2016: The Year in Golf

[GoHogs1091]

A lot occurred in golf in 2016.

The passing of Arnold Palmer.  Rest in Peace Mr. Palmer.  You will not be forgotten.

The United States won the Ryder Cup.  It rectified the 2012 loss in which Davis Love III was also the Captain.

Golf's big 3, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Jason Day did not win a major championship.

Augusta National Chairman, Billy Payne, stated in his news conference during the week of the Masters that the Augusta National Golf Club may do some more tinkering to its 13th Hole.  It is a possible perplexing move on the part of the ANGC since the hole doesn't need any changes.  It is just a part of a long pattern of the ANGC tinkering with its golf course.  The immediate post 1938 course after Perry Maxwell left the premises was probably the best the course has ever been (ignoring their flipping the 9s before the 1935 tournament).

Golf returned to the Olympics.  It was a great event by those who participated, and it overcame the excuse makers who decided to not participate.  Since the end of the Olympics, the Olympic course is now struggling due to lack of support by the Brazilian citizens.

A chaotic enforcement of a Rule by the USGA when Dustin Johnson's ball moved on a green at the U.S. Open, and the USGA allowed Johnson to break a line-of-sight Rule later in that same round.  Just a couple of days ago, the USGA implemented a Local Rule to address the issue of a ball moving on a green.  It is a cheesy way to try to address a ball moving on a green issue when all that is needed is a correct enforcement of the Rule that was already in place.

Henrik Stenson out-dueled Phil Mickelson at the Open Championship.  Stenson's 63 was probably the finest round of golf shot in a major championship since Raymond Floyd's 63 at Southern Hills in 1982.

Nike decided to get out of the golf equipment business.  It was a poor business decision by Phil Knight to enter into the golf equipment business, a business that already has long established and successful companies such as Wilson, Dunlop, and Slazenger.

Bernhard Langer continued his domination of world golf.  Langer won 2 Major Championships (one of those for his 3rd win-a-row for that major), and he won the Charles Schwab Cup, his 3rd consecutive Charles Schwab Cup.  No one had ever won three consecutive Charles Schwab Cups before Langer accomplished it.  In 21 tournaments this year, Langer's worst finish was a tie for 13th.

Lydia Ko won the LPGA event in Rogers.  In the process Ko made the Pinnacle Country Club course seem rather pedestrian.  Ko shot -17 over the 3 day tournament.

A.W. Tillinghast's restored Wissahickon Course at the Philadelphia Cricket Club was the best course that a professional tournament was held at in 2016.  A fabulous course that had no weaknesses.  A definite top 10 in the United States course, if not a top 5 course in the U.S.  It took masterful play by Bernhard Langer just to shoot a total of +1 over the 4 rounds to win on Tillinghast's restored Wissahickon Course at the Philadelphia Cricket Club.   

58 year old Bernhard Langer out-shot world #1 ranked Jason Day, during the 3rd round that they were paired together during the Masters.  Afterwards, to the media, "He just kept going along," said an awestruck Jason Day, 28.  "He got the better of me," said Day.

[Iwastherein1969]

as far as Langer is concerned, that Nordic blood coursing through his veins may have a little to do with it...Langer would be only one generation removed from Germany's attempts at eugenics and likely has some of that leftover breeding of the Third Reich....think back, how the Germans to be such a small country, how they dominated the Olympics in the 70's, 80's and even 90's with Steffi Graf....we don't like to talk about such things as eugenics because its not a pleasant subject....but just like thoroughbreds, its all in the blood