Well, that was certainly fun....Shall we break it down and prepare you for your next cocktail party? What? OK< for your next Zoom cocktail party, that is.
Alan Shipnuck gets the lede at Golf.com, but do we think he can deliver on this ambitious header?
Collin Morikawa’s joyous PGA Championship win was the perfect antidote for our times
Yeah, not so much... The antidote for our times are different times, but we'll table that for the moment...
SAN FRANCISCO — We deserved this. All of us. If 2020 has been an unrelenting grind of grim news, the final round of the 102nd PGA Championship was the perfect antidote — a giddy, nerve-jangling shootout that momentarily lifted the existential dread that has come to define the Covid era. There were no fans at Harding Park but the electricity of the final round pulsated throughout the golf world. Seven players were tied for the lead early in the back nine and you could barely breathe. “There was a lot of kind of whiplash,” said Jason Day, who was part of the gaggle. “Everything was coming and going.”
It was a wild day for sure, as they all made their runs.... well, all except that one guy that we'll get to in a bit. But I too thought of this comparison:
It was the most unwieldy major championship Sunday since the 2011 Masters, and the resounding way Morikawa closed the deal evoked Charl Schwartzel’s finishing kick nine years ago. How does one separate themselves from so many world-class players? “You had to be perfect,” Day said. Only Morikawa was; his bogeyless 64 tied the lowest final-round score ever by a PGA Championship winner, and his closing 36-hole total of 129 was the best weekend for a major winner ever.
Seemed like each and every other challenger shot 66, a score they would have signed for in a heartbeat before the round began.
Of course, there's no way to stop the inexorable comparisons to the deities of our game, first here:
This was Morikawa’s 29th start on Tour; in Woods’s 29th, he won the 1997 Masters. No one expects Morikawa to reshape the game the way Tiger did, but he is clearly going to be a week-in-and-week-out force as long as he stays healthy and motivated. “When you start comparing him to somebody like Tiger Woods, you just know how special you have to be to even be in that conversation with Tiger,” Tony Finau said. “[Morikawa] is a heck of a player. He doesn’t have a weakness in his game. He doesn’t have a weakness mentally. So when you’re dealing with that type of talent, he’s going to be somebody to beat in major championships for a lot of these things.”
And here:
So it was left to Morikawa to make all the history. He is the third-youngest winner since the PGA Championship went to stroke play in 1958, behind fellas named Nicklaus and McIlroy. He becomes the first winner in the ShotLink era to lead a tournament in driving accuracy, approach shot proximity and strokes gained putting (per stats whiz Justin Ray).
Of, course, I'm old enough to remember when DJ's breakthrough at Oakmont was going to open the floodgates... How's that prediction looking these days?
The Tour Confidential panel goes right for the jugular on that issue (admittedly in a curious sequencing):
2. Morikawa’s third victory came in just his 29th career start; Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters in his 29th start for his fourth career victory. We’re not drawing any Tiger comparisons (yet!), but how does much does this win alter your expectations in terms of what Morikawa might be capable of?
Zak: It means we can add his name to the short list of elite pros — Rory, DJ, Rahm, Justin Thomas (and that might be it) — who are a threat to the leaders even if they simply make the cut on the number. They can heat up and throw out consecutive 63s at just about any Tour track. That’s what he did this weekend. 65-64 is crazy good.Bamberger: He swings beautifully. He carries himself with such poise. I could see him winning another major and other Tour events.Wood: Despite our collective egos and self proclaimed brilliance, it doesn’t matter what we think. It matters what Collin thinks. I’m sure he believed before this week, but now he knows. He can win anywhere, anytime, on any stage. Lots of really good players believe they can win, or at least they say they do. Collin KNOWS, at a very young age, that he has gotten it done in a major. I’m not sure if this alters his expectations, but it certainly solidifies them.
Bastable: Great point, John. Imagine how Phil’s career might have differed if he won a major at 23 — that surge of confidence, of knowing that you can win the big one, is priceless. But yes, let us cool the jets! Alas, it wasn’t long ago that we were ready to hand Jordan Spieth 15 majors on a platter. Sustained greatness in the majors is not a sprint but a marathon. Let’s enjoy this moment for what it is: seemingly the beginning of a long, fruitful career for a kid who’s easy to root for.
Colgan: Call it youthful ignorance (on both his part and mine), but after this week, I think we’re looking at a multiple-time major champion. Morikawa’s mindset is elite, which is what separates him from the Spieths and Rorys of the world at similar points in their respective careers. He’s not dominant, he’s cold-blooded — there’s a difference. As far as I’m concerned, the sky’s the limit.
Dethier: He already has more majors than Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Rickie Fowler and Tommy Fleetwood combined. That’s gotta be worth something. There are no guarantees when it comes to majors — those four stars are proof of that — but this quickly elevates Morikawa from “one of the young stars” to golf’s upper echelon, in terms of achievement and potential. He’s playing like one of the world’s best golfers and we have no reason to think he’ll stop soon.
Dylan, that was very hurtful... Recency bias is an amazingly powerful force, and we shouldn't be surprised that, having seen the kid's moment of triumph, we can't imagine the alternative.
But the musing about alternative histories around guys like Phil is good fun, especially when we pair it with guys like Rory and Jordan. Those guys scored early and even built up an impressive early count, then lost their way. All of which tells us that we have no clue what will come for this young man.
My sense has been that he's tied at the hip to Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland, the two guys with whom he emerged from college golf. Notwithstanding the 2:1 numerical superiority, the Cal Bears are one-up on the Cowboys...
A few odds and ends on the winner, first this Alex Myers tweet:
Not a bad start, especially if he can continue to bag a major each time he misses a cut...
Shipnuck had an amusing item previewing the final round, a fever dream of ten alternative Sunday scenarios. Amusing because of this lede:
Jordan Spieth shoots 54 (!) to win
For those who love Spieth — which is most of the golf world — this has been a rollercoaster week. After a scratchy opening 73, Spieth put in a marathon practice session and the live TV shots of him alone at the range, desperately searching for a secret that has now eluded him for three years, tugged at the heartstrings.
He responded on Friday with a nearly flawless 68 to make the cut on the number and earn a tee time with his buddy Justin Thomas, a fraught pairing given that Spieth once led the PGA Tour victory count 8-1 but has now been surpassed by the current world No 1. Over the first six holes on Saturday, Thomas outplayed Spieth by a whopping eight strokes. Twitter pulsated with a mix of shock and pity as Spieth shot a 76 that left him tied for last.
After the round he headed straight for the range, head down, eyes cloudy, walking slowly and looking utterly grim. But Thomas, a true pal, was optimistic, saying, ”I know he’s going to be fine. I’m not just saying it because he’s one of my best friends. All of us go through little spurts. It’s just for him, this has just been a tough one. I mean, he’s going to be fine. All it takes sometimes is one week and all your confidence gets back. That’s golf.” Here’s hoping.
Little spurts? But OK, once again I've been reliably informed that he's gonna be OK.... Unrelated but related was this Peter Alliss comebacker to Alan:
Can't we all just get along?
So back to young Alan and his Morikawa scenario:
Collin Morikawa shoots 67 to win
The cool and collected Cal Bear spent four years studying the grasses and weather patterns of Harding Park and applied all that knowledge in the third round, posting a scorching 65 to rise to a tie for fourth, two back. Major championship Sundays are about hitting fairways and greens and Morikawa, in only his second season, has emerged as maybe the most precise player on Tour. The only question is if he can make all the crucial little putts with the wound still fresh from his playoff loss at Colonial.
Morikawa is an impressive kid and he addressed that head-on Saturday evening. “I’ve learned from it,” he said of his missed three-footer in sudden death. “I almost got too comfortable over the putt and thought about the next hole. It was a bad tee shot, bad second shot and good chip and we’re like, okay, we’re through this hole, but we weren’t. The hole is not over. The hole is not over until the last putt drops and we know that [now].”
That bit about holing out the short ones is pretty funny, no?
Reminds me of a story from a long ago match at Willow Ridge, but my match. In the match playing with us, Player A felt over-matched against Player B, and in a couple of early holes he made him hole a couple of short putts (to be fair, they were both downhill with some movement in them). Player B made both readily, but bristled noticeably at having to do so. Then on the Par-3 seventh Player B makes an ace. As I said to Player A, the good news is that your strategy of not conceding putts is getting under his skin. The bad news is that he's come up with a workaround.
Morikawa came up with a similar workaround... They'll be playing that 16th hole tee shot on an endless loop, though I might argue that the chip-in on No. 14 was the more significant shot, given that it saved the young man from his worst swing of the day. I know that was the point where I sat up and realized that Morikawa might just grab this thing.
Dylan Dethier has an item on ten winners from the week that will serve nicely to discuss other aspects of the week. Who doesn't love this?
2. Late leaderboard logjams
One of the reasons golf delivers such spectacular Sunday evening entertainment is because of the jockeying for position down the stretch. Tension builds. Names rise and fall. The strong emerge from the pack.
Well, it’s bigger fun with a bigger pack, and that’s exactly what we had midway through Sunday evening’s round when seven (!!) players were tied for the lead, with several more just one shot back. At that point, Scottie Scheffler was tied for the lead and his name couldn’t even fit on the first page of the CBS leaderboard. At that point, it seemed impossible that they would avoid a playoff, forget a two-stroke victory.
And I would add a great mix of players, including studs such as DJ and BK, with virtual unknowns like Mr. Sheffler.
Perhaps it was the times that I tuned in, but I didn't catch all that much SVP:
4. The ESPN broadcast (ft. Scott van Pelt)
Look, nobody is saying that running a golf broadcast is easy. But ESPN had a number ofelements, some simple, some technical, that took its show to the next level. Early in the week, with action going on everywhere, ESPN’s frenetic pace was welcome, bouncing from shot to shot.
Scott Van Pelt was the captain of ESPN’s good-times boat this week. His attitude — show a lot of golf, add value where you can and share the fun that you’re having with the viewer — is such a winning combination that if he could bottle it and sell it, a whole bunch of broadcast partners would come calling. The late-night ESPN broadcasts on Thursday and Friday were particularly fun; they called to mind ESPN’s late-night SportsCenters of old, where things get a little loose in a good way.When van Pelt signed off for the final time on Sunday afternoon, I realized how much I’ll miss ESPN’s presence in the golf broadcasting space. Until we meet again, Worldwide Leader.
Show a lot of golf? Whatever you do, don't let CBS get wind of that strategy.... Don't worry, we'll get to CBS in a bit.
This guy certainly played well enough to have won, though you might be surprised by his reaction:
8. One 40-something golfer
It was a young man’s leaderboard, led by Morikawa and supported by Wolff, Scheffler, DeChambeau and more, one man stood out: runner-up Paul Casey. The 43-year-old would have become the oldest major winner in decades, older even than Tiger Woods when he won the 2019 Masters. Casey, who has never been a killer closer on the PGA Tour, seemed particularly zen in his post-round remarks. Try reading these without gently nodding your head.
“I think those of you who come out and talk to me a lot, you know this isn’t the most important thing in my life. Yeah, today was just sort of cruise around the golf course and have a great time. I’ve not played great golf so far this season, so anything was going to be a bonus on where I was a week ago or two weeks ago. So I was just out there kind of having a good time. But I do think I’m in a sweet spot. It’s taken me 43 years to get there, but yeah, pretty chilled out, know what I’m capable of, and enjoying my golf.”
It's interesting because he's never closed well, even in regular Tour events. It had the feel of his last, best chance, though one suspects that only by concluding that it would never happen did he relax enough that it might have....
And, of course, this guy:
10. The Casino
Of the players who won without winning, one more bears mention: Bryson DeChambeau. That’s because the rebuilt, reborn, bulked-up Bryson didn’t seem to have his best week. He missed anumber of opportunities, too, misreading putts, fluffing chips and hitting a few mediocre wedges — and that was just during Sunday’s 66, which left him T4. He still nearly won!
In short, DeChambeau seems to be adding up all those little casino-style house advantages and cashing them in. Despite it all, DeChambeau had a putt to tie the lead on No. 16. He’s likely to be a factor at Winged Foot in September, and he’s even more likely to be a factor at Augusta in November. For a guy who had never finished inside the top 15 at a major championship, this was a victory — and a sign of things to come.
Yeah, I do think it was a good week for Bryson, for the reasons Dylan noted. I don't know Winged Foot well enough to know whether he can bomb it over the trees, but that game has to play well at Augusta. And he gest two cracks there withing five months, so stay tuned.
Back to the TC gang for this on the feel of it all:
3. PGA Tour tournaments have been fan-less for a couple of months, but this was our first fan-less major. How much, if at all, do you suppose the muted atmosphere helped a young player like Morikawa, who is not accustomed to playing in majors with tens of thousands of fans watching his every move?
Zak: I think it made the final two holes much easier. That’s when it got real for him. No. 17 wasn’t playing difficult, but with spectators breathing down his neck, maybe he fans it into a bunker. And then on 18, with thousands lining that hole, the walk to it, the walk from it, etc., those nerves are amplified. It’s human nature.Bamberger: I agree with Sean. Crowd noise cannot NOT influence your breathing, your heart rate, your walking pace. It’s just different. It worked to his advantage.Wood: If another young guy won, I may agree with you. But with Morikawa, I’m not so sure he would have noticed there were tens of thousands of people there. And if he did, I’m sure all he would have heard was, “Go Bears.”Bastable: It’s not like he hasn’t won (and lost) in front of fans before. Yes, the majors are at a different level, especially late on a Sunday afternoon, but that tee shot at 16 (followed by the holed putt) should lay to rest any questions about Morikawa’s steel. You get the sense, with throngs of eyes upon him, he would have held up just fine.
Colgan: I think Alan and John are dead-on. It might’ve been more stressful on him mentally, but I don’t think a gallery would’ve changed the outcome this weekend.
Dethier: It’s one of those things that has an effect, for sure, but that effect is so hard to quantify. Would Brooks Koepka have kept the train on the tracks if he’d had a tunnel of screaming Bay Area fans cheering him to the first tee? Would Dustin Johnson have stayed dialed in? Would Morikawa have felt an extra twinge of nervousness on No. 16 tee and found the bunker, making par instead of eagle? That’s a different world than the one they played golf in today.
It's unknowable for sure, but I'll just come at it from another angle. The absence of a crowd and the associated noise didn't impact my own sense of drama and pressure. But that's very different from the prior series of regular Tour events, just because this one actually meant something... And I suspect that the next time I feel that buzz will be at the Playoffs Winged Foot. Sorry, Jay, but you just can't make me believe that those damn playoffs mean anything.
OK, I lied, we might as well cover this one as well:
6. Morikawa’s week will most be remembered for his drive-the-green eagle 2 at the 16th hole on Sunday. Where does that deuce rank among the most clutch moments in major-championship history?Zak: Uhhh, middle of the pack? It was definitely clutch, but something about it feels lacking.Probably the fans. I’ll need to get over that.Bamberger: Not as high as Sarazen’s 2 on 15 in the second Masters, but very, very high! He didn’t need to make a 2 there. He needed to drive it in a place where he could tap-in for 3. He did that and more.Wood: The lack of a slow rolling eruption from a crowd as the ball landed and crawled up close to the hole does make it less memorable. Nothing against the shot at all, it was brilliant. But it terms of sheer memory, the quiet doesn’t help.
Bastable: Exactly. The lack of roars were notable, but they unfairly diminished the moment! Morikawa made a 2 — an eagle 2! — on the 70th hole of a major championship. It wasn’t Shaun Micheel clutch, but, damn, it was special. Related: Wonder how many patrons were around the green when Sarazen holed out?
Colgan: Most clutch might be a touch hot for me. But make no mistake about it, that moment will forever be remembered as Collin Morikawa’s official arrival, and the smart money says we’ll be talking about him (if not the shot) for a while.
Dethier: Ask again at next year’s PGA to see how well we remember it then. We’re prisoners of the moment, big-time. But in terms of sheer difficulty, carving a driver onto a green on the 70th hole of a major championship is pretty high up there.
OK, I can only say that if Shaun Micheel is the gold standard of clutch shots, then the category is meaningless. Of course we should be consulting Brandel Chablee, who is still locked down on some drive that DJ hit in Hawaii a few years back, so the criteria might be a bit in doubt.
Perhaps the better question is how long it will take for someone to add the appropriate soundtrack.... Hey, we're getting simulated crowd noise on baseball broadcasts, why shouldn't golf grab a piece of the action. Obviously it's profoundly silly to compare this to Sarazen, which altered the path of mankind and made the Augusta Invitational into the friggin' MASTERS... But the only serious answer to this question is that it will be determined by the arc of Collin Maorikawa's career.... hence my laughter at the Shaun Micheel standard.
Shall we move on to a few other topics? I thought you might agree...
Miss Congeniality - Did you catch Brooks' Saturday evening presser, in which he called out workout buddy DJ? Here's Eamon Lynch's take on that jab:
The four-time major winner violated one of the game’s cardinal conventions at the PGA Championship: that the first shot among leaders entering the final round takes place on the first tee Sunday afternoon, not Saturday night in front of a microphone. After the third round at TPCHarding Park, the two-time defending champion stood a couple strokes adrift of his one-time friend, Dustin Johnson.
“I like my chances,” Koepka said. “When I’ve been in this position before, I’ve capitalized. I don’t know, [Johnson’s] only won one.”
As prodding goes, it had all the subtlety and affection of the dental scene in Marathon Man.
But with the benefit of hindsight, he got the DJ part spot on.... That's exactly how DJ played, like a guy likely to retire with just the one major.
As for his own chances, well that was just a bit outside...
Eamon I think gets this right as to intent, but that might just get lost in the amusing AIG bit:
Evident in this brouhaha among the bros is the assumption that Koepka’s comments were designed solely to rattle Johnson rather than to rouse himself. Koepka knew his Dustin drive-by would increase enormously the pressure on him to deliver in the final round, but he was willing to assume the risk of embarrassment — and virtual execution by the ever-alert Twitter firing squad — to motivate himself to excel. It was a fraught strategy for a man already facing substantial expectations in his bid for a third straight win in this event, even if he hadn’t been aiming the barb at a former world No. 1 who won on Tour a few weeks back.
That he was game for the gamble should earn him kudos. But the fact that Koepka didn’t deliver on the golf course — a miserable front nine on the way to a 74 ensured that kid with the financial advisor mom in the AIG ad got more screen time than he did — won’t encourage others to imitate his aggressive gamesmanship. Which is a shame. Verbal pugilism is part of the foreplay of every prizefight, and golf would benefit from both tolerating and encouraging a little more sass among competitors.
Personally, I'm just happy that butt-ugly Nike shirt didn't get much airtime.
As you might have heard, a certain Ulsterman was put off by these comments:
“It's different, right; it's a very different mentality to bring to golf that I don't think a lot of golfers have,” he said of Koepka. “I was watching the golf last night and heard the interview and was just sort of taken aback a little bit. … If you've won a major championship, you're a hell of a player. Doesn't mean you've only won one; you've won one, and you've had to do a lot of good things to do that.“Sort of hard," McIlroy added, “to knock a guy that's got 21 wins on the PGA Tour, which is three times what Brooks has.”Apparently, it wasn’t hard at all. Not for Brooks.
The irony, she burns! Rory's got his four, but seems now to be in a place where the only he wins are regular Tour events, so... you can fill in the rest.
This was a common take:
What happened to Koepka on Sunday, it is believed in more than a few circles, was outright, unmitigated karma catching up to him. Candor is a commodity in too short of supply these days, but it has to come with a dollop of charity or a nod of respect. Then again, if karma were truly at work, Dustin Johnson would have converted that 54-hole lead into his second major title. Instead, Collin Morikawa, just 23, collected his first.
Again, DJ' play validated the dis from his buddy. But my biggest question is just that, are they still buddies? There were many jokes made the last few years about Brooks stealing DJ's manhood, but is that how one speaks of a friend?
To me, Brooks comes out of this looking like a bit of a jerk, a role he's seemingly embraced on many occasions. The difference this time is that he called out a guy that's supposed to be a friend, and in a way that just feels so unnecessary. Of course Brooks looks a little silly after throwing up a stinker after laying down the gauntlet, though DJ doesn't come out of looking much better for caving after being called out.
These Guys Are Good - Did you catch the Rory rules bit on Friday? Geoff has a long explanation of it here that I'll let you read on your own, I'll just excerpt these comments from Rory:
After a second round 69 that included six birdies and a triple bogey, McIlroy explained his thinking.“You know, at the end of the day, golf is a game of integrity and I never try to get away with anything out there. I'd rather be on the wrong end of the rules rather than on the right end because as golfers, that's just what we believe. Yeah, I would have felt pretty wrong if I had of taken a lie that was maybe a little better than what it was previously.”
Given the recent efforts of some elite players to fiddle with or overtly stomp on the spirit of the game, McIlroy’s instinct to not abuse the rules seemed especially refreshing.
Lots of praise for the man, which is deserved on the one hand, though I do share Jane Crafter's concern:
“It was a better lie than he probably would have had since I couldn’t see it,” Crafter said. “But he certainly did not give himself much to work with.”
It's a horrible rule since the players is asked to recreate a lie that he never saw... He got a break, but he did the best with it he could and should be recognized for that.
But I want to remind everyone of this incident from the WGC-Mexico in 2019:
On the next hole, the par-5 sixth, Johnson's playing competitor found himself in a similar situation. Rory McIlroy, who had cut Johnson’s lead to three shots, wildly hit his drive left of the fairway and ended up both behind a tree and close to a cart path.McIlroy, though, wasn't as lucky. After a brief conversation with the same rules official, McIlroy was not afford relief and was forced to play his next shot left-handed and back toward the fairway. He went on to bogey the hole.
“I was taking a stance that was hitting it one way, and my foot was on [the cart path], but I could sort of see [the official’s] point, as well,” McIlroy said. “That's why I didn't call for a second opinion. I just went, ‘You know what, fine.’ It wasn't going to make much of a difference anyway.”
What you'll find if you go the video (which I blogged here), is that Rory lied to the rules official as to how he intended to play the shot. How do you know that? Because he ended up playing the shot left-handed when he wasn't granted the drop. "I could sort of see his point?" Yeah, we could all sort of see his point, because you were so full of it....
My point is that most of the players are good guys, but stuff happens and bad decisions are made all the time. Rory is not a cheater, but he is very human and subject to all sorts of influences, including that incident where DJ probably got an over-generous ruling, and Rory couldn't help asking, "Please, sir, may I have some of that for myself?"
he didn't get near the opprobrium he should have at that time, and I think folks are over-doing the praise for Friday's incident. But I would just like to suggest that we consider these guys neither saints nor sinners, and praise and criticize as the facts warrant. This time Rory done good... that prior instance, not so much.
Eye On Phil - Phil had his Saturday afternoon free, and was good enough to stop by the CBS booth and share some thoughts with us. It went quite well:
Leave it to Phil Mickelson to take a tournament broadcast hostage while he’s out of contention,but that’s exactly what happened Saturday on CBS.Mickelson joined the national broadcast for 90 electric minutes shortly after his third round Saturday, and despite the golf at TPC Harding Park being plenty entertaining on its own, what Mickelson brought to the booth was a breath of fresh air. A liveliness filled with information. If social media was any indication — and in this case it probably is — Mickelson’s performance was a hit. Once he really found his groove, it was perhaps his best work on the golf course this season.
Geoff characterized it as caffeine-driven:
The appearance, at least the part I could hear between some other duties and golf watching on site, was this: while over-caffeinated, Mickelson gave the show a jolt of life and inside-the-ropes energy akin to what Tony Romo has brought to CBS’s NFL coverage. Delineating something as small as the difference between missing the 4th fairway right, instead of left, just took you into that mindset of an all-time great who is also competing this week.But more than that, he just brought a willingness to talk, inject life and make things fun. Generally, I’d say he was almost talking too much, but he also dispelled the myth that golf announcing has to be hushed. Golf needs this kind of analysis and energy to match the increased quality of the pictures and overall production delivery (which CBS is doing this week…along with help from the Kaze drone team and Goodyear Blimp crews bringing the prime cut eye candy).
Electric? Caffeinated? So, the first takeaway to me would be as evidence of the lifelessness of that CBS broadcast, about whom the adjective "electric" has never been used. Interestingly, CBS reportedly self-diagnosed themselves in a similar fashion, though I believe the word they used was "stale." That lead to the firing of Peter Kostis and Gary McCord, about whom I could go either way. But they felt the solution to their woes was the hiring of Davis Love, who will forever be known as the Shaun Micheel of golf broadcasters.... Seriously, had they ever listened to the man?
Let's over-interpret a couple of other aspects of Phil's appearance, most notably the cold open:
After returning from a commercial break, Nantz welcomed Mickelson into the booth and said to Sir Nick, “Ready for a little fireside chat with Phil?” All three laughed.
“Phil, great to have you,” Nantz continued.
“Thank you, it’s nice to be here,” Mickelson said. “There’s three things I do well: play golf and talk golf.”“What’s the third thing?” Faldo asked, earnestly, the joke seemingly flying right over his head.(The third thing we’ll go ahead and assume is not necessarily appropriate for a family-friendly golf broadcast.)
Mickelson remained mum, a glint in his eye, while Faldo tried again. “You said three things,” Faldo said, counting on his fingers for emphasis.
Mickelson smiled before Nantz broke the tension with, “He’s setting you up.”
After another beat or two, Nantz said, “Leave that to your imagination, dear boy.”
Nantz transitioned the conversation to the course setup and the trio moved on, but what a moment! The awkward exchange, which you can watch below, did not escape viewers at home.
Yeah, this has appropriately been called awkward and cheeky, but how thick is Sir Nick? He was the only man in America who couldn't see where Phil was headed with this juvenile bit, and Nantz had to waive him off twice to clue him in.
On a related note, Christopher Powers provides chapter and verse on Phil's analysis, of which we'll sample a few bits:
The CBS host asked him to break down TPC Harding Park, and Mickelson didn’t disappoint.“I think it’s one of the best setups, because it is a difficult test, you’ve got enough elements with the wind and the heavy air. It challenges the ballstriking and the ability to maneuver the shots into the wind. The greens are soft though, there’s not a lot of contours, especially for sites that we play majors on. So you can make a lot of putts… not me, but the players. When you get hot with the putter you can really make a lot of putts. There’s not a lot of curvature in them, and not the fear of the ball racing away.”
And this:
OK, anyway. CBS went back to live golf shots and Mickelson went to work. Following a poor Justin Rose approach shot on the first hole, which came from the right side of the fairway, cameras cut to Brooks Koepka, who was more toward the left side of the fairway, setting up a much better look at the pin.“Little bit better angle here Jim,” said Mickelson. “He has much more room in front to let it skip back there.”On command, Koepka hit a wedge that landed about 10 feet in front of the pin and skipped to the back of the green, leaving about 12 feet for birdie. Phil Mickelson? More like Tony Romo, am I right?At the short par-4 seventh, Tony Finau hit a bunker shot to a few feet. “That was a nice shot, to get it so close with such little green to work with.” Game recognize game. “Left-edge putt maybe, it just barely goes right,” Mickelson said. Bang. He’s 2-for-2. Easy game!
Electric? Kind of underwhelming when you see it in print, but he did deliver it with some energy for sure. That's how bad CBS has become, that that superficial analysis represents a jolt to the system...
But remind me, who at CBS would normally be responsible for providing that kind of analysis? Boy, everyone's hands are suddenly in the air, and I'm guessing they all have Sir Mumbles on their bingo cards....
The knee-jerk take on social media was that this was an audition for Phil, who no doubt has plenty of good golf left in him and will feast on the PGA Tour Champions at some point. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be able to work two jobs at once. Let’s just say Nick Faldo is probably feeling a little nervous right now.
Probably not, if only because he was still trying to suss out what Phil's third thing is....
But, if only... I just can't imagine Phil being interested in the gig, though we are certainly overdue for an upgrade.
Just one more little bit before I leave you... my favorite sports story for the day (completely unrelated to our mission here at Unplayable Lies):
Astros, A's get in bench-clearing brawl after Oakland's Ramon Laureano charges Houston's dugout
In 2020? I was a bit worried until I read at MSNBC that the brawl was mostly peaceful....
Have a great day and we'll have more tomorrow.
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