Exclusive: PGA, Mangum Recant Brush Damage Statements Made During 2011 PGA Championship

Mangum addresses the media during the 2011 PGA Championship.

If the glove does not fit, you must acquit.

Or, in this case, if you can’t prove the brush did the damage, you must take it back.

That’s what has been determined by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, Delta Division. In a stipulation of dismissal filed by the court on February 1st, 2012, in a case of greens brush manufacturer GreensPerfection Inc. versus Atlanta Athletic Club, Ken Mangum, CGCS and the PGA of America, it was declared that the defendants “never determined and never intended to say that GreensPerfection brushes caused damage to any putting greens at the Atlanta Athletic Club in August 2011.”

That’s an about-face from what was stated at the PGA Championship, in both a press release and on live TV. In a press release issued by the PGA of America concerning the damage, it stated that, “damage is believed to be the result of a significant rise in the dew point at approximately 7:00 p.m., which caused the brushes on the mowers on those greens to stick in the grass and damage the turf.” In a live press conference broadcast on the Golf Channel on August 11th, 2011, Ken Mangum, CGCS, director of golf course and grounds, echoed that sentiment, saying, “the only answer I could come up with was that the humidity changed and the brush grabbed and dug into the green and caused the problem.”

But Rodney Lingle, CGCS at Memphis CC and owner of GreensPerfection Inc., manufacturer of the brush being used at Atlanta Athletic Club, refused to believe that his brushes could have caused such damage. In a statement sent exclusively to Golfdom, Lingle states, “After the statements made at the 93rd PGA Championship, we felt a responsibility to our current customer’s concerns, as well as potential customers, to make sure they knew our product was safe and effective. GreensPerfection brushes are incapable of damaging any greens in the way represented by the defendants,” the statement reads. “According to the official court document, the defendants never determined that GreensPerfection brushes caused damage to any putting greens at the Atlanta Athletic Club and the brushes are still in use at The Atlanta Athletic Club and have been since the PGA Championship.”

PGA Championship leftovers

Well, I had best intentions. We shot this video at the PGA Championship on Tuesday evening before play started. I hoped to get the video posted the next day, but we also had the Rees Jones interview, and we decided to get that video produced and posted first... so then my Kauff/Andersen video fell by the wayside.

There is some good stuff in here... Andersen talks about monitoring the greens moisture levels at AAC, while Kauff talks about keeping a cool demeanor during a stressful week.

Not wanting it to go totally unused, here it is for your viewing pleasure on the Golfdom Daily.

Editor's note: Apologies to Andersen for the blatant misspelling of his last name in the video! ARGHHHH!!!

Rees Jones talks PGA Championship, hanging out with the maintenance crew

Player comments on playing conditions at PGA Championship

Good news/bad news:

Bad news first? I only had time to get three interviews done today.

Good news? The interviews were with the No. 2, No. 4 and No. 7 golfers IN THE WORLD.

As always, these interviews are 1-on-1, from my voice recorder to you:

RORY McILROY

It’s playing good, I mean, it’s good to play out in the afternoon. The course got a little firmer, which is good. The course is in beautiful shape. Fairways are really nice, greens are perfect. They’ve set the golf course up really well.

The fairways are just perfect. They’re really good to hit off. They’re really… you never get a bad lie. It puts a premium on hitting into the fairway, because if you go into the rough it’s a big disadvantage.

(Asked about the work that goes into maintaining his practice facility at home in Ireland): Definitely, I’ve learned a lot over the past few months about what it takes to maintain greens, and different types of grass, how it grows in different conditions… the upkeep of it. I’ve got two bent greens and two Poa. Obviously the weather’s not hot enough in Ireland to grow the grass that we’ve got here. But, it’s definitely given me an insight into what it’s like and what it takes to look after and maintain such good conditions of a golf course.

I’ve got a full time guy and a part time guy (maintaining the practice facility), so they’re in every day, basically. They do a fantastic job.

I knew it would take a little bit of maintenance, especially the grow-in stage. The grow-in stage, obviously they’ve got to be there quite a lot. But as it matures, they don’t need to topdress it so much, just maintain it… but it’s been good for me to learn a little bit about it.



JASON DAY

It looks good actually, the fairways are great, the greens are very quick. The back nine… I just went out, and the greens have a lot more slope than the front nine, so it’s going to be a lot of fun.

It kind of feels like it’s sitting up on a tee (in the fairway.) It is different compared to other places. But it’s a major, you know what I mean? They’re going to have the best conditions.

Definitely, definitely (we appreciate the maintenance team). When tournament comes around, these guys spend a lot of time out on the course during the week, you know what I mean? We do appreciate it.




LEE WESTWOOD

The course is in great condition, firming up all the time. (The new grasses) are a big improvement. Less grain on the greens.

I’ve not noticed too much about the appearance of the fairways. But it’s nicer to be on them then not. You can get lucky (in the rough) or it can set down, and it’s tough work then.

The superintendents are doing a great job here. We see what they do every week, whether it’s a major or a regular event. They do a great job.

Exclusive: photos of damage to No. 14 green

The PGA just announced that there was damage to two greens. Previously it was mentioned that No. 17 had sustained damage, but only now has it become public that No. 14 green was also damaged.

I happened to be at No. 14 green when the damage happened, and I took these two photos. I was there when Ken Mangum arrived on the scene to survey the damage -- the expression on his face said it all. But he didn't scream and shout... he went into business mode, and looked to find a solution to the problem.

Now that the damage has been fixed, I hope the crew at Atlanta Athletic Club appreciates that I share these photos only so you can see what a good job they did when the broadcast starts tomorrow.

"You won't even be able to tell."

After months -- no, years -- of preparation, it had to happen on Wednesday night.

There was the maintenance crew on The Golf Channel, surrounding a chunk of damaged turf on No. 17 green. The TV crew chuckled, "that's cutting the green a little too close."

It was no laughing matter to the crew.

"Those guys will fix it, they're problem solvers," Paul Goydos, joining The Golf Channel crew, proclaimed. Goydos was exactly right.

The crew sprung into action to fix the damage that had been done. According to Kasey Kauff, superintendent of the Highlands course, the crew took a sod cutter to the driving range green. That's how The Golf Channel got tipped off to the story.

"The funniest thing, the nursery green didn't match enough," Kauff said. "The nursery green is only five weeks old. So we went to the driving range green.

"We got some sod. Sod it, water it, tamp it down, go home. You won't even be able to tell. It's nobody's fault. We weren't even that worked up about it," Kauff continued. "We just didn't want The Golf Channel filming it!"

As of this writing, the PGA of America was preparing a press release about the incident. Check back later for more information.

No train? No pain.

One photo I have not -- and will not -- get at the PGA Championship is the "fairway mower train" shot that I'm so fond of.

You know the photos. A string of 8 fairway mowers or more, chopping down a fairway in one fell swoop. Like the first photo, taken this year at Congressional CC during the U.S. Open.

All you'll see out here at Atlanta Athletic Club are shots like the one below that I took yesterday of our friend on the John Deere... one man, one fairway, one mower.



The reason, according to the staff here at AAC, is this: the Diamond zoysia fairway grass needs the exact same cut throughout or else there will be a subtle, visible difference in the cut. The crew doesn't want to risk there being the slightest difference between two mowers that end up on the same fairway.

"You can put these all up on lifts, but the fact is that no two mowers are exactly the same, reel to reel, bedknife to bedknife," says Tyler Andersen, first assistant on the Highlands Course at Atlanta Athletic Club. "On this specific turf, at these heights, you can see the slightest imperfection. We don't want to risk one mower being even 1/5,000th of an inch off."

Indeed, Tyler took me along for a ride to watch the maintenance unfold yesterday afternoon. The fairway mowers were as scrutinized as the crew syringing greens.

Mangum has six fairway mowers total mowing fairways this week. Three for the front nine, three for the back nine. They can get all the fairways mowed in one hour and 45 minutes.

But does that mean absolutely no maintenance train photo for me? No worries. I took a video of every single piece of equipment pulling out of the maintenance facility. One way or another, I will have my maintenance train!

Tour players comment on Atlanta Athletic Club conditions

As always, these are all 1-on-1 interviews straight from my voice recorder to you -- you won't find these sound bites anywhere else. Here we go:

JIM FURYK:

(The course is) perfect. I don’t think we’ve played a course in this good of shape all year, to be honest with you.

The greens are a touch on the firm side, they’re pretty quick. It just makes sense, with the heat they get here to go to Bermuda. Probably for a lot less hassle and a lot less budget, you can have better greens and they’re really nice.

Bermuda’s a thicker blade of grass, it grows sideways so it gets a lot of grain… Bermuda’s gotten so good now, they can make it a thinner blade of grass, it doesn’t have as much grain even though it has some… they’re beautiful, they’re nice greens.

You have to go stand on a fairway and see, they look like carpets. It’s some sort of zoysia I’m not familiar with, Diamond zoysia? Zoysia’s usually a wide blade of grass, this is a little thinner, zoysia can get real thatchy and spongy, and this is not either. It’s as good of fairways as I’ve ever played on, ever.

GRAEME McDOWELL:

The golf course is great, fast and firm fairways, not a lot of rough but it doesn’t need it. You miss a fairway and it takes that bit of control out of your hands, coming into some firm and fast greens. Greens all pitch back to front, so the golden rule here is: over the back is no good.

It’s a good test without being ridiculously tricked up. It’s a good, fair test. The back nine is much, much stronger than the front. The front nine is quite straight forward, the back nine is strong.

The fairways are like carpets, they’re just perfect, they’re just perfect. Obviously the guys do a great job here.

AARON BADDELEY:

I played this morning. The conditions are unbelievable. The fairways are the best I’ve ever played. They’re unbelievable, like carpet. The type of grass… it’s a creeping grass, so a really tight coverage on it.

The greens are good, they’re quick. The greens are short… so there’s not much grain, it’s good.

They knocked down the rough a little bit, not much. It’s not like you can’t get it to the green, you just can’t control it. Definitely an advantage to keep it in the fairway.

I think it’ll be hot on Sunday. What do you do? But when you have the right type of grass you can get the course to be dried out and firm if it doesn’t rain.

JERRY KELLY:

(The golf course is) fantastic, this is the best grass we’ve probably ever played on. This Champion tifdwarf is a fantastic Southern course grass for the greens, and we haven’t ever seen anything like this Diamond zoysia, it’s fantastic.

GARY WOODLAND:

(The fairways are) perfect. They’re awesome. I was up here three weeks ago and they were beautiful then as well.

The rough was a little bit… it was getting bad. I think it was similar to what it was now. I think it got bad last week and they backed off a little bit. You’re just going to have to drive the ball in play, plain and simple. It’s hot, the ball is going to be going far, you won’t have to hit a lot of drivers, just keep it in play.

It depends on conditions, and it depends on how they set it up. If they set it up long and tough, I think single digits score will easily win this. But if it gets soft out there and they play it up a little bit I think you can score pretty good.

Where to start?

It was a great day out there at the PGA Championship, but I don't even know where to start.

What was my biggest highlight of the day? The Rees Jones interview? The Graeme McDowell interview? Following the crew on the back nine during evening maintenance?

I'll tell you one highlight that was certainly unexpected... Ken Mangum was addressing the group during dinner. I was snapping photos of him while he was doing it... he was thanking the folks who supported the team at Atlanta Athletic Club... he named BASF, John Deere, Cleary, then some other industry mainstays... then he named ME, Seth Jones, and Golfdom magazine! WOW! Thanks, Ken! What an honor!

I'll tell you another two highlights... Kyle Johnson (pictured, right) gave me a ride from the maintenance facility to No. 10 green, saving me a loooong walk! Thank you Kyle! Then, to finish my evening, Tyler Andersen (pictured, left) gave me a ride to my car, saving me another looooong walk! Thank you Tyler!

Somehow, someday, I'll have to do cover stories on you BOTH, OK?

This photo is a pic of Tyler, Kasey Kauff and Kyle at the practice range. They asked if they should take off their sunglasses. I told them, "No, keep them on, you guys look like Reservoir Dogs!"

HACK-OFF TIME!

I know Hendren will get into this more tomorrow, but just an early head's up... it's Hack-Off time!

For the U.S. Open I gave away a sweet pair of Spy sunglasses for first place, as well as some sweet prizes for 2nd and 3rd. Fair warning: I've got some really cool prizes -- perhaps the best yet -- lined up for the PGA! So get signed up!

Here's the blurb I've got going in the next Golfdom Insider email newsletter:

Participate in the Great Golfdom Hack-Off!
Once again Golfdom will be where the world of golf is… this time that place is the Atlanta Athletic Club for the PGA Championship. We’ll be reporting live from AAC during the week, but in the meantime, let’s have some fun and give away some prizes! Enter your picks for the U.S. Open and you could win a number of great prizes, from gift cards to PGA Championship merchandise to Rain Bird and SubAir golf gear! Just click here for directions on how to enter the Hack-Off!

Mangum interview on GolfdomTV

It's PGA Championship week!

I'm heading to the golf course right now. We've got tons of great content planned this week. Stay tuned all week and we'll see what all we can come up with!