OK, we've had our one good day of weather... Anyone know how to put the "warming" back into Global Warming? Just an odd mélange of bits for you today, which will likely have to kepp you through the weekend.
Tugging At Those Heartstrings - An easy call for story of the week:
Twenty feet of turf stood between Michael Visacki and a lifelong dream. Sink the birdie putt and he’d secure a spot in his first PGA Tour event. A dream a decade in the making was within his grasp — all he needed to do was make that putt.
The countless hours of practice in the oppressive Florida heat trained him for this moment. After 170,000 miles of crisscrossing the country in his Honda Accord, Visacki finally had a chance to reach his goal. Visacki and his caddie — fellow aspiring pro Kaylor Steger — picked a line and went through the pre-shot routine. Visacki drew his putter back and stroked the ball, sending it rolling toward the cup.
When it jarred into the back of the hole, he lifted his arms in triumph. At last, Visacki would play on the PGA Tour.
“Shocking,” he said. “[This is a] dream come true.”
The buried lede might be that he can fit into said Honda Accord.... But it's that everyman appeal that makes this story so satisfying...that and the refusal to give up the dream.
The moment was equally emotional for Mike Visacki. Mike and his wife Donna had made plenty of sacrifices for their son as he chased this dream. Michael Visacki recounted times when his parents would go hungry at nights in order to make sure their son had what he needed to thrive. At other times, they would broker deals with junior events to accept their late entry fees when the family was between paychecks. It was all in hopes of a moment like this.
“I can’t thank them enough; I can’t repay them enough,” Visacki said. “Pops was emotional, never seen him cry so much. We’re not very much of a crying family, but this is the first time in a long time I think that we all cried because we knew how much work and effort, blood, sweat, tears, has gone into me trying to make it and to finally be able to do it.”
That struggle and never-say-die attitude has resonated with fans this week — and not just golf fans. The moment of Visacki’s phone call to his father has gone viral since Monday. The video has been viewed 1.4 million times on Twitter and outlets such as ESPN and TMZ have even shared the clip.
More like this, please.
Tour Notes - The boys are in Tampa this week, at Innisbrook's Copperhead course, which I've long considered the best track they play in Florida. Of course, the Tour does what the Tour wants, most recently removing the Valspar from the pre-Masters Florida swing, thereby consigning it to oblivion. Though the field seems stronger than the Honda, so maybe reports of their demise were exaggerated...
With no logical order, we'll start with this Shane Ryan piece:
7 players having sneaky good PGA Tour seasons in 2021
I'm relieved to inform you that, my concerns notwithstanding, Shane is not trying to convince us that Rory is hitting it out of the park this year.... Though there's one that almost as curious.
At least here Shane acknowledges the elasticity in his definition of "sneaky";
2. Corey Conners
Truthfully, I’m not even sure how sneaky this is anymore, for the mere fact that the guy is ALWAYS in contention. You won’t hear the 29-year-old’s name very often on SportsCenter and he’s not exactly threatening to plant his flag in the American cultural consciousness (though he did get a sweet Tim Horton’s donutmade to seal his bona fides back home in Canada), but if you’re a golf fan, you’ve almost been forced to learn his name by now. With seven top-10s (a number eclipsed only by Rahm) and just a single missed cut, Conners is a name you can’t escape. Still, he can’t really blow up until he wins … for now, he just sneaks into being sneaky. Quite sneaky of him.
Next, he'll be offering up DJ as his longshot pick at Kiawah...
But this guy? OK, I know he pured that tee ball on No. 16...
1. Xander Schauffele
Here we have the second-sexiest name on the list, and the No. 4 ranked player in the world. How can someone like that be “sneaky” good? Well, a few reasons.
First, and most obviously, he hasn’t won in more than two years (even though he had the lowest 72-hole score at the Tour Championship last summer). Second, it feels like there have been approximately three million twists and turns in golf since that last win, from Bryson’s beefening to Spieth’s rejuvenation to DJ’s Masters to an entire global pandemic. Third, recency bias dictates that if you think about Xander Schauffele at all in April 2021, you’re thinking about the triple bogey at the 16th on Sunday at Augusta that cost him a chance to win the Masters.All of these factors disguise the fact that this dude is playing out of his mind. He has six top-10s, three of which are runner-up finishes. He missed only one cut. And beyond that his worst finish is a T-18 at the WGC-Dell Match Play. He’s consistently great, but with all the competing narratives in a sport drowning in storylines, it’s a simple fact that you’re probably not talking about Xander Schauffele … even though he’s always, always there.
So close. I'll concede that his explanation of that triple bogey had your humble blogger lose his mind, but that's as close as he comes.
Next up is a bit of an odd story with multiple moving parts, which involves both Geoff Shackelford and Paul Casey. There's a chicken or egg thing going on, so bear with me. Geoff files this post on the four new Covid positive tests, and he's back in rending garment mode:
Tyrrell Hatton became the four player to WD from the Valspar Championship after testing positive for COVID-19. He joins previous WD’s by Sepp Straka, Will Gordon and Brice Garnett as players who were at TPC Louisiana playing last week’s Zurich Classic.
This is the most PGA Tour players in one week to test positive since the circuit introduced testing.
This is the first time all of the players were coming from another PGA Tour event.
Best wishes to all for no symptoms or a quick recovery. And I’m sure robust contact tracing is underway to ensure there was no spreader situation at TPC Louisiana or in the travel from New Orleans to Tampa for the Valspar.
While virus news is never good, this week’s wave comes as huge numbers of Americans are getting vaccinated and the EU and UK appear close to clarifying how required vaccination passports might work for summer travel. Besides the obvious safety issues that are raised by four positives in one week, there should be concern from the golf industry if pro golfers continue to test positive, resist vaccination and still attempt travel the world.
The sport has benefited from the cruelty of the virus by becoming seen as a safe haven with positive attributes.
Maybe pro golfers can do their part to put aside the infertility and microchip concerns to keep the world safer and golf’s image intact.
Nick WatneyCameron ChampDenny McCarthyDylan FrittelliHarris EnglishChad CampbellBranden GraceTony FinauDustin JohnsonAdam ScottHarry HiggsBill HaasKramer HickokHenrik NorlanderJhonattan VegasDJ TrahanMark WilsonKamalu JohnsonPadraig HarringtonDanny WillettGary WoodlandScott PiercyDoc RedmanSeamus PowerWill GordonBrice GarnettSepp StrakaTyrrell Hatton
To what end? Is that an overwhelming display of positive tests? In a young, healthy population that's been out and about because of their work?
Hold that thought as we segue to Paul Casey, the double-defending champion, who shared some of his first-world problems:
PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Paul Casey didn’t want to speak for his fellow PGA Tour pros, but the Englishman said he can relate to the urgency to return to our former way of life.
“All I know is that I think like a lot of people out there, like the general public, we’re kind of getting to the point, we just want to crack on with things and get back to normal,” Casey said.
OK, which makes you no different from the other 300 million people living in the U.S.
“I’m still worried about international travel coming up,” Casey said. “I’ve got to go play the Porsche [European Open in Germany] in a few weeks and then the Open Championship [in England in July], and I want to go on holiday with my mates. I usually go to Italy, and that’s not going to happen for another year. So, I’m sick of it, and I’m willing to do the things necessary to get through it.”
On the one hand, this is pretty much word perfect for how I feel, as well as everyone else to whom I speak. On the other hand, how much more tone deaf can a fellow be? If this is remarkable in any way, it's only because Casey is one of the more likeable guys out there, and should logically know that there's little appetite for bellyaching from such pampered prima donnas.
But there was also this from Casey's presser:
Q. We just had four players this week test positive, all who were in New Orleans last week. It's still a thing, obviously. But if they had been fully vaccinated, obviously there's been timing issues with this, the schedule, getting eligible, but in theory they wouldn't have to be tested. There's this evidence to suggest they won't even transmit it. Isn't that the way forward not only for you guys but for everybody?
PAUL CASEY: I think so. I mean, how else are you going to get out of a pandemic? Either you need everybody to have had it -- which again, my understanding, what I read at the beginning, and you don't know what's right or wrong, but my reading at the beginning was we can't -- we're not going to get rid of this thing straight away. It was, let's mask up, let's distance so that they won't overwhelm our health services. But we have no way of killing this thing.
You know, when like Shackelford is writing this morning and almost calling out those guys who have had COVID, I think that's out of order. You know, a lot of guys still don't know -- guys who have had it and I've had friends who have had it, I've not had it but guys who have had it who are my friends, they don't know how they got it, genuinely don't know how they got it and have been adhering to protocols, so I'm disappointed that Geoff would do that.
Touch wood they didn't pass it on to anybody else and didn't affect anybody else, and it seems like we've not had anybody on TOUR who's been seriously adversity affected. I know there's a couple of media personnel, people in the media who have dealt with it badly or have had adverse effect, but yeah, look, I would try to preach as much as I can. I don't want to get up on a soapbox and kind of scream it, but we all want to get through this, and how else are we going to get through it unless everybody has got antibodies or we get vaccinated.
Look on the bright side, Geoff, apparently Paul Casey reads your blog.... But answer the more profound issue, has he popped for your subscription Quadrilateral feature? Yeah, now I see the source of this bitterness...
Geoff had this quasi-rebuttal in introducing Casey's comments:
I should have made more clear that it was not meant to humiliate them but instead to document the number since the “Return to Golf”. As someone who has dealt with the impact of the virus on a daily basis since November 30th, I certainly understand many layers of the pandemic and empathize with those who have had the virus or have lost a loved one.
I do think Paul Casey's comments were a bit off-base, as there's no sense that Geoff was victim blaming...That said, Geoff has very much embraced the pandemic porn, so Casey's confusion is understandable. Of course, what Casey should really be angry about were those calls from Geoff to shut down last summer, though you'll notice that Geoff fails to remind us of that.
In other Tour news, Justin Thomas remains an extremely polite young man:
Professional golfers don’t always like getting asked questions about other professional golfers. Aperson’s golf game is, after all, rather personal.
But sometimes pros are very simply the people best-equipped to explain what’s going on with someone. Such was the case a month ago, when Jordan Spieth shed light on Rickie Fowler’s game. For a player of Fowler’s stature, Spieth explained, “it’s impossible to struggle in silence.”
So when Justin Thomas was asked on Wednesday what he thought about Rory McIlroy, my ears perked up. Was Thomas surprised, one reporter asked, by McIlroy’s recent struggles?Sometimes a player in this circumstance will downplay, or deflect, or defer. Thomas did not.
“Yeah, I’m very surprised,” he said. “I think we all are.”
Are you really? Then perhaps you've not been paying close attention...
Check that, this pretty much confirms the above speculation:
“Rory is one of the most talented golfers I’ve ever played with, but I think something that is very underrated and people don’t realize is how hard he works,” Thomas said of his south Florida neighbor. “I mean, he’s out there a lot, puts in a lot, a lot, a lot of hours, and he’s very similar to me to where he always wants to get better, probably to the point where it hurts him at times, like it does myself.”
Then perhaps he's working on the wrong things, as per his "Chasing Bryson" comments.
We're going to close on a relentlessly optimistic note:
Let’s finish with some optimism. McIlroy will make his start at Quail Hollow next week, where he won his first PGA Tour event in 2010 (by shooting 66-62 on the weekend). Two weeks after that he’ll play the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, where he won his second of four majors in 2012 (by a whopping eight shots). He’ll have plenty of fond memories to draw on.
Rory is pretty much all about the fond memories at this juncture...
“The thing about Rory is I know he’s going to work through it and he’s going to win a lot more tournaments and a lot more majors,” he said. “I still and always will have maybe more respect for him than anybody, because he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met for how much success he’s had.”
He hasn't won a major since 2014, and I couldn't even cite one in which he's contended since then. But JT thinks he'll win a "lot more"? As noted above, he's unfailingly polite...
In this Tour olio, one last foreboding item from the aforementioned Shackelford, recounting a Rob Manfred-Adam Silver conversation:
Manfred reminded everyone of this Monday speaking at a webinar hosted by Sportico. He recalled the story of a conversation he had a few years ago with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who told Manfred that MLB’s slower pace gives it an advantage when it comes to placing wagers:
“I’ll tell you a funny story; I don’t think he would mind. One night, I was coming back from an event and the phone rang; it was Adam Silver. He said: Rob, you gotta stop talking about the pace of game because your pace of game is going to be absolutely perfect for sports betting. And he’s right; he usually is. And he was right about that. So we see it as an opportunity to make everything we do… better for our fans. It’s an opportunity that our fans clearly want.”
Thud! Sure, let's slow down our already dreadfully slow games to satisfy that small percentage of our fans that want to get a bet down... What's not to like?
Haters Gonna Hate - The PGA Professional Championship has been on Golf Channel this week, filling the final twenty slots in the Kiawah field. Including this familiar name:
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Omar Uresti started Wednesday’s final round of the 53rd PGA Professional Championship with a seven-shot lead, and he needed most of it.
After playing flawless golf for the first 54 holes, Uresti struggled throughout the final round. The Austin, Texas, resident was 4-over after four holes and saw his once-invincible lead shrink to two shots on the back nine of the Wanamaker Course at PGA Golf Club.
But he got back to what he does best, grinding away for pars, and held on for a three-shot victory over Frank Bensel Jr. of Jupiter, Florida. Uresti etched his name on the Walter Hagen Trophy for the second time in four years, having also won in 2017.
This, it so happens, is somewhat controversial, as this 2017 article explains:
Omar Uresti is a lightning rod for controversy, despite not breaking any rules.
The 49-year-old from Austin, Texas, competed in his third straight PGA Championship this week as a “club pro,” using a back-nine 32 on Friday to make the cut on his way to a T-73 finish.
He earned his spot into the field by winning the PGA Professional Championship, making him one of 20 club pros at Quail Hollow. But that’s the rub.
Uresti may be many things, but a club pro he's not:
Regardless, Uresti’s entry into the club pro category has caused a stir in the community. Uresti has taught junior golfers and helped out with First Tee fundraisers, but he is not a club professional anywhere.
No, but he was apparently sufficiently astute to meet the PGA of America's most primal need:
Uresti became an A-3 life member with the PGA of America after 20-plus years on the PGA Tour and paying annual PGA of America dues along the way. As an active life member, Uresti is eligible for the PGA Professional Championship. Keeping that active label involves paying dues and fulfilling credits by going to teaching seminars and section meetings, which Uresti has done.
It’s a payoff a long time coming.
“I didn’t really get any benefits from (paying dues) until I started playing in these events,” Uresti said.
On the one hand, I can't blame the club pros for being a little miffed at Omar horning in on their sweet gig. But there's a big caveat, and the guys might be smart to temper their criticism. Because it only reinforces the wide chasm between club pros and touring professionals, and highlights how profoundly silly it is to muck up the PGA Championship field with club professionals, none of whom are likely to so much as sniff the cut line.
In related news, the PGA of America seems sufficiently committed to degrading the PGA Championship field, that no assistance from the club pros is required:
Rickie Fowler might've missed the year's first major, but he won't be sitting out the second one.The PGA of America confirmed to NBC Sports' Will Gray on Tuesday that Fowler and John Catlin have each received special invites to play the PGA Championship on May 20-23 at Kiawah's Ocean Course.
Fowler was initially believed to be on the outside looking in for the PGA, as his 2018 U.S. Ryder Cup team exemption only applied if he stayed inside the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking by the May 10 cutoff date (Fowler is currently No. 111). Though there is still time for Fowler to qualify that way, some people noticed that Fowler was already listed in the official field for Kiawah.
The PGA said that Fowler and Catlin, who is No. 82 in the world, had been invited to play "based on their performances, playing records and OWGR position."
Caitlin I understand, as he's won three times in his last fourteen starts. Our Rickie, on the other hand, hasn't a top ten to his name this year. But I'm note sure he even needs to pack an orange shirt, as I think I know where he'll be on Sunday.
Don't Trust Chine. China Is A*****e - The header is a 2019 quote from a protestor in Hong Kong, but isn't exactly late-breaking news. There was that little virus they shared with us, but we've seen any number of similar stories over the years:
If a deal on a new set of clubs sold online sounds too good to be true, it very well could be. A recent bust of Chinese counterfeiters proved that point and should serve as notice to buy golf gear only from trusted retailers or from equipment manufacturers directly.
Fifteen people in China were convicted this week for their roles in a major counterfeit golf club ring, an industry watchdog association named U.S. Golf Manufacturers Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group reported.
Following what the U.S.-based business group called the largest raid of counterfeit golf gear ever, conducted in 2020, a court in the Chinese district of Pudong convicted all 15 people on trial after the raid. The total case value of the faked equipment was more than $1.8 million and involved 120,000 pieces of equipment falsely carrying the branding of Titleist, TaylorMade, PXG, Ping, Callaway and Cleveland/Srixon.
A drop in the ocean, no doubt...
I know it wasn't much, but it will have to do for this week. See you on Monday.
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