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08/09/2018

Premier League is Back!

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

PGA Championship Quiz: 1) The only other time the PGA was held at Bellerive in St. Louis was 1992, won by Nick Price.  Four tied for second.  You get the initials, name ‘em.  J.C., N.F., J. G., G. S.  2) What South Korean won the PGA in 2009?  Answers below.

MLB

--The Yankees have taken the first two against the White Sox in Chicago as they begin their long stretch against sub-.500 teams.  Monday, the newly-acquired Lance Lynn threw 7 1/3 of two-hit, shutout ball, striking out 9 in a 7-0 win, while Tuesday, New York survived 4-3 in 13. Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer in the tenth, only to have Zach Britton blow his second save as a Yank in the bottom of the frame.  Miguel Andujar then singled in the winning run in the 13th as the much-maligned Sonny Gray threw three innings of shutout ball in relief.

So the Yanks are now four up in the wild-card race as both Oakland and Seattle lost Tuesday.

New York 70-42... +4
Oakland 67-47... --
Seattle 65-49... 2

In Seattle’s loss, 11-4 to the Rangers, 45-year-old Bartolo Colon finally picked up win No. 246, passing Dennis Martinez for most victories by a pitcher born in Latin America in MLB history.  Colon had dropped his last five decisions.  Congratulations, Big Sexy.

Meanwhile, Boston continued to roll, 10-7 winners Tuesday over the Blue Jays, surviving Craig Kimbrel’s fourth blown save of the season, as Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley Jr. went deep in the 10th.  The Red Sox are now a staggering 80-34.

Separately, The Yankees had a little issue involving broadcaster Michael Kay, who said on the air during the lost weekend in Boston: “When you’re playing Luke Voit and Shane Robinson in important games... You know shame on the Yankees for not having the depth, but again, shame on guys like Jacoby Ellsbury for not getting healthy. Shame on Clint Frazeier for not getting healthy. Again, you can’t make them get healthy, but if those guys are available it’s a completely different animal.”

Kay later tweeted that he was being “facetious” with the remark, which is one reason why I don’t like Michael Kay.  He made a statement and then weenied out. 

It didn’t help that on Tuesday the Yankees announced Ellsbury was having surgery for a torn labrum in his hip and is officially out until next spring. 

However, in the case of Clint Frazier, I admit I have no idea what his situation is in terms of concussion issues this season, and Frazier was upset with Kay, weighing in late Monday on Twitter: “@RealMichaelKay facetious or not, I don’t appreciate what you said today.  I’m doing everything I can to get healthy so I can play symptom free...so steer clear of publicly calling me out for not (playing) when we haven’t even had one convo about my concussion this year. #ShameOnYouBro”

Kay, Tuesday, then apologized further: “Clint, I would never question someone’s injury.  Never.  In fact, I have gone out of my way to say how I felt for you this year and how badly I know how you want to play.  It is beyond my comprehension that you would think I would minimize what you are going through.”

Keep digging, Michael.

--You’ve really gotta hand it to Oakland and their aggressive front office (Billy Beane et al) for all of its moves to give manager Bob Melvin and crew the best shot at getting into the playoffs, the latest being the addition of pitcher Mike Fiers from Detroit, Fiers 7-6 with a 3.48 ERA this season. Fiers was traded for two players to be named or cash.

The A’s have used 12 different starting pitchers this year and they need Fiers to help solidify the rotation down the stretch.  Recent pickup Jeurys Familia has been superb in relief, and then Oakland acquired Sean Kelly from Washington for further relief help on Sunday, Washington agreeing to send almost $1.5 million to Oakland to cover a portion of the $1.65m remaining on Kelly’s contract.  More BillyBall.

--Mike Trout sat out his sixth straight game on Tuesday with a bad right wrist, for which he received a cortisone injection on Monday in the latest attempt to heal it.  The Angels are hoping to avoid having to place Trout on the disabled list and assume he will be available by Friday. 

I’m most concerned about the look of his baseball card, already ruined by a stint on the DL last season that prevented Trout from running his 100-runs scored streak to six seasons.  He has scored 82 runs this year, along with 30 home runs and 60 RBIs, while amassing a career-high OPS of 1.083.  In so many ways this was going to be his best season yet, so here’s hoping he’s back shortly.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia said Shohei Ohtani is making progress more quickly in terms of getting back on the mound, which would be a shock.  The two-way rookie sensation has incurred no setbacks while throwing regularly in the outfield, Scioscia said Monday.  Ohtani hasn’t pitched since June after spraining a ligament in his right (throwing) elbow.

At the plate, Ohtani homered again on Tuesday in an 11-5 Angels win over Detroit, No. 12 in 198 at bats.

NFL

--Andrew Beaton / Wall Street Journal...on the paramount issue for the sport this coming season.

“The NFL, this off-season, imposed a new helmet rule aimed at protecting players by discouraging them from leading with their helmets.  And since training camps began last month, the rule has been the focus of exasperation from players and coaches alike.

“The backlash presents a peculiar reality for the NFL. The league has been assailed for years over safety issues, particularly pertaining to head injuries.  These issues have cost the league big bucks: The league committed an estimated billion dollars to an ongoing settlement with former players over neurocognitive issues. They also have created a headwind for the game’s long-term future, with concerns beginning at the youth levels of the sport.

“In response to those concerns, the league has taken various steps over the years to fund research, strengthen safety protocols and tweak the rulebook.  This latest overhaul marks arguably the strongest measure yet in terms of affecting how the game of football is played.

“The new rule penalizes players for lowering their heads to make contact with any part of an opponent’s body, not just the head.  The rule theoretically can be applied to the offense or defense, although using the helmet as a weapon has traditionally been a concern for defensive players and their tackling.

“The reaction, however – including from the people the rule is designed to protect – has been at times severe.

“If the penalty is called too much, star cornerback Richard Sherman said, it could ‘ruin the game.’....

“This is nothing short of an existential crisis for football. Everyone from parents to former players have clamored to make the game safer.  But there’s only so much that can be done without radically changing the sport.

“To put it another way: Not everybody wants football to go soft.

“ ‘Nobody wants people getting hurt and people putting themselves in a risky position. There’s a fine line to it,’ said 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.  ‘[The] thing is: It is a violent game, there’s no doubt about it.  That’s why it’s not for everyone. And I think it’s also why people, America, loves it too.’

“The rule also is in one way reminiscent of the targeting rule that college football uses: Players can be ejected for these types of hits.  But unlike in college, where targeting results in the automatic ejection of a player, ejection will be contingent on various criteria such as whether there was an ‘unobstructed path to his opponent’ and whether the contact was ‘clearly avoidable.’....

“The rule change doesn’t only affect the type of jarring hits that fans typically associate with using the helmet as a weapon, such as a safety slamming a wide receiver over the middle of the field.  It could reconstruct what it means to play offensive and defensive line....

“While the most violent hits may occur in the defensive backfield, basic line play in football frequently involves players – on both sides – ramming their heads into one another on every single play.  And health experts have long pointed to repeated subconcussive hits, the type experienced by linemen in these situations, as a major point of health and safety concern. If enforced to the letter, this change could alter football’s fundamentals so dramatically that trench play could look totally foreign – albeit safer....

“Ravens coach John Harbaugh was one of the people who praised the rule when it was passed. After seeing it in action [Ed. during last week’s Hall of Fame game], he said he’d have to study the calls more closely before he made a proper evaluation.  ‘I really don’t know,’ he said.”

This is going to be a total fiasco, and result in more fans tuning out.

--NFL legend Jim Brown, 82, speaking before HBO’s premiere of “Hard Knocks,” which is chronicling his Cleveland Browns in training camp, said, “I’ll never kneel and I will always respect the flag.”

The statement is noteworthy from the standpoint that Brown has long championed civil rights, including during his playing career, with Brown saying while he respects players’ rights to do what they want his preference is they stand.

The NFL and NFL Players Association still haven’t worked on a resolution to the issue.

--On the college side, 13 North Carolina football players, including quarterback Chazz Surratt, were suspended at least one game this season for selling school-issued, special-edition Nike Jordan shoes, an NCAA violation.

Some of the players, including Surratt, were suspended four games, others two or one, but with multiple players sharing the same position, the NCAA is allowing UNC to stagger the suspensions.

Surratt had an edge in the quarterback competition against Nathan Elliott going into preseason camp.

Coach Larry Fedora said: “I’m certainly upset by our players’ actions and how their choices reflect on them, our program and the University. These young men knew the rules and are being held responsible for the poor choices they have made.”

Phil W. passed along an opinion piece from Ed Hardin of the Greensboro News and Record.

“Everybody else is doing it.

“The coach can’t keep up with 20,000 students.

“It was just parking tickets.

“Doug Moe gave the money back.

“UNC-Cheat is back in the news. This is no longer an anomaly. This is a trend. Carolina has a problem.

“The NCAA, which should probably just open an office on Franklin Street, suspended 13 football players Monday for selling free shoes, an ironic violation that sounds familiar in this state.  The jokes started flying soon afterward. And then the hand-wringing. And then the whining and the excuses.

“They can’t pin this one on Coach Larry Fedora... This one is on the players.

“While this particular incident sounds sophomoric compared to, say, an entire department providing fake classes designed to keep athletes and frat brothers eligible for sports and wearing argyle, these are adults who had to know this was a dumb idea that could possibly cost them their college careers and the football team its season and the university another piece of its reputation.

“And yet, we’re already hearing people come to their defense, talking about how silly the rule is, how the poor football players can’t afford to eat or take their girlfriends on dates or fly to South Beach for VIP access in the clubs. A retired judge from Hendersonville has gone so far as to write an op-ed in the Charlotte Observer calling on the football team to boycott games in protest.

“Judge Bob Orr, former associate justice on the N.C. Supreme Court and a Carolina grade, wrote ‘they can right this wrong and strike a vital blow for the rights of all the young men and women exploited by the billion-dollar industry of college sports.’

“Or they can go home and sell shoes at the mall.

“Or follow the rules like the rest of the student body and get an education and maybe a law degree and someday maybe even sit on the N.C. Supreme Court and help make Carolina great again....

“The truth is, too many of these athletes shouldn’t be in these schools to begin with. Too many arrive needing extensive tutoring and special classes just to stay eligible, not to mention trying to balance the demands of playing a high-profile sport. But they don’t need shoe money.

“They get meal money and housing and stipends based on cost of tuition. They get a free education and chartered flights to games and athletic training and free medical care and a nationally televised head start toward a career that could make them comfortable for the rest of their lives.

“Or they could just sell shoes and boycott the very reason too many were allowed to go to school to begin with....

“These are 13 young adults embarrassing themselves, their school and their state.

“Yet again.”

I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Hardin.

Golf Balls

--It seems the greens for the PGA Championship at Bellerive (St. Louis) are very spotty, as in “burnt, patchy” greens per Golf Digest

Joel Beall / Golfworld

“While this part of the country is always steamy from June to August, the summer of 2018 has been particularly brutal, as both June and July finished in the top-five highest-recorded months in Missouri history.  Local courses have battled the conditions as much as possible, but there’s only so much you can do to combat Mother Nature.  Even with the resources at its disposal, that includes Bellerive.

“ ‘With this heat, it’s not surprising,’ Joe LaCava, caddie for Tiger Woods, told Golf Digest.  ‘That’s the Midwest. It’s a shame it looks like this.  But what can you do?’ ....

“A source, a member at Bellerive, said the greens have been closed for much of the summer to get them in good repair.”

But Dustin Johnson, in a practice round Monday, on multiple occasions could be heard saying, “Not a big deal” when it came to the patchiness. 

--Golf Digest learned that the Phil Mickelson vs. Tiger Woods winner-take-all duel on Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas, “The Match,” is not just a one-off occasion.  The two are proceeding with plans to create a series of high-stakes head-to-head matches featuring many of the world’s top-ranked players, perhaps occurring twice per year – once around July 4 and once at Thanksgiving.  Two-man team events may also be in the cards.

Cable network TNT has signed to broadcast Tiger vs. Phil over Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour is not comfortable about the size of the purse for “The Match,” $10 million, equal to the purse at last week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.  I can see why the Tour isn’t happy with an event that could “overshadow” the total purse at all but a handful of its tournaments.

Another issue is whether Tiger and Phil could put some of their own money in play to goose interest levels (like a press or a side bet).

One television spokesman told Golfworld, “Let’s face it, for this to work, to get people’s attention, they have to play for some of their own money somehow. Who wouldn’t watch that?”

There is also a conflict Thanksgiving weekend with the World Cup of Golf, which might necessitate a 6 p.m. EDT start to the Woods-Mickelson match that would require the final few holes at Shadow Creek to be played under the lights.

I have to admit that while at first I was enthusiastic about “The Match,” I’m now kind of souring on it. If some of their own money was at risk, however, that could be good.

But I’m also worried about the format.  I kind of like the following, musing out loud.  First nine holes stroke play.  Second nine match play.

What you’re looking for is the easiest way to get to sudden death, which is where the real excitement would come in.

So let’s say Tiger beats Phil 34 to 36 in stroke play.  But Phil then beats Tiger in match play.  You then head to sudden death.  [Under the 6:00 PM EDT idea, lights would already be in place for 16 thru 18 for a playoff.]

At least you have a reason to keep interest into the back nine.  If the back finishes AS, then in my example, Tiger wins in regulation.  Can you imagine Phil on 18, one-up on Tiger on the back, after Tiger takes stroke play, then needing to hit an accurate drive to keep things going?  That would be delicious.

Not for nothing, but the stroke play, then match play format for the NCAA Championship has worked wonders for that event.

Premier League...2018/19

Everything you need to know about the new season, which starts this weekend, including the following which you’ll find nowhere else.  You can see how the Big Six (Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Man City and Man U) have dominated the sport.

Standings last four seasons....

2014/15

1. Chelsea 26 (W) 9 (D) 3 (L)...87 points
2. Manchester City...79
3. Arsenal...75
4. Manchester United...70
5. Tottenham...64
6. Liverpool...62
14. Leicester City...41

Relegated: Hull City, Burnley, Queens Park Rangers. Promoted: Bournemouth, Watford, Norwich City.

2015/16

1. Leicester City 23 – 12 – 3 ...81
2. Arsenal...71
3. Tottenham...70
4. Manchester City...66 [ties broken by goal differential]
5. Manchester United...66
6. Southampton...63
7. West Ham...62
8. Liverpool...60

Relegated: Newcastle United, Norwich City, Aston Villa. Promoted: Hull City, Burnley, Middlesbrough.

2016/17

1. Chelsea 30 – 3 – 5 ...93
2. Tottenham...86
3. Manchester City...78
4. Liverpool...76
5. Arsenal...75
6. Manchester United...69
12. Leicester City...44

Relegated: Hull City, Middlesbrough, Sunderland. Promoted: Brighton, Newcastle United, Huddersfield.

2017/18

1. Manchester City 32 – 4 – 2 ...100
2. Manchester United...81
3. Tottenham...77
4. Liverpool...75
5. Chelsea...70
6. Arsenal...63

Relegated: Swansea, Stoke, West Brom. Promoted: Cardiff, Fulham, Wolverhampton.

Odds for 2018/19 via SkyBet....

Arsenal 25-1
Bournemouth 1,000-1
Brighton 1,000-1
Burnley 1,000-1
Cardiff 2,000-1
Chelsea 12-1
Crystal Palace 750-1
Everton 250-1
Fulham 1,500-1
Huddersfield 1,500-1
Leicester 250-1
Liverpool 5-1
*Man City 4-6
Man U 13-2
Newcastle 750-1
Southampton 500-1
Tottenham 12-1...my boys...we win it all this season!
Watford 1,000-1
West Ham 500-1
Wolverhampton 250-1...I’m going to be a sleeper fan of them just cuz I love the name.

*Man City is not a consensus winner in all the preseason odds.  Just throwing out one of them.

Get invested in a team...I promise you you’ll have fun if you do.  Granted, it’s easier following one of the Big Six because virtually all of their games are featured live.

One of the great things about this sport in terms of watching is the matches are just two hours long...uninterrupted 45-minute halves, plus extra time, and a brief halftime...and you can do other stuff while having it on in the background (as I’m always doing).  When there’s a roar for a goal, you get multiple instant replays...you miss nothing.

--Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke is doubling down on his bet on the Premier League, agreeing to take full ownership of Arsenal in a deal that values the club at $2.3 billion. The transaction Tuesday brings to an end a protracted battle for full ownership between Kroenke and minority owner Alisher Usmanov, a Russian billionaire.

Kroenke’s company also owns the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche and MLS’s Colorado Rapids.  According to Deloitte, Arsenal is the world’s sixth-largest team by revenue.

Manchester United and Liverpool are owned by the Glazer family – which also owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers – and John W. Henry’s Fenway Sports Group, owner of the Red Sox.

Back to Kroenke, Arsenal fans have blamed him for not investing enough in the club as its majority shareholder.  This will be an interesting year for the team, at a crossroads following the departure of long-time manager Arsene Wenger, replaced by Unai Emery.

Stuff

--NASCAR has had a lot of problems with its product and keeping up interest the last few years, and the last thing it needed was a scandal concerning the sport’s CEO Brian France.  France was arrested for driving while intoxicated in Sag Harbor, Long Island, Sunday night, as well as criminal possession of oxycodone after he was seen blowing through a stop sign, police said.

NASCAR in a statement said it takes the arrest “as a serious matter” and will issue a statement after it has all of the facts.

Monday night, NASCAR announced France’s uncle, Jim, would take over as interim chairman.

Brian France said in a statement: “I apologize to our fans, our industry and my family for the impact of my actions last night. Effective immediately, I will be taking an immediate leave of absence from my position to focus on my personal affairs.”

Josh Peter / USA TODAY Sports

“Brian France pulled over and let someone else take the wheel for a while Monday.  Now, NASCAR must make the move permanent.

“France is in as good a condition to be running NASCAR as he was to be driving a car on Sunday night in Sag Harbor, N.Y., where France failed to stop at a stop sign and had oxycodone pills in his possession, according to police.

“And this is the guy ultimately overseeing driver safety at NASCAR.

“He needs to hand over the keys – to his car and his job as CEO.

“France, 56, started by taking a leave of absence to address his problems that almost assuredly contributed to his arrest.  His uncle Jim France will fill in as chairman and CEO. But ultimately, Brian France must step aside for good.

“Because let’s not forget 2006.  That’s when he hit a tree while driving a Lexus in Daytona Beach, Fla., and a witness said France was driving at a ‘very reckless speed’ and ‘fell over his own feet’ after he got out of the car, according to news media reports.

“France told Daytona Beach police that he hit the tree when he was taking a drink of a soda.

“Can’t help but wonder what was in that soda now that France is facing charges of aggravated driving while intoxicated and criminal possession of a controlled substance.

“Truth is, France, the grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and CEO since 2003, has looked unsteady leading NASCAR for years. This season, continuing a steady decline over the past decade, NASCAR’s TV ratings for the first 16 events are down 20% and admissions revenue to 14 Cup Series weekends after the Daytona 500 is down almost 15%, according to an ESPN.com report.

“The Wall Street Journal reported in 2017 that France sold his entire stake in NASCAR more than a decade ago. That means France’s fate as CEO likely rests with his older sister, Lesa, his uncle, Jim, and other stakeholders who must ask themselves this.  On what grounds can Brian France credibly oversee NASCAR’s substance abuse policy, safety issues and, for that matter, the entire organization?

“He can’t, of course, and for that reason someone needs to put a sober adult behind the wheel for good.”

--We note the passing of the great NHL hockey player, Hall of Famer and lifetime Chicago Blackhawk Stan Mikita, who died of dementia at the age of 78.

“There are no words to describe our sadness over Stan’s passing,” the Blackhawks said in a statement, Mikita having played there from 1958-1980.  “He meant so much to the team, to the game of hockey, and to all of Chicago.”

As a New York Rangers fan, growing up Mikita was one of those guys you just learned to respect, like Jean Beliveau, who starred in much of the same era for Montreal.

Mikita came from the little town of Sokolice in what was then Czechoslovakia, and being part-Czech myself, it’s no doubt one reason why I gravitated to the guy.

Mikita once told former Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Verdi, “I’d just as soon be remembered as an athlete who was part of the community.  Chicago after all is my home.”  He was as much a part of the fabric of the city as Ernie Banks and Walter Payton, others who played their entire careers in Chicago.

In teammate Bobby Hull’s opinion: “Pound for pound Stan had to be one of the greatest who ever played, and he was a player who always came to play.”

Mikita stood only 5-feet-9, weighing around 160 to 165, yet he would go on to score 541 goals and assist on 926 others...1,467 points.  He also had 150 points in 155 playoff games.

Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983, Mikita earned the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player in 1967 and 1968, the Art Ross trophy as the league’s leading scorer in 1964, 1967 and 1968 and the Lady Byng trophy for sportsmanship and gentlemanly play in 1967 and 1968.  He was the first player to win all three trophies in one year and the only player to win all three in consecutive years.

Yet throughout his long career he played with pain, often excruciating back pain.  And there was the time during the 1971 playoffs when the Blackhawks went to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals before losing to Montreal. Mikita suffered a severely injured right middle finger when it was struck by a stick. He could barely hold a stick and it seemed he would be lost for the rest of the playoffs, but Mikita kept playing.  He would reveal years later that – unknown to the team doctor – a private physician who was a friend injected the finger with Novocain before his next game and then sat next to the bench and froze the finger whenever the pain returned. He estimated that he had 20 injections.

Mikita also kept everything in perspective.

After the Blackhawks were swept from the playoffs one year a reporter asked him how it felt to be “killed” in four straight games.

“Not very good but then again while we were playing games here tonight I wonder how many guys really were killed in Vietnam,” Mikita answered.  [Neil Milbert / Chicago Tribune]

--Fellow Wake alum Phil W. first broke the news to me that former Demon Deacon Chris Paul was making the largest ever donation to the university from an alumnus under age 35, $2.5 million.

Paul’s pledge will go toward efforts to transform the men’s and women’s basketball clubhouses with expanded locker rooms, nutrition resources and treatment areas.

Personally, when it comes to nutrition just read a week’s worth of articles on WebMD.  You know, oily fish, berries, nuts, kale, light beer...I mean everyone knows these things already.

“Giving back has always been important to my family and me, and Wake Forest is part of my family,” Paul said in a release issued by the university.  “The recent investments towards improving Wake Forest Athletics are amazing, and now is the time to give back in a meaningful way.”

With all due respect, Mr. Paul, you could have given back in a meaningful way by not punching North Carolina State’s Julius Hodge in the groin in the season finale in 2005, which cost us a first-round game against the same Wolfpack in the ACC tournament, that dropped us from a No. 1 to No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which cost us a legitimate run at a Final Four!!

But then I’ve only mentioned this dark moment in Wake history about 42,000 times already.

Of course Phil W., and later Mark S., knew this would rile me up.  And it has. 

[I do give Paul credit for his philanthropic efforts in the Winston-Salem area that have resulted in scholarships and the furtherance of youth sports.]

--Congratulations to the University of Delaware for gaining the top spot in the Princeton Review’s annual ranking of party schools!  Go Fightin’ Blue Hens!  West Virginia was runner-up.

Top 3 songs for the week 8/5/78:  #1 “Miss You” (The Rolling Stones)  #2 “Three Times A Lady” (Commodores)  #3 “Grease” (Frankie Valli)...and...#4 “Last Dance” (Donna Summer)  #5 “Shadow Dancing” (Andy Gibb)  #6 “Baker Street” (Gerry Rafferty...great beginning...then flattens out...)  #7 “Use Ta Be My Girl” (The O’Jays)  #8 “Hot Blooded” (Foreigner...this one hasn’t aged well...)  #9 “Love Will Find A Way” (Pablo Cruise...eh...)  #10 “Still The Same” (Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band...I was selling books door-to-door in Oklahoma and Kansas that summer...easily the worst salesman in the history of mankind...but got good asking for water...it was like 100 degrees in Oklahoma 21 straight days...oh, the stories I could tell...)

PGA Championship Quiz Answers:  1) Four second-place finishers in 1992 at Bellerive: John Cook, Nick Faldo, Jim Gallagher Jr., Gene Sauers.  2) The South Korean winner in 2009 was Y.E. Yang.  His only two PGA Tour titles were that year.

Next Bar Chat, Monday.



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Bar Chat

08/09/2018

Premier League is Back!

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

PGA Championship Quiz: 1) The only other time the PGA was held at Bellerive in St. Louis was 1992, won by Nick Price.  Four tied for second.  You get the initials, name ‘em.  J.C., N.F., J. G., G. S.  2) What South Korean won the PGA in 2009?  Answers below.

MLB

--The Yankees have taken the first two against the White Sox in Chicago as they begin their long stretch against sub-.500 teams.  Monday, the newly-acquired Lance Lynn threw 7 1/3 of two-hit, shutout ball, striking out 9 in a 7-0 win, while Tuesday, New York survived 4-3 in 13. Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer in the tenth, only to have Zach Britton blow his second save as a Yank in the bottom of the frame.  Miguel Andujar then singled in the winning run in the 13th as the much-maligned Sonny Gray threw three innings of shutout ball in relief.

So the Yanks are now four up in the wild-card race as both Oakland and Seattle lost Tuesday.

New York 70-42... +4
Oakland 67-47... --
Seattle 65-49... 2

In Seattle’s loss, 11-4 to the Rangers, 45-year-old Bartolo Colon finally picked up win No. 246, passing Dennis Martinez for most victories by a pitcher born in Latin America in MLB history.  Colon had dropped his last five decisions.  Congratulations, Big Sexy.

Meanwhile, Boston continued to roll, 10-7 winners Tuesday over the Blue Jays, surviving Craig Kimbrel’s fourth blown save of the season, as Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley Jr. went deep in the 10th.  The Red Sox are now a staggering 80-34.

Separately, The Yankees had a little issue involving broadcaster Michael Kay, who said on the air during the lost weekend in Boston: “When you’re playing Luke Voit and Shane Robinson in important games... You know shame on the Yankees for not having the depth, but again, shame on guys like Jacoby Ellsbury for not getting healthy. Shame on Clint Frazeier for not getting healthy. Again, you can’t make them get healthy, but if those guys are available it’s a completely different animal.”

Kay later tweeted that he was being “facetious” with the remark, which is one reason why I don’t like Michael Kay.  He made a statement and then weenied out. 

It didn’t help that on Tuesday the Yankees announced Ellsbury was having surgery for a torn labrum in his hip and is officially out until next spring. 

However, in the case of Clint Frazier, I admit I have no idea what his situation is in terms of concussion issues this season, and Frazier was upset with Kay, weighing in late Monday on Twitter: “@RealMichaelKay facetious or not, I don’t appreciate what you said today.  I’m doing everything I can to get healthy so I can play symptom free...so steer clear of publicly calling me out for not (playing) when we haven’t even had one convo about my concussion this year. #ShameOnYouBro”

Kay, Tuesday, then apologized further: “Clint, I would never question someone’s injury.  Never.  In fact, I have gone out of my way to say how I felt for you this year and how badly I know how you want to play.  It is beyond my comprehension that you would think I would minimize what you are going through.”

Keep digging, Michael.

--You’ve really gotta hand it to Oakland and their aggressive front office (Billy Beane et al) for all of its moves to give manager Bob Melvin and crew the best shot at getting into the playoffs, the latest being the addition of pitcher Mike Fiers from Detroit, Fiers 7-6 with a 3.48 ERA this season. Fiers was traded for two players to be named or cash.

The A’s have used 12 different starting pitchers this year and they need Fiers to help solidify the rotation down the stretch.  Recent pickup Jeurys Familia has been superb in relief, and then Oakland acquired Sean Kelly from Washington for further relief help on Sunday, Washington agreeing to send almost $1.5 million to Oakland to cover a portion of the $1.65m remaining on Kelly’s contract.  More BillyBall.

--Mike Trout sat out his sixth straight game on Tuesday with a bad right wrist, for which he received a cortisone injection on Monday in the latest attempt to heal it.  The Angels are hoping to avoid having to place Trout on the disabled list and assume he will be available by Friday. 

I’m most concerned about the look of his baseball card, already ruined by a stint on the DL last season that prevented Trout from running his 100-runs scored streak to six seasons.  He has scored 82 runs this year, along with 30 home runs and 60 RBIs, while amassing a career-high OPS of 1.083.  In so many ways this was going to be his best season yet, so here’s hoping he’s back shortly.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia said Shohei Ohtani is making progress more quickly in terms of getting back on the mound, which would be a shock.  The two-way rookie sensation has incurred no setbacks while throwing regularly in the outfield, Scioscia said Monday.  Ohtani hasn’t pitched since June after spraining a ligament in his right (throwing) elbow.

At the plate, Ohtani homered again on Tuesday in an 11-5 Angels win over Detroit, No. 12 in 198 at bats.

NFL

--Andrew Beaton / Wall Street Journal...on the paramount issue for the sport this coming season.

“The NFL, this off-season, imposed a new helmet rule aimed at protecting players by discouraging them from leading with their helmets.  And since training camps began last month, the rule has been the focus of exasperation from players and coaches alike.

“The backlash presents a peculiar reality for the NFL. The league has been assailed for years over safety issues, particularly pertaining to head injuries.  These issues have cost the league big bucks: The league committed an estimated billion dollars to an ongoing settlement with former players over neurocognitive issues. They also have created a headwind for the game’s long-term future, with concerns beginning at the youth levels of the sport.

“In response to those concerns, the league has taken various steps over the years to fund research, strengthen safety protocols and tweak the rulebook.  This latest overhaul marks arguably the strongest measure yet in terms of affecting how the game of football is played.

“The new rule penalizes players for lowering their heads to make contact with any part of an opponent’s body, not just the head.  The rule theoretically can be applied to the offense or defense, although using the helmet as a weapon has traditionally been a concern for defensive players and their tackling.

“The reaction, however – including from the people the rule is designed to protect – has been at times severe.

“If the penalty is called too much, star cornerback Richard Sherman said, it could ‘ruin the game.’....

“This is nothing short of an existential crisis for football. Everyone from parents to former players have clamored to make the game safer.  But there’s only so much that can be done without radically changing the sport.

“To put it another way: Not everybody wants football to go soft.

“ ‘Nobody wants people getting hurt and people putting themselves in a risky position. There’s a fine line to it,’ said 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.  ‘[The] thing is: It is a violent game, there’s no doubt about it.  That’s why it’s not for everyone. And I think it’s also why people, America, loves it too.’

“The rule also is in one way reminiscent of the targeting rule that college football uses: Players can be ejected for these types of hits.  But unlike in college, where targeting results in the automatic ejection of a player, ejection will be contingent on various criteria such as whether there was an ‘unobstructed path to his opponent’ and whether the contact was ‘clearly avoidable.’....

“The rule change doesn’t only affect the type of jarring hits that fans typically associate with using the helmet as a weapon, such as a safety slamming a wide receiver over the middle of the field.  It could reconstruct what it means to play offensive and defensive line....

“While the most violent hits may occur in the defensive backfield, basic line play in football frequently involves players – on both sides – ramming their heads into one another on every single play.  And health experts have long pointed to repeated subconcussive hits, the type experienced by linemen in these situations, as a major point of health and safety concern. If enforced to the letter, this change could alter football’s fundamentals so dramatically that trench play could look totally foreign – albeit safer....

“Ravens coach John Harbaugh was one of the people who praised the rule when it was passed. After seeing it in action [Ed. during last week’s Hall of Fame game], he said he’d have to study the calls more closely before he made a proper evaluation.  ‘I really don’t know,’ he said.”

This is going to be a total fiasco, and result in more fans tuning out.

--NFL legend Jim Brown, 82, speaking before HBO’s premiere of “Hard Knocks,” which is chronicling his Cleveland Browns in training camp, said, “I’ll never kneel and I will always respect the flag.”

The statement is noteworthy from the standpoint that Brown has long championed civil rights, including during his playing career, with Brown saying while he respects players’ rights to do what they want his preference is they stand.

The NFL and NFL Players Association still haven’t worked on a resolution to the issue.

--On the college side, 13 North Carolina football players, including quarterback Chazz Surratt, were suspended at least one game this season for selling school-issued, special-edition Nike Jordan shoes, an NCAA violation.

Some of the players, including Surratt, were suspended four games, others two or one, but with multiple players sharing the same position, the NCAA is allowing UNC to stagger the suspensions.

Surratt had an edge in the quarterback competition against Nathan Elliott going into preseason camp.

Coach Larry Fedora said: “I’m certainly upset by our players’ actions and how their choices reflect on them, our program and the University. These young men knew the rules and are being held responsible for the poor choices they have made.”

Phil W. passed along an opinion piece from Ed Hardin of the Greensboro News and Record.

“Everybody else is doing it.

“The coach can’t keep up with 20,000 students.

“It was just parking tickets.

“Doug Moe gave the money back.

“UNC-Cheat is back in the news. This is no longer an anomaly. This is a trend. Carolina has a problem.

“The NCAA, which should probably just open an office on Franklin Street, suspended 13 football players Monday for selling free shoes, an ironic violation that sounds familiar in this state.  The jokes started flying soon afterward. And then the hand-wringing. And then the whining and the excuses.

“They can’t pin this one on Coach Larry Fedora... This one is on the players.

“While this particular incident sounds sophomoric compared to, say, an entire department providing fake classes designed to keep athletes and frat brothers eligible for sports and wearing argyle, these are adults who had to know this was a dumb idea that could possibly cost them their college careers and the football team its season and the university another piece of its reputation.

“And yet, we’re already hearing people come to their defense, talking about how silly the rule is, how the poor football players can’t afford to eat or take their girlfriends on dates or fly to South Beach for VIP access in the clubs. A retired judge from Hendersonville has gone so far as to write an op-ed in the Charlotte Observer calling on the football team to boycott games in protest.

“Judge Bob Orr, former associate justice on the N.C. Supreme Court and a Carolina grade, wrote ‘they can right this wrong and strike a vital blow for the rights of all the young men and women exploited by the billion-dollar industry of college sports.’

“Or they can go home and sell shoes at the mall.

“Or follow the rules like the rest of the student body and get an education and maybe a law degree and someday maybe even sit on the N.C. Supreme Court and help make Carolina great again....

“The truth is, too many of these athletes shouldn’t be in these schools to begin with. Too many arrive needing extensive tutoring and special classes just to stay eligible, not to mention trying to balance the demands of playing a high-profile sport. But they don’t need shoe money.

“They get meal money and housing and stipends based on cost of tuition. They get a free education and chartered flights to games and athletic training and free medical care and a nationally televised head start toward a career that could make them comfortable for the rest of their lives.

“Or they could just sell shoes and boycott the very reason too many were allowed to go to school to begin with....

“These are 13 young adults embarrassing themselves, their school and their state.

“Yet again.”

I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Hardin.

Golf Balls

--It seems the greens for the PGA Championship at Bellerive (St. Louis) are very spotty, as in “burnt, patchy” greens per Golf Digest

Joel Beall / Golfworld

“While this part of the country is always steamy from June to August, the summer of 2018 has been particularly brutal, as both June and July finished in the top-five highest-recorded months in Missouri history.  Local courses have battled the conditions as much as possible, but there’s only so much you can do to combat Mother Nature.  Even with the resources at its disposal, that includes Bellerive.

“ ‘With this heat, it’s not surprising,’ Joe LaCava, caddie for Tiger Woods, told Golf Digest.  ‘That’s the Midwest. It’s a shame it looks like this.  But what can you do?’ ....

“A source, a member at Bellerive, said the greens have been closed for much of the summer to get them in good repair.”

But Dustin Johnson, in a practice round Monday, on multiple occasions could be heard saying, “Not a big deal” when it came to the patchiness. 

--Golf Digest learned that the Phil Mickelson vs. Tiger Woods winner-take-all duel on Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas, “The Match,” is not just a one-off occasion.  The two are proceeding with plans to create a series of high-stakes head-to-head matches featuring many of the world’s top-ranked players, perhaps occurring twice per year – once around July 4 and once at Thanksgiving.  Two-man team events may also be in the cards.

Cable network TNT has signed to broadcast Tiger vs. Phil over Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour is not comfortable about the size of the purse for “The Match,” $10 million, equal to the purse at last week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.  I can see why the Tour isn’t happy with an event that could “overshadow” the total purse at all but a handful of its tournaments.

Another issue is whether Tiger and Phil could put some of their own money in play to goose interest levels (like a press or a side bet).

One television spokesman told Golfworld, “Let’s face it, for this to work, to get people’s attention, they have to play for some of their own money somehow. Who wouldn’t watch that?”

There is also a conflict Thanksgiving weekend with the World Cup of Golf, which might necessitate a 6 p.m. EDT start to the Woods-Mickelson match that would require the final few holes at Shadow Creek to be played under the lights.

I have to admit that while at first I was enthusiastic about “The Match,” I’m now kind of souring on it. If some of their own money was at risk, however, that could be good.

But I’m also worried about the format.  I kind of like the following, musing out loud.  First nine holes stroke play.  Second nine match play.

What you’re looking for is the easiest way to get to sudden death, which is where the real excitement would come in.

So let’s say Tiger beats Phil 34 to 36 in stroke play.  But Phil then beats Tiger in match play.  You then head to sudden death.  [Under the 6:00 PM EDT idea, lights would already be in place for 16 thru 18 for a playoff.]

At least you have a reason to keep interest into the back nine.  If the back finishes AS, then in my example, Tiger wins in regulation.  Can you imagine Phil on 18, one-up on Tiger on the back, after Tiger takes stroke play, then needing to hit an accurate drive to keep things going?  That would be delicious.

Not for nothing, but the stroke play, then match play format for the NCAA Championship has worked wonders for that event.

Premier League...2018/19

Everything you need to know about the new season, which starts this weekend, including the following which you’ll find nowhere else.  You can see how the Big Six (Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Man City and Man U) have dominated the sport.

Standings last four seasons....

2014/15

1. Chelsea 26 (W) 9 (D) 3 (L)...87 points
2. Manchester City...79
3. Arsenal...75
4. Manchester United...70
5. Tottenham...64
6. Liverpool...62
14. Leicester City...41

Relegated: Hull City, Burnley, Queens Park Rangers. Promoted: Bournemouth, Watford, Norwich City.

2015/16

1. Leicester City 23 – 12 – 3 ...81
2. Arsenal...71
3. Tottenham...70
4. Manchester City...66 [ties broken by goal differential]
5. Manchester United...66
6. Southampton...63
7. West Ham...62
8. Liverpool...60

Relegated: Newcastle United, Norwich City, Aston Villa. Promoted: Hull City, Burnley, Middlesbrough.

2016/17

1. Chelsea 30 – 3 – 5 ...93
2. Tottenham...86
3. Manchester City...78
4. Liverpool...76
5. Arsenal...75
6. Manchester United...69
12. Leicester City...44

Relegated: Hull City, Middlesbrough, Sunderland. Promoted: Brighton, Newcastle United, Huddersfield.

2017/18

1. Manchester City 32 – 4 – 2 ...100
2. Manchester United...81
3. Tottenham...77
4. Liverpool...75
5. Chelsea...70
6. Arsenal...63

Relegated: Swansea, Stoke, West Brom. Promoted: Cardiff, Fulham, Wolverhampton.

Odds for 2018/19 via SkyBet....

Arsenal 25-1
Bournemouth 1,000-1
Brighton 1,000-1
Burnley 1,000-1
Cardiff 2,000-1
Chelsea 12-1
Crystal Palace 750-1
Everton 250-1
Fulham 1,500-1
Huddersfield 1,500-1
Leicester 250-1
Liverpool 5-1
*Man City 4-6
Man U 13-2
Newcastle 750-1
Southampton 500-1
Tottenham 12-1...my boys...we win it all this season!
Watford 1,000-1
West Ham 500-1
Wolverhampton 250-1...I’m going to be a sleeper fan of them just cuz I love the name.

*Man City is not a consensus winner in all the preseason odds.  Just throwing out one of them.

Get invested in a team...I promise you you’ll have fun if you do.  Granted, it’s easier following one of the Big Six because virtually all of their games are featured live.

One of the great things about this sport in terms of watching is the matches are just two hours long...uninterrupted 45-minute halves, plus extra time, and a brief halftime...and you can do other stuff while having it on in the background (as I’m always doing).  When there’s a roar for a goal, you get multiple instant replays...you miss nothing.

--Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke is doubling down on his bet on the Premier League, agreeing to take full ownership of Arsenal in a deal that values the club at $2.3 billion. The transaction Tuesday brings to an end a protracted battle for full ownership between Kroenke and minority owner Alisher Usmanov, a Russian billionaire.

Kroenke’s company also owns the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche and MLS’s Colorado Rapids.  According to Deloitte, Arsenal is the world’s sixth-largest team by revenue.

Manchester United and Liverpool are owned by the Glazer family – which also owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers – and John W. Henry’s Fenway Sports Group, owner of the Red Sox.

Back to Kroenke, Arsenal fans have blamed him for not investing enough in the club as its majority shareholder.  This will be an interesting year for the team, at a crossroads following the departure of long-time manager Arsene Wenger, replaced by Unai Emery.

Stuff

--NASCAR has had a lot of problems with its product and keeping up interest the last few years, and the last thing it needed was a scandal concerning the sport’s CEO Brian France.  France was arrested for driving while intoxicated in Sag Harbor, Long Island, Sunday night, as well as criminal possession of oxycodone after he was seen blowing through a stop sign, police said.

NASCAR in a statement said it takes the arrest “as a serious matter” and will issue a statement after it has all of the facts.

Monday night, NASCAR announced France’s uncle, Jim, would take over as interim chairman.

Brian France said in a statement: “I apologize to our fans, our industry and my family for the impact of my actions last night. Effective immediately, I will be taking an immediate leave of absence from my position to focus on my personal affairs.”

Josh Peter / USA TODAY Sports

“Brian France pulled over and let someone else take the wheel for a while Monday.  Now, NASCAR must make the move permanent.

“France is in as good a condition to be running NASCAR as he was to be driving a car on Sunday night in Sag Harbor, N.Y., where France failed to stop at a stop sign and had oxycodone pills in his possession, according to police.

“And this is the guy ultimately overseeing driver safety at NASCAR.

“He needs to hand over the keys – to his car and his job as CEO.

“France, 56, started by taking a leave of absence to address his problems that almost assuredly contributed to his arrest.  His uncle Jim France will fill in as chairman and CEO. But ultimately, Brian France must step aside for good.

“Because let’s not forget 2006.  That’s when he hit a tree while driving a Lexus in Daytona Beach, Fla., and a witness said France was driving at a ‘very reckless speed’ and ‘fell over his own feet’ after he got out of the car, according to news media reports.

“France told Daytona Beach police that he hit the tree when he was taking a drink of a soda.

“Can’t help but wonder what was in that soda now that France is facing charges of aggravated driving while intoxicated and criminal possession of a controlled substance.

“Truth is, France, the grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and CEO since 2003, has looked unsteady leading NASCAR for years. This season, continuing a steady decline over the past decade, NASCAR’s TV ratings for the first 16 events are down 20% and admissions revenue to 14 Cup Series weekends after the Daytona 500 is down almost 15%, according to an ESPN.com report.

“The Wall Street Journal reported in 2017 that France sold his entire stake in NASCAR more than a decade ago. That means France’s fate as CEO likely rests with his older sister, Lesa, his uncle, Jim, and other stakeholders who must ask themselves this.  On what grounds can Brian France credibly oversee NASCAR’s substance abuse policy, safety issues and, for that matter, the entire organization?

“He can’t, of course, and for that reason someone needs to put a sober adult behind the wheel for good.”

--We note the passing of the great NHL hockey player, Hall of Famer and lifetime Chicago Blackhawk Stan Mikita, who died of dementia at the age of 78.

“There are no words to describe our sadness over Stan’s passing,” the Blackhawks said in a statement, Mikita having played there from 1958-1980.  “He meant so much to the team, to the game of hockey, and to all of Chicago.”

As a New York Rangers fan, growing up Mikita was one of those guys you just learned to respect, like Jean Beliveau, who starred in much of the same era for Montreal.

Mikita came from the little town of Sokolice in what was then Czechoslovakia, and being part-Czech myself, it’s no doubt one reason why I gravitated to the guy.

Mikita once told former Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Verdi, “I’d just as soon be remembered as an athlete who was part of the community.  Chicago after all is my home.”  He was as much a part of the fabric of the city as Ernie Banks and Walter Payton, others who played their entire careers in Chicago.

In teammate Bobby Hull’s opinion: “Pound for pound Stan had to be one of the greatest who ever played, and he was a player who always came to play.”

Mikita stood only 5-feet-9, weighing around 160 to 165, yet he would go on to score 541 goals and assist on 926 others...1,467 points.  He also had 150 points in 155 playoff games.

Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983, Mikita earned the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player in 1967 and 1968, the Art Ross trophy as the league’s leading scorer in 1964, 1967 and 1968 and the Lady Byng trophy for sportsmanship and gentlemanly play in 1967 and 1968.  He was the first player to win all three trophies in one year and the only player to win all three in consecutive years.

Yet throughout his long career he played with pain, often excruciating back pain.  And there was the time during the 1971 playoffs when the Blackhawks went to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals before losing to Montreal. Mikita suffered a severely injured right middle finger when it was struck by a stick. He could barely hold a stick and it seemed he would be lost for the rest of the playoffs, but Mikita kept playing.  He would reveal years later that – unknown to the team doctor – a private physician who was a friend injected the finger with Novocain before his next game and then sat next to the bench and froze the finger whenever the pain returned. He estimated that he had 20 injections.

Mikita also kept everything in perspective.

After the Blackhawks were swept from the playoffs one year a reporter asked him how it felt to be “killed” in four straight games.

“Not very good but then again while we were playing games here tonight I wonder how many guys really were killed in Vietnam,” Mikita answered.  [Neil Milbert / Chicago Tribune]

--Fellow Wake alum Phil W. first broke the news to me that former Demon Deacon Chris Paul was making the largest ever donation to the university from an alumnus under age 35, $2.5 million.

Paul’s pledge will go toward efforts to transform the men’s and women’s basketball clubhouses with expanded locker rooms, nutrition resources and treatment areas.

Personally, when it comes to nutrition just read a week’s worth of articles on WebMD.  You know, oily fish, berries, nuts, kale, light beer...I mean everyone knows these things already.

“Giving back has always been important to my family and me, and Wake Forest is part of my family,” Paul said in a release issued by the university.  “The recent investments towards improving Wake Forest Athletics are amazing, and now is the time to give back in a meaningful way.”

With all due respect, Mr. Paul, you could have given back in a meaningful way by not punching North Carolina State’s Julius Hodge in the groin in the season finale in 2005, which cost us a first-round game against the same Wolfpack in the ACC tournament, that dropped us from a No. 1 to No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which cost us a legitimate run at a Final Four!!

But then I’ve only mentioned this dark moment in Wake history about 42,000 times already.

Of course Phil W., and later Mark S., knew this would rile me up.  And it has. 

[I do give Paul credit for his philanthropic efforts in the Winston-Salem area that have resulted in scholarships and the furtherance of youth sports.]

--Congratulations to the University of Delaware for gaining the top spot in the Princeton Review’s annual ranking of party schools!  Go Fightin’ Blue Hens!  West Virginia was runner-up.

Top 3 songs for the week 8/5/78:  #1 “Miss You” (The Rolling Stones)  #2 “Three Times A Lady” (Commodores)  #3 “Grease” (Frankie Valli)...and...#4 “Last Dance” (Donna Summer)  #5 “Shadow Dancing” (Andy Gibb)  #6 “Baker Street” (Gerry Rafferty...great beginning...then flattens out...)  #7 “Use Ta Be My Girl” (The O’Jays)  #8 “Hot Blooded” (Foreigner...this one hasn’t aged well...)  #9 “Love Will Find A Way” (Pablo Cruise...eh...)  #10 “Still The Same” (Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band...I was selling books door-to-door in Oklahoma and Kansas that summer...easily the worst salesman in the history of mankind...but got good asking for water...it was like 100 degrees in Oklahoma 21 straight days...oh, the stories I could tell...)

PGA Championship Quiz Answers:  1) Four second-place finishers in 1992 at Bellerive: John Cook, Nick Faldo, Jim Gallagher Jr., Gene Sauers.  2) The South Korean winner in 2009 was Y.E. Yang.  His only two PGA Tour titles were that year.

Next Bar Chat, Monday.