Monday, July 15, 2024

Weekend Wrap - Bob From Oban Edition

Hope everyone had a good weekend despite the heat.  Judging from the prevalence of ski caps in East Lothian, I may have reevaluate my packing list....

Heartache Begets Joy - CBS is so bad at the televised golf thing that you'd think there would be no new outrages in that regard, although yesterday's golf coverage for "breaking news", the second of which included a propped-up cadaver.... The only folks in America with lower ratings than golf broadcasts, so the reader can insert his own jokes.

But while we've tied ourselves up in nots as to what we want from professional golf, one Robert MacIntyre of Oban, Scotland was very clear as to his own desires....  he wanted merely to win his national open, even after having it cruelly snatched from his grasp a year ago:

A terrible silence hung over the 18th green at the Genesis Scottish Open for what felt like a beat too long.

Down below, Robert MacIntyre, Scotland’s native son, was staring down the final six inches of the putt of his life, a 22-foot curler that required just enough dying speed to avoid missing the hole altogether. He was willing it toward the cup with every ounce of his being, but every passing instant of quiet seemed to imperil it further.

No 22-footer could take that long to reach the hole — not even a putt at dying speed on these slow Scottish greens. Bob knew it, the few thousand ringed around the 18th green knew it, everybody knew it. So the quiet grew more painful, because it meant the putt of MacIntyre’s life had missed.

“I thought it was half-a-hole short,” he admitted later. “I thought it was running out of legs…”

But MacIntyre’s putt was not short.

“It was just perfect.”

It sure looked like he babied it, and that he'd be headed back to the 18th tee with Adam Scott.  Now, about that hideous shirt.....  I guess there aren't too many men's clothng stores in Oban, eh?

So perfect that it fell in — and then, mercifully, the silence lifted.

It is tempting to describe the noise that followed Bob MacIntyre’s Scottish Open-winning putt as a roar, but the truth is that it was not a roar, it was a release. The people who cheered MacIntyre were not screaming but heaving, belting with all the energy and catharsis of a foolish dream realized.

Perhaps the dream wasn’t all that foolish, what with the 16th-ranked player in the world hailing from the home country and coming within a hair of winning this very tournament a year ago? But how else would you describe golf’s home nation — a country of just 5.5 million — delivering the winner of their very own national open for only the second time in its history? And how else would you describe doing it like this, with all of the most rabid spectators in the world watching from off the side of the 72nd hole? Some of them, like Sahith Theegala, watching from very close, craning their necks out of the top balcony of the Renaissance clubhouse and hoping to capture a whiff of magic brewing below.

“This is the chance you wanted, take it,” MacIntyre told himself as he stood over the 22-footer. The putter felt “heavy” in his hands, he said, which were unusually steady. What happened next was a putt on the outside right edge that bent both ways, slowed down as it neared the hole … and fell.

What a thing for a small country that might have nurtured our great game, but certainly hasn't enjoy much success in it since the 19th century.

To this observer, the key moment wasn't that final putt, but rather this unusual use of the rules:

With Adam Scott pacing the field two shots ahead, MacIntyre needed to make something happen
— and the par-5 16th represented his best remaining chance. If he didn’t gain ground on Scott at

the final par-5, his chances of winning the title he craved most of all were next to zero.

Once MacIntyre located his ball off the fairway, thing didn’t look promising. His ball was buried in the thick fescue, and he could hardly manage to make a backswing.

“I’m shouting and I’m swearing when I’m getting up to the ball because I know that that’s my chance to really make birdie coming in,” MacIntrye said. “I got over the ball, looked at it, thinking, ‘I’m in a bit of trouble here. Might manage to move it maybe a hundred yards.'”

MacIntyre took a step back to survey the situation. As he placed his Nike shoes on the ground, the break of a lifetime presented itself.

“I just heard the clunk,” MacIntyre said.

That “clunk” was the sound of metal hitting plastic. In this case, the metal was a spike protruding from the front of his Nike shoes; the plastic was a sprinkler head.

“I was like, ‘No way — I’ve got a sprinkler underneath my foot,'” MacIntyre said. “It was just a lucky break.”

Sprinkler heads in the rough?  In Scotland?  The links (and this isn't a pure links) mostly have irrigation systems by now, though many are limited to the center lines.  But this is a newer course, built in 2008 or so, and thus has irrigation throughout the course.  But, if you saw his practice swing before finding the sprinkler head, the resulting eagle is nothing short of divine intervention.  What the gods took away in 2023, they returned in 2024.

LIV Your Best Life - They tell us this is the future of golf, but I'm thinkin g that we have our politicians to cover our clown show requirements....  The header from Anadalucia is this:

Well, gee, that sounds exciting.... Tell me more about that playoff:

Shucks, if I want to see things like that, I'll just watch Rory....

Sergio seems like he dressed for the Valderrama Member Guest:

 


While this is a reasonably good example of the club-toss genre, I enjoy it most for the mirror image outfit with Sergio:

Can you feel the game growing?

Udder Stuff -  Always funny when Golf Magazine's Tour Confidential panel disses the PGA Tour by not covering their weekly event, in this case events.  They were all in on the Ryder Cup this week, not an unimportant story for sure, but with little to add:

In a surprising announcement, Keegan Bradley was named U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2025 event at Bethpage Black. Bradley, 38, played in two Ryder Cups (2012, 2014), has never been an assistant captain and wasn’t on the 2023 team that lost in Rome. Now that we are a few days removed from the pick, what are your thoughts? A good decision? Or could the lack of experience prove costly?

James Colgan: My thoughts are that the Americans desperately needed a big swing after Rome, and in Bradley, they took one. If I were an American fan, I’d be happy: I much prefer when my
teams take high-risk, high-upside swings. Maybe Keegs isn’t the most prepared guy for the job, but with the crowds expected at Bethpage, it might not matter.

Sean Zak: I think things are gonna get weird. At some point in 2025, Bradley will contend to win a PGA Tour event, validating all the questions about his potential as a playing captain. But I believe what Rory McIlroy said On Thursday in Scotland: “If you want to be the best captain you can be, you can’t play. And if you want to be the best player you can be, you can’t captain. It’s one or the other.” The event is too big, the requests too many, the relationships too fraught for Bradley to have an easy-breezy captaincy while being a top 20 player in the world, too. John Wood will certainly help him out. But he may end up handling a bit more than we previously imagined.

Zephyr Melton: It’s certainly unorthodox, but I can appreciate that the Americans are at least trying to think outside the box. I’d much prefer to see something wacky than watch them continue using a system that they haven’t had much success with. The jury is out on whether or not the pick will work out, but at least they’re showing some willingness to zig when everyone expects them to zag.

Come on, don't you think Davis Love deserves his third captaincy.  After all, he only screwed the pooch on one of them....

But Rory has been wrong on just about everything, so that was a great appeal to authority, Sean.

Rory McIlroy said the pick seemed “quite reactionary to what happened in Rome.” Do you agree? If the U.S. would have won the last Cup, would Bradley have been the pick?

Colgan: Absolutely yes. It was reactionary, but that’s what most leadership decisions are. If Tiger had been available, we’d be speaking about this captainship with much different language, but he wasn’t, and Keegan was a good choice from the rest of the field.

Zak: It was more a reaction to Tiger Woods not being available. That’s what this entire thing is about, really. If the U.S. wins in Rome, Zach Johnson probably captains the team again. He’d be considered an American hero.

Melton: Agree with what SZ said above. Tiger was always Plan A, and when he turned down the position, the pickings were slim. It was the perfect storm for an unorthodox hire.

Let me see if I have this straight.  Zach made a hash of his opportunity, proving himself incapable of controlling the money faction  and internal dissension.  But we're going to dispense with reality and consider what would have happened if they won a road game, which they haven't done since the Carter administration.  Great work, Golf Magazine!.

In the U.S. system you only get a mulligan when you mess it up and are already at the Cool Kids Table.  Sorry, Zach, you're not one of those cool kids.

In his introductory press conference, Bradley said he “didn’t have one conversation with anybody about this until I was told I was the captain.” Were you surprised by that? What can we take away from that comment?

Colgan: Uhh, yeah, you should probably interview for the most important job in American golf before you’re hired. But there’s not much Keegan would say about the Ryder Cup behind closed doors that he hasn’t already said publicly. I imagine that helped the U.S. side feel some comfort.

Zak: I was stunned by that admission. 1. That it was genuine. We love a Ryder Cup captain — a role that requires a lot of answering questions — who isn’t afraid to tell the truth. 2. I think it shows just how little connection the younger generation of American golfers (read: JT, Spieth, et all) have with the generation that preceded them (read: Cink, Kuchar, et al). Thomas said all he wants is a captain the team would be excited to play for. That he couldn’t see that in the Cink and Kuchar types tells you players of his generation want a bit more than just a longtime Tour pro with a bit of success.

Melton: That was very shocking and a bit concerning. You would hope he would’ve gone through an interview process before getting the nod. Let’s hope the lack of a vetting process doesn’t come back to bite the Americans.

You mean he didn't get the proctological exam that guys like Hal Sutton and Corey Pavin received?  

But why was the last second substitution required?  Because a certain guy did his Hamlet impression and considers himself too indispensable to help out when actually needed.  In a perfect world, I'd love to see the PGA of America tell him that, since he wasn't there when needed, that they'll get by without him.  More likely, though, he'll take the Adare Manor gig, and we can only hope for a repeat of Paris and Rome.  Usually I wait for our guys to act like a******es before rooting for the Euros, but I'm already on their side for 2027.

Bradley wasn’t that far from making the team last year, and at 19th in the World Ranking it wouldn’t be surprising if he qualified via points (he said he would not use a captain’s pick on himself). Since Bradley is still competitive, though, it’s more likely than previous Ryder Cups that the captain could actually play as well. But could that situation hinder the team? Or would Bradley either not play or simply give up the captaincy to an assistant?

Colgan: I think Bradley would serve his country well by either being captain or playing in the Cup, not both. How funny would it be if, after all this hubbub, he made the team and handed the captainship off to Tiger Woods?

Zak: Would love that result, James. Imagine Tiger would, too. Like I wrote above, I do envision things getting weird next year at some point. Bradley winning in the spring or early summer months is not a wild idea, but it’s exactly the kind of thing that would give him a ton of points and make the team-building situation a bit awkward.

Melton: A first-time captain also playing in the event doesn’t seem like a recipe for success, but stranger things have happened. I don’t expect Keegan to make the team, though, so this scenario should remain a hypothetical.

Because doing it the same old way has gotten us such great captains and results?

It’s no secret the job was Tiger Woods’ if he wanted it, but Woods decided he couldn’t fully commit to the position while also managing his other obligations. When do you expect Woods to take his turn?

Colgan: I think Adare Manor in ‘27 is a very likely spot for Tiger. Captaining the Ryder Cup at the site of good friend JP McManus’ magnum opus would be good optics for Woods, and leading the U.S. into its attempt for the first win on European soil in four decades would be … epic.

Zak: Yes, Ireland in ‘27 makes good sense. He was playing captain in an important road victory in the Presidents Cup. We know he enjoys the idea of tactical missions. Winning a road Cup would be among the best stamps he could make on an average Ryder Cup career.

Melton: Agreed it would be epic, but I’d hate to see Tiger’s captaincy end in another U.S. loss on European soil. I’d much prefer him to wait until 2029 so he can lead an American triumph on home turf.

I'd be surprised to see him take the road game for that very reason, but am I the only one wondering whether money might change hands there? 

Open Week - Won't have time to go deep, but the TC gang had one query:

Next up, the final men’s major of the year, the Open Championship at Royal Troon. It’s the 10th time Troon has hosted an Open, with the most recent playing back in 2016 when Henrik Stenson outdueled Phil Mickelson. Is Rory McIlroy’s first major coming off his U.S. Open heartbreak the biggest storyline of the week? If not, what is?

Colgan: There’s no bigger story in the sport right now than Rory’s return, but here are two others that have piqued my interest: Bryson’s push for the best major season of his life, and Scottie Scheffler’s attempt to close out a historic season with his first major win away from Augusta. It’s a good week to have a good week.

Zak: I love the last major of the year. And not just because I’m a part-time Scot. But mostly because there have been three different major winners this year, which means each of them gets the chance to be the double-major winner of 2024. It’s been six years since we had a single player win two majors in the men’s game, and we’ve got a great crop of contenders between Scottie, Xander and Bryson.

Melton: My colleagues have done a great job outlining the main storylines above, so I’ll go in a different direction. I’ll be interested to see the form of Jon Rahm. His first season on LIV has seen the Spaniard have a disappointing major season thus far. But all of that would be forgotten with a win at Royal Troon.

Rory has become  far too tedious for my taste, but I agree that Rahmbo has been enigmatic.  

I'm mostly depressed that one week from toady I'll be facing eight months of golf without consequences....And it's not like I can watch much baseball these days.

Three players have already won majors this year: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau. Without a win at Troon, which pro might walk away from the 2024 major season the most disappointed?

Colgan: Obviously Rory is the clear answer, but how about Collin Morikawa, whose game has been probably second-best in the world over the last 6 months, and who has only a handful of top-5s to show for it?

Zak: Yes, James nailed the top two answers here. Most people think Rory is the clear answer for disappointment because he’ll be a clear 10 years removed from his last major win, but it’s not about the 10 years for me anymore. It’s about another year of top-3-in-the-world golf without it punching through in the four events that matter most. It’ll be another year of three impressive wins (Dubai, Zurich, and Quail Hollow) and zero massive wins. Such incredible golf but not the kind that he wants most. That’s the tantalizing kind of disappointment.

Melton: How about Brooks Koepka? After a PGA win in 2023, he looked like he was back to being the baddest dude in golf, but this year he’s yet to even register a top 25 in the majors. For someone who only cares about the four big ones, being uncompetitive for an entire season has to sting.

Yeah, Koepka's had an odd season, but Sean Zak seems not to understand that Rory playing his best when it means the most is on brand.

We'll have more on Troon as the week progresses. 

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