Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Tuesday Trends

Some PGA Championship remainders, and a couple of other items for your delectation.

PGA Leftovers - Seth Waugh with an apology:

Geoff finds said apology lacking:

But the PGA has yet to address what it plans to do about the security and crowd control breakdown at Kiawah.

With a Ryder Cup coming and no apparent desire to limit adult beverage sales, barricades may be in order. Also yet another review of the alcohol policy might be in order.

Meh!  It seems unreasonable to expect an action plan for the 2022 PGA Championship, so is Geoff bemoaning the absence of a pro forma commitment to do better?   

As for the Ryder Cup, the problems there are inherently different.  Sunday is its own mayhem in a tightly-contested cup, but there's no way of knowing where matches finish.  But the real problems are Friday and Saturday, where the confluence of open bars and little golf to be seen (only four matches per session) seem highly combustible.  Let's hope Wisconsin Nice is a real thing...

Of course if you're worried above the rampaging hordes at a Ryder Cup, Whistling Straits isn't what will keep you up at night.  Bethpage in 2025, however, seems like asking for trouble.  I was last there with the Met. Golf Writers in 2019, and was a bit taken aback by the New York State and PGA of America officials who were completely blasé about the numbers  of spectators to be allowed and alcohol policies, seemingly unaware its effect on humans.  

This from ESPN's Bob Harig seems to confirm suspicions:

The tournament originally announced that attendance would be capped at 10,000 spectators per day due to COVID-19 protocols. But with restrictions being loosened across the country and in South Carolina, the crowds were considerably larger throughout the event. There were thousands of people lining both sides of the fairway at the 18th on Sunday.

Maybe some enterprising reporter could ask Seth how any were allowed in?  Just spitballin' here, but I think they call that journalism...

 Dylan Dethier, in his Monday Finish feature, has some graphic imagery from that 18th hole scene

I could still see the crowd rushing down from the rough on No. 18, overtaking Mickelson and his caddie. Overtaking me, too. The whole thing felt surreal; we’ve seen crowds fill in behind golfers coming down the 72nd hole, but they’re not supposed to swallow them altogether.

Ummm, Dylan, perhaps you should watch this.

I could feel the crush of the crowd around me as their collective charge was halted greenside. The back of the mob continued pushing forward. I could tell I wasn’t the only one quickly and
unexpectedly readjusting to being in close proximity with thousands of strangers after more than a year of adjusting to the complete inverse.

I could hear the chants, the jubilant Phil! Phil! Phil! getting quicker in cadence and exploding into ovation, earning a raised thumb and wide grin from Mickelson, who’d been inscrutable nearly all week, hiding behind dark shades.

I could taste dust in the wind, which isn’t a commentary on the meaning of Sunday’s conclusion but actually the very literal consequence of fans charging downwind from the dunes, bringing that sand with them onto the fairway.

And I could smell these good people, too, the inevitable after-effects of an 87-degree day spent trekking a treeless golf course.

So sorry to have missed it, as it seems to have been an orgy for the senses.

Dylan had some thoughts on the scene or, more accurately, on the protagonist:

Mickelson is widely but not universally beloved. I get that. Phil himself joked on Twitter that he’s “best taken in small doses.” But three remarkable bits from Sunday’s victory stuck with me. And even if you’re not a Phan, I’ll humbly present them for your consideration, too:

I've always spoken of Good Phil vs. Bad Phil, and that smidgeon of self awareness fits perfectly into the former.

First, that Mickelson still genuinely loves playing golf. Fellow San Diegan Charley Hoffman
suggested that Lefty may play more actual golf than anyone on Tour. In an era of pros chasing specific spin rates on Trackman at the range, that’s a refreshing way to operate.

“I’ve never been driven by exterior things,” he said after his win. “I’ve always been intrinsically motivated because I love to compete, I love playing the game.” I think he was telling the truth. His brother backed him up.

“He just loves golf,” Tim Mickelson said. “He loves golf.” Say no more.

Yeah, a lot of these guys never play for fun.  Though Dylan elides the competition and action factors...  Remember, Phil is the kind of that has said, in setting up a money match, that he doesn't get out of bed for less than X dollars a hole.

Second, it’s worth appreciating the way Mickelson seems to be appreciating this championship.

“So, it’s very possible that this is the last tournament I ever win. Like, if I’m being realistic,” he said. There’s something very special in that recognition. How many athletes get to savor a win with full knowledge there might not be another one coming? How great is it to stand on the top of the mountain and try to appreciate that this genuinely might be as good as it gets? As fans of the game, we want the folks in the arena to recognize just how good they have it, and it was neat to watch that in real time.

Of course, this is Phil Mickelson, so he didn’t leave it there.

“It’s also very possible that I may have had a little bit of a breakthrough in some of my focus and maybe I go on a little bit of a run, I don’t know,” he said, twinkle in his eye.

I liked that bit as well.  And this has long been part of good Phil:

The third bit worth appreciating actually came from Mickelson’s session with reporters after his round on Friday. He was eager to finish chatting and requested through the PGA that he take only three questions. After those three questions — and one follow-up — he started to walk off before glancing to his right, where he caught a glimpse of longtime Augusta Chronicle scribe Scott Michaux. He turned back.

“Scott,” he said. “I’m really sorry to hear about your dad.”

It was a fundamentally decent moment and a kind thing to say to Scott, whose 94-year-old father had passed away a day earlier. Mickelson had broken character for a moment and revealed something sweet underneath.

And did anyone catch the scene where he gave a ball or something to a kid in a wheelchair during the round?  

But Dylan also has some of the less pleasant aspects of Phil's Sunday:

Crowds are back at golf tournaments, which means the U-shaped tunnels surrounding wayward tee shots are back, too. Phil loves these tunnels — up to a certain point, at least.

By now you’ve already seen the mob scene that followed Mickelson home on 18. But on Saturday, it was the scrum on a punch-out right of No. 16 that stood out. Directly after impact, the sand-dune crowd suddenly closed in around him. Two security guards plus Mickelson’s brother/caddie, Tim, jumped in to secure a perimeter, but one particularly frisky fan seemed set on giving Mickelson a pat on the back. When that man touched Mickelson’s shoulder, he sprung forward like he’d been electrocuted. “Don’t touch me!” he yelped, speeding back under the safety of the ropes.

Watching golf is slow, until it suddenly isn’t. Mickelson seemed more comfortable in the crowd on Sunday, despite their massive numbers. But when another fan grabbed his shoulder, he understandably reacted. “Elbowed him in the ribs,” he wrote on Twitter later with a laughing emoji. “He backed off.”

It had to be scary in the moment...

One additional aspect of the return of fans is the return of Grandstanding, which was the play on No. 18:

3. “Hit me, Hideki!”

The most fascinating subculture I discovered all week was down the left side of the 18th fairway. Because the hole played into the wind the first few days, golfers were tempted to aim down the left side and into the hospitality tents, from which point they’d take free relief on trampled rough.

Some of the more reckless spectators started cheering for pros to launch balls their way. What better chance to get close to the action?

Now we get to my least favorite part of Phil's incredible win, specifically the over-interpretation thereof.  First example:

Could Phil Mickelson be poised for another major win this year?

Similar to Tiger's Masters, people's instinctive reaction to a miracle seems to be to expect another one just around the corner.   

 This one might be even more alarming:

12 players Phil Mickelson may have just stolen a Ryder Cup spot from

Yanno, guys, there was a reason Tiger left Phil off his Prez Cup team.

Please, God, no, those memories from Paris are still etched in my mind.  Anyway, this is actually a fun analysis from Christopher Power, who makes some assumptions  (Jordan and Patrick in, for instance) leaving Captain Stricker with two spots to fill.  Here's how he sorts it all out:

"Probably still going to make the team, but officially have to watch their back" category: Tony Finau, Daniel Berger

I like the latter a lot more than the former, for the simple reason that he can roll his rock.

"Wait a minute, he’s on the outside looking in?" category: Patrick Cantlay

 I know everyone thinks he's a great player, but what has he really done yet?

"The biggest victim of Phil’s win" category: Billy Horschel

Oh, you though Billy Ho was going to be on this team?  Heh, that's a good one...

"The guys who might never get another real shot" category: Max Homa, Harris English

I think the Republic will survive their absence, though Max is awfully good at the social media stuff.

"Young studs who have plenty of Ryder Cups in their future" category: Will Zalatoris, Sam Burns, Scottie Scheffler

Geoff had this interesting feature on Phil's numbers, which include some surprises:

Mickelson’s 2021 PGA Win By Some Of The Numbers

6th: Major title, making him the 14th in the 6-or-more club. (2004 Masters, 2005 PGA , 2006 Masters , 2010 Masters , 2013 Open , 2021 PGA)

50 years, 11 months, 7 days: Replaces Julius Boros as golf’s oldest major winner.

2,864 days: Since Mickelson's last major victory at the 2013 Open.

45th: Career PGA Tour victory to tie Walter Hagen for 8th all time.

115: Mickelson’s world ranking to begin the week. He’s the lowest-ranked player to claim a major since No. 169 Shaun Micheel at the 2003 PGA Championship.

30 years: Since he won the 1991 Northern Telecom Open as an amateur.

4 of 4: Mickelson becomes the fourth player to win a tour events in four different decades (Sam Snead, Raymond Floyd, Davis Love III).

1st: Strokes gained tee to green. He was 176th on the PGA Tour entering the week.

15th: In driving distance (all drives) for the week (293 average)

114: Putts for the week (SG 37th)

5th - strokes gained approach (46/72 GIR)

12 of 26: scrambling for the week (T66)

366: yardage of 16th hole tee shot Sunday, longest drive there for the week.

Unsurprisingly, pretty strong through the bag, with the shocker being the sub-par scrambling numbers...

Shall we exit with the man in orange?  he had himself a credible week, finishing in the top ten and justifying the special exemption.  But an expensive miss on his final hole:

Fowler didn't know it at the time, but his second-to-last putt of the tournament was of great
importance. After beginning the day at even for the week, he had worked it to two under through 17 holes, needing only a par at Kiawah Island's 18th to finish at two under. That would have eventually put him in a five-way tie for fourth. The medium-length par effort caught the hole but lipped out, leaving him in a tie for eighth at day's end.

Why does that matter? Well, as Harry Higgs could tell you, a T-4 would have earned Fowler a spot in the 2022 Masters and the 2022 PGA Championship, two events he is not yet exempt for. That should be shocking, but it's not given Fowler failed to qualify for the Masters this past April, which marked the first time he missed a major since 2010. He also wasn't exempt for the PGA at the Ocean Course, but the PGA of America extended him a special invite, which drew some Golf Twitter ire.

Ouch!

We'll leave things with this hysterical video:


 In case you weren't aware, those two don't exactly get along...

Girls Night Out - We all watched too much golf this weekend, but on the odd chance you have remaining bandwidth, this week is the Women's NCAA Championship.  Last night was the preliminary:

It is an unwritten, though not unavoidable, decree in school hierarchy that freshmen need to know their place. So it is that Stanford freshman Rachel Heck has spectacularly affirmed that her place
is atop leader boards.

Heck, 19, from Memphis, Tenn., concluded the individual part of her remarkable freshman season by winning the NCAA Division I Women’s Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Monday, the first Stanford woman ever to win the individual title. It was her sixth victory, already tying her for third most in Stanford history, and she became only the ninth freshman in NCAA history to win the individual championship.

Moreover, Heck became the third woman in Division I history to win her conference championship (the Pacific 12), an NCAA regional (the Stanford Regional) and the NCAA Championship.

I call it the preliminary because the fun stuff begins tonight, team match play.  Young girls and a great format: what's not to like?

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Remember that cancelled Baton Rouge regional?  Well, the girls at least got to play somewhere:

Wednesday, the NCAA controversially cancelled the Division I Women’s Golf Championships regional event in Baton Rouge, La., without a single shot being played. The reason? The course
has received over seven inches of rain, and though it was deemed playable, it wasn’t “championship level.”

So, in lieu of qualifying on the course, the top six-seeded teams (LSU, Ole Miss, Baylor, Oregon, Maryland and Alabama) of the 18 onsite and top three-seeded individuals were selected to advance to the national tournament, abruptly ending the season for the dozens of players left on the outside looking in. A video of an NCAA official’s announcement of the cancellation quickly went viral on social media.

Fast forward to yesterday, Friday, and Audrey Tan being crowed the inaugural individual champion of the Barstool Sports Let Them Play Classic, where her team, North Texas University, also claimed victory at an event that didn’t even exist just over a week ago.

 “I’m so happy. I really could not have asked for a better week,” Tan told GOLF.com. “To have the opportunity to play, and finish out the season playing, I’m just incredibly grateful to be here.”

The awards marked the culmination of eight days of tireless organization spearheaded by Sam “Riggs” Bozoian, Barstool Sports’ Fore Play podcast host.

Good stuff, and the NCAA should be shamed.  

Catch you all down the road a bit. 

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