Monday, June 17, 2024

Weekend Wrap - ABC Edition

Hope everyone had a good weekend and isn't too disappointed at yesterday's outcome.  The Cantlay dead-enders will be disconsolate, the good news being that there aren't any of those.

Bryson In Full - Your humble blogger longs for the halcyon days of the Brooks-Bryson cage match, when the absence of any moral ambiguity made it easy to hate them both.  Yet, and this seems really odd, those two are about the only LIVsters that have maintained their competitive relevance after cashing the big checks.  

We'll lede with Bryson, who does seem to have found more than just his game:

U.S. Open 2024: Bryson DeChambeau is golf's most exciting man and new people's champ

Note to Readers:  Blogger, the Google blogging template that hosts this blog, is quite the hot mess.  The current manifestation can be seen in the header above, which normally would function as the link to the excerpted piece.  Or at least has for fourteen years.  But for the last week when I attempt to use that text as a link, it merely inserts the word "null" in blue after the text selected.  I'll throw the links in as best I can, but just wanted readers to know why some items might be excerpted without the obligatory link.

They were yelling his name as Bryson DeChambeau inspected the 55 yards of sand and green and brown and fate between him and redemption. All day, all week, DeChambeau had turned to
the direction of the shout to nod or tip his cap, embracing and reciprocating the attention he has forever craved, but this was no time for stagecraft. What he would do over these 55 yards, needing to get his ball from a greenside bunker to a back pin in two shots or less, would be the theater. The man who has been the greatest show in golf delivered a finale befitting his reputation, his shot from the soil soaring out of the Carolina sandscape, plopping onto the green and skidding toward the pin, stopping three feet from the flag featuring his childhood idol, Payne Stewart. There was no revolution wrought like his triumph at Winged Foot. This championship was not made to bow before his prodigious length, as the driver consistently put him in spots Donald Ross didn’t know were on the map. For the better part of five hours it wasn’t smooth and it was far from easy. It was simply the performance of stubborn will and conviction that comes from the countless hours of work and dreams and disappointment, a cost that can never be measured and a price only he knows he paid.

That’s why, when the cloud of sand produced by his swing billowed and dissipated, DeChambeau emerged with both arms pumping toward the ground, and when his ball disappeared for the final time moments later those arms fiercely pierced the sky as he unleashed a primal scream. DeChambeau signaled to anyone that had a pulse that while Pinehurst did its best to knock him down he had refused to yield, capping a resurgence whose improbability is bested by the fact that the game’s former divisive figure has become one of its most beloved.

One commentator noted that he's grabbed the John Daly demographic, though there's no need to depress me, is there?

Some good bits in here, not least the LIV slam:

They were yelling his name as Bryson DeChambeau inspected the 55 yards of sand and green and brown and fate between him and redemption. All day, all week, DeChambeau had turned to
the direction of the shout to nod or tip his cap, embracing and reciprocating the attention he has forever craved, but this was no time for stagecraft. What he would do over these 55 yards, needing to get his ball from a greenside bunker to a back pin in two shots or less, would be the theater. The man who has been the greatest show in golf delivered a finale befitting his reputation, his shot from the soil soaring out of the Carolina sandscape, plopping onto the green and skidding toward the pin, stopping three feet from the flag featuring his childhood idol, Payne Stewart. There was no revolution wrought like his triumph at Winged Foot. This championship was not made to bow before his prodigious length, as the driver consistently put him in spots Donald Ross didn’t know were on the map. For the better part of five hours it wasn’t smooth and it was far from easy. It was simply the performance of stubborn will and conviction that comes from the countless hours of work and dreams and disappointment, a cost that can never be measured and a price only he knows he paid.

That’s why, when the cloud of sand produced by his swing billowed and dissipated, DeChambeau emerged with both arms pumping toward the ground, and when his ball disappeared for the final time moments later those arms fiercely pierced the sky as he unleashed a primal scream. DeChambeau signaled to anyone that had a pulse that while Pinehurst did its best to knock him down he had refused to yield, capping a resurgence whose improbability is bested by the fact that the game’s former divisive figure has become one of its most beloved.

Everyone seems to want to take a shot at deconstructing his celebration, Geoff here:

Bryson DeChambeau only got one thing wrong after working around a Magnolia tree root and blasting out of Pinehurst’s 18th-hole bunker to win the 2024 United States Open: the self-proclaimed scientist/artist/YouTuber/game-grower somehow forgot to re-create the iconic Payne Stewart pose after making the winning putt.

Otherwise?

No one has ever finished off or celebrated a major win like Bryson did at Pinehurst. Then again, the sport has never seen anyone like the 30-year-old absurdist whose antics have morphed over the years from weird to disappointing, to unsustainable to charmingly zany since he’s returned to a sane weight, lost his his father, stuffed his bank account with LIV money, and endured the same ego hits that come with a career in pro golf.

And while sport has always had natural entertainers, DeChambeau took things to an entirely different level in Sunday’s duel against another fan favorite in McIlroy.

I actually find his fist pumps and other reactions to be curiously robotic, though that's said with affection as I think it reflects his natural awkwardness.  Not necessarily a bad thing....

And Geoff covers that epic long bunker shot on No. 18:

Let’s start with a 55-yard bunker shot most mortals and a few immortals would be worried about skulling into Pinehurst’s modest one-story clubhouse.

“That bunker shot was the shot of my life,” DeChambeau said. “I'll forever be thankful that I've got longer wedges so I can hit it farther.”

Isn't that interesting, as we haven't discussed his single-length irons in a million years.  But I don't know why Geoff cites immortals, when this mortal had to issues with it:

And the shot off the root might have been even better....

But that scene on No. 18 was horribly wrong, to which Geoff alludes:

With the huge grandstands surrounding Pinehurst’s 18th still rocking after the winning putt, DeChambeau went full Leonard Bernstein to his orchestra of admirers, conducting them to remain quiet so playing partner Matthieu Pavon could finish out his sensational week.

Why Pavon didn't finish first is beyond me.  His mark was just inside Bryson's and it was too much to just swipe it in, but Bryson was going to make his and then the world would explode.  To me, Bryson could be criticized for his celebration that froze Pavon, though he did eventually realize they weren't quite ready to head to the scorer's tent.

 I'm obviously deferring the Rory stuff, but let's get into it via the Tour Confidential panel:

1. In one of the most thrilling major finishes we’ve seen in years, Bryson DeChambeau held off Rory McIlroy to win the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 and claim the second major
title of his career. But it wasn’t easy. McIlroy, who trailed by three to start the day, briefly led by two with five holes to play but bogeyed three of his last four to lose by one. Two of those bogeys (including the final one on the 72nd hole) were short par misses. So, did DeChambeau (71) win it? Or did McIlroy (69) lose it?

Jack Hirsh: I’ll take the easy road here and say a little bit of both, but it was more McIlroy losing it, so I guess I fall into that camp. Don’t get me wrong, DeChambeau’s up and down to clinch it was the stuff of legend. People will be hitting that shot out of that bunker as soon as No. 2 reopens to public play. But he never should have had the chance to win with par. McIlroy’s putt on 18 was not from a great spot, above the hole and sliding hard, but he never looked like he finished his backstroke. What was truly inexcusable was the putt on 16. Two-feet-six-inches. Complete loss of focus.

Jessica Marksbury: As the three-shot leader heading into the final round, I think DeChambeau won it. It was a battle, and given the pressure from McIlroy, DeChambeau could have caved. But he ultimately came up clutch when it mattered most. I think his par on 8 was enormously pivotal. After hitting two shots into no-man’s-land, DeChambeau managed a huge up-and-down to keep his momentum. Then of course, there was his 18th hole and the root obstruction, followed by an up-and-down that will live forever. McIlroy unfortunately squandered his chances, and DeChambeau won because he didn’t let any of his misses destroy his.

Zephyr Melton: Everyone will remember Rory’s two short misses, but that doesn’t take away from the stellar play Bryson had over the first three days. He was the only guy to shoot in the 60s over the first three days, and it built up a nice cushion heading into Sunday. That cushion allowed him to win Sunday without his A game, aided by Rory’s misfortune.

Josh Sens: I’m not sure how I feel about this one, but I’m pretty confident I know how DeChambeau and McIlroy feel about it. Bryson thinks he won it. Rory thinks he lost it, which only thickens the plot moving forward.

Dylan Dethier: I feel energized for Bryson. But man, I still feel ill for Rory. Sick to my stomach. That charge — and THAT finish? Rory put himself in position to lose the tournament, and that’s what he did. But Bryson went and seized it, too.

The technical answer is that it took both to create this result.  But how do we think Rory might answer the question?   Can't imagine that dinner tasted very good, but I do hope he was with his daughter last night.

2. What does it say about DeChambeau’s game that he was able to win on this type of setup, which was very different from his first U.S. Open win at Winged Foot? What most impressed you about his play this week?

Hirsh: His par putting was absurd. He actually lost strokes on the greens Sunday and had 31 putts on the round, but it seemed like every chance he had to drop a stroke, with the exception of the short miss on 15, he poured them in. He coulda pulled away had he gotten his eagle putt on 13 or birdie putt on 17 to the hole, but it was his par savers that truly won him this Open.

Marksbury: You could argue that DeChambeau got lots of lucky breaks when he hit shots into bad places, but his recoveries were superb. Add to that a very tidy short game — and a great week of putting — and you have an ideal arsenal to take on Pinehurst.

Melton: His scrambling ability impressed me — especially on Sunday. He obviously wasn’t hitting the ball his best during the final round, but he leaned on his scrambling to keep him in it. Everyone will remember the save in 18, but his up-and-down on No. 8 was arguably more impressive. That was right around the time Rory started his charge, and Bryson saved par from an impossible spot. Without that, the entire dynamic of the back nine is different and we’re likely talking about Rory’s return to the winner’s circle.

Sens: Agreed with all of the above. Part of that is clutch gene, which DeChambeau clearly has. That up-and-down on the 8th was about as tough as they come, and at what felt like a pivotal moment, as McIlroy was starting to reel off what would be four birdies in five holes. And then of course that bunker shot on 18. Whatever you think of Bryson, you can’t deny that was pure under pressure.

Dethier: His attitude. He hung in there. He’s older, wiser, happier, more mature. His caddie Greg Bodine deserves some credit for that, too. Together they were a tough out.

It's a very funny thing, but he seems to have found this peace by going into the Cone of Silence.  To be fair, his interactions with the galleries began before he went to LIV.  At the time of his cage match against Brooks it was remarked by many that, notwithstanding Koepka's greater popularity, that Bryson was actually the more approachable and engaging personality.

It was really quite the dilemma for your humble blogger, a three-man race featuring no player that I actually wanted to win.  Simpson's Hierarchy of Hoped-For Failure was ranked as follows:

  1. Patrick Cantlay
  2. Rory
  3. Bryson
Regular readers of the blog will know why I've soured on Rory recently, relating to both his actual game, as well as his advocacy of small field money-grabs while simultaneously insisting that it couldn't possibly be about the money.... But, trumping all was my desire that Patrick Cantlay not win, that ABC in the header standing for Anyone But Cantlay.  Whew, dodged that bullet!

3. Even before DeChambeau won on Sunday, he seemed to win over the fans all week long, which hadn’t always been the case for them or him. What changed for fans? And for Bryson?

Hirsh: He’s either getting really good advice on how to build his brand, or he is just genuinely a really good person and is letting it show. He’s interacting with fans during competition in ways we’ve never seen any pro do in this era of guarded access. It’s truly a throwback. People talk about giving the fans what they want, while Bryson is actually doing it with his mid-round autographs and huge fist-pumps.

Melton: Bryson is one of the few golfers who seems to have come into their own after going to LIV. He’s largely out of the mainstream spotlight playing on the PGA Tour’s rival tour, and that relative anonymity has allowed him to avoid scrutiny from the mainstream press. Only being in the brightest spotlight four times a year seems to have done wonders for his brand.

Marksbury: Agree with you, Z! Something has definitely changed in Bryson over the last couple of years. He seems comfortable, content, secure. It appears that LIV’s team environment has been a good thing for him. I love the fact that he’s leaning in to being an entertainer, and the fans clearly do too. Plus, he’s really, really good it.

Sens: I suspect his stint in long drive helped bring out a change in him as well, as he started to embrace the performance aspect of his job. It is, after all, entertainment. It helps to be a great talent. It also helps to be smart enough to recognize a pretty simple truth: the culture of athlete worship among fans — and among large numbers of the media covering those same sports — is so powerful that it really doesn’t take a lot to have the public eating out your hands. Sure, there are plenty of haters out there. But most fans and reporters are dying to love an athlete who gives them a few minutes of time and flashes some basic elements of humanity.

Dethier: Bryson has seized control of his image; he presents the version of himself that he wants the world to see. In that way escaping the PGA Tour and spending spare time on YouTube has helped him in the public eye. But there’s something simpler here, too: Winning takes care of everything. It makes you happier, more endearing, more heroic. It’s easy to be drawn to a winner.

Funny to me, because his single most oft-putting moment was when he chewed out that Golf Channel cameraman for not protecting his brand.  I would argue that it's less the YouTube stuff than it is the general interaction with the galleries.  He's at his best when he's not controlling his image but just reacting...

Are we ready for our "Wither Rory" moment?  Yeah, that was hard to watch, but are we all that surprised?  Let's start with this silly header:

For Rory McIlroy, the 2024 U.S. Open is the 2011 Masters all over again

Oh, don't be daft, this is so much worse than that one.....  Back then Rory had his whole career in front of him.  He's now at the juncture of facing the "Will I ever win another Major" question, but can't make two-footers when he has one hand on the trophy.  

Back to the TC gang:

4. McIlroy, whose long major drought (37 starts) is well-known, let yet another one slip away and exited the property without speaking to the media. Was this his most heartbreaking close-call of all?

Hirsh: At St. Andrews in 2022, he got lapped by Cam Smith. Yes, he could have simply made a few putts on Sunday, but Cam Smith went out and took that one. This time? All he had to do was make a couple of putts inside four feet and we’re talking about a completely different story tonight.

Marksbury: McIlroy’s closing holes were excruciating to watch from home — I can’t imagine how it felt for him. When the tournament is in your hands, and you miss a short putt to let it slip away not once but twice, that has to be golf’s most agonizing punishment.

Melton: Gotta be this one. Standing on the 15th tee he was in the solo lead at eight under. Three bogeys over the final four holes — including two misses inside five feet — and he didn’t even force a playoff at six under. Brutal.

Sens: If you’re going strictly by the numbers, I’d say the 2011 Masters, where he lost a four shot lead on Sunday. But numbers alone don’t tell the full story. You need context. And this one — given how many close calls he has had leading into it, and how painfully he let this slip—has to be the most agonizing.

Dethier: This was the worst. The absolute worst. He’ll move on. He’ll contend at the Open next month. I know that in my head. But what was so brutal about watching today in real time was knowing that this will be part of McIlroy’s major story forever.

He could fool himself after St. Andrews and LACC, but this one evokes Doug Sanders.  Asked about that putt later in his life, Sanders "joked" that he sometimes went as long as ten minutes without thinking of his ill-fated putt in 1970.  Think Rory will have that putt on No. 16 on an endless loop in his mind going forward?

5. What do you think happened late with McIlroy? Nerves? Bad reads? Pinehurst’s diabolical greens? Where did he go wrong?

Hirsh: Unfortunately, we won’t know what he was thinking in the moment, for at least some time because he didn’t speak to the media. But he had to start thinking about breaking his drought. Peter Kostis explained during his U.S. Open preview show on Kostis and McCord: Off their Rockers, that the first sign of nerves is bad decision making, and the second is poor execution. McIlroy made poor decisions by playing too much club on the 15th and 17th holes, hitting it over the green each time. Then he had poor execution on the putts on 16 and 18.

Marksbury: That’s some astute rationale there, Jack, and sounds legit to me. I think it had to be nerves. Prior to missing that three-footer, golf stats guru Justin Ray tweeted that Rory was 496/496 on three-footers this season. What was the difference with this particular three-footer? The U.S. Open was on the line.

Melton: Who the hell knows. Rory made a few long putts (that he seemingly never makes on Sunday afternoons) early on, and over the last few holes the hot streak ended. Perhaps just a regression to the mean? All I know is it was painful to watch.

Sens: There’s no such thing as a gimme at Pinehurst No. 2, so the greens are relevant. But McIlroy had been putting it beautifully. He looked genuinely shocked by the first one, almost like he was jolted from a brief spell of complacency. The second stroke looked quite nervy, like he was a victim of the moment.

Dethier: That putt at No. 18 was legitimately scary — it was a slippery four-footer from above the hole. The putt at 16 is the one that’s tougher to get past. That was the difference. (And finding the fairway at 18 wouldn’t have hurt, either.)

Good stuff there, as Hirsh captures the ubiquity of Rory flying greens, which he routinely does with wedges.  I do agree that the putt on No. 18 was of the scary variety, though we all saw the tentative stroke.  Those greens are diabolical, I still remember what they did to Tiger in 2005, but Rory's finish speaks for itself.  

Was it Paul McGinley that made the point about Rory only winning majors from way in front?  Asa he or someone put it, Rory isn't made for knife fights.... 

Alan Bastable does a deep dive into this:

Reminding us most notably of hos promising the start to the day was:

THE DAY HAD STARTED WITH McIlroy and the 36-hole leader by three, DeChambeau, smashing balls together on the range. As DeChambeau fidgeted with driver heads and wrenches and a launch monitor, McIlroy looked in total control of his long game, ripping one tightly drawn 3-wood after the next down the yellowish-green expanse, followed by a series of smashed drivers. When his range session concluded, McIlroy walked up to the practice green that abuts the first tee. Sunday’s first of many “ROR-EE” chants came from a pack of giddy kids in the autograph pen just beyond the range.

McIlroy’s start could not have been better. He spilt the 1st fairway with an iron, knocked his approach to 20 feet, pin-high left, and drained the birdie putt to move to five under. After his second round, McIlroy had spoken of the importance of accurate approach shots on this course. Take the calculating way by which he had played the 8th hole on Friday: “I had 151 adjusted to the hole. I’m trying to land it 146. I can’t land it 144 because it’s not going to get up there. I can’t land it 148 because it’s going to go over the back of the green. You just need to have a lot of precision. I feel like for the most part I’ve done that well this week.”

Ironic, in that the lack of that necessary precision on Nos. 15 and 17 was so critical later in the day.

Geoff captures this gut-wrenching scene:

McIlroy, a year removed from a heartbreaking U.S. Open loss in Los Angeles and two years since
another painful defeat at the Old Course, watched DeChambeau’s finish from U.S. Open scoring. When the winning putt went down, McIlroy turned, packed up quickly, and drove off in his courtesy car. Despite his recent marital woes that included news of salvaging things this week, McIlroy became the first player in U.S. Open history to finish solo second by a stroke in back-to-back years. He was roasted online and in the media for not hanging around to face questions and congratulate DeChambeau.

Which he did at St. Andrews, so one can only assume this one stung that much more.  Leading to this scene, although it doesn't appear that any trunks were actually slammed:

They should be required to speak to the media, part of the job and all that....  But, on the other hand, what's the guy gonna say?  And, even worse, he has to go to Hartford and pretend to care about that event... Thanks, Jay, although some reported should ask Rory how he likes this world he's helped create.

You'll know that my favorite thing about Sunday at the Open was that deliciously awkward penultimate pairing, in which those Ryder Cup protagonists were paired for the first time simnc one called the other a d**k.   There was this take on it:

UU.S. Open 2024: Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay are frosty, but not cold in their pursuit of major glory

The next thing I find that's "Frosty but not cold" will also be the first....

When Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay greeted each other with a quick fist bump and the very briefest of pleasantries on the first tee Sunday as they began their final rounds of the 2024 U.S.
Open, I had the thought that they might not exchange another word until the very end of the final round. I was wrong: On the third hole, Cantlay pulled his tee shot left, and before walking up the fairway, McIlroy had to take a moment to clarify with him whether it had in fact gone out of bounds, and whether had to retee.

Other than that? Nothing, at least through the first eight holes. This is no surprise. It's hard to say how often one golfer calls another a "d***," but it’s safe to say it rarely happens on the record. It did in this case, with McIlroy conferring the honorary title on Cantlay in an interview with the Irish press. We don't need to retread their entire history, but briefly, their first notable public conflict came at last September’s Ryder Cup, when Cantlay was taunted all day about not wearing a hat by the European fans, and it culminated in a match-winning putt on 18 … after which, Cantlay's caddie Joe LaCava stood so long waving his hat around to taunt the fans that it messed with Rory reading his own putt. That led to words, which led to a parking lot tantrum between McIlroy and a wrong place/wrong time innocent bystander, Jim “Bones” Mackay, of all people. Since then, Cantlay and McIlroy have been silent enemies on the LIV merger battle, with McIlroy on the side of a merger and the Cantlay faction wanting to move more slowly. In short, these guys are not friends.

But McIlroy shook hands with LaCava on the first tee, fist bumped Cantlay, winked at one or both of them, and then no more words were exchanged beyond the OB confusion on three, including when they were standing two feet apart on the tees. Somehow, though, the silence didn't feel very dramatic or all that icy. The final round at the U.S. Open, when you're in contention, isn't a particularly chatty atmosphere in the first place, and it's not like anybody expected these guys to be exchanging addresses for Christmas cards. Plus, unlike the Ryder Cup, this isn't a team event; even though we're in the U.S., Rory was the recipient of more fan support because he's one of the world's most popular players.

Yeah, I thought (like Paul McGinley as cited in the piece) that this pairing was more likely to be better for the d**k than for the Ulsterman.  But Cantlay never got out of neutral and Rory clearly had the better of it, at least until he didn't.

Everyone focuses on the Ryder Cup dust-up, but I still believe the enmity between the4se two is likely more related to their involvement with the Tour's Player Advisory Council and the LIV negotiations, especially since Patrick no doubt prevented Rory returning to the Board.

A few last bits, including this on the venue:

6. This was the first time the U.S. Open returned to Pinehurst No. 2 since it was named a USGA anchor site and will continue to host several U.S. Opens in the future. DeChambeau finished six under, and eight players total were under par. What did you think of Pinehurst No. 2 as a U.S. Open test?

Hirsh: Outstanding. Six under is the butter zone for winning U.S. Opens these days and while I don’t think the golf course was shown too well on TV, with the exception of the effective green-size graphics, I think it played phenomenally and provided an extremely demanding, yet fair test to the game’s best players. It’s always great to see the pros asked to be extraordinarily precise shots as opposed to attacking holes through the air and not having to worry about where a ball bounces.

Marksbury: Spot on. U.S. Opens are fun when birdies and disasters are equally possible, and Pinehurst No. 2 gave us plenty of that. This Open was really fun to watch down the stretch.

Melton: It freaking rules. A proper test that produced a great leaderboard and a deserving champion. Can’t wait until they bring the men and the women here in 2029 for a back-to-back.

Sens: Loved it. There should be no letup in a U.S. Open. This course doesn’t allow for any. And there’s nothing goofy about it. Maybe I missed it, but did anyone call it unfair?

Dethier: I could have used just a touch more carnage. Not a single score in the 80s on Sunday?! But in all seriousness the USGA did exactly what they wanted: presented a tough test without becoming the story. Mission accomplished.

I thought it looked and played great, although there will be no shortage of caterwauling about the funky bounces.... But the most exciting thing in golf is what a golf ball does after it hits the turf.

We'll see lots of Pinehurst in the future, and to me that's a very good thing.

What were your thoughts about the TV coverage?  I found it a weird week,  beginning with this:

Did you see Rory McIlroy’s birdie on the final hole of the first round of the U.S. Open on Thursday?

If the answer is yes, and you saw the putt live rather than in a highlight package, then you are one of the golf fans who have Peacock, NBC’s subscription-based streaming service. If you didn’t see it live, you were probably cursing under your breath that the powers that run television and sports have found another way to milk a few dollars out of viewers.

The social media world exploded when the U.S. Open switched from USA Network, a standard network commonly found on most platforms including cable, to Peacock on Thursday afternoon. Those chants grew a little louder on Friday when USA Network wasn’t part of the Open broadcast, but Peacock was the television platform for the morning and late afternoon sessions. NBC carried the Open midday.

The Peacock thing is quite the annoyance, but the Thursday-Friday coverage windows were bizarre.  On Thursday, USA gave us BBC-like all-day coverage, almost like the event was important.  Then on Friday?  No USA, with NBC only coming on air for the afternoon wave.  We all get that they're trying to force us onto their paid platform, but how does that help the USGA?

Also not helping:

NBC’s third-round coverage of the U.S. Open struggled with technical difficulties, frustrating fans who have questioned the network’s commitment to the sport.

Sometime around 4 p.m. ET, the broadcast lost graphics, including the leaderboard, as well as audio. Even beyond that outage, fans complained about overall poor audio quality during the round.

Golf Twitter was not amused:

While I've been relatively sanguine about the auditions for lead analyst, the dueling odd-even hole 18th green tower arrangement seemed unruly and needlessly complicated.  Perhaps more on that in the coming days.

A great show at an iconic venue.... what's not to love?

Alas that leaves us with only one more of these... on to the Postage Stamp.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)