Weekend Wrap

A surprisingly good weekend for golf, not to mention a forecast indicating that it's not quite time to put the clubs away just yet....  Also, big news on the humble blogger's travel schedule.  Not only have the first two ski trips been booked, but on Friday we pulled the trigger on Scotland 2022.   Plenty of time to fill you in on the details but, really, what could go wrong?

Shall we talk a little golf?

Messing With Texas - This seemingly was supposed to be Scottie Scheffler's breakthrough win, at least until it wasn't:

Combining a hot putter with killer instinct and killjoy indifference, Kokrak continued his late-blooming surge thanks to a late burst of birdies and captured the Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Houston Open on Sunday for his third PGA Tour win in his last 38 starts – and his second in the Lone Star State this year.

Kokrak fired a closing five-under 65 on the strength of four straight birdies on the inward nine at Memorial Park Golf Course and surged past two sentimental favorites in Scottie Scheffler and Martin Trainer for a two-stroke victory. Scheffler, a Dallas native in search of his first PGA Tour title, and Trainer, emerging unexpectedly from a horrendous slump, each held the lead on the back nine before Kokrak took over.

And to think, Kokrak contemplated withdrawing after a practice round that felt more like malpractice. But a remote range session with his swing coach Drew Steckel – a sign of the times amid the pandemic – did wonders for the 29th ranked player in the world. He stabilized his lower half instead of “dancing” over the ball, as he put it, and waltzed off with $1.35 million.

He got the short end of the stick, weather wise, yet somehow hung around:

“It’s very special because I was struggling with my game at the beginning of the week,” said Kokrak, 36, playing in just his third event of the fall schedule. “I guess you can call me an underdog, but the last couple years I've played some pretty solid golf, so I wouldn't exactly say that I'd be the underdog going in. I guess this week I would be because my game was not in top form and I definitely made the best of it.

“A lot of ups and downs.”

The biggest downer, which in the past might have relegated him to also-ran status, was his completion of the weather-delayed second round early Saturday. Six under par through 11 holes when play was suspended Friday by darkness, Kokrak returned Saturday morning but forgot to wake up his game. Amid breezy and cool conditions, he played his remaining seven holes in seven over par, including a triple bogey at the last, to shoot 71 and fall off the pace. But he was able to regroup for a third-round 66 and then hung around on Sunday while those in front of him failed to pull away.

 Failed to pull away?

At 10-under 270, Kokrak finished two strokes in front of Scheffler, the third-round leader, and Kevin Tway. Scheffler, who still led at the turn but bogeyed three times coming home, shot 69 for his second straight top-5 finish, while Tway, one of five players who began the day a stroke behind Scheffler, posted a 68.

More like they came back to him, but whatev.

It's late fall, it's Houston and there's probably a hundred further reasons to not care, but it's become modestly interesting to watch Golf.com's Tour Confidential panel dis the Ponted Vedra Beach crowd. We've had weeks in which their weekly confab has completely ignored that week's PGA Tour event. This week they come up with a ore subtle way of throwing shade, posing an out-of-leftfield question:

2. On the PGA Tour, Martin Trainer started the week at a whopping 2,000-1 odds to win the Houston Open, only to open with back-to-back rounds of 65 and lead on the weekend, before coming up four strokes shy of winner Jason Kokrak, in a tie for fifth. Before this week, Trainer had made just one cut since April. Where does Trainer’s run rank among Tour underdog stories in recent memory?

Seriously?  You're wasting pixels on the historical significance of Martin Trainer's Thursday and Friday performance in late November?   This oughta be exciting...

Bamberger: His career is not at the Jim Herman-level for overall oddness, but it’s close, pretty, pretty close.

I think can safely say that Martin Trainer is no Jim Herman, though I'm unclear on which of those two should be insulted.

Sens: Herman was the first to come to mind. But going back a bit further, was there anyone on the planet who expected Ted Potter Jr. to win at Pebble, with DJ among the gang there with him? Prolly no one other than Potter.

Martin can only aspire to be a Ted Potter, Jr...

Piastowski: Way up there. It kinda reminds me a little of Matt Gogel, who stared down Tiger at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2002 — at the height of Tiger’s powers — then never won again. Those times when it actually does all come together — or at least the thought of them — are what keep us coming back.

Well, Matt Gogel!  You can't a fellow to those kinds of standards... But Josh Berhow gives the game away: 

Berhow: He ranked second-to-last in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green last season, yet was 38th in Houston. Also, he made a ton of putts. It’s a great story and fun to see him find it. Golf is a weird game. This one ranks up there among the unexpected and would have been even more so had he won.

This might have been interesting, HAD HE WON.   Memo to Golf.com.:  He didn't win and really didn't come all that close, rendering anything he did on Thursday and Friday irrelevant.

Whoa, Nellie! - This would have been the one to watch, had it actually been broadcast.  Josh Berhow takes the time to set the Sunday stage, so bear with me:

Entering Sunday, Phil Mickelson was contending on the PGA Tour Champions, while a long-shot struggling pro was in the mix on the PGA Tour. But the best Sunday stage, the one with the most

intriguing storyline, had to be on the LPGA Tour.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but let’s break down the case for the Pelican Women’s Championship.

— Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson were tied for the 54-hole lead (16 under).

— Thompson is arguably the women’s game’s most popular player and is still just 26 years old.

— Korda, at just 23, is the world’s top-ranked player and, soon, might eclipse Thompson as the game’s most popular figure. Some would argue she has already. They made up the star-studded final pairing at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla., on Sunday — the first time the mega-talents had been paired together on a final day.

— And then in third place, just one off the lead (15 under), was 24-year-old Jennifer Kupcho, another American with a bright future and the winner of the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur back in 2019.

— And then there were the chasers. The leaderboard featured four Americans in the top five (the other was Christina Kim), and Sei Young Kim, the No. 4 player in the world, was tied for fourth. Patty Tavatanakit, who won a major in April, and Lydia Ko, a 16-time LPGA Tour winner, were three back and tied for sixth. And lastly, it would be irresponsible not to mention Jin Young Ko. The world No. 2 started Sunday seven back, but who would count out the winner of the last two LPGA events, and someone who has four times in her last seven starts?

 We live for funny here at Unplayable Lies, but unintentionally funny is the holy grail:

“It’ll be a good final day,” Thompson said on Saturday. “Looking forward to it. Hopefully we just make a lot of birdies out there.”

Lexi, I don't want to be harsh, but existential dread would seem to be the appropriate reaction for you when in contention on a Sunday...

 How did it play out?  It was pretty damn crazy, though I'll let you read Josh's account if you're so inclined, or this from that TC panel might well suffice:

1. In a wild LPGA finish, world No. 1 Nelly Korda won the Pelican Women’s Championship by birdieing the first playoff hole (eliminating Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko and Sei Young Kim), after much turbulence down the stretch in regulation. What’s the bigger storyline: Korda’s continued excellence, despite a triple-bogey on the 71st hole (it was her fourth win of the year, and fifth counting the Olympics); Lexi’s continued shakiness when in contention (she missed short-ish putts on the last three holes, this coming five months after she was unable to convert a five-shot fourth-round lead at the Women’s U.S. Open); or Lydia Ko’s continued resurgence? (Write-in votes also accepted!)

Michael Bamberger: Quite interesting choices! I would say Ko’s resurgence. Korda’s golf is excellent, superior in almost every way, and one poorly-timed triple doesn’t change anything. Lexi smashes her golf ball and short-putts poorly, so there’s nothing new there, really. But finding your game after losing your game is close to impossible. I’m voting for Lydia here.

Josh Sens: If we’re defining ‘bigger’ as ‘most unlikely,’ I’m with Michael. What Ko has done — pulling her game out of a death spiral — is a rare feat, and it’s been great to watch. But Ko has been playing great golf for a good stretch now. Korda has become so dominant, her wins have taken on an air of inevitability. That leaves Lexi’s story as the most notable story, to my mind. And the most relatable. Watching a world-class golf battle demons is compelling, even if it sometimes makes you squirm.

Josh Berhow: Good options, indeed. But it’s gotta be Korda. The last time an American women’s golfer won four times in an LPGA season was a decade ago, when Stacy Lewis did it. And Korda even added an Olympic gold for good measure! It’s no secret she’s a special talent, but to see her fully take the reins as the top player in the women’s game has been pretty fun. And I was even more impressed by Korda’s resilience. Lexi struggled to close. Nelly made a triple and then followed it with birdie (to join the playoff) and then another (to win).

Nick Piastowski: I’m going with Korda, but more for her finish, as Berhow mentioned. Birdie-birdie to end it — after a triple bogey? That’s something special. That steadfastness is certainly one of the reasons why she has won the way she has this year. But we also can’t ignore that all of these fantastic storylines were relegated to tape delay on Golf Channel. I’m not a TV guy, and I know that there are contractual obligations, but man, you’d figure there’d be some way to squeeze in the biggest names in women’s golf.

I did catch a few minutes of that rebroadcast, amusingly at a point mid-round when the announcers were complimenting Lexi for her more aggressive putting, crediting her for actually getting the ball to the hole.  Of course, I'm the guy who, when she had that five-shot lead on the back nine at the U.S. Open, was curious as to the specific manner in which she might kick it away....  So, sight unseen, I'm guessing those three short-ish misses featured a tentative stroke.

Next week is their season finale so, with the men seniors done, one assumes they can at least get live coverage from Golf Channel.

The Bernie & Phil Show - Remember when it was too confusing to have two winners at East Lake?  Apparently it's not confusing when it's the old guys:

They each have a locker in the World Golf Hall of Fame, but Phil Mickelson and Bernhard Langer hold distinct places in the PGA Tour Champions universe. The former is the senior circuit’s reigning phenom, the later its living legend. On Sunday at Phoenix Country Club, they both reaffirmed their status with historic victories to cap the 2020-21 super season.

Posting a bogey-free 65, Mickelson claimed the tournament title at the Charles Schwab Championship, shooting a 19-under 265 over 72 holes. Fending off Steven Alker by a shot, Lefty earned his fourth title in six career senior starts, joining Jack Nicklaus as the fastest to four in PGA Tour Champions history.

Posting an up-and-down 69, Langer finished solo 17th in the tournament, seven back of Mickelson. It was still good enough, however, for the German to claim the senior tour’s season-long Charles Schwab Cup (and an accompanying $1 million bonus) for a record sixth time.

“I'm just overwhelmed, you know, at 64 to win this thing six times,” Langer said. “It will probably be my last one, I'm almost sure of that, but it's very, very special.”

Both Mickelson and Langer got some help on Sunday from Jim Furyk, the 54-hole leader who must have thought all the holes were covered in plastic during the final round. Furyk started the day at 16 under and proceeded to shoot a one-over 71, one of just two over-par scores posted by a player who finished in the top 20. Had Furyk won the tournament proper, he also would have claimed the season-long title.

Almost?  The title doesn't mean much, but remaining competitive at age 64 when you should be asking your spouse, "Will you still need me, will you still feed me?' is quite amazing.  

The TC gang had this silly line of questioning:

4. On the PGA Tour Champions, Phil Mickelson won the season finale, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship (and 64-year-old Bernhard Langer won the season-long points race for the sixth time). The win was Mickelson’s fourth in just six Champions starts in 2021. What does Phil’s dominance on the senior circuit tell you about what kind of threat he could still be on the PGA Tour?

Has anyone told them that he's the reigning PGA Champion?  

Bamberger: Not much. It tells you about the nature of the courses they play on the senior tour, compared to the regular tour. No rough, accessible pins. I got religion on this subject years ago, when Langer won a senior event on the eve of the Masters. His play had been dominant. I asked Craig Stadler what his senior play would mean for top-10’ing or whatever at Augusta; was there any relationship between what he had done on a short, simple Florida course and what he might do at Augusta. None whatsoever, said Stadler, in language more colorful than that.

Sens: Apples/oranges. What tells us the kind of threat Phil could still be is the fact that he won the PGA at Kiawah. The senior wins are padding for his bank account.

Berhow: It wasn’t that long ago when Mickelson made pretty clear (many times) that he had no intention to play on the Champions Tour, so to see him do it now and be as successful as he has is pretty cool. I think two things can be true — these setups favor a game like Mickelson’s, and Phil still has plenty of game. As for his PGA Tour prospects, I don’t think it changes much. When a course suits him and he has a good week, he can do special things. It won’t be consistent, but he can still find it.

Piastowski: I agree with all of the above, but winning also builds confidence, and I think Phil’s early success on the Champions played some role in him winning at the PGA. Win a few times, and you begin to think you can conquer the world, and that’s Lefty did at the end of May.

Does beating the old timers help you win against the young guys?  My instincts tell me that's a silly concept, yet it happened.

Saudi Doings - My favorite part of the weekend's action is this summary from Geoff.  It seems that Jay Monahan was hardest hit:

As middle-aged executives work the Global Home phones to stop a disruptor golf league from

messing with their bonus structrue—imagine a Jerry Lewis telethon with way too many men in Gingham and khaki—the task got tougher Sunday. That’s because two potential players who have been linked to taking a dictator’s “sovereign” money happened to win on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions.

Jason Kokrak, Golf Saudi’s proud ambassador, recovered from Saturday’s back nine 41 to win the Houston Open and the privilege of posing with a furry “Astro” clad in the colors best associated with owner Jim Crane’s special brand of dishonest baseball. See, I resisted the urge to call them cheaters. Progress! But boy, for a game of integrity, golf sure has its share of shysters.

Anyhoo…over on the PGA Tour Champions, Phil Mickelson, who has recently blasted away at the PGA Tour’s business structure and could pocket a massive payday if he doesn’t mind mingling with Greg Norman, won for the fourth time in six geezer Tour starts as Bernhard Langer took his sixth Schwab Cup. The key differences between Mickelson and Langer? One captured a major this year and seems primed to bolt from the PGA Tour while wearing his sunglasses to trophy ceremonies. The other is just a freak at age 64.

As a Yankee fan, I think he went easy on the guys in orange.... But Jay is now in the position of writing large checks to guys who are prepared to bolt his little protection racket, so it is delightfully schadenfreudalicious.

On this subject, Alistair Tait has a couple of curious posts up, the first concerning that certain Aussie:

Say what you want about Greg Norman, but he’s certainly done his fair share to shake up the often staid world of professional golf.

He’s doing just that to great effect right now.

Mentioning Norman’s name in the halls of PGA Tour Headquarters in Ponte Vedra, Florida is probably enough to have staff employees severely reprimanded. I dare say his name isn’t a welcome one at European Tour headquarters in leafy Virginia Water either.

Norman, now the chairman of Saudi backed LIV Golf Investments, has certainly become a thorn in the sides of the world’s two largest circuits for his steadfast support for a proposed new golf tour with the cash to take on both circuits combined. However, the world’s top players might just be silent fans of the two-time Open champion.

Ummm, Alistair, what exactly has Norman actually done?  The Brits came up with a plan, the Saudis stole said plan, then looked for a frontman whose need for relevance ensured that he'd have no standards about whose checks he'd cash.  

Here's the gist of his case:

This isn’t the first time Norman has dared take on the game’s professional circuits. Remember when he had the audacity to suggest a world tour back in 1994? The PGA Tour blocked that notion, only to steal Norman’s idea two years later with the introduction of the World Golf Championships.

Norman seems as determined now to take on the suits in Ponte Vedra as he was 27 years ago. The difference is, he has the cash now. Loads of it. Don’t think the moves the PGA and European Tour have made are going to stop those in Saudi Arabia intent on becoming a major player in this royal & ancient game. They not only have the money, they also seem to have the patience. Buying the Asian Tour could be the route to a truly global circuit to take on the might of the two main tours.

And the real winners? The players. They’re laughing all the way to the bank from Norman’s attempt to play the conqueror.

There is little question that the players are over the moon at the amount of money being bandied about. But Norman's role back in the 1990's is over-stated as well, as he never had the ability to pull it off, and many think that Finchem actually saved him from a profound humiliation.

Tait includes this quote which is modestly convincing:

“unlock the sport’s untapped potential … This is only the beginning,” Norman said on becoming LIV chairman. ““LIV Golf Investments has secured a major capital commitment that will be used to create additive new opportunities across worldwide professional golf.”

 

But compare and contrast it to this 2016 quote from the man:

“In the middle second quarter of next year, I’ll invite you guys down to my office,” he said. “We will tell you exactly how we’re going to break this cast iron that’s been wrapped around golf for so long. We’re going to shatter it. The institutions (USGA, R&A, PGA of America, PGA Tour) will eventually buy into it because they will have to buy into it. They won’t have a choice.”

He was going to "shatter the cast iron that's been wrapped around golf" with a pimped-out golf cart... But sure, he's the guy that's going to lead us to the promised land.

In his second offering on this topic, Tait wants us to circle these dates on our calendar:

The first week in February should make for interesting times in the world of men’s professional golf. The European, PGA Tour and Asian Tours will all be in action that week, and it will be interesting to see which Tour garners the most star power.

Expect the Asian circuit, with Greg Norman newly named as CEO of sponsor LIV Investments, to give its two bigger opponents a run for their money. It could be a litmus test on where big names players stand on taking future Saudi money, which has now become filthy lucre as far as the European and PGA Tour are concerned, especially the latter circuit.

The Saudi International takes place that first week in February, from the 3–6 At Royal Greens G&CC (above). It’s up against the $8.7 million AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a perennial favourite tournament on the PGA Tour that stretches back to the days when Bing Crosby hosted the tournament.

The European Tour heralds in a new event on its schedule, the $2 million Ras al Khaimah Championship presented by Phoenix Capital in the United Arab Emirates. It’s the third of five straight tournaments in the Middle East.

Yes and no.  That's the obvious flash point, but the action comes before February, which he kind of gets to here:

Now that the Saudi International is part of the Asian Tour, and considering the pressure the two existing circuits are putting on players not to play in any rival circuit sponsored by Saudi money, it will be interesting to see the strength of field rating of next year’s Saudi International.

I predict it will be higher than this year’s 395. In fact, expect many of the above names to tee it up next year too, along with perhaps others keen to cash in on Saudi sauce.

What will be interesting is the reaction from both tours, especially the all-powerful PGA Tour. Are they really going to ban players for doing what professional golfers have been doing the world over since Allan Robertson was in his pomp? If, say, popular Americans like a Rickie Fowler, a Collin Morikawa, a Jordan Spieth, perhaps Olympic golf medal winner Xander Schauffele or others want to cash in and take the money the Saudi Sheiks are throwing around as casually as golfers throw grass into the air to test the wind is the PGA Tour really going to sanction the whole lot of them?

Forget the Euro Tour (yeah, I won't say "penalty area" and I won't say "DP World Tour", so sue me), there's eight PGA Tour members, including DJ and the suddenly relevant Jason Kokrak, that have pending applications to play in that Saud event.   How Jay handles that will tell us much as to how he views the legality of banning his members from playing in competing events.  It's probably safe to assume that there's no guarantees from the attorneys, so continued bribery of big names seems a safe bet.  But if he has to bribe Jason Kokrak, he might need more money than those new TV contracts provide.

On My Way To The Exit... - This is of no particular import, though it is a wonderful photo and features some worthy John Huggan snark:

— John Huggan (@johnhuggan) November 11, 2021

First, don't you love the trench coat?  But secondly, do you know who Tip Anderson was?  from his entry page at the Caddie Hall of Fame:

James “Tip” Anderson was a longtime caddie at famed St. Andrews Golf Links who helped

several players win The Open Championship including Arnold Palmer.

The son of a St. Andrews caddie, Anderson began caddying at “The Home of Golf” in the mid-1950s. Anderson worked alongside Arnold Palmer at The Open Championship for many years, including when Palmer won the Claret Jug in 1961 at Royal Birkdale and again in 1962 at Royal Troon. When Palmer couldn’t make the trip across the Atlantic Ocean for the 1964 Open, he recommend Anderson to his friend and fellow golfer Tony "Champagne" Lema. Lema went on to win The Open Championship that year and credited Anderson with the victory. Anderson died in 2004 at age 71.

One of the greats from a bygone era.

Have a great week and we'll chat later.