Weekend Wrap

Mother nature has intervened to ensure that you get your weekend wrappage on a timely basis...  That makes me a tad cranky, so you've been warned.

Denial, Not Just a River For Jordan - Jordan had assured us that all was well, and that he laughed at his Masters pratfall....  Mehtinks thou dost protest too much, but first the game story:

Spieth, who began the final round with a one-stroke lead, made the turn on Sunday

trailing Harris English by two. Then this: 

— He holed a 21-foot birdie putt at 10, got up and down for birdie at the par-5 11th and holed a four-footer for his third-straight birdie at 12. 

— He holed a 13-footer to save par at 14, a 20-foot birdie putt at 16, a 20-foot pitch-and-run from behind the green at 17 and a 34-foot birdie putt at 18 to win by three over English. 

“It’s always nice to see those kind of putts and even chips go in on the back nine on Sunday and that’s going to serve me well going forward,” he said.

Cablevision made a unilateral decision that I didn't want to see the final round yesterday, so that let's friend of the blog Wally off the hook for his "Did you just see that shot by Jordan" text, But it seems that Spieth stayed patient during his front nine, then was able to summon the magic down the stretch. Kind of what's expected from our alpha dogs, but we do understand that it's not going to appear on cue every week.

I was of two minds about the young man's struggles....  I'd predicted a more difficult season for him, based principally upon it still being golf, a game not nearly as easy as he made it look at times.   So I wasn't put off by him scraping it around, but it did seem that his head was going to explode all over his lovely Under Armour polos, and we were left to hope that it happened on a hole with Protracer...

But of course that Masters meltdown was troubling... when you build a five-shot margin after 63 holes of a major, we expect our heroes to be able to avoid crooked numbers.  But Jordan puts the lie to his post-Masters bravado with his comments after yesterday's win:

“This day is a moment that will go down, no matter what happens in the next 30 years, as one of the most important days I’ve ever had,” he said. 

This was the day that he won a tournament, the Dean & DeLuca Invitational, that allowed him to quiet the drumbeat of negativity that haunted him since the proverbial back nine on Sunday, a month ago, when he kicked away the Masters.

My bad, that excerpt should have carried a metaphor trigger warning... I know it's a home game, but if the Dean & Deluca is your career highlight, it's not really much of a career.  And will someone please send John Strege a dictionary, because that back nine a month ago was anything but proverbial.

And then there was this bit:

On the 10th hole at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, on this Sunday, he heard a man in the crowd yell, “remember the Masters.” 

“I had a little red-ass in me and it came out in the next few holes,” he said. “I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get over the hurdle, of having to come into every interview room, having to listen to the crowds, talking only about what happened a month ago. I’m 22 and we’ve won two majors. But it’s very difficult to stay present, to stay positive, when that’s happening, when those are the only questions. So in our third tournament coming back to close this one out the way we did is really, really special.”

Everyone is playing their parts from script, even the buffoon on the tenth that took time out from screaming "Mashed Potatoes" to analogize the Masters to Jordan's own Alamo....  Not surprisingly, the Tour Confidential crew renders a split decision on whether Jordan is over his hangover:

Josh Sens: Does that sort of thing ever really go away? Decades after Doug Sanders missed a clinching bunny at the British Open, he admitted that he never could forget it for more than a few minutes at a time. The Masters will always be there for Spieth. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Not every memory in life is a big smiley face. It’s how you use the memory. Spieth will use it as motivation, and draw something positive from the pain. All the more so if his putter stays hot.

Bunny?  Is that a real term, 'cause it's a new one to me...  I don't actually think that's a good analogy, because that was Sanders' one real opportunity at lasting fame, whereas Jordan already has his Champions' Dinner invite in perpetuity.

But it's hard to find anything to quibble with here:

Alan Shipnuck: He’s a resilient kid, clearly. Colonial is one of the best tracks on Tour, and anything in Texas is Spieth’s fifth major, so you can’t understate the importance of this win. All I know is that it was nice to see him smiling after months of grinding.  

One minor quibble, or perhaps more of a clarification.  The D&D is now a distinctly second-tier event, and if you disagree just look at those names that Jordan battled down the stretch.  Added to the fact that this should be a golf course that suits him perfectly, it's a week that he should do well.  I know he couldn't find a fairway early in the week, and the Golf Channel highlight reel on Thursday was exclusively great recovery shots from the rough, I'll just note that at Oakmont those recovery shots will be hit to firmer greens with 4-irons and hybrids....

Before we get to Oakmont, Nick Menta did have this preview of next week:

More importantly, the top three players in the world – Jason Day, Spieth and Rory McIlroy – will enter next week’s event, the Memorial, coming off a victory in their last start.

That doesn't suck....  Now to Oakmont, and the TC boys working their handicapping magic:

Godich: It’s gotta be Day. Seven wins in his last 17 starts—nobody’s hotter. I’ll rank Spieth second because he’s the best putter on the planet. I can’t see Rory negotiating those treacherous Oakmont greens. 

Morfit: Jason Day is still No. 1, until proven otherwise. He has something like Spieth’s short game, and something like Rory’s long game. Oakmont is a funny place. It favors bombers like past winners Angel Cabrera (2007), Ernie Els (1994) and Jack Nicklaus (1962). But keep in mind that Loren Roberts almost won there in ’94, and Jim Furyk in ’07. I certainly wouldn’t rule Spieth out. Rory, though, might find those greens a bit harsh.

It's intriguing to see Rory and Spieth find some game, and if they're on form they bring a lot to the party.  But Jordan has been spraying the ball all over the yard, and as a shortish player that's a big ask at brawny Oakmont.  As for Rory, his short iron and wedge play has been so dreadful of late that I assume we'll see him in awkward spots on those greens....  

Though I was happy for this "peace in our time" moment:

I just hope these crazy kids can work things out....

This Ariya Rocks - The ladies get no respect....  If you want to see a bounce back from drop-kicking a major away, look no further than Ariya Jutanugarn:

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) Ariya Jutanugarn became the first player to win three straight LPGA Tour events in three years, closing with a 5-under 67 for a five-stroke victory Sunday in the Volvik Championship. 

The 20-year-old Jutanugarn is the first player since Inbee Park in 2013 to win three consecutive tournaments and the first ever to make their first three career victories consecutive. 

Jutanugarn finished at 15-under 273 at Travis Pointe after starting the day with a one-shot edge thanks to a closing eagle in the third-round.

She is a great player as she showed at the Dinah Shore before she realized that she could win, but she really charmed me with her reaction to that meltdown.  She hits the ball a long way, but has amazing feel around the green.  It's almost as if Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko had a baby....

Not A Fan - It's always noteworthy when one of the writers for the major golf sites picks up on the same thing that I do, though admittedly he liked it more.  In this case it's Kyle Reifers' logos and the writer is Peter Burkowski:

You couldn't miss Kyle Reifers, either. Not because of his following but because of his shirt.

Reifers sported massive logos -- like, NASCAR massive -- for Chef's Cut beef jerkey, tech consulting firm NV5, and another company on his sleeve that we couldn't quite make out. Reifers also wore a bold Black Clover hat, which was, well, black and must have been pretty toasty in the Texas sun.

The really good news for Reifers' sponsors? He shot a 68 in the final round at Colonial and finished 5th, which meant mucho airtime and a healthy amount of social-media snark for him and his not-so-subtle shirt.

I stand squarely with the snarkers...see what you think:

It's just butt-ugly for sure.  And wehn a logo is both over-sized and unintelligible, that's a double-daily of ugly.  And I don't like the over-sized Polo logo much better, but at least it's not just text.

Soon Please - Joel Beall pens an items on the five reasons that the Tour should hold a fourball event.  I'm not the only golf writer that seeks to amuse, so let's enjoy the fun that he provides:

High-five fails

I use to think the lack of hand-eye coordination for team celebrations was hysterical. It's

now an epidemic. Sure, laugh away when two grown athletes struggle to slap hands. It won't be funny when someone breaks their wrist in this fashion. 

(Thinking...) 

OK, it will still be funny. Nevertheless, a four-ball event can serve as high-five practice for players, making sure their hand gestures are on point come fall.

Fair enough, but while high-five fails are amusing, chest-bump fails are comdey gold.

But this is the gist of Joel's argument, with which I couldn't agree more:

Breaking up the monotony of the season

There are 47 -- 47! -- PGA Tour events this year. While each has it's own flavor and distinction, let's be honest: The general public can only name a handful of non-major tournaments. With such a long campaign, the occasional change-of-pace could do the players, tour and fans some good. It's precisely this notion that has made Match Play a prosperous endeavor, and it's a sentiment that should be replicated.

But in dog years, that's 329 boring events.... First off, the Tour has a long history with four-ball events... For instance, at my first Met. Golf Writes meeting Dave Anderson, the Pulitzer-winning N.Y. Times sports writer, told us that the first PGA Tour event he covered was the Miami Four-ball played at Wykagyl.... Also, one of Byuron Nelson's eleven straight wins in 1945 was similarly a four-ball event.

But as Joel notes, the Tours calendar is the Bataan death March of stroke play events, barely distinguishable from each other.  It's little wonder that no one watches the telecasts, as there's little to interest anyone except dead enders such as your humble correspondent.  

Now, Shack can't contain himself and goes completely off the rails in his reaction:

Which is exactly why, besides the pleasures of watching epic high five fails and allowing today's Hogan's to practice this all-important gesture, we need more four-ball with...you know where I'm going! The Stymie! 

Granted, today's non-confrontational players would balk and possibly take forever (though not touching their ball once they start putting might offset some of the slowness). And modern green speeds would make it hard to stymie someone, but imagine the intrigue and creativity we would have seen in even something like the US Amateur Four-Ball? 

I'll repeat for the 400th time: if the stymie was desperately missed by Bobby Jones, and it was worth a chapter in his later-in-life biography, that should be all anyone needs to bring it back at least once a year.

Uh Geoff, you got a little spittle on your chin....No, other side....

OK, I love the stymie as much as the next guy, most especially in a four-ball...  In fact, I might just suggest w euse it one of these weekend.  But I hasten to add that you can only do so in match play for obvious reasons, and I fail to se ehow this could be a match play event.

But you could mix in a day of alternate shot or other formats....  Who am I kidding, though, if the NFL is the No Fun League, the PGA Tour is the Wipe That Smile Off Your Face League.

Just got word that the golf course has opened so I'll catch you all later...