Monday, April 21, 2025

Weekend Wrap - Low Country Edition

Hope everyone had a good weekend.  Perhaps Spring might actually be settling in.... But still folks are clinging to that event from the prior weekend, which in a rational world would  

Harbor Town -  I did see the ending, the last 2-3 holes and the playoff, and Harbor Town remains a fun and visually striking venue.  But it's quite the mess if you want coherence from your schedule.  Let me explain...

Obviously a Tour schedule should exhibit variety, and up top few years ago this event had a very sustainable position.  It was post-Masters winddown week, a collective chill after the intense pressure of the year's first major.  Harbor Town was perfect, a short hop from Augusta and a delightful Low Country vibe, ignoring that first post-Covid event in 2020.  To this observer it worked perfectly, and guys had the option of playing or not playing as they preferred.

But now we all understand that golf can't succeed unless we know with mathematical certainty that Patrick will get paid, and you're either a "Have" or you're on the menu.... Given that life as a "have Not" isn't viable, the sponsors have to pony up and turn into something that matters, but it's still the week after the Masters.  Setting aside my hatred of the limited-field Signature Events Money Grabs™, I have no objection to Harbor Town being so designated, it just takes a mental midget to think that, under a situation where a handful of events are elevated, that one of those should be this week.

Apparently, I'm not the only one with such a reaction.  As a proxy I'll submit this week's Tour Confidential panel.  As Unplayable Lies dead-enders know, I use this feature for low-impact blogging, but I also use their Q&A's as a proxy for what folks think matters.  By far, the most frequent issue upon which I've pounced in the past is their Tiger sycophancy.  

This week we see the writers mull two follow-up Masters questions before getting to JT's win.  Well played, Jay!  You commit to rendering eight events as special, and then you allow one of them to be buried under the continued excitement over the Masters ( an event that, does, actually, matter).  You guys are playing some kind of 3D chess, eh?

I didn't watch enough to have a feel for Thomas' play, though Andrew Novak has become a bit of a hard-luck case.  here was that TC bit on JT:

3. Last week, Rory ended his major drought, and on Sunday at the RBC Heritage, Justin Thomas ended his winless slump, beating Andrew Novak in a playoff at Harbour Town to pick up his first win since the 2022 PGA Championship. Thomas reminded us of his firepower with his 61 Thursday; what had been holding him back during this winless stretch?

Melton: Golf is hard, and even the best in the world go through slumps. Watching superstars go through struggles reminds us how hard this game is, and gives us an even greater appreciation for those who win year in and year out.

Schrock: I think Zephyr nailed it. Thomas won and won a lot from 2015 to 2022. Even the best modern pro golfers go in slumps, unless your name is Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Rory McIlroy. Thomas was inaccurate with the driver as he tooled his swing and then his normally reliable putter went away. It all seems to be back now, which is good news for the PGA Tour. The more stars at the peak of their powers, the better. Next up: Jordan Spieth?

Piastowski: Swing stuff. Expectation stuff. Other pros being better stuff. It happens. But then it snowballs, and that’s hard to shovel out of. But man, full-power JT is fun to watch. And yeah, his first PGA Championship win came at Quail Hollow.

 I think you'd have to start with the putter but, when it goes bad in this game, it all goes bad.

What's intriguing if you're a JT fan, is that next major venue..... He, of course, won a PGA there, and that guy that just got fitted for an ugly green jacket has also had some success there.

You guys know what interest me, so of course this was my favorite story of the week, trigger4ed by this social media post:


Wow, that sounds so out of character for Patrick..... Not!

By way of background,. I've long thought the signing thing was out of control and, even if you sign for a five-year old, it might end up on E-Bay.  And the4y are at their "office", but still, it isn't hard to see what a bad look this is.  My favorite buried detail is that Xander was signing on the course, X-Man being Patrick's a-hole buddy....

What does this story tell us?  That Patrick is a dick?  Old news, I hear you saying.... He is, in the priceless formulation of that long-ago Alan Shipnuck reader, the terrific penis.

Reactions on social media were predictable:

It's fair to say the golf fan's post has divided opinion with golf fans.

Some PGA Tour fans consider Cantlay has every right to do what he wants and doesn't have to stop during a practice round if he doesn't want to, even for a little kid.

Others seem not quite so forgiving though for a practice day, and think it's a disgrace he would say 'no' and walk straight past the young lad.

We'll let you head over to Instagram and X / Twitter now to see what everyone makes of it all.

As a wise man once said, "I Don't Owe Anyone Anything".

This story is a perfect synecdoche of the current state of professional golf.  Think of every recent pronouncement from the Tour about fan engagement and the need to unify the game for the fans and yada, yada, yada.....  Obviously they've been taking quite the PR hit and their press releases show it, but those are of course just words.  In the unscripted moments Patrick and Collin Morikawa tell us quite clearly what they think of golf fans.....  even the young ones.  But Patrick will lecture us on what we need to do to grow the game, which, as I understand it, mostly involves paying him.

Two quick follow ups.  First, the above was posted by a fan on site, who later deleted it.  

It took off because your observation confirmed the impression we've developed about these guys....

The second point to makes i that none of the major golf publications have touched this story.  They did cover the Morikawa bit, but apparently the policy as relates to this guy is Omertà.

Masters Detritus - I'm already on the clock, so let's first grab those two bits from the TC gang:

1. Now that we’ve had a week to fully digest the 2025 Masters and Rory McIlroy’s first green jacket (and career Grand Slam), where would you rank it among some of the best Masters of all time?

Zephyr Melton: I can reliably rank Masters only in my lifetime (since 1994), and in that time
frame, I’d rank it top three, with 1997 and 2019 being the others. The excitement of Sunday, mixed with the historical implications, made it one of the best watches I’ve ever had. What a tournament.

Josh Schrock: To me, it’s probably the best in my lifetime. Tiger’s win in 2019 was amazing just for the incredible feat of him becoming the Tiger Woods of old one last time at Augusta National, but the final round itself wasn’t as thrilling as what we witnessed last week. That’s because Tiger hit just fairways and the middle of greens while Rory oscillated between full flight and complete meltdown. The yo-yo nature of the final round, coupled with the grand slam and what would have been the worst devastation of Rory’s career, made it No. 1 on my list. I’ll go 2025, 2019 and 1997, with an honorable mention to 2004.

Nick Piastowski: Whew, I’ve been thinking about this all week. Jack in ’86. Mize’s chip-in. Tiger’s first and last wins. There’ve been some outstanding ones. But what didn’t this Masters have? Tight leaderboard. Good leaderboard. Dramatic finish. Ecstatic and popular winner. Hard to beat, for sure.

The problem is that these are 25-year old kids and their golf memories go back an hour-and-a-half.   I'm actually annoyed by this trend to call it an all-time great Masters, because I feel it doesn't qualify.  In a way it's something even more interesting, we saw a man fighting his demons for five hours.  I get why people were entranced and gutted at the end, but it wasn't a great day of golf.

What's interesting is that Augusta National gave these guys a huge hint with that 16th hole pin placement, but they apparently had b locked the caller.  What was missing from Rory's win was challengers playing at the top of their game.  Jack in '75 had to beat Miller and Weiskopf at the peak of their powers, whereas the only guy that made a run at Rory started from way too far back (and the run would have been incidental if Rory hadn't come back towards the pack).

It was a great show, it just wasn't really great golf.

Let me just added props for that great photo, which I hadn't seen elsewhere.

But now we jump the shark:

2. With his Masters title in his back pocket, a major drought snapped and that weight finally off his shoulders, what do you expect to see from McIlroy in the remaining three majors? Are you picking him as the early favorite to win any of the remaining three?

Melton: When you’re hot, you’re hot. Golfers tend to win in bunches, and when that window is open, it’s critical to take advantage. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rory in the hunt many more times this season, especially in the majors.

Schrock: With the career grand slam done and dusted, why not win all four? Next up is the PGA at Quail Hollow, a course McIlroy has dominated in his career. The Open is at Royal Portrush, where he owns the course record, and he has been one of the best U.S. Open players over the past four years — he just doesn’t have a win to show for it. I think he wins at least one more this year, especially with Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele still searching post injury.

Piastowski: Yes. I’m in. I’ve fallen victim to recency bias after like every major, but picking him to be the favorite for the next three doesn’t seem too outlandish. Schrock explains why above. But yeah, golf. Being the favorite is one thing. Winning is another. Shoot, folks were thinking the same of Scottie Scheffler as late as last December.

At least the last guy acknowledged the recency bias....  Of course Quail Hollow would have Rory salivating, but we're forgetting the last decade awfully quickly.

Unfortunately, I am out of time.  I still have more Masters leftovers, which I'll try to get to in the coming days.  Of course, as you may have noticed, I'm the laziest blogger on the planet.... Have a great week.

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