Lots to cover today. Actual golf, of course, but also discussion of the threshold issues of the day in out game. Yup, we're gonna take on the hoodie...
A Week In Philly - An inspired choice of venue yields a worthy champion:
Sei Young Kim’s professional golf resume was already impressive, but after a clinical Sunday performance at Aronimink Golf Club she can finally add the most important bullet point of all — major champion.
Kim fired a flawless final-round 63 on a cool and cloudy day in the Philadelphia suburbs to claim the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, ultimately finishing five shots ahead of seven-time major champion Inbee Park. Kim’s final round was bogey-free as she navigated the testy Donald Ross routing with fearless aggression, carding seven birdies on the day to finish 14 under for the championship.
“This course is really challenging for all the players,” Kim said. “It’s really tough. Sometimes I’m shaking my head, or my legs are shaking. But I just tried to keep the focus on (winning).”
I caught the NBC coverage on tape later, about which I'll have a comment or three. But it was quite an impressive performance, one in which she simply ran away from Inbee and her other pursuers. Aronomink played plenty tough in the blustery fall conditions, though you wouldn't have known that if you'd only watched the winner.
As always, your humble blogger has a few notes on the week, starting with this Zephyr Melton header that evokes a famous John McEnroe interview:
How playing majors at prestigious courses benefits women’s golf
As Johnny Mac was famously asked, why the qualifier? For those looking for footnotes, McEnroe had committed the hate crime of calling Serena Williams the greatest women's tennis player of all time.... you can guess the rest.
But, serious question, why the qualifier? Wouldn't going to prestigious venues benefit any golf event? Of course, your humble blogger forgets that the only way to unite us is to harp on our differences:
Golf has had an obvious gender gap since its inception. Even now, it is still referred to as a “gentleman’s game,” which is a bit exclusionary when considering the diverse demographic that makes up the sport. But that gap is closing, however slowly.
As recently as 2012, Augusta National — one of the most prestigious clubs in golf — did not have any female members. Last year they hosted the first ever Augusta National Women’s Amateur — the first women’s event on the historic grounds. The event signified another passed fence post in the march toward equality between the men’s and women’s game.
But we're only allowed to harp on some of the differences... For instance, we're not allowed to note the profound logic of the ladies playing certain "prestigious" venues, because those venues are far too short for the men's games.
Amusingly, one man's "prestigious" is another man's cow pasture, leading to this howler:
That advancement of women’s golf can be seen in the other majors as well. Take this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, for example. In recent years the event has elevated its prestige by taking the event to noteworthy courses — Hazeltine and Olympia Fields, for example — and this year at the Philadelphia gem Aronimink Golf Club.
Isn't noteworthy an interesting word? For instance, here's what Dave Hill found noteworthy about Hazeltine:
Asked what he thought of Hazeltine, designed by Robert Trent Jones, he replied, “I’m still looking for it.”
Hill criticized Hazeltine’s many dogleg holes. He said the course was missing “only 80 acres of corn and a few cows to be a good farm.”
If you lump Golden Age gem Aronomink with those other two cow pastures, you'll get what you deserve. Knowledgeable golf fans will tune in to see the former, they'll watch paint dry in preference to the latter.
The Tour Confidential panel actually devoted two entire questions to the ladies, first this in which they introduce that TV window:
3. The third of four 2020 LPGA majors, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, is in the books. Sei Young Kim claimed her first major title with a sensational Sunday 63; the host site, Aronimink GC, was widely praised; and tournament organizers got creative (and smart) with final-round starting times to give the leaders more TV exposure. What’s your primary takeaway from the week?
Wow, only four majors this year.... How sad!
Bamberger: Saw women’s golf up-close on a hard course for the first time in a long time, and it was spectacular. The PGA of America knows how to set up a course. The women were great to watch and interview. Just a wonderful tournament.
Sens: The more interesting the course, the more interesting the golf.
Colgan: I loved — and I mean loved — the PGA of America’s decision to alter tee times in order to get the leaders playing throughout the entirety of the broadcast window. For better or worse, women’s golf gets only a few opportunities a year to make a serious impression on the golf audience. If it added even one more set of eyes to the tournament, it was a smart decision.Melton: Second what Bambi said. Seeing the women play on such a difficult course was terrific. I love getting to see the ladies on the same classic courses the men have played for years. I was impressed from top to bottom. Top-notch event.
To me, the Josh Sens comment is the most significant, though it comes with a huge asterisk as relates to the men's game. We're all digesting and trying to understand that which we saw at Winged Foot, and about which we'll have more below. But taking the ladies to historic, Golden Age courses should be a no-brainer, except to the extent that those making the decisions merely want to go anywhere the men have played.
As for James Colgan, can I please just call him an ignorant slut and move on? No? You really need the explanation? You'd be shocked at how many folks are calling the accommodation of the TV window innovative, which is just laughable to me.
As regular readers know, I've long question Mike Whan's obsession with network coverage. In this case, NBC gave the event a mere two hour window at noon EST, a time when through vast swaths of the country the target audience was themselves on the golf course. That window was further constricted by some fifteen minutes by the French Open Men's Final (yes, the patriarchy still rules), so the final group was on the 13th hole when NBC got around to them. Colgan made the point that the leaders played through the entirety of the broadcast window, failing to note the irony that the TV window failed to cover the entirety of the leader's rounds.
To this observer, the NBC coverage seemed gratuitous and an afterthought. I do want to make clear that it is 2020 and the higher priority of actually holding the event was achieved, and I've no intent to be churlish about the sacrifices made just to pull that off. But my sense is that the ladies belong on Golf Channel, and that they'd be better served by a full coverage window there. To be continued...
One last bit on the ladies, this Q&A that captures a Mike Bamberger item:
4. Our Michael Bamberger, on site at the Women’s PGA, reported that the pursuit of speed and distance that has consumed many PGA Tour players does not appear to be much of a priority on the LPGA. What do you think — is there an opportunity for an LPGA player to try to go the Bryson route and overpower LPGA setups?
I'm not even sure Mike was correct, but your humble blogger cannot let this delicious bit (or is it butt) from Mike's item pass without my typically sensitive commentary:
“Women can’t do what Bryson did,” the golfing legend Stacy Lewis said on Thursday, after a first-round 75, 5 over par, on this beautiful, demanding Donald Ross course. She hit driver 13 times.“Women’s bodies are different,” Lewis said. “If we tried to put on weight [in pursuit of length] like he did, it would all go to your butt and your stomach, and who knows if you’d hit it any further, and who knows where your game would be in five years.”
Can you imagine if those comments came from a human being without a cervix? Tar and fathers would be insufficient punishment... Though to me the biggest howler is that "golfing legend" bit.... Mike, I know you want to be supportive, but adjective inflation quickly becomes a problem.
I'm not even sure that Mike is correct, as in his own answer he goes pretty far to refute his own point:
Bamberger: There is. Annika remade her body in mid-career and went from average to below average in length off the tee to well above average. For Michelle Wie and Laura Davies, their games began with their length. I saw women really swinging just flatout HARD, something you don’t see much in women’s golf. There will be more of that in the future, not less.
Yeah, whiplash-inducing... And whose picture tops Mike's item?
A girl famously chasing distance to try to reclaim her prior top-tier form. Think I'm making this up?
Careful, girl. I've been reliably informed that it will all go to your butt! here's the rest of the responses:
Sens: Absolutely. The women’s game, like the men’s game, keeps getting more athletic. And length is always an advantage, not limited to men.
Colgan: Just as important to hitting the ball farther relative to the course is hitting the ball farther relative to your opponents. If you can do it, why wouldn’t you?
Melton: I think it’s certainly in the realm of possibility, but I’m not sure the total-body transformation is in the cards. As Stacy Lewis noted, women put on weight in different ways than men, and that fact makes a Bryson-esque bulk up unlikely. But I can definitely see a long-hitter making a name for herself. Bianca Pagdanganan, anyone?
Bianca does pound it. Length is always an advantage and, therefore, players will always try to get longer. But more on that later.
Vegas, Baby! - After finishing the ladies on tape, I flipped to Golf Channel just in time to catch the playoff:
For the first time in over seven years, Martin Laird is a winner on the PGA Tour.The Scotsman won the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on Sunday, birdieing the second playoff hole to prevail over Austin Cook and Matthew Wolff. Laird won for the fourth time on Tour, and the second time at the Shriners.“It’s been a while,” Laird said. “I love it here. … Obviously I’m going to really enjoy this one.”
Laird has long amused me. Similar to Rory, his passport might say Scotland, but his golf game is pure Scottsdale.
I have nothing of interest to say about this event, mostly because this event offers nothing of interest.
The Euro Scene - The Euro Tour's flagship event at desecrated Wentworth was dominated by a player that that was actually in Vegas. At least for most of the week. Then this guy won:
Momentarily caught but never passed during the final round of the BMW PGA Championship, Tyrrell Hatton eventually more than reasserted his three-shot overnight edge to claim the European Tour’s premier title. The Englishman’s closing five-under 67 gave him a 19-under 269 total over Wentworth’s West course, four clear of runner-up Victor Perez. As a reward for his exertions at an event he first attended as a 4-year-old in 1996, Hatton earned €1,147,500 and moved into the top 10 on both the tour’s Race to Dubai points list and the World Rankings.Although he admitted to struggling with the rhythm of his swing over the course of Sunday’s final round, the now five-time European Tour champion gave what was generally a near-textbook example of how to play with a lead. Only midway through the back nine did the sometimes volatile Hatton look to be wobbling slightly.
He's a strong player, with the perhaps the only caveat being that he might be a tad high strung. However, all anybody wants to consider in the aftermath of this win is a certain fashion choice:
Do you see what we've come to?
Nick Piastowski is all over it for us:
Tyrrell Hatton shot a 5-under 67 on Sunday to win the BMW PGA Championship, one of the premier events on the European Tour. Midway through the round, he dropped into a tie for the lead, then peeled off four birdies on the back nine to pull away. The victory came on a Wentworth Golf Club course that he visited as a kid. Good stuff!BUT.BUT.BUT.REWRITE!Tyrrell Hatton shot a 5-under 67 on Sunday to win the BMW PGA Championship, one of the premier events on the European Tour. WHILE HE WORE A HOODIE. Midway through the round, he dropped into a tie for the lead, then peeled off four birdies on the back nine to pull away. WHILE HE WORE A HOODIE. The victory came on a Wentworth Golf Club course that he visited as a kid. WHILE HE WORE A HOODIE.
So, what's your point?
Golf Twitter melted down over this issue, and our TC panel of course used this as their exit query:
6. Brace yourselves, people. Tyrrell Hatton won the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday in … a hoodie, a fashion choice that ignited fierce debate on Golf Twitter and beyond. “People are split – they don’t know if they like it or not,” Hatton said. “But I think it’s a cool thing that people are talking about it – they should be open to the idea of creating a more open sport rather than being kind of snobby.” Important question here, Tour Confidentialists, so please don’t rush your answers: Is the hoodie golf-appropriate?
Confidentialists? Egads, that's worse than the hoodie itself. C'mon, man, everyone knows it's Confidentialistas.... Adjust your style book accordingly.
Shockingly, Mike Bams is a hidebound traditionalist:
Bamberger: If you’re wearing it hood up between shots on a cold day, maybe. Maybe. I prefer a ski hat bought in desperation in the pro shop minutes before you are due on the first tee. All the better courses in Scotland have them, in all the latest colors: blue, green, gray, black.
Well, they do sell out, though, so best to bring your own...
Sens: Only if you’re Bill Belichick. Nah. Seriously. You wanna wear a hoodie? Knock yourself out. Seems like it would be distracting mid-swing, though.
Colgan: I can’t fathom many golf arguments worse than the one against hoodies. If you’re comfortable and presentable, why on EARTH should it matter if it has a hood or not?
Melton: I’m as pro-hoodie as they come. In fact, wear whatever the hell you want. Golf needs to be more inclusive, not less. If you want to wear a hoodie, go right ahead. Just make sure your pace of play is quick and you’re fine in my book.
On the one hand, I don't much care. But if hoodies are your measure of inclusiveness, you might want to think again. There is actually a serious point here, one that I'm not sure those running golf understand. A few years ago millennials were polled about their attitudes to golf, and certain folks were surprised to learn that one of the things they liked about our game were the golf-specific dress up clothes... No doubt some of our stuffy golf traditions might be off-putting to the youngsters, but as a rule I find our eagerness to discard centuries-long traditions to itself be off-putting. Penalty areas, anyone?
That Fitzpatrick - DeChambeau Cage Match - An interesting back-and-forth for sure... But all anybody in Virginia Water was talking about was a guy playing in Las Vegas, and I'm thinking that's not what Keith Pelley had in mind.
So, let's start with those comments by Matthew Fitzpatrick:
“I’m biased because I’m not quite the longest,” said the five-time European Tour champion. “But in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, fair play to Bryson, he won and shot six under. But the fairways were tight as hell. I drove it brilliantly and actually played pretty well [despite missing the cut by one stroke], but I was miles behind. He’s in the rough and miles up and he’s hitting wedges from everywhere. It just makes a bit of a mockery of the game.“I looked at Shot Tracker yesterday, to see some of the places Bryson hit it,” Fitzpatrick said, referring to DeChambeau’s first round in Vegas. “He was cutting corners. And when he’s on, there’s no point. It doesn’t matter if I play my best. He’s going to be 50 yards in front of me off the tee, and the only thing where I can compete with him is putting. Which is just ridiculous. But we’re going to see people going harder and harder at it. Look at the college kids coming out now, Matt Wolff, Viktor Hovland. They just smash it, basically. Matt is a great player, but it seems to me the game is smash it and get after it and play the next one from wherever it is.”Asked whether the R&A and the USGA should do something about the ever-increasing distances leading professionals hit their drives, Fitzpatrick, ironically, didn’t hold back.“I really hope they do,” said the former U.S. Amateur champion. “In my opinion, it’s not a skill to hit the ball a long way. I could put on 40 pounds. I could go and see a bio-mechanist. I could gain 40 yards; that’s actually a fact. I could put another two inches on my driver. But the skill is to hit the ball straight. That’s the skill. He’s just taking the skill out of it in my opinion. I’m sure lots will disagree. But it’s just daft.”
Daft is just the word I'm looking for, but unfortunately its obvious application is to the Englishman's comments. The ability to hit the ball a long distance is, always has been, and always will be a huge advantage in our game. But what a perverse view of the game he offers, as if the only meaningful objective in our game is to hit the ball on a straight line. Obviously each of these arguments can be devastated by the simple reductio ad absurdum... In Fitzy case, if the skill set is merely hitting it straight, why aren't you hitting a wedge off every tee?
Bryson actually handled this deftly, going the more in sorrow than anger route:
“I appreciate that comment,” DeChambeau said. “It's a compliment to me honestly. A year ago, I wasn't hitting in anywhere near as far as I am today. It took a lot of work, a lot of hours to work through the night to figure out a lot of this stuff.“I would say it actually takes more skill to do what I'm doing, and albeit I may have—my fairwaypercentages are a little bit down, I still believe I'm hitting it straighter than what I was last year with the distances that I was hitting back then. So I actually appreciate those comments. I think he's looking out for certain set of players, and I appreciate that.”“For me out there today, I was still able to hit a lot of fairways at 360 yards,” DeChambeau said. “That's tough to do with drivers. If anything, it's more difficult to hit more fairways the way I'm doing it with the rules the way it is today. It's more built for players like Matthew Fitzpatrick and his distances and players like that.“You know, I actually appreciate it, because I would love to have a conversation with him about it and say, 'Hey, man, I would love to help out. Why couldn't you do it, too?' You see Rory and DJ doing the same thing, too. They're seeing that distinct advantage, and I feel like it's great for the game of golf. I don't think it takes less skill.”
Hey, at least he didn't go after the kid for damaging his brand. Obviously Bryson understand that it's the balancing of those two objectives that's the key to his success, as well as his skills in other aspects of the game such as putting and wedge play.
Shall we sample some other reactions?
Eamon Lynch, a man unafraid to share strong opinions:
Lynch: Matt Fitzpatrick's DeChambeau comments, while petty, call out statutes deficient in protecting golf
Here's the gist of Eamon's argument:
It’s easy to dismiss Fitzpatrick’s comments as sour grapes. Every generation sees players get left behind, condemned by their physique to keep faith with a style of golf that other elite competitors have moved beyond. He’s Corey Pavin with an accent. But even if that’s true, Fitzpatrick is correct in his assessment that professional golf is increasingly one-dimensional and lacking nuance, dominated by what my old high school woodworking teacher used to refer to as “BF and I” — brute force and ignorance.
Quite obviously the arguments about distance should and mostly are grounded in a sense of balancing the skills required for success. Calling out Bryson for seizing on advantages available under the rules is profoundly silly, and Eamon makes the case that this highlights the failure of our governing bodies.
Those Confidentialist(a)s take their crack at it as well:
1. After bulking up earlier this year, Bryson DeChambeau has turned the game on its head by overpowering Tour setups with huge drives and aggressive lines. On Friday, one of DeChambeau’s peers fired back. “It’s not a skill to hit the ball a long way in my opinion,” 5-foot-10, 155-pound Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick said from the BMW PGA Championship. “I could put on 40 pounds. I could go and see a biomechanist, and I could gain 40 yards; that’s actually a fact. I could put another two inches on my driver. I could gain that. But the skill in my opinion is to hit the ball straight. That’s the skill. He’s just taking the skill out of it, in my opinion. I’m sure lots will disagree. It’s just daft.” DeChambeau, who was playing on the other side of the pond, at the Shriners, responded, saying: “I feel like I’ve started to go down a path that’s allowed me to have an advantage over everyone, and I think that is a skillset when you look at it. For me out there today, I was still able to hit a lot of fairways at 360 yards. That’s tough to do with drivers. … I think it takes a little bit more skill to do what I’m doing, and that’s why there are only a few people doing it out here.” Any truth in what Fitzpatrick is saying? Is DeChambeau — or Tour bombers in general — taking some of the skill out of the game?
To which Mike Bamberger has this delightful, though I think misguided response:
Michael Bamberger: The goal, of course, is to play a round in the fewest strokes possible. I like what Fitzpatrick is saying. It’s charming. Charm died in golf a long time ago.
I laughed at that, as I'm sure you did, because it rings true. I just think Fitzpatrick is harkening back to a more innocent age, but one that never actually existed. Guys have always been pushing the limits on distance, and the tension is between that distance and the need to find your ball. The holy grail is and has always been long and straight, and the myopia about how far Bryson hits it ignores the fact that he hits it very straight.
Josh Sens: Fitzpatrick’s frustration is understandable, but laying the blame on DeChambeau doesn’t feel right. Bryson is simply taking advantage of what the modern game allows. What he’s doing absolutely IS a skill. Is it as interesting – or, as Michael puts it, as “charming” – a skill as someone shaping their way around the course with all sorts of creative shots? I’d say no.
James Colgan: If it’s such a significant leg up, why isn’t Fitzpatrick bulking up himself? Probably because it requires extreme effort and risk — and Fitzpatrick has decided he can be very good at golf without incurring those two things. Bryson has earned an advantage for himself. Who the heck cares if it requires less skill?
Zephyr Melton: The thing Fitzpatrick fails to note is that there is so much more to Bryson’s game than just the long ball. After coming back from golf’s stoppage, he was one of the best putters on Tour. Long drives + hot putting is a lethal combo. Also, since when was hitting the ball a long way not a skill? Fitzpatrick comes off a bit whiny here. In the wise words of J.T. Poston, “play better.”
The other thing that needs be added is that Bryson is longer than the other guys, but only marginally. As I tried to characterize it, evolutionary as opposed to revolutionary. At the end of the day, Matthew's comments mischaracterize the issues, and therefore do come off as whiny. So, yeah, play better.
I'm thinking that's enough existential angst for today. Hope to see you here tomorrow.
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