Weekend Wrap - Hatgate Forensic Edition

Nothing to see here, kids.  First, just a few seconds to actual golf action....

FedEx Fall Follies - An actually exciting finish, at least for the five guys involved:

The PGA Tour official made it clear on the tee: these guys would likely come back tomorrow.

“If this playoff goes into tomorrow, which is likely, we will resume from this tee tomorrow morning,” the official told the five players about to start a playoff for the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Luke List must not have heard him.

After getting a read on Ludvig Aberg’s birdie try, List, just the second player to attempt his third in the playoff, drilled a 43-foot putt to turn out the lights at the Country Club of Jackson and win the Sanderson Farms Championship.

I have the count of buried ledes at two, the first being the inevitable issue of running the event right up against sunset, failing to allow time for a playoff....  The second BL being the presence of Euro phenom Ludvig Aberg in that playoff.  No Ryder cup hangover there, eh?

But see if you can work up any concern here?

What LIV Golf, PGA Tour alignment could mean for future of Sanderson Farms Championship

We're selling out birthright for thirty pieces of silver, but let's obsess over that chicken trophy.... OK, enough on this subject.

My Kingdom For a Brolley - The Dunhill Links even is played quite late in the year, leading to an early sell-out of wooly hats.  But perhaps they didn't get the memo, because it's been just a wee bit wet there this week:

This happens approximately never, given that's it's built on a sand bar that drains immediately.

This is a sweet story for sure, though it's not at all clear what today might bring:

Dunhill Links spills into Monday due to wet weather as Matt Fitzpatrick tries to deliver his mom a unique present

A nice young man playing with his Mum:

But it's not clear if they'll get it in:

But to get play in on Monday will require some logistical hurdles to be cleared. Those playing the Old Course and Kingsbarns will start off two tees beginning at 9 a.m. local time. Play at the most water-logged of the three courses, Carnoustie, won't begin until 11:30 a.m. when a shotgun start will be used. At 7:30 a.m. local time, however, a decision will be made as to whether Carnoustie will be ready by 11:30. If it's deemed that the course won't be playable, no play will take place on any course and a further announcement about the fate of the tournament will be made.

So, the Dunhill Links has gotten Pebble weather?  This story should have come with an irony alert, no?

But wait, we're not finished with the ironies..... Because, as we informed you last week, Andrew Waterman is in the field:

“Now on the tee, Mr. Andrew Waterman” pic.twitter.com/QKodDtWrYw

— The Shotgun Start (@TheShotgunStart) October 5, 2023

Actually, a twofer.... First, that nom de guerre is pretty funny, given the the amount of water Mr. Waterman has endured.  But, no, it seems any event in which this man participates will be limited to just the 54 holes..... though, perhaps if Carnoustie can't be made ready, the league will re renamed XXXVI?

Hatgate Post Hoc Forensics - The truth will out, and you'll be shocked to learn that our heroes aren't always completely honest with us...  I know, take a moment, because that's quite the shock.  ike Bamberger provides the sunshine:

The Truth About Hatgate Finally Comes Out

Patrick Cantlay’s unguarded remark on the first tee on Friday morning contradicts the dishonest statements he made over Ryder Cup weekend

How did you react when you first heard the terrific penis' comments about wearing a hat?  he's one of my least favorite guys out there so I'm inclined to think the worst, but in this case I didn't exactly pounce.  Because I could imagine a context in which his comments was just a nothingburger...   For a guy that doesn't love hats (or for whom hats don't fit so well) noting that he only wears them for his sponsors isn't problematic at all....

But, no, this guy has that laser-like focus of a world-class athlete, and there's no confusion as to his priorities, as reported by Mike Bamberger:

On the Friday morning of the 2023 Ryder Cup, Patrick Cantlay emerged from a temporary tunnel

underneath the first-tee bleachers and into the bright sunshine of Rome on a warm September day. He was not wearing a hat. Normally, he plays golf in a hat, but HatGate, as a buzz word of the 44th Ryder Cup, did not yet exist.

“No hat?” Steve Sands, the veteran NBC Sports reporter and interviewer, said upon seeing Cantlay.

Cantlay was in the fourth and last group of the morning session, playing with his regular wingman, Xander Schauffele. They are both Californians who do not seem to crave the spotlight. Cantlay was wearing the same dark blue pants and dark blue shirt with horizontal stripes as his 11 American teammates. The only thing missing was the official team cap, a blue-and-white trucker hat with the letters USA on the panel above the brim. It wasn’t like he forgot to put it on.

The bleachers were stuffed with 5,000 fans. The perimeter of the first tee was crowded with dozens of Ryder Cup officials, caddies and players and assistant captains, camera operators and photographers and media members, Steve Sands among them.

Sands (below) enjoys a good rapport and a casual ease with scores of PGA Tour players, and Cantlay, 31, an eight-time Tour winner, is among them. Cantlay did not blow him off.

“I’ll wear a hat when I’m paid to be here like he is,” Cantlay said. He motioned in the direction of Julius Mason, a longtime PGA of America public relations executive, standing in the vicinity.

I've always resisted the easy explanations of U.S. Ryder Cup futility, believing that they more likely cared too much rather than too little....  But these guys simply won't let us wallow in our naïve perceptions, will they?

In the aftermath of the disappointing performance, we're left to understand why the team showed up woefully unprepared for Friday's matches, famously losing that morning session 4-0.  Cantlay was one of Zach's horses, forming a critical team with wingman Xander, but he was perhaps too busy worrying about the Benjamins to be properly focused on his match, or even to come over a few weeks earlier to scout the venue and bond with his teammates.

Do we need to know anything further about him?

Bams is being careful with his sourcing:

Cantlay’s response to Sands was shared with me by three Americans who were at this year’s Ryder Cup in different official capacities. (I was not there.) There were slight variations in the exact wording of Cantlay’s response. In one version, for instance, Mason was cited by name. But there was no material differences in what he was quoted as saying as he walked on to the first tee.

I would argue that it's not merely dickish, but oddly personal as well..... Obviously the argument about those Netflix cameras got heated, but it's pretty clear who was bringing the heat.  But this was Patrick's take:

At the end of play on Saturday, Sands asked Cantlay, in a live greenside interview, why he was not wearing a hat. “It just doesn’t fit,” Cantlay said. He laughed briefly and continued. “I didn’t wear it [at the 2021 Ryder Cup] at Whistling Straits because the hat just doesn’t fit. That’s really all it is.”

Cantlay’s use of the word fit was open to parsing. Did that mean it didn’t align with a core belief that professional golfers should get paid to play golf? Whatever he meant by it, HatGate was in full swing. It was a gift to the fans at the Ryder Cup, the first played in Italy. All during Cantlay’s play on Saturday, and again on Sunday, spectators mocked him for his no-pay, no-hat stance.

Yes, and watching and rootig for you is an equally bad fit for this observer....

The next afternoon, at the conclusion of Cantlay’s win in Sunday’s singles over Justin Rose, Sands, in a live interview, asked Cantlay again about the “money” issue and by implication Weir’s tweet, which made the whole absurd affair public to millions of sports fans across the world. But Weir’s tweet also made a few Ryder Cup insiders reconsider Cantlay’s Friday morning comment on the first tee to Sands.

“It’s totally false,” Cantlay told Sands and the NBC Sports audience, reported to be 1.4 million viewers on Saturday. “It couldn’t be further from the truth. There hasn’t been one word of [team division] all week. The U.S. team has been close all week. It’s just outright lies. Not a shred of truth in the article that just one journalist wrote. It’s crazy that one journalist can put a tweet out there, totally unfounded, with complete lies.”

Sands, reached for comment on Friday, said he could not comment publicly on a private exchange with the golfer.

Say what?  Sands is there in network swag covering the first tee with 5,000 of his closest friends, but this exchange is somehow "private"?  Yeah, that'll work... This is Mikey's coda:

A spokesman for Cantlay, Preston Valder, said in a text on Friday that “the hat stuff is completely false so there’s nothing further to add here outside of it being a fictitious story.”

But Cantlay’s unguarded show-me-the-money hat comment more than suggests that the pay-to-wear issue is not “completely false,” as Valder said. Cantlay’s use of the phrase “outright lies,” in connection to this petty contretemps, also seems to be a wildly inaccurate and unfair claim.

Mason, one of the most even-tempered and well-liked executives in men’s professional golf, noted that his greatest disappointment from this year’s Ryder Cup was that the American team did not come home with the Ryder Cup trophy. Mason’s first Ryder Cup for the PGA of America was in 1993, at the Belfry in England. Some American players wore a hat that year, some a visor, some wore no hat at all. One player, Payne Stewart, wore a Hogan-style British racing cap, consistent with the style he often wore in PGA Tour events. The Americans won, 15-13. It was the last time the Americans have won a Ryder Cup in Europe.

Any confusion as to Patrick's biggest disappointment?  It's pretty damn clear that Patrick and Xander brought the money issue into the team room, and that their teammates were required to lie on their behalf.  How do you feel, Max Homa?

Joel Beall tries to tackle this issue head on:

The Ryder Cup underscores golf's biggest problem

Money and emotion both resonate with golfers.  The problem is that they're not the same thing.

That sub-head shows up only on the Golf Digest home page, but pretty much misses the point entirely.  There's exactly no one, perhaps excepting Stefan Schauffelle, that confuses those two.  In fact, the Ryder Cup is supposed to be the one week that we don't have to deal with the crap, though certain players won't allow for the respite.

To me, this is the most damning bit from Joel:

It would be a misnomer to think this applies to all Americans. Scottie Scheffler cared so much he was brought to tears in the middle of the event, not because he was embarrassed by his play but because he thought he let his club down. No one questions Justin Thomas’ adoration for the Ryder Cup; Max Homa has repeatedly said he wasn’t interested in LIV offers because LIV “can’t buy my dreams,” one of which was to compete in this event. Then there is Bradley. He famously has not opened his luggage from the 2012 Ryder Cup, allowing himself only to do so when he's part of a winning Ryder Cup. In an era when many Americans were accused of not caring, Bradley cared a lot. When he won the Travelers, Bradley said his first thought was the feat put him one step closer to achieving that dream. It’s why his exclusion from this year’s team was so notable, for Bradley did not hide how bad he wanted it, and that’s something American fans have wanted out of their boys for some time.

Which is why the Cantlay-Schauffelle initiative had to split the team at a certain level.  Oh, I'm sure they tamped down the friction because they had to get through the week, but it's pretty clear that the split in the team room was real at a certain level.

But Joel to me is going off into a cul-de-sac:

Which begs the question to golf's stakeholders: How do you replicate this fervor that only seems to exist around this three-day event?

Much like dissecting why the Americans continue to struggle on the road, there is no easy solution to golf’s caring problem. We do know what doesn’t work, and that’s throwing money at the issue. If that was the answer LIV Golf would have successfully disrupted the sport, and the tour’s postseason would be talked about in the same vein as the majors. To the tour’s credit, the new signature-event series may rectify part of that woe, letting the sport know these tournaments require their attention. But considering a popular response to the series is that these events are nothing more than WGCs. 2.0, the tour will likely continue to fight an uphill battle.

Perhaps the only answer is what makes the Ryder Cup special is what makes the rest of the schedule fall short. Again, it’s not that what happens on the PGA Tour or DP World Tour or any tour around the world is inconsequential, or that they are the same as LIV Golf when it comes to relevance. It’s just a continuum, and the Ryder Cup continues to cement itself far down the caring spectrum from anything else in the game. Because from now until Bethpage there will be millions to be made playing golf that mostly looks the same as the golf played the week before that will look like the golf coming after. But then the Ryder Cup will come and it will be different. We care about the Ryder Cup because it’s fleeting, and because its memories are eternal.

You can't make the rest of the schedule like the Ryder Cup, which I might remind floundered in irrelevancy for fifty years before finding its footing.  But the events of the last two years should remind us of why we love that week so....

The sickness in the soul of Cantlay and Xander is profound and shouldn't be covered up by the likes of Steve Sands.  As expressed by Schauffelle père, they actually think the event will be more popular if the guys play for money, whereas the reality is we're desperate for a week in which money isn't Topic A.

The Tour Confidential panel has some Ryder Cup follow up bits as well:

1. More Ryder Cup news broke in the days after players departed Rome. The Times, based in London, spoke to Stefan Schauffele, the father of Xander Schauffele, who said that Xander and Patrick Cantlay were in a contract disagreement with the PGA of America over a player participation and benefit agreement they wanted amended in three places. Stefan said they were threatened to be removed from the team, although it eventually got sorted out. How much would this have changed the narrative if this was out the week of the event? And does this bit of news change your opinion on what happened last week?

Josh Sens: The main themes would have been the same but it would have changed the tone, in part by exposing Cantlay for being coy and disingenuous in his answers about the pay-to-play

question. He was able to deflect and defuse the issue somewhat by saying getting paid wasn’t an issue for him, when clearly it was. If he’d been forthright, the heckling, I suspect, would have been even more intense on Sunday. Also, Cantlay might not have been able to get away with falsely branding a reporter as a liar.

Sean Zak: Yeah, likely changes the tenor of press conferences, and even perhaps the ribbing by fans in Rome. Cantlay was the only player to really face any gruff from spectators, and that was pretty playful if anything. I’d say this re-informs my opinion rather than changes anything.

Zephyr Melton: Agree with my colleagues above. It was obvious in the lead-up that Cantlay and Schauffele were not on the same page as their teammates (skipping the scouting trip), and now we know why. Just another distraction that kept Team USA from playing their best.

Jack Hirsh: Pay shouldn’t be a distraction in the Ryder Cup. It wasn’t for one team. I don’t think it changes my opinion on what happened as it’s always been clear the Europeans get up for the Ryder Cup while it’s more of an obligation for the Americans. I’m, regrettably, not surprised.

Of course the media is complicit, though it's of marginal use to ask the media about that.....

Cantlay fascinates me, though not in a good way at all.  In the broader issue of LIV v. PGA Tour, he's the guy trying to queer the Saudi deal to keep them there for leverage, while finding another merchant bank to shower them with largesse.  Most folks react to that in terms of its implausibility..... True enough, but for this observer the tell is that he thinks he has a right to Saudi riches, just without those pesky moral considerations..... Yeah, good luck with that!

Here seems a similar disconnect.  He wants to demand to be paid, he just expects all of us to avert our gaze and for the media to cover for him  The problem is when you make all about the money, and then go out and stink up the joint as he did on Friday.

2. Ever since Rome, Ryder Cup compensation has been a huge conversation topic with multiple players and major champs weighing in. So, what say you? Should players get paid or compensated in any way (other than what they currently receive) if they make a Ryder Cup team? If so, what’s your idea to make it work for all parties?

Sens: I think the players should be compensated, but aren’t they already in the form of a tax-deductible charitable donation made in their name? If that charitable donation needs to be increased, based on some percentage of total Ryder Cup revenues, so be it. That seems like a fair arrangement. If a player doesn’t like that, the PGA of America should tell them, You don’t like the terms? No problem. Stay home. We’ll find someone else. There would be no shortage of takers. I’d like to hear the conversation between that player and his agent when the agent informs him how much he missed out on sponsorship opportunities by skipping the Ryder Cup–which is another way these guys profit from the event.

Zak: Players should absolutely be compensated for successful play, a la the rest of their schedule. If your team wins, you earn 1/12th cut of the $12,000,00 purse. If your team doesn’t win, you go home empty-handed.

Hirsh: No. This doesn’t seem to be a problem for the Europeans and they have won A LOT of Ryder Cups over the past 40 years. I agree with Sens. If the charitable donation isn’t enough for you, there are plenty of other interested candidates.

Melton: I am fully on board with players getting paid, but it’s not a hill I’ll die on. I will say it has gotten tiring talking about money in golf all the time. I suppose I need to watch more amateur golf to get away from that dialogue.

Hirsh: I’m on board with this Zephyr. The Walker Cup is a great time.

Others are making huge bank on this event, so the arguments about pay aren't frivolous, they're just unseemly at this moment in the game.  there's also the optics that that other team, one whose players earn on average far less, never uses the M-word....Oh, and they win.

But I think the arguments for pay have deteriorated in the current environment.  When David Duval and Tiger took some heat, they were only eating what they killed (we all ignore their Nike money, so let's not go there).

But the PIP program has changed all that, and these guys are no doubt garnering all sorts of Meltwater Mentions in their U.S.A. swag, so you've already been payed, Patrick.  But the real answer is to leave the guys that only want to play if they get paid at home.  Max Homa's dreams aren't available for sale, but Patrick's and Xander's are, so good luck to them.

But insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.  To wit:

3. All eyes are now on who will captain the 2025 squad when the Ryder Cup comes to Bethpage Black in New York. Davis Love III recently said the first call should be made to Tiger Woods, to see if he’s interested. Who do you think should captain that team?

Sens: Woods should be the first choice. And the second. And the third.

Zak: Woods should definitely take on that role, because if not, when? He may not want to take on an international captaincy, given the added travel considerations. Really, the best scenario is Woods as a playing captain again — and before you rush to call me crazy — playing just the lone singles match on Sunday. That’s right, eliminate the hard sit-or-play decisions by making yourself a pick. Then save up your energy for one match and triumph out of pure intimidation alone. Who wants to go against Tiger Woods in singles in front of 50,000 fire-breathing New Yorkahs?

Hirsh: I like that idea, Sean, although, I’m not sure if a 49-year-old Tiger Woods with a fused right ankle will be able to walk Bethpage Black for even just 18 holes, let alone play a singles match. The best thing about being a captain is he can take a cart! Plus if there’s anyone who can rally the U.S. team to get their **** together, it’s the GOAT himself.

Melton: I think a Tiger captaincy would be amazing, but I don’t think it’s going to change the outcome at Bethpage. The Americans are going to win — and win big — no matter who the skipper is in two years. The home-field advantage will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen.

Yeah, that's the ticket.  I'm old enough to remember when we needed a task force to inform us that future captains should serve as cart drivers in prior cups.  remind me again, where was Tiger last week?

He's never cared much about the event, he's never played well in it and he couldn't be bothered being with the guys in Rome..... He's perfect for the gig!  

And, more importantly, Tiger and Patrick are now two of the dominant voices on the Players' Advisory Counsel... Worrying about the Ryder Cup might be a luxury we no longer can afford.

Gonna leave you here.  No clue as to the blogging schedule this week, but I'll be back as content requires and my schedule permits.  Have a great week.