Monday, May 23, 2022

Weekend Wrap - PGA Championship Edition

Wow, what a weird weekend, as  JT wasn't even on my radar after his Saturday hiccup.  But the strangest part is that Bobby D. and your humble blogger made it through two rounds of the Inglis Cup,, thanks to my partner being nails when I boarded the Double-Bogey Express.  

The Victor - From out of nowhere, is the golf.com lede:

Justin Thomas came from seven shots back at Southern Hills on Sunday, got some help from a late, tragic double bogey from Pereira and then fended off Will Zalatoris in a three-hole aggregate playoff to win his second career major championship in chaotic, dramatic, impressive fashion.

So how did he do it?

Smoke, mirrors and Mito....

Thomas won the PGA Championship on Thursday and Friday, when he fought through the tougher half of the draw to shoot 67-67 and dive into contention. His creativity was on full display in the wind and rain as he plotted his way around a formidable golf course with an impressive array of shotmaking. He has more shots now than he did in 2017; he can work the ball both ways, flight it high and low, ride the wind or hold it off the wind. Some of the inspiration for that sort of wizardry comes from close friend Tiger Woods. The credit, of course, goes to Thomas himself.

Yeah, though he seemed to drop-kick that away on Saturday.  In his freebie Quadrilateral post, Geoff has more on that wrong side of the draw bit:

Of the 22 players under par after 36-holes, only five came from Thomas’s late/early side of the draw. According to Justin Ray, the average scoring differential between the waves was 1.9 strokes.

Sounds on the low side to this observer....But maybe a guy should be judged against his peer group:

“JT got the worst of it” said CBS’s Jim Nantz of a tee time draw where Thomas faced high winds Thursday afternoon and again Friday morning. The 29-year-old still delivered controlled precision late into Friday morning as playing partners Patrick Cantlay and Dustin Johnson seemed overwhelmed by the conditions.

Amusingly, I've had this browser tab open since the year of the flood, assuming I'd work it in at some point:

Stevie Williams could not be reached for comment, though we know what he thought of Bones' long-time employer.  I'm a skeptic as to its premise, because their value comes in meeting the needs of individual players, so best caddie for whom?

That said, on Saturday night Bones earned his rep as best caddie of this era (as long as we define "era" to mean this week:

Justin Thomas was agitated. Check that, he was steaming. Maybe you saw the video on Golf Channel or CBS. But it was Saturday night and Thomas had just shot 74 in the third round of the
PGA Championship. He was seven shots off the lead and fuming on the Southern Hills range, trying to figure out how to get his game back on track before nightfall, so he wound’t have to wait until the morning for answers.

That’s when his caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay, had had enough.

“I’m fully confident in saying that I wouldn’t be standing here if he didn’t give me that, wasn’t necessarily a speech, but a talk, if you will,” Thomas said on Sunday night, about an hour after he beat Will Zalatoris to win the PGA Championship and claim his second major title. “I just needed to let some steam out. I didn’t need to bring my frustration and anger home with me. I didn’t need to leave the golf course in a negative frame of mind.”

“I felt like I’d played terrible,” Thomas said. “And [Bones] was just like, ‘Dude, you’ve got to be stop being so hard on yourself. You’re in contention every single week we’re playing. I’ve had a lot of chances to win tournaments, and it’s a hard golf course; it’s a major championship. You don’t have to be perfect. Just don’t be hard on yourself. Just kind of let stuff happen, and everything is trending in the right direction. So just keep staying positive so that good stuff can happen.’ I left here in an awesome frame of mind.”

It doesn't sound all that profound, but it's what his guy needed to hear in that moment...

My attention was definitely drifting during yesterday's broadcast, the frequency of Sir Mumbles voice will do that to a fellow.  Unfortunately, I completely missed this of JT on No. 6:


Your humble blogger has been a tad shanky lately, although for me it's been with the wedges.  ShotLink apparently does a play-by-play, which is pretty amazing:


I'm as curious about the second shoat as about the actual shank (from that linked piece, the shank apparently put him on a part of the course that isn't mapped), but this was JT's reaction:

“It was the best bogey I’d ever made in my life, that’s for sure,” he said.

That may be, but it wasn't the best bogey of the day by far (ironically on the very same hole):

Zalatoris’ 4 on the par-3 6th had a little bit of everything: an airmailed iron off the tee, an impossibly long rules discussion, a chip shot off a cart path and, eventually, a 12-foot bogey make that kept his tournament hopes alive. One thing it did not have? A simple explanation. Fortunately, that’s where we come in. Here’s what happened.

I can't do it justice, but what most amazed your humble blogger is that his cart path drop seemed to find a crease...

These guys are good.

Shall we sample from the Tour Confidential panel?

Justin Thomas came from seven strokes back to win the PGA Championship on Sunday, ultimately beating Will Zalatoris in a three-hole playoff. The win was Thomas’s second major title and 15th PGA Tour victory. What most fueled his charge?

Ummmm....Mito going full Van de Velde? 

Sean Zak: It sounds like his caddie Jim Mackay did. JT said in his presser that he wouldn’t be
there, standing next to the Wanamaker Trophy, if it wasn’t for a kick in the pants that Bones gave him on the range Saturday night. He said he felt at peace leaving the property, despite shooting 74 Saturday, which says a lot.

Jessica Marksbury: As I was looking over the leaderboard on Saturday night, it struck me that Justin Thomas was one of only four other major winners — the only “experienced” guys on the leaderboard — who had a semi-realistic chance of making a run. (Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson and Stewart Cink were the others.) But seven shots seemed like an insurmountable tally! That’s the beauty of this sport, though. Anything can happen, and JT has been around long enough to know that if he kept grinding, he’d have a chance. Then, he made some clutch plays at exactly the right time.

Josh Sens: I’m not sure I would call it a charge in the classic sense. Thomas played a very solid round, hitting a number of clutch shots down the stretch. But what he didn’t do was beat himself, which some of the less experienced players did over those closing holes.

Zephyr Melton: Sens put it perfectly. Yes, JT played well, but what he did best was avoid beating himself. That’s all he needed on a wild Sunday in Tulsa.

James Colgan: I’d argue Mito Pereira fueled his charge, with an assist from Will Zalatoris. The tournament crumbled ahead of JT, and as Josh said, Thomas deserves credit for stepping through the opening.

This is a hard one to assess, because the it feels kind of cheap.  No doubt he deserves credit for his Thursday-Friday play, though he out-played his peer group Sunday as well (as per Shack):

Thomas was the only player in the last seven groups Sunday to break par.

I know the course was playing tough, but I was reminded most of Casey;s, "Can't anybody here play this game?" quip.

 As for that guy that came to the 18th tee needing a par to win?

Mito Pereira, the leader for much of the final round, had his own destiny in his hands when he stepped onto the 18th tee with a one-shot advantage. But then came a shocking swing
that led to his ball flying hard right into a creek; Pereira’s resulting double bogey dropped him into a tie for third. “I don’t know what happened,” Pereira said of the swing. How do you explain it?

Zak: It’s hard to explain. I can’t help but think he hit a pretty great shot, that was both too good and also not good enough. A bounding drive that could have gotten caught up in the rough, but didn’t. The kinda bad luck that comes from an imperfect shot that more experienced players might not have made.

Marksbury: Hindsight is always 20/20 on a shot like that. It’s easy to question why he didn’t go with a different club or a more conservative line. But he was confident in the shot he envisioned and it just didn’t work out. Super unfortunate, but something anyone who’s ever played the game can relate to.

Sens: Not trying to be glib here, but I think we can chalk it up to the withering pressure of trying to win. One last call to find the fairway, something he did so well all week. Pereira wasn’t the first to deliver a tight swing in those circumstances . . . and he won’t be the last.

Melton: Pressure is a funny thing, and it affects everyone differently. He felt the pressure, and the result was a bad swing at the worst time.

Colgan: I’m not sure Mito’s decision-making on the 18th tee with a one-shot lead is explainable. It was a no-brainer 3-wood, and he pulled driver instead. He paid for the decision with the tournament. I loved the way he played all week, but 18 was indefensible.

Sean Zak thinks he hit a pretty great shot?  Wow, that's a hot take, though this is more along the lines of what I saw:

Just a couple of other notes.  First and foremost, could not agree more:

Over to you, Bryson, who has not spoken to the media since, checking notes, the Carter administration.  I know you're "Going through things", but Mito just went through a "thing" as well...

Lastly, Geoff wants me to pay for his Quad newsletter, and I still may do so, but this is more than a little embarrassing:

Miko

Miko Pereira (T3) earned plenty of new fans with a willingness to do interviews moments after a disastrous conclusion to a round he led all the way. He spoke to CBS’s Amanda Balionis and delivered this gem: “On Monday I just wanted to make the cut. On Sunday I wanted to win.”

 That's a great quote that I wanted to get in but, his name is Mito, Geoff.  

As for the Big Cat?  I'm sitting there Friday as he makes double bogey on No. 11, and the blog post is forming in my mind, most notably a prediction that he will not be in Brookline.  Then, grinding his way in, he finds a couple of birdies and makes the cut.  Remember, kids, always go with your first instincts:

Outside of Sunday’s proceedings, the week’s biggest news came Saturday, when Tiger Woods withdrew after his third round. Now 15 months since his car crash, the 15-time major winner rallied to make the cut with a one-under 69 on Friday, only to shoot a 79 the next day, and call it a tournament soon after. What’s your Tiger takeaway from the week?

Zak: Thoroughly impressed he made the cut, but not surprised that it ended poorly. The Masters was just five weeks ago, and the same thing happened. I’d guess he doesn’t play at Brookline, and starts focusing on St. Andrews.

Marksbury: I’m still very surprised he elected to tee it up at all this week. It certainly didn’t seem like a course that would jibe with his current physical wheelhouse, despite his triumph in 2007. But, man, that was a lifetime ago! St. Andrews seems like a much friendlier and realistic place for us to see him next.

Sens: That the mind is as willing as ever but the body, for good reason, isn’t.

Melton: His body just isn’t ready for four rounds of high-level golf. We sort of knew this after the Masters (although there he was able to put four rounds together), and this week solidified that fact.

Colgan: Agreed, Jess! I thought there was no chance we’d see Tiger again until St. Andrews. I think this week was an important one in teaching Tiger about his limitations. For the first time in his life, playing in some events is simply a non-starter. He’ll get better at peaking when he needs to, which should only help him down the line.

Colgan has my head spinning with that bit.  the body doesn't yet seem able to enduring four tough days, so how exactly is he going to learn how to peak?

So, first more plane-spotting:

Geoff answers your obvious question:

Tiger Woods’ jet flew to Van Nuys Sunday. Perhaps to visit to his doctor at Cedars Sinai on Monday?

 And this, which seems like a foregone conclusion:

James Corrigan wrote what everyone but the USGA and NBC executives are thinking: it might be best to pass on Brookline to recover for the Old Course in July.

It was always a big ask, so let's not expect too much at The Old Course.

We'll wind down with the TC guys, who seem not to have watched any golf since, well, 2014:

Rory McIlroy conquered his major championship first-round demons with a 65, only to go 71-74-68 after that to finish 8th. He has now gone eight years without a major championship — and yet, he seems to always be in the conversation. We’ve debated this topic before, but this week it seems even more apropos to ponder: What is holding him back at golf’s biggest events?

That's an easy answer.  his wedge play and putting bot remain well below Tur standards.  

Zak: I’m not going to act like I know. It’s anyone’s guess, including Rory’s. I think he can do it and I think he will do it soon enough. But for some reason when that train starts wobbling on the tracks, he doesn’t have the means to settle it down.

Marksbury: As confounding as it is for us to ponder, I can only imagine what it’s like for McIlroy himself. But I agree with Sean. Rory will win another major, and I think it will be soon! He’s clearly physically able. Maybe it will just take another Sunday-at-Augusta-esque charge from behind to really open the floodgates again.

Sens: No doubt, Jess. It’s got to be in his head at this point. Invariably, it’s the short approaches and in. He gets on a heater, cuts the course down to size off the tee, and then either the wedges or the putter betray him. Today, it was the putter.

Melton: No clue, but the disappointing finishes are getting to him. After the round, the typically media-friendly Rory left as soon as he signed his card. It’s not like him to spurn the media, so you know this week weighed on him.

Colgan: I think Sean put it perfectly. The word here is composure. Rory doesn’t have a lot of it these days. That’s why his game comes and goes in spurts. I do think he puts it together soon, but he needs a catalyst mentally. Hopefully Southern Hills provides that.

I'm likely over-interpreting, but the childhood best friend on the bag has always struck me as a sign that Rory is not serious about his career, opting instead for comfort.  He might be the guy that needed Bones, or at least a strong hand on the till (what he might need more than anything is someone to read his putts).

And lastly:

Newly restored Southern Hills, which played host to the PGA on short notice after Trump Bedminster was stripped of the privilege, was generally well received by the players, and wild weather patterns meant we got see in a variety of conditions. What was your read on the course? Worthy major venue?

Zak: Southern Hills should host a PGA Championship once a decade, every decade. And maybe it should host a Ryder Cup, too. I’ve written about how the PGA Championship should lean in to Middle America, mostly for the fans and variety. But they should definitely lean in to Southern Hills from a quality-of-test basis. Not a single hole was too easy. Not a single hole was too hard. Each of them was an individual test, where birdie and double bogey was possible. It’s lovely.

Marksbury: I always enjoy watching the pros take on some good risk/reward opportunities, and the closing holes certainly produced some real drama this week. Count me among the fans!

Sens: It’s a remarkable course. And as someone said during the event, it did what great courses do: It punished mediocrity. A very tough test but also fair. And so much more fun to watch than the event would have been at Trump Bedminister.

Melton: Love Southern Hills. It’s a proper test of golf, and it seems to always identify a deserving champion. I can’t wait for the next event out here.

Colgan: The playoff was all you needed to watch to know it was brilliant. Risk/reward par-5; drivable par-4; monster two-shot par-4. Southern Hills had a piece of everything, and (most importantly) it was an actual TEST for the pros! We need MORE of that, not less. I can’t believe we saw people dog on the place throughout the weekend.

I thought it was pretty great, especially since the weather was so weird this week.  I'd have preferred to see it #firmandfast, of course, but the weather gods didn't offer up that kind of week.  And I think we can all agree that if you're Living on Tulsa Time, far better to do so in May than in August.

Catch you later in the week?

 

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