Do we not have a running 2017 golf thread?

Curious what you all think about the CBS post-round recap interviews with Amanda Balionis ... apologies if this topic has been discussed already

I do enjoy hearing the players analyze their own round, and of course the network is certain to have Ms. Balionis stand sideways to show off her ... uh, golf knowledge.

Anyway, I think these interviews are more interesting than seeing a couple minutes of someone's pre-shot routine, as long as they cut back to important shots being hit (they did today at the Bridgestone, where Matsuyama destroyed the field). And they certainly are more in-depth than a rushed comment or two from the winner in the final moments of the broadcast.

 

Wow Matsuyama's game is tremendous off the tee, then in his approaches to the green, but his putting? That's what's holding him back. He's non-plussed and he's hitting to 10 feet. But some of those shorties, just not very smooth. Makes me wonder every time if he's going to miss. The exact opposite of seeing Spieth over an 8 footer.

You want to ponder how to master golf? Watch Charley Hoffman hit the ball, then digest that he's ripping drives farther than everyone not named Dustin and reached the 650 yd par 5 over water when only 3 others in the field had even gone for it. An amazing game.

 

The US Open, The Open and the PGA seem awfully compacted this year. Was this the standard schedule? (Non-Olympics year too.)

I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the back to back to back (British) Opens, although the women did not seem to get true Brit weather.

For the PGA, I'm feeling Rory given that its going to be a birdie-fest and he's done well at Quail Hollow. Last week, he was bombing his drives, just was off on his wedge game.

 

The PGA is moving to May. Going to be a lot more compact. I don't like the move. The PGA was the one major that seemed to move around a bit. May weather is dicey in large swaths of the northwest, northeast, tornadoes in the midwest. Courses in the upper midwest and northeast might not even be back in playing shape. The Memorial in June is the first tourney north of the Mason-Dixon line.

 

I'm old enough to remember the one year the PGA was held in January, back in the early '70s. That was universally loathed and I think only lasted for one year. May isn't gonna be much better. That sets up a war with the Tour, who have the Players in May. Also, when are they going to have the PGA National for club pros if the PGA is in May? Top 20 make the PGA field. More than half the club pros in the country don't have their courses open until April 1 or thereabouts.
The PGA has such an inferiority complex about its major. They should relax. In a field of four, somebody's gotta be fourth. The Tour would kill to have the Players replace the PGA as the fourth major. Putting the two in competition seems real dumb to me.

 

Wrong. Players moving to March. Part of a coordinated move to move up the FedEx Cup.

The PGA Championship is moving to May and players are on board - Golf Digest

 

Also, are they going to revisit their past branding strategy and call it "Glory's Mulligan?"

 

The move was made with a) the Olympics in mind and b) the idea of getting the FedEx Cup done before the NFL season starts. The last two weeks of the playoff gets completely lost in the start of football. Not sure that moving the Tour Championship to Labor Day weekend will help at all with ratings, but they'll at least have a chance. I like it. Four months is a long time to wait from the start of the season until the Masters. Will be nice to have an important event in between.

 

I did not know they were moving the Players to March, or more accurately, back to March. It was moved to May because the Tour thought it was being treated by the public as a Masters warmup, and secondarily, March is a windy month in Ponte Vedra, making the course several strokes or more more difficult.
We could see a two-track course policy for the PGA, with more southern courses holding the PGA Championship, with the more customary northern courses hosting the Ryder Cup once every four years.