A video posted by Andrew 'Beef' Johnston (@beefgolf) on
Just when you think that you can't possibly love a man more, he goes and does something like this, and it's like you're seeing him for the first time again. Some say that's love.
While some haters may say that 5'11" and 212 lbs. (I gotta get his PR team apparently) isn't prototypical for a 3 and D guy in the league, you can't deny his intangibles. He's got the "It" factor and there's no analytic for that. You just know he passes the eye test, and you can't teach that.
While I know his heart lies with the Heat, I personally am sad that he waited a year to declare for free agency because The People's Golfer was just the perimeter threat that the Grizzlies has been missing. He's instant offense.
PS - Moments after receiving this tweet, Johnston made the picture his avatar. Beef, stop it, bro. You already made the sell.
PPS - Not sure who deserves the credit, Arby's or Beef's management team, but who made the call to lock him up as the face of the franchise is god damned genius. Well Done (which Beef never orders).
The PGA Tour returns to the Great White North to host the
RBC Canadian Open at the Jack Nicklaus Signature, Glen Abbey Golf Club.
The course is famed for its “Valley Holes”, No. 11-15, which
appropriately enough are played in a valley with hazards all around. Additionally,
the course is noted for its 18th hole because of the brilliant 6
iron that Tiger Woods hit from the fairway bunker in 2000 to solidify the
Triple Crown of the PGA Tour.
(Side Note - I am really starting to hate the fact that my younger brother beat me to the Tiger bandwagon because I never got fully appreciate what he did in his prime.)
Like so many other Nicklaus courses, that make regular
appearances on the PGA Tour – such as Valhalla, Muirfield Village, PGA West,
PGA National, Montreaux Golf and Country Club, etc. – Glen Abbey often favors
the best drivers of the golf ball. However, that fact is not a given as Chez
Reavie and Nathan Green, both short hitters, have both won at the venue.
Glen Abbey will host the tournament for a record 28th
time. Of the 27 previous winners, a major champion has won the tournament 14
times (including Jason Day last year). Additionally either someone that won a
major championship or finished finished runner-up or better in another contest
at Glen Abbey, has won 18 of the 27 times.
Currently the betting favorites (according to betwc) are
Jason Day and Dustin Johnson, both +400 (4:1 to win). Both would fit the
criteria listed above as each is a major champion and has finished runner up or
better in a previous Canadian Open hosted at Glen Abbey. Shockingly, the No. 1
and 2 ranked players in the world are heavy favorites.
Jason Day bounced back from leaving a lead-tying-putt short at last year's British Open hosted at St. Andrews with a win at Glen Abbey that propelled him to three more wins in his next five starts, including the PGA Championship.
Matt Kuchar has the next best odds to win at +1200 and could
also be a potential winner as he finished tied for second in 2013. Jim Furyk is
+1700, but I would stay away from the two-time winner of the Canadian Open as
he has neither won nor finished runner up at Glen Abbey although if you’re
simply looking for someone to place in the top 10, he wouldn’t be a bad
selection as he has finished fourth and tied-ninth in the last two contests at
Glen Abbey.
Brandt Snedeker is the 2013 champion at Glen Abbey and
currently has the fifth-best odds to win this weekend, tied with Emiliano
Grillo.
One caution I would add when picking a favorite is that
remember than thanks to the Olympics, the PGA Championship is next week. Many
of the top-ranked guys have played a ton of tournaments since the Players (Dustin
Johnson will be playing his eighth event in 10 weeks time), so they might not
be so eager to stick around should they not be in contention.
Can't believe more top players aren't fired up to wear these.
If you’re trying to fill out your fantasy lineup
or are looking to take a flyer this weekend, here are some other names that
have had past success at Glen Abbey: William McGirt, Chaz Hoffman, David Hearn,
Stewart Cink, Daniel Summerhays, Roberto Castro, Chad Campbell, Adam Hadwin. Ernie Els has had good success at the event, but if you want to bet on a
46-year-old who has missed the cut in five-of-his-last-six events, be my guest. Additionally if you're considering playing a Canuck, no one from our suburb to the north has won the tournament at Glen Abbey (American style course) or won outright since 1954. Therefore proceed with caution on Hearn, Hadwin, and Graham DeLaet.
Sports Week Hell is in full force as there are no official
American sporting events until the weekend, and even that is July baseball.
However, across the pond 155 of the world’s best
players, and Bubba Watson, will tee it up at Royal Troon Golf Club in hopes of
winning the year’s third major.
While this year’s version doesn’t have the same anticipation
as last year’s, as Jordan Spieth was attempting to capture the third leg of a
grand slam before falling one shot shy of missing a playoff, excitement is
still abound as a major championship is on the line.
Out is ESPN/ABC while NBC/Golf Channel enter the
broadcast, so now instead of hearing about Johnny Miller’s Final Round comeback
at the 1973 U.S. Open victory every year, we get to hear about his much
less discussed Final Round comeback at the 1976 BRITISH Open Championship (If
you want to claim superiority, then try beating us in a war.) #Blessed
The Golf Channel will broadcast live golf at a major for the
first time ever, so here are a couple of viewing tips from a professional Golf
Channel watcher. Number one, whenever Brandel Chamblee is on the screen, press
the mute button. No one has won less yet thought he won more in the history of
golf broadcasting than Chamblee. Number two, be prepared for overly melodramatic
essays and references to basketball that are marginally applicable from Rich
Lerner. Number three, pray that Terry Gannon and David Feherty are the lead
broadcasters.
Troon rests southwest of Glasgow and is regarded as one of the
fairest tests in the British Open rota as every champion in the modern era has
finished under par with the winning score usually around 12-under par.
When attempting to identify the champion, one must consider
several factors. One statistic that will be shoved down your throat during the
championship is that the previous six winners at Troon have all been American, dating back to Arnold Palmer’s win in 1962.
Thanks, great stuff, guys. The rise
of the elite European golfer didn’t occur until the mid 1980s, and the venue
only hosted the tournament once between 1983 and 1997 (the year which we all know is
when Tiger Woods said, "Hello," and change golf forever). The statistic is
misleading because there weren’t many opportunities when international players
were at the top of the rankings. The best chance occurred in 1989 when Mark
Calcavecchia bested two Australians, Greg Norman and Wayne Grady, in a playoff.
Therefore, I will not be putting too much stock into that
note.
However, I will take note of the type of players the champions were at
the time of his win rather than his nationality. Palmer, Tom Weiskopf, Tom
Watson, Calcavecchia, Justin Leonard, and Tom Hamilton are the most recent
winners at Troon. With the exception of Hamilton -- who really is an anomaly as
he is a lightning-in-a-bottle type winner (Sorry, Sergio) and Leonard, who was
a tremendous player in windy conditions and outstanding scrambler -- the winner
has primarily used his driver on the path to victory.
However, when looking for the winner, don’t necessarily look
for just bombers. In2004 eight of the finishers inside the Top-10 ranked 25th or better in driving
accuracy during the championship, including Hamilton. Six of the Top-10
finishers ranked 10th or better in driving accuracy in 2004.
Troon has the smallest greens of any of the courses in the
rota. Therefore, the fairway is a greater premium there because it is more difficult to
hold greens on approaches from the rough than other links courses.
The top-30 finishers in the 1997 British Open averaged
hitting 9.64 fairways per round in 1997 while 11.53 greens per round. The
fairway average dropped in 2004 to 8.69 (nice) while the green average roughly
stayed the same at 11.51. Drivers saw a significant technological advancement
from 1997 to 2004 allowing players to hit the ball much farther with the
driver, a fact that could explain the drop in fairways while not showing a drop
in greens as players were closer to the hole and had shorter clubs to the
greens.
Since 2000, only six Champion Golfers of the Year won his
only major, David Duval (former world No. 1), Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton,
Stewart Cink, Louis Oosthuizen (lost two other majors in a playoff), and Darren
Clarke, so look for someone that already has a major to be the champion
as no one multiple major champion won his first at the British Open since 2000.
Further, the last winner of multiple majors to win his first at the British Open
was Nick Faldo in 1987.
Since 11.5 greens per round would be good enough for 130th
on the PGA Tour in 2016, I’m looking for guys near the top of the Total Driving
category and guys that make large quantities of birdies as that is another
common trait of champions at Troon.
Players in the field that rank within the top-50 of both
Total Driving and Birdies Per Round are: Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Dustin
Johnson, Henrick Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Jason Dufner, Rickie Fowler, Ryan
Palmer, Kevin Kisner, Justin Rose, Billy Horschel, and Emiliano Grillo. A
couple of other names that are close are Danny Lee and Scott Piercy.
Using the criteria mentioned above, I can narrow my pick to
either Spieth, McIlroy, Dustin, Dufner, and Rose (Pretty heroic way to justify
picking a Top-4 player if you ask me).
I can’t make a convincing case against DJ other than when
was the last time a guy won consecutive majors while adding a WGC event in the interim?
You see what I did there?! Rory is the last guy to do it when he won the British Open and the PGA Championship in 2014 with a win at the Bridgestone Invitational sandwiched between.
Rory's pissed. He got called Ringo. I mean even to a guy like me, that's cold. The conditions at Troon will be similar to that at Liverpool in 2014 where he blew the field away for three rounds in route to a win.
Every statistical metric shows that Rors is close but has no cigar. His downfall has always been his focus. When he's sharp, he's nearly unbeatable. He appears to have an edge and focus this week that he's yet to show in recent memory. It's ride or die time. Let's roll.
PS - It's also not a bad omen that I fired a career-round yesterday while wearing the Rory McIlroy Nike Collection rather than Mr. Millar.
PPS - I also like Adam Scott, Matthew Fitzmagic, Charl Scwartzel (minus the equipment change), and out of principle, the People's Golfer, Andrew Johnston (aka the British John Daly).
So for those that don't know, Bubba Watson told Golf Channel's Todd Lewis that he no longer has his yardage book of Oakmont Country Club from 2007 (when he had his best finish at a US Open, T-5) because he gave it to Paula Creamer to use in 2010 when she went on to win the US Women's Open. He then said that she just kept it and never gave it back to him.
Classic Bubba, here - HEY EVERYBODY! LOOK HOW NICE I AM! I GRACIOUSLY ALLOWED HER TO USE MY PRIZED POSSESSION AND NDB, SHE WON.
This might be the most sneaky passive-aggressive tweet ever. Some people will point out that the tweet includes a grammar error. No, it doesn't. It was meant to be the slight of slights because Bubba doesn't know that it's grammatically incorrect.
Oakmont Country Club returns as US Open host, and let the bloodbath begin.
It’s back. The United States Open Championship returns to one of the most formidable venues on Earth, and I can’t wait for all the whining and tears.
The US Open is our yearly reminder that even the best in the world -- those that make the game look so effortless – can look like you at times. We have tournament after tournament that allows the world’s best to show us their talent and prowess. It’s nice to see them look (and sound) just like us for once.
Gotta love Bill's take there. He perfectly wove the "I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed argument," with the "It's shame for all of these great fans out there,". See it's clearly not all about him. Not all heroes wear capes, Bill.
Oakmont Country Club will be hosting the US Open for a record ninth time and hosting a major for the twelfth time. It is widely regarded as one of the hardest, if not the hardest golf courses, in all of the world.
"Courses are either fun, great or hard," Phil Mickelson said. "There's nothing fun about Oakmont. There's nothing great about Oakmont. But it's extremely hard. It's probably the hardest course I've ever played."
"One of the phrases somebody coined a while back," explained Curt Coulter, a seven-time club champion, "is that Oakmont is a place where we punish our members, torture our guests and no one can wait to come back tomorrow."
Here's a look at the church pew bunkers on No. 15. Take notice because the only thing that you'll grow sicker of this weekend than hearing about Oakmont's greens is hearing bad puns about these bunkers.
Of the eight previous winners of US Opens at Oakmont, only one, Sam Parks, Jr., was a one-time major winner. Therefore, when looking for the winner this week, look for someone who is either already a major champion or one that is capable of winning multiple major championships in his career as Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Ernie Els, Angel Cabrera, and Tommy Armour each one his first of multiple major at the famed layout. In fact, of the eight winners, six are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame with only Cabrera and Parks being the exceptions.
Oakmont last hosted the Open in 2007 when Cabrera posted a final round 69 (nice) to beat Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk (both Open winners) by a shot.
Oakmont is famous for its daunting green complexes which are thought by many to be the toughest in golf. Therefore, most prognosticators place a premium on putting when predicting an Open at Oakmont. However, I chose to look at putting statistics from the high finishers in 2007 and saw no significance.
One noticeable fact did emerge from the leaderboard in 2007. Of the 12 players to finish in a tie for 10th place or better, nine were ranked inside the Top-40 of the official world golf rankings at the time. Bubba Watson, now a world class player, was one of the two who did not while Nick Dougherty was the other.
Make sure you boo that man early and often.
Arnold Palmer once quipped that, "You can hit 72 greens [in regulation] in the Open at Oakmont and not come close to winning,".
Simply hitting greens is not the secret to conquering Oakmont although one could argue that no one conquers it rather simply survives. You have to be in the right spots on the green to have success.
Of the aforementioned 12 players who tied for 10th or better, eight qualified for the statistic, Strokes Gained: Approach-The-Green. Of those eight qualified, seven were inside the Top-32 on the PGA Tour for the statistic. Therefore, when looking for a player to pick, focus on players that are Top-40 in the world that rank near the top-30 in the previously mentioned stat.
Players that fit the mold sorted from highest-to-lowest rank in the latest Official World Golf Rankings are Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Henrick Stenson, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Hideki Matsuyama, Charl Schwartzel, Paul Casey, and Russell Knox (Note that Danny Willet (No. 9 in the world), Chris Wood (No. 23), Rafael Cabrera Bello (No. 28), and Lee Westwood (No. 30) do not qualify for the statistic as they are not members of the PGA Tour.). On the fringe are Jason Dufner, ranked 60th in the world while holding the No. 10 spot on SG:A-T-G, and Branden Grace, ranked 12th in the world and 33rd in SG:A-T-G.
Two noticeable omissions from the consideration list are world No. 1 and 2, Jason Day and Jordan Spieth.
First I would rather lose my bet than bet the favorite, but hey, I'm a value guy.
Day currently ranks 50th in SG:A-T-G and 179th in proximity to the hole on Tour. So much of Day's brilliance comes from being the No. 1 putter on the planet at the moment. Open winners at Oakmont are known more for their swings and ball striking than their putters. Day also has a tendency to miss both ways (98th in Right Rough Tendency and 115th in Left Rough Tendency), a fact that typically doesn't bode well in traditional US Opens.
Additionally, Day ranks 163rd in accuracy while ranking 134th in approaches from 100-125 yards, 185th in approaches from 125-150 yards, and 128th in approaches from 150-175 yards. If your missing fairways at Oakmont, these ranges are where you have to save yourself as the rough is so penal. I don't like the recipe.
Now on to Spieth. Let's start with the obvious. No one has won back-to-back US Opens since Curtis Strange did so in 1988 and 1989, and only two people have won consecutive Opens in the last 83 years, Strange and Hogan. Neither Jack Nicklaus nor Tiger Woods won consecutive Opens, so it's quite difficult for me to project that Spieth will be any different. Also, how much is the collapse at Augusta weighing on him? I don't know maybe someone should ask him about it. I think I only heard 38 different versions of the same question at his Monday media opportunity.
Spieth currently ranks 114th in SG:A-T-G on tour and 93rd in driving accuracy. He's also 95th in proximity to the hole and 117th in greens in regulation.
Though Spieth and Day have played well in the last two Opens, it is important to note that both courses, Chambers Bay and Pinehurst No. 2, feature wide fairways with limited rough. Setups that mirror Augusta National and the Old Course at St. Andrews, places where both thrive.
Also, you'll hear about the Turnpike at the top and bottom of every hour, and just a reminder that just like the people of Pittsburgh, Oakmont is tough.
The average age of the previous winners at Oakmont is 29.63 years of age, and no one over the age of 38 (Hogan) has won at the venue. This fact would eliminate Dufner and Stenson.
Garcia, Knox, and Casey don't strike me as multiple major championship player, so I leave them on the table too.
McIlroy, Schwartzel, and Scott's constant putting tweaks bother me, and I begrudgingly Rory them on the boards as well.
Fowler and Matsuyama both fit the mold of young player looking to break through and go on to a hall-of-fame, multiple-major-championship career, but I'm very much in the "prove it to me" stage with both, especially Fowler.
Therefore we're left with quite the Sophie's Choice of Bubba Watson (sick) or Louis Oosthuizen and Justin Rose, both players that would be awesome picks if the hole concluded when one reaches the green.
I hate myself.
I'm taking Rose. He won the last US Open staged at a traditional US Open venue and has at times looked like the player that won at Merion in 2013.
My sleeper pick is Emiliano Grillo recapturing the spirit of The Duck at Oakmont.
First thought, this makes me happy. Not the fact that he made a hot daughter, but the fact that he made a hot daughter who takes pictures with her clothes off. Hang with me.
Most guys who probably aren't exactly all square with the Lord have the same fear - having a daughter that inevitably will be a ore with a capital W, and make no mistake a girl who take pictures like that knows her way around a dick. It's nice to see what goes around does come around even to rich guys.
My single biggest fear in life, other than needles, (totally rational too, forged metal that is designed to puncture the skin should be both respected and feared.) is having a slutty daughter. One of my best friends used to play upon this fear by telling me that he was going to tell his hypothetical three boys that their sole goal in life was to nail my hypothetical three daughters. True Story. If my wife, who might be graduating to diapers at any moment, births a girl, I'm doing my fatherly duty by packing up and moving us all to Switzerland. I can't take that risk. The best defense is a good offense.
PS - Jose naming his daughter Josie is so Canseco it hurts.
(TMZ) - Ancient buildings have sprung up on the Ireland set of "Star Wars: Episode VIII" -- the same location where Rey tracked down Luke at the end of 'The Force Awakens.' The 'Star Wars' supernerds (relax, we mean it lovingly) have already confirmed the name of the planet is "Ahch-To" ... and it IS where the first Jedi temple is located in 'Star Wars' mythology.
In. Spirit of full disclosure, I had a dream about Episode VIII last night, and I don't mean that I was dreaming about seeing it, I mean that I was dreaming the plot. All my friends were there -- Kylo, Rae, Storm Troopers, Imperial Star Destroyers, Kylo's shuttle, the whole nine yards.
I couldn't be more pumped for a movie, and I don't care how much that statement will prevent me from getting laid. It's the middle episode, so that means the bad guys win, which means I win. Also, hats off the Disney for ending the whole you have to wait three years to get a new story. They're a bottom-line company, so let's crank those bad boys out as quickly as possible, and now even more so since ESPN isn't exactly adding to the bottom line like it used to. Win for us.
