It's a slow week in our game, since this was initially intended to be Ryder Cup week. I'll throw a few quick items at you, though the astute among you will quickly discern that my heart isn't in it.
ZoZo Rising - To the surprise of no one, Tiger will peg it at Sherwood:
Tiger Woods won’t need to travel to Japan to defend his latest title. Woods has officially committed to the 2020 Zozo Championship, which due to travel logistics from the coronavirus pandemic has been moved to Sherwood Country Club in California.
The event is Oct. 22-25, 2020, and it will likely be Woods’ first start following his missed cut at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot.
“It is disappointing that we will not be able to play in Japan this year, but Sherwood Country Club will be a great backdrop for what I know will be a great championship,” Woods said in a release.
An interesting walk down memory lane. First, because that win in Japan seems like it was a lifetime ago, which mostly reflects upon the annus horribilis of 2020. But also reminds of how shocking Tiger's great play in Japan was. Four days of strong play that seemed to come from nowhere... and, irony alert, nowhere is Tiger's current area code.
The buried lede is that, except for things like Tuesday's exhibition in conjunction with the opening of Payne's Valley, this will be his only event before the Masters. Problem is, I'm old enough to remember when Tiger would speak of his need to get his reps in.... It's just hard to see him showing up at major after major woefully unprepared.
The Week That Was Supposed To Be... - Is this supposed to make us feel better?
Ryder Cup reset: How things are shaping up one year from the rescheduled event at Whistling Straits
Ummmm...slowly?
When you close your eyes for a moment and let your mind wander, the visions come fairly easily. You can “see” the large grandstand surrounding the first tee and nearby 18th green at Whistling Straits. You can “hear” the cheers and laughter and general raucousness of the full-throated spectators. You can “feel” the excitement that is unique to a Ryder Cup.Those visions would have come to life on Friday along the shores of Lake Michigan, in what was supposed to be Day 1 of the biennial competition between the United States and Europe. Of course, COVID-19 had other ideas, forcing a one-year postponement of the Ryder Cup.It’s easy to lament what might have been, particularly when you glance at the weather forecast this weekend for Haven, Wis., and see temperatures in the low 70s and loads of sun. And no doubt there is a bit of a void this week that can’t be replaced by the standard PGA Tour and European Tour stops.
You mean like this?
Except that it couldn't have been like that, which is really the point of rescheduling it.
The tease includes a look at the rosters as of now, the value of which eludes me because, well, that year. First, the home team:
1: Dustin Johnson, 10,278.79
2: Bryson Dechambeau, 9,586.86
3: Collin Morikawa, 6,901.81
4: Brooks Koepka, 6,805.27
5: Justin Thomas, 6,293.21
6: Webb Simpson, 6,044.09
As if we didn't know the names. Of course, it doesn't help much unless you can specify which Brooks Koepka? If it's the 2020 model year, that's a hard pass.
The list goes as far as fifteenth place, a position occupied by you-know-who. That could be quite the dilemma for Captain Stricker, but there's little value in discussing that right now. Obviously Strick will have the benefit seeing how he plays over the next year. But to lay down a marker, I'll just remind you that Tiger hasn't been all that helpful to Ryder Cup captains of the past, most notably leaving Tom Watson twisting in the wind in the approach to that 2014Cup. Of course, Strick is one of Tiger's homies, whereas Watson was more of an antagonist, but it will be interesting to see how difficult he makes things if his physical condition and game are in doubt.
As for the Euros, that's always a bit messier:
European Points
1: Tommy Fleetwood
2: Jon Rahm
3: Rory McIlroy
4: Victor Perez
I do so hate to be critical, but I sense a bit of a fall-off from the third to the fourth guy on that list. I say the Euros are always messier because the two points list involved, so you can click through and dive in to the extent you're interested this far out.
I left a bit of Alan Shipnuck's mailbag unmined yesterday, which included this Ryder Cup Q&A. Just a reminder that Shippy is the lad that predicted an era of U.S. dominance in this event, which hilariously crashed and burned in Paris:
On paper the next 3 Ryder Cups are ours with the youngins carrying the load. Bryson, Wolff, Morikawa, Xander, Berger, English, Finau, JT, DJ, Cantlay, Webb and Champ. — @MarkHel88720875
Amazing that this list doesn’t include former alpha Koepka, one-time Capt. America Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth, who owns almost as many major championship victories as the dozen players you listed. A big reason why I wrote my infamous column forecasting a decade+ of U.S. Ryder Cup dominance was the awesome young firepower of the Americans, which continues to emerge as the core of the European team (minus Rory) is approaching or have reached their 40s and begun to fade away. (That’s Rose, Stenson, Garcia, Poulter, Molinari and Westwood, for those keeping score at home.)
So, while I love your thinking, we all know that talent alone isn’t enough. The Americans have been consistently out-captained and their chemistry has varied from awkward to combative. Hopefully at least the latter changes with all the fresh faces.
Yes, but they have Victor Perez... But how funny is it that Alan would even mention Jordan Spieth? I think I have as good a chance of making that squad as our Jordan....
But I view this Ryder Cup as a really scary one for the Americans. They will come in with a serious fire power advantage and will obviously be the home team... So, they sorta have to win, don't they? It's really hard to play loose when you're supposed to win, which pretty much encapsulates Ryder Cup history since Seve burst on the scene.
I'll also throw in this one that tangentially relates:
Do you feel DJ and Bryson have sent a loud and clear message to their BFF Brooksie? — @BobbyTeeitup
And how! I’m all for a little trash-talking, but maybe Koepka shouldn’t have poked the bears during the worst season of his career. There’s no arguing with Brooks’ success in the major championships, but while his body breaks down both Dustin and Bryson remain week-in-and-week-out forces, another reminder that even in the best of times Koepka has never summoned that level of sustained intensity.
Four majors will get Brooks a spot in the Hall of Fame, but would Dustin trade all his wins and loot for what Koepka has achieved? I’m not so sure. And who is likely to achieve more over the next decade, Brooks or Bryson? My vote goes to the guy with the maniacal work ethic and insatiable obsession with improvement.
I do agree that DJ sent a message, but there may be some disagreement as to the underlying message. The way I see it, Brooksie called out his buddy DJ on Saturday night and DJ did what DJ does, win gaggles of Tour events but create new and exciting ways to cough up majors... I'm thinking that Brooks got that one right. Bryson, of course, is a different matter entirely...
More Bryson - I know, why ruin a perfectly good weekend? Just a couple of bits, and then I'll bid you adieu. First up is one via Shack that addresses that elephant there in the corner. As you know, I've been a skeptic on golfers bulking up since Tiger did so. Like Many, I worry about the long-term health effects and point to the stress injuries of Tiger and Rory. But Tiger and Rory were already insanely long and never spoke of bulking up as a way to get longer. That's where Bryson changes the dialog.
Geoff has this long post up about the children:
Do We Really Want Young Golfers To "Pull A Bryson"?
In the post he links to this August profile in the L.A. Times of 16-year old Lincoln Melcher:
When on-campus classes stopped in March, golf courses also closed, leaving the then-sophomore scrambling. His mother bought him a target to practice his chipping in the backyard. He tried hitting off a mat, but that doesn’t help for real golf. He went for runs, rode a bike and worked on building his strength while trying to keep his slender 6-foot-1, 145-pound body in shape. He can drive a ball 280 yards but says he’s been “eating a lot.”He and his golf friends have been talking nonstop this summer about PGA sensation Bryson DeChambeau, who gained 40 pounds and has been hitting balls beyond 400 yards.
“That’s who we’re chasing in the fitness world,” he said.
Long drives with friends this summer produced, “You pulled a Bryson.”
Troubling indeed. Not that I have any answers...
For those contemplating the confluence of Bryson and Augusta National, Ryan Lavner takes us hole-by-hole as to what that might entail. here's his intro:
Bryson DeChambeau’s U.S. Open victory was less than an hour old, his celebratory glass of chocolate milk still cold, when he was asked about game-planning for the Masters.
“Length is going to be a big advantage there,” he said. “I know that for a fact.”
So he got straight to work – with the trophy in tow, DeChambeau flew to Denver on Monday to meet with fitness coach Greg Roskopf and begin outlining the next phase of his evolution.
Less than a year after transforming his body to add more than 40 pounds of muscle and gain 20-plus yards of distance, DeChambeau was the only player under par at mighty Winged Foot and won by six shots for his first major title. But as always with DeChambeau, it’s about what’s next – more strength, more length, more speed. Asked late Sunday how he’ll prep for Augusta National, he said he’ll begin testing a new 48-inch driver, the maximum length allowed under the Rules of Golf. He already has the highest apex height (140 feet) and longest carry distance (314.1 yards) on Tour, but if his driver is dialed in properly, that’ll bring him even closer to the holy grail, which to him is a ball speed consistently in the 200-mph range.
In any event, here's just one take:
SECOND HOLE, 575 YARDSPro’s take: “Full Kraken. Aim at the left edge of the right bunker and let it eat. He’s gonna wail on that thing. And when he does, he’s going to have anywhere from 6- to 8-iron in. He also has all that room through the fairway, toward the third hole. If the flag is way over on the left, he can hit it dead straight over the bunker, maybe with a tailing draw, and give himself a phenomenal angle.”
Yanno, we could save some time if we just focused on those holes where he doesn't go full-Kraken.
Lastly, Gary Van Sickle uses the U.S. Open as a frame to argues for rules changes. But it's Harris English that has him exorcised, not the Kraken:
The three-minute warning: It was only a matter of time before the U.S. Golf Association got bit in the rear by the worst rules change of last year. I liked most of the group’s forward-thinking changes, especially the one about leaving the pin in while putting, but it made no sense to reduce the amount of time to find a lost ball from five minutes to three minutes under Rule 18.2.
Obviously, some desk warden did the math and figured, Hey, I know how to knock two minutes off a round of golf for every lost ball! Except that’s not how it works in the real world.
We saw the reality when Harris English teed off in the U.S. Open’s final round at Winged Foot, bailed one into the rough on his opening drive and didn’t find the ball within three minutes, even with help from fellow players, caddies and volunteers. The USGA’s John Bodenhamer had assured players that there would be plenty of marshals stationed at all of the key landing areas so lost balls wouldn’t be a problem. Had spectators been allowed onsite, the ball almost surely would have been found. Ditto if the marshals on the opening hole had done their jobs. But English trudged back to the tee to reload and made a double bogey.
I continue to believe that those rules changes indicate something profoundly troubling about our governing bodies' understanding of the nature of our game and its participants. Like Gary, I couldn't understand the fuss over two minutes, though I was more focused on the severity of the penalty.
Gary goes further, explaining how even that two-minutes savings in pace-of-play isn't real, because of the time involved in the walk of shame, as well as the fact that it will induce players to hit more provisionals, which itself tales time. Were I a man prone to cynicism, I might be inclined towards the opinion that the USGA and R&A were more interested in giving the appearance of tackling pace-of-play, as opposed to actually addressing the issue...
Gary interestingly also has criticism for the rule change allowing the tamping down of spike marks and other imperfections on greens. Not sure I but his arguments here, though it's moot because even he acknowledges that this genie will never see the inside of a bottle again.
On that note I shall make a dignified exit and wish you an enjoyable weekend.
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