In which we cover all the golf action from the weekend, always odd on a weekend when your humble golfer watched not a single minute thereof.
While I usually spare you the details of my own golf games, in this instance Employee No. 2 has insisted, upon the threat of resignation (from what was never specified), that I post of my weekend event:
OK, not the deepest field, though it did include our current club champion (and isn't measurably weaker than the field this week in Tokyo). More important in that it's the first reasonably complete round I've put together, though there were those three 3-jacks that I can't let go of...
The actual club championship is later this week, which assures that my run of good play will screech to a halt. Now, back to our regularly-scheduled programming...
A Champ Again - We've always known he can send it, but some attitude modification has apparently helped as well:
Cameron Champ was in the middle of his worst full season on the PGA Tour, and something needed to change. He decided it was him.
He needed to figure out how to manage his own expectations, how to manage his stress, how to manage being a husband. No, he said, it wasn’t technique that’s eluded him during a recent stretch rough stretch. He said it’s about maturing, getting his head right, finding a golf/life balance, deciding what’s truly important and sticking to it.
That’s why he has the names of his wife, Jessica, and grandfather, Mack “Pops” Champ, on his glove. It reminds him there’s more to life than golf. So when Champ ended this drought on Sunday at the 3M Open, he remembered how he got there, and what he thought about to help him get there.
When he bent down to line up his winning three-footer on the 18th green at TPC Twin Cites, he was really only thinking about one thing.
“Thanks, Pops,” he said.
No place a good attitude can't get you, at least in this historically weak field. And, lest we forget, Champ was one of the guys that tested positive at last year's Hartford event that had the Chicken Littles (and by that I mean Shackelford and Shipnuck) calling for the Tour to immediately shut down.
About the only notable aspect of the weak was the difficulty of the 18th hole at TPC Twin Cities, the only mention of the event in this week's Tour Confidential panel:
4. The 585-yard par-5 18th at TPC Twin Cities on Saturday played as the toughest par-5 in a single round this year. Sung Kang made a 12, Rickie Fowler made an 8 and at least two players took off their shoes and went into the water to hit shots. It’s normally very playable, but with a tucked pin and high winds, scores ballooned. The hole was undoubtedly tough but did it cross the line to tricked-up?
Dethier: No! We’re used to par-5s being pushovers on Tour, but what’s wrong with a little chaos? No. 18 was tricky to navigate but far from impossible. The final hole of the day providing this much variability is terrific for viewers at home. Eagle is in play. So too is 12. As is the shot of the week, Cameron Champ’s deal-sealing gap wedge on Sunday afternoon. Good stuff.
Zak: This hole has just gotten better over the years, and basically with the 3M Open in mind, it seems. A much tighter landing zone off the tee, pushing players out to the left and around the bend. It’s basically everything that Bay Hill’s 6th hole wants to be (and maybe should become in the future). I’m all in on that.
Colgan: A winning score on the PGA Tour worse than 20 under shouldn’t be noteworthy. Perhaps it crossed the line into “mildly challenging,” and I’d gladly take that a little more frequently.
Bamberger: No, not at all. You have three shots to figure out how to get it on the green. No where in the Constitution does it say the third shot has to be close.
Apparently no enterprising reporter asked Joel Dahmen to comment on Sung Kang's twelve.... On behalf of Joel, I can only guess that Kang was limited to legal drops this time.
Evian Drama - There's an obvious downside to have 114 majors on the LPGA schedule, to wit, that we might be prone to dismissing them out of hand. But if you were inclined to take Hank Haney's side in that matter that cost him his SiriusXM gig, could you write a more compelling argument than that contained in this Tour Confidential question?
3. Minjee Lee rallied from an incredible seven shots down entering the final round to win the Evian Championship in a playoff with Jeongeun Lee6 and claim her first major victory. Was this unlikely finish more a case of Lee winning it or Lee6 letting the victory slip away?
This was the offending bit from back in 2019, when informed by co-host Steve Johnson that it was U.S. Women's Open week:
“I’m gonna predict a Korean,” Haney said. “That’s gonna be my prediction. I couldn’t name you, like, six players on the LPGA Tour.”The conversation continued.“Nah, maybe I could,” Haney said. “Well, I’d go with Lee. If I didn’t have to name a first name, I’d get a bunch of them right.
As I've noted frequently, the fact that there are so many Jeongeun Lee's that they've taken to numbering them, which was kind of Hank's politically insensitive point.
Jeongun Lee6 won that specific Open, and I think any time you get within six of the winner you've done well.
In this case, Lee6 channeled her inner Greg Norman and coughed up a large 54-hole lead:
Dethier: Both, as always. Lee6 played extremely loose golf on the front nine to let the field back in, but Minjee Lee closed incredibly well with five birdies in her final six holes. The second shot she hit into the playoff hole was major-legend stuff. She shouldn’t feel the slightest bit bad about the way she won this event.
Zak: You can generally tell how a big leader’s day is going to go based on how it starts, and Lee6’s day started shaky. I have no leading experience myself, but you just know that getting into the round with a bunch of pars is just a lot more calming than what she did Sunday.
Colgan: Lee6 left the window open, but Minjee deserves credit for climbing through it. Her performance down the stretch was nothing short of surgical. Super impressive stuff from a first-time major winner.
Bamberger: Lee’s winning, for sure. You post a number in the house and one of the hardest things to do in golf is for a leader to play in and match it or beat it.
Which is more Mickey Mouse? Making this inconsequential tournament a major, or having the PGA Tour act as your muscle to get Hank Haney fired for making a bad joke?
L'affaire Murray - Grayson Murray has popped up occasionally in these pages in our recurring coverage of Golfers Behaving Badly. In fact, I at one point speculated that, for a man with his obvious anxiety issues, professional golf might not be the right line of work. Here's a sample from Ryan Lavner from 2017:
In a sport celebrated for its decorum, Murray, 23, has emerged as a polarizing antihero: He iseither crude or complex, selfish or generous, ill-informed or misunderstood. Sure, those closest to him wish he’d just put down the damn phone. But the fact that a newbie with one career top-10 has gained more than 12,000 followers and some level of social-media fame (infamy?) suggests there’s an audience for his incendiary commentary on a Tour that often takes itself too seriously.
“He’s a rookie, and I know how that goes,” says Tour pro John Peterson, who has had his own share of Twitter run-ins. “Four years ago, I had no clue what I was doing out here. The more people I pissed off, the funnier I thought it was. I think Grayson is almost right there. He needs to tone it down a little bit, but he’s doing great in the sense that people know who he is and know his beliefs.”
Maybe so, but Murray’s various blunders epitomize his complicated journey to the big leagues. Each step has been marked by conflict.
There was conflict as the phenom bounced around three colleges in four semesters. There was conflict as he grappled with anxiety and depression. And there is conflict now as he fights to keep his card, as he navigates the potential landmines of social media and the competing desires to be connected and honest while also staying true to himself.
The proper balance still eludes him – for now.
“As a parent, I’m wishing and telling him my thoughts, but you have to live your own life and your own experiences,” says Grayson’s father, Eric. “With my older two kids, it was like a light came on when they hit 25 and they became an adult. That’s what I’m waiting for with Grayson.”
Like Patrick Reed, this is a kid that has created conflict at every step of his journey. And, as we saw most recently with Matthew Wolff, it's a lonely life on Tour that will bring out the demons. Grayson seems to have arrived with said demons as factory-installed equipment, but somehow it's the Tour's fault:
Golfer Grayson Murray posted an unfiltered account of his alcoholism on social media Friday night, saying he has not received help from the PGA Tour and "hates everything that has to do with the PGA Tour life.''
"The PGA Tour didn't force me to drink," Murray wrote on Twitter, "but the PGA Tour never gave me help. In my 5 years of experience of being on tour not once have I ever had a request been acknowledged by the commissioner or the PAC [player advisory council] other than 'we will get back to you.' I hope not only the PGA Tour steps up in the areas they need to step up but I also hope people are held accountable in their roles they serve."
What it is that the Tour should have done remains a mystery.
Murray poked fun at himself and Bryson DeChambeau last week after DeChambeau's comments about his equipment caused controversy at The Open. Murray said his seven consecutive missed cuts had nothing to do with his equipment.
In his post, Murray made fun of the tour for threatening him with a $20,000 fine, saying "the joke's on them" because he hasn't made any money. He said his troubles in Hawaii stemmed simply from getting drunk.
"Why was I drunk? Because I'm a f---ing alcoholic that hates everything to do with the PGA Tour life and that's my scapegoat," he wrote. "I've honestly gotten a lot better since then. Actually a lot better."
Well, you're not sounding like you're better., manically veering from self-loathing to attacks on other players I'd have much more sympathy for the young man if he weren't picking fights with everyone. But mostly it's a cautionary tale, that tour golf is a lonely life suitable only for those with a reservoir of emotional stability.
Eamon Lynch uses the story to ask a good question:
Lynch: Grayson Murray's alcoholism raises question. How involved should PGA Tour be in personal problems?
The question may be good, but the answers are elusive... though he does get in one gratuitous swipe at Nurse Ratched, so who can resist?
The Tour also has an orientation for new members, though one player described it to me as being less about developing life skills than emphasizing the need to avoid negative publicity. A zealous focus on protecting the reputation of the Tour above all else remains the carcinogenic cultural legacy of former commissioner Tim Finchem.
My point exactly, though I wish I'd come up the carcinogenic cultural metaphor.
But what really caught my eye was another player sticking his snout in. Do we think this is helpful:
Never Go Full Bryson - Timing is everything, and late last week we had an Ask Alan bit about the ladies not buking up like a certain PGA Tour player. But now comes this N.Y. Times feature that suggest that things are changing, though the most striking bit is this on the relative dispersion of distance:
The difference between the longest hitter on the L.P.G.A. Tour and the 168th ranked player, who is the last one on the list, is 60 yards. On the Ladies European Tour, which co-sanctions the Evian with the L.P.G.A., the difference is 79 yards between first and 168th place.
But even those numbers may downplay how far the longest hitters drive the ball, because the bombers do not always have to reach for their drivers to get maximum distance; they can play it safe with a 3-wood or iron and still be way out there.
By contrast, the difference between the longest hitter on the PGA Tour and number 168 is 33 yards. And almost all of those players are capable of hitting the ball 300 yards or more.
That seems significant....But, and we had something on this recently as well, LPGA courses seem to be set up to minimize the advantage of distance:
Davies, 57, is still one of the longer hitters on the L.P.G.A. Tour, even though she is competingagainst women half her age (or younger). She said distance was never a disadvantage, but she said hitting it long at L.P.G.A. and LE.T. tournaments did not present the same advantage it did on the men’s tours.
“You don’t have to hit it miles to do well, said Davies, who has won 85 tournaments worldwide. “On the men’s tour, they all hit it a long way, and then you have super long-hitters like Bryson [DeChambeau] and Dustin [Johnson]. Whereas on our tour, there’s a substantial distance between Paula Creamer and Lexi Thompson.”
“I’d prefer a few longer par 4s and some reachable par 5s,” she said. “Our par 5s are so inaccessible that’s its frustrating. On the PGA Tour, it’s eagles here, eagles there. Make the par 5s into risk-reward holes for us.”
It's an interesting topic, though we all can only hope that bulking up like Bryson doesn't become a thing on the LPGA...
Olympic Fever - No doubt you've caught the news about Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau testing positive and withdrawing from the Olympics. We'll start with Sean Zak, who tells us of the week that will be:
This will be the weirdest week of pro golfers’ careers. For those here in Tokyo, that’s just fine
Do you mind if I get a second opinion on that last bit?
Those Covid-fighting vaccines are great protection, but they’re otherwise meaningless in Tokyo. The same rules apply for everyone, vaxxed and unvaxxed. Masks on, almost all the time, evenwhen using the Village workout facilities. The guidelines are serious, and locals have also literally been asked by organizers to report anyone shirking the regulations. When athletes from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan refused to mask up during the Opening Ceremony, an Olympic spokesperson had to answer for it afterward. The kids had been acting up during recess.
All the tests, all the location monitoring, all that down time, plus no fans and no purse money. Most competitors are thousands of miles from home. This is what Louis Oosthuizen was talking about in his headliner quote from the 3M Open: “They didn’t really make it easy for us.” Organizers would say, that’s kinda the point. For the golfing delegate in Tokyo, this won’t just be the weirdest week of their season. It’ll be the weirdest week of their careers. And if that wasn’t enough, Tropical Storm Nepartak is expected to make landfall by Tuesday.
I don't think DJ is having any regrets....Which isn't to begrudge those that are excited by the spectacle:
Like Reid, Mexico’s Gaby Lopez also skipped the Evian Championship, just so she could be a flag-bearer at the Opening Ceremony. The idea alone gave her chills, not to mention what she actually felt when it was happening. “It’s such an honor to be here today,” she said after strutting, hopping around and taking endless selfies in Japan’s National Stadium. “I feel like we have the whole country with us. It means that all the effort has paid off.”
The effort is just beginning, Gaby! She has another 13 tests to take, 13 days of sleeping on the recyclable bedding and about 26 90-minute commutes to and from Kasumigaseki Country Club. She was out on the driving range Sunday afternoon, grinding alone, 10 days before her competition starts. Perhaps when it all comes to an end on Aug. 7, she’ll be itching to leave. But she also might have a medal around her neck, the kind of thing that’s endlessly worth the hassle others chose to avoid.
Obviously the women are far more excited than the men, an entirely predictable state of affairs. But the above is a lot to ask of pampered professionals, especially when the underlying competition is so highly suspect.
The TC panel did spare some time for this event, beginning with the obvious admissions:
1. The men’s Olympic golf tournament begins this week, and already there is news. LateSaturday and early Sunday, both World No. 6 Bryson DeChambeau and top-ranked Jon Rahm were forced to withdraw due to positive Covid tests. Does this development in any way tarnish the tournament for you?
Dylan Dethier: Yeah, of course! As does the fact that several other top players opted out before any of this began. And the lack of fans. And the general pall over this year’s Games. But once the competition starts, we’ll focus on the players who are there. Golfers will win medals, asterisk-free. I’m psyched.
James Colgan: Losing (arguably) the two most marketable young stars in golf is going to hurt any tournament. But this tournament specifically? Man, what a letdown in such a big moment for the sport in proving its future in the Games.
Sean Zak: Definitely. Bryson less-so, but Rahm a lot. His replacement is Jorge Campillo. Patrick Reed probably wanted to be here more than DeChambeau did. Was dreaming of a Rahm vs. Rory showdown. Thankfully we still have a handful of top 10 players involved.
Michael Bamberger: Absolutely, it does. It further establishes the underlying challenge of having this Olympics in Japan in the first place.
It's actually somewhat surprising that these guys can actually admit the obvious, that an event that was already missing a sufficiency of topline talent could hardly afford to lose two studs.
To me the more interesting question revolves around PReed. Did he want to be there, or did he feel the need to waive the flag since he'll almost certainly need to be chosen by Mr. Stricker should he want to be in Wisconsin in September.
The guys take a stab at making us interested:
2. As was the case in Rio in 2016, a handful of the biggest players on the men’s side elected to sit out the Games, but there are still plenty of stars to watch. What storyline(s) in Tokyo most has your attention as we inch toward the men’s and women’s competitions?
Dethier: It has to be Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim, competing for a medal and therefore an exemption from military conscription in South Korea. Based off other Korean players’ career trajectories, their golfing futures could change dramatically with a top-three finish. Hard to imagine rooting against those two.
Zak: Yeah if you want your home country to win gold, that’s fine. But if you’re cheering for anyone else, it might have to be the South Korean men. And that isn’t to slight the mandatory duty in that country. But it’s clear these guys would like to avoid it if possible. Plus, the golf fan in me doesn’t want to see them go away for two years!
Colgan: Few people have more to gain from their time in Tokyo than Joaquin Niemann. He hails from Chile, a country with only 50 total golf courses (fewer than the state of Rhode Island) and an estimated 15,000 recreational players. If he medals, it’ll be only the 14th in Chilean history and a gold would be only the third. (For context, Michael Phelps owns 24 gold medals on his own.) As he told me at the Memorial last month, a win in Tokyo would make him a national hero.
Bamberger: I guess I am most interested in seeing how the Korda sisters play and whether this event event helps promote the great cause of women’s global golf.
I do agree that the South Koreans offer an interesting backstory to the Olympics, though one that comes with a catch. Im and Kim skipped the Open Championship to prepare for the Olympics (and there was a woman or two that skipped the Evian), so we now are in a position where the Olympics is diminishing the strength of field of major championships, which just seems an odd way to grow the game....
On a related note, Asia is a difficult place to hold events for sure, as the PGA Tour is realizing. Rex Hoggard has details of their issues as relates to the Asian swing:
After the Las Vegas stop is when things become a little unclear. The next three events would be the CJ Cup, Zozo Championship and WGC-HSBC Champions in South Korea, Japan and China,respectively, but the pandemic will likely change that. The CJ Cup and Zozo Championship were played in the U.S. last fall and the World Golf Championships event was canceled.
One person with knowledge of the negotiations said that the CJ Cup is looking into venues in the U.S. again, but the other two events in Asia likely wouldn’t relocate to the U.S., meaning some players would likely be reluctant to travel because of the pandemic.
Though buried deep within Rex's piece is this discordant note:
Ya got that? Even a one-week offseason is too much for the Lords of Ponte Vedra Beach.
For those keeping a scorecard at home, we have nine months to navigate without any meaningful golf to watch... The only relief from this tedium is that little three-day exhibition in late September.
That's a wrap for today, but we'll have more for you as the week progresses. Check back early and often...
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