Weekend Wrap - Groundhog Day Edition

We've got the two obvious stories to blog today.  There's the upbeat testament to a man's ability to survive the unimaginable, even more remarkable when that man seems to be one of the best-liked guys out there.

Then there's a matter of more prurient interest, one that also includes a not insignificant measure of personal vindication.  Because, as regular readers know, I have never been a card-carrying member of Tiger's cult of personality.  In fact, even before this latest Eff-Up, I've had several people acknowledge my consistency.  Comments tended to be along the lines of, "You've been telling me for years that he's a Dick.  I didn't see it initially, but now I do."

To this observer, Tiger's absence from Rome and Bethpage should tell golf fans all they need to know.  To wit, he can't even be bothered showing up....

Tigergate, A Continuing Series - Have we seen this movie before?  You know Hollywood and their tentpoles, they'll keep rolling out the sequels....  Someone better at the digital stuff than I needs to do a mash-up of all four mug shots, no?

The hard part for a blogger is simple, what is there to add to this Greek tragedy?  The first thing to note is the media reaction seems, well, familiar.  Whether it's Harvey Weinstein, Me-Too or any of the mirror image awakenings, we find something notable in the reactions.  See if you can suss it out from this fine example of the genre from Mike Bamberger

Tiger Woods’s latest car accident leads back to same difficult conclusion

It has been an open secret in the tight circle around Tiger Woods for years: If you want to have a serious conversation with Woods — about his charity and architecture work; about the future of

the PGA Tour; about his 15 wins in Grand Slam events — you do it in the morning. Woods, famously, is a poor sleeper and an early riser. The broad picture you get, from people in position to know, is that if you’re in the circle, you can get him early. As his days wear on, Woods becomes less available and less predictable. This is not idle, mean-spirited speculation. More like observations borne in care, if not worry.

If this all sounds depressingly familiar, it’s because it is. In 2017, Woods was arrested by Jupiter Police department in South Florida at about 3 in the morning on a DUI charge. He was found asleep and incoherent on the side of four-lane road, about 10 miles south of the scene of his Friday crash. He spent that night in the Palm Beach County Jail. A breath test that night revealed that Woods had not been drinking but a blood test revealed he had five prescription drugs in his bloodstream.

In 2021, about 22 months after his stirring win in the 2019 Masters, early on a dry weekday morning in Southern California, Woods drove off a rural road, over a median, across two lanes and down a ravine. His vehicle was stopped by a tree, pirouetted and flipped. Woods’s injuries were extensive and his golfing life was permanently compromised. Asked once in a press conference to explain the incident, Woods said tersely, “It’s all in the police report.” But police reports revealed nothing about Woods’s state of mind in the single-vehicle crash. A report did indicate that, per the car’s black-box recording device, Woods had the gas pedal virtually floored through the incident, driving well over 80 miles an hour in a 45-mph zone. Los Angeles County police officials did not test Woods for drugs or alcohol and no arrest was made.

I've been known to refer to Mike Bamberger as the conscience of the game, but see how we like him right now.  Like with the scandals above, they all knew....  the only issue they're forced to deal with now if that the wider public has been let in on it.  So Mike, why exactly did you help cover this up?

Just to reinforce, the man is a sundowner before hitting age 50, but we're putting the future of the game in his hands?  And all of the so-called adults have been covering up his addiction?

Geoff isn't having any of it:

Tiger

Once again.

In the most pitiful form of deja vu all over again, Tiger Woods embarrassed himself, his family, his “team”, his enablers, his foundation, his pride, and the game he loves. For the fourth time.

It’d be swell if his latest car accident served as a wake-up call for Woods and his addiction issues. But we know better. The world of golf should slap him around if it would like to see him turn gray, bald, and generate a 125 ball speed in the Honorary Starters Ceremony.

But if you’ve been around golf long enough, you know this is the same sport that’ll tear a rotator cuff to pat itself on the back for its nobility. So golf will once again scold, scoff, lecture, shake heads, and then, because he’s a once-in-a-lifetime gravy train, write off the latest could-have-been-so-much-worse car accident where good lawyers will get him out of another DUI.

While Woods is entirely responsible for his latest embarrassment, the sport he’s given so much to is once again in a position to send him a signal. Unfortunately, profit and cult-of-personality worship have a funny way of benching principled stances in a sport that can’t wait to tell the world how it plays by the rules.

Unfortunately, I don't think his lawyers will have to do all that much of anything..... these crimes are all misdemeanors.  Shall we allow Geoff to rant on?  Yeah, again that was rhetorical:

While the latest crash has been blamed on enablers, the media, and everyone but Woods, golf has also never really put its foot down when it comes to his accidents. Sponsorships have continued. Partnerships with elite institutions were started after car incidents two, three, and four. Then again, this is the same sport that essentially doxxed a police officer because another No. 1 player was late for his pre-round physio session and acted like a jagoff when there were flashing lights everywhere. So are we really surprised that Tiger’s struggle with addiction has been allowed to fester?

For a change, it’d be really nice if those in power would step up in the name of helping the man face his issues. If nothing else, maybe they would do it in the name of other drivers on Beach Road?

Golf’s leadership does not even have to preach the way Masters Chairman Billy Payne once did. Or go out of its way to embarrass an obviously flawed man who has turned to painkillers after making a mess of his body in pursuit of excellence (and one last major). Nor is a punishment pile-on the right course for someone who hasn’t been the same since the loss of his dear mother, Tida.

So, Geoff asks a lot of golf's governing structures and people, as they're not therapists and/or health care professionals.  But we're told by Mike Bamberger that it's an open secret that Tiger can't function as the day goes on, so by all means let's give him the keys!  They've told us for the last few years that our game will be saved by a low-functioning addict.  

Now I think back to all of the unexplained stuff that's gone down.  The biggest one is, of course, Tiger refusing to captain last year's Ryder Cup team, explained away by his intensive involvement in negotiations with the Saudis.  We've been told those discussions were going nowhere because the Saudis had lost interest....  Maybe, but is it possible that the return phone calls from His Excellency came in after to Vicodin kicked in?  Similarly, did Tiger beg off because he couldn't stay awake for the afternoon fourballs?

How about Presidents Cup Saturday in Australia, when Tiger suddenly couldn't play.  Was it the back, or was he on a painkiller bender?  

Tiger should not be at The Masters next week. Nor should he be allowed to attend the opening of The Loop par-3 course at The Patch. The Lords of Augusta National meant well by bringing one of his foundation’s learning labs to the town, while adding a fun pitch-and-putt designed by Woods. But they should ask him to stay home. Because other than Payne’s lecture in 2010, they’ve accommodated Woods as a five-time winner. They have the power to stop him from being a five-time rollover specialist who has miraculously not killed anyone.

Woods has also been allowed to sully special moments of others, and that needs to stop. Gary Woodland just won a Tour event in one of the great comebacks in golf history. Rory McIlroy will be returning the Green Jacket to a very special Masters, where an incredible dinner is planned among golf greats. As nice as it would be to have all of the living career Grand Slam winners there to toast McIlroy, Woods would diminish the proceedings after his latest incident.

The PGA of America needs to move on to Plan B for its 2027 Ryder Cup captaincy. A decision was due from Woods soon for a gig he has shown an odd ambivalence toward.

The PGA Tour needs to drop Woods from the committee making major decisions about the future until he shows he’s understood how—can’t believe I’m typing this—it’s a privilege to get in a car and go to Medalist to hit balls without risking the lives of others.

In the spirit of vintage values and retro responsibility, it’d be nice to see the sport set aside phony optics plays, dreams of huge ratings, and profit concerns to send Tiger a message. One that will inspire him to ask for assistance from professionals who can help him find ways to manage whatever pains him.

Doug Ferguson adds some interesting timing issues to the mix:

Woods had said earlier in the week he was trying to get in shape for the Masters on April 9-12,

though that was looking unlikely. He turned 50 at the end of last year. “This body, it doesn’t recover like it did when it was 24, 25,” Woods said earlier this week.

He also was days away from a decision on whether to be the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2027 matches in Ireland. Two officials from the PGA of America did not immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

And on April 5, he is scheduled to be in Augusta, Georgia, with Masters chairman Fred Ridley to celebrate a project at “The Patch,” the nickname of a municipal golf course where Woods’ design team created a short course to go along with a major upgrade to the public course.

Woods also is the central figure as chairman of the Future Competition Committee that is reshaping the PGA Tour model of tournaments. Tour CEO Brian Rolapp predicted meaningful progress this summer.

Geez.  How could they possibly trust him with the Ryder Cup captaincy at this point?

Am I the only one amused that the photo of Tiger above includes a...wait for it, fire hydrant?

This might be the funniest bit to be found, though maybe it's sadder than funny:

Perhaps the most high-profile example is that of Barstool Sports personality Sam Bozoian, widely known as simply “Riggs” in the golf community. Just over an hour after Marin County Sheriff John Budensiek announced Woods’ charges at a press conference on Friday evening, Riggs, who, along with his cadre of Fore Play buddies, has grown close to Woods in recent years, posted a video admitting he had informed Barstool’s digital team not to post about the DUI charge and then absolved Woods of any wrongdoing.

“You think I told our team to not post about Tiger Woods’ DUI to protect him? You’re goddamn right I did,” a smirking Riggs said. “You want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We’ll protect Tiger Woods until we f*cking die.”

The video seemingly came in response to an earlier social media post from Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who posted a text message from an anonymous employee that read, “Riggs told me not to post Tiger DUI fyi if anyone wondering why we haven’t yet.”

When they tell you their job is to protect Tiger, I'd recommend that you believe them.  The real question is why, knowing that, you'd ever read them.

The Tour Confidential panel has long been notoriously sycophantic about Tiger, so this was always going to be a tough morning for them.  They don't exactly duck it, but their flailing also doesn't get much traction:

Tour Confidential: Tiger Woods’ arrest raises thorny questions about past, future

Tiger Woods was arrested on suspicion of DUI on Friday after he was involved in a two-car accident near his Jupiter Island, Fla., home. Police said Woods’ vehicle clipped the back of a trailer, which caused his SUV to flip on its side; neither Woods nor the driver of the truck pulling the trailer were injured. Woods blew 0.0 on a breathalyzer test, but investigators on the scene said Woods showed signs of impairment. He was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor DUI with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful (urine) test. So many questions, but let’s start with your first impressions. What was your immediate reaction when the news broke?

Alan Bastable: I wish I could say shock but that would be disingenuous. I think I quickly shifted from a feeling of “not again” to “how did this happen again?” Why is Woods yet again behind the

wheel in an allegedly impaired state, endangering both his own life and the lives of others? How frequently has he been doing this? Who, if anyone, is enabling him to do so? If he’s sick and needs help, has he received that help? Received it and worked at it? Received it and shirked it? If he’s sick and needs help, how has he been managing his many duties, in particular his stewardship of the PGA Tour? How much has his poor decision-making been driven by his litany of injuries and surgeries, of his inability to be the player he once was, of the pressure, generally, of being Tiger Woods? There are so many unanswered questions, many of which we may never get answered. From the outside looking in, this latest chapter stirs up all kinds of emotions — sadness, sympathy, anger, disappointment, bafflement, curiosity, disinterest. The public is entitled to feel all of these emotions. Or none of them.

Sean Zak: My gut was to believe (out of optimism) that this was just a bad-luck incident. But as the details came in, it was a reminder of what we’ve been through before. With such a private person, it will be impossible to know. But when these incidents happen, it gets a lot easier to connect the dots about what we’ve seen from Woods in less-severe moments in the past. His TV broadcast appearances, which haven’t always felt lucid. His Ryder Cup press conference in 2018, at which he basically fell asleep. It’s easy to forget these things when nothing bad happens. It’s really easy to remember them when bad things happen.

Josh Sens. A mix of emotions. Part sympathy for a guy who has never struck me as especially happy; part relief that no one was injured; and part anger at the combination of arrogance/selfishness it takes to get behind the wheel when — as it appears based on the initial reports — you simply don’t belong there.

Yes, please give us your first reaction to his fourth such incident.  Just spitballin' here, but maybe if you guys had reacted to the first three incidents...

I don't much remember that 2018 presser, though the whole week was very weird.  Here's an AI take on it:

Yes, at the end of the post-match news conference following the U.S. team's loss at the 2018 Ryder Cup, Tiger Woods appeared to be falling asleep or was extremely exhausted.

• GOLF.com +1Circumstances: After losing his match to Jon Rahm on Sunday, Woods appeared at the team press conference looking visibly tired and dejected.
• Cause: Woods attributed his exhaustion to an intense schedule, having played seven out of nine weeks leading up to the tournament, which included the Open Championship, WGC, playoffs, and the Ryder Cup.
• Performance: The fatigue contributed to a poor tournament performance where Woods went 0-4 and later cited extreme exhaustion from the long season.

While some reports described it as "sleeping" during the presser, it was widely acknowledged to be extreme fatigue following his comeback year.

Back to the TC gang: 

Woods has an alarming track record of car incidents and accidents. In 2017, he was arrested by Jupiter police on a DUI charge after he was found asleep and incoherent in his vehicle on the side of the road; a blood test revealed he had five prescription drugs in his system. Four years later, in Southern California, Woods was badly injured when, driving well over 80 mph in a 45-mph zone, he swerved off a road and struck a tree; L.A. police did not test Woods for drugs or alcohol and no arrest was made. Does this latest accident change how you look at the framing of what happened in 2021 and ’17?

Bastable: Of course. How can’t it? It’s hard to look back at that L.A. accident and not be mystified by why police declined to blood-test Woods for drugs or alcohol — for many reasons but especially given the high speed at which Woods was traveling and the fact that, according to police, he didn’t apply the brakes before impact. We’ll probably never know the full picture of Woods’ mental or physical state on that morning but, yes, this latest episode absolutely raises more questions about what went down.

Zak: Similar to my answer above — it becomes really easy to connect the dots of these instances. It feels responsible to do so. I imagine a judge will feel similarly.

Sens: I’m not sure it changed how I look at those past incidents, particularly the L.A. crash. It seemed pretty clear that Woods got preferential treatment in that case.

And he'll get preferential treatment in this one as well.... I do think the LA cops treatment was egregiously lax, and at least in the prior Florida incident we got some details.

As of this writing, neither Woods nor his representation have issued any public comments about the accident. How much, if any, transparency does Woods owe the public in terms of exactly what happened Friday?

Bastable: This is Tiger Woods we’re talking about; transparency isn’t among his strong suits, and I don’t expect that to change in the wake of this latest arrest. Also, presumably he and his team are walking a legal tight rope in terms of what Woods can/can’t say or should/shouldn’t say. You’d like to hear ownership for putting lives at risk. You’d like to hear an explanation for how he wound up behind the wheel in his alleged impaired state. And you’d like to hear contrition. We shall see.

Zak: Yeah, I don’t expect any transparency that Woods isn’t forced into offering in court. But it comes at an interesting moment: with a Ryder Cup captaincy in the balance, the PGA Tour’s future partly in Woods’ hands, and a tournament in Georgia he so badly wants to play just a couple of weeks away.

Sens: The idea that Woods “owes” the public anything doesn’t sit well with me. It seems part of the same dysfunctional relationship we have with celebrities that does no one much good. What he owes is an honest account in court.

I don't know what point Josh Sens is trying to make, but the judicial system isn't designed to help golf writers deal with their hero worship.  Yes, I think the LA officials cut him way too much slack, as our society seems determined to not use shame for positive reinforcement.

But the bigger issue we'll find is with the leaders and other participants in our little golf fishbowl.  Think back to everything you've heard about Tiger's role in the game since Jay Monahan put him up to be our savior, all the while they all knew he was a drug addict....  which is a fine segue into their last bit:

Woods’ last official PGA Tour start came at the 2024 Open Championship but he still wears many important hats on Tour. He is a player director on the Tour’s Policy Board; chairman of the Future Competitions Committee; and vice chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises. What does or should this latest arrest mean, if anything, for his involvement in Tour leadership?

Bastable: Tiger Woods is still Tiger Woods, and the PGA Tour is still the PGA Tour; it’s hard to imagine the Tour taking any disciplinary action. Big picture, all of the posts Woods holds now seem so inconsequential, as does any prospect of Woods playing competitively again anytime soon. Stating the obvious but his sole mission in the coming weeks, months and years should be getting better, in whatever ways that is necessary.

Zak: I’m not sure it’s going to mean anything for his place in Tour leadership. He’s too deep in it, and the Tour is too far down the road on establishing its future that it would feel drastic for him to be any less involved. It’s one of the few things Woods feels so strongly about — that involvement.

Sens: I don’t see the arrest in itself as relevant to his role in Tour leadership. The real question is whether Woods has deeper problems that might prevent him from fulfilling his role to the best of his abilities, and — more important — whether he might be better off focusing on his personal health and well-being rather than spending time on the Policy Board.

 Wow, did I tell you guys are dead-enders, or what?

I think that Alan Bastable answer might need to be kept near at hand, because it's pitch perfect.  Tiger Woods is still Tiger Woods, though I'm hard-pressed to understand why Bastable thinks that's more of a feature than a bug.  He's a national disgrace, putting the public at risk of his God complex, but the PGA Tour has no path forward without him, Alan?  Hard to see how we got here, huh?

Tiger has turned himself into a national fisgrace, and we all helped him by normalizing his dickishness.  He's not just an addict, but he's an addict with a God complex that thinks the rules of society don't apply to him.  The first question Rolapp and everyone else needs to answer is, why would we expect that this won't keep happening?

What needs to happen is that Tiger needs to resign from everything and take himself out of the Ryder Cup captaincy discussion.  I have no problem with Rolapp allowing it to be Tiger's decision, he obviously needs to focus on his own issues and I'm not opposed to that indulgence.  But Tiger needs to be out of any leadership roles in the Tour sooner rather than later because, had Tiger injured or killed a civilian, the Tour would find itself with a lot of explaining to do.

I have one more item for you, then I'm going to get on with my day.  See if you spot anything interesting here:

Why Tiger Woods Has Never Been in Greater Legal Jeopardy

The scales tip toward punishment over treatment for repeat DUI offenders

By Jeffrey Toobin

Wow, given Tiger's sexual history, am I the only one rolling on the floor at that byline? Just Google his name with the word "Zoom", and your memory will quickly be refreshed. Which you'll likely not thank me for, but some of you might be amused.

Toobin is a bit of a blowhard, although I probably should pass on the use of the word "hard" in his presence. But see if he isn't setting a bit of a low bar for a fellow miscreant:

At the same time, the law—and the judges who determine the consequences of violations—have come to recognize that driving while impaired is often different from other crimes, like, say, bank robbery. Alcoholism and drug addiction are, or can be, forms of disease, not fully under the control of those who suffer from them. Treatments, not just punishment, are often seen as the appropriate remedy.

It’s tempting to see Woods in this light. For all the blessings in his life, he has also been burdened with an almost unimaginable series of orthopedic horrors, all of which have caused him great pain. He didn’t choose to live that way, and like anyone whose body has suffered so many insults, he’s turned to medication to get through his days.

Great moments in the use of the passive voice.....  Can you see how Toobin characterizes all those "orthopedic horrors" as just thngs that happened to Tiger.  Tiger is simultaneously God but also has zero agency over his life... Gee, Jeffrey, most of his pain right now seems to come from that accident in LA.  Was that just something that he couldn't control, or did he maybe eff up?

I will regrettably leave you here, the regret being my failure to note Gary Woodland's win yesterday in Houston.  I did mean to get to it, though it's admittedly less a golf story than one of human endurance and grit.  Woodland seems to be one of the most-liked players out there, so it's easy to take pleasure in his well-earned success.  

Have a great week and I'll get back to the keyboard as I can.  Although the calendar will have its challenges there for me.

Weekend Wrap - Redemption Song Edition

Who doesn't love a comeback story?  I did watch a little golf amid the college basketball frenzy....

I do apologize for skipping the back end of last week.  I got hit with a bug that's only now lifting, so need to not wear myself down in the Masters glide path.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Good Things Come... - I'm not saying the Valspar is a like-kind replacement for The Players, but we like this sort of thing:

A week after heartbreak, Matt Fitzpatrick roars to Valspar victory

Roars?  A one-shot win over David Lipsky and we're trotting out leonine references?

A week after he bogeyed the 72nd hole to lose the Players Championship by a single shot, Matthew Fitzpatrick flipped the script with a fist-pumping final-hole birdie to win the Valspar Championship by one.

Fitzpatrick — who’d never birdied No. 18 at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course in 11 previous tries — found the fairway at the finisher and hit his approach to 13 feet, setting up a look at 3. He poured that putt in the center of the hole, punctuating the moment with an emphatic uppercut that electrified the surrounding crowd.

When David Lipsky’s birdie try finished just below the hole some 10 minutes later, Fitzpatrick’s win was official.

“I think the big thing was I felt like I was playing well,” Fitzpatrick said of his Players Championship bounceback. “I was playing well going into this week, obviously wanted to continue that and I felt like I had confidence in myself to do so. Then obviously to do that over four rounds was special this week.”

To me, this is Karma in non-bitch mode.

Not sure you caught it, but after his devastating loss last Sunday, Fitzpatrick went out of his way to speak with Cam Young's family and congratulate them on his huge win.  It's that gesture that was top of my mind yesterday, and makes me happy for his success.

Now, right on cue, commence the over-interpretation of this win, in this instance from the Tour Confidential panel:

One week after he lost the Players Championship on the 72nd hole at TPC Sawgrass, Matt Fitzpatrick bounced back to win the Valspar on Sunday. While he’s won 10 times on the DP World Tour, this was just his third PGA Tour title. Has Fitzpatrick’s last two weeks proven he’s ready to go on a heater this summer? Or just a couple of good weeks?

Melton: As the cliche goes, you want to get hot at the right time — and Fitz seems like he’s peaking right when you want to. It’ll be hard to maintain this form all summer, but as far as maximizing his Masters chances go, he’s put himself in a great spot.

Dethier: The most encouraging thing about Fitzpatrick’s surge is his stellar approach play — that travels anywhere. I’d expect him to be a factor in multiple majors.

Berhow: Now he needs the major success. Sure, he won the U.S. Open at Brookline in 2022 but he’s still had just six major top 10s in 42 starts. But he was T4 and T8, respectively, in The Open and PGA last year, so maybe it’s coming. He’ll be a popular sleeper-ish pick come Masters week.

You see how this goes?  he contends for two straight weeks and suddenly we're putting him in the final group at Shinnecock....

The other thing I'll credit him for was surviving an epic PGA Tour pace of play fail.  Though Golfweek seemed to bury the lede in its header:

Winner Matt Fitzpatrick complains about 'glacial' slow play at Valspar

Whereas Golfweek seems far more on point:

Matt Fitzpatrick won Valspar but was still miffed at his playing partner’s ‘glacial’ pace of play

But to this observer the Tour just quite obviously is making it up as they go along:

Fitzpatrick, a 31-year-old Englishman, was paired with Adrien Dumont de Chassart, and complained to a PGA Tour rules official about the pace of play of the 26-year-old Belgian.

“It is glacial, to be kind,” said NBC’s John Wood.

Wood added Fitzpatrick hit his approach to the 11th green first, even though he was closer, and walked up to the green, where he waited several minutes before Dumont de Chassart hit his approach. Rules official Orlando Pope confirmed Fitzpatrick expressed his dismay with the pace, and the Tour decided to give Dumont de Chassart an official warning after timing him unofficially since Fitzpatrick’s request.

"That was really frustrating. It was slow today. I felt like there was a lot of stop-start. Yeah, just, you know, just not ready. When you're not ready to play a golf shot it gets frustrating after awhile. Particularly when you playing well yourself or you're in contention or whatever it is," Fitzpatrick said. "It definitely knocks you out of your rhythm. Because you hit, you walk to it, you kind of think about it, you hit again, and you go. There in particular that hole then you're around a stretch there that can get a little bit quirky with different shots and stuff, so you have to be on it." It was been a trying day for the Belgian, who hit his opening tee shot out of bounds and made two triple bogeys on par 5s. He shot 3-over 74 on Sunday. But Dumont de Chassart never was penalized, extending the Tour's streak of not handing out a penalty shot for pace of play yet another week.

Next time you find yourself wondering how Patrick Cantlay is never penalized for his glacial pace of play, remind yourself that the Tour protects Adrien Dumont de Chassart.

LIV South Africa - Gee, begs the question of which is the bigger trainwreck, the LIV Tour or South African self-governance?  Too soon?

Geoff has an amusing take on things:

Bryson DeChambeau defeated Jon Rahm on the first hole of sudden death to win LIV Golf South Africa. The 26-under-par win marked DeChambeau’s second straight victory.

Rahm closed with a 63 to DeChambeau’s 66. But on the first crack at the 18th in sudden-death, DeChambeau received relief from mud off the fairway, then struck an incredible 3-wood from 285 yards to 12 feet, setting up the win after Rahm missed a 15-footer for birdie.

DeChambeau’s strong final round allowed his Soul Crushers to hold off the home country Security Guards for the team title.

“I'm super proud of the guys,” DeChambeau said. “I can't tell you how excited I am to have these guys a part of the team. I think that's nine team wins now. This is my fifth LIV individual win. I'm still pulling that dang driver. I've got to fix that.”

DeChambeau hit just 35 of 56 fairways in winning at the pillowish Jack Nicklaus-designed Club at Steyn City.

That security guard bit will piss some folks off.... though I'm pretty sure that "pillowish Jack Nicklaus design" is redundant.

Shall we cue another recency-bias infused over-reaction?

Bryson DeChambeau beat Jon Rahm in a playoff to win LIV Golf South Africa and claim

his second straight LIV victory in what was the league’s final tune-up before the first major of the year. With the way DeChambeau has played the last two weeks, has he taken away the title as Masters favorite? Or does that still belong to Scottie or Rory?

Zephyr Melton: Considering Scottie’s early-season slump and Rory’s uncertain health, I think it’s fair to say that Bryson is the early favorite at Augusta. However, if he doesn’t control his distances with his irons well (which has plagued him in recent years at the Masters), I fear his chances to claim a green jacket are slim.

Dylan Dethier: It’s gotta be Scottie still; his demise is greatly exaggerated. But the fact that DeChambeau is in the middle of this conversation now is significant — and fun. Add in a few other stars ramping up with top-tier golf (Xander, Rahm, Fitz) and there should be plenty to talk about pre-Augusta.

Josh Berhow: Vegas won’t call anyone but Scottie the favorite, and as Dylan says, Scheffler’s “slump” has consisted of three top-25 finishes that followed two top-fives and a win. Scheffler is also playing this coming week in Texas before he heads to Augusta, so he’s got one more chance to fine-tune some things. Bryson playing like this adds mega juice to any major. Few players energize a venue like him. I hope he plays well at Augusta.

Bryson is a great player and deserves to be on the short list, which makes it unfortunate that he doesn't play golf in public any longer....  Not sure why he thought that was such a good idea.

But how do three allegedly professional golfers answer this question without citing this Karmic Konundrum?

Before the 2020 Masters, Bryson DeChambeau infamously claimed he viewed Augusta National as a par 67 rather than par 72, arguing his immense driving distance allowed him to reach all four par-5s in two shots, effectively turning them into par-4s. While intended to highlight his strategy, the comment was seen as disrespectful by many, and he has since expressed regret and walked back the statement

I would argue that the key bit is the 67.  Had he called it a Par-68, I think it would be long forgotten.  But the enhanced hubris of calling that third hole a Par-3 has angered the gods of Augusta, and they're not terribly interested in his walk-back.

I do think Bryson's play at Augusta is one of the more interesting sub-plots of the event, but I think he needs to prove that he can manage his way around the place.

Otherwise, the premise of the question isn't of much interest.  We know the issues with Scottie and Rory.  In the modern world we're supposed to be interested in such issues being adjudicated by DraftKings and the like.  I'm old school, I'll wait for it to resolve on the golf course...

And this inevitable dreary Q&A.  Really, they can quit him at any time:

Last month at the Genesis Invitational, Tiger Woods offered a promising Masters update. But on Tuesday during TGL Woods said he’s “working on it,” adding, “the body doesn’t quite heal like it was when I was 24. Doesn’t quite bounce back. So I have good days when I can pretty much do anything, and other days where it’s hard to just move around.” Has this changed your opinion on if Woods will play the Masters?

Melton: Not at all. I’m just waiting for his WD to become official so we can put this silliness to bed.

Dethier: Meh, I’d still bet he plays. But it’s clear getting to that point is anything but easy. As long as we approach his start with a proper lack of expectations (unlikely, given it’s Tiger at Augusta) we should be fine. It’s all bonus.

Berhow: I wish I was as optimistic as Dylan. I’m moving his percentage chance of playing down to about 40 percent, although he probably truly doesn’t know until the week of with how things change so quickly with his body.

Wouldn't it be more interesting to speculate how many holes he might actually play before that WD?  The only saving grace is that in this major, his egocentrism doesn't cost another player a slot.

Rahm In Full -  Who is this man and what have you done with Jon Rahm?  From Geoff:

According to Golf.com’s Sean Zak, Jon Rahm dropped his appeal of DP World Tour’s fines he’d been contesting since leaving for LIV Golf. But he also won’t be paying the fines that LIV is reportedly on the hook for. The move means no DP World Tour appearances in the near future and leaves his 2027 Ryder Cup status in serious doubt.

Zak notes that Rahm has not resigned his membership and remains hopeful of playing the Spanish Open this fall, even as he will rack up more fines playing LIV events throughout the 2026 season.

Rahm dropped the appeal on March 10 and would have to pay a tab over $3 million to play a DP World Tour event now that the appeal has been dropped.

A winner of 10.5 points in four Ryder Cup appearances dating to 2018, Rahm insists he would comply with settlement terms accepted by eight other players as long as the DP World Tour reduced the number of mandatory appearances from six to four (two of the Tour’s choosing).

“I did tell them, funny enough, lower that to four events, like the minimum says, and I’ll sign tonight,” Rahm said in Hong Kong. “They haven’t agreed to that. I just refuse to play six events. I don’t want to, and that’s not what the rules say.”

So he'll be racking up more fines for each LIV event?  There's no way he won't be at Adare Manor, he just seems committed to ensuring that we have no remaining respect for him.  Works for me.

Food For Thought - Ewan Murray, the long time voice of Sky Sports is retiring, but for all the wrong reasons:

Ewen Murray recently marked his 35th anniversary as one of the defining voices of Sky Sports' golf coverage, a tenure that has spanned generations of the game's biggest moments.

Now, the former professional — winner of the 1977 Northern Open at Royal Dornoch — is beginning to wind down his broadcasting career. With only a handful of events remaining, Murray is preparing to step away from the microphone for good.

The moment that finally nudged the legendary commentator toward retirement came at the 2025 Ryder Cup.

 Really, what bothered him?

Speaking on a compelling episode of the Sliced podcast, alongside musician/golf superfan (and fantastic social media follow) Sam Harrop as well as British journalist Ben Coley, Murray explained that his resolve hardened after hearing the nature of the abuse directed at Rory McIlroy and others — comments shouted from the gallery that crossed a line he could no longer ignore.

Murray’s shift that Saturday began late in the day, giving him time to linger near the turn at Bethpage Black as players passed through. What he heard there stayed with him — and ultimately clarified a decision that had been quietly forming.

“I heard stuff in that half-hour that I can’t repeat to you, it’s that bad. Not fired at Rory but at Rory’s family. I walked back and I thought, ‘Do you really need to be part of this anymore?’ That’s when I decided to finish commentary. By the time I got on the plane on a Monday, I looked out over New York and thought it's been a fantastic journey, but if that’s our future, I really don’t want any part of it.”

The personal attacks on Saturday were directed at McIlroy’s marriage and Lowry’s figure, with one American fan approaching Gerry McIlroy, Rory’s father, who was walking inside the ropes and apologizing for the classless behavior of fans shouting F-you and much worse.

Though these are the comments drawing the most reactions:

Murray noticed, and he saved his most scathing criticism for the PGA of America and Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley.

“I just thought, what a terrible organization," Murray said of the PGA of America. "And I shouldn't say that because my father was the captain of the PGA in Scotland in the mid-70s, so it was very much part of my growing up.

"I don't think they did themselves any favors at all. I also feel with the woman who was swearing behind the tee, shouting at Rory in a horrible manner, if Keegan Bradley, who came and supported it and waved his hands to get the crowd to get louder, if he spent as much time looking at his pairings, Keegan Bradley may well have been a winning Ryder Cup captain. I think they spent way too much energy on something that was disgusting and really had no place in our game.”

Well, they are a pretty bad organization....  just ask any of its members.

I'm very much on the fence about Keegan, though he was a victim in all this as well.  But the first question we should ask ourselves is, why did they want to go the Bethpage?   They'll try to defend themselves by saying they wanted a wild, passionate crowd, but in no way condoned the over-the-top stuff....  Right.  You'll notice that they also didn't do anything to stop it.  They knew they were playing with fire, but how funny is it that all the accomplished was another "L".  These guys are good!

Is Tom Watson available for Adare Manor?  

I shall leave you nice folks here and hopefully catch you later in the week, not that you didn't heard that from me last week.

Weekend Wrap - Young Guns Edition

You know the drill....  A player that struggles to get his first win finally breaks through, and the chattering classes on cue predict that the floodgates will open.  Which never happens..... yanno, except when it does.

I'm not gong to bother with a subheaders today, as all eyes are on Ponte Vedra Beach.

We'll avail ourselves of Shack's lede:

Better than most!

Twenty-five years since Gary Koch’s iconic call, we may have the fifth-of-four’s perfect slogan.

The 2026 edition really was better than most, minus the top two players in the world contending. Several rising talents and other accomplished veterans made a run at the Players title played under conditions that turned downright U.S. Open-from-the-90s-tough over the weekend, as rough grew to absurd heights, and the rules staff unearthed crazy old hole locations.

Cameron Young (mercifully) won this one with clutch shots down the stretch to hold off final round playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick by a stroke.

I'll deem that lede to be, how shall I put it, better than most, deftly tweaking Rolapp's tone-deaf misstep with Koch's enduring moment, which works all the better with Gary back in the booth.

It is better than most, although I need you to hold that thought for a bit (and your humble blogger needs to remember to circle back in that direction).

Both players thrive at big-time venues playing tough, but Young tends to embrace a wider variety of tests, while Fitzpatrick rarely likes much of anything unless it has high rough and flat, narrow fairways. Either way, it was fitting that they came to the 18th, where Young’s gift for power and accuracy seen down the stretch at the 2022 Open appeared again. He struck a resounding 375-yard drive while Fitzpatrick dealt with oaks and pines, only to eventually bogey the finisher to Young’s par.

The 28-year-old from the meanest New York streets earned just his second win on Tour in his 104th start. The Players is by far his biggest title he’s captured in the game (with all due respect to the New York State Open or the 2025 Wyndham Championship that came after an excruciating seven runner-up finishes for the son of the longtime Sleepy Hollow pro).

OK, but the quintessential SoCal incel beclowns himself speaking of the mean streets of....checking notes, Sleepy Hollow.

Lot's of bullet points equals anaerobic blogging, so what's not to like?

With this win…

• Young figured something out about TPC Sawgrass given how his four previous appearances hardly suggested this was coming: T51 (2023), T54 (2024) and T61 (2025).

• Young’s four-stroke comeback matches the fifth-largest final-round comeback in Players history.

• Became the first Players Champion to birdie No. 17 in each of the final three rounds. His Sunday tee shot finished 9’7” Sunday after tee shots of 21’ and 24’ the second and third rounds.

• Moved up to the top of Masters contenders list thanks to a field-leading proximity on approach shots (28’ 1”). Only five times in the ShotLink years of the Players has someone averaged less than Young did approaching the green.

• Given the design, the firmness of the surfaces, and the sheer difficulty of hitting many of Pete Dye’s tiny targets, that’s a remarkable proximity average for the 51 of 72 greens hit.

• Following the win, Young has moved to the eighth choice in the 2026 Masters at 27-1.

• To show how much he’s rounded out his game in two years, Young gained nearly the same number of strokes approaching TPC Sawgrass’ greens in 2024 when he finished T54 (6.76 to this year’s 7.08 SG approach).

• Young got up and down 16 of 21 times, which was, oddly, only T44 in Strokes Gained Scrambling. (Maybe Strokes Gained isn’t always telling us the full story since 16 of 21 around those crazy firm, fast greens with high rough is an absurdly good performance.)Young’s 375-yard drive on No. 18 was the longest drive on that hole by any player in the ShotLink era (since 2003). It was also the fourth-longest drive on any hole at TPC Sawgrass in that time.

• He played the par-3s five-under-par, tying the best performance on one-shotters by a champion with Scottie Scheffler (2024), Rory McIlroy (2019), and John Mahaffey (1986).

Regular readers of these musing know my opinion of sports journalists is, well, mixed at best, but props to James Colgan for posting this on Saturday evening:

Ludvig Aberg has a superpower. Could it also be his kryptonite?

Hmmmm, do tell:

Aberg has looked like the best player in the loaded Players field by a wide margin. If he plays

with a three-shot lead on Sunday the way he has while leading on Friday and Saturday, he might cruise his way right into a career-altering win without even breaking a sweat.

But that’s where Aberg’s story gets tricky, because it’s the speed that could trip him up.

“Yeah, whenever I get in a stressful situation I have to slow myself down because I get really fast,” he said Saturday. “I start talking fast, I start breathing fast, and I kind of get, like, a little worked up like that. So I just have to really calm myself down, try to walk slow, talk slow, make everything just a little bit slower, which is a challenge.”

Aberg’s tendency to rush can be a dangerous trait for a golfer with a need for speed, especially at TPC Sawgrass, where mistakes happen quickly and multiply.

Aberg said that he has worked out a system with caddie Joe Skovron to help him navigate the stressful moments when his efficiency tips into hurriedness. Skovron has been instructed to walk behind Aberg — physically forcing him to slow down — but also to call Aberg off a shot if he feels like the decision has happened too quickly.

“I feel like I’ve had enough experiences where I’ve seen it work,” Aberg said. “I’ve seen big events where it’s happened and I kind of calm myself down a little bit. But yeah, for me it’s just the pace of everything just goes up.”

Speed Kills! At least it does so quickly....

But James left it to Alan Bastable to perform the post-mortem:

Ludvig Aberg’s Players collapse exposed flaw he’s been fighting

Then came the par-5 11th.

After blistering his drive, Aberg didn’t have to think long about whether he’d attack a green

guarded short and right by sand and water. Out came the 7-wood, and with it, something you don’t see often from Aberg: a momentary lapse of tempo. Aberg’s ball never had a chance. It started right and stayed right. Splash. He escaped with a bogey, but the loose swing from the fairway might have done more damage to his psyche than it did to his scorecard.

That much became clear on the next tee when Aberg uncorked another clunker: a hard pull into the water that lines the left of the par-4 12th. The misfire left Aberg, after a drop, with 181 yards in from the rough, from where he failed to hold the green. A chip and two putts later, he’d made a double — and, with Cameron Young and Matt Fitzpatrick trading highlights ahead of him, effectively played his way out of contention. For a player who, for 64 holes, had exhibited such mastery over his ball, it was a shocking turn of events.

Aberg’s diagnosis?

“I would imagine if I look at those swings on sort of 11, 12, they probably were quick swings,” he said after he’d signed for a four-over 76 that dropped him to nine under and into a tie for 5th. “Takeaway got really fast and then the rest of it kind of spirals from there. That’s something that I should have been aware of, now looking back. But yeah, that’s the way it goes.”

 Seems like a pretty horrible decision on No. 12, no?  

Shall we dip into the Tour Confidential panel?  Yes, still rhetorical:

Cameron Young shot a four-under 68 to win the Players Championship by one over Matt

Fitzpatrick, while 54-hole leader Ludvig Aberg shot 76 and faded on the back nine. Did Young win this? Or did Aberg lose it?

Dylan Dethier: Both, I guess? It felt like about a dozen guys “lost it” at various points throughout the day, Aberg chief among them. But Young went and got it, too; his 17th and 18th holes were championship-worthy.

Josh Schrock: Yes? Cameron Young had to play excellent golf on a windy track with trouble everywhere to even have a chance to take this home. And yet, he still needed Ludvig to let go of the wheel. If Ludvig gets around in even par on Sunday, Young has to do what he did just to force a playoff. Ludvig opened the door and Young walked through and slammed it shut with his play on the final two holes.

Josh Berhow: It’s both. Aberg had the chance to win it but when you shoot 76 from the final pairing on Sunday, you let the tournament slip away. But it works both ways. Take 17 for example: Fitzpatrick played to the middle of the green with a one-shot lead, while Young attacked the pin, stuck it to 10 feet, made birdie and then won the thing on 18 (and with the best drive of the day on the finishing hole). That’s going out and winning it.

Of course both are true, but the other guy that should have won it was Fitzpatrick.....

Up until late last summer when he won his first PGA Tour event, Young was known as the tough-luck loser who had yet to win on the big stage. Now he’s got his second victory and a Players title. What’s changed?

Dethier: There’s a bigger-picture answer to this question — he seems to have found some winning mojo — but there’s a more specific answer, too. What changed is his putting. He has credited a caddie switch with changing his perspective on the greens, too; when he hired his college teammate, fellow Wake Forest Demon Deacon Kyle Sterbinsky, ahead of the Truist Championship last May, they found something right away. He’s been on an upward trajectory since.

Schrock: Agreed, Dylan. Young going from a poor putter who routinely missed short-range looks to one of the better putters on Tour has been the key. I do think that finally getting it across the line at the Wyndham and then backing it up by being the United States’ best player at Bethpage has also given him some added confidence.

Berhow: It’s a little mix of everything. The putting is obviously huge but the superpower so many of these guys have is that they think their best can beat anyone. You need that to be elite in any sport. And after he won the Wyndham Championship it had to feel like the monkey was off his back. That led to a huge week at the Ryder Cup and, now, his second win. Those little victories along the way can lead to big things in no time.

It'll be interesting to see how his putting holds up over time.  Can he sustain the higher level or will he, like Scottie, have those good weeks and not-so-good weeks?

Here's where they try to paint with a broad brush, imputing cosmic significance to the randomness of a given PGA Tour week:

What was your biggest Players Championship takeaway?

Dethier: The PGA Tour has been looking for its third star — non-Scottie-and-Rory division — for a while now. I’m not saying Cam Young is there, but he’s certainly entering the conversation. Also, let the Players be! It’s not a major. It’s its own thing. That thing is big and fun and important and chaotic. I enjoyed this edition.

Schrock: Ludvig will win a major this year and be the third star Dylan mentioned by year’s end. He played brilliantly for the first two days, was smooth on Saturday and things got away from him on a course where this is carnage all around. That has happened to countless people at Sawgrass. He clearly found something at Pebble and I think he’ll knock off a few big events this summer. Honorable mention to Brooks Koepka, who is trending and was a couple scruffy holes on Friday away from being in the mix on Sunday.

Berhow: Watching Ludvig struggle on the back nine on Sunday made me think I might like him even more for the Masters. Sometimes it’s good to get this stuff out of the way, learn from it and move on. And I agree with Dylan. We can have four majors but also have a Players Championship, which is a very good tournament! Few things are more exhausting than this major/non-major conversation, but of course we will just have it again next year.

 Really, Josh, you think the Tour will make us go through that again?  I'm hoping they took notes...

But funny that they all want to talk about that elusive third star, when neither of the first two is much in evidence.  

I've no intention of blogging the LIV event.  Not sure which is the more humiliating, that the event swung on a missed two-footer, or that it swung on a missed two-footer by a player of whom none of us have ever heard.  

More noteworthy weekend result with the Masters one month away: an up-and-down T22 finish for Scottie Scheffler, who seemed off his game at TPC Sawgrass; or Bryson DeChambeau winning overnight at LIV Golf Singapore?

Dethier: Scottie’s the bigger deal because we expected DeChambeau to come into major season in good form regardless. It seems likely that Scheffler will, too — but he has a few fixes to find between now and then. Scheffler pounding balls in the rain after Thursday’s round will be one of my enduring images from the week. It’ll be fun watching him find what’s next.

Schrock: It’s Scottie. There’s clearly something going on between the driver and the dip in approach play. It’s officially a concern with a month to go. My only note on LIV Singapore is that the sun sleeves have got to go.

Berhow: Let’s go with both, because Scottie has not played to his Scottie Scheffler standards lately, but here’s what’s crazy. For as “off” as he has seemed the last month, his finishes this year are (starting with the most recent): T22, T12, T4, T3, 1. The takeaway is that this version of Scottie is still really good, and as soon as he gets his driver sorted I imagine he’ll be back to the guy we know well. He’s got a little time off now to work on some things. As for Bryson, it’s not nothing! DeChambeau playing well in the lead-up to the Masters is good for the sport, and he’s finished in the top six in his last two Masters starts. Bryson contending at Augusta would be a lot of fun.

I'm going to go with neither..... Not sure what to make of Scottie, though he could obviously turn it around on a dime.   Bryson has been jinxed ever since he called ANGC a Par-67, and I don't see the gods letting him off the hook on that one anytime soon.

Udder Bits - I don't know that I'll pay off the use of the plural there, but we'll see.  The Tc gang jumped in on this:

In a much-anticipated State of the PGA Tour press conference during the Players Championship, new Tour CEO Brian Rolapp announced his six pillars for a foundation of a new Tour (with nothing yet finalized). In short: a two-track competition system, a splashier starting event, bigger markets, promotion/relegation, match-play potential and more. (You can learn more about it here.) What were your initial thoughts regarding the pillars? And what bit specifically was most interesting to you?

Dethier: They sound good to me! But Sunday had me reflecting on one thing: for all the talk of finding bigger markets — which I support, to be clear — there’s still a lot to be said for leaning into the greatness of a mid-sized city. Jacksonville is the fourth-biggest metro area in Florida and a medium-sized TV market, but the Players is the event in town. I’m sure being outside New York can help sell corporate hospitality, but there’s a happy medium there, too.

Schrock: The biggest thing to me was Rolapp leaning into a lot of what golf fans and golf media have been clamoring for. I love that the idea is 120-man fields with cuts. The PGA Tour should lean into the cutline drama and build that up, especially on this two-track system. Sign me up for promotion and relegation as well. I still have a lot of questions about the two tracks and the money and how it all works. I like going to big media markets but also don’t want to see the PGA Tour completely abandon smaller cities with history. On paper, what Rolapp laid out sounds great but I will await the next address in June before really getting out over my skis.

Berhow: Overall it’s a big step forward. I love that match play might be involved in the playoffs, because switching the format every couple of years like we have isn’t the answer. I guess one lingering question I have is about the two-track system with the Korn Ferry Tour also still existing. I know we want to condense the golf schedule and make events mean more, but when you think about two leagues playing above the Korn Ferry… that’s still a lot of golf, even though one is obviously the top league. I guess my point is we need to miss golf to really have people fall in love with it. I’m skeptical this will do that, but I’ll wait to learn more before I lose sleep over it.

I've had more thoughts, but first I'd like to remind all that these are just Rolapp's fever dreams.  In a prefect world they'd have been run by the Pac and other parties-in-interest, but in no way are these done deals.

Secondly, it's far from the most significant of items, but that bit about match play in the FedEx Cup demands a healthy dose of cold water, as at least two of the key parties, the players and the networks, are likely to be in opposition.  And, to be fair, I'm not sure it's a s good as it sounds.  Remember, while we love match play events, they tend to work better early in the week and disappoint on the weekends?  Of course, given the obscenity that is the FedEx Cup, you'll argue that there's no downside, and I've no rebuttal for that.

The most significant and welcome step from Rolapp is to expand the A-Tour's field sizes from 70 players to 120, not quite a full field, but much improved.  :Let's take a moment to understand the depravity of the Jay Monahan-Patrick Cantlay ierregnum, in which golf could only be saved by putting more money in Cantlay's pocket.  To save the game the PGA's premiere events needed to be turned into glorified exhibitions, with only guaranteed match-ups of name-brand layers deemed acceptable for the discerning golf viewership (yeah, both of them).

Ironically, this was all done by those that know our game best, so we might conclude that their interests are not our own.  But there is one catch, to wit, that they stealthily reduced the Players' field size to that 120 players, ostensibly due to the lack of daylight (more accurately due to their dreadful pace of play).  

So, next year, when they try to convince us that March is Major, let's remind them that, in their own estimation, the Players is no different than any other Tour event, i.e., hardly major.

Given the last few years, this is a shockingly stupid way of asking a good question:

If you’re a member of the Tour, what about this plan might you love? And what might you not be a fan of?

Stupid because the underlying text of the last few years is the successful coup by the elite players, in which the interests of the Tour Rabbits have been sacrificed to the gods of....well, Patrick's bank account.  The real answer is it depends what kind of member you're asking...

Dethier: If you’re a member of the Tour I think you’d generally be in favor of these changes; the fact that the Tour is sticking with 120-player fields instead of chasing further reductions (like some of the current Signature Events, which feel empty by comparison at 70-something) is a welcome compromise. But there will be players who resist change, who are skeptical that fewer tournaments will yield greater attention, who feel like there are fewer seats at the big table. But the Tour is leaning into meritocracy. That’s a good thing for whoever is playing the best.

Schrock: Rolapp seems to have done a good job of appeasing all segments of the membership. As Dylan noted, some of the guys will not be thrilled about fewer tournaments but I think expanding to 120-man fields is a big win for the “middle class” of the Tour. If the second-track or PGB Tour gets similar purses to what standard PGA Tour events get now ($8-10 million) it should keep almost everyone happy.

Berhow: The elite guys will play a little less and for more money, which I think they’ll like. If there are any players who might not be thrilled it’s probably the guys who are used to being in the top 100ish but who might be playing out of the second track, which could be a little hit to the ego (and bank account). But it’s also guaranteed playing privileges? So who knows.

C'mon, you have to know that there's a pretty dramatic shrinkage of playing opportunities involved.....  And about those sponsors of the second tier events, do we think when they signed their contracts it called the events "second tier"?  Yeah, everyone is just completely happy.... At least he's making noise about shutting down the sponsors' exemption scam, so Adam Scott might be hardest hit, if it isn't Peter Malnati.  yanno, whoever's vote they need.

If Average Joe Fan is sitting at home and wondering what all these proposed changes mean for them, what would you tell them?

Dethier: If I’m optimistic it means you’ll get some clarity about which tournaments are actually top-tier PGA Tour events and which ones aren’t. I’m hopeful that this is the PGA Tour schedule coming together in its final form, at last. For now. Maybe. We’ll see.

Schrock: I’d say we’re tracking toward getting a schedule that gives you a group of events with all the big-name players that should come with bigger stakes than the current PGA Tour delivers. You’ll also get some extra golf on the second track if you’re interested. But we’ll see if Rolapp can make all of this come together. It always looks good on the PowerPoint. Execution is sometimes much harder, especially with so many stakeholders at the table.

Berhow: There’s still lots of golf on TV every weekend but one tour will be better than the other?

To me, the biggest takeaway of the PGA Tour-LIV pillow fight is how insignificant both tours are.  The only four events that matter are the same four events as ever, and I offer thanks that the PGA Tour can't screw those up.

On that cheerful note, have a great week and we'll catch up down the rad.

Thursday Themes - Visionquest Edition

For the record, this is my second keyboard visit of the week....  Does that say "Commitment", or what?

Predictions Are Hard... - So, Brian, what do you want to be when you grow up?  NFL Commissioner?  Sorry about that, but the issue with the Tour hiring from the NFL is that you're inevitably getting the guy who realized the big chair isn't in his future....

So, where to start with his Tate of the Tour?  I guess here:

Opening with a bang, a match-play postseason and a two-track system: 12 revelations about the PGA Tour's (still uncertain) future

At the risk of whiplash, here's Shack's amusing cold open:

Over the course of 30 meetings held by the PGA Tour’s FCC—the august Future Competitions Committee—only one group conclusion could be revealed at Wednesday’s Players Championship press conference.

The concept of “scarcity” has been, uh, well, re-scarcified.

“Ultimately, scarcity is not about the number of events we have, but rather scarcity is about making every event we have matter,” PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said during his televised Global Home address.

To his credit, Rolapp freely answered questions but curiously came armed to a grander setting than usual minus a single announcement—other than to confirm the precise number of meetings held to decide the Tour’s future.

“We have had more than 30 meetings across the Future Competition Committee, our working groups, player meetings, Player Advisory Council discussions, and board sessions,” he said in prepared remarks. “We have had more than 40 conversations with PGA Tour corporate partners, many of whom are in the room today. We have engaged extensively with current and prospective media partners, and we have retained experienced outside experts to help us evaluate competitive models and long-term economics.”

Apparently the key to the NFL's global dominance is endless meetings at which nothing is decided.... At least we have that going for us, but not a single firm announcement?  

The PGA Tour is splitting in two

As Golf Digest reported earlier this year, the tour’s Future Competitions Committee is deep in discussions on creating a two-track competition system. Rolapp said the first track is expected to double the current eight signature events to 16 tournaments, alongside the four majors, the Players and the postseason. Running from late January to early September, the schedule will span 21 to 26 competitions. The second track will function as a promotion-and-relegation tool, with events spread across the calendar year and into the fall. This system does not replace the Korn Ferry Tour and other PGA Tour feeder circuits, which remain intact.

"We are evaluating the role of promotion and relegation across our competitive model," Rolapp said. "We are further strengthening our merit-based system and leaning into what makes professional golf so compelling: players earning their way to the top, with every event having greater meaning."

It always has been two-tier, it's just experiencing dramatic shrinkage....  One can see the logic thereof, but it's a massive reduction of playing opportunities, which may well create a void for others to fill.

Honda will be amused by this:

One of the recurring talking points of Rolapp's tenure has been “scarcity,” widely interpreted in the industry as the elimination of events. As Golf Digest has learned, the endangered events will likely be repositioned to the second track rather than cut entirely. The system essentially formalizes what has effectively been a two-tier structure for years.

Good times.  Rolapp will need sponsor commitment, which is great as long as they didn't notice what was done to Honda.  Its reward for fifty years of sponsorship was the have the Tour put two Signature events befire it and two right after, thereby ensuring that no top 100 player could possible make it to Palm Beach Gardens.   I would have suggested a nice watch, but that's a good present as well....

Lord knows I'd hate to see them leave Memphis in August:

The tour may have new playoff sites

East Lake has hosted the season-ending Tour Championship for decades. The club has history, but it has never quite captured the imagination of the broader golf public. Rolapp was careful to say the club has been a strong partner and that the tour will likely return to Atlanta—but the finale's long-term future there is less certain.

"What we do with the postseason, we're still figuring out," Rolapp said. "There's clearly high demand in some of the discussions we've had. Some of these bigger markets would really like a postseason event. So I think everything is really on the table."

That includes the venue itself. Sources tell Golf Digest that Riviera and Pebble Beach are among the possibilities for a more recognizable final stop.

The sites are quite dreadful, but I'm thinking there's a higher priority....

This is certainly music to my ears, though deviancy has most certainly been defined downward:

No more limited fields, no cut events

One of the signature event series’ most persistent criticisms—from fans, media and players alike—has been its small-field, no-cut format, which drew unflattering comparisons to LIV Golf. Rolapp said the new top tier will feature more players and a cut.

"Our best events will have larger fields. Ideally, we are targeting something closer to 120-player fields with a cut," Rolapp said. "That consistently matters. It helps fans know who they will see and showcases who they want to see—the most competitive players. It helps partners know what they're investing in, and it helps players better understand the competitive landscape in their schedules, all while embracing meritocracy."

Yes, but they stealthily reduced this week's Players' field to that 120....That's not a full field, although 120 is a damn sight better than 70.  Maybe structuring the Tour for the benefit of Patrick Cantlay wasn't the best move....

Sponsor exemptions may be on the outs

Another source of fan frustration—one that cuts against the meritocracy ethos Rolapp keeps invoking—is the sponsor’s exemption system, along with the politics surrounding it. Rolapp appears to recognize the tension.

"It is my opinion we need a better competitive model because we should be delivering fields to the sponsors," he said. "We shouldn't make them work hard to put together a field. We're delivering them something, and they're supporting that. I think we need to be better partners in that. I also have an appreciation for the fact that professional golfers are independent contractors. So their level of job security is in some part tied to the exemptions they have earned. It's a balance. Those are all discussions we're having with the committee—to provide for those things but also deliver the purest competition that fans want."

Peter Malnati hardest hit.

Seriously, the use of the sponsors' exemptions to reward PAC members has been quite the disgusting spectacle.  Adam Scott should be ashamed of himself....

And this teaser that will never happen:

Possible match play in the playoffs

Adding match play to the Tour Championship is hardly a new idea, particularly after the tour eliminated the WGC-Match Play, yet the concept has historically been vetoed by broadcast partners wary of late-round matchups between non-marquee players. Rolapp said match play is back on the table, and possibly for the entire postseason.

“I think a lot of the motivation comes from our fans and our partners who want to see more drama in the events that they attend,” Rolapp said. “I mean, again, the sports business is not that hard; just think like a fan, and 9½ times out of 10, that's probably the right answer.”

Really?  Because its hard to intuit a focus on the fans from the Tour's last few years of changes....  But they do focus like a laser on their core business of screwing sponsors.

This whole bit of going outside the game is to me a curious thing, as Geoff had this on major-gate:

Rolapp addressed The Players-as-a-major debate, joking that his marketing department did a good job creating a conversation even if it almost unanimously produced an “are you kidding, not again” response. But he also indicated that the marketing department wasn’t exactly acting without some inspiration from the CEO.

“I’m not entirely sure how majors become majors,” he said. “The history is really interesting to study. There used to be more majors. There’s fewer majors. I think what’s important, that’s not for us to decide.”

Excuse me, exactly when were there more majors?   And, while we can agree that it's not for you to decide, it seems that you did try to decide and folks weren't amused.....Maybe you should study some actual history?  Can I suggest you start with the Western Open?  What you'll see is the organization that you now run had no respect for its own intellectual property, tossing the second oldest professional tournament in the U.S. out with the bath water.....

See if you enjoy his flailing over the essential "Tour about nothing" nature of the PGA Tour:

When answering a question about the Tour not owning any of the five biggest properties in golf, and whether any ownership stakes are in the Tour’s future, Rolapp suggested he’d like to see more “collaboration” with Augusta National, PGA of America, USGA and R&A.

“I think if you look at all of those golf organizations, at the end of the day, they are entirely financed by professional golf and professional golfers,” he said,. “So the entire ecosystem is funded by the success, or quite frankly—it wouldn’t be successful without the success of professional golf. That to me just lends that there should probably be more collaboration in that regard.” 

Collaboration sounds like someone wanting to be paid for the right to welcome his independent contractors into major championships, which (A) are totally optional to participate in, (B) are capable of raising the profiles of players more than any event owned by the PGA Tour, and (C) kindly offer exemptions to Tour players.

Yes, I'm sure Fred Ridley will appreciate the lecture.   But you need him more than he needs you.....

The one thing everyone can agree on is the hostile media environment.  Here's Rolapp:

"I've read the same reports you have—that they would like to go to the media market earlier. The U.S. media rights market is $30 billion. The NFL currently accounts for $12 billion of that. They have made their public intentions clear; they would like to double that," Rolapp said. "So if you start doing that math and you're anyone other than the National Football League, you ask yourself: Next time I go to market, how do I make sure I have the most compelling product so that we can compete in what is a very complicated media ecosystem that's changing all the time? You see fans changing their habits—television versus streaming. You see the companies and the economics of the industry changing. So it's a very dynamic time in media.

"If you are in the sports business, it behooves you to put your house in order as much as possible. That is a significant part of the work that the Future Competition Committee is doing, and it's one of the reasons why it's so important."

What a perfect fit.  The NFL wants and seems able to double their rights fees, and the PGA Tour is helpfully halving the value of its properties.  Talk about synergy....Or, dare I say, These Guys Are Good!

Jay did well to renew those contracts when he did, but next time tees up as substantially more difficult.

And can this help?

Don't expect a new schedule for 2027

There had been hope in the industry that changes would arrive as soon as next year. Last month at the Genesis Invitational, Tiger Woods moved to temper those expectations. Rolapp echoed the sentiment. Expect some adjustments in 2027—not a wholesale transformation.

"Once decisions have been made and finalized, changes will be implemented through a rolling approach," Rolapp said. "As Tiger has said recently, some elements could be addressed sooner for next season, with more significant change likely implemented for the 2028 season, pending the necessary work with our partners and other operational considerations.

"This is a complex process with many constituencies impacted. We will continue to move with urgency, but we are focused on getting it right."

No hurry, boys.

In a separate post, Geoff gives Rolapp a To-Do list, including this bit:

Acquire the Ryder Cup. The Tour has never been in a better position to strong-arm the PGA of America into selling the event. Or at the very least, increasing the Tour’s ownership stake. The Ryder Cup needs the PGA Tour’s players who’ve already shown they’re willing to take a PR hit over money. So a sell-or-boycott threat might not be the disaster it seems. Especially if it leads to a huge acquisition and more autonomy.

So Rolapp wants to simultaneously declare the Players a major (thereby devaluing the least valuable major, the PGA Championship, demand more cooperation from the PGA of America and force it to divest the Ryder Cup?  Good luck with all that.... Yes, they need the PGA Tour players, but I'm sure the LIV guys would be willing to step in.   I mean, what's a Ryder Cup without Talor Gooch?

Wither Tiger - Color me surprised that Luke Donald is up for the hat trick, but is Tiger not the biggest of all possible dicks?

From that first Shack post, let's lede with what he caused in 2025:

The Guardian’s Ewan Murray points out that the shortened timeline led to USA’s messy 2025 Ryder Cup approach.

“Two years ago, long before Keegan Bradley was called up out of the blue and offered the US captain’s role, Woods publicly pontificated before delivering the slow ‘no’,” he writes. “Nothing much went right for the PGA of America thereafter. Bethpage was a calamity for the hosts on and off the course.”

But Murray also provided Tiger with a dose of Stephen Ames-adjacent bulletin board inspiration.

“Woods’s procrastination does not bode well for the US. Far from providing dramatic effect, it makes their Ryder Cup cohort look unsure. It also makes little sense. This fuels the theory that Adare Manor and an away Ryder Cup (a domain in which Americans have a dismal record) holds little appeal to someone so obsessed with winning. Woods will be well aware he could be shown up by the detail-obsessed Luke Donald.”

Well, it's a little hard to understand what the man wants, because the lack of appeal of Adare should have motivated him to take the captaincy at Bethpage, no?

My thoughts are more along the lines that his relationship with JP McManus makes him want the Aare Manor gig, but of course there needs to be something special in it for him.  More to the point, even if he isn't captain, why wasn't he at Bethpage?  The obvious answer is telling, that he's not a team player and he holds himself apart and above the other guys.  

Your country needs you, Tiger.  Can you fit it into your schedule, or are those LIV negotiations still all-consuming?

What an all-time, self-important D**k!

This was the amusing to-and-from JT's presser:

Q. Curious, have you had any formal or official discussions with anyone about being the next Ryder Cup captain? And specifically I guess along those same lines, would any of them have been Tiger?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Have I personally?

Q. Right. I mean, with the group or what you, just I don’t even know if there is a formal thing that would occur, but...

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I’m on the Ryder Cup Committee, yeah. Yeah, we’ve had some conversations, but those are all personal within the Committee.

Q. What are you expecting as far as when there might be a resolution, if you can even say?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I think it’s just kind of wait. We wait and see.

That has to be weird.  JT is still all-in on the Ryder Cup, but his a******e buddy just can't be bothered..... And he won't even show up.

Wither Rory - Yeah, it was just precautionary, until it wasn't:

The reigning champion of The Players Championship has officially made it to the PGA Tour's

flagship event during the afternoon of March 11.

McIlroy was spotted by Golfweek's Adam Schupak arriving at The Players Stadium Course, fewer than 24 hours before his scheduled first competitive round. He was heading into the clubhouse.

He withdrew from the Arnold Palmer due to a bad back, marking only the second WD in his PGA Tour career.

McIlroy is set to tee off at 1:42 p.m. ET Thursday off the first, playing alongside Xander Schauffele and Hideki Matsuyama. It's hard to imagine McIlroy not giving it a go this week, but if his back doesn't cooperate, he may not be able to defend his title.

It's being characterized as a game time decision....

Should be a great week, with or without Rory.  Enjoy, and I'll look forward to wrapping it with you on Monday.