I spent the evening watching the boys from Kapalua, disappointed mostly to see balls hitting and sticking in the fairways. Maybe we need to give it some time to grow in?
I guess I need to provide the obligatory game story?
The first PGA Tour event of 2020 is off with a sea of red numbers at the newly revamped Kapalua Plantation course in Maui, Hawaii, and 21-year-old Joaquin Niemann leads the field by one shot after firing an opening round of seven-under-par 66.
It’s Niemann’s first appearance at the winner’s-only event, after he punched his ticket to Maui with a victory at last year’s A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier. It was the first — and thus far, only — win of Niemann’s career. But perhaps not for long. The young Chilean posted a perfect round of golf on Thursday, carding seven birdies and zero bogeys.
“During the practice round, I knew it was going to be tough,” Niemann told Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis after his round. “There was a lot of wind, on Tuesday especially, and today wasn’t that windy. I played great, I made a lot of [putts]. It was my day.”
Very obligatory.... Perhaps I should have gone with Golfweek's version, which at least put a little thought into the header:
The kid is all right: 21-year-old Joaquin Niemann leads Sentry Tournament of Champions
Riffing on his tough week at the Prez Cup, with a bonus nod to The Who. Good work in an underappreciated genre.
It's hard to find all that much of interest for y'all. Watching Matthew Wolff's golf swing never seems to get old, but otherwise we're scraping the bottom of the barrel. There is, of course, Puma's exciting new Island Collection:
Imagine you're a big-time CEO that pays a gazillion dollars to play in the Pro-Am, and your pro shows up in his PJ's? It does accomplish one important thing, which is to put to bed any concern about the guys wearing shorts.
Now the tourney organizers do get props for one underappreciated move, capitalizing on the Patrick Reed story by pairing him with Kevin Kisner, a high-water mark in passive-aggressiveness. Why? Well, it goes back to this 2018 Golf Digest story:
Reed’s tarnished relationship with his Ryder Cup teammates follows the same pattern as his collegiate experience. He was persona non grata when he was kicked off the team at Georgia in 2009 after one season, and most on the Augusta State roster tolerated him as a necessary evil in helping deliver the school consecutive NCAA championships in 2010 and 2011.
“They all hate him—any guys that were on the team with him [at Georgia] hate him and that’s the same way at Augusta,” said Kevin Kisner, a Georgia alum who predated Reed’s arrival in Athens and lives 20 minutes from Augusta in Aiken, S.C. “I don’t know that they’d piss on him if he was on fire, to tell you the truth.”
See how deep I dig just to amuse you kids? That's a great quote, and I'll guess it works even better with Kiz' drawl. But the next 'graph in that GD story is good as well:
Getting Reed’s collegiate teammates to confirm that animosity on the record is fruitless. Professional tour peers who shared rosters with him like Harris English, Russell Henley, Brian Harman or Henrik Norlander will give you the same glare and no comment whenever the subject of Reed comes up. None of them see any value in saying something to sabotage Reed’s reputation when they have full confidence that he’ll inevitably say enough to sabotage himself.
I've been reliably informed that Patrick is Captain America, but the irony, she burns. It turns out that a man with the nickname Table for One is a bad fit for team golf. Who could have seen that one coming?
Low-Impact Blogging - Not sure you guys would have had a post to read this morning, if not for the appearance of an Ask Alan feature. As always, some serious issues addressed amidst the silly banter:
In what ways is golf better or worse than it was at the start of the decade? – @GolfingBrock
Better: Tiger is not mired in the most salacious scandal of the Internet age. The other top players are younger and cooler. The LPGA is thriving. For everyday golfers there are many more fantastic public courses to discover, from the cliffs of Nova Scotia to the sand hills of Nebraska to Oz’s King Island, from Streamsong to Sand Valley to Sweeten’s Cove. The emphasis on fun is wonderful, whether it’s sporty par-3 courses or whimsical putting greens. The golf media — or, put another way, the creation of golf content — has been diversified with younger, hipper voices.
Worse: The ancient playing fields have been rendered largely obsolete by obscene distance gains. The game has frittered away a decade and failed to attract new participants, largely because in many circles golf remains stubbornly stuffy, uptight, homogenous and xenophobic. The golf media has contracted substantially. I still don’t have an ace.
Alan points out that which I've been struggling to explain for some time. Except for the Tiger bit, the trends we embrace apply to our recreational game.
The elite game is facing severe challenges, which to a certain extent I see as self-inflicted. But I also differ with Alan on the state of the game, which remains a viable niche sport. It maddens folks that the game has never grown out of that niche, though the typical prescriptions to solve that risk the charms at the essence of the game's appeal. So, folks, just deal with it.
Alan remains an Olympics fanboy, not seeing the contradiction inherent:
Will golf be an Olympic sport post-2020? – @jking_NY
Oh, hell yeah. Tokyo is going to be a home run, with all the top players there and none of the faux-controversies that were such an embarrassment to the sport the last time around. I’m praying Tiger makes the U.S. team. Can you imagine what a scene that will be if/when he leads the U.S. delegation at the Opening Ceremony?
Tiger is the reigning Masters champion and is currently the sixth ranked player in the OFWR, so why wouldn't he be in Tokyo? Oh yeah, because they have room for only thirty or so elite players, because of the importance of ensuring that the best Sengalese golfer is invited. It's the Hero World Challenge, and nothing more as a competition, and I would argue that it's important for Tiger to miss out just so folks understand how unserious it is.
1. How much are you looking forward to the Ryder Cup in Wisconsin?2. Which day do you want to meet for a beer? – @FakePoulter
1. Deeply. Let us not forget that my controversial column about the Ryder Cup forecast long-term dominance for the U.S. Paris was an unfortunate beginning to this epoch but when the Yanks win at Whistling Straits that will give them two out of the last three Cups, just as the core of recent European teams (Poulter, Stenson, Rose, Garcia) all are hitting their early- to mid-40s. I’m going to miss the entertaining European victories (and the American angst that followed every loss) but I’m willing to trade that fun for sweet, sweet vindication.
2. Sunday night, because I will need to get plastered if the U.S. lays another egg.
That was such good fun. Alan actually got a shout-out from the Euro players after they stomped on Alan's guys. I always thought that Alan had the demographic trends correct, he just perhaps over-valued stroke play talent. And also, the U.S. are idiots.... I mean that these geniuses needed a task force to put Phil out in alternate-shot. Idiocy, thy name is a committee.... Please don't ask them to design a horse.
The pleasure in this installment comes from the fact that this should be an easy win for the home team. Which means the pressure could preclude relaxed play.... Really, imagine if they screw up this one?
Some inside baseball from Alan:
What is the best story for you to write at this year’s Masters? – @LiveTweetGolf
This is an important point — writers don’t root for people, we root for stories. These would be the most impactful/interesting/buzz-worthy outcomes:
1. Tiger repeats and continues his ascent up Mt. Nicklaus.2. Rory completes the Grand Slam and finally reasserts himself in the major championships.3. Spieth breaks his slump and returns to the front ranks of the game.4. Patrick Reed solidifies his standing as the ultimate antihero.5. Koepka continues his march on history.
OK, I reject Nos. 2 and 3 out of hand, due to the lack of an established predicate. I remain amazed at the extent to which some of the old timey writers cling to Jordan....
As to No. 4, you know how I feel about the man. That said, Butler Cabin could hit a new high-water mark for awkwardness....
But, Alan, good luck with this:
You get any access for a long form piece — what are you writing about? – @stick_club
Tiger is so obvious I’m going to disqualify that as answer, so I’m going with Patrick Reed. It would be deeply fascinating to embed with Team Reed and get a close look at their, uh, quirks. And maybe, just maybe, locate some humanity.
Better men than you have tried. It's a humanity-free zone....
This is a good question, I think you'll agree:
If you could be a golf writer at any point in history other than the one we live in, what era would you choose? – @SHistorians
Mid ’70’s/early ’80’s. Jack was enjoying his last act, Watson and Trevino kept pushing him to the brink, Johnny Miller had an epic run, Seve was just making the scene, and outsized characters like Ray Floyd and Lanny Wadkins and Hubert Green were still making the scene. Plus, print was still king. Second choice would be the roaring ‘20s, when the great Bobby Jones was becoming an icon and so many great courses were being built. And, like Grantland Rice, perhaps I could have helped found Augusta National.
Lots of fun choices, though Alan certainly opted for a soft seam where there won't be a ton of competition. But if you seriously think that Hubert Green was an outsized character, I'm not sure why we'd care about your opinion.
Then some random hits:
#AskAlan Are Jason Day and Dustin Johnson trending towards one-and-done in major championships? Given the depth of talent, would one major be considered a failure for these guys? – @TheSecretDuffer
Day is an interesting case. For a decade he was a huge underachiever, for about a year he was the best player in the world, and then over the last three+ seasons he has been a maddening enigma. Twelve Tour wins, including a major, feels about right for Day at age 32. Dustin has been a consistent contender for far longer and had his heart broken many, many more times. If he doesn’t bag a few more majors Dustin will surely go down as one of the game’s all-time what-ifs.
Day has just never figured out how to stay healthy....
But DJ was my favorite part of yesterday's broadcast, as he was comically crooked with that new driver. Honestly, I had no clue they had grass that long at Kapalua.... and he seemed to find it all.
In the bigger picture, DJ seems headed towards being one of the biggest under-achievers the game has seen, especially since Brooks now owns his manhood.
Here's a couple that share a common theme:
Does 2020 establish Brooks vs Rory as the defining rivalry of this generation or does Spieth return from the ashes to challenge for alpha status? – @wannabegolfer22
Why not both? I refuse to believe Spieth won’t find it — he’s too talented and tenacious to remain a non-factor. Four years ago I thought Spieth and McIlroy would be the game’s marquee rivalry. They were fire and ice, Jordan’s hot-blooded play contrasting nicely with Rory’s unshakable cool. And their games were so different. McIlroy and Koepka are similar in a lot of ways. Stylistically, their budding rivalry is less interesting because of the sameness, but I love both of their swagger. It will be so fun to watch if they keep tangling in the big events.
Rory has swagger? I don't actually think so and, more importantly, the party of the second part obviously doesn't think so either. How about we see Rory actually play well at Augusta before we accord him a seat on the dais?
But here Alan perhaps lets the mask slip just a little:
Does anyone complete the career Grand Slam in 2020? – @maccentre43
No.
Doesn't that tell us what he really thinks about Rory and Jordan?
Does Tiger have a legit shot at Jack’s major record in 2020? – @jviohl_01
Pump the breaks! With Woods having just turned 44, the idea that he will win three majors this year is, uh, fanciful. In his prime Tiger won roughly one of out three majors in which he competed. Let’s not get toooooo greedy here.
He's won one in eleven years, and you're asking about his chances of three in a year? You, sir, are quite the idiot....
This seems a good one on which to exit:
Is Bryson going to be a terrific or terrible golf course architect/designer? – @GolfLover67
I’m actually intrigued to see if he could conjure something truly original. I love the neo-minimalism movement as much as the next guy but, other than Doak’s Loop, has anything truly ground-breaking been built recently? Maybe Bryson’s tortured brain could give us something crazily original. I would actually like to see him try.
Are we actually looking for "Ground-breaking?" Because I tend to prefer timeless design principles, obviously applied in imaginative waves to the ground involved.
But before we put Bryson on a bulldozer, perhaps some enterprising journalist could ask him his thoughts on golf course design. Yanno, where does he like to play and why? Alan, isn't that a much better long-form story idea than hanging out with Team Reed?
Kids, have a great weekend.
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