11/1/21

Show me the moneyyyyyyy

The Presidents Cup will be played at Bellerive in 2030, which should make for a fun week on Twitter (or wherever we all are by then)

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If you put out a “please take only one piece” sign yesterday, it’s time to reevaluate some things.

The cash cow

Stu Durando of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Bellerive Country Club will be announced as the 2030 Presidents Cup venue on Wednesday. Bellerive is the host of three previous major championships, most recently the 2018 PGA Championship.

There are a few ways to react to this news.

One is to be happy for St. Louis and the surrounding region. Golf fans showed out in droves in 2018 and created a lively environment, and those same people will almost certainly be there again for the Presidents Cup.

Another (faulty) way to react is to remember (selectively) that the 2018 PGA featured a Brooks Koepka-Tiger Woods duel down the stretch, and hope that Bellerive will (randomly) generate similar drama in team match play.

If you’ve followed The Fried Egg for any length of time, you know that neither of those thoughts is all that prominent in our minds.

The PGA Tour’s decision to go to Bellerive has nothing to do with the fans or the golf course and everything to do with wringing every last dollar out of the event. Bellerive is a big ballpark, and the Tour will be able to squeeze in a ton of fans, hospitality, and infrastructure. It doesn’t matter that the course is so bland that players openly discussed how unstrategic it was in 2018. Hell, Ian Poulter didn’t even bother playing all 18 holes in his practice round. It’s the kind of venue we see on the PGA Tour almost every week, and it won’t add much to the 2030 Presidents Cup.

With the exception of Royal Melbourne at the 2019 Presidents Cup, the courses at recent men’s international team competitions have been more or less an afterthought. We understand that the organizations running these events need to profit from them, but it would be nice if the quality of the product weren’t so obviously secondary to the almighty dollar.

Results

Lucas Herbert won the Butterfield Bermuda Championship for his second title of 2021, moving to No. 43 in the Official World Golf Ranking in the process.

Quick Hooks

Scott Stallings bested the Bermuda Championship final-round scoring average (71.7) by nearly 10 shots with his Sunday 62. The round vaulted him from T-50 to T-5.

Lookout Mountain Club voted to restore its Seth Raynor-designed golf course. Kyle Franz and Tyler Rae will do the work.

2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Lukas Michel has kept busy over the past two years not only by playing high-level amateur golf but also by visiting a bunch of golf course construction projects. John Huggan caught up with Michel for Golf Digest.

The Must-Sees of Public Golf Architecture in America

This week’s entry in our list of must-see public golf courses comes courtesy of Kevin Van Cleef (@KevThyme), friend of the program and member of the grounds crew at Old Sandwich Golf Club.

Cape Cod Country Club (Falmouth, Massachusetts)

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Cape Cod Country Club opened in 1928 and was designed by Devereux Emmet and Alfred Tull. All of its original corridors are intact, and it is routed beautifully on dramatic, pondside land. Among its most memorable features are a volcano green, a Great Hazard, jagged strings of bunkers, and big dips and hollows. Cape Cod has sandy soils, plays firm and fast, and is eminently walkable. Unfortunately, the current ownership plans to close the course sometime after next season and sell the property to a solar-farm developer. Only time will tell whether this deal will go through, as there’s more environmental red tape to get through. But suffice it to say that the time to go see Cape Cod CC is now.

Insider tip: The course is open year-round thanks to the regional microclimate. Be sure to call and confirm before you go, but if it isn’t frozen or snowy, golf is played! -Kevin Van Cleef

Photo credit: Kevin Van Cleef

The Latest from The Fried Egg

A Raynor for the People: Rock Spring – Garrett Morrison tells the up-and-down story of Rock Spring Golf Club, a Seth Raynor design that teetered on the brink of closure but is now thriving as a municipal course.

The Fried Egg Podcast – ICYMI, Sara Mess joined Garrett to discuss the Glenway Golf Park project in Madison, Wisconsin, an intriguing municipal renovation funded by Michael Keiser. Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.

The Shotgun Start – The Monday episode will be an A.M. release. Why? Brendan gave three very good reasons: “1. Halloween, 2. worse for the wearness, and 3. it being the Butterfield.” Listen, when the episode arrives, on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Pro Shop

We’re having an odds-and-ends sale in the Fried Egg pro shop this week! Select Shotgun Start and Fried Egg merchandise is on sale, along with some fun leftovers from our 2021 events. Shop today!