Weekend Wrap

We've got some actual golf to discuss, as well as some LIV-infused manspats....  But, just a reminder to readers that it's ski season, so we'll not grind too hard.

A (Repeat) Hero For Our Time - Our primary focus here remains Golfers Behaving Badly™, though golf publications beclowning themselves remains fertile ground, today being Golf Digest's turn:

You see the issue?  Even the PGA Tour isn't sufficiently shameless to call the Hero, with its massive twenty-player field, an official event.  Something we might have expected the folks at Golf Digest to actually know...

Golfweek's header has the benefit of actually conforming to reality:

Despite water ball on final hole, Viktor Hovland defends title at 2022 Hero World Challenge

I was flipping back and forth among two football games and the Hero, but I did see Viktor's shot into the final hole, which reminded me of Adam Scott at Sawgrass back in the day, with a similar result.

Victor Hovland saved some of his best golf for December yet again.

The 25-year-old Norwegian went wire-to-wire to win the Hero World Challenge at Albany Club in Nassau, Bahamas, and was handed the trophy by Tiger Woods for the second straight year.

“It was frickin nerve-wracking,” said Hovland, who held a five-stroke lead and nearly squandered it. “I didn’t play all that great on the back nine but it was good enough.”

Hovland is a serious young talent, though his early results has me pondering whether, despite that Norwegian DNA, he's some kind of Bermuda savant.  He has the three prior wins, one in Puerto Rico and two at Mayakoba, so he seems to be a warm-weather, late season kind of player (although his U.S. Amateur was won at Pebble).  Lost in the LIV shuffle might be that Viktor is hardest hit, losing that Mexican resort to LIV.

The Tour Confidential panel focused on Viktor's putter, which was en fuego this week:

5. Viktor Hovland, despite a scare on the 18th, won the Hero World Challenge for a second-straight year. Carrying him was putting — on Saturday, he had 23 putts, on Sunday, 24. If Hovland’s flatstick stays somewhere in that zone, what do you see from him going forward?

Sens: Putting is always a difference-maker. But giving a monster ball striker like Hovland a permanently red-hot flat stick would be like giving Sauron the One Ring. A large handful of wins. Probably a major. Possible global domination. Even Middle Earth would be in play. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It was one week.

Colgan: Man, it’s hard to know where Vik’s ceiling is until we see him win more frequently during the glut of the regular season. As of right now, fall season king feels fitting.

Hirsh: I’ll amend that title to “tropical paradise king.” Hovland has won in Puerto Rico, Mexico twice and now the Bahamas twice. As for his putting, you can kind of put him in the same category as Collin Morikawa. When they got the flat stick working, few are going to beat them. If they don’t, hitting iron shots can get you only so far when you’re missing the putts.

Yeah, it was one week against nineteen other guys in December!

Morikawa is a good comparison, especially since they came out as contemporaries, though the third of that troika is a name we can no longer mention, since he's gone to the dark side.  But there's 20-30 guys you can say the exact same about, superior ball strikers that are in the hunt when the putter cooperates.

The biggest issue from the week is the ultimate first-world problem:

Pros ‘infuriated’ after ‘muddy’ Hero World Challenge third round

 Why were 20 of the best golfers in the world uncharacteristically bad shots and complaining

about it Saturday at the Hero World Challenge? Mud.

For the third round, PGA Tour officials believed Albany, which had been soaked by rain earlier in the week, was dry enough to allow players to play the ball down and unable to utilize preferred lies as they had the first two rounds of the events.

After a round plagued by mud balls and bizarre-looking shots, some players did not agree.

“Absolutely shocked, yeah,” Kisner said of the Tour’s decision. “No. 4, [I] had a 4-iron in with mud all on the left side with wind off the left and lost the ball left of the green. Pretty hard to aim it in the middle of that. But the leaders aren’t having any problems, so wasn’t too hard for everyone.”

And I'm infuriated that they're infuriated.  Mudballs are always a tough issue, but here I think they're a victim of having it both ways.  This should be a hit-and-goggle exhibition, in which no one would care if you let them put their hands on the ball all four days.  But in an event that awards OWGR points, the rules officials are understandably concerned that the guys play actual golf.

Here's a bit that amused and somewhat puzzled me, because it's an iteration of something Bobby D. and I have been doing in our game, this being from Scottie Scheffler:

“I think with the Rules of Golf there might be something we can figure it out whether it's, I don't know, a lift, clean and drop or draw a line in the fairway where it's like hey, when you're inside this line up to the green, you don't clean your ball. That's what we do at home is like we'll clean our ball in the fairway, we don't clean it up by the green. That's just something we've done at home, Jordan and I and everybody's done it in the past and it works well. I don't know what works exactly in a tournament setting. It's nothing that anybody's really tried before.”

 But where is the line of demarcation?  

And on Tiger?  First, from that TC panel:

1. Set to return to competition at the Hero World Challenge, an event his foundation hosts, Tiger Woods tweeted on Monday that he developed plantar fasciitis in his right foot and

had to withdraw. Woods also admitted he had a couple of surgeries in the past year, but didn’t elaborate. Does Woods’ latest health update give you more pessimism about his future to compete than what you believed before?

Josh Sens: The clock ticks for everyone. Woods is no exception. Like a lot of people, I’ve underestimated his ability to bounce back so many times that I’m hesitant to short him again. But at this point, the house of cards that is his health seems just too fragile for any serious optimism. At this point, to expect him to play all four majors next year is to overestimate him.

James Colgan: I don’t think any short-term injury qualifies as “increasing” my pessimism in Tiger’s long-term health concerns. If something winds up being the final blow to his playing career, it won’t be plantar fasciitis.

Jack Hirsh: Agree with both my colleagues above. It’s hard to count Woods out and it’s also unlikely plantar fasciitis knocks him out for good. I will say knowing this injury was caused by the previous ones does not bode well for his improving durability to play more than he did in 2022.

Yeah, but the clock is the least of it.... Just a reminder that we still know nothing about that auto accident, why he was endangering the public by driving at a reckless speed in a residential neighborhood.  

And while conventional wisdom is that we're seeing a softer and gentler Tiger, that strikes this observer as wishful thinking.  For instance, Adam Schupak has these alleged revelations:

Five things we learned about Tiger Woods at 2022 Hero World Challenge

But, same old, same old:

Tiger reveals he's had a 'couple of surgeries' but little else

In addition to revealing that he was suffering from plantar fasciitis, Tiger disclosed rather nonchalantly that he had undergone surgery yet again. But when pressed for details, he offered little.

Q: Can you elaborate?

TIGER WOODS: Nope.

Q. Can you say when?

TIGER WOODS: In the past.

Q: In the past?

TIGER WOODS: This year.

Thank you, Bones.

TIGER WOODS: You’re welcome.

A classic Tiger exchange when it comes to the state of his health. It was more surprising that he dropped that info at all than that he refused to share the most basic details – was it his leg? Foot? Knee? Before or after the British? Inquiring minds want to know. What he did reiterate was that he’s on borrowed time. Tiger added this about his 2023 golf plans.

 Same dick, different day....

This is a stretch, to say the least:

2. While Woods didn’t play the Hero, he’s still teeing it up the next two weekends. He also mentioned his goal for 2023 is to play in all four majors and “maybe” one or two more events. Two parter: What are those other one or two events he might be thinking of, and what’s the percent chance he plays four majors next year?

Let me see if I have this straight.  You're curious about the 5th and 6th event on the calendar of a man that can't get through one? 

Sens. After Augusta, you’d think the major he most wants to play in is the Open at Liverpool, where he won before. But as the last of the four, I think it’s also the least likely appearance for him. The longer the season goes, the greater chance of a health issue arising that even he can’t overcome. He’ll play the Masters, but I’m not banking on anything after that. I’m sure he’d love to play the Memorial, but that’s a tough walk. Bay Hill? It’s relatively flat and he’s won it a zillion times.

Colgan: 15 percent, and here’s a simple reason why: Do YOU want to go to Rochester in May? No, you don’t. Does a player with long-standing health issues related to cold weather want to go, either? No, they do not. I think we see him in Augusta, L.A. and Liverpool, though.

Hirsh: The PGA should have foreseen this when it moved the tournament to May! Keep the PGA in the southern states while the U.S. Open takes the northern states. Anyway, I’ll give him a 30-percent chance he plays in all four majors. I agree with James that the PGA is the one he’s most likely to skip this year. I think the biggest question on his schedule is whether he’s willing to risk his body to play at Riviera, where he’s also hosting. Could his duties prove too much to play and host? Will he risk getting hurt again two months before the Masters? Check back in February.

Rochester in May?  I know, what were they thinking?

He's not playing anywhere until Augusta.  Then, we'll see.

And one last inevitable bit:

4. The latest iteration of the Match kicks off at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy taking on Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. What are you hoping to see from this one from an entertainment/production standpoint?

Sens: That Tiger plays without a wince or a hitch in his step, and that he and Rory wax the youngsters while delivering some good verbal barbs along the way.

Colgan: LIV has been at the center of every golf course conversation for the past nine months. This event is *supposed* to bring fans into a day on the course with golf’s top players. If it’s true to form, LIV will be on the minds of those in the field. Give me LIV discourse, or give me death!

Hirsh: I mentioned last week how I’m not too high on the Match series. That being said, these guys are all good friends so the trash talk should make this a little more interesting than the Brooks-Bryson snooze fest from last year.

Entertainment?  Why start now?

It's silly, but it's a sort of make-or-break installment, because they need to prove that they can entertain without The Man Who Cannot Be Mentioned.   Problem is that, PIP results notwithstanding, none of these guys project as especially amusing.... My expectation is for lame trash talk and lots of dead air, but we'll see.

LIV Pushback - A little more color on those manspats, beginning with the Sharkie-pooh's killer riposte:

Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf, has responded to recent comments from PGA Tour stalwarts

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

According to a report in todays-golfer.com, Norman says: “I pay zero attention to McIlroy and Woods, right?”

He went on to say that the two “have their agenda for whatever reason. They’re saying whatever they want to say. It has no bearing or effect on me. I’m going to be with LIV for a long, long period of time.”

Hmmm, I'd probably have gone with "Your mother swims after troop ships",  but maybe that's just a stylistic difference.

Greggy puffs up his chest and tells us all is good among the bonecutters:

“When the monopolist’s territory is getting threatened, they’re going to rear their ugly head up and do what they do. But from my whole perspective, I’ve always taken the high road this year. I will continue to take the high road because I believe in our business model. I believe in our people, I believe in the players’ independent rights, and we’ve already seen a dramatic shift in our audience.”

What audience?  Or do you mean both of them?

“I’ve got the support of our investors,” he said. “Our ambitions going forward I can tell you are pretty significant and elevated from where we are in 2022.”

“I am not going anywhere,” he said. “I don’t care what anybody says. I’m not going anywhere. I am so proud of the position I am in and maybe, maybe, it’s my leadership that has them scared.”

Norman continued: “No matter where I go in the world, nobody – not one person – has said what I’m doing is stupid or wrong.”

Not one person?  I can think of a few, but has he checked his Employee Manual for his employer's termination policy?  It's with extreme prejudice.

But, of course, the funniest bit is in that middle graph, so pleas ehold that thought of Rory and Tiger being scared of his "leadership."

Rory has shed some light on his relationship with the shirtless one, which starts in predictable fashion:

The rift began, he said, in Feb. 2020, when McIlroy spoke out against a potential upstart league. He wanted to be on the right side of history, he said, like Arnold Palmer had been in 1994 — when he stood up against Norman’s proposed World Golf Tour.

“He wasn’t happy, and we had a pretty testy back-and-forth and he was very condescending, ‘Maybe one day you’ll understand,’ and all this shite,” McIlroy told Kimmage.

Don't you love the condescension?  But Rory actually tried to patch things up, a mistake he won't make again:

But McIlroy attempted to mend fences in early 2022 after watching an ESPN documentary, Shark, about Norman’s Masters heartbreak in 1996.

After McIlroy had suffered his own Masters meltdown in 2011, Norman had reached out and been “really helpful to me,” McIlroy said. After watching the documentary, he sent Norman a message.

“Greg, I just watched your documentary on ESPN. I thought it was fantastic. It must have been very tough to do that. Hopefully, it reminds everyone of what a great golfer you were.”

McIlroy thanked Norman for what he’d told him in 2011 and said, despite their differences, he wished Norman the best. McIlroy said he considered it “a bit of an olive branch.” Norman responded with a warm message of his own, and for a moment there was a detente.

Because, fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly, and Shark's gotta bite:

“Then, a couple of weeks later, he does an interview with The Washington Post and says I’ve been “brainwashed by the PGA Tour,” McIlroy told Kimmage. “I’m like ‘For f— sake!’ We’ve had this really nice back-and-forth and he says that about me.”

It became McIlroy’s turning point.

“I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to make it my business now to be as much of a pain in his arse as possible,’” McIlroy continued. “And that’s basically what I’ve done since.”

Rory, maybe one day you'll understand that he's one of the biggest arses in our game.  Never mind, I think you figured it out all by your lonesome.

I still think that Tiger and Rory are not well served by this exchange, that they are punching down.  But, from Shack's Quadrilateral post came this bit of amusement, the Tour taking a position in their pleadings that your humble blogger has long argued:

LIV Golf lawyers are hoping to depose officials from the Tour Formerly Known As European and are making big claims about the Strategic Alliance Operational Joint Venture Partnership with the PGA Tour, reports Alex Miceli.

And in a motion filed Friday to compel the testimony of a key figure close to Crown Prince MSM, Miceli says the PGA Tour is claiming Greg Norman is a mere figurehead as the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund runs LIV’s day-to-day operations and signs new golfers.

Norman has always been irrelevant,  and it drives him bat-guano mad.  he's very error prone, and I think the Tour is better served with him as the fall guy.

That's it for today's installment.  We'll blog as content demands, flooding the zone in advance of The Match VII.  Kidding about that last bit.