Weekend Wrap

Good to see you all.... I figured you wouldn't want to miss the fireworks as I grapple with the new Blogger template. You're a cruel bunch for sure.

I've Been to Memphis - I usually go with the Hoagy reference here, but if you're unfamiliar with Lyle Lovett you might want to give this a listen.  But back to business:

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Justin Thomas’s body language said it all as he snap-hooked a 5-wood off the tee at the dogleg-left par-4, 15th hole at TPC Southwind. He grabbed the club head with his right hand, slumped forward, and as if praying to St. Jude, begged for a miracle.

“Get lucky!” he yelled.

This tournament is named for the patron saint of lost causes, after all, and so somehow his prayers were answered. Thomas’s ball bounced off the cart path and ended up safely over the water 321 yards away in a gentle patch of rough, leaving him a clear shot and just 50 yards from the hole.

“That was lottery-ticket lucky,” CBS on-course reporter Dottie Pepper said.

Indeed, it was, and Thomas took advantage, pitching to 6 feet and canning the birdie putt to claim the lead.

“That’s the kind of stuff I guess that happens when you win,” Thomas said.

A strange day for sure, one in which the last two groups fought for irrelevance, and left CBS with little of interest to show for that last half-hour.  

Of course it was his looper that garnered much of the coverage:

Justin Thomas earned his 13th career victory on Sunday, but it was Jim “Bones”

Mackay who had the pinch-hit home run. 

 

Mackay, the longtime caddie for Phil Mickelson turned NBC on-course analyst, picked up Thomas’ bag last minute for the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Thomas’ regular caddie, Jimmy Johnson, is undergoing some tests to determine what caused his lightheadedness at the Memorial weeks ago. In the meantime, Bones has stepped in to caddie for Thomas this week as well as next week’s PGA Championship.

We'll get to their plans for next week in a bit, but did you catch how the fates intervened?  Meaning, of course, that final round pairing with his former boss? 

It worked out with Bones, and Sunday was even a homecoming of sorts — Thomas was paired with Mickelson. Ironically, it was at the 1992 Memphis Open where Mickelson and Bones first worked together, and Memphis was also their last event together before they split in 2017.

I found it strange that CBS didn't show any images of Bones and Phil talking or greeting each other on the first tee.  It's always seemed to me that, as long and successful as the partnership was, that the Bones-Phil split had some measure of being well done with each other.  Anyway, to me it looked like they ignored each other...  I assume if there were any warmth to the pairing, that CBS would have shared it.

What to make of Brendon Todd?  This guy goes for a pep talk:

Chin up, Brendon Todd

That was another ugly Sunday for Todd, who similarly stumbled with a chance to win at the Travelers Championship last month. But it shouldn’t sour what was an

otherwise strong week for the three-time tour winner. He hasn’t had enough of these close calls/Sunday stumbles yet to break out the “is he choking under pressure?” takes. But the way he’s playing, he might get enough chances for that take to be warranted.

Look, it’s a big ask for any player to close out a WGC against the likes of Thomas and Koepka, but especially so for a journeyman who is just beginning to seriously contend on a regular basis like he has this year. If this hot streak has staying power, Todd will have plenty more cracks in big events, and he’ll eventually pick one off. This guy has been through hell and back, a couple of poor final rounds aren’t going to send him into a tailspin. He’ll be fine.

 

Yeah, that WGC bit doesn't ring true, because he looked just the same in that final round at Hartford.  In fact, I had the same exact discussion with golf buddy Ed Pavelle that I had the week of Hartford:

Ed:  Boy, Will Brendon Todd ever miss a fairway?

Me:  The problem is that, when he does, he's forty yards back of the other guys?

Pretty good call, no?  Except that I wasn't really calling anything, just pointing out that they look bullet-proof until they're not.  In fact, I had that same conversation with Ed about Franco Molinari at last year's Masters as well.... 

Christopher Powers had this on that other guy:

Brutal finish for Brooks, but it could be for the best

More importantly, brutal finish for me, who had a potential $800 payout on a Brooks win. Why do bad things happen to good people?

Anyway, should we be concerned with the way Koepka finished? Hard to say. People forget how awful he was late on Sunday at Bethpage, though he did flip the switch when he needed. He hit a great third shot on 16 at TPC Southwind on Sunday, one that drops for eagle if it’s a hair to the left (SPOILER: it wasn’t). Instead, he walks off with 6. Then at 17, a hole that gave guys fits all day, Koepka drops an absolute bomb, must-make birdie putt from just inside 40 feet. At 18, he just got a little aggressive with the line off the tee (he was trailing by one, so it was the right play) and rinsed his drive. It happens. By no means did he choke. He was three back entering the final round and gave it a great run. You need a little luck from the golf gods, too, and Thomas seemed to hog it all on the back nine.

To be honest, it might be a good thing. A Koepka win this week would have ramped up the hype machine to 11 entering Harding Park, where he’s going for the PGA three-peat. That said, with limited media members and no fans, it wouldn’t have been as big of a circus as it normally would. He is by no means flying under the radar, but not winning allows him to truly unleash major-week Brooksy in San Francisco.

 

It's a Rorschach test, from which one can draw whatever conclusion one desires.  He did, quite obviously, play well enough to get himself into the hunt, and one expects that he's slightly better off for not having closed the deal this week.  That said, what a brutal finish!  Really loose shots each time he sense an opening, so it's hard for thos observer to get too excited over his prospects.

Here's another take on Brooksie:

The good: His Strokes Gained: Tee to Green numbers through three rounds (9.784)

were his best ever through 54 holes of a non-major, and he led the field in SG: Approach (8.436) for the week. He had the solo lead on the back nine of TPC Southwind on Sunday and was tied with Thomas for the co-lead through 15 holes.

 

The bad: His first biggest mistake of the day (by inches) came on the 16th. His chip flew a touch too far and didn’t check up in time, rolling off the green and leading to a bogey. (“I thought I hit a good chip,” he said.) Thomas, playing in the group ahead, birdied the 16th, making it a two-shot swing. It was all but over. But then…

  

The good: Koepka birdied 17! It was an unlikely one, too, finding the green through some trees from an approach in the rough, leading to a 40-foot bomb to cut the lead to one. Meanwhile, Thomas was in trouble after a drive in the right rough on the difficult par-4 finisher.

 

He gets to the ugly, specifically that yanked three-wood off the 18th tee, in the next 'graph...  

The Tour Confidential panel is back to numbering their questions, and they have these hot takes on our Brooksie:

5. Brooks Koepka finished tied for second this week – and had held the lead late on Sunday – against a loaded field, as he seeks his third straight PGA Championship. His strong performance in Memphis follows a relatively lackluster stretch, along with whispers of continuing left knee troubles. How much did this week change your PGA outlook for Koepka?

Zak: If you can contend against 78 of the best players in the world, you can do it against 150. So I like his chances much more than a week ago. Look to that final round today for evidence. Three birdies and 12 pars through 15 holes is what we’ve seen him do to win majors. Par the field to death at Bethpage and Shinnecock. It’s a major-winning ability he has that few seem to possess.

Sens: Not surprising at all to see Koepka rounding into form just in time for Harding Park. He’s clearly got another gear for the big ones, and I suspect the hiccup down the stretch this week will only get him more fired up for next week. He will be in the mix late Sunday. Book it. 

 

Wood: It didn’t change my outlook. He’s had these lulls before, but as soon as he shows up to one of those four, he gets excited, interested and determined. Knowing the course, it should suit him very well. 

 

Dethier: You lot are better oracles than me, because while I’d hardly given up on Koepka, I was certainly concerned that his health wasn’t in full form and that his game wouldn’t measure up until his body did. This week makes me far, far more optimistic about Koepka’s chances. We’re looking at a very legitimate chance at a three-peat. 

 

Shipnuck: The big question is his knee – he sounded really discouraged earlier this week, and it’s affecting not only his ability to prepare, but also swing the club. Making six on two of the last three holes whilst in a dogfight for a WGC, was that fatigue, compromised technique, diminished confidence – or just golf? That’s a lot of questions swirling around a player who was once a golfing Terminator.

  

Bamberger: I like Stenson’s chances better. He’s in the field, right?

 

Henrik? I can confirm that he is, indeed, in the field....Beyond that, you're on your own Mike...We're all wondering about the knee, though of course his stock rises based on showing some form this week.  He knows how to win these things, but a threepeat reamins an gargantuan ask.  

Some loose ends from the week, including this that I missed.  I saw none of the Saturday broadcast, in which young Dakota Cunningham made a very impressive debut.  Unfortunately I did see another young man appear on Sunday's broadcast, and that was less successful due mostly to the fact that they mostly talked about...well, Dakota.  

I love that they worked the St. Jude's kids in and perhaps the criticism will come off as churlish, but the Sunday effort seemed strained to me.  I though the caddie bis and shoes were a nice touch as well....

Lastly from this event, did you catch Bryson and his ruling-of-the-week on Thursday?  I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, at the continuing damage to his brand:

During Thursday’s opening round of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, the 26-year-old five-time PGA Tour winner found himself involved with a rules situation for a second straight start after his tee shot on the par-4 seventh hole—his 16th of the day—at TPC Southwind landed in some pine straw left of the fairway. That’s when things got interesting.

 

Ya gotta love that curiously passive phrasing...  Bad things just keep happening to the lad...

The exchange itself had that deliciously awkward feel to it, for reasons that Brian Wacker makes clear:

Tackett coincidentally was the official who stepped in two weeks ago at the Memorial Tournament when DeChambeau asked for a second opinion about a rules

situation involving whether his ball was out of bounds on his way to making a 10 on a hole during the second round at Muirfield Village.

Tackett disagreed at Memorial with DeChambeau’s assessment that it was in bounds then, and wasn’t buying his argument this time in Memphis, either. Tackett said he didn’t see any fire ants, before DeChambeau pointed to the ground trying to identify one.

  

It's the same guys out there every week, but see if you're buying that which Bryson is peddling:

DeChambeau continued: “I’m always going to respect the officials and go, OK, no issue, that’s fine. Didn’t help that I had a really, really bad lie, too—I had two twigs lodged in between my ball. Is what it is.”

 

That last bit about the lie is what an attorney would call an admission against interest...  We all instinctively knew what we were watching, Bryson attempting to intimidate a Tour rules official into granting relief because he didn't love the lie.  Apparently Bryson didn't get the memo from Patrick, but apparently your name needs to be Jordan Spieth... 

But when he speaks of respect... well, this was his comment during that rules issue at Jack's place:

This was where things got truly interesting. His Bridgestone had settled almost directly beneath the boundary fence, but no part of the golf ball was quite inside the line, so it was deemed out of bounds. DeChambeau didn’t think much of the first official’s ruling, referring to it as “garbage” at one point.

 

Yes, Bryson will always respect other folks who are just doing their jobs.  Unless, you know, they're rules officials, cameramen or God knows what else....

Perhaps the most interesting bit is the reaction of the Tour.  You might think that a player that disparages the rules officials would be reprimanded, but the Tour doesn't share such information.  You'd similarly assume that a player that gets in the face of a cameraman would also become acquainted with the Tour's disciplinary arm, especially since CBS is basically pays for this all.  But again, the Tour reliably informs us that golf is a game played only be gentlemen...  Who ya gonna believe, your lyin' eyes or me?

But I'd like to suggest you go look at the video of Bryson and the rules official, but that is no longer available, as Shack informs in this rant:

With all due respect to Yoda, the spirit of the rules is not strong with this one.

Since the PGA Tour took down the video tweeted by their partners at CBS—paying lavishly for the rights btw—below is a shortened version posted that will inevitably be targeted by Cult Ponte Vedra in a futile attempt to scrub evidence of unsportsmanlike conduct by Bryson Dechambeau. The full version would allow you to see the various avenues he attempts to pursue in search of a better lie, including the spotting of one red ant in hopes of protecting himself from harms way.

  

This came after his Memorial antics whining about a ruling and mashing down rough, proceeded by his caddy trying to bully a camera operator. The total package should give you an idea of just how dire the situation is in the players-first, rules/golf core values of the game a distant-second-mindset that has overtaken the PGA Tour.

 

Apparently the suits in Ponte Vedra Beach agree with Bryson that it's the job of the Tour and its broadcasters to protect Bryson's brand...  I can only hope they realize what a huge undertaking that is.

Other Tours - I'm going to be quick with the blogging of these other results, as we've got much to cover, including the week ahead.

First, I was very glad to see the ladies get back to work, and even more so to this young Miss win:

Danielle Kang edges Celine Boutier at LPGA Drive On, collects fourth career title

To me, she's the great American hope in the women's game, notwithstanding the large number of Lexi Thompson dead-enders.  I did catch the ending, in which Boutier had a three-footer to get into a playoff and... well, let's just say that I hope the girls is a Doug Sanders or Scott Hoch fan.

And this:

Jim Furyk pulls away, wins Champions Tour debut at Ally Challenge

 

As we know, it's a young man's game on the old guy's tour...That said, I'm going to cling bitterly to my "Alas, Poor Furyk" nickname.

On To Harding Park - Anyone remember how the PGA of America got to this uninspiring venue?  Back in the day, 2020 was to be an Olympic year and the organization sought a location that would work in both May and August, as well as any date in between....  Not to be snarky, but 2020 hasn't been much of year, has it?

Where to begin?  Back to that Tour Confidential perhaps, who get props for leading with a non-Tiger query:

1. The season’s first major begins this week: a PGA Championship like no other, with no fans at Harding Park in San Francisco. Players have become accustomed to playing sans spectators in recent weeks, but this will be the first major contested without the heaving galleries that usually surround every green and tee box, and without roars echoing across the property. Given the muted setting, will players likely feel any less pressure at Harding than they typically feel in the majors?

 

Sean Zak: Just because it says “PGA Championship” everywhere doesn’t mean it will feel that way Thursday morning. If I had to guess, players will feel less pressure on Thursday morning and down the stretch without the murmuring fans, the crazy applause during big moments and the intensity that comes with twice as many people on property. Now, they could definitely feel more pressure in the absolute silence toward the end, too. I’m excited to find out which is more true.

Josh Sens: Rory said earlier this week that all tournaments pretty much feel the same without fans, and there’s something to that. I doubt this will feel just like the 3M, but there’s no way of replicating that major championship atmosphere. Exactly how it will affect players is another matter. I don’t see how there could be the same level of first-tee jitters. But that’s not necessarily a good thing for everyone. Some guys clearly elevate their games when the throngs are going bonkers and things get most intense.

 

Dylan Dethier: Pressure is a particularly weird thing in the golf world. Let’s take a look at the players who were in 1st, 2nd and 3rd heading to the final round of Sunday’s fan-free WGC-Memphis. Brendon Todd shot 5-over 75, the worst round in the field, while Ben An and Rickie Fowler posted matching 73s to careen down the leaderboard. Common sense would tell me that there’s less pressure on fan-free final rounds, but there’s clearly still something to it.

 

John Wood: I believe so. There’s always an edge a huge crowd provides to the proceedings – and their actions and voices always convey the fact that this is BIG. Even if you’re used to big crowds, this sends a message to your brain and your muscles that this is “importanter” than what you did last week.

 

Alan Shipnuck: It’s going to feel a little flat, for sure. But the players are still playing for history and a career-altering trophy so no doubt there will be plenty of nerves down the stretch.

 

Michael Bamberger: I think it depends on the player. For Tiger, trying to get to 16, he’ll feel as much pressure as he ever would. For Dustin Johnson, it won’t make a difference. Impossible to generalize, except to say, come Sunday afternoon, it will be weird, but it’s way better than nothing. I think golf’s various organizing bodies, starting with the PGA Tour and the PGA of America, but going way beyond those two groups, have done an exemplary job of bringing elite golf back, for the benefit of many parties, in a responsible way. Not playing before live fans was a necessary first step.

 

How would Rory know what a major feels like without fans?   

I had a strange reaction to yesterday's proceedings, specifically when Koepka blew up on No. 16 but also when he dropped that bomb on No. 17.  Obviously JT and Bones had no idea of those shots because of the absence of crowd noise, though the CBS gang couldn't even handle that discussion without tripping over themselves.  When the first comment was made about Brooksie screwing up, Dottie noted the absence of scoreboards in view, forgetting that said scoreboards wouldn't have been updated in any event until the hole was completed.  

My own reaction was a bit more eccentric, marveling at how quickly this bit of knowing at all times exactly where one stands has become the expected.  Whereas, for most of golf's history, the game was played without a lot of updated information available.  Probably the best example of this goes back a ways, specifically to the 1939 U.S. Open.  Sam Snead came to the finishing hole, a Par-5, thinking he needed a birdie, but instead made an eight.  A par would have won outright, and a bogey would have put him in a playoff.

More from the TC gang:

2. Justin Thomas won the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational by three shots. He’s now the new world No. 1. Is he the prohibitive PGA favorite?

Let me make this easy for you, there's never a prohibitive favorite in our game.

Zak: Undoubtedly so. And an absolute CRIME that Dylan Dethier kept him OFF his “Top 5 Current Players” just a few weeks ago. Thirteen wins this young is just absurd.

Dethier: This feels like a cheap shot. The week after said Top 5 list was released, Thomas demonstrated he still had a ways to go when he couldn’t hold the lead at the Workday, followed by a statement win by my world No. 2 Jon Rahm, who Sean left off his list, if we’re keeping receipts. Good to see both young men find their winning touch. Anyway, this week feels like it’ll favor a simple group: guys who hit it far and straight. Thomas is good at that. Koepka is, too. DeChambeau hits it farther, but not quite as straight. Toss in Rahm and Rory, and you’ve got yourself a fivesome of favorites, with Thomas out in front ever so slightly. 

 

Shipnuck: Get a room, you two! Yes, Thomas is the favorite, but I don’t know about prohibitive. The Memphis heat takes a toll and the grind of winning takes a really big toll, so let’s see how much Thomas has in the tank.

 

 Bamberger: I like Henrik Stenson’s chances better. He’s in the field, right? It’s a moving target. But he’s tanned, rested, ready and under the radar.

 

 Sens: Definitely among the favorites. But the “prohibitive” one? I don’t think Vegas will see it that way, what with Brooks rounding into form and Rahm and Rory in the field, to name a few others who will likely get close to equal oddsmaker billing.

 

Wood: I don’t think there can be a prohibitive favorite anymore, not in this day and age when the field of elite players seems so deep. We are not in the Tiger Woods heyday, where he was always the prohibitive favorite. Brooks is playing well again, as is Rahm, Thomas, Webb Simpson, a resurgent Mickelson – and of course, there is always Tiger.

Wow, that's the second guy to pick Henrik...  What?  Same guy?  Guess he really believes, but isn't the also that guy that picked Tiger for No. 83 at Muirfield?

Joking aside, I like JT as much as anyone, though I'd like him more this week if he hadn't won last week.... 

I suppose this query was inevitable:

3. Thomas had Jim “Bones” Mackay on the bag this week and will have him next week. Mackay also walked side by side with his longtime former player, Phil Mickelson, during Sunday’s final round. How much did/will Mackay help?

Of course no one can answer such a question, but two of the responses are worth considering:

Wood: No disrespect whatsoever to Bones – he’s one of the best ever. But it’s still 99% the horse, 1% the jockey. And Justin’s main guy, Jimmy Johnson, is absolutely no slouch. He’s got a pretty damn good resume as well. My thoughts are more with him getting healthy than anything else.

Gracious considering he's, you know, Kooch's jockey....

Shipnuck: I agree with Dylan, especially when the new caddie is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. I remember Adam Scott talking about not wanting to let Stevie down when they first joined forces – I’m sure JT felt something a little similar with Bones.

 

I'm sorry, are we now putting caddies into the Hall of Fame?  We better decide now whether we want Stevie Williams to be so honored but, if it's to be, I would think we should start with this guy.  I know it was just the one major, but a rather significant one at that.

Not the lead question, but you knew it was coming:

4. Majors mean the return of Tiger Woods, who has played just once since the restart, at the Memorial two weeks ago. Does Woods, who finished T-40 at Jack’s place, have enough 2020 reps under his belt to make a run at major title No. 16 this week?

Zak: No. In seven days, we’ll reconvene here, and there will have been some fog, a morning tee time and afternoon tee time (and maybe more of each) and plenty of discussion about Tiger’s back handling the temperatures in San Francisco. What is the threshold for a loose back, 65 degrees? 70 degrees? 63? We’ll never know. We’ve just seen him play tough courses in less-than-perfect conditions lately, and we’re often left asking about the weather more than Woods’ game.

 

Sens: If these past few weeks have been any indication out here in my neck of the woods, we’re looking at some cool, foggy mornings. So Tiger doesn’t haven’t that going for him, which isn’t nice. Throw in the fact that the rough is up and the fairways are tight, and it’s hard to be too bullish on him. Which, since I’ve said it, means he’ll probably win by five.

Wood: Odds say no. But when has it ever done anyone one bit of good to count Tiger out? As the old St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Joaquin Andujar once said: “There is one word in America that says it all, and that one word is, ‘You never know.’” 

 

Dethier: He has enough reps to contend, yes. I think he’ll find a way to be in the conversation. I’d be surprised if he won. I’m not adding to the conversation here, but it’s hard to feel any differently about Woods — except to point out how we all felt when he birdied two of the first three holes at Memorial. That Tiger? He grabs our attention and kicks logic and rational expectation to the curb. 

 

Shipnuck: Tiger has been destroying our notion of what’s possible for a quarter-century now. If any golfer can off the couch and contend at a major it’s clearly him. But the course setup and cool weather are clearly less than ideal.

As William Goldman noted in a different context, no one knows anything.  For all those reasons I can't bring myself to expect much from the man, not least knowing that he can come up lame one or more days as he did at the Memorial and at the Prez Cup.

Of course, this isn't half-bad as a one-word rebuttal:

Bamberger: Zozo.

Wait, weren't yo the guy touting Stenson?  Well, which one is it?

CBS will treat us to this familiar face:

Kelly Tilghman to join CBS broadcast team next week at PGA Championship

 

 

Hey girl, where you been?  Though this might take you by surprise:

Tilghman spent 22 years at Golf Channel and was the first female broadcaster to anchor PGA Tour coverage before stepping away in 2018.

22 years?  Le Sigh!

This is awfully exciting as well:

Forecaddie: PGA Championship to feature biggest locker room ever

 

When shelter-in-place restrictions in March halted the build-out of the infrastructure, the PGA did some outside-the-box thinking. What to do with the 60,000-square-foot

merchandise pavilion at a fan-less major championship? Well, they reengineered the structure into the player locker room for the 156-man field. That should allow for plenty of space for pros to stash all their gear and stretch out.

 

“It was practically already built and we re-engineered it,” said Barry Deach, championship director of the 2020 PGA at TPC Harding Park. “It will probably be the biggest locker room ever.”

Exciting stuff, no?

More issues with Euro players staying home:

Francesco Molinari and Padraig Harrington the latest WD's at PGA Championship

Here's the running total:

The loss of Molinari, ranked No. 33 in the Official World Golf Ranking, means the PGA Championship will feature 95 of the top 100 in the world. Shugo Imahira, Eddie Pepperell, Thomas Pieters, and Lee Westwood previously chose not to play.

It's more than a little messy, so the guys have to make some tough decisions.  I'm just always surprised when that decision involves passing up a chance at immortality....  

I shall discharge you at this juncture to get on with your week.  I expect to have more on the PGA tomorrow, as well as other issues represented by open browser tabs.  Wednesday you'll likely be on your own, and Friday is an issue as well.