Just a few bits to tide you over the long holiday weekend. Your humble blogger is off to a family wedding, so no soup for you until Tuesday at the earliest.
An Honor Just To Be Nominated - As you'll know, Geoff divides the world into Winners, Cut-Makers and Point-Missers, presumably to allow the milking of three posts from that concept. Of course, the first category should really be in the singular, but his first few cut-makers seem well thought through:
Viktor Hovland. He’s back! With a twist. The Las Vegas Mayo Clinic visit was long overdue. It’s not often someone wins $34.6 million in a year and cans the coach. Joe Mayo is back and the Valhalla tee-to-green performance was dazzling as was the scrambling (13 of 16). The putting was serviceable enough that Hovland faced a 12-footer to shoot 64 and join the 20-under-brigade. Instead, he hit it four feet by, missed that, barely shook Bryson’s hand, and did not talk to the media after his round. The constantly-stressed, borderline manic approach is not a recipe for long-term success. Chill out! You’re really good at this. And with plenty in the bank.
Yes, and good to have the young man back among the living. A good, if obvious, Mayo Clinic bon mot, but the first four months of Viktor's season remain unexplained.
Maybe, but a downer of a Sunday:
Collin Morikawa (T4). Another major championship smoke-and-mirror effort after starting Masters Sunday in the final pairing. This one is heartening because the putting was not great and a player renowned for his approach play missed too many greens and had 34 putts Sunday. When he did make a pure strike, Morikawa averaged a solid 34’8” in proximity and he got up and down 17 times in 21 opportunities. So now that he’s wisely back with his longtime coach Rick Sessinghaus and hanging around majors with his B- game, a clean-up of the big approach misses, four okay putting days and you’re looking at a candidate to win at Pinehurst. Also, nice touch standing back and applauding for fellow southern Californian Schauffele after the winning putt.
Well, to be fair, his putting is never great....
But this is where Geoff and I part ways, as I think this guy is why he does a loser post, yet Geoff sees the glass as half-full:
Rory McIlroy (T12). A solid performance given Monday’s news of divorce filing and a Valhalla setup where his prodigious length seemed like less of an asset since winning there a decade ago. The odd run of just missing in majors continued at Valhalla, this time by peaking a few days too soon during a dominant Wells Fargo win. The good news? Life circumstances and ShotLink numbers say he should not have finished -12 (T12). McIlroy only got up and down 12 of 20 times around greens where leaders posted absurd recovery rates. He hit 38 of 56 fairways on a course where he enjoys driving the ball. Most incredible of all, McIlroy finished 12-under-par playing the par 4’s only 1-under-par to Schauffele’s -10, DeChambeau’s -9 and Hovland’s -9. Best news of all, the PGA returns to Quail Hollow in 2025.
Can't think of anyone that should be more depressed after Valhalla than the Ulsterman. I completely agree with Geoff that the issue with Rory is that he peaked too soon, though in my mind I'm thinking 2014....
But Geoff raises the amusement of that 2025 venue. Rory can't win a major for trying, but can't lose at that one venue..... So, let's take a major there and see what happens, but I'm thinking he'll still know it matters.
Geoff takes a fun shot here, but again in the wrong category"
Blockie (MC). You are to be admired for turning your T15 minutes of fame into what seemed like 15 years by the time one ad ran too many times. Congrats on wringing every last drop out of last year’s fantastic finish. Now, please, make it stop.
Bad news, there, Geoff:
Michael Block to play Charles Schwab Challenge
How desperate is that event, to think that a club pro will add sizzle.... When is Schwab's contract up?
With those as cut-makers, you're no doubt curious as to what it takes to qualify for Geoff's trunk-slammer category. Gotcha covered, but boy does he go in some strange directions:
PGA of America’s logistics - No major is easy to pull off when there is only one main road to the course. But this was not Valhalla’s first rodeo. Did an increase in the number of tickets sold this year cause the perpetual traffic jam outside the main gate? Veterans recall how the place had traffic issues during the 2008 Ryder Cup. Perhaps no one remembered? The PGA has had massive turnover with its move to Frisco and cost-cutting. Was the increase in people, cars and buses an oversight in pre-event planning? Shelbyville Road seems heavily trafficked. Exacerbating matters was Valhalla’s entry which was too tight for buses. And all week the eastbound traffic never subsided. How was it still bumper-to-bumper heading east on Sunday evening as the contenders teed off 18?
Yeah, we know, but still an odd note, and he goes off on some similarly odd notes, such as a long tirade on the seeming lack of concern for the victim. On this guy we can agree:
Jon Rahm. At least those hundreds of millions haven’t dulled his passion! Rahm’s mojo seems depleted after a lackluster Masters title defense and a missed cut in Kentucky. The longest active streak of made major championship cuts ended at 18. His clubs were hurled through the air and Rahm’s on-course demeanor screamed of a deeper dissatisfaction about the state of his career.
The man looks miserable, and perhaps not only about the state of his game. While his defection to LIV was a dramatic escalation given the expectation of peace in our time, he won't make for much of a recruiter, will he?
This is news to me, though hardly a surprise:
To cover or not to cover? ESPN’s news reporting by Jeff Darlington struck the right tone. So did CBS’s recap on Saturday’s telecast. So there are adults in the golf room who can read tea leaves and conclude this was nothing to joke about even if the charges against Scheffler are dropped. Golf Channel, now based out of NBC Sports’ global headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut where they have studios with ugly sets and fancy fiber, chose not to cut into an LPGA round replay to cover the news from Valhalla. Nor was a “breaking news” crawl invoked for one of the decade’s most shocking golf stories. Yet the channel chose to push back at criticism for doing nothing by getting into an embarrassing Twitter spat with No Laying Up.
Seems silly in hindsight, but let's remember there were maybe twelve people tuned in....
No issues here, as there was nothing that made me laugh more than this guy's appointment with reality:
Talor Gooch. To paraphrase Bull Durham’s Crash Davis, “Think classy, you'll be classy. When you get your first top 10 in a major then you can dress like Beavis’ alter ego Cornholio. Then the press'll think you're colorful. But until that top 10, you look like a bloated LIV fanboy in Smash gear Brooks doesn’t have to wear.” For the five of you out there wondering, the Asterisk Wonder finished four-under-par and tied for 60th. His major season has concluded after choosing not to attempt U.S. Open and The Open qualifying.
Wake me up when he has a top-50. And I'm thinking it'll be one fewer major in 2025, which will save him the public humiliation.
A couple of additional PGA follow-ups.
Watch This Space - Predictable, yet still dispiriting:
Scottie Scheffler: Fresh twist in arrest of world No.1
Has he confessed?
The Masters champion’s arraignment date following the incident was supposed to take place yesterday but has been rescheduled for June 3.It has since emerged that arresting officer Bryan Gillis failed to activate his bodycam video before stopping Scheffler, despite that being standard operating procedure.Consequently, local authorities are now set to investigate whether or not policies were followed correctly.In a statement, Louisville’s chief of police Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, said: “The internal investigation is still ongoing.“Any policy violations that are revealed through the course of the investigation will be appropriately addressed according to protocol. The department intends to provide an additional update on the investigation on Thursday, 23 May.”In his weekly news conference, Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg added that “action will be taken” if policies were not properly adhered to.
Anyone who heard Jeff Darlington's account knew that this story was off in important ways. It appears that the cop did something strange and reckless, then doubled down on it perhaps to cover his loss of control. The wonder of it is that the whole Louisville Police Department seemed prepared to fall in line with the guy, as if we'd never know.
Now there will need to be an embarrassing climbdown, and I can't imagine this officer coming out the other end with his job.
I Saw It On TV - The Scheffler Bump is now a thing, but Geoff goes long on the ratings:
Ratings. On the plus side, there was none of this year’s 20% dip seen at Tour events (prior to Rory McIlroy’s Wells Fargo win). The Masters viewing number drop now looks legit in blaming its 20% non-Easter out-of-home drop. According to Sports Media Watch, the final round of Xander Schaffule’s win peaked with 8.42 million viewers for the winning putt. The 4.96 million average audience translated to a 10% increase in viewership over last year’s Koepka win at Oak Hill. This, despite going up against the huge Pacers-Knicks Game 7. Saturday’s fog-delayed third round on CBS (2.0/3.52 million) faced off against the Preakness Stakes and a Caitlyn Clark WNBA game, yet still managed a slight 4% uptick over last year.The bad news? 2024’s PGA tops only two recent PGA’s in final round viewership: 2017 (4.91 million) and last year’s Koepka win were the lowest in the past 12 years.Ratings II. ESPN's numbers also showed stability compared to the season-long downward trend of PGA Tour coverage on Golf Channel and the networks. Thursday’s eight-hour first-round broadcast on ESPN averaged 1.118 million viewers for a 4% increase over last year. The second round fared better with a likely boost from Friday’s Scheffler arrest drama, averaging 1.6 million viewers, an increase of 18 percent. The first-ever ESPNBET telecast on ESPN2 averaged 323,000 viewers Friday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., up from 164,000 average viewers. And No Laying Up’s alternate telecast from 1-3 p.m. Friday on ESPN2 averaged 155,000 viewers, up from 89,000 on Thursday. For some perspective on just how much Brian Roberts’ Comcast has cratered Golf Channel: Saturday night’s Live From show saw an average of just 118,000 viewers, while Sunday’s edition featuring Xander Schauffele fresh off a thrilling finish saw just 104,000. Not long ago those shows did four to five time that.
A mixed bag, in which you can find anything you want. Maybe the funniest aspect of this are these comments from a senior CBS executive:
AND I REALLY MEAN THAT…”David Berson said, leaning forward at his desk on the CBS compound at the PGA Championship. The topic was golf’s sagging TV ratings, and Berson — CBS’s brand-new chairman — had something to say.“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves when it comes to the ratings stuff,” he said matter-of-factly. “It’s early to be worried.”I hadn’t probed much, but Berson, the hand-picked successor to longtime CBS lead man Sean McManus, was eager to set the record straight. The ratings are not a concern for CBS, or at least, that’s their official posture to the rest of the golf world.“Let’s not draw larger conclusions based on this small set of facts,” Berson said. “There are a lot more ratings that need to come in before we can feel any sort of way.”
I think he's exactly right about the small sample size. The problem being the small number of folks sampling their product, but it's a lovely melody he's whistling as he passes that graveyard. Of course, CBS is fully committed through 2030, so what else is he going to say?
Grinding - A quick shoutout to those who grind:
I think we can all agree that golf is in a far better place with Robert Rock's hair on display....
I will never love the LIVsters, but begrudging respect for those that put in the effort to qualify for the events that matter. This was a heart-breaker for sure:
Notables missed the cut: Sergio Garcia (the odd man out in a 7-for-6 playoff for the 11th and final spot), Kevin Streelman, Henrik Norlander, Carlos Ortiz, Abraham Ancer, Scott Piercy, Garrick Higgo, Caleb Surrat, Norrman Vincent, Cameron Champ, Harry Hall, Jim Knous, Joel Dahmen, Aaron Baddeley, Patton Kizzire and Kyle Westmoreland.
Click through for a full treatment of those that have thus far qualified, as well as those that didn't (or the large list of withdrawals).
Eire On My Mind - The bride and I have gravitated back to Scotland, but we miss our Ireland adventures. Here's a travel piece that I like, mostly because it's a trip down memory lane.
An Irish entrance: Four Americans have the walk of a lifetime in the north and west of the Republic
We're talking County Donegal here, and he begins at a place very familiar to your humble blogger:
Round 1 was slated for Ballyliffin’s Old Links, and after a greeting by Farren (who came in onhis day off to see us away) and his staff, we headed to the first tee. Having been built by hand by the club’s members in the 1970s, this layout is not as ancient as that Old Course at St. Andrews on the opposite side of the Irish sea, but its beautifully rumpled fairways would provide one of the least-steep tests for our group while serving up a perfect intro to links golf.After an obligatory series of “This is cool” and “Wow, look at that” comments from the newbs, we teed off into the breeze on No. 1 and even managed to find all four golf balls. That wouldn’t always be the case on Day 1. Or on the rest of the trip, for that matter. After all the rain in previous weeks, the rough at most courses was thick enough to lose your shoes even with them tied tight to your feet.
We almost joined three, a special place but in the middle of friggin' nowhere. The few people I encounter who have ventured to Ballyliffing, inevitably only have time to play the Glashedy Links, the shiny new object that's hosted the Irish Open. I get it, but the Old Links is unbelievably charming, to me it's the ultimate members' course. And he hits on two favorite themes.
First, it's marvelously rumpled fairways, which I've always likened to an unmade bed. I spent two weeks there attempting to capture the contours of those fairways in a photo, and never quite captured it.
But the other bit is that it reminds of a wonderful experience we had while there. At the club's bar we found ourselves in conversation with an elderly member, and he described for us exactly how they had built that golf course themselves, virtually by hand. Just one of those travel experiences that the bride and I still speak of.
Thanks for indulging me in the trip down memory lane. Enjoy the holiday weekend and I'll get back to the keyboard when possible.
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