Wyndham Winddown - In a perfect world, a former U.S. Open champion revitalizing his career would be compelling stuff, but might have noticed life isn't all the Edenic.... or even a little.
I did catch the last couple of holes due only to that rain delay, and it does seem that Russell Henley got a bit unfortunate with a couple of lies at the end. Still, not exactly Appointment TV, so the most I'll commit to is this tangential comment from the winner about Tour protocols from the Tour Confidential panel:
4. 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, who ended up just sneaking into the Playoffs by winning this week, opened up Friday on the reduced field for the first playoff event this season (down from 125). “I think if you finish in the top 125, I don’t know why you don’t get to play next week. That’s my opinion. Been pretty outspoken in that. I think it’s silly that it’s only 70.” What do you make of his comments and the smaller playoff field?Sens: 125. 70. 82. When you boil it down, any number you choose is pretty arbitrary. But the tighter the cutoff, the better. As they say in “The Incredibles”, If everyone’s super, then no one is.Ever since their birth, the playoffs have felt like manufactured excitement; to really care, you have to care about already rich golfers getting even richer. Remember what Glover said toward the end of that same interview? If he didn’t make it, no big deal to him. He’d get to hang with his family. Good on him. But it points to a problem with the playoffs to begin with. If the players themselves aren’t all excited, why should fans be? Maybe that should be another of the cutoff criteria. If it’s not a big deal to you, stay home.Zak: I think like a lot of disgruntled Tour pros this year, the comments come across as pretty flimsy when they aren’t paired with any solutions. The PGA Tour has been pressured into understanding all its assets better than ever before, and Lucas Glover — or the kind of players who are 90th-best in the world — just aren’t as important of assets as the guys who are top 30. Finally, it’s being said out loud in major ways, and to some folks that’s unsurprisingly a bit of a gut punch.Hirsh: When I heard these comments, I honestly thought back to 2009 when Heath Slocum won the first playoff event after being the No. 124 player in the FedEx Cup during the regular season. He ended up finishing 8th in the FedEx Cup that year and had a chance to win the entire thing with a win at the Tour Championship. No system is perfect and volatility is what makes playoffs in all sports great, but you can’t give the 124th-best player in a season the chance to win it all. No one will ever agree on a number, but I agree with Sean here, the smaller, the better.
Who doesn't love a Heath Slocum call-out, but what is Sean Zak smoking to suggest Glover ails to provide a solution? Ummm, gee, normal field sizes? Just spitballin' here....
Glover also called out the miniscule fields in nest years designated/elevate/signature events, but repeat after me, everyone, "Just play better, Lucas"! See, didn't that feel good to be dismissive?
Meanwhile, this was about the only reason to tune in (which, to be clear, I didn't), but it's quite the wasted question:
3. The PGA Tour’s regular season wrapped up this week at the Wyndham Championship with the top 70 in the standings heading on to the start of the three-week FedEx Cup Playoffs. Who was the most surprising player to miss the top 70?Sens: Given that he started the week outside the bubble, it’s not a shock that Thomas failed tomake it in. But no matter how you slice it, Thomas’s season has been a stunner. Missed cuts in three of four majors. A couple of 80s on the scorecard along the way. Crazy what golf can do to even the best players. At times this year, Thomas has looked like he’s been body-snatched.Zak: Yeah, it’s definitely J.T. He’s the two-time major winner. The 15-time Tour winner. He just turned 30. Absolute center of his prime. No one else comes close.Hirsh: Sure, J.T. is shocking given he just won a major last year, but how about Adam Scott? Sure he’s not at the same No. 1 player in the world level he reached when he won the Masters a decade ago, but he had been a model of consistency for longer than that. Scott had made every edition of the FedEx Cup Playoffs until this year. Now Matt Kuchar is the last player remaining to hold that distinction.
Kooch is still on tour? Who knew?
Of course, this is the question you were waiting for:
5. Justin Thomas shot a final-round 68 to just barely miss the top 70 after his chip on the final hole bounced out of the cup. If you’re Zach Johnson, are you picking him for Rome?Zak: J.T. has unfortunately not done enough to make it to Rome. That doesn’t mean he’ll be on the outside looking in. Many captain’s picks have been made for people who didn’t necessarily deserve it more than others. Who does Zach Johnson want to send out 12th on Sunday in Italy to try and win a final point? It still might be Thomas.Sens: If I’m Zach Johnson, that’s strange, because I hit a block-slice and can’t putt. But I’ll play along. If I’m Johnson, I do not pick Thomas because his play does not merit the pick. At the same time, in my strange new existence as the Ryder Cup captain, I also hope that Thomas approaches me first and says, As much as I’d love to be on the team, you should go with someone else. There are a lot of other guys playing better right now. I don’t deserve it this year. But I’ll have plenty of other chances down the line.Hirsh: Sens is spot on here. I hope Thomas removes the temptation altogether and admits he’s not the best player for the team right now. If I’m Johnson I say no, but in reality, I still think it’s going to be tough for Johnson not to pick him. The fact of the matter is, there are 12 more deserving U.S. players than Justin Thomas right now, but I’m not sure yet if there are 12 better players. Z.J. is certainly in a pickle.
Did JT do enough to earn a spot? That's a pretty easy "No", methinks. You're not in the top 70? There's not much of an argument to be made.
That said, it's the wrong question, because it always will be a binary choice between JT and some other hacker, and that gets way more convoluted. Amusingly, the writers don't give a thought to the voices that will be in Zach's ear, as those Ryder Cup Task Force cool kids tend to take care of each other. Zach may not take JT, but he'll likely have to stare down you-know-who to leave him off... before moving on, Alan Shipnuck answered the same question before the Wyndham:
Alan, you are Zach Johnson when it’s time to make captain’s picks. Justin Thomas has produced so-so finishes at his last two tournaments (two made cuts, finishes middle of the pack) before picks are made. Are you selecting him? Let’s hear it! @SamHick60072515Well, if I, a renegade and fiercely independent contrarian who speak truth to power (insert eyeroll emoji) were given the authority I would not pick Thomas. But Johnson will face different pressures as a card-carrying member of the establishment. What happens when Tiger Woods calls and makes a strong sales pitch for his little buddy? What if Jordan Spieth begs to have his wingman in Rome? It’s going to be hard for Johnson to say no to those two alphas. There is also the unspoken pressure to reward a high-profile player who has remained loyal to the Tour throughout the LIV era. The hard truth is that JT looks utterly lost. At Hoylake he blamed his desultory play in part on feeling the pressure of trying to play his way onto the Ryder Cup team, but guess what? If Thomas is gifted a captain’s pick that he doesn’t deserve, the pressure will only become more intense, and that is a nightmare scenario for a dude with battered confidence trying to scrape together some form. I can’t speak for Johnson, but this would be my Ryder Cup team, with the obvious caveat that things can still change with so many points available in the two FedEx Cup events: Scheffler, Clark, Harman, Koepka, Schauffele, Cantlay, Homa, Spieth, Bradley, Fowler. That’s 10. Having eliminated JT, the final two picks come down to Cam Young, Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns and Tony Finau. I’m taking Morikawa for alternate shot and Finau for fourballs.
In any event, I've promised a Ryder Cup update and in that we'll look at the JT vs. alternative issues as best we can. Alan, as well as the Tc panelists think not, but they don't have to actually call JT with the news.
That Buried Lead - Just in case those references above escaped you, the TC panel's lede was quite predictable:
1. Tiger Woods made his way back into the golf news cycle this week with the bombshell announcement that he will be joining the PGA Tour’s Policy Board as a sixth player director. What does this actually mean for the future of the PGA Tour with the pending merger with the Saudi Public Investment Fund and how could it influence future decisions?Sean Zak: It means nothing goes without Tiger’s say. Which is very important. For a while, we thought nothing would go without Rory’s say. His interests and that of Tour HQ seemed to overlap perfectly. And then on June 6, they diverged in a seemingly major way. Now, it seems, there would be fewer surprises. Fewer things that pros just have to deal with. Less listening to demands and more making demands. It feels like a sort of serious unionization that the Tour membership has had but never really realized.Josh Sens: That’s an interesting way to think of it: unionization. But there’s still the question of who gets best represented in that union, and it speaks to a lingering issue in the men’s pro game: a small number of players move the needle. How should they be compensated? What should be asked of them in return? And what about the rank and file and the up-and-comers, who are part of the lifeblood of the circuit but don’t draw the eyeballs or attract big-time sponsors? What rewards and opportunities do they get? Over this past year, while it was fighting to retain talent, we saw the Tour make all kinds of concessions to its biggest names. If we’re trying to read the tea leaves, Tiger’s appointment looks like an attempt to tilt things increasingly in that direction.Jack Hirsh: This has to be insanely popular amongst the pros. All of these guys look up to Tiger and more importantly, owe him for everything this Tour has become over the past 30 years. Not being able to hear from Tiger regularly during much of the PGA Tour-LIV war was one of the most frustrating things about it because his voice carried so much weight. With him now in the fold of PGA Tour decision-makers, I expect the players to have much more of a say going forward. I do wonder what his appointment means for Jay Monahan, as we haven’t really heard Tiger talk much about his opinions of the commish.
\Sean, let me see if I follow you.... We've just seen the Tour's commissioner go rogue without informing the five player members of the Tour's Policy Board, and you think Tiger somehow has veto rights? Maybe, but I'd be hesitant to think we have any clue of future Tour governance...
Josh Sens is the only one of the three writers to even hint at the chasm among the Tour's elite players and the community of rabbit-Americans. I haven't been able to find the full list of players who petitioned Monahan to add Tiger, but the names released are all in that elite category, and they seem comfortable that Tiger will get with the program and ensure that they get theirs.
2. Woods had been deafeningly quiet on the PGA Tour-PIF merger since the announcement in early June up until this week. What do you think took him so long?Sens: Since when has he ever been the first to weigh in on controversial matters? Woods has never been one to rush into the role of political leadership. The more cautious approach he took was right on brand. I would have been surprised if he had played it any other way.Zak: When the first week passed without a statement from Woods, I was surprised. I figured he had to weigh in. What was he thinking? We knew what he was thinking. But as time wore on, he said a lot by saying nothing. I think the nine weeks of silence were a big way of saying “I don’t really approve of what has all gone down.” And the last week or so has been a big way of saying “I’m going to have a big voice now.” Why did he wait? Who knows, but it allowed him to make a bigger splash.Hirsh: Woods may have been quiet publicly, but there’s no way the wheels for him to get more involved in the process weren’t set in motion as soon as he learned of the framework agreement. There’s a good chance this appointment was probably held up by Monahan’s medical leave.
I don't know what these guys have seen since 1996, but Tiger takes care f Tiger.....
This ensures that he's at the top of the list for that Saudi-funded loyalty program, so whatever he thought of the Framework Agreement is speculative and irrelevant. he will now accommodate himself to the new reality.
One Last Bit - Easy answer, no?
How long should the jail sentence be for this clown who sledgehammered his putter into a green three times?
The video is pretty disturbing:
Jail. Immediately. pic.twitter.com/JgyzG0BCR7
— Tour Golf (@PGATUOR) August 3, 2023
All well and good, but now do Sergio.
As you'll have discerned, I'm evolving into a lazy blogger. But hope to see you tomorrow....
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