Weekend Wrap - Crazy Like A Fox Edition

Can we agree that, notwithstanding the seemingly iconic venues involved, that it was quite a strange troika of majors after Augusta?  To wit, if Aaron Rai and Wyndham Clark had the viewing public a wee bit cranky, I don't think Ryan Fox was quite what the situation demanded.  Although, leaving Wyndham far to the side, Rai and Fox at least are two of the most genuine guys out there....  And, as a blogger prone to typos, what's not to like about the confluence of monosyllabic winners.

Let's lede with Geoff's British Open Championship by-the-numbers:

• -10: Winning score of Ryan Fox

• 270: 72-hole score by Fox

• T52: Fox’s position after 36 holes (Even par)

• 2nd: Player from New Zealand to win (Bob Charles, 1963)

• 64: Final round score by Cameron Young (2nd)

• 11 ft. 0 inches.: Stimpmeter speed

• 7,157: Final round yardage (7,223 max)

• 11 ft. 0 inches.: Stimpmeter speed

• 4 mm: Green mowing height

• 0.73 inches: (.001 inches firmer than Round 3)

• 2:20: Official starting time of the final Burns/Fox pairing

• 2:35: Actual starting time of the final pairing

I caught it on tape, so had no clue that tee times ran late, though presumably unrelated to events in New Jersey, although I'm still getting over that third-place England-France match.  I could enjoy soccer if only I could rely upon their being ten goals per game....

Ryan Fox would wake up in the New Zealand night to watch The Open and dreamt of merely playing the world’s oldest professional championship.

“And now to be an Open champion, to be the Champion Golfer of the Year, it's unbelievable, surreal, crazy,” he said moments after an electric finish at Royal Birkdale. “I don't have enough words in my vocabulary to explain it, to be honest.”

After tying the lowest score ever shot in a major early in Saturday’s third round, the 39-year-old battled Sunday’s tougher conditions to reach the disaster-laden 18th. There, he improbably held off Cameron Young by a stroke to register the greatest 36-hole comeback by position in major championship history. Fox’s 130 weekend total tied Ian Baker-Finch’s record for low final 36 holes.

A late starter by modern standards and the son of rugby great Grant Fox, Ryab picked up his first club at 13. After toying with rugby and cricket in high school, he got serious about golf at 16 and dreamed of Sunday’s scenario. Sort of.

“To cap it off with a putt -- everyone practices on the green, I guess, you’ve got to a putt to win a major championship, to win The Open,” Fox said. “It’s not like that in real life. It’s not a very comfortable feeling. It’s certainly very enjoyable when you see it go in.”

I love that photo above, as the rest of us can only dream about being in that position at impact....  But I'll long remember how he played that 18th, a scorecard killer for sure:

With final-day wrecks breaking out all over the dead (ish) fescue fairways and heavily revamped links ahead of this championship, Fox kept up his crisp iron play and hot putting that started with

Saturday’s third 62 of the week (and eighth in major championship history). Arriving at the 18th after three back-nine birdies, Fox needed another on the brutal closer to avoid a playoff with Young, who’d already returned to the range to prep for a playoff. Young finished over two hours before Fox and third-round leader Sam Burns walked up the 18th fairway.

 Fox smoked a 331-yard beauty between the revamped bunkering to set up a slim chance at avoiding the first aggregate playoff since 2015 (set for the 14th, 15th and 18th holes). The landingarea played narrow due to the dry conditions and wind out of the left, with only 445 drives finding the tight turf all week. Just 33% of second shots (155/467) even hit the green in regulation. Only 27 birdies had been made at No. 18 all week.

“That drive is not a very comfortable tee shot, obviously, and to hit it in the fairway and give myself a chance was huge.”

Factoring in adrenaline and the wind direction capable of taking the second to a pin cut 25 back and six from the right edge, Fox drew an ideal 176-yard nine-iron.

“I did say to my caddie, Dean [Smith] on the tee that we were going to take it on, that I was going to try to win the tournament, and I’d live with the consequences if I stuffed it up.”

Fox flushed the approach.

“I think I screamed to it, ‘Please be good,’ in the air, and it was.”

One can only assume it's not THAT Dean Smith....  But how perfect, a golf nobody playing his way to a life-changing win and, at crunch time, taking it on.  He earned it for sure, and that's even before I mention his dreamy pace-of-play.

This guys is piling up the near misses, but it won't be long now:

Finishing just over two hours ahead of Fox, Young’s 64 started with three birdies, finished the front nine in just 29 strokes, and nearly played a bogey-free round on the championship’s windiest afternoon. Leading at 10-under after a 17th-hole birdie and with 54-hole leader Sam Burns faltering after reaching 11-under par, Young drove into the 18th hole’s fairway bunker. The Players champion earlier this year thinned his second into the bunker face and found his ball in the rough. He then dunked the next shot into a greenside bunker, where he was fortunate to salvage a bogey and get in at nine-under. Young gave himself little chance at that point.

“I thought 10 [under-par] had a decent chance,” Young said.

Still, his final round 64 came up one short of the all-time best closing score in The Open after Henrik Stenson’s 63 at Troon in 2016. Young also posted a closing 65 in 2022 at St Andrews.

How great was it?  Young walks off No. 17 at -10 and then faces the hardest tee shot in golf, and agonizingly catches a bunker.  The bogey that followed had me formulation adjectives in my mind from the surname Spieth   Ultimately it didn't scale quite to Spiethian heights of farce, but it was still an all-world five, leaving us (and, more importantly, Cam) with a few hours to speculate.  But it wasn't just Cam that thought -10 could be useful....

More than two hours later Fox comes to the same tee tied at -9, but having frustratingly failed to utilize his last legitimate birdie opportunity.  Then he does what he did, and that bounce of their tee balls on the burnt-out 18th fairway is your Open Championship, at least after Fox hit a sterling approach and made his 12-footer.

One of your humble bloggers amusements this week, especially as the final group formed, is their differing reactions to the environment, which Fox embraces:

“I’ve just always loved links golf from the first time I played it,” Fox said moments after he’d

gotten his first up-close look at the Claret Jug. “I just love the creativity needed. I think growing up in New Zealand, we play in a fair bit of wind, so getting to do that and having to control your ball and hit some not proper golf shots or not normal golf shots is really cool, and I enjoy -- that’s probably what I enjoy about golf and links golf the most.”

“I feel like I’ve played well in Opens before but just never really put four rounds together. I probably wouldn’t say I put four rounds together this week either. I put three together, obviously, to give myself even a chance today after yesterday’s round. You’re not expecting that going out, even though you feel like you can shoot a low score early, to go out and shoot 62 and go from 52nd or whatever I was into the last group. That doesn’t happen very often.

“And to go out with the pressure on, with a chance to win The Open, and to actually do it -- I didn’t know what I was going to feel going out there today. I did say to my caddie a few holes in, I feel better than I thought I was going to feel, but I probably still didn’t feel that comfortable. But got a little bit more comfortable down the stretch.”

Compare and contrast with his playing partner yesterday:

“I'm not a huge fan of links golf,” Burns said after the round. “I just haven't played well on links golf. It's not something I'm very familiar with. I get to do it maybe once a year.”

Can someone tell Sam Burns that he could play links golf more than once a year if he wanted to? Anyway, he went on.

“Like yesterday, I hit a really – not a bad shot on 17,” Burns continued. “I hit a 3-iron in and was trying to hit it just left of the green. And I get up there and it's in the left side of the lip and I have to hit it backwards. That kind of stuff is frustrating to me. You feel like you've hit a decent shot, and you get up there, and the next thing you know you're hitting it backwards. That's kind of been something I've tried to work on, playing links golf is trying to be more accepting and (I’m) still getting there. But yeah, I think the main thing is you just try to come out and execute to the best of your ability and learn to accept whatever the outcome is.”

Doesn't make him a bad person, does it?  That's from a Fried Egg post that makes the point by comparing Burns to the great Tom Watson, who initially hated links golf every bit as much as Sam.  Obviously with one of the four majors on links, you'd think they'd put a little more effort in, although obvious Burns was not able to play the Scottish this year, as life got in the way in a beautiful manner.

Do you remember those standardized tests from school days in which one has to pick the item on a list that doesn't belong?  This list just acquired it's version thereof:

• 2017: Jordan Spieth
• 2008: Pádraig Harrington
• 1998: Mark O'Meara
• 1991: Ian Baker-Finch
• 1983: Tom Watson
• 1976: Johnny Miller
• 1971: Lee Trevino
• 1965: Peter Thomson
• 1961: Arnold Palmer
• 1954: Peter Thomson

Or Finchie got company from his part of the world....

I'm not the only one that found it a strange week:

Why Ryan Fox was the perfect winner for a strange Open week

 Not that they really pay off that header....

Ryan Fox was not the victor the scriptwriters had in mind for this 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. In fact, he might arrive in the winner’s circle as the most compelling evidence against the scriptwriters, beating out hometown kid Tommy Fleetwood and major-winner-in-waiting Cam Young and new-dad Sam Burns en route to his narrative-altering win.

And yet there was something fitting about his run to the title on Sunday evening at this Open Championship, about the tears that fell in scoring as he talked with his parents shortly after that victory was complete. An exceedingly nice guy and exceedingly normal golfer winning a week in which golf showed its impressive penchant to be anything but nice or normal.

I'm going to dive into the Tour Confidential panel here, then circle back on the D.A.D. man.

Ryan Fox birdied four of his last six holes to shoot 68 and win the Open Championship by one over Cameron Young and claim his first major title. How did Fox, who shot 62 on Saturday, rule the weekend and win the Claret Jug?

Josh Sens: As in every Open, conditions mattered and Fox took advantage of some relatively

benign ones on Saturday. More importantly, though, he stayed patient. The quirks of Royal Birkdale drove some guys crazy this week. Fox, by contrast, stayed cool even when he got a couple of terrible bunker breaks coming down the stretch. That was especially impressive, as was the way he stuck with his (wonderfully) brisk routine. A lot of guys get out of rhythm when they’re trying to close. Fox stayed in his rhythm.

Zephyr Melton: While others wilted under the pressure, Fox thrived in it. On a day when seemingly every contender struggled to hit the shots when the lights got the brightest, Fox did not. It may seem overly simplistic, but the best golfers are the ones who can perform under pressure. No one was better than Fox in that regard on Sunday.

Jessica Marksbury: Agree with the great points from my colleagues here. Fox hung in impressively on Sunday — and he suffered some adversity too. That chip shot from behind the green on 9 that came right back to his feet could have really derailed him. But he managed to get the next shot up and down for bogey. That kind of mental fortitude is everything on a major championship Sunday.

Good point from jess on that 9th hole mess up, though most of us were struck by his handling of the horrible lie in the 15th hole bunker, where he just got on with things.

Any issue with three 62s at Royal Birkdale? (And before this week, Branden Grace had the first major 62 ever at the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale.)

Sens: It’s hard to take issue with scores when everyone’s playing the same course. But I do wish they had found a way to keep some of the juice in the rough, despite the dry conditions. Ideally, I think, there should be more punishment for driving it wildly in an Open than there was this week.

Melton: I don’t have an issue with it. Despite the flurry of 62s, the winner still took 270 strokes, one less than at Aronimink, which got rave reviews from fans. While low scores were out there, they had to be earned. Good shots were rewarded and bad shots were punished. That’s all you can ask for.

Marksbury: No issues with the low scores. Sometimes the overseas weather bestows some gifts. And, as we witnessed, the course was still capable of baring some teeth.

I suspect that they were as surprised as we were about how the rough played.  While admitting how hard it is to get things right, I was frustrated by the softness of the greens.  We heard all week about controlling the run-out on the ball, but at the same time the greens were target practice, with balls spinning back.

Still, with three 62's, one would have expected the winning score to be further under par.  And the place looked tough enough for guys like Sam and Si Woo coming down the stretch.

Shall we spend a few moments on Bryson?  First the TC's muddled take:

Before Fox lifted the Claret Jug on Sunday, Bryson DeChambeau was the talk of the tournament with his Friday penalty and the dramatics that followed it. Opinions of the penalty (and how Bryson handled the situation) flooded in from fans, players and analysts. How would you sum up Bryson’s week? Was it a net positive or negative?

Sens: I would think it was a huge net positive in social-media followers, which is all that counts these days, right?

Melton: Positive for his YouTube channel, that’s for sure. I’m sure he’ll give us a breakdown of his thoughts on his channel. Be sure to smash that like button and hit subscribe to hear more.

Marksbury: Probably a net positive in terms of the general public and support from his fans, but if Rory McIlroy’s sentiments about the situation are any indication, it could be a possible net negative with his pro golf peers.

Let's take first things first, I caught his play on No. 5 on tape and was gasping at his aggressive movements around the ball, much like Rory's reaction.   His whole reaction was off-putting and to this observer part of larger integrity issue in our game, as the guys feel entitled to drop each of their fourteen clubs behind their balls to tamp down rough.  I'll even take the incoming to note that Scottie Scheffler is one of the bigger offenders in this regard, so I'll just leave you with that marker.

As for the threat to pull out of the tournament, don't let the door hit you on the way out, Bryson.  We've been completely OK with you in your golf cone of silence, and won't miss you at the majors either.  They feel entitled to improve their lies and then they feel entitled to act like spoiled children, entitling me to ignore them.

Rory McIlroy didn’t hold back when asked for his opinion on DeChambeau’s Friday drama, saying, “I’m not particularly fond of him. I think a lot of it’s performative. I think a lot of it’s for attention.” There’s an obvious history between these two, but was this fair from McIlroy? Or crossing the line?

Sens: Fair game for McIlroy to share his thoughts when asked for them. I think the forthrightness was refreshing. I’d quibble with Rory’s assertion that DeChambeau was holding the tournament hostage. The uncertainty around tee times was overblown, I thought. You’re playing the weekend in the Open Championship. Do you really have other plans? Go to bed early, get up early and be ready to go. A grizzly old-timer might be left to conclude that not knowing whether you’re teeing off at 11 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. is what qualifies as adversity for today’s pros.

Melton: Is it fair to call the content king Bryson “performative?” Absolutely. Everything he does is for the cameras. I don’t take any issue with his behavior being called out.

Marksbury: I do think it’s a bit ungentlemanly to publicly air your dislike for another player like that. And I don’t understand how DeChambeau’s situation delayed the release of tee times. But for Rory and Bryson, there’s some history fueling the bad blood here. As for Bryson’s “performative” antics, well, the whole situation was fairly dramatic. I’m not sure how much was driven by heat-of-the-moment passion for an alleged injustice, or Bryson’s desire to milk the moment for his personal brand. Maybe a little of both.

Talk about taking a head fake, Josh....  The point of the hostage allegation wasn't the tee times.  It's that a major player threatened the establishment with a withdrawal if they didn't rule in his favor.  Pulling that s**t was never likely to work on the R&A, but are we so confident in our other golf organizations?

And Jess is more upset by Rory's reaction than by Bryson trying to take the 154th Open hostage?  Strange priorities, girl.

But are you open to the premise that these guys are clinically insane?  Or maybe I' just over-interpreting their sense of entitlement.  Because, well, Earth to Bryson (from the Geoff' link above):

DeChambeau Wanted Trump To Join Penalty Discussion

While making his case against a two-stroke penalty for violating Rule 8.1 following Friday’s second round, Bryson DeChambeau asked rules officials to bring President Donald Trump into the chippy conversation.

Sources with knowledge of the thirty-minute discussion said DeChambeau wanted the President to join a campaign against the eventual two-stroke penalty that ultimately dropped his score from 66 to 68. The request came after DeChambeau had already been given a rare bit of special dispensation to return to the scene where he’d stomped around tall fescue rough in his backswing. (The R&A’s hard card states that “a player’s scorecard is officially returned to the Committee when the player has physically left the recording office/area.”)

After returning from the fifth hole scene in a R&A Executive Director of Governance Grant Moir, and DP World Tour referee Mark Litton, DeChambeau and the officials reconvened in the Recorders trailer. They were R&A Chief Executive Mark Darbon and Executive Director of Championships Johnnie Cole-Hamilton. During the thirty-minute session, DeChambeau had still not signed his scorecard and late finishers coming off the 18th green were not able to sign for their rounds, causing tee time processing to be delayed until nearly midnight. DeChambeau was pleading his case and wanted the President of the United States to weigh in.

The request was denied, as were DeChambeau’s pleas not to penalize him for the breach.

Did he think the R&A gave him a red card?

A couple more bits from The TC gang:

Who won the Open Championship without winning the Open Championship?

Sens: On the one hand, hometown favorite Tommy Fleetwood had to be disappointed not to make a Sunday run. But he also spoke of the memories he made, the experiences you can’t buy, and how much they meant to him. Coming from another player, a cynic might read that as a crushed soul trying to rationalize. But I get the sense that Fleetwood was being entirely sincere.

Melton: How about Casey Jarvis with his first-career major top 10? This was his first Open start, and he performed well enough to qualify for next year at St. Andrews. I’d say that’s a pretty great week.

Marksbury: Both great picks. I’ll second Tommy. The hometown hero was in the conversation throughout and birdied his last two holes on Sunday. Not a win, of course, but that had to feel pretty good.

It was a sweet week for Tommy Lad, though he may be from there, but he is certainly not of Royal Birkdale.  Seems like that little bit was underreported this week.

I think the most complicated reaction will be to Sam Burns, as I still can't get my thoughts around him.  he hung in after those three straight bogeys, but just seems to struggle on his important Sundays.  The contrast with his playing partner yesterday couldn't have been starker.

And who’s the most upset wondering what could have been leaving the final major of the season?

Josh Sens: Scottie Scheffler, the defending champ. With even a halfway decent week with the putter, he could have won by several shots.

Melton: Absolutely Scottie. He hit the ball well enough to put on a repeat performance of last year, but his putter was ice cold. Tough way to end the major season for the world No. 1.

Marksbury: Cameron Young. He bogeyed 18, then held the clubhouse lead for more than two hours, with a playoff looking imminent, before finally being crushed by the tournament’s very last putt. That makes eight career top-10s in the majors — and the pursuit of his first major continues.

Cam will be disappointed for sure, though hard to be overly upset with a 64.  He'll replay No. 18 in his mind until April for sure.

I've opined on Scottie previously, the frustration seems to erupt with great frequency these days.

That's most upset.  For most depressed I nominate your humble blogger, who will struggle with the knowledge that the next meaningful golf is nine months away.

Have a great week, but don't expect to see me, as way too much golf is on the swchedule.

Weekend Wrap - West Lancashire Edition

Yeah, I suspect that Weekend Wrap header will prove to be more of a head fake....  I did watch the Scottish, though spent more time tuned to the Wimbledon men's Final than the golf.  Mostly I just tuned in to see the camera shots looking North across the Firth of Forth, where the bride and I will be in a mere four weeks.

Shall we speak of Birkdale?  Yes, good to see you finally getting the hang of these rhetorical questions.  The first bit is always the green vs. brown query.  There's joy to be had, as this pic from Geoff will demonstrate:

Be still my foolish heart.

That's a more interesting photo than it may seem, as the player hitting is Jordan Spieth in his first visit to Birkdale's 13th hole since 2017, when he made an unremarkable bogey.  Here we see him on the left side of the fairway, virgin territory for him.

Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, and Cameron Young were among the top names out on a sizzling

82-degree Sunday at Royal Birkdale. A strong turnout of spectators dialed in their pinkmaxxing, while the fescues of all heights continued to transition from beige to that (almost) sickly shade of grey that means one thing: a fiery links for the year’s final major.

If you have been hankering for a 2006-style Hoylake and St Andrews four years ago didn’t quench your thirst for dusty divots, then 2026 Birkdale should do the trick. The turf is still spectacular but about as dry, firm, and fast as any rota venue since the Old Course. The taller unmown roughs won’t pose the challenge of nine years ago, but in spots the fescue could trip up a few players from time to time. (See the dreaded rough ball-toss video below.)

The only downer might be this:

Forecasts continue to call for very tame winds.

Still time for that to change....

Geoff has a couple of preview videos at that link.  I went in a slightly different direction today, my mind traveling back to 2010.  We spent ten days in Southport playing the best of the Lancashire Coast.  I documented that trip on a friend's website and, as you may have heard, the Internet is forever.

I'll spare you the links because the piece is overly long and needed a strong edit.  Today's kids would give it a deserved TL:DR, but it has its moments.  I lead with this quote:

For those only vaguely familiar with the term, “links golf” refers to a very specific variant of the game that is found only on seaside courses in the British Isles and Ireland. The British Golf Museum defines linksland this way:

A stretch of land near the coast on which the game is played, characterized by undulating terrain, often associated with dunes, infertile sandy soil, and indigenous grasses such as marram, sea lyme, and the fescues and bents which, when properly managed, produce the fine, textured, tight turf for which links are famed.

To add some color to this accurate, if somewhat clinical, definition, let me quote from “To the Linksland,” Sports Illustrated columnist Michael Bamberger’s homage to Scotland:

Do you know what I mean when I say linksland? Linksland is the old Scottish word for the earth at the edge of the sea — tumbling, duney, sandy, covered by beach grasses. When the light hits it, and the breeze sweeps over it, you get every shade of green and brown, and always, in the distance, is the water. The land was long considered worthless, except to the shepherds and their sheep and the rabbits, and to the early golfers. You see, the game comes out of the ocean, just like man himself!

Only four weeks!

 My comments on Birkdale were reasonably brief, including this:

As we first approached Southport in the fading light of early evening, we suddenly found ourselves driving through spectacular dunes comparable to the dramatic dunes of Western Ireland (sufficiently distracting that my wife felt compelled to remind me to keep my eyes on the road). These were the Ainsdale Sand Dunes, a National Nature Reserve and home to our three favorite courses of the trip. First amongst this memorable troika is Royal Birkdale, universally and deservedly considered the finest of England's British Open venues. Birkdale is an extremely fair test of golf, with surprisingly flat fairways winding amidst the tall dunes. It has many memorable driving holes, where the player has alternative lines available to avoid the strategically placed fairway bunkers.

It can seem perhaps a bit Americanized, with perhaps too many tee shots needing to be placed between bunkers on both sides of the fairway, but we are very much picking nits here.

I also had this:

Birkdale immediately vaults into my Top 10 links courses and warrants only a couple of demerits on its scorecard, the most significant of which is temporary. Birkdale is not particularly close to the water, with the Irish Sea visible from only a couple of the elevated tee boxes. Therefore, the delightful sense of the sea as a constant companion during a round, such as at a Royal Dornoch or Ballybunion, is missing. As for the clubhouse, built in the 1930s and designed to evoke an ocean liner, we’ll consider that an acquired taste.

 But more knowledgeable and gifted writes have these takes on the venue:

Standing within a glorious expanse of dunes on the Lancashire coast, Royal Birkdale has been the setting for more championships and international matches than any other British course since the end of World War II—not even St Andrews has been as richly endowed. Without the variety of Muirfield or [Royal County Down], the charm of St George’s or the subtleties of St Andrews, Birkdale has nonetheless tested the mighty and produced champions of enduring stature. Pat Ward-Thomas

Many of the tees are high up on the sand hills, exposed to the full fury of winds that steadily lash the area. Others are comparatively sheltered, but when the ball soars up from the shelter, it receives a sudden, mighty buffeting, and unless it is perfectly struck, it will be carried far off line into that ferocious scrub bordering the fairways. Henry Longhurst

The great panorama of hills is most beautiful, and to sit on the top of one of them in the sunshine and see the cloud shadows flitting across that noble expanse is one of the pleasantest things in life. Bernard Darwin

Royal Birkdale...lies only two sneezes and three coughing spells from the redbrick seaside town of Southport, England, where people go to enjoy the icy mist and sit on beach chairs in the mud and stare at incoming squalls. Dan Jenkins

Been a while since we've quoted Dan Jenkins....

Shall we do one of Geoff's Birkdale by the numbers?

Birkdale By The Numbers

• 1889: Birkdale Golf Club formed at its original location

• 1897: Club leases land for new location at today’s site

• 1922: Club secures long-term lease from Sefton Council

• 1951: Receives Royal title

• 10: Previous Open Championships (1954, 1961, 1965, 1971, 1976, 1983, 1991, 1998, 2008, 2017)

• 1965: Year Birkdale hosted the Ryder Cup and The Open

• 37: Total major championships won by Birkdale’s Champion Golfers of the Year

• 8: Architects who have worked on the course (George Lowe, F.G. Hawtree and J.H. Taylor, Fred Hawtree, Donald Steel, Martin Hawtree, Tom MacKenzie and Martin Ebert)

• 7,223: 154th Open course yardage (7,156 in 2017)

• 70: Par (Par-73 in the 1954, 1965, 1971 Opens, Par-72 for the 1961 and 1976 Opens, Par-71 in 1983, Par 70 for Opens in 1991, 1998, 2008, and 2017)

• 3,394 vs. 3,829: Front nine (34) vs. back nine (36) yardage

• 1 of 2: Rota courses with nines returning to the clubhouse (Muirfield)

• 108: Bunkers (123 in 2017)

• 0: Bunkers to the rear of greens

• 1: Donut bunker (restored to original size on No. 7)

• 12: Bunkers on the 14th hole

• 10th: Fairway will play as out-of-bounds from the 9th tee

• 49: Feet above sea level of the highest property point (Clubhouse)

• 21: Feet above sea level of the lowest property point (6th fairway)

• 6: Holes with water in play

• 3: Returning holes significantly shortened since 2017 (Nos. 5, 7, 16)

• 151-186-219-241: Official yardages of the four par-3s

• £495: Unaccompanied visitor guest fee

 There are six holes with water in play?  That's kinda news to me, though 2010 was a long time ago.

I had completely forgotten those 1965 events.  The Euros are a bit strange, as they not only took back-to-back Ryder Cups to Birkdale, but they had back in the day taken back-to-back Ryder Cups to Southport & Ainsdale, which abuts Royal Birkdale.  Four Ruder Cups with a few hundred yards seems, well, overkill?

There's no shortage of great reads, first Geoff's take on that Spieth bogey:

He was trying to hit it there!

That may be the strangest byproduct of Jordan Spieth’s surreal Royal Birkdale expedition of nine years ago. His odd route to a 13th hole bogey took Spieth into the steepest and deadliest dunes on

the course before ending up dropping amidst equipment trucks to produce what remains the Best Bogey By A Leading Man In A Modern Major.

To all who believe he tried to hit it there, I have bad news: he did not. Also, the moon landing was not filmed in Burbank, and New Coke was never a ploy to make us drink Old Coke. And while we’re at it, the Golf Illuminati did not remove OB stakes surrounding the range and then whisper in young Spieth’s ear to bank a drive off some unsuspecting ticketholder’s head to gain a better path to the green while taking over 10 minutes for officials to sort out an unplayable ruling that would freeze out Matt Kuchar’s final-round comeback bid.

The entire episode has since taken on a strange life. The weird theories may coarsen this week during the 154th Open now that another row of dunes has magically erupted out of the practice range border. Right where Spieth took his drop in the 2017 Open Championship.

The cover-up is always worse than the crime.

Shack even had a cameo in the proceedings:

 Can you spot him?

But perhaps this is the most important takeaway:

The R&A has installed out-of-bounds over in Spiethland that also wasn’t there before. The club’s driving range will be serving as the 154th’s Fan Village and requires a defined boundary on the off-off-off-chance someone blows a tee shot even farther right and induces another “where to drop” saga as picnicking patrons enjoy their fish & chips.

Though perhaps Birkdale's biggest moment was this:

Arnold Palmer’s win at The Open Championship in 1961 at Royal Birkdale is the stuff of legend

When The Open Championship returns this July to the northwest coast of England, about an hour north of Liverpool, it’s hard not to remember the heroics of Arnold Palmer, who was at the peak of his powers, 65 years ago.

“I wanted this championship more than anything in my life,” he said upon winning. “But anything you want real bad is awfully hard to get.”

Americans had won The Open before Palmer’s title in 1961, most notably Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones, who took seven titles collectively from 1922 to 1930. Gene Sarazen won in 1932, Sam Snead in 1946 and Ben Hogan in 1953. But Palmer’s victory popularized the significance of The Open as a major title.

There's a plaque on the 15th hole (although I believe that hole has been changed) honoring this shot:

When Palmer’s tee shot at the par-4 15th came to rest behind a blackberry bush, his lead suddenly

was in doubt. Although the ball was barely off the fairway, it might as well have been a mile off line because of the deep stuff. Longhurst described the lie as in “the bottom of a small sandy bank, buried deep in some blackberry bushes.” The prudent play would have been to take his medicine and muscle a wedge sideways back to the fairway and a clear shot at the green and hope to salvage par.

His usual caddie in The Open, Tip Anderson, urged him to do just that. But Palmer had other ideas. He saw a shot that others could not see. Palmer switched from a 7- to a 6-iron and “whipped the club down and through the ball with such velocity that the shaft of the club was barely visible,” wrote Herbert Warren Wind, the longtime golf writer for The New Yorker.

The result was impeccable: The ball bore through the breeze and stopped 15 feet from the hole.

This is why he was The King.  He performed a huge service for our game in traveling to St. Andrews in 1960, where he was rewarded with a heartbreaking one-shot loss to Kel Nagle.  he responded by making the arduous journey the next two years, and winning both times.  Then, when he didn't return to St. Andrews for the 1964 Open, he offered Tip Anderson to Tony Lema, who proceeded to win.

At the link above, Geoff has some details on the substantial changes made to Royal Birkdale, summarized here:

The key changes to know about since Jordan Spieth’s 2017 victory:

• Redesign and shortening of the par-4 5th

• Shortening and major redesign of the par-3 7th

• Modifications to the 13th hole landing area

• Removal of the par-3 14th

• Remodeling of the existing par-5 15th into the new 14th hole

• A completely new par-three 15th.

• A shortened par-4 16th

• New bunkering on the 18th fairway

Geoff also details Brandon Grace's 62 in 2017, the first in major championship history, duplicated three times since.  The changes are so substantial as to lead to this result:

After multiple course changes since 2017, Grace’s round will no longer be considered the competitive course record once a new mark is set during the 154th Open. With a lack of rough or significant distance added to the course, plus the uncontrollable explosion of pure, unadulterated athleticism in the years since, expect even shorter approach irons than Grace hit in 2017.

I guess we'll find out whether firm and fast will control scoring, even in the absence of wind.

Did you watch the Scottish Open?  It's become quite the raging success, what with the co-sanctioning by both the DP World Tour and PA Tours.  But that brave ne world that Brian Rolapp is fisting on us comes with some risks:

Rory McIlroy has urged the PGA Tour to "be careful" with the future of the Scottish Open when it introduces its two-tier format in 2028.

Under the new system, the schedules for the Championship - which will contain the PGA Tour's leading players - and the second-tier Challenger series will run concurrently.

Championship players will not be able to feature in Challenger events and vice versa, although anyone who wins two Challenger events in the same season will gain immediate promotion to the Championship.

The Scottish Open would not qualify for Championship status so, while 14 of the world's top 20 are competing at this week's tournament at Renaissance Club, many of those big-name players could be ineligible to play in the tournament from 2028 under the new rules.

Bob MacIntyre, Scotland's leading player, called for "exceptions" to be made for his home Open when the new schedule is implemented.

"We've got to be careful with that because then these national opens lose the fabric of what they are," said McIlroy, the two-time Masters champion.

"You can't call yourself a national open any more if it's a closed-off tournament and there's a certain number of guys.

"These events need to be treated differently than the Travelers Championship or RBC Heritage or whatever else is going to be in the Championship series."

The real problem is that the powers that be don't see the difference between the Scottish and the Travelers.....  Remember, it's just a product.

That will have to do you for today.  As always, the blogging schedule remains undefined.  Have a great week and enjoy the ccontrolled descent into Birkdale.

Weekend Wrap - Day Late Edition

To be fair, it was the Tour that finished a day late....

It was quite the weird Sunday of golf, with both major events derailing TV schedules.  Apparently some Yankee fans were angered that NBC stayed with the rain-delayed Travelers in lieu of the Yankees-Re Sox game but, given the Bronx Bombers recent form, that seems more merciful than triggering.

I prefer to discuss other matters, so let's dispense quickly with the actual results.  First, Hartford:

Scottie Scheffler misses short putt to lose Travelers playoff to Viktor Hovland

Twelve hours before Scottie Scheffler stood over a 4-footer to extend a Monday playoff at the Travelers Championship, he had faced a putt twice that length just to force one.

Now, with Hovland in the house at 21 under, Scheffler needed a 8-footer to finish on the same number. With the tournament on the line in the dying moments of Sunday evening, Scheffler drained the putt, following it into the hole with a fist pump and appearing for the moment to seize the momentum heading into a Monday playoff with Hovland.

But then, 12 hours later, there Scheffler was again on the same hole, staring down another putt with the same stakes on the line. It didn’t seem like much — an 8-footer for birdie with a touch of left-to-right break — and yet the enormity of the moment was lost on nobody: a make and the tournament would continue; a miss and Scheffler would head home the loser.

Scheffler seemed at worst very likely to make his putt, but in reality it was more of a coin flip: The Tour make-rate from the same distance is 50% to 54%, depending upon the year (53.55% this year) — and that’s leaving out the stress of putting with a Signature title on the line.

Scheffler stepped to his putt, settled and gave it a good stroke, watching as the ball headed toward the hole. But he’d hit it too hard. The ball caught the left edge of the cup, looping around and out. A lip-out for the loss.

Well, that bears no relation to my 21-hour old memory.  It was to me more like three-four feet, and I don't remember it catching any of the edge.  But, once Viktor's putt lipped in from the low side, my Spidey Sense kicked into the red zone, and I knew Scottie would miss.

The more significant event was the ladies' PGA, but that of course had to be buried at Hazeltine.  Here's Geoff's lede on the event:

Haeran Ryu Wins The KPMG Women's PGA

Of course, women's majors have their own tortured history, as Geoff can't help but introduce in his game account:

It wouldn’t be a major championship at Hazeltine National without some quirky drama.

Chased by Nelly Korda in pursuit of her third straight major victory, Haeran Ryu overcame a rain

delay, front-nine traffic that saw her lose the lead, and only minor signs of rust caused by an unexpected mid-season surgery, to win the KPMG Women’s PGA by two

In Thursday’s opening round—which also happened to be Ryu’s first start in six weeks—the 25-year-old opened with 73, leaving her a record-tying 10 strokes behind 63-shooter Ina Yoon. But with subsequent rounds of 64-68-70, Ryu ended up two clear of Yoon after making up 12 shots in 54 holes.

“Feels like dreams come true right now,” Ryu said after being dowsed by champagne on the 18th green. “I’m so happy right now. And thanks for God.”

The ten-shot deficit Ryu overcame tied the most in any women’s major. If you remember the other one, well, please leave your brain to science.

In the 1964 Women’s Western Open at Scenic Hills CC in Pensacola—yep, that was a major for 37 years—Carol Mann opened with a less than stellar 83 and trailed Ruth Jessen by 10 and went on to win. (Fun Final Golf Jeopardy answer: Scenic Hills is the only Florida course to host a U.S. Women’s Open, won by Donna Caponi in 1969.)

Well, Nelly was never going to win them all, though there wasn't enough chase in her to make things interesting.  And the last thing the LPGA needs is another unknown Korean major winner but, as a wise man said, it is what it is.

Shall we get to some more interesting stuff?  

Open Leftovers - Geoff has posted his usual follow-ups, and we'll start with his Champions:

Shinnecock Hills, the architecture. Ninety-five years after William Flynn’s dramatic reimagining of the property, the course continues to wow with a perfect mix of holes: long, medium, short, uphill, downhill, playing in a mix of directions and featuring just as many moments of engineered brilliance (Nos. 1-8, 14-17) and seemingly found rollicking wonders. incorporating sea-shaped rolling land (9, 10-12, 18). It’s not the course’s fault that modern green speeds, juiced equipment, and other “progress” often turns the focus away from the ingeniousness of each piece in the amazing puzzle. Thankfully, the setup showed off the course this time instead of detracting from one of America’s masterpieces.

OK, that's a take.  I should probably reread my cranky take from last Monday, but I found the week mostly lifeless.  It seemed to this observer that, based on Thursday and Saturday wind forecasts, that the USGA erred on the conservative side this year, and I battled boredom for the four days.

But Geoff giveth and Geoff taketh, as he adds this from his Cutmakers post:

Shinnecock Hills as a modern championship venue. The architecture remains supreme and the course still “tests” the world’s best in our juiced equipment era. But an excessive amount of

energy is required to inject the U.S. Open edge while maintaining the dreaded “fairness.” The USGA setup team and Shinnecock Hills crew did a miraculous job of keeping the course tough and still reasonable to play. But even with putting surfaces kept slower (and therefore bumpier), a majority of the greens see little dispersion in hole placements. The only solution would be to rebuild the greens and deaden slopes to create more cup options. (That should never be a solution for one week of golf every decade or so.) As impressive as the setup was in preventing any questions about equity, it’s hard to imagine how they’ll manage things in 2036 with even greater strides in equipment and agronomic practices. Thankfully, they have time.

Well, isn't that what I was getting at?

This is from his Champions column as well, but the most famous hole on the property was, well, kind of neutered:

The Par-3s. Shinnecock’s sinister one-shotters seemed more reasonable this time thanks to the USGA team’s setup measures and lessons learned from the last two Opens. The infamous Redan 7th played as well as it could, given the way double-digit Stimpmeter speeds force a tight bubble of hole locations. This makes what’s supposed to be an option-filled hole a bit one-dimensional for a course with so many layers. Using the left-hand tee three of four days helped, too.

This is obviously about the broader issues of making any venue capable of holding elite competitions.  But we have an Open Championship at the Old Course next year, and we'll be dealing with these same kinds of issue.  While oceanside golf is to this observer the purest form of the game, one quickly sees the issue with elite competitions.   

There's no solution, so let's get back to our snark, which is at least fun.

This is oddly from his Cutmaker category:

LIV and the U.S. Open. In what increasingly looks like the last U.S. Open awarding spots to LIV-affiliated golfers, six of 13 made the cut. They were a combined +39. Seven others went home early, including Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Cameron Smith. The two exemptions graciously granted to the fading operation can now be returned. They’ll be better spent on Final Qualifying spots where the success rate was higher.

Excuse me, Geoff, but LIV had a devastating week.  Bitterly clinging to unrealistic dreams of privately financing their fever dream, they put on a demonstration of what happens to careers when players stop grinding.  Not pretty, is it?

The only LIV guy to show any form was this guy, though he showed other form as well, rendering his placement in the Winners post a major category error:

Joaquin Niemann. Even with an 11 on the card, a bruised ego, and signs he’s surrounded by a

neurotic team that tried to claim coverage of his club hurling was all part of some grand ant-LIV conspiracy, the Chilean posted a final round 66 to finish T7. After an opening 78 with a two-stroke penalty for hurling a club, Niemann played the final three days in seven-under-par thanks to 15 birdies. In becoming the poster child for Code of Conduct policies deemed necessary in the pro game after too many brats have shown a lack of concern for courses or people, Niemann became the first contestant in U.S. Open history to shoot as high as 8-over in the first round and finish the championship as low as 1-over. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the only other time a player made a 10 or higher in the U.S. Open and finished among the Top 10 was back in 1895—when the field went a whopping 11 deep and players didn’t have “teams”. John Reid, who finished 10th, made a 12 on the sixth hole in the second round. Fun fact: his caddie also did not try to call a reporter a liar for simply quoting a witness whose observations were backed up by…Joaquin Niemann.

Good on him for his play after the fact, but how was this anything but a disaster for LIV?

Geoff is certainly onto something here:

Late finishes. Championship golf benefits from “prime time” finishes by showing the sport to larger audiences. But in an era when so many golf fans are playing the game and ticket prices

have hit new highs, it’s increasingly common to see empty grandstands and a vacated property late in the day. Golf fans are morning people and people have lives. The rounds are way too long and not particularly easy for fans to justify hanging around until sunset. In 2026 alone, we’ve seen properties clear out at Augusta National, Aronimink, Riviera, and Shinnecock Hills even when big names are wrapping up play. The look is terrible. Since the perks for television to finish late are well-established, organizations need to ponder cheap, after-4 pm tickets and other perks for fans who stick around. “It was kind of unfortunate that we’re finishing in the dark and people weren’t really out there because there were some obviously key, big moments, and it did get a little flat,” Clark said of Saturday’s finish in front of a few hundred people. “I still felt the moment. It’s just maybe unfortunate that there weren’t all the people there.” That was a kind assessment. It was embarrassing for a U.S. Open. As was the round taking over four-and-a-half hours…in twosomes.

I called the week lifeless, and this was a contributing factor.  Obviously the late finishes work better with Left Bank venues, but I've long been puzzled by the USGA's love of Fathers' Day weekend.  The long days are great for getting your field around the course (and I don't take the large fields for granted these days),  but June is agronomically challenging at many venues and here's another factor in play.

But let's bring the heat with his (Point) Missers post:

Whatever that was. The weekend antics amounted to something far more complex and perverse

than simply chalking up the rudeness to Islanders being Islanders (again). There were no issues the first few days, and much of the crowd was not from Long Island. The galleries seemed pretty wonderful the first few days. They knew good golf and seemed genuinely appreciative to watch the best take on a magnificent course. But Sunday will be remembered as the most bizarre fan behavior in modern golf history (Old Tom v. Willie at Musselburgh has its own special place). The circumstances, allegiances and crowd demographics were different than last fall’s Ryder Cup, making the situation even more perplexing given the supposed lack of partisanship. These were Americans turning on an American playing his own ball and getting no empathy from his fellow playing competitor as jaggoffs hurled insults and entire grandstands cheered misfortune. For all of the overserved nimrods who live a tad too vicariously through the inbred-adjacent grievance machine (who are dear friends of the USGA!), the hostility toward good play was hard to believe. A massive number of seemingly traditional U.S. Open fans applauded poor outcomes and would not acknowledge Clark’s great shots. Early in the round, some of this could be chalked up to the size of his (six-stroke) lead. Maybe fans just wanted a close contest in the same way a tennis crowd can sometimes turn against someone running away with a match. Underlying factors may also include the perception that golfers are overpaid and are now fair game for heckling in the same ways fan abuse has surfaced in other sports. Clark kindly, even admirably, blamed it on the fans rooting for his playing partner pursuing the career Grand Slam (on Father’s Day, ICYMI). But the crowds were hardly sounding like the new Arnie’s Army in willing Scheffler to a win over the pesky young Nicklaus.

Just a really off-putting week.

See what you think of this take:

Scottie Scheffler. Golfers have never been the most dazzling sector of pro athletics. But they’ve always been revered by fans, sponsors, and other athletes because of their graciousness and uncanny tendency to act like no other athletes. Some of the classiness is a product of golf’s slow pace, which allows for sportsmanship instincts to take in, say, a long birdie putt from the fairway and pulling out a white flag to wave in mock surrender. Or conceding a putt that’ll leave the contest tied and the greater purpose of a team match from becoming something chippier than a goodwill exhibition. At Shinnecock, Scottie Scheffler was repeatedly given the opportunity to add himself to the list of all-time greats who also could read the room. Turns out, he ultimately wanted to win the U.S. Open more than sticking up for his fellow competitor and the right thing to do. He chalked up the harassment of Clark up to being in “the arena.” Sure, maybe in ultimate fighting. But this is golf. Sadly, his veteran caddie and man of faith also chose winning at all costs over dignity. Thankfully, Clark rose above it all to prevent the 126th from being remembered as the championship where fans cost someone a win.

Yeah, he's on to something here....  I saw Scotties comments, though I did not see what Ted Scott may have said.  I'm of two minds here, because crowd control isn't Scottie's job.  On the other hand, though, he ends up excusing the inexcusable.  And, come to think of it, what was Scottie saying at Bethpage?

This, I agree, is totally pout of hand:

Mashing and tapping. Any time Scheffler has a lie in the rough, he presses the grass down behind the ball to test the lie instead of accepting his fate. Any time Clark had a short putt, he began using his mallet to smooth the green without actually repairing damage, as the rules require. Scheffler too. The 2019 changes to the Rules destroyed “play it as it lies,” so now it has come to the thing the rules world feared most: players smoothing out their lines because no one wants to call them out.

Scottie is deep into Patrick Reed territory here....

The Schedule -  I haven't blogged the schedule announcement, so let's draft on the Tour Confidential panel to see what we think:

It’s official: beginning in 2028, the PGA Tour will witness the biggest shift in its competitive structure in decades, a plan that’s been long teased and was further rolled out by Tour CEO Brian Rolapp at the Travelers Championship. There’s lots to break down — you can read up on all of it here — but in short it’s two different tracks (a Championship Series and Challenger Series) with more schedule certainty and promotion/relegation. Let’s keep it simple: Will it work? And is it an improvement?

Josh Sens: It doesn’t solve the biggest problem, which is that so many players expect to get paid more than they’re worth in the market. I don’t see that going away. But this is definitely an

improvement in the simplicity at the top and clarity of the schedule. Players know at the start of the season where and when they’ll be playing, and fans do, too. The relegation – and elevation – paths are also more straightforward. The total number of main events will be (slightly) fewer as well, which is good. The world does not need more professional golf. It needs more interesting events. On that front, how can you not like the shift to match play to determine the season-ending playoff winner?

Josh Berhow: It does seem like an improvement, and I’ll admit I wasn’t a huge fan of this a couple of months ago (it seemed like still too much golf). But with more clarity now, I’m optimistic. I like that every event will know where it stands and fans can eventually figure out at which tournaments they’ll see Scottie Scheffler and at which ones they will not. And the match play tweak is a good addition. I can see why they shied away from it over the years but it’s time for a change and some added juice. Maybe they get lucky and get some marquee matchups along the way. Match play is simply too much fun, and too essential to golf’s history, to not be played more on the top tour.

Josh Schrock: It’s for sure an improvement. The PGA Tour was in desperate need of a shakeup that made its competitive model easier to understand instead of just being a large number of individual tournaments that lead to a convoluted postseason event that is hard to understand. Promotion and relegation is a system that is easy for every fan to understand and gives clear stakes to every tournament. Having a defined schedule for players on both tracks is a bonus for them. Having a clear structure that determines the best player of the season, rewards them and then goes into a match-play postseason is a huge win if the Tour can pull it off. I’m very optimistic about these changes and they come at a time when the Tour needs to elevate interest to get as big a chunk of the TV pie as they can as the NFL prepares to renegotiate.

There is so much BS contained in all these discussions, mostly around this issue of where the guys will play. But riddle me this, Batman, did we not know where Tiger would play pre-LIV? They keep telling us that they've solved a problem that never existed. Boy, these guys are good!

We always had important events and lesser events, but what we've lost is the competition amongst the events.  We always saw the fortunes of events ebb and flow, Torrey became important when Tiger played there but has faded since..... Honda had a renaissance for a few years, then waned.... That was an important feature that has been lost.

The schedule certainty helps the players, but is insignificant for the rest of us.  To me, the only bits that really matter are the following:

1. Field size!  120 isn't great, but it's one hell of an improvement over 70.
2. Putting the FedEx Cup out of our misery.

Maybe I'm forgetting something else, but isn't that about all they've done.  The FedEx Cup nonsense was all about their inability to choose between a season-long competition and a shootout, so now the football guy seems to have figured that out.  But the format is very much TBD, and they will quickly discern that match-play has limitations.

Time to nitpick. What don’t you like? Or what still needs work?

Berhow: For this to work I think it needs to be cutthroat and I like that sponsor exemptions are being eliminated, although I’m curious if certain players will be grandfathered in (through career exemptions created) to make sure they are on the more desirable tour. If that’s the case I hope it’s not too generous because that’s how the sponsor exemption craze became an issue to begin with.

Schrock: I agree with Berhow. There seems to potentially be some wiggle room for big name players to drop out but be placed back into the Championship Series through career exemptions. Those need to be few and far between or else the Tour risks having this all fall flat. How good you are at getting the ball in the hole should determine what Tour you are on. I don’t want to see Tony Finau or Jordan Spieth or Popular Player X finish 110 on the Championship Series and not have to go down to the Challenger Series unless there’s a good reason. Career exemptions should have a high bar and be able to be used one time.

Sens: Good points above. On a non-structural note, no serious effort to improve pro golf is complete without addressing the problem of pace of play. The game, like baseball before it, needs to pick it up. Rolapp’s from the NFL. Maybe they could institute a pass rush. At the very least, enforce the play clock mercilessly and without exception. I hope an announcement like that is coming next.

Good catch on the Career Exemption bit, especially since we saw how they abused the Sponsor Exemptions to buy off the Peter Malnatis of the world when they needed their votes.

I always look at who the Tour is screwing when they make these changes.  For instance, hasn't Korn Ferry just taken it in the shorts.  They put up their millions to be the principal feeder tour for the PGA Tour, and now the Tour itself is inserting another level above them.  You effed up Korn Ferry, you trusted them.

The sponsor exemptions is also interesting, given the number of long-term contracts in which sponsors have the right to reward their endorsers.  Oh, you thought you had a contract?  Isn't that precious?

Which type of players are happiest with this schedule, and which aren’t?

Sens: The Track 1 guys are clearly the happiest as they’re guaranteed to be playing in the biggest events throughout the year. For the guys outside the top, it’s obviously the opposite. Eliminating sponsors exemptions (another good move) can’t be welcome news to certain players who have relied on their popularity more than their performance to get into events.

Schrock: I think the Track 1 guys are happy because of the defined schedule and the purses they will play for, but this is a big win for players on Track 2, especially those who would be playing on the Korn Ferry Tour or splitting their time between the two. The $4 million purses on the Challenger Series will be a big increase from the KFT and the Challenger Series gives them a clear competitive avenue to get where they want. There has to be enough churn between Track 1 and 2 to make it right, but I think almost everyone should be happy with this development outside of the players who have been feasting on sponsor exemptions, made-cut exemptions and career money exemptions while playing bad golf. They won’t be pleased.

Berhow: It’s great for the middle tier of the top-track guys (are you following?) because they are safe on the most lucrative tour. I don’t think Scottie and Rory and those guys are much worried about dropping down. Although it puts pressure on the guys closer to the 100 range. For a lot of them, their spot on one tour vs. the other has significant ramifications.

C'mon, they took care of the same guys they always take care of, themselves.

I guess let's finish with the TC:

One other juicy nugget: the Tour’s postseason will introduce match play and finish at a “prestigious” course the Tour wouldn’t otherwise use to host a full-field event. Do these mystery venues add any intrigue for your average fan?

Sens: Venues definitely matter, and not just for architecture junkies. The better courses pose more interesting questions, which makes for more interesting competitions, even if you don’t give a hoot about design. The rumors of the likes of Pine Valley, Cypress and Seminole being in the picture seem like just that. Rumors. And besides, I actually think it makes more sense for them to go to high-pedigree resort courses, somewhere the average fan can actually play. That formula works nicely at Pebble, Kohler, Pinehurst and such. There are others.

Berhow: I like the high-end public option, Sens. And venues matter, but honestly not just for fans but for players. Most of these guys are bigger golf nerds than the audience watching, so they’d love to change it up as well. Cypress Point, Pine Valley, whatever — they’d look great on TV. And many of the ones rumored are great match-play courses too.

Schrock: Venues matter a ton for the players and the fans. As excited as I am about the match play championship, that’s something the Tour has to nail with the venues it chooses. If it leaks the possibility of Pine Valley, Seminole, Cypress etc., only to end up playing at East Lake, TPC Southwind etc., that will be a big loss. I think a rotation of these exclusive courses (if they are interested), along with prestigious courses, or even unique courses we’ve rarely seen like Chambers Bay, is the right combination the Tour is looking for to nail this format. But, in short, yes, venues are the most important part of this gambit in my eyes.

To me let's just enjoy them putting a bullet in the odious FedEx Cup.   But everything else remains on the come line.....

But maybe the funniest note on the subject was this:

Tiger Woods said little in return to public eye but made his presence felt

I'll allow you to read that on your own, but apparently that presence makes itself known to a precious few.

Phil In Phull -  Phil is enjoying his latest news cycle, which caused the NY Post to remind us all of the the Pat Perez incident.  Well, really the Ashley Perez incident, as explained herin:

Six-time major champion Phil Mickelson is facing fresh scrutiny after a new report detailed

allegations that he made an inappropriate advance toward the wife of fellow golfer Pat Perez during a PGA Tour event in 2015, according to The New York Post.

The claims were published by golf journalist Alan Shipnuck in a report for Skratch. Mickelson's representatives have strongly disputed parts of the allegations while acknowledging that he has previously apologized for past mistakes.

It's a lie, yanno, unless it's one of things he's apologized for...But care to see our hero in action?

According to Shipnuck's report, the incident allegedly took place during the PGA Tour's Barclays tournament at Plainfield Country Club in New Jersey in 2015.

Mickelson had reportedly invited Perez and his then-wife, Ashley, to stay at a villa near the course. The report claimed the three were drinking wine on the patio when Perez briefly left to use the restroom.

During that time, Ashley alleged that Mickelson showed her a nude photograph of himself on his phone. According to the report, Mickelson then allegedly told her: “I’m going to leave my bedroom door open tonight. When Pat falls asleep I want you to come see me.”

What a guy! 

One of the recurring themes with Phil is the nature of his apologies and explanations.  In the latest bit he's hinted that there's video of the incident, but I suspect we'll never se it.  But this bit had me doing spit takes:

Shipnuck reported that Mickelson later apologized to Perez on two separate occasions. One apology allegedly occurred at the Madison Club in Southern California. Another reportedly took place during a 26-minute phone call after Perez remarked on a 2022 podcast that he had: “a different hate for Phil than most people.”

According to the report, Mickelson alternated between expressing remorse and claiming he could not fully remember the details of the incident. At one point, Shipnuck wrote that Mickelson suggested he may have been only partially clothed in the photograph rather than fully nude.

The report added: “Without admitting what he had done, Mickelson apologized directly to both Pat and Ashley and said, ‘I can’t tell you how disgusted and embarrassed I am in myself.’”

It never happened, but if it did I was only topless....  This is our Phil and this is how he treats his friends.  Any questions?

How Tiger and Phil have fallen.  What a sad moment in our game.

That's it for today, kids.  I'll see you when I see you.