Weekend Wrap - Snowmageddon Edition

Still trying to get back into this blogging thing.  The funniest bit might be that a week ago I used a powder day reference in my header.  Wow, you'd think that I would know to, wait for it, keep my powder dry....

I'll be here all week, folks.  Please remember to tip your waitress....

Scottie, Still Good At Golf - You'll know that this kind of header is inevitable:

Scottie Scheffler enters Tiger Woods territory in the most Scottie way possible

Hmmm, is that more or less impressive than doing it in the most Tiger way possible?

Although I didn't see this lede coming:

The final Sunday in January is a sacred time in sports television — and this final Sunday was even more special.

For one glorious weekend, while the weather is cold and the living room is warm, everyone’s eyes are on television. And, with an enormous snowstorm sweeping much of the United States, sports TV executives were salivating: this weekend’s numbers could be even bigger than normal.

In theory, these conditions set the scene for a mammoth audience for Scottie Scheffler’s first victory of 2026 at the American Express in Palm Springs, Calif. — a blowout win that served as the latest and most consequential evidence of Scheffler’s historic trajectory. But in practice, they were the conditions that made for a perfectly fitting Scheffler victory celebration: a routine ass-kicking that hardly anyone appreciated, because it occurred during the same time as the weekend’s primary sports draw, the NFC and AFC Championship Games.

It's actually quite the clever lede, because it does hit on the walking understatement that is Scottie Scheffler....

Just a fun fact.  When the NFL Conference Championship gamers were on opposite Torrey, the Tour decided to finish on Saturday.  No need to do that here, as Golf Channel coverage ensures that not more than a baker's dozen will be watching at any one time...

Shall we duck into the Tour Confidential writers' room?  Yeah, once again, that was rhetorical....

Scottie Scheffler kicked off his 2026 season just as you might have imagined: with another victory. Scheffler shot a final-round 66 to win the American Express by four and claim his 20th career PGA Tour win. What did you think of Scheffler’s season debut? And if you are the rest of the Tour, what are you thinking?

Alan Bastable: Forget what I think. How about what the 18-year-old playing alongside Scheffler

on Sunday thinks! “One of the coolest things that I learned today was how underrated Scottie Scheffler’s short game is,” Blades Brown said after his buzz-kill fourth-round 74. “To see it in person and just to look at kind of the trajectory and the spin, and just the control that he has with his wedges and short game. Obviously his putting is insane too. It was really cool to watch.” I would concur — Scheffler’s 1.18 putts per green Sunday was best in the field. His 9 birdies were also impressive. Every time I looked up, it seemed Scheffler was spinning a wedge back to within four feet of the hole. Looked like a Golden Tee round. What is the rest of the Tour thinking? Probably. . . [sigh] here we go again.

James Colgan: I know this deserves like a thousand qualifiers, because the American Express is historically one of the easiest tournaments relative to par, but Scottie won in a way we’ve never seen on Sunday. He didn’t just outweather his opponents; he outgunned them. He made nine birdies, and eight of them were converted from inside of five feet (!!!). He’s the third player ever (behind Tiger and Jack) to 20 wins and 4 majors before his 30th birthday — and to everyone else in golf, that should be … terrifying.

Josh Sens. To me, this looked like more of the same. A golfer with no physical weaknesses whose mental game is every bit as good. In this, a relatively low-wattage event, Scheffler proved again that unlike some other big guns in the game, he never takes a week off.

That Tiger/Jack 20-4 bit got a lot of airtime and I hate those slice-and-dice statistical oddities, but this one does frame it quite effectively.  To me, though, he's far more Jack than Tiger, as that image of his family celebrating readily confirms.

This one is a bit silly, though:

Scheffler won six times last year and seven the year before. If you are Vegas and deciding the over/under line for Scheffler wins in 2026, what are you setting it at?

Bastable: Feels like cheating given we already have one. Can he win five more? Of course! Six more? Maybe. Seven more would bring us to Tiger territory (TW won eight times in both 1999 and 2006). And eight more would bring us to Vijay Singh (2004) and Tiger again (2000) territory. Feels like a big ask. We’re setting the o/u at 6. What say ye, colleagues?!

Colgan: Agreed, Basty. Six is the only rational number. But great athletes teach us to believe in the irrational. I don’t think eight is out of the question.

Sens: If the line is six, I’m all in on the over. One down already, with –if his past schedule repeats–upwards of 15 to 20 starts remaining? I’ll be collecting my money by late August.

This week should reinforce an obvious point, to wit, that's it's less important how many he wins, than it is where he wins.... Tiny field sizes have made winning actually easier once you've got a tee time (every week is the Masters), but There's 4-5 weeks that will tell me the most.  The list topped, shockingly, by a June even on the Eastern end of Long Island....

To me, it's passing strange that Scottie even pegged it this week.  Seems like more of the guys are kicking off their seasons next week in LaJolla, not that running away from the field isn't an effective warning shot across the bow.

The Blades Brown Experience - This one I've been watching for s while.  His name has been bandied about for a while now, obviously a young kid with seemingly unlimited upside.  I have a good friend and golf buddy that's involved with the management of a Florida golf club.  Local U.S. Open qualifying was held there last summer, and Ed ended up spending ninety minutes with Blades in the clubhouse, and followed him during his round (if I remember correctly, he lost out on Sectional in a playoff).

The first thing you need to know is that the kid comes from an interesting gene pool, his mother having played two seasons in the WNBA after a strong college career at Vanderbilt.  The other bit to throw in is that that epic golf name may not be what it seems, as "Blades" is actually his mother's maiden name.

The second bit is his age, all of eighteen.  His family has a plan for him, and that plan, unlike most of today's kids, had no role for college.  He has already earned status on the Korn Ferry Tour, and I believe this was his tenth PGA Tour event, and far from his first made cut.

Besides Scheffler taking control of the tournament, it was 18-year-old Blades Brown who made headlines earlier in the week. He received a sponsor’s exemption and made his 10th career PGA Tour start, shot 60 on Friday and was one off the lead after 54-holes before shooting 74 Sunday and falling out of the top 10. Was this finish an outlier? Or is Blades a name golf fans should expect to see more of?

Bastable: Outlier? Hardly! He’d already made three PGA Tour cuts heading into this week at an age at which most of his peers are less worried about staring down Scottie Scheffler on a Sunday afternoon than they are about prepping for their next pre-calc exam or landing a prom date. Blades sounds like he’s in full sponge mode. On Sunday evening, he said he could “write a book about what I’ve learned these past couple of days.” In pro golf, 18 is the new 28. There’s little reason to think we won’t see Blades playing more meaningful weekend golf on the PGA Tour this year.

Colgan: The finish wasn’t an outlier. Blades is a name that fans should remember. BUT — and there is a “but” — Sunday was a lesson in how much separates him from consistent PGA Tour success. I’m unbelievably impressed that, at 18 years old, his ceiling is already up there with the best in the sport. But careers are built on raising your floor.

Sens: Blades is no fluke. A name like that is destiny. Guess I shouldn’t have named my son “Shanks.” Poor kid never stood a chance.

The other bit no one is noting is his brutal schedule.  he played a Sunday-Wednesday Korn Ferry event in the Bahamas, then hopped a private plane to utilize this exemption.  He played competitive rounds on eight straight days (not to mention the travel), so a clunker may have been inevitable.  The kid has no shortage of game, and we'll see him on the big tour soon enough.

LIV Stuff - This isn't the most interesting aspect of things right now, but it's anaerobic blogging:

Speaking of the Returning Member Program, next up on Tour is the Farmers Insurance Open where Brooks Koepka will make his long-awaited return to the PGA Tour. What are you most looking forward to hearing from Koepka about, and how do you expect him to play in his first start?

Bastable: I’m not sure we’ll get a whole lot from him — in the press tent, anyway. I would expect focused, tight-lipped Koepka in San Diego. And who knows what we’ll see on the course? The dirty little secret about Brooks is . . . he has not been playing well. He had just two top-10s on LIV in 2025 and both came in his first four starts. In his last four starts he finished no better than T29. Maybe he was unmotivated. Maybe he was distracted by personal issues. Maybe he was dreaming of his PGA Tour return. Hard to know with Brooks. What we do know is he has much to prove. Would it surprise me if he contends? It would not.

Colgan: I’ve heard a few of Brooks’ LIV counterparts mention Koepka’s personal situation was a key component of his decision to return. I’m not expecting him to clue us in, but it would be nice to hear his on-the-record reasoning for returning to the Tour.

Sens: I’m trying to remember the last time I heard something truly revealing in a press conference. I don’t expect that to change when Koepka steps to the podium. But I expect him to play well, recent form be damned. If ever there was a guy who can turn it off and then back on when it matters to him, it’s Koepka.

Yeah, Josh, but I don't expect that he'll be turning it on for the Farmers....  Not sure what Brooks has left in the tank, but His Excellency doesn't see distraught at losing him....

To me, there are two far more intriguing threads, beginning here:

Patrick Reed, days before he won the Dubai Desert Classic, told The Telegraph he’d consider rejoining the PGA Tour if allowed. Then, on Sunday morning, he revealed he has yet to re-sign with LIV Golf — whose season begins in less than two weeks. The Tour’s Returning Member Program specifically created pathways for major winners of the past four years, which Reed doesn’t fall under. Why wouldn’t the Tour be interested in Reed rejoining?

Bastable: Who says they’re not?! I think Brian Rolapp and Co. are interested in welcoming back any player who makes PGA Tour fields stronger and LIV fields weaker. Yes, the current framing

of the RMP precludes a Reed return, but rules, as the PGA Tour has been proving of late, are made to be broken — or, at the very least, altered. Who knows where we’ll be in a year? When asked Sunday if he’s been talking to the PGA Tour, Reed said, “Not right now,” which suggests conversations have been happening. I, for one, miss P-Reed. However you feel about the guy, he makes tournaments more interesting.

Colgan: That whole P-Reed back-and-forth was SO weird. If we’ve learned one thing from the Brooks and Bryson situations, it’s that LIV contracts are like every other negotiation — they’re all about leverage! Why is Reed surrendering his leverage by keeping his free agency a secret? I have no idea. But if his PGA Tour return odds are hampered, I’d bet it’s because he’s been operating under the cover of darkness.

Sens: Golf’s civil war is also a zero-sum game. I’m sure the Tour would be interested in getting Reed back for that reason. A win for Ponte Vedra equals a loss for LIV, and the other way around. My guess is that we won’t see that this year. He’s already exempt into the Masters, his world ranking is now solidly inside the top 50, and he’s just improved his market value in any negotiations with LIV. That’s another way of saying that he can likely have his cake and eat it too, resigning for big money without necessarily missing out on the majors.

Gee, James, I would think his PGA Tour return will more likely be hampered by being the biggest a******e in golf.  Do you not remember his behavior in Paris?  More importantly, do you not remember Justine?

You would expect a little more introspection from these writers, no?  Bastable just operates in a binary world where they either do or don't want him back.  The reality is far complicated, where Rolapp has  multiple constituencies to accommodate.  There are no doubt many Tour members that don't want any of these asshats back, yet the adults are saying, "OK, but let's not shoot ourselve4s in the foot unnecessarily."  But there is no needle that PReed moves, so good luck to him in 2026.

Eamon Lynch has some thoughts on the status quo:

Lynch: Brian Rolapp scored an early win with Brooks Koepka’s return. His tougher battles are coming next

And we have a GMTA moment, though you'll have to believe that I wrote the above before reading Eamon's lede:

As a voracious reader on the lives of former presidents, Brian Rolapp is probably familiar with Dwight Eisenhower's quip about leadership being the art of getting someone else to do what you want done because he wants to do it. The PGA Tour’s CEO has already measured up favorably to Ike’s metric, having engineered the return of Brooks Koepka to the fold while keeping a lid on whatever simmering resentment exists in the locker room. (It helps that Koepka is popular among his peers; it’s not like Rolapp was asking them to save seats in player dining for Patrick and Justine).

Maybe they'll allow PReed back under the condition that he dump Justine?  Win-win, baby!

The first real test of Rolapp’s writ comes six weeks from now however, around The Players, when the Future Competition Committee he impaneled makes public its preliminary concepts about the Tour’s future. That will be followed by a period of negotiations, horse trading and reconciliation until a final plan is agreed upon – which suggests actual material changes to the Tour product are still a couple of years away.

That process will be akin to threading a needle while walking on hot coals. Consider just one dilemma: the chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises is Joe Gorder, who was the former board chair and CEO of Valero Energy, which has for 24 years sponsored the Texas Open, an event not guaranteed to survive the anticipated schedule cuts. And that’s before Rolapp addresses factions that, if not exactly competing, aren’t entirely aligned even as they pay lip service to the shared goal of a better business.

But here's where Eamon sets himself apart from the TC clowns, because he gets that the return of the prodigal sons comes in the context of dramatically reduced playing opportunities:

Like his membership, long accustomed to a benevolent organization devoted to providing them work, but who now face significant reductions in opportunities, narrowing pathways to status, and less likelihood of keeping a job with middling performance. Or his investors, who’d like a return on their $1.5 billion infusion, even if they aren’t the typical burn-and-run private equity ghouls. And the loyal tournaments and sponsors who might find there’s no welcome for them or their money in the new order. Not to mention his media partners, who paid handsomely for a product that will no longer be the one delivered. And of course golf fans, by now weary of hearing how they should bide their time while the aforementioned cut the line to get theirs.

I think the key concept is Good Luck with all that:

To put it crassly, Rolapp will need the persuasive powers of a lady of the night who finds herself trawling for clients in a gay bathhouse.

So how does he accomplish it? By coaxing the reluctant and facing down the refuseniks.

For example, positioning schedule and eligibility changes as being about rewarding excellence, implicitly daring players to make the opposing case that mediocrity is entitled to continued employment (socialism for me, but not for thee!). That demands decent field sizes and smarter criteria for filling them, not prioritizing a 62-year-old veteran like Vijay Singh over an up-and-coming teenager like Blades Brown. By schooling his investors that the Tour's responsibilities extend beyond bottom-line profit to the broader golf ecosystem and to charities. By engineering off-ramp options for impacted events and sponsors for whom no place can be found at the top table, whether as part of an international swing, on the Korn Ferry or Champions circuits, or in a Fall scramble for status, a window that’s destined to have more relevance (and familiar names) thanks to the reduction in fully exempt cards.

That's great, but to do so he'll have to stare down Patrick Cantlay and Tiger Woods....

Not sure, though, that I'm with him on thisd:

But good luck convincing media partners to pay more for a shrinking product. A smaller Tour may turn out to be a better Tour in time, but the networks will likely start from a position that the price tag should be commensurately smaller too.

Crucially, Rolapp must be able to point fans toward what's additive, otherwise they'll focus on what is being deleted. The past couple of weeks provided a low-grade example of that fever with grumbling about the potential loss of the Hawaii swing. A compelling case can be made that the season should open with a ‘hello world’ roar and not the traditional laid-back aloha before sparse crowds in Maui. That case, among many others, falls to Rolapp to present.

Where does Eamon think the roar will appear?   I actually think Kapalua is a perfect warm open to the season, not demanding too much from folks still watching football.

Let me just leave you with this story I hate:

Michael La Sasso, the reigning NCAA individual champion, has joined LIV Golf.

The Ole Miss senior, who is teaming up with Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC on a multi-year

agreement, is expected to debut at next month’s LIV opener in Saudi Arabia, meaning he will forfeit his remaining college eligibility and leave the Rebels before his final semester.

La Sasso, 21, also had an exemption lined up at the Masters this April, courtesy of his one-shot win at La Costa, though that was provided he remained amateur.

“I’m incredibly excited to join HyFlyers GC and take this next step in my career,” La Sasso said in a release. “It’s a rare opportunity to learn from one of the greatest players in the history of the game, and I don’t take that lightly. LIV Golf allows me to compete at the highest level on a global stage, and I thrive in a team environment, especially one with the camaraderie and support that defines HyFlyers GC. My focus is on learning, continuing to improve, and doing everything I can to help our team succeed.”

I have qualms about the path that Blades Brown and his family have chosen, as he's passing up a chance to develop relationships within a college program that most kids end up treasuring.  It's a lonely life out there on Tour, and I instinctively don't love them growing up too soon.

But this goes way beyond qualms.  There's so much money in golf that I almost don't think kids like Brown and LaSasso need to aggressively chase it.  The objective should be to maximize the return on their natural talent, and the best way to ensure that is embrace the grind.  I can't bring myself to respect or expect much from a kid that runs away from the challenge.

What do you say to a kid that says "No" to a Masters tee time?  If there's a God, he won't get another....

Have a great week and keep warm.