SB Nation User Blog: Bill Jempty

Could LPGA fans dreams be coming true

Bill Jempty — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:03:06 -0000

From Caddy Larry's blog-

Hold on to your seats! May have some good news by the end of next week.*

“Don’t ever take sides with against the Family …” – Micahel Corleone

Could Carolyn Bivens be on the way out the door? Hound Dog is thinking the exact same thing.

I can only presume that this refers to Madame Commissioner. Any other guesses?

The only thing I can think of is Bivens. Larry has been pretty good in the past with his rumors. He reported the Ginn people trying to pull out of the 2008 Ginn Tribute. It proved to be true.

*- Larry has toned down his original statement at his blog. Which read- "Hold on to your seats! What many have been hoping for may come true by the end of next week."

More revisionist golf history?

Bill Jempty — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:40:28 -0000

During the third round Jason Sobel, shared some US Open trivia. The lowest under par scores for players anywhere during a round at the Open.

This one is suspicious to me.

Here is a list of the most strokes under par at any point in U.S. Open history:

12 -- Tiger Woods (fourth round), Pebble Beach Golf Links, 2000
12 -- Gil Morgan (third round), Pebble Beach Golf Links, 1992
11 -- Jim Furyk, Olympia Fields C.C. (North Course), Olympia Fields, Ill., 2003
9 -- Ben Hogan, Riviera C.C., Los Angeles, Calif., 1948
9 -- Jack Nicklaus, Baltusrol G.C. (Lower Course), Springfield, N.J., 1980

I'm 90% certain Nicklaus never reached -9. He finished -8, 272 for that Open. He did that by making birdie on the last two holes. Nicklaus began Sunday tied with Isao Aoki, with Tom Watson, Keith Fergus, Lon Hinkle, and Mark Hayes within 2 shots of the lead.

After a 2nd hole bogey by Aoki, Nicklaus never was out of sole possession of the lead. But did he get to -9. The only player other than Aoki to make any real challenge was Fergus, but he never got closer than one behind. What the USGA is claiming is(Sobel and ESPN are getting this info right off their records section) effectively saying that Nicklaus lost three strokes to par sometime on Sunday. I have zero recollection of that happening.

Nicklaus played a steady round, not one that by the USGA's description would require at least four bogeys by the Golden Bear.

Another questionable bit of info from the USGA.

In the final round, Nicklaus went ahead by one stroke when Aoki made a bogey 5 at the second hole. Nicklaus birdied the par-4 third hole from five feet to go two strokes ahead. Aoki birdied the eighth hole to cut his deficit to one stroke, but he bogeyed the ninth as Nicklaus made par, and never again was he closer than two strokes. As they stood on the 17th tee, they remained two strokes apart. Both men birdied the 17th, Nicklaus from 20 feet, Aoki from five feet.

Aoki's putt on 17 was about 10 feet not five. This I'm less sure than Nicklaus never getting to -9(By reading the above accurately, Nicklaus would have had to birdie two holes and bogey three between holes 9 and 16. He's -7 after Aoki's 8th hole birdie and we know he was -6 when teeing off 17) but I'd say my chances of being right are about 70%. And I'm again working from memory. I used to own Mark McCormick's the year in golf books for 78-80 and the Nicklaus birdie on 17 was his shot of the year. Unfortunately I don't have the book now and Sports Illustrated's The Vault doesn't give enough detail. I've repeatedly shown the sloppy recordkeeping of the LPGA, World Golf Hall of Fame, and the PGA. I'm betting once I get something to cross check this by, I'll be right.

Does Associated Press only hire idiots to cover golf?

Bill Jempty — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:15:56 -0000

JIM O'CONNELL knows nothing about US Open history. He writes-

From 1926 until 1965, the Open was played over three days with 36 holes contested on Sunday.

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! The US Open's final 36 holes used to be played on Saturday. A perfect example, and is considered one of golf's great displays of sportsmanship, was the 1929 US Open. Al Espinosa and Bobby Jones were tied at the end of 72 toles and were to begin a 36 hole the next day. Jones agreed to a later tee time, so Espinosa could go to Sunday mass!

If O'Connell had any idea of what he was writing about, he'd know that story. Also if he bothered doing an internet search for moments in history for any particular year, and then cross checked them against a calender also online, he'd know that the US Open used to wrap up on Saturdays unless a playoff was involved.

Associated Press where Steve Elkington never won the 1995 PGA Championship, The Kemper Open was never played in North Carolina, Christina Kim never played in the ADT Championship or shot a 62 in a USGA Girls competition, and where pars are made into birdies at the State Farm Classic. They should really put a label on their golf reporting- We love revisionist history. Do you?

Cinderella's drive kills Robin

Bill Jempty — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:58:16 -0000

Cinderella's drive kills Robin

This was not a warped episode of Batman but what happened to Shi-Hyun Ahn today at the LPGA Championship earlier today.

Cinderella's Drive Kills Robin

Bill Jempty — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:39:43 -0000

Cinderella's Drive Kills Robin

This was not a warped episode of Batman but what happened to Shi-Hyun Ahn today at the LPGA Championship earlier today.

Has Ron Sirak lost his mind at Bulle Rock again?

Bill Jempty — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:54:52 -0000

Last year he predicted Juli Inkster to win the tournament when she wasn't even in the field. This year he writes the following-

Finally, is Cristie Kerr, with victories in each of the last six years, tying Ochoa for the longest active streak, the tour's most underrated player?

Can someone #1 on the money, ranked #4 in the world be possibly underrated? Let's not forget that in every single discussion of possible winners of a LPGA major, Cristie Kerr is one of the first names mentioned. It's been that way for 3 years at least.

Is Cristie Kerr underrated? I don't think so.

Spectator Infiltrates Tiger Woods Press Conference for Autograph

Bill Jempty — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:27:45 -0000

He pretended to be a member of the media in order to get an autograph.. From Alex Miceli at Golf World:

In one of the best cases of chutzpah in modern media centers, a fan sneaked into Tiger Woods’ news conference Sunday after The Memorial and sat amongst the ink-stained wretches, two rows from Tiger, waiting for a chance to get a Woods autograph.

After 19 questions, the guy could wait no longer.

“Jack’s going to hate me for this,” the interloper said, standing. “Tiger, congratulations for winning The Memorial. I’m a normal person that snuck in here with a patron badge. I was just wondering if I could get an autograph.”

After a lot of stunned media looked at one another, Tiger snickered before red-faced security staff escorted the man out of the interview room.

Nicklaus was classic with his response.

“If he’s got that much guts, he can get it, right?”

And then the patron’s badge was passed up to Woods, who signed it and passed it back to security to deliver to the very gutsy patron.

Since he was so sucessful in the media room, if I was there I would have given the person a chance to impersonate Ron Sirak or Doug Ferguson. Who knows, they may have done a good job of reporting the tournament. Cue the sarcastic laughter.

From personal experience at the two tournaments I have blogged, the security person by the media room door was always the same. After the first day they would recognize me and not ask to see my credential.

At the ADT Championship, there were two ways of getting in the media center. The main entrance where a guard was, and a back entrance door alongside the interview room. This was next to a parking lot that was used by officials and tournament cars. All someone would have to do was walk past the signs warning not to go further (but didn't have any guards around) and get to the interview room via the parking lot.

If the LPGA ever reads this post, they probably won't appreciate my sharing these secrets. Well, I could have said something worse. Like what if a woman tried to impersonate....never mind. If you want to keep non media members out of the press area, all exits and entrances need to be covered.

Hat tip: Geoff Shackelford

Jim Ruppert continues the pedestal building process for Se Ri Pak

Bill Jempty — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:28:23 -0000

Jim Ruppert continues the pedestal building process for Se Ri Pak

The STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER columnist calls Pak 'the patron saint of South Korean women golfers.' In South Korea she is known as the 'Golf Queen'. Should she ever complete the Grand Slam, will someone name her a God?

Colonial Trivia: Who Am I?

Bill Jempty — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:14:41 -0000

Hogan's Alley was the site of two of my over one dozen PGA Tour wins. I liked playing in Texas. In addition to Colonial, two of my major championship victories took in Texas, had a win in Dallas, plus the Lone Star State was home to the Senior Tour event victory that was arguably more important than anything I did on the PGA Tour.

Other clues to who I am:

My first PGA Tour victory was the US Open
My next to last PGA Tour victory was another major championship
A son of mine won on the PGA Tour

I loved the game of golf til the day I died. Appropriately enough, a golf course was the site of where my fatal heart attack took place

Yes, I'm in the Golf Hall of Fame

Who am I?

Laura Davies gets US Open exemption

Bill Jempty — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:17:46 -0000

Laura Davies gets US Open exemption

A few years ago I missed a ~~insane~~ great opportunity involving Ms. Davies. See I wrote a web fiction story involving the LPGA and extraterrestrial event that causes a world-wide shifting people from one body to another. Imagine that happening between Laura and Mi Hyun 'Peanut' Kim.