Weekend Wrap - Never Too Late

I don't know how many times you might have hit F5, but it wasn't your humble correspondent's doing...  Yesterday's absence was proudly sponsored by Consolidated Edison, "Powering our Lives"....except when they don't.  We lost power at bedtime Sunday night, when at least two transformers blew up with explosions so intense that we could feel the vibration.  When I arose to three further concussions early yesterday, it seemed apparent that restoring the power would take some time...

And as long as we're in the confessional, I didn't see too much of Sunday's action, as my nephew's graduation form high school was late yesterday afternoon.  We got home as Brooks was holing out for birdie on No. 14, and he got it to the clubhouse with a complete absence of drama.

The Winner - Brooks is one of many enigmas on Tour, the talent and respect of his fellow players quite evident, but the results lacking a certain something.....  That something being wins, with only one on the big tour and that breakthrough in Turkey a few years back on the Euro Tour.

So, is this the start of something big?

1. Brooks Koepka bashed his way around Erin Hills to win the U.S. Open by four and become the seventh consecutive first-time major champion. His 16-under total tied Rory McIlroy's mark (Congressional, 2011) for the lowest winning score in

relation to par. Koepka doesn't lack for firepower but does he have the staying power to become a consistent top-3 player? 

John Wood: The talent pool is so deep these days, it's hard to say who will have the staying power to be a top-three player. I think becoming a consistent top-three player, one must have talent, health, focus, but mostly desire. It's impossible to tell what's in a player's soul when it comes to desire. Tiger WANTED, NEEDED and FOCUSED on winning and winning only, and that's why he stayed at No. 1 for so long. To ask anyone to be a consistent top-three player these days, with the talent pool as deep as it is, is too tall an order to predict. My advice would be to enjoy this dominant performance for what it is. 

Michael Bamberger: His golf was ideal for what Erin Hills required. There are not many ideal matchups like that, with such length and such wide fairways. I think we'll see a rotating cast of elite players for many years to come. 

Sean Zak: I'm not ready to crown a now-two-time winner a "consistent top-three player," mainly from considering his competition, but what he's done in majors speaks to a future in the top 10, for sure. Adding today's victory, Koepka has finished T21 or better in his last eight majors. That's elite stuff.

My take is that our pre-tourney assessment of the type of player this venue would generate as champion was quite accurate, we just got the model wrong....  DJ, Rory and even Jon Rahm were all higher on our list, but their games are quite indistinguishable from each other...

But this from Alan Shipnuck might surprise you:

Koepka, 27, has a square jaw right out of the Pleistocene Epoch and favors some of the

tightest sleeves on the PGA Tour, the better to display biceps that are about as big around as the waist of Tommy Fleetwood, his waifish long-haired playing partner on Sunday. Koepka likes to tell reporters, "I'm not a golf nerd." No, he is 6 feet and 197 pounds of whoopass. Last week he clubbed into submission the longest course in major championship history, and along the way he didn't beat his more ballyhooed contemporaries so much as crush them like an aluminum can against his forehead. Koepka's macho play—and the effect it had on his would-be competition—was not a surprise to Steve Stricker, who as an assistant captain at the 2016 Ryder Cup was assigned to monitor Koepka in his debut. "He looks like he wants to fight you," says Stricker. "He looks like he wants to punch you in the mouth. That's what I like about him—he's got an edge. For sure it's intimidating to play against. You get a guy who is built like a linebacker and pounds the crap out of the ball, and then looks over like he wants to brawl, yeah, that has an effect."

My bad for the lack of a metaphor alert, but Alan has a few really great stories, such as this:

Koepka's four-stroke triumph at Erin Hills, a vast new canvas in the Wisconsin countryside, was only his second PGA Tour victory, but it shouldn't rate as a surprise, given his manifold physical gifts and the swagger with which he has always carried himself. Koepka is celebrated in golf circles for his brash civil disobedience at the 2015 British Open at St. Andrews; with high winds causing balls to twitch on the greens, Koepka refused to continue playing despite the admonishments of a tweedy rules official, who made it known that he carried the title of Sir. "I don't give a f--- who you are," Koepka responded, according to lore. "I'm not playing until my ball stops oscillating."

Am I the only one surprised by this side of Brooks?  from a distance he seems like the prototypical man of his era, quietly content to cash large checks for T4's in big-time events.

Read the whole thing for a new take on the guy, whose fire burns hotter than it seems...  And keep the link handy, as I'll circle back to use Alan's lede below.

The Losers Also-Rans -  So where is that Shipnuck item?  Oh, there it is

For a while there it looked as if the 117th U.S. Open was going to be decided by cute, elfin golfers who together would make a pretty good boy band. Playing in the final group was Justin Thomas, propelled by the record 63 he shot on Saturday while wearing hot-pink trousers and a coral belt. Also in the mix was Rickie Fowler, who is looking more and more like Leonardo DiCaprio and, unfortunately, developing a similar penchant for going down with the ship. For much of the final round cherubic Brian Harman, all 5' 7" of him, held a piece of the lead. And then big, bad Brooks Koepka came through.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.....

One of those is taking the bulk of the heat, and it ain't Brian Harmon.... Just a quick reminder from the Shipnuck piece:

These young, telegenic Americans were all seeking their first major championship victory—Fowler had been one stroke off the lead through 54 holes at the Masters in April only to shoot 76 to finish 11th

This was the harshest bit:

At the end of last year, Rickie Fowler's coach Butch Harmon told him that he needed to stop spending so much time on Snapchat and get his mindset refocused on winning. "I

said, 'You gotta decide are you going to be a Kardashian or are you going to be a golf pro?" Harmon recounted.

Despite an overall strong performance at the U.S. Open this week (Fowler finished T5), Fox Sports host Skip Bayless doesn't think Rickie got the message. "Despite his extreme popularity, I wonder if Rickie Fowler is made of tough enough stuff to win a major. Might on pure talent. But I wonder," Bayless wrote. "Rickie: top 5 in 4 majors in '14 but never in contention down stretch. Today he shot +1 on back. Not a closer. Brand bigger than guts."

Eh, even I feel compelled to defend the guy, at least from Skip Bayless.....  We all remember how he closed out the Players a couple of years back.  How likely is it that that guy is short on guts?

This was Q2 fro the Tour Confidential panel:

2. Rickie Fowler grabbed an early lead with an opening 65 and entered the final round two shots off the lead. But he was never really a factor Sunday, posting an

even-par 72 to finish six off the pace. What's most preventing Fowler from sealing the deal at a major? 

Wood: I've harped on this so many times before on these pages, and I hate to sound like a broken record, but it's HARD to win any golf tournament these days. It is especially hard to win a major. Nothing's preventing Fowler from sealing the deal. He continues to put himself there as much as anyone, and when the win comes, it comes. And when you ask Rickie what he did different from the times he didn't seal the deal, I would venture to say he will say, "Nothing. It was just my day, it was just my time. I didn't try to do anything other than what I normally do, this time it just worked." 

Bamberger: Rickie is almost a veteran now, with close to 200 Tour starts. He's won four times. He's played in 30 majors, and has contended often. When he's played in 50, he will likely have won one. He'll win majors likely at about the same rate he wins more ordinary Tour events. No different than a baseball batting average. He's very good in an era with many very good players. Patrick Reed is every bit as good and Jonathan Byrd was, too.

I'm somewhere on the spectrum, closer to these guys than to the Skipper.... Golf is such a fickle game, that it takes the better part of an entire career to judge the relative talent level.  DJ isn't suddenly a bum because he failed to make the cut this week, nor can we judge Rickie by the last two major Sundays...

On the other hand, we can draw some conclusions from those 200 Tour starts and we see a good, bu perhaps not great, player.....

However, on the things that really matter, Alex Myers gives Rickie top grades:

5 reasons why Rickie Fowler nailed his Sunday outfit at Erin Hills

Alex, you do too much for us....  I would have been happy with three.

1. He wore graphic socks. While most golfers lazily pair golf shoes with white ankle socks (pro tip: STOP doing that), Rickie opted for a graphic crew sock, adding a dash of style to an already-stylish ensemble. Conversely, white ankle socks do a great job of making any outfit look less sophisticated.

Personally, it's that wrist band that does it for me....

As for the others vying for Miss Congeniality....

Bogey -- Hideki Matsuyama's pace: The pause at the top of Matsuyama's swing isn't the only thing slow about the Japanese star. And the World No. 4 took so much time on the 15th hole on Sunday that he was put on the clock. Matsuyama wasn't penalized, but someday, when pro golf actually cracks down on this, he could be in trouble.

One of the guys I played with Saturday told me that Hideki is one of the guys Phil was talking about in terms of  marking his ball.  Anyone else hear that?

And this guy for sure:

Bogey -- Patrick Reed: Captain America was rocking his Ryder Cup pants again (Dig his style, why let perfectly good pants go to waste?), but they didn't provide the same mojo they did during a Saturday 65. Reed shot a two-over 74 to finish T-13 -- meaning he still has to hear about how he's never had a top 10 at a major for a bit longer.

Ironically, Joe Buck is called out for reasons totally unrelated to his late-Saturday pick of Reed....  See: Poulter, Ian.

The Broadcast -  It doesn't get any easier for Rickie, as per this Martin Kaufmann take on Fox:

If Fox Sports were to tap a spokesman for its U.S. Open coverage, I’d nominate Rickie Fowler for the job. 

Think about it. Like Fowler, Fox is flashy, having brought some great technical

innovations to its productions in its first three years as the U.S. Golf Association’s television partner. Fox has plenty of talent; I could quibble with some of its hires, but its crew is plenty good enough. And like Fowler, Fox is on the verge of having that one magical week when everything clicks and even its naysayers finally acknowledge: Yes, it’s worthy of the big stage. 

Just as I root for Fowler, I also root for Fox, because I want to enjoy watching golf rather than feel, as I often do, that it’s an obligation. Competition and new ideas should elevate the medium. 

It was a bad old idea, however, that offset some of the good things Fox did during the U.S. Open at Erin Hills. The shows felt top-heavy as Fox seemed determined to show all the experts it has assembled.

C'mon, Martin, you're better than that... This to me was completely fair, for instance:

When we did hear from on-course announcers, it too often was Inkster, who’s prone to saying cringe-worthy things such as this about Stephan Jaeger: “He’s been moving up the ladder, going to these different, you know, sites to play different golf, and he’s doing really well right now.”

It's a bit unfair to hang any announcer by the worst of their garbled thoughts, but Inkster isn't very good.  But she also wasn't all that noticeable, as Zinger, fax and Curtis did the heavy lifting.

Shack had a more positive take, one with which I mostly agree:

Fox Sports produced visually stimulating telecasts from Erin Hills, aided by several

features and the real standout: Ken Brown's Brownie Points. As D.J. Piehowski noted on Twitter, Brown is doing so much with so little: one camera, a few toys, and a nice splash of creativity. 

Before those links, a few random observations on Fox's year-three coverage, which really hit its visual stride this year. Last year's coverage of the DJ fiasco earned the network credibility and while the sound and tech touches were fun, there was a sense that they didn't quite help tell the story.

Yet even with a very difficult venue to cover due to its size, the combination of camera locations, gizmos and amazing player sound delivered on the network's original promise to tell a golf tournament story in a fresh and innovative way. The ending was a little rough with Joe Buck's reference to Brooks' former girlfriend and another awkward trophy ceremony, but that shouldn't taint what was such a strong week visually.

I'm still not a fan of Joe Buck, as the amperage just seems out of place for our staid game.  I also think they have way too many cooks in their kitchen...  As relates to Holly Sonders, did she at least get the plate number of the truck?

As for the incident noted above, here's the background:

Brooks Koepka got a kiss from his girlfriend, Jena Sims, shortly after wrapping up his first major title. It was a nice moment and Fox's Joe Buck provided some commentary.

Only, he mixed up Koepka's girlfriends. 

Buck mentioned Becky Edwards, a professional soccer player whom Koepka used to date. But the woman celebrating with the new U.S. Open champ was actually Sims, an actress and former beauty pageant winner. Talk about fake news. 

Sims was Miss Georgia Teen USA in 2007, and she currently runs a non-profit organization, Pageant of Hope, that hosts beauty pageants for children with cancer and disadvantages. She sounds like a lovely young lady. Sims has also been in several movies, including something called 3-headed Shark in 2015.

 OK, that's pretty lame for sure....  Although I should offer this as potentially exculpatory evidence:

"Joe, that's actually his new girlfriend, that's Jena Sims," Fox's Brad Faxon corrected a few minutes later. "Brooks told me secretively that they were together this week."

This week?  These crazy kids....

The Venue -  So, what did we think of this new venue?  Back to the TC panel:

4. The topsy-turvy layout suited all kinds of playing styles and drew praise from much of the field. Even Rory McIlroy, who packed his bags Friday, said he was a "big fan." McIlroy said, "It's a big, big golf course with long rough, but it lets you play. It lets you be aggressive." What was your assessment of the rookie venue? 

Bamberger: Good for them. Not for us. The USGA wants to preach a message of playability. This course was too easy for the elites. And unplayable for 90-shooters, from any tee. Some of the greens are nutty. The place is beautiful, though. Spectacular. I'd love to play holes on the driving range all through a long dusk. 

Wood: See above. Rewind to Thursday morning with 15-20 mph winds all week and no rain at all, it would have been more suitable for a U.S. Open. Once the wind laid down and the greens got soft, there was no other defense. In a world where 25 guys in the field are routinely hitting 300-yard three-woods, length is not a meaningful defense anymore.

Bams nails the incoherence of the USGA's push for sustainability, while taking the event to a golf course built on a massive 600-acre site.  

But the USGA took the weather risk and lost...  But rather than tricking it up, they let the guys play and Mike Davis' head did not explode.  We got just a taste of what the week might have been on Sunday, but the course was still far too soft to see what might have been.  Still, these guys are on to something:

Ritter: My lingering question is, Was it wise to stage the so-called toughest test in golf at a course where weather was absolutely necessary to create that scenario? I liked Erin, and it was sensational on TV, but this week won't be remembered as one of high drama. 

Sens: And when players don't feel fear, the event is less entertaining. And isn't that what this is supposed to be in the end?

The USGA finds itself in a bit of a pickle, having lost or discarded so many of its traditional venues.  Occasionally it tries to reclaim them (think Merion and Brookline), but it's rota seems a bit short, especially with Chambers Bay and Erin Hills on probation.  For both of those newbie sites, Davis gambled on weather and rolled snake eyes.....  

The Biggest Loser -  Twas a bad week for the elite of our game, as DJ, Jason and Rory showed us why Kevin Na was so concerned about the fescue....  But they at least acted like professionals, it was actually reaffirming to watch those guys keep grinding through Friday.

But this guy didn't show us his best:

Jon Rahm's stellar play has been one of the stories of the season. Unfortunately, it's his

behavior at the U.S. Open that's now drawing headlines. 

Heading into Erin Hills, there were growing whispers that Rahm's emotional outbursts were getting out of control. Golf Digest's Tim Rosaforte first reported the issue at the Players Championship, followed by Chris Solomon at No Laying Up witnessing the Spaniard's poor disposition at the Memorial. 

In a disastrous Round 1 at Erin Hills, Rahm did little to dispel this concern, as fits of rage were caught multiple times on camera. But on Friday, heading for a missed cut, Rahm had a meltdown for the ages.

The good news is that his English vocabulary seems to be up to the task....

Whereas this guy thought it was all cool:

JON RAHM HAS A TEMPER—AND, YOU KNOW WHAT, THAT'S O.K. 

As the mercurial Spaniard Jon Rahm scowled, pouted and club-tossed his way to a MC at Erin Hills last week, I kept returning to the same thought: This guy is going to be Ryder Cup gold. By all accounts Rahm is a good hombre—fun, warm, approachable. But in the heat of competition he makes the Hulk look huggable. In the first round, I was greenside at the 4th when Rahm punctuated a shoddy chip by slamming his putter into his bag as you might an ax into a log. On the tee box on the next hole he admonished a pack of reporters and other assorted hangers-on for not keeping pace. "Every hole guys!" he bellowed. "Really!?" 

He was just warming up. On Friday, Rahm went full Rodman, tomahawking his seven-iron, pounding his fists, fuming. He even threw a bunker rake. It was alarming, childish behavior. And I kind of loved it. In this era of players trading smiles and fist-bumps in the climactic moments of majors and pro-bros Instagramming their spring breaks together, golf needs more villains, more tension, more snarls.

Never go Full Rodman, at least not in public.

But I don't think this comparison holds:

Fast-forward 15 months to Le Golf National, in Paris, site of the next Ryder Cup ("I so want to play in the matches," Rahm said earlier this year. "It is my dream")—Sunday afternoon, tight contest, Rahm struts on to the tee to face … PATRICK #$%&@! REED. The red-faced, finger-wagging Reed vs. the irascible Rahm. Two sticks of dynamite just waiting to blow. I'd row a boat to France to watch that match. So stay fiery Jon Rahm, stay human. You and your emotions are good for golf. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

While our Patrick is an emotional player, he's not known for F-bombs and club tosses....

I don't want these guys to be robots out there, and I say this as somebody that fights his own temper on the golf course.  But they're professionals playing in front of paying spectators, and I just don't know how to justify profanity and childish antics.  To his credit, he's been honest in his attempt to control it, but he needs to make some progress in the very near term.

Here's Johnny -  Back to the TC Panel for this all-important issue:

5. After Justin Thomas fired a nine-under 63 in the third round to tie Johnny Miller's mark for the lowest round ever recorded in a U.S. Open and break the Open scoring record in relation to par, Miller was quick to say that "Erin Hills isn't exactly Oakmont." Miller also pointed out that his 63 came in the final round and sealed his one-stroke victory. Sour grapes from Johnny? Or does he have a point?

A point?  He has two very good ones and he missed the obvious third, that he was the first to do it....

Bamberger: Oh, Lord no. John is spot on. 

Wood: A bit of both.

Sens: Johnny does have a point but unfortunately for him it also comes off as sour grapes.

I don't think sour grapes is quite what Josh is looking for, but the question was asked for the sole purpose of generating this specific response.  He could have been a tad more gracious, but then he wouldn't be our Johnny.....  But, to be fair, as Joe Buck and the crew were falling all over themselves on Saturday, I had the exact same response as Johnny and I wasn't any more gracious (though my ire was at the broadcasters, not at JT).