Weekend Wrap - Dog Days of October Edition

OK, the timing isn't perfect, as I recommit to regular blogging just as golf news asymptotically approaches zero...  Lemonade, anyone?

Black Desert Blues - Despite those winter datelines in these pages, I know very little about the state of Utah, and had never previously heard of the place:

Matt McCarty just keeps winning, no matter the tour.

The 26-year-old former Santa Clara University golfer smashed his drive within 3 feet of the hole at

the drivable par-4, 14thgreen at Black Desert Resort to set up an eagle en route to posting a final-round 4-under 67 on Sunday and win the inaugural Black Desert Championship in Ivins, Utah.

“I knew if I played well this week after last week then I could maybe have a chance but to do it like this? I don’t know how you could expect this, to be honest,” he said.

McCarty won three times in a span of six events on the Korn Ferry Tour to earn a promotion to the PGA Tour and in just his second start in the big leagues, he returned to the winner’s circle with a 72-hole total of 23-under 261 and a three-shot victory over Stephan Jaeger.

Quite the heater McCarty has been on, though the field was such that this isn't much more than a KF win, though it most certainly paid better (and comes with a ticket to Augusta).  How bad was the field?  Per Geoff:

The first PGA Tour visit Utah in 61 years featured just two players ranked in the world top 15 and only 18 of the top 100. Utah’s best golfer—Tony Finau—passed citing his assistant coaching duties at the PGA Junior League Championship.

It's late October and they're up against the NFL AND the MLB League Championship series, so what's the point?   As for the venue?  Good to see them breaking the mold a bit, though not sure this is exactly the model.....  Why?

Guess how many penalties the lava caused in Black Desert Championship. Hint: It's over 200!

As stunning and otherworldly as the scenery is at the Black Desert Resort in Utah, it likely wasn’t

the red rock hills as a backdrop or the Tom Weiskopf-designed layout that convinced the PGA Tour to stage a tournament there before a single public round had ever been played. It was all about the black lava rock that flowed around the edge of nearly every green and fairway, presenting a test that most tour players hadn’t seen before.

Just don’t tell the guys who got stuck in the lava to agree that it was a thing of beauty. The lava essentially played like a water hazard, with few balls being playable once they entered. The lucky ones were able to take an unplayable lie and drop their ball within two club lengths—as McCarty did in saving a bogey at the 10th on Saturday. There were hard luck stories like that of Sam Ryder, whose approach went so deep into a black hole near the 18th green in the third round that he had to return to his original spot in the fairway.

The lava rock kept PGA Tour rules officials speeding around in carts with their walkie-talkies. Responding to an inquiry from Golf Digest, tour media officials said there were a combined 203 penalties caused by lava or lost ball circumstances during the four rounds. (Those categories are coded the same.) That number did not include water penalty drops on three holes at Black Desert. There were 65 rulings in Round 1 and 56 in Round 2 when the field was 132. There were 33 in Round 3 and 49 in Round 4 after 69 golfers made the cut.

And, as night follows day:

As for the Black Desert Championship’s debut?

The lava-lined course looked interesting enough even if bunkers and cart paths were sometimes indiscernable in the late light. More concerning: pace of play went to places that even the worst cynic could never fathom for a PGA Tour-run event where slow play penalties are outlawed.

The Black Desert was unable to finish either the first or second round on time even without weather issues.

Sunday’s final round was played in twosomes but somehow took the leaders four hours and fifty minutes to play 18 holes.

Twosomes!

As Geoff notes, McCarty is the kind of story that golf can produce, though we done much to inhibit the opportunities of such young players in recent years:

I’d even go further and say McCarty’s gradual rise is just the kind of story that built the PGA Tour and is more likely to create longer careers. There is also genuine fan satisfaction found by investing in a largely unheralded college golfer who steadily progresses before achieving extreme success. Stories like McCarty make more people appreciate the value of the Tour’s meritocracy. The same model now under threat in response to LIV’s limited-field, no-cut, rich-get-richer drabness.

While a nice golfer at Santa Clara, the left-handed McCarty was hardly the product of any AJGA mills or elite university programs where practice takes priority over studying.

After qualifying for PGA Tour Canada in 2021, McCarty graduated to the Korn Ferry Tour where he made 16 of 25 cuts to finish 55th in 2022. He then made 12 of 16 cuts to finish 35th in 2023 and, as can happen in this silly game, McCarty found a new gear in 2024 when he made 21 of 25 cuts on his way to ten winds and nine top 10’s.

With his win in Utah, McCarty became the second player to win on the PGA Tour in the same season after earning the “Three-Victory Promotion. ” It was the Battlefield Promotion when Jason Gore accomplished a similar feat in 2005 at the 84 Lumber Classic.

Winning in just his fourth PGA Tour start means McCarty joins less-than elite company —Seve excluded—in “fewest starts before first PGA Tour win (since 1970)”:

1 – Jim Benepe (1988 BMW Championship)

2 – Garrick Higgo (2021 Palmetto Championship at Congaree)

3 – Bob Gilder (1976 WM Phoenix Open), Seve Ballesteros (1978 Wyndham Championship), Russell Henley (2013 Sony Open in Hawaii), Matt McCarty (2024 Black Desert Championship)

The win is also McCarty’s fourth in his last 10 combined starts.

Just a reminder that the powers that be tell us we have no interest in the professional growth of a player such as McCarty, and that the entire professional game needs to be organized around, checking notes, Patrick Cantlay.  So, back to football for us all.

Autumn Blues - Rory has a sad on, according to an interview with The Scotsman:

In the interview, McIlroy did express confidence in the Tour and PIF coming to an agreement on a PIF investment in PGA Tour Enterprises soon. But he also sowed doubt that any potential merger between the Tour and LIV Golf was imminent.

“I think by year’s end, whether the Public Investment Fund will invest in PGA Tour Enterprises… that doesn’t solve the problem of where we find ourselves in golf, the schedule and everything,” McIlroy told The Scotsman.

He went on to explain that he thinks the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, and the star players split between them, will continue on their own paths for years, with only occasional events featuring players from both tours competing against each other.

“I think all tours are going to keep trucking along and doing their own thing for the foreseeable future and I think the best thing we can maybe hope for is a bit of crossover between them,” McIlroy said. “Then maybe while that is happening over that period of time, whether it be one year, two years, three years, just trying to figure out the rest.”

It's OK, Rory.  Since we're not watching in any event, it doesn't really matter who might be playing....

Ever the deep thinker, Rory puts his finger on the very problem:

McIlroy also revealed that while there is positive momentum toward a deal on both sides, one thing in particular is getting in the way of an agreement: lawyers.

“I think there is a willingness there from all parties to try and get it to happen but you’ve got tons of lawyers in the middle of it,” McIlroy claimed.

Sure, Rory, you guys had things completely under control until the lawyers got involved....  Sheesh!

The Tour Confidential panel picked up on this subject, but without advancing the ball much:

In an interview with The Scotsman, Rory McIlroy said it was likely LIV golfers and PGA Tour golfers would keep “doing their own thing for the foreseeable future.” The interview followed some interesting pairings at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship where McIlroy played with both PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. What do you make of McIlroy’s assessment?

Josh Sens: It comes across as confirmation of what has seemed apparent for a while now: the two

are moving in separate orbits, with little intention of overlapping except for the occasional major and televised stunt event. The Tour, it seems, is comfortable enough with its private cash infusion that it can keep on keeping on for the time being. And LIV, which doesn’t need the money and likely never will, can do the same. None of this is especially good news for fans, but they’ve never been treated as the top priority in any of this anyway.

Zephyr Melton: Bad news for those who want to see a unified professional game in the near future. Here’s to hoping things can get sorted out sooner rather than later. Every passing year with a fractured game does more damage — and the fans are the biggest losers.

Dylan Dethier: It’s impossible to out-bleak those two answers, so let’s talk process. As I understand it, the Saudi PIF’s involvement with the PGA Tour would start with an investment in PGA Tour Enterprises, the Tour’s new for-profit wing. Then, with the gradual approval of the Department of Justice, things could (theoretically, depending on the cooperation of several important parties) eventually tick in the direction of unification. But yeah, we’re not on the brink of resolution, I don’t think.

Obviously Josh and Zephyr couldn't be bothered reading the Rory interview, as he seems to think there's a financing deal near at hand.  That said, the operation issues of making LIV go away seems interesting, as does the operation of Liv while the Justice Department reviews an application (could their TV ratings go any lower?).  Also of interest and perhaps greater importance, no one seems interested in considering whose Justice Department will be conducting the review.

Dylan is the only one of the three to remotely consider the weird environment in which these two tours might operate....  Could actually make it all worse, concentrating golf's fans even more on those four events.

With profound implications for this event as well:

The next Ryder Cup may be nearly a year away, but you wouldn’t know at this week’s press conference with captains Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald. One of the more surprising learnings was that Donald was in contact with European legend and LIV Golfer Sergio Garcia, who is apparently considering rejoining the DP World Tour in hopes of being able to play at Bethpage next fall. Use your glass ball, will Garcia and other LIV golfers like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton be on the European team next September?

Sens: Rory McIlroy said he hopes that Rahm will be eligible, and you’ve got to bet enough other powerful voices in the game feel the same that it will happen. We should all hope it does. Makes for a better competition, and if nothing else, golf fans deserve a few days of Sergio Garcia playing in front of hostile New York crowds–assuming Donald deems the state of Sergio’s game–or his Ryder Cup history–justification enough for the pick.

Melton: Hatton and Rahm need to be on the team for the Euros to put out their most competitive team, but I’m not as sold on Segio. He’s still playing some decent golf, but as the European team showed last summer, they’ve got lots of young talent they can lean on. Perhaps he will be a part of the team as an assistant captain?

Dethier: Rahm will be there. Hatton will be there. Sergio has been playing pretty well on LIV (and played well at Pinehurst) so it’s not out of the question. I’m not sure which other LIV pros would be in contention on the European side — Paul Casey? Richard Bland?!? — but to Sens’ point, if Garcia was upset with the unregulated crowds at Open Championship qualifying this summer, Bethpage would be a fascinating cauldron to drop him into…

Sergio could not have put more effort into effing both tours on his way out the door, so if he's not persona non grata, I don't know who should be.  But Rory doesn't hesitate in the slightest to shed whatever remaining standards he might have once maintained....

Speaking of the Ryder Cup, U.S. Captain Keegan Bradley, who used to sneak on Bethpage Black while in college, said he expects the New York crowd to cheer “proudly and loudly.” He said he wants it to be a tough place to play for both teams but, ’nobody on either team wants this to get uncomfortable or weird out there.” What kind of atmosphere do you expect on Long Island?

Sens: Sorry, but that’s like saying, we’re going to hold a rabbit convention in a python pit but we’re really hoping there are no injuries or hurt feelings.

Melton: It’s going to be rowdy and hostile for the Euros. New York sports fans aren’t especially kind to opposing teams, and the Ryder Cup will be no different. Expect lots of jeers and heckling from outside the ropes — and a few ejections, too.

Dethier: I expect the atmosphere to get both uncomfortable and weird. As we saw last fall, the European fans don’t have much restraint — but they definitely have more than their Long Island counterparts. It’s going to be glorious and, at least a couple times, over the top.

First, let's enjoy that Keegan can say something some ridiculous and insincere, and apparently note be challenged.  

I've been noting for years the risks of this event, which no one seems to be taking sufficiently seriously.  The dog that doesn't bark in those answers is the unique format of the Ryder Cup, in which there's precious little actual golf to be seen on Friday and Saturday.  You'll have the crowds there from zero dark thirty and adult beverage will be consumed, but in each of the two sessions those days there are only four games, meaning an hour of golf will interrupt four hours of drinking.....I'm sure it will work out fine.

It's a hot mess and little will change in the near term, so we should all find alternative sources of amusement.

Montreal Blues - I'm marginally amused by the lingering animus from the Prez Cup, especially in view of the Ryder Cup heading to Bethpage.  Both Tom Kim and Wyndham Clark try to explain what went down, the former through his sensible looper:

We heard Tom Kim’s caddie’s side of the story, too. Veteran looper Paul Tesori joined SiriusXM’s PGA Tour Radio earlier this week to back up what his boss had said about the U.S. team crossing the line, just with one critique: He didn’t need to say so in the media.

“Obviously, I witnessed three scenarios where members of the U.S. team emphatically got

personal with Tom and yes, cursed at him and got very personal,” Tesori said. “And at the end of the day, no one wants that. These two guys that had done it, I don’t think that’s in their character at all. I know one of them apologized, which is a great thing. The heat of the moment got to him.

“But I do want to say something about that. When Tom mentioned that in the Saturday press conference, I didn’t know he had [said so]. And when he came in, he shared with me what he did, and this is part of what a 52-year-old veteran can share with a 22-year-old.

“I said, ‘Tom, you have every right to feel the way you did.’ One of them, I witnessed a foot away from me. And the feelings I had inside were very New York Bethpagey. I wanted to react physically, and I was upset by what had happened, but at the end of the day, I also know the character of the person this happened with I don’t believe is that way, and Tom handled it really well.

“At the end of the day, he can’t go to the media and pronounce that,” Tesori concluded. “You got to go talk to your captains about it, go talk to your teammates about it, and it’s a learning experience for Tom. And I think that’s what it comes down to.”

And the Clark rebuttal:

“Earlier that morning [Keegan Bradley] and I played Tom and Si Woo,” Clark told Loop host Chris Powers. “And we witnessed them making tons of putts on us and playing unbelievable and then obviously witnessed all of the celebrations that they were doing. And then just some of the other antics that maybe people weren’t seeing on TV, that obviously just kind of gets you to where you’re a little frustrated because some of it was extreme, in my opinion.

“And some of it seemed a little fabricated and so it almost didn’t seem authentic, especially for someone that’s usually pretty quiet, and so it almost seemed like they were trying to do something. So we could feel that. And so [Keegan] and I lost, they beat us fair and square. They played unbelievable.”

After their 4-and-3 defeat, the story picked up, Clark said, when he and Tony Finau started following Kim/Kim vs. Cantlay/Schauffele that afternoon.

“So we started seeing some of the best golf I’ve ever seen in a match, at any cup,” he said. “I mean, they were just birdie after birdie. Every other hole. It was quite amazing and I mean, as far as the cussing that was going on or any of the trash-talking, I feel like on our team, we were doing it only towards our guys.

“Guys were saying, y’know, LFG [ed. note: I’ll let you translate] for our team and I think that’s where the cussing was. Now, there were times when we were close to their team or even their players where we were screaming for our guys. But you also gotta realize we’re the away team, so we don’t have as much noise, we’re trying to create extra noise. So maybe we were heard more than if we were the home team because the crowd, you know, out, you know, does hear us.

“But really when it comes down to Si Woo’s deal, I mean, Si Woo’s [chip-in] on 16 is one of the best shots I’ve ever witnessed up close and Si Woo is a dog. He is literally one of my favorite guys on the PGA Tour and has so much talent and you know, that shot was just unbelievable.

And this rousing coda:

“And then we go to 18, obviously, and we both were sitting there and we’re like, ‘Man, if we win this hole, we’re for sure giving them — we’re putting it right back in their face.’ And so sure enough, I mean, Patty Ice made, made it and, you know, I think people got me because I kind of was a little more, but I’m pretty sure Tony and I both did it and I think it was great.

“I mean, you know, what, if you’re gonna talk trash and do things like that, then you got to be able to handle it coming right back at you. So, yeah, I mean, it was really fun.”

Sorry, those excerpts got a bit long, even though I elided the Steph Curry bit.  But two points, first it seems a bit rich for Tom Kim to be complaining about anyone else's antics, no?  How funny is it that he steals another guy's bit and, most amusingly, gets it wrong.  When you've done the "Night, night" thing to your opponent too early, you might wanna shut your pie hole.

Nearly two weeks after the event concluded, we’re still hearing about the Tom Kim cursing controversy from the Presidents Cup. This time, U.S. team member Wyndham Clark offered his take of the events on “The Loop” podcast. Is this sort of chippiness a story or is this helping to legitimize the rivalry at the Presidents Cup?

Sens: It is trivial, junior high stuff, which in today’s world, makes it headline news. But it could only legitimize a ‘rivalry’ if there were a rivalry to begin with. That can’t be the case when one side pretty much always beats up on the other. The Presidents Cup isn’t a rivalry. It’s an abusive relationship.

Melton: Feels like a bit of a nothingburger. In sports, sometimes there’s a little trash talk — and that’s ok! No need to relitigate the tiniest disagreement.'

Dethier: I think it’s a story just because clearly both sides still feel something about it. This will be, in some ways, the enduring legacy of this year’s Presidents Cup — ramped-up emotions on both sides. There may not be full-on bad blood, but things were a little tense leaving Montreal. That’s not a bad thing.

For those of us of a certain age, it might ring a bell.  It feels a little Tony Jacklin-like, to wit, the Washington Generals showing signs of being tired of losing.  I think the chippiness is a story and maybe not a bad story, but only to the extent that it's used to create a viable competitor.  The problem for now is that their feistiness was in the service of an 18 1/2 - 11 1/2 home game beatdown.... 

Tom Kim could be seen as auditioning to be Seve, though Kim needs to be a far better player to make that impersonation compelling.  But who do we have to play the Jacklin role?  

That's all for today.  Blogging will be dependent on the news cycle, though I'll catch up with you at some point this week for sure.