The 19th Hole

BY ED TRAVIS

FROM TIME TO TIME, the conversation at the 19th hole can hit on interesting, maybe even profound topics, and we thought it would be fun to share some of them with our readers. Be aware we recognize there will always be differences of opinion and aren’t looking forward to generating any heated discussions.

Consider this to be a conversation between longtime friends who respect each other’s thinking…even when they are wrong.

What the heck is a shoey and who would ever think it was a good idea?

When one thinks of Australia, images of cuddly koala bears, the magnificent Sydney Opera House or maybe the sparkling beaches come to mind but probably not a shoey, the celebratory drinking of an alcoholic beverage from a shoe…a shoe that presumably has just gone a full 18 holes on the foot of an event winner.

The word you’re searching for here is “eeew.”

Recently two high profile golfers have indulged in shoeys, something even strongstomached individuals might be reluctant to copy. Hannah Green, who won the JM Eagle Championship at prestigious Wilshire Country Club at the end of April also took first place at the Vic Open in her native Australia and capped that win by pouring champagne in her right shoe and putting it to her lips for a swallow. At the time, a commentator observed she had at least turned her shoe over to knock out any loose impediments prior to the tippling. No word whether her recent win in Los Angeles was followed with the same celebration.

The trend seems to have been accepted by some male professionals as well when last year’s Open Champion Australian Cameron Smith was egged on by social media personality DJ Fisher to do a shoey at the LIV Golf Adelaide event. Smith succumbed to the pressure of the situation and complied, though he didn’t win. The winner in Adelaide, Talor Gooch, did imbibe a shoey and he isn’t even an Australian. Born in Oklahoma, former PGA Tour member, Gooch right now is as hot a player as any in the world, so perhaps any ill effects of a shoey are not as pronounced as more sane people might think.

For the record, although the shoey has

been around for years, it has not become a frequent occurrence in golf. F1 star driver Daniel Ricciardo’s shoey celebrations seem to have been the start of the recent interest and as you might have guessed, Riccardo is an Australian.

There hasn’t been much said about the innovative approach to golf as pure spectator entertainment begun by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in the form of a new golf league named TGL. Six teams of three players each will compete in an indoor arena with a large screen virtual course for full shots and a separate short game area. The inaugural season is slated to begin in January 2024 at a venue being built at Palm Beach State College in South Florida.

When TGL was announced by TMRW Sports, a company founded by Woods, McIlroy and former Golf Channel president Mike McCarley, one insider’s description was “indoor golf on steroids.”

Besides Woods and McIlroy, other PGA Tour members committed to the first season are: Matt Fitzpatrick, Ricky Fowler, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele. If this all works out, golf fans are in for a treat.

Woods has said, “TGL is the next evolution within professional golf, and I am committed to helping lead it into the future. Embracing technology to create this unique environment gives us the ability to move our sport into primetime on a consistent basis alongside so many of sports’ biggest events. As a big sports fan myself, I’m excited about blending golf with technology and team elements common in other sports. We all know what it’s like to be in a football stadium or a basketball arena where you can watch every play, every minute of action unfold right in front of you. It’s something that inherently isn’t possible in traditional golf — and an aspect of TGL that will set it apart and appeal to a new generation of fans.”

Sounds intriguing. At present, the schedule calls for fifteen 18-hole matches lasting two-hours held on Monday nights and followed by playoffs and a season ending championship match.

The new league is co-sponsored by the PGA Tour and has several high-profile investors including San Diego Wave star Alex Morgan, NBA greats Stephen Curry and Shaquille O’Neal, pro tennis’ Serena Williams, Los Angles Angels slugger Mike Trout, Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills and entertainer Justin Timberlake.

It doesn’t take any inside knowledge to conclude TGL is a part of the PGAT’s strategy to compete with LIV Golf, Greg Norman’s Saudi Arabian-funded series that is attempting to carve a niche in the world of professional golf at the expense of the PGAT. Cutting through LIV Golf’s pressagent-hyperbole about creating new and different opportunities, it’s easy to overlook their events are only 54-holes and still played on a traditional golf course, a contrast to TGL’s plan for using cutting-edge technology to bring the shots and game excitement to fans both in the arena and at home through special software and hardware developed by CapTech Ventures.

The larger question of course is, will the PGAT be successful with TGL as part of the battle plan against LIV Golf?

Has Paige Spiranac solved the slow play problem?

Social media personality Paige Spiranac blistered the PGA Tour for slow play and though she didn’t mention any names, everyone assumed Patrick Cantlay’s glacial pace at the Masters was the reason.

Spiranac on Twitter said, among other things, “I’ve seen paint dry faster than that round was finished…If you take longer than 40 seconds [to hit a shot], you should get penalized. It’s in the rule books, people.”

For the record, the USGA Rule 5 states, ‘When it is your turn to play, it is recommended that you make the stroke in no more than 40 seconds, and usually more quickly than that.” Further, Rule 5.6 assesses penalties for taking too long of one stroke for the first offence, two for the second and disqualification if you get nabbed a third time.

According to many, Spiranac, a former minitour player and now a social media influencer and brand ambassador, has hit the nail on the head. Of course, if it were that simple, we wouldn’t have been talking about it for the last 150 years.