Monday, July 8, 2024

Weekend Wrap - Quad Cities Edition

I did actually watch a bit of the proceedings, haven been driven indoors by that heat and humidity.... That and the Yankees being unwatchable, Ben Rice notwithstanding.

Titanic Thompson - Would that anyone would get that reference, but the kid held on:

Davis Thompson continued his stellar play in recent weeks and rolled to a four-stroke win in the John Deere Classic. The often pouty-looking former Georgia star smiled and even cried after securing his first PGA Tour title and his Open debut at Royal Troon.

“I kind of got going this last month and played well last week,” Thompson said after posting -28 (63-67-62-64). “Just tried to keep it rolling this week; was able to get the win. Qualifying for The Open was just an added incentive into this.”

The 2021 grad had recorded two previous second-place finishes and broke through in his 63rd Tour start. He is the PGA Tour’s ninth first-time winner this season.

Co-runner-up C.T. Pan closed with 64 to earn the second Open spot on offer at the Deere based on his world ranking, denying new PGA Tour member Michael Thorbjornsen and amateur Luke Clanton, who tied at -24. Pan will be making his fourth Open start and searching for his first made cut in the event.

Clanton’s stellar week makes him the first amateur to record PGA Tour back-to-back top 10’s in 66 years. He posted a final round 63. The Florida State sophomore recently made the U.S. Open cut and vied for low amateur, finished T10 last week, and now has a PGA Tour second-place finish to his growing list of impressive credits.

Pouty isn't a bad term for it, though perhaps not quite spot on, as he exudes some kind of off-putting attitude, barely allowing himself a slight upturn of the lips as he reached the 18th green four shots clear.

Geoff also summarizes some other significant finishes:

  • Ben Griffin finished T5 just a month after laser eye surgery. He was already exempt to The Open.
  • Jordan Spieth shot 63 on Saturday to record a T26 finish as the 2017 Open winner heads to the Scottish Open and Royal Troon.
  • Hayden Springer (T7) opened the Deere with a 12-under 59. He made eight birdies and two eagles in his tournament debut to become the 13th different player and 14th sub-60 round on the PGA Tour.
  • John Deere & Co. celebrated 25 years of sponsorship, making it the second oldest on the PGA Tour.

They were third when you included Honda, but Oops, isn't that awkward!

Obviously we all expect the ratings to be insignificant, and I'm not saying this event was a home run.  But, and I think it's rather a significant but, the event may have had more actual gravitas than Hartford.  This was a week of anonymous players getting air time, but they were playing to change their professional lives, which is inherently more dramatic than a Tour Alpha Dog adding another $2 million to their net worth.  The Tour's best moments are often in these events, think Nick Dunlap if you're stumped, because of that actual drama.

At this juncture, I'm actually more interested in the second and third tier evets, because you can see the effect of the life-changing opportunities on the players.  They can't always seize the moment, but it's always real.

Udder Stuff - Combine a slow news cycle with a lazy blogger, and you get this kind of "phone-it-in" post, the remainder of which will be non-aerobic blogging.  We'll begin by riffing off the Tour Confidential panel, in which the words "Deere" and "quad Cities" do not appear.

What did they think more important?  Well, the usual, of course:

With the Fourth of July and the red, white and blue on our mind, let’s look ahead to the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. The Americans are still without a captain. Who do you think it will be?

Jessica Marksbury: It has to be Tiger, right? That is the only reason I can think of for such a
lengthy delay. Unless it was supposed to be Tiger and he doesn’t want the job for some reason, and now they’re scrambling.

Josh Berhow: Tiger said at Valhalla they were still working through that conversation and he was deciding if he had the time to fully commit to it… but that was almost two months ago now. As our Sean Zak wrote back in April, they were way behind schedule in naming a captain then (and now even more behind). If the PGA of America is waiting on Tiger to decide, at some point he has to stop holding everyone hostage. I still think Tiger might do it, but if Tiger isn’t the guy, someone like Steve Stricker might be a good fit. He led the U.S. to a big win the last time they were on home soil. Plus, after last year’s disaster, he might be the man to get the Americans back on track.

Ryan Barath: Logic and history shows us that it should have been Phil, but after the last few years that ship completely sailed and I think Tiger is the obvious choice. Now if Mr. Woods continues to cause delays in the process as reported, I think it could default to Stricker as suggested by Josh, which in my opinion would be a real letdown for the event.

Berhow: I don’t know if I’d call it a letdown. Bethpage will already be an awesome home venue, and even if Tiger isn’t a captain he might be an assistant or even a captain’s pick. But if Tiger doesn’t captain this one it’s not like it will never happen — his time just gets pushed back another two (or four?) years.

Think about who we entrusted the Ryder Cup to ten years ago.  Phil showed up at the 2004 event with untested equipment and had trashed two of his captains for causing his poor play, so his qualifications were obviously impeccable.    He was backed on the Task Force by Tiger, who is now demonstrating his own set of priorities.  

It will inevitably be Tiger, because do we think Stricker wants the job as a clear second choice?  But where are the flashing red lights?  This is the guy we've corrupted Tour governance to put in a position to save us, and he's playing hardball here.  Can you see why your humble blogger has come to hate each and every one of these a*******es?

Is he back already?

Rory McIlroy returns this week to defend his title at the Genesis Scottish Open, which will be his first start since his runner-up finish at the U.S. Open and decision to take some time away from the game. How do you think Rory will play at the Scottish and, more importantly, a week later at the final major of the year?

Marksbury: I expect Rory to show up and perform as well as he has been — maybe even win! He’s the defending champ at the Scottish, after all. And his track record at the Open is encouraging, with five top-six finishes since 2016, coupled with his win in 2014. Mentally, though, I suppose it’s hard to tell how long he may need to recover from the U.S. Open. Three weeks of rest went by in a flash. I hope he was able to get the decompression and processing time that he needed.

Berhow: I think he’ll play really well this week and wouldn’t be surprised to see him motivated enough to win. It’s not like he’s been playing poorly — he just missed a pair of crucial short putts late and lost a major. I’m not worried about this week. But the week after? Royal Troon is the last major of the year. If he has any lasting nerves or ends up putting too much pressure on himself, I think it happens then more than it would this week, which seems like a good low-stress spot to return. But I still expect him to play well at The Open. He’s struggled to win majors this last decade, not contend.

Barath: I’ll be blunt — I fully expect Rory to show up in full ass-kicker mode. Do I want him to win? Maybe, but I also would rather see him win The Open, so if he plays well but doesn’t win, I still consider that a very good omen going into the final major of the year.

I'm going way out on a limb with an Open prediction.   He'll play well and be in contention on Sunday, then he'll fly every green on the back nine, and people will bemoan Golf Twitter's harsh treatment of Harry Diamond.

I'm so over Rory.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Phil Mickelson said he doesn’t believe a PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger is “necessary” for the future of pro golf, arguing that what’s happened thus far — PGA Tour Signature Events, player equity and pros (like Bryson DeChambeau) expanding their brands — has already benefited both leagues. “The competition that both tours are providing is elevating both tours,” he said. “So is it necessary that there’s a merger? Probably not. But it would be a good thing if there wasn’t any hostility.” Do you agree with him?

Marksbury: Is it necessary? I guess not. Both the Tour and LIV will continue to exist. But I think it’s fair to say that LIV players like Jon Rahm would probably appreciate a meeting of the minds — at the very least to forge a path toward creating more World-Ranking point opportunities for LIV players. And from a fan’s perspective, we certainly want to see more tournaments where all the world’s best players are in one place.

Berhow: He’s right that it helped the PGA Tour add Signature Events and the player equity program (making the rich richer), but it certainly didn’t help the overall product by taking away some key players. Two diluted tours is not the path forward. If they played together something like eight times a year (instead of just the majors) you could argue that’s enough. But seeing the best players in the world play the same tournaments just four times in a calendar year is not what’s best for the sport and its fans.

Barath: To Josh’s point, the best players need to play the best players more often than four times a year, and right now the separation is only harming the PGA Tour and elevating the majors even more. It’s a great thing for the majors but not great for general fan interest, and if the “rich want to get richer” they better get some more eyeballs on regular events.

Except, in case you haven't noticed, those Signature Events sucked big time.  They are well down the road to ruining the Tour, so helpful advice from the guy that triggered the ruin is not something we need to credit.  

After six wins in seven starts, World No. 1 Nelly Korda has missed the cut in her last three events. She should be back in action this week at the Evian Championship, the fourth of five majors, assuming she’s able to play following her recovery from a dog bite that forced her to withdraw from an Aramco Team Series event. Do you see Korda getting back on track in France?

Marksbury: Given the form Nelly displayed earlier this year, I can only believe that the MCs were a total aberration. She has a good run going at Evian, with two top-nine finishes in her last two appearances. I like her chances to contend for major No. 3.

Berhow: I do. I don’t know if I’ll predict that she wins, since winning is hard, but Nelly missing a fourth straight cut seems so unlikely. She had never even missed three in a row until now! I think she’ll contend. Hopefully she’s healthy and can play.

Barath: Making the assumption that any injury was just minor and withdrawing was simply out of precaution, I expect Nelly to contend at the Evian. Every player usually has a few weeks a year where the game decides to leave for what feels like no reason, but at her level I don’t see it lasting the rest of the year.

Quite the odd sequence, for sure, but one wonders whether those major set-ups were tougher.  For sure Evian doesn't tax them, so I'd assume she at least plays the weekend.

Just a couple of other bits before my exit.  I think this is missing the Sharpie:

 And, as we enter Links season, this helpful reminder:

It's Twoo!  It's Twoo!  Though it's been a wet summer, so expect greenery the next two weeks.

Have a great week, but stay cool. 

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