Weekend Wrap - Tuesday Edition

It's that time of year, when wrapping the weekends action lacks any sense of urgency...

ZoZo Rising - The most notable pat of the ZoZo was the curious question I was asked on Sunday morning.  Playing with good buddy Ed Pavelle, he brings up the event which had already concluded.  Ed informs me that he's aware that Matsuyama had coughed up his lead and was one down after eight holes (or was it with eight to play?) to Brendan Steele (from the accounts, I believe Ed confused Steele with Cameron Tringale, but who among hasn't made that mistake?), then follows this dialog:

ED: Do you know who won the ZoZo?

ME: Yes.

ED: Is it worth watching the finish?

ME: (Knowing Matsuyama won by five) Compared to what? 

I'm a confirmed time-shifter, but that was a bit existential even for my tastes.... I had no idea how to answer the question or whether he ended up watching, but I was clear only on that fact that it wasn't worth watching for ME.  On the other hand, if your alternative was the Giants or Jets...

Apparently the local hero went on quite the heater:

In one of the best closing kicks you’ll see, Matsuyama would overcome the deficit, shoot a back-nine 32 and win by five. And do it all at home. Outside of (perhaps) his Masters victory in April, the Zozo win goes down as unquestionably his most special, as it’s his first on the PGA Tour in Japan.

The Tour Confidential panel had this take:

1. Hideki Matsuyama rallied from a one-shot deficit with eight holes to go win the Zozo Championship by five shots. The event was played in Matsuyama’s home country of Japan, and on the Golf Channel broadcast, Pat Perez described the atmosphere as if fans had seen Elvis. Between this victory and Matsuyama’s winning week at the Masters, what did you learn about his game in 2021 that you didn’t know a year ago?

Sean Zak: Gee, I don’t know. He’s still a very poor putter by Tour standards. Perhaps we’ve learned that he can still ball-strike his way to a victory when the moment is grand? There’s pretty

much nothing more mind-bending than the back nine at Augusta, but he didn’t show it. I think we’ve learned what he’s learned: that his caddie, Shota Hiyafuji, is a great teammate.

Josh Sens: A big sports bettor who parses the stats much more closely than I do tells me that Hideki’s putting improves by leaps and bounds when the greens are bentgrass. But that’s deeper in the weeds than anything I’ve got on my own. The perfectionist streak in him is what struck me. Especially at the Olympics. I recall one shot in particular, an approach on the back side, when Hideki did that one-handed finish and slumped his shoulders. The ball ended up about 10 feet from the flag, pin high. I texted a Japanese reporter friend saying, “Hideki doesn’t look happy with that result.” My friend texted back: “Never.”

Dylan Dethier: I’ve learned just how much there still is to learn. In August of 2017, Matsuyama revealed at a press conference that his wife had given birth more than a month earlier. This was exciting news, and noteworthy for at least one surprising reason: Nobody knew he was married. Why? “No one really asked,” he said. Hideki and Shota occasionally reveal little nuggets of off-course fun on social media; what I’ve learned this year is that this team seems to goof off plenty and have a blast together. But even that serves as a reminder that Matsuyama likes his private life kept private.

Michael Bamberger: This is not a statement about his game, but about his status. In Japan and across large swaths of Europe, he’s as big as Jumbo (Ozaki) was at the height of his powers, and then some. Bigger, really, than all the Ozaki brothers put together. Huge.

If the most interesting thing about the guy is that he gest treated like Elvis, then he's not all that interesting, is he?  Or at least he keeps it from view, another shared experience with Tiger.

This is no more than a local story of passing interest, as happy as we might be for the man and his countrymen.  I'd feel a whole lot better about the adoration if that Masters win had been a stronger statement, whereas I think it historically ranks with Fuzzy's .  Dave Shedloski way overinterprets with this homage:

Here are 9 hometown wins that rival Hideki Matsuyama's triumph in Japan

Trust me, it's a sorry lot:

Steve Stricker leads Team USA to record Ryder Cup romp in his native Wisconsin

Yep, just last month, a teary-eyed Stricker—a happy Stricker is always a teary-eyed one—captained the American team to a dominating win over Europe at Whistling Straits, and when he wasn’t letting the emotion of the moment wash over him, he was accepting all the applause and cheers from his fellow cheese heads with genuine gratitude. There was a lot of pressure on the Madison product, ratcheted up by having to wait an extra year, but saying it was worth it is an understatement.

Ummm, Dave, you're aware that Strick didn't actually play?

But at least that was an event of some magnitude.  This is tree in the forest stuff:

J.J. Henry becomes first Connecticut native to capture the Travelers Championship

A third-generation golf standout from Fairfield, Conn., Henry broke through for his first PGA Tour title in 2006 at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell when it was called the Buick Championship. Henry had first played in the event on a sponsor exemption as an amateur in 1998 with his father Ronald on the bag. The emotional win propelled Henry to his only Ryder Cup appearance.

J.J. Henry moves the needles as well as ever, so we at least have that going for us.  But we all knew that this is the ultimate home game in golf history:

Francis Ouimet puts American golf on the map

This list isn’t worth squat without the ultimate hometown, home course, homer victory. Francis Ouimet, a 20-year-old amateur, is responsible for what historians call “the great awakening in American golf,” with his playoff victory in the 1913 U.S. Open over British giants Harry Vardon and Ted Ray at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. Ouimet lived next door to the Country Club and had caddied there, so he knew the layout well. Still, he was a massive underdog. The home crowd hoisted him on their shoulders when he beat the favored Brits in the 18-hole playoff, he made headlines across the country, and all of America rejoiced in the triumph.

The list still isn't worth squat, but who else has won a major with a ten-year-old caddie?

The Winther of Our Discontent -  What's the hardest thing about notching your first win?  Well, I imagine it's different for each guy, though this one had quite the unique twist:

Just when a door was about to open, the bathroom one shut.

“I thought, jeez not today,” Jeff Winther said.

Of all the days. Over the years, the likable 33-year-old from Denmark had been only on the doorstep. Over 30 top-20s split over the European Tour and the lower-tier Challenge Tour. A handful of thirds on both Tours. A high of second, at the 2016 Tshwane Open on the big tour. No wins. No leads after 54 holes on the European Tour, either. Until, finally, Saturday night, where he sandwiched a second-round 71 with two 62s and led by two at the Mallorca Golf Open.

 You get where this is going:

“After breakfast, I went to have a shower and my wife came in to use the bathroom as well,” he said. “The door closed, and there’s no lock, but we locked ourselves in. There’s no lock on the door, but the handle didn’t work.

“Our little girl, Nora, 6 years old, had to go and find guys at reception to break down the door. We were in there for 45 minutes, I think. I thought, not Sunday, you’re leading the freaking event. Might not get there for your tee time. What a morning.

“I think it probably settled the nerves because I thought I might miss my tee time and thought I might not get out. The kids are in the living room, 6 and 2 years old, what can you do?”

Funny story....

Golf In The Kingdom, Perhaps -  The man can certainly hold a grudge, we have to give him that.  The Premiere Golf League stuff remains in the wings Stage Left, though there are now two competing groups involved.  The Saudi effort has been rocked back onto their heels by Jay Monahan's refusal to approve of PGA Tour players appearing in that Saudi event, though there's news on that front.

The unknown to me Brad Clifton has an Op-Ed up indicating that they have found the perfect candidate to lead this effort:

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Recent media speculation suggesting that global golf icon Greg Norman has been tapped up to

lead a new worldwide professional golf platform is gaining serious traction.

Reports of record sums of money being offered to the world’s best players in an F1-like model that would feature a combined team and individual competition might not be exactly how he envisioned his own ‘world tour’ concept a quarter of a century ago but, then again, maybe it is. One thing that is certain is the global outreach for such a platform will be equally as significant, if not more.

If the latest Norman rumours are indeed true, it’s the best news golf has received in a long time.

Has there been a more influential innovator in the world of golf over the past 40 years? It’s why ‘The Shark’ is the perfect person to help modernise the game at a time when the PGA Tour hasn’t exactly ticked all the boxes in its efforts to deliver a compelling product and give global golf and sport fans what they really want – the world’s best players competing against each other on a regular basis outside of the Majors and, crucially, outside of the United States.

That "if at first" bit seems out of place, given that the Saudis are making their first attempt at this by stealing the concept of the UK-based Raines Group, but whatever.

But the Shark as "influential innovator" comes as a bit of a surprise... your case for that would be what, exactly?  This is as close a she gest to supporting that rather bold assessment:

There is no doubt that golf needs a shake-up, and competition and different ways of showcasing the game’s top talents will only improve the sport for all parties.

I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy many encounters with Norman over the years – and the odd disagreement. But, just like when he ruled roost as a player, you can’t help but take in his every word and stride. Of all the pearls of wisdom he has dropped over the journey, one thing stands tall. I once asked him what truly made him a winner. He didn’t hesitate with his reply: “Competition makes the world a better place for everything and all. I could never have been number one without it.”

And so perhaps, as the Shark comes full circle, a little bit of competition is just what today’s professional game needs. 

This to me is the most interesting bit, though the more enjoyable Shark-trashing will follow.  They're telling us it's all about the competition, and the solution for that is to not have a competition, or at least to have a tightly controlled one.  The fundamental nature of golf is that the best players win only 5% of the time, which maddens many.  The solution is to ensure that Tiger and Phil go head-to-head (Insert your won top-tier players), which I call made-for-TV spectacles, and those typically suck.  

So, back to Shark as innovator?  Shack does the heavy lifting, linking back to his own 2017 post in which the very same Topless Shark last played his innovator Bingo card:

“In the middle second quarter of next year, I’ll invite you guys down to my office,” he said. “We will tell you exactly how we’re going to break this cast iron that’s been wrapped around golf for so long. We’re going to shatter it. The institutions (USGA, R&A, PGA of America, PGA Tour) will eventually buy into it because they will have to buy into it. They won’t have a choice.”

What, you don't remember how he broke that cast iron wrapped around golf?  That turned out to be, and I do hope you're sitting down, a golf cart with speakers....  So, sure Greg, go ahead and save our game yet again.

On a related note, this whole Saudi thing could get even more interesting:

Eight PGA Tour players—including world No. 2 Dustin Johnson—are seeking permission to compete at the Saudi International tournament, Golfweek has learned. The Tour previously said that it would deny waivers for its members to take part in the controversial event.

Tour players need to obtain a release to compete on other circuits. A Tour spokesperson confirmed to Golfweek that a decision on waiver applications is not required until 30 days before a tournament starts. The Saudi International is scheduled for February 3-6 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City, meaning players might not learn if they will be permitted to play until Tuesday, January 4.

Golfweek has obtained a current list of players who have already applied for a release to compete in Saudi Arabia in February. It includes Johnson, the defending champion who also won the title in 2019, and 2020 winner Graeme McDowell. The others are: Abraham Ancer, Lee Westwood, Tommy Fleetwood, Henrik Stenson, Kevin Na and Jason Kokrak, who is sponsored by Golf Saudi. PGA Tour policy requires players seeking releases to specify the event they wish to play and not just a week on the calendar.

Stay tuned, as Jay's troops, or at least some of them, appear unhappy to not be able to cash Saudi checks.  For a bit there some of the players were criticized for taking the dirty money, though I haven't seen any criticism (or Tour reaction to) of Kokrak for his sponsorship deal.  Jay just obviously wants these folks to go after someone else's feedlot, but who knew independent contractors could be so, well, independent?

I shall leave you here.  The good news is that we're supposed to get so much rain that the Wednesday game is in doubt... So, perhaps we'll reconvene then.