the penalty had to be assessed before the official completion of the round. For instance, Padraig Harrington was disqualified from a European Tour event earlier this year because his ball moved ever so slightly when he addressed it. Harrington contended that he didn’t notice it, his playing partners didn’t see it, and it was only well after the round had ended that a viewer called in the infraction that the television camera picked up. The new rule will assess the penalty after the fact, but will not result in disqualification. Of course, my only question is don’t people have better ways to live their lives without calling tournament headquarters late on Saturday evening. Other altered rules include less harsh penalties for things such as artificial devices, unusual equipment, and the use of unusual equipment. Starting in 2016, you’ll get penalized for having that two-way chipper, but you won’t get disqualified.
The PGA Tour and the European PGA Tour have altered their schedules in 2016 to accommodate Olympic golf. I happen to believe that a relatively squeaky clean sport such as pro golf doesn’t want to associate with the cesspool that is the modern Olympic movement, but this is Ty Votaw’s baby and so we’ll have to stomach Olympic golf. Personally, I’m hoping that Jordan Spieth will blow off the Olympics to play in the John Deere Quad Cities that same weekend, but I think I’m asking for too much. I’d still want a green jacket over a gold medal.
Chambers Bay, the site of the 2015 United States Open, was the hiccup in a major calendar year that featured Augusta National, St. Andrews and Whistling Straits. The coming year will be a whole lot more traditional as the major championship sites include Augusta National, Oakmont, Troon and Baltusrol. This will be Oakmont’s ninth Open and its past champs include Tommy Armour, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller and Ernie Els. Royal Troon is hosting the British for a ninth time and Bobby Locke, Arnold Palmer, Tom Weiskopf and Tom Watson have hoisted the claret jug there. Baltusrol hosted Phil Mickelson’s PGA win in 2005 as well as seven U.S. Opens, four U.S. Amateurs and a pair of Women’s U.S. Opens. The four major championship sites will feature tradition, history and the probability of a winner of note.
