David McLay Kidd’s design work at Bandon Dunes is entertaining for high-handicappers, but still tests the game’s top amateurs.
This should be the final day of the 2020 Open Championship, and I should be celebrating one of my favorite annual sporting traditions. But because of coronavirus, it’s not to be. (Photo courtesy St. Andrews Links Trust)
My friend Alistair Tait asked an important question: “Is it worth it’ for the PGA Tour to play through the pandemic?. I might be wildly mistaken, but I say the Tour should push forward. (Photo by CDC on Unsplash)
The late Kobe Bryant made a vivid, unexpected appearance in my dream. That got me to wondering what it said about Kobe, the sports landscape and the nature of greatness. (Photo by Oliver Collet on Unsplash)
The PGA Tour returned last week, looking like the perfect pandemic-era sport. But the broader golf industry continues to be plagued by steadily declining participation and course closures. (Photo by Ping Lee on Unsplash)
In negotiations over an abbreviated season, MLB owners are crying poverty, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. It’s time for owners to pay the players and get the season underway.
CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus (pictured) said the network has been lobbying the PGA Tour to have players wear microphones. Rickie Fowler’s decision to get mic’d up on June 11 was a belated but promising step in the right direction. As McManus said, “I think there’s probably a greater appreciation for wanting to contemporize golf coverage a little bit and I think the players are beginning to realize that they can play a real role in that and making the product a little more interesting for the viewer at home.”
Social distancing was so last month. Given the massive protests we’ve witnessed in dozens of cities across the country, it’s reasonable to ask how politicians and public-health officials can justify preventing sports fans from attending games. It’s time to open the gates and let the fans in. (Photo by Joshua Peacock on Unsplash)
No one in the sports media has had a better 2020 than Clay Travis of Fox Sports.
Bari Weiss’ resignation from the New York Times was a reminder that all opinion-makers have a duty to tackle difficult issues. In short, they’re obligated to be controversial. (Photo courtesy Marco Lenti on Unsplash)
Golf Channel’s special, “Race and Sports in America,” hinted at interesting issues, but lacked the courage to tackle those subjects head-on. (Courtesy Golf Channel)
What’s it like to see your alter ego in a novel? I found out when I read “Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis.” (Image courtesy Beacon Publishing Group)
After five years on Fox Sports, USGA championships will return to NBC. Given all of the headaches that the USGA caused Fox, I suspect the network’s view is: Good riddance! (Photo by Julian Schiemann on Unsplash)
The news – “COVID-19 is over” – seemed so promising. But like one of those dreary CNN panel debates, even our family couldn’t agree on the positive trends of coronavirus data. (Photo by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash)
The woke media hyped the story of a noose in Bubba Wallace’s garage, but calmer heads saw problems with the story right from the outset.
(Photo by Andrew Roberts on Unsplash)
Today’s eclectic mix: Adam Hadwin becomes the latest PGA Tour player to wear a mic on course; Matt Taibbi administers a righteous whooping on the American media; and Poynter ignores its own mission statement. (Photo by Victoria Kure-Wu on Unsplash)
Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee gets criticized for stating the obvious; Fox News’ Howard Kurtz makes an impassioned plea for “the soul of journalism”; and CNN’s Brian Stelter embraces lawlessness in Seattle. (Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash)
In the pandemic era, golf’s traditional 18th-green handshake has been replaced by fist bumps and waves among playing competitors. It’s just one of many social graces that have been sacrificed to Covid-19, perhaps for good. That’s probably a bad sign if we’re hoping for a return to normalcy.