Weekend Wrap

I actually got a round in yesterday, though company was hard to come by....

Shanghai Surprise - I'm digging these 30-second summaries, at least in the wraparound portion of the schedule:

Who won: Xander Schauffele (14 under, first playoff hole) 

Why it matters: The 25-year-old has now won three times on the PGA Tour, although

this is his first World Golf Championships victory. Runner-up Tony Finau has finished second four times since the start of the 2016-17 season. 

How it happened: Schauffele birdied the final two holes to shoot a four-under 68. Finau, who held a three-shot lead heading into the final day and was with Schauffele and Justin Rose in the final group, also birdied 18 to shoot 71 and tie Schauffele at 14 under. Playing the par-5 18th for the playoff, Schauffele found the fairway and then reached the green in two with a five-iron. Finau found the bunker off the tee and had to scramble. Schauffele two-putted for birdie while Finau’s tying chance from the fringe missed.

There was a notable rules incident, but one with a happy ending:

Xander Schauffele almost caught a bad break in the final round of the WGC-HSBC Champions, but luckily the Rules of Golf were on his side. 

Schauffele was tied with Tony Finau while playing the 72nd hole at Sheshan International on Sunday, and the 25-year-old’s second shot on the par-5 finisher landed safely on the green. 

Justin Rose, the third man in the final grouping, was up next, but his shot found the green, rolled out and then collided with Schauffele’s ball — sending both balls down the steep slope and splashing into the water. 

The crowd gasped, and more than a few spectators probably thought Schauffele had just been dealt a terribly unlucky break. But fear not, he had Rule 18-5 on his side.

Remember kids, you're always entitled to the conditions that exist when your ball comes to rest.  Patrick made some news over there as well, but we'll circle back to that after finishing our wrappage.

Champing At The Bit - It's not often that the Tour's off-field event is the more significant, but my early call (I know, it wasn't that early) seems to be panning out:

Who won: Cameron Champ (21 under) 

Why it matters: The 23-year-old Texas A&M product is a Tour rookie and regarded as one of the promising young talents in the game. He had only one professional win to his name (the Web.com’s 2018 Utah Championship) before his victory on Sunday, which came in just his ninth start on the PGA Tour. 

How it happened: Champ held a four-shot lead heading into the final round, but Corey Conners bit into it quickly. Conners played the front in three under, while Champ played it in one over. All of a sudden they were tied for the lead heading to the back side. Conners made birdies on 13 and 15, but Champ did one better, making four straight birdies from 13 to 16. Champ added a final birdie on 18 to beat Conners by four. Both players shot four-under 68s on Sunday.

It matters because the kid is a beast, averaging 343 yards off the tee last season on the the Web.com tour.  Yes, that was his average...

Shack has this chart of the kid's stats this week:

Geoff points us to that third line, as he benefits from three clubs less into each green.  I'm actually more blown away by the putting stats, though also a tad curious as to who beat him in SG: Driving....

Amusingly, he had an emergency right before his tee time yesterday:

Given his clubhead speed, I'd be traveling with a baker's dozen back-ups....

The Tour Confidential panel used Champ's win to revisit a popular question:

1. Cameron Champ and Norman Xiong, labeled by many as stars in the making, made headlines at the Sanderson Farms Championship. The 19-year-old Xiong and long-hitting Champ, 23, were tied after 36 holes, but Champ pulled away on the weekend and outlasted Corey Conners to win on Sunday. These two are just a couple of the young, bright players in the game, so we ask, Who is the breakout player of 2018-19?

Yanno, I didn't realize that Norman was still only 19.... Sheesh!  But these guys duck a rather simple question:

Dylan Dethier: I continue to be blown away by Champ’s game and think he’s far more than just “check out this guy’s swing speed.” I think he’s well-suited to contend at Tour stops that allow for some sideways misses (which, frankly, is quite a few of ‘em). But

you can’t go wrong with Xiong, either…expect to see plenty of both these guys. Nor should we overlook 20-year-old Nelly Korda, who had her own coming-out party Sunday in Taiwan. 

Josh Sens: I walked alongside Champ when he was paired with Steph Curry at the EllieMae this past year. The sound his drives made at impact are still echoing in my ears. But I was also impressed by his composure in the Curry-fueled frenzy. There was some Koepka-esque stoicism to him. And the physical game he plays is exactly the type of game the modern Tour favors. We’ll be talking about him a lot this year.

Two guys that draw a paycheck to write the game, and the only other name to surface is Nelly Korda? 

Jeff Ritter: Champ has both the game and the name. I first met him at the 2017 U.S. Open, when he flashed on the leaderboard and came away impressed. He’s soft-spoken, biracial, and possesses the most marketable last name in golf. Also, math is not my strong suit but I think he’s hitting it a full standard deviation beyond everyone else. Is that the right use of standard deviation? It doesn’t matter. He’s arrived.

Statistics, Jeff, not math.... But this might be the most bizarre answer of all:

Michael Bamberger: By breakout, we mean somebody who will win multiple times, contend in majors, maybe win one? I’d look to Daniel Berger, Gary Woodland and (maybe because I’m a new fan) Harold Varner.

Huh?  Gary Woodland has been out there since the Carter Administration.....

Table For One -  Our hero might be trying to suck up to the cool kids, finally, though Shack is none too pleased.  This TC question covers his Ryder Cup-related news from early in the week:

2. Patrick Reed, speaking to reporters at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China, said “I don’t know” when asked who his ideal Presidents Cup partner would be. For what it’s worth, Reed and Jordan Spieth are 4-0-1 as Presidents Cup teammates. Fast forward to December 2019 and the Presidents Cup in Melbourne, Australia, and would you put Reed and Spieth back together or has that ship sailed? And if not Spieth … who?

Let's just note that in ducking the question that Patrick showed some good judgment, not that the degree of difficulty is very high.  You know, baby steps....

Dethier: Hey, their partnership was already built on a bit of an odd dynamic — Reed once summed up their team strategy as this: “I’m going to go out and try to beat him on every hole.” That worked out pretty well for ‘em. In hindsight, JT-Tiger and Reed-Spieth would have made more sense, and could still happen in 2019. But you have to wonder if, deep down (or not so deep?) captain Woods is hoping his 2018 Ryder Cup partner doesn’t make the 2019 squad.

Bamberger: There’s no reason he and Spieth can’t continue to be effective partners. Really. They’re cut from the same cloth. They’re not going to let some newspaper quotes get in the way of winning.

Does Jordan get a say in the matter?   It's less the newspaper quotes than that hot mic incident with the rules issue, at least so I'm guessing.  I'm not sure why this is still a topic, as I think Jordan's partner going forward is pretty obvious, assuming that Jordan makes the team.

At least these guys offer constructive suggestions:

Sens: And if he does, maybe Woods can make Voldemort a captain’s pick so he has someone with a similar reputation to put with Reed.

Shipnuck: Suddenly this Presidents Cup is much more intriguing, especially since it’s Tiger (of all people!) who has to clean up this mess. Bubba could be a short-term solution – both he and Reed are so socially awkward they might make a perfect pair. No doubt they’ll be put in the same corner next to each other at future Masters champions dinners. But as much as we’re enjoying the melodrama the Reed factor has to be addressed or it threatens to pollute the entire U.S. Ryder Cup effort. Expect a lot of the Task Force regulars to have skull sessions on how best to massage this situation.

But to be fair, Patrick seems to be making more of an effort to be one of the guys....  however much we wish he wouldn't:

Those who stayed up to watch think Justin Rose was the kind helper. I will review tape Monday to confirm. Until then…my original snark that will happily be transferred to the

former World No. 1 if he’s not protecting the field.

Maybe being on a Ryder Cup team bonded them, maybe he’s just lazy, maybe those grooves just really needed cleaning instead of protecting the field, or maybe Patrick Reed is just trying to be less of a maverick by leaving his ball next to the hole. Either way, he did it at the HSBC Champions so that Tony Finau could slow down his bunker shot just like we saw a year ago in Napa. 

Yet another example of insidious behavior inside the ropes in the name of faster play when it’s could conveniently save someone strokes no different than turning a blind eye to someone improving their line. At least in a few months when the new rules of golf take hold, players won’t have to pretend to look the other way when a “ball mark” is repaired in their line. Tap away. Too bad the new rules find a way to address this nonsense.

Ironic that it was Finau.....   The video isn't great, but perhaps greater attention would be paid had Finau gone on to win the event....

The Match - Color me indifferent, but lots of buzz over Phil spending time with the has-been ballers promoting his duel in the desert:

Phil has always had the gift of gab, so no surprise there.  I just continue to struggle with the concept of these side bets and so-called action, specifically the issue of whose money is at risk.  

Before my thoughts, let's cover this Jason Sobel item, in which we see him drinking the Kool-Aid:

Sobel: The Tiger vs. Phil Pay-Per-View Backlash Is Misplaced

Don’t get me wrong: I understand the outrage. 

Professional golf tournaments are free on our TV screens from Thursday through

Sunday, nearly 52 weeks out of the year. Now we’re being asked to pay for something slightly similar and many are dubious. 

So yeah, I get that reluctance. I just don’t agree with it. 

I vaguely recall a similar reaction when companies started asking the public to pay for water in bottles. Why should we fork over money for the same stuff that comes straight out of our faucets? 

That sentiment sure killed the bottled water industry, huh?

Bottled water?  Suffice it to say that if I fork over my Jackson it won't be because I got the water thing wrong....

His second reason to order it is even lamer:

And he’s right: On the day after Thanksgiving, a day when people traditionally line up outside malls and trample their fellow humans for the opportunity to spend more money, tossing in $6.66 to get away from it all and watch some golf sounds like a bargain. 

It’s not like there will be many other options. As of right now, the only “big-time” U.S.-based sporting event up against The Match is the Oregon-Oregon State football game. I’ll take the Ducks, 58-14 — and a promise that you’re clamoring for the remote control by the second quarter.

Does Jason know about Netflix?  Want lamer still?

And while there’s been a focus on who won’t be allowed at Shadow Creek — no tickets will be sold to the public — there’s yet to be a leak regarding who will be there. 

Some of the names I’ve heard — famous entertainers who might be heckling and wagering with the players along the way — will ensure that this is no big-money redux of a WGC-Dell Match Play second-round contest. 

But instead of thinking of how this will be a refreshing change for golf, so many people are rushing to judgment. Twenty bucks? No thanks, I’d rather do anything for free than hand over a crisp Jackson.

 If that's your thing, I'd recommend the CBS Saturday broadcast from Pebble.....

I don't know if I'll watch, nor whether it'll be any good, the latter will seemingly depend upon the quality of the golf and the competitiveness of the match.  But let's go back to Phil and see what we've learned....

He's confirmed that there will be no commercials.....  As an aside, I don't really consider the network golf broadcasts as free, as they're full of commercials and the even more annoying network promos.... we pay with our eyes and ears.  The problem here as I see it is that there's an enormous amount of time to fill, and are these two guys that entertaining?

The other premise I question is their bit about the $9 million large taking them out of their comfort zones.  I suppose if they were playing for their own money, but they won't lose anything and we all assume that somehow each guy will walk away with a nice payday.  

Therefore, is it interesting to watch them have closest-to-the-pin and long-drive bets?  Meh!  Maybe the first one or two, but there's nothing really at stake?  As for the banter, doesn't it seem that that will quickly feel contrived?

And that's why I think PPV was a mistake, though Sobel says that the networks weren't interested.  Far better to not limit the audience by making them pop fro the cost...  I have to anticipate blowback if one of the guys is off his game.  But also better to have the audio sliced and diced for our benefit, rather than just picking it all up on open mics....

'Tis the Season - A topical question from the TC panel on which to exit:

6. Happy Halloween! What’s the scariest thing in golf?

This guy nails it:

Dethier: The hosel.

Would you like to hear about my shankie again?

Although this contestant has some game as well:

Shipnuck: Justine Reed opening Twitter late at night.

Catch you tomorrow.