As of Friday, I suspected there'd be little to say about any of this weekend's action.... Beware the early call, as they, because now it seems they all demand attention.
The Artist Formerly Known as The Bridgestone - I threw some snark in its direction on Friday, but the dust cleared Saturday evening with Brooks and Rory set to fight it out mano-a-mano. Did you, like your humble blogger, see this as not the fairest of fights?
Who won: Brooks Koepka (five-under 65, 16 under overall)
How it happened: McIlroy held a one-shot lead after 54 holes, but the Koepka-McIlroyshootout the fans were hoping for never came to be. McIlroy made all pars on the front nine as Koepka birdied 3, 5 and 6 to turn in three-under 32 and lead McIlroy by one. Koepka birdied the 10th to lead by three, and McIlroy dropped further down the leaderboard when he bogeyed the 12th. All of a sudden it looked like Koepka’s only challenger was Webb Simpson, who shot 64 to take the clubhouse lead at 13 under, two behind Koepka. But Koepka had little trouble closing. He added a birdie on 17 to win by three.
Rory pulling a no-show on Sunday? Who coulda seen it coming?
Our Tour Confidential panel had a few interesting takes on this:
1. Sunday’s star-studded final pairing at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitationaldidn’t live up to the hype, although half of it did. Brooks Koepka shot 65 and won his first WGC by three as Rory stumbled to a 71. McIlroy, who led by one after 54 holes, was coming off a major disappointment at the Open Championship while Koepka was trying to prove he can be a factor in non-majors too. Who was a win on Sunday more important for?
Dylan Dethier: In some weird way, a lights-out performance from McIlroy on Sunday may have been a strike against him — people would use it as further proof that he can play everywhere except the majors. Instead, I think Sunday reiterated a basic truth about McIlroy: The guy doesn’t play well when he’s pressing. Koepka, on the other hand, cemented his status as Golf King and undisputed No. 1.
I put it slightly differently last week, but his worst play seems to come when he wants it most.
Josh Sens: That’s an interesting take, and it seems right: a bit of a lose-lose for Rory in that regard. But I’ll pile on anyway and say that it still felt like the bigger moment for McIlroy. It wasn’t a major, of course, but beating big bad Brooks in the final pairing would have registered as something more than just another ho-hum non-major win.
Jonathan Wall: I’m with Dylan here. I think we would’ve been talking a lot about McIlroy’s ability to rise to the occasion in a non-major, which is insane considering the strong season he’s put together. In the end, we’re talking about something that was known all along: King Koepka is really good at golf.
Strangely, no one directly takes on Rory's shrinkage in these marquee match-ups... Most famously vs. Patrick Reed, but also vs. JT in Paris... I'm probably over-interpreting, but I won't take Rory seriously again until he loses the childhood friend on the bag. He desperately needs a caddie that whill kick ass and take names.... Hmmm, perhaps when Stevie wears out his welcome with Jason Day?
The Brooks circus took a strange turn yesterday, with the golf world obsessed with his arrival time at the golf course. I know, the very definition of a slow news week... The TC gang didn't have much to add:
3. One week after saying he doesn’t practice for non-majors, Koepka showed up less than an hour before his tee time with McIlory on Sunday in Memphis (but explained why afterwards). Is this Koepka being unprofessional, or simply doing what he thinks is best for him? And should the PGA Tour feel slighted by any of his actions?
Dethier: There was nothing unprofessional about the flattening Koepka put on the rest of the field Sunday. Winning takes care of everything! If he’d been hitting range balls at a different course and walked straight out of the car, that’d be one thing. But in this case, no gripes whatsoever.
Sens: No reason for anyone to feel slighted. Just intimidated. Talk about a cock-of-the-loft move by Koepka.
Everyone else seems to be missing the irony, because I'm so old that I remember when this guy almost missed a Sunday tee time... Come to think of it, was that the last time he played well on a Sunday? Of course he was matched up against Keegan, so all he literally had to do was show up on time....
Schedule Fails - We'll take time out from our results-driven blogging to discuss the new and improved Tour schedule.... Did you happen to wonder about the logic of making the world's best players travel from Portrush to Memphis? We all get that they're not flying commercial, but it's hardly designed to show them at their best, eh?
Justin Rose was caught whining at the Open, and our TC panelists take on his gripe:
2. Justin Rose recently said the new schedule is “too condensed,” and this past week Open champ Shane Lowry and Tiger Woods skipped the big-money grab WGC-FedEx St. Jude. Next week is also the finale of the inaugural Wyndham Rewards, where the top 10 in the season-long points race split a $10 million bonus (including $2 million to the leader, which Koepka already locked up). Yet Paul Casey was the only top-10 player in the FedEx Cup standings who committed to the Wyndham Championship as players gear up for the following week’s start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Is golf’s new schedule unintentionally leaving other tour stops in the dust?
Dethier: Overall, I like the new schedule. Some events will always get left in the dust, and it’s clear the FedEx Cup isn’t going anywhere, so it makes lots of sense to get it in before football. But this WGC-Memphis felt squeezed in. I’d love to see it come halfway between the U.S. Open and the Open Championship. Then Wyndham could be a palate cleanser pre-playoffs and we’d avoid this Memphis post-major malaise.
Sens: More than leaving tournaments in the dust, what the new schedule has done is leave a lot of fans with a sense of early summer doldrums. It’s a refrain I’ve been hearing from a lot of my most hardcore Tour-following friends. Wait, the biggies are over already? Nothing else to look forward to? What’s left of the season is a lot of fat purses, and fat purses alone don’t make for compelling sport. Shane Lowry could have been playing for no money at all and his win would still be a zillion times more thrilling than a zillion Wyndham Rewards. That the players themselves barely seem excited tells you everything you need to know.
Most of them can't bring themselves to skip a large purse, no-cut money grab, but there wasn't much buzz to be found.
Jonathan Wall is their gearhead, but I think he nails it quite well here:
Wall: I think the lack of interest in these money-grab events further confirms golf fans care more about the product than the figure these guys are playing for each week. As Justin Rose said recently, major titles are the only thing that matters — not WGCs with no cuts and FedEx Cup events. I’m a fan of spreading out the majors, but I still believe there are far too many events on the Tour schedule. You can literally find golf on television every week, which waters down the product. I realize these guys are playing golf for a living and sponsors are the lifeblood of the Tour, but would it kill Tour brass to throw a couple off weeks on the schedule? Clearly, the big names aren’t all that interested in chasing the cash. Heck, highlight the Korn Ferry Tour — Nike Tour, Web.com, whatever you want to call it — on weeks when the big Tour isn’t in session. It’s worth consideration to keep players fresh and fan interest up during the summer when the events all seem to run together.
I'd only add that the same can be said about the FedEx Cup playoffs....
Eamon Lynch takes on our pain, though his header leaves me in the fetal position:
Lynch: With 256 days until next major, Tour needs to rethink cramped calendar
No shortage of irony, of course, but all of the Tour's actions are best understood as reactions to the injustice of not controlling any of those majors....
The PGA Tour schedule was rejiggered this year to ensure the FedEx Cup playoffs are over by September, though fans may need a few more weeks to grasp the ridiculousnumerology that will see the points leader begin the Tour Championship at 10-under par before a shot is hit. Thus the PGA Championship shifted from August to May, concluding the major season at Royal Portrush, about three weeks earlier than usual.
That may not seem like much, but it means that golf’s four most important championships were decided in a span of just 101 days. (It would be 129 days if we include the Players Championship, but while I’ve argued that it should be considered a major I’m omitting it from my calculations purely out of pettiness.)
I've stockpiled a strategic snark reserve for that event, so we'll let it pass for now.
But wait, it'll get worse:
That’s why Justin Rose became the first player to give the new schedule a thumbs down. “It’s too condensed,” he said at Portrush.. “As a professional in terms of trying to peak for something, the process that’s involved in trying to do that can be detailed and it can be longer than a month.”
The world No. 4 was not persuaded by the rationale for the changes. “A major championship should be the things that are protected the most. That’s how all of our careers ultimately are going to be measured,” he said. “Thirty, forty years ago there wasn’t a FedExCup so if you’re trying to compare one career to another career, Jack versus Tiger, it’s the majors that are the benchmarks.”
Those comments will have been about as welcome as a Cantonese robocall at Tour headquarters. Rose traveled last week from Northern Ireland to Memphis for the World Golf Championship–FedEx St. Jude Invitational, a tournament that didn’t just lack economy of words in its title. It lacked the winners of the Masters (resting) and the Open (still celebrating). The WGC will precede the Open in 2020, but the cramped calendar means Rose will still face another dash: this one from Royal St. George’s to Tokyo, where he’ll defend his Olympic gold medal.
But will JR dash from Memphis to Sandwich the week before? How crazy is that schedule?
Eamon's on a tear, so let's let him have his say:
The Fall schedule ought to be more than an opportunity for journeymen to get a head start on FedEx Cup points before the stars return from vacation at Kapalua in January, but it lacks an anchor event. The Tour created this barren expanse on the calendar to protect the FedEx Cup playoffs — which is fair enough, since that’s where the bankroll is — and could remedy it by moving the Players Championship to the Fall. It won’t happen, of course. Even being the biggest event of the early wraparound season would still be seen as diminishing the Players, and ratings might suffer against the pigskin. So the highlight of our Fall will be a broadcast from Royal Melbourne in the middle of the night after all, this one the Presidents Cup.
Since the FedEx Cup began in 2007, the playoff format has undergone more tweaks than the Kardashians. We can only hope the schedule changes get the same kind of rolling reassessment. A good start would be if the Tour worried about what golf fans want to see, and not football fans.
I'm unclear as to how the Fall "protects" the FedEx Cup, but the Players is just fine in March.... I'm of the mind that the Fall is more about marking the Tour's turf, and not allowing voids that could be filled by others.
Shack shared his thoughts on the schedule:
A few have questioned this publicly and quite a few more privately for a variety of reasons. Players are not seeing the wisdom in the tighter major window and have played less around the majors. With some high profile defections at the WGC FedEx St. Jude and an even bigger no-show rate for the Wyndham Championship (you know, to help your playoff position), cracks have appeared in the new schedule concept. Namely: it’s weakening the very “product” it was meant to strengthen.I think we need a little more time to mull the question as the only meaningful reversal will come after a new TV deal starts and the various majors have considered how the schedule plays out. The 2019-20 schedule is due out any day now and 20-21 won’t change much either.But my initial take as a supporter of the new schedule’s tighter structure? The majors are stronger for it despite what players may legitimately think is too short of a window. The surrounding professional events on all tours have been weakened instead of strengthened as players conserve energy, and the PGA Tour Playoffs arrive too close on the heals of the majors. Given that the entire thing was built around avoiding football season and making the PGA Tour playoffs a bigger deal, the early reactions may force a re-thinking or even a scrapping of the wraparound schedule concept entirely.
If only. Contra Eamon, I actually liked the old Fall Finish much better when it was designed for the second tier of players. The energy derived from young players fighting for their professional status more than made up for absence of big names. I get that it's a tough sell to sponsors, but no one will be paying attention anyway.
I had no problem with the concept of the Wyndham Awards, though this was inevitable:
He earned $1.745 million for his victory alone, but he also locked up the $2 millionbonus that comes with winning the inaugural Wyndham Rewards race, which was put in this year to pay out $10 million ($2 million to the winner) for the Tour’s season-long points race. Next week’s Wyndham Championship is the regular-season finale and will finalize the top 10 for the extra cash, but Koepka, who isn’t in the field, already has the top spot secured.
And lastly, Koepka has all but secured the brand new Aon Risk-Reward Challenge, which offers a $1 million payout for a PGA Tour and LPGA player. The competition uses a scoring system to reward aggressive and well-executed play through the course of the year.
But, via Shack, here's what they promised when it was announced:
The bonus program will provide additional drama to the Regular Season finale and also place a greater premium on full-season performance, thus elevating the significance of each tournament on the schedule.
"The Wyndham Championship plays a pivotal role in the regular season as it's the last chance players have to secure a spot in the FedExCup Playoffs," said Eliot Hamlisch, vice president and leader of the Wyndham Rewards program. "In joining with the PGA TOUR to introduce the Wyndham Rewards Top 10, we're not only elevating the significance of our own tournament, but also placing a premium on great golf all season long. What's more, as the world's most generous rewards program, we couldn't think of a more fitting way to recognize the PGA TOUR's best of the best than by saying, 'You've earned this.' "
Yes, Brooks earned it, but perhaps a week early.
And here's what they're delivering:
Of the current top 10 players on the points list, No. 8 Paul Casey is the only one committed to playing next week’s Wyndham Championship, and he would likely need to win this week and next to have any chance of catching current points leader Brooks Koepka. Chez Reavie (12) and Charles Howell III (14) are the only other top-20 players in points in the field. Jon Rahm is currently 10th, 80 FedExCup points ahead of Reavie.
The field strength of a Fall Finish event. All is proceeding as I have foreseen...
A Collinoscopy - This might be the most significant event on a golf course last weekend:
Collin Morikawa earned his PGA Tour card in a hurry.
Morikawa earned special temporary membership on the PGA Tour after his runner-up atthe 3M Open earlier this month, but on Sunday he did one better, winning the Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nev., to earn automatic Tour membership through 2021.
The 22-year-old, who was in college just a few months ago, finished with three straight birdies and finished with 14 points in the final round of the modified Stableford scoring system (he shot 65). His 47 points topped Troy Merritt by three.
“It was something really special to finally get the win,” Morikawa said.
That didn't take long. In a matter of weeks, both he and Matthew Wolff broke through for their initial Tour wins.... Viktor Hovland, you are officially on the clock....
The Yin and The Yang - People keep telling me that age is just a number, but of course they lie....
But news from the Lancashire Coast lends support to that premise:
Langer won a record fourth Senior British Open on Sunday at Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England, by finishing six under for the tournament, beating out Paul Broadhurst by two strokes.
The 61-year-old Langer came out on fire, carding four birdies on the front nine to make the turn at four under for the day and six under for the tournament. Langer entered Sunday three shots back of Broadhurst, who went on to shoot one over on his round to drop to four under overall.
The two-time Masters champion got as low as eight under after back-to-back birdies at the 13th and 14th holes, but a pair of bogeys at the 15th and 17th brought Langer back to even par on the back nine.
But his 66 was enough for Langer to surpass Watson and Gary Player as the only one to have ever won four Senior British Open titles in their career. Langer’s most recent Senior British Open title and senior major victory came two years ago. He now has 11 senior major championships.
As the accompanying photo hints, he had to share the stage with that other guy whose fight to make the cut on Friday might well have been the most compelling golf of the week. Mike Bamberger, a lover of links golf, has the must-read tribute:
This is all a round-about way of saying that this farewell from Watson is significant, because here you have a golfer who played a sort of primal golf in ways nobody elseever did, including everybody.
Watson did not issue a press release announcing his goodbye or anything like that. He just answered a question from Lewis with characteristic candor.
In explaining his decision to call it a day on the two of the most prized senior events, Watson said, “The why is pretty simple, I can’t compete against these guys anymore. I don’t hit the ball far enough, and when you can’t compete, there’s no sense. I’m a realist. I understand how to play the game. And I just don’t have enough tools in the tool box to compete against these guys out here.”
Funny that, because your humble blogger is also prone to using the adjective "primal" to explain the joys of links golf.
A few thoughts on this.... First, the obvious math, as Watson no longer has the tools at 69, but Langer is still beating the guys at 61. Funny that.....
Second, I am quite relieved that the 2014 Ryder Cup seems to have not permanently tarnished Watson's reputation. I don't think that enough people revisited Watson v Phil in the aftermath of that disastrous performance in Paris, but at the very least the golf world seems to have moved on from it.
Before moving on from Tom Terrific, the TC gang take a crack at his legacy:
Dethier: For my generation, his legacy will be contending as a 59-year-old a decade ago at Turnberry. Consider that Bernhard Langer just became the oldest major winner ever at age 62 — and that’s on the CHAMPIONS TOUR! Watson’s ‘09 Open was quite literally an unforgettable showing.
Sens: That was epic, no doubt. But for sepia-toned legacy, it will always be the Duel in the Sun, beating the greatest of his generation head to head. I think the average golf fan would be hard-pressed to tick off any of his other major wins. That’s the one that’s imprinted in our minds.
If only it were sepia-toned, then I'd be able to forget that ugly green shirt. Of course, Tom's is hardly the only man with regrets about his 1970's fashion choices....
One last point before we move on.... In early round coverage, I caught Langer teeing off on a Par-5 with a hybrid. Strangely, Langer played the shot standing outside the left tee marker, a large box of some sort (sorry, can't find an image) that made his stance look claustrophobic. Lanny Wadkins called it silly, given the size of the target area using that hybrid.
I originally agreed with this assessment, but then had some second thoughts. We all understand how difficult lay-ups can be, for instance, because of the absence of of a specific target. Was this perhaps not stupid, but rather an example of the laser-like focus of an elite professional athlete? Discuss among yourselves.....
Distaff Doings - Most of the pixels will be devoted to the Evian, an event originally held in September but moved to late July to avoid horrible weather. Yeah, how'd that work out?
Ron Sirak is a good guy and has always been a strong supporter of the ladies game, but this preview piece on the LPGA's homepage could have used a blue pencil:
The aura that embraces the Evian Championship is laced with the magic of a fairytale. From the two palatial hotels, the Royal and Ermitage, to the breathtaking views of Lake Geneva — Lac Léman to the locals — to the Evian Resort Golf Club, the experience is almost too good to be true. But for 25 years this special spot at Evian-les-Bains in the foothills of the French Alps has been a shining star in women’s golf.
It's a pretty spot, for sure, but a fairytale? Maybe I'm wrong, as this is the enduring image from the week, a squire protecting his princess:
Ugly week, but luckily no one was watching.... Think the PGA Tour's schedule is crazy, the girls now head to Woburn to play back-to-back majors.... Of course as proven by The Players Championship, calling something a major doesn't necessarily make it a major.
This one could be filed under The Lonely Lives of Bloggers, as I needed something to amuse me for an hour or so before turning in. Plan A was the Yankees-Red Sox game, but a quick perusal of the score rendered that a non-starter. My DVR showed that it had recorded Women's Golf that day, so I gave it a look expecting it to the Evian. Instead, it was the USGA's Girls Junior Amateur, and that was of far greater interest.
Ye Defeats Bourdage in Thrilling Final at SentryWorld
Sounds like a great final match, and of course these become young ladies to look for in the next few years....
I was more taken by the golf course, something called Sentryworld, and not in a good way. Here's how the resort describes it's golf course:
An innovative course for innovative golfersThroughout its 18 holes and 200 acres, SentryWorld offers rolling green fairways, pristine blue waters, impeccable white sands, and a one-of-a-kind course design by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., that encourages creativity and rewards resourcefulness for players of all ages and skill levels. The course incorporates these elements seamlessly, testing golfers while immersing them in striking scenery. Water comes into play on 12 of SentryWorld’s holes, while fairway and greenside bunkers nearly glow against their surroundings, and towering trees guide golfers onward while welcoming wayward shots with open arms.
Glowing bunkers? They say that as if it's a good thing....But there's little doubt what they consider their signature hole:
 |
| My favorite part is the cart path through the flowers.... |
Get it? I know, they got so caught in whether they could, they seem to have ignored whether they should:
Hole 16 | Par 3176 Black / 168 Blue / 145 White / 120 Gold / 97 GreenThe hole that made SentryWorld famous. Known throughout the golf world simply as “the Flower Hole,” this par three features more than 33,000 flowers surrounding its green. As beautiful as this hole is, however, it’s just as challenging. Three bunkers sit between your tee shot and the green, with a fourth directly to the left of the green. Play your shot well, however, and you’ll remember the 16th for more than its beautiful color.
The greens looked just as awful as this, with way too many tiers creating havoc....
It's my newest candidate for the worst golf course ever.... Admittedly, an extremely competitive category.
The Year That Was - Last week we had that ranking of all forty majors from this decade, and the TC panelists affirmed those rankings:
Dethier: I feel for Jimmy Walker, but I can tell you essentially nothing about the 2016 PGA off the top of my head, so that feels like the correct choice. And as much as I loved me some 2015 Chambers Bay, Woods’ 2019 win may be the most incredible sports comeback ever. Kudos to GOLF.com for getting this one right!
Sens: Unless I’m forgetting something even more forgettable, it seems exactly right.
Wall: Tiger at the 2019 Masters is far and away the best of the last decade. No debate there. As for Walker at the 2016 PGA being the worst, I’d probably vote for Martin Kaymer at the 2014 U.S. Open. No one put up a fight and Kaymer ran away with the thing. He was six ahead after 36 holes! His 271 was the second-lowest total score in a U.S. Open, but I honestly can’t tell you anything about that week. Love Pinehurst, but that one was a complete snoozer. At least Walker had some pursuers on Sunday.
Bamberger: I actually agree. Wall makes a good point about Kaymer, but that at least was mastery of a difficult course.
If you'll recall, I found the actual golf at this year's Masters a bit underwhelming, but it was a reasonably popular win.
Shane Ryan goes for the funny bone with his rankings, including this:
The Funniest Pairing of the Year: Koepka and J.B. Holmes, Open ChampionshipIf there's one thing Koepka hates, it's slow play. We learned this year about his hilarious tactic of spending extra minutes in the port-a-johns to get his group put on the clock when he's paired with a slow player, but on Sunday at the Open, there was no escaping J.B. Holmes—a player so slow that when he won at Riviera earlier this year, most of the focus was about his pace of play. To make this unwanted partnership even more uproarious, Holmes went and shot 87. The whole thing was custom designed to infuriate Koepka, and it did—his post-round comments were a masterpiece of "I'm not mad, but actually, I'm furious." He even got annoyed that Holmes wouldn't put his glove on before his turn. These two should get a buddy sitcom.
Comedy gold, but JB's act is wearing really thin....
The Sneaky Four Made Cuts Man of the Year: Aaron WiseThis was almost Jim Furyk, but he missed it by one shot at the PGA Championship to go 3/4. Beyond Wise, the Four Made Cuts Club was small: Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Louis Oosthuizen, Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth, Henrik Stenson, Cameron Smith, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Francesco Molinari, Rickie Fowler, Tyrrell Hatton, Brooks Koepka, and Tommy Fleetwood.
The Four Missed Cuts Man of the Year: Shugo Imahira. He was the only one!
I can't even conceive of how he was in the field at Augusta, but that's a hard cut to miss.
And this:
The Disappointing No-Major-Win of the Year: Tie, Rory and RickieRickie would get it if we just considered his results—two top-10 finishes and four made cuts—and the larger career context of still looking for that first major. But when you consider that Rory had a chance to compete the career slam at Augusta and win a home Open in Northern Ireland, and further note how expectations were ratcheted up by his Players Championship win ... well, this is at least a tie.
Well, Rickie seems to be angling for the lifetime achievement award in this category. Van Sickle seems to concur.
This Week in DQ's - Oy, how can things like this happen?
Mark Wilson took to Twitter to break the news: he was disqualifying himself.
Wilson, a 44-year-old pro with five career PGA Tour wins, had to bow out of this week’s Barracuda Championship (opposite of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational) when he realized his greens-reading book was non-conforming, a violation of Rule 4.3.
Wilson said he grabbed his 2014 greens book and since it fit in his yardage book, he assumed the scaling limits would be fine. They weren’t. The revised Rules of Golf state greens books must scale three-eighths of an inch to 5 yards.
Props for honesty, not so much for brains. But not as funny as the guy earlier in the year who did the same, not realizing that is was illegal, but also that the greens had been rebuilt... Always better when cheating, to at least derive a benefit.
I'll see you nice folks tomorrow.
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