2020 PGA Tour

johnmd20

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And if he thinks this is the best way to handle things, this will escalate quickly.

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/28454565/lawyer-warns-brandel-chamblee-stop-calling-patrick-reed-cheater
There seems to be (at least) two factors at work here:

1. Patrick Reed is a deeply-flawed, dysfunctional human who has the talent to win without cheating, but apparently cannot stop himself.

2. He has surrounded himself with friends/advisors who are providing extremely destructive advice.

“Deny and counterattack” is a strategy that guarantees a maximum Streisand effect. This is going to be a long, ugly year.
The entire tour has handled this terribly. Reed should have been disqualified for the President's Cup. Instead, the entire team rallied around Reed and joked about it. That kind of response really gets people enraged, because that is the opposite of fairness. And then you've got Reed fake raking bunkers at the Cup, which is just adding fuel to the fire.

Reed's entire career has been surrounded by cheating allegations and then he finally get nailed on camera cheating and his response is to send letters from his lawyer. It is definitely going to be a long, ugly year.
 

cshea

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I don’t think there was much they could do about the Presidents Cup. It happened too close to the event, finding some sort of solution that impacted that week seems like a tough ask. Do they play with 11 guys and forfeit a singles match? Find someone on less than 24 hours notice fly to Australia to take his place? Just seems like a lot of moving parts to settle in a very short time frame.

That said, the Tour has handled everything else as bad possible. The 2-stroke penalty was laughable. Slugger White bending over backwards to call Reed a “Gentleman” about 4739274839 times after issuing the 2-stroke ruling is vomit inducing. Reed should have been DQ’d from the Hero and suspended on the Tour for some length of time. Simon Dyson got 2 months on the Euro Tour for tapping down a spike mark before that was legalized. That seems like a far more appropriate way of handling this.

Edit: Kessler Karain getting nothing more than a Sunday off for striking a fan is another mistake by the Tour,
 

TFP

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Dan Hicks and Azinger have been a joke about it too. Crediting Reed for "enduring this adversity" like it was something foisted upon him and calling the heckling "ugly" completely ignores the fact that this is entirely of his own doing. That stuff (and the Slugger response) is what grinds my gears the most about all of this.

I thought AR summed it up nicely.
 

joe dokes

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Reed's entire career has been surrounded by cheating allegations and then he finally get nailed on camera cheating and his response is to send letters from his lawyer. It is definitely going to be a long, ugly year.
He's got something going on. The whole estranged family thing that his wife's family seems to help perpetuate. The stuff in college. Or maybe he's just a colossal asshole that a few others tolerate because he's a serious meal ticket.
 

Comfortably Lomb

Koko the Monkey
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I was leaning toward it mostly blowing over since nothing that happens between the tour championship and March matters much.

Sending a C&D letter? He’s toast. Both mentally and in terms of shaking the legacy. Edit: and, what’s particularly crazy about the C&D is there’s video of Reed doing the thing. It’s not like people are speculating without a video record. It’s insanity to Streisand this.
 
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jercra

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I swung by the local comic book store yesterday and there was a pack of 1991 PGA Tour Trading Cards on the counter for 50 cents. How could I pass that up? Anyway, I got this sweet Brandell Chamblee rookie card:



I can't wait to crinkle it up and throw it at a screen this season.
Funny. Just saw him having breakfast at Bandon Dunes last weekend. I had no idea people had such vitriol for him.
 
And yet...isn't it much more fun to have a villain like Reed on the Tour to root against? Who was the last "bad guy golfer", let alone one as talented as Reed? (John McEnroe is the nearest comparison I can come up with; Tommy Bolt and maybe Ken Green are the only golfers I can think of, unless you want to think of Seve Ballesteros as pantomime Ryder Cup villain.)
 

johnmd20

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And yet...isn't it much more fun to have a villain like Reed on the Tour to root against? Who was the last "bad guy golfer", let alone one as talented as Reed? (John McEnroe is the nearest comparison I can come up with; Tommy Bolt and maybe Ken Green are the only golfers I can think of, unless you want to think of Seve Ballesteros as pantomime Ryder Cup villain.)
I think golf doesn't need a villain.

I can't believe I'm going to have watch Patrick Reed at The Masters for the rest of my life.
 

Comfortably Lomb

Koko the Monkey
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I'm pretty sure the only father-son major winners are the Morris and Park boys back in the 1800s.

There are a bunch of father-son tour winners though: the Tways, Stadlers, Haases, Geibergers in more recent times. It's very common for tour player kids to be high level players. Surviving and winning on tour is tough though.
 

cshea

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KFT on the Golf Channel right now. They have the featured groups mic’d up. Interesting to watch, they are playing in windy conditions in the Bahamas.
 

cshea

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Steele with a 1 shot lead on 18 over Webb, Palmer and Smith. Palmer just had a lost ball so he’s toast. 18th green is water logged, they’re rolling it in between shots.
 

cshea

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Smith is in the green side bunker in 2 (par 5). Steele hit one off the map, we’ll see what kind of relieve he’ll get from the grandstand.
 

Lupe Whalewatch

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Total amateur hour here-they have one dude with a squeegee in charge of clearing off the 18th green, which causes a 15 minute backup. They don’t have a couple more of those things lying around somewhere??
 

TFP

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The group in front of the penultimate group is the real travesty. Somehow held up the hole for over 15 mins while the two finishing groups sat and waited in the rain. Took 30 mins from Steele finishing 17 to him hitting his 2nd shot.

Then don't get me started on Palmer not hitting a provisional.
 

TFP

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PGA Tour Live is back today at 11:30. Given this is one of the few PGA Tour courses I've actually played (Stadium Course), looking forward to this tourney.
 

cshea

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This is one of my least favorite tournaments. Amateurs, 3 courses, birdie fest. I know it’s 3 rounds and then the cut, but we’re midway through the 2nd round and -5 would be the cut line. I just find this one uninteresting.
 

TFP

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This is one of my least favorite tournaments. Amateurs, 3 courses, birdie fest. I know it’s 3 rounds and then the cut, but we’re midway through the 2nd round and -5 would be the cut line. I just find this one uninteresting.
I love The Stadium Course, but otherwise I'd agree. The other two courses are the definition of meh.
 

TFP

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Landry in full on meltdown mode trying to blow this. The lead was 6 shots at 1 point, now it's 1 with 3 to play.
 

TFP

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Ancer tied him but Landry with a hell of a birdie on 17 to regain the lead and is in the fairway off 18.
And stuffs his approach on 18. At least it was interesting.
 

TFP

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Alert: 2019 Masters Highlights show on GC right now!
I have those all set to auto-record on my DVR. I've watched last year's like 10 times already.

Teeing it up at Torrey today. Tiger goes off at 12:40 on 10 of the North course, which I'm sure will be a featured group on PGA Tour Live. Golf Channel coverage starts at 3pm. I played the North course last year and it's got absolutely unreal views on the back 9, but I can see how the pros would just tear it up.
 

TFP

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How to start things off with a 4 putt double, Tiger.
 

TFP

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El Tigre is cruising now. Birdies on 6, 8, 9, and 10 has him -5 overall.
 

cshea

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Hate to sound like Kellerman here but I think we’ve reached the cliff portion of Mickelson’s career. 10 missed cuts in 22 starts since he won at Pebble last year. Highest finish is T18 at the Masters.
 

TFP

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Ryan Palmer -11 through 17 today. Have a day, I don't make that many birdies in a year.