Hey kids, did that header pun work for you? I haven't been much of a blogger recently, but one does like the cheap puns, no?
Shall I give you the bad schedule news now, or save it for the close? Yeah, no sense depressing you before its necessary.
Wasted Words - I went with Norse Mythology above and an Allman Brothers reference here, hope you've kept up. Maybe we'll get to some golf as well. Golfweek played it thusly:
With late birdie binge, Chris Gotterup steals Phoenix Open in playoff
He finished on a heater, yet that somehow isn't the image we're all left with. Golf Digest apparently can handle the truth:
Chris Gotterup benefits from Hideki Matsuyama’s meltdown in Phoenix, collects second win of season
Hey, Hideki might have coughed up the win, but that was the best 18th tee Mito Pereira impression evah!
Since we're in dueling header mode, my sense is that Geoff worked a little too hard for this one:
Weekend: Gotterup Continues To (Phoenix) Rise
A little from that Golweek game piece:
Chris Gotterup birdied five of the six last holes on Sunday and added one more for good measure in a sudden-death playoff to win the WM Phoenix Open over Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama."To come out on top and do it the way I did in the playoff was awesome," he said.Gotterup closed in 7-under 64, making nine birdies on the day at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course to win for the second time on the PGA Tour in the first four tournaments of the season. Less than a month ago, he won the season-opener, the Sony Open in Hawaii.
It happened because Matsuyama fought a two-way miss with his driver in the final round, failing to hit a fairway on the front nine. Asked earlier in the week why he loved the TPC Scottsdale course, he said, "I like this course because even if I miss a fairway, I can still find my ball. Unless it's in the cactuses."
The cactuses or the Church Pews or the Agua....
I watched a bunch of it, flipping back and forth to catch the Quad God and the like. I'm not sure how much of that fast finish CBS actually showed, as Gotterup was well out of the mix, until he wasn't.
It was all a bit of a yawn. The best part was watching Scottie work his way back into the mix, missing the playoff by one shot, while playing as sloppily as you'll ever see. But much as they hype the 16th hole, even on Saturday the party atmosphere is feeling increasingly forced.
The is quite obviously one of the more unique weeks on Tour, though the field seemed even weaker than is typical. Phoenix and its organizers deserve all sorts of credit for taking on the NFL, making Super Bowl weekend work. That said, color your Humble Blogger bored....
In the current schedule configuration, they're in a no-win spot, with Signature Events the two succeeding weeks limiting their ability to attract a strong field. That may well change to their benefit as the Tour contracts further, there was even some chatter about the Wasted being the season-opening event. Right now, even with the entire East Coast snowed in, it's a big ask getting eyeballs to the broadcast.
There's a wee little story I want to work in, especially since it includes some journalistic malpractice. Did you happen to see Hideki have to step away a couple of times late Sunday as fans attempted to disrupt him?
First, this is the header from the Golfweek home page:
To yell at fans? Does that sound right to you? The article itself makes far more sense:
Influencer ejected from Phoenix Open after paying fan to yell at players
The underlying incident seems to have been directed at Mackenzie Hughes, but the idiot takes some fun incoming. But, combined with the assault of gambling opportunities, comportment among galleries will not be getting any better soon.
That concludes our obligatory coverage. Shall we get to the fun stuff?
OWGR, M-O-U-S-E - How great is this story? They're finally granted OWGR points, and they couldn't be more pissed.... I'll make things easy and just riff off this week's Tour Confidential panel:
After years of battling for valuable World Rankings points, the OWGR announced it hadaccepted LIV Golf’s application for membership and the league will receive points effective immediately. Although since the OWGR said LIV fits into the “small-field tournaments” classification, it will only be awarded points for top-10 finishers and ties. In its own statement, LIV said, “a player finishing 11th in a LIV Golf event is treated the same as a player finishing 57th” and that this “disproportionately harms players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold.” How would you untangle this?Zephyr Melton: Afraid that one is above my pay grade. But I will say that LIV should be ecstatic with this result. The depth of fields has never been the league’s strong suit, but they’ve always had some solid top talent. With this result, the big guns (Rahm, DeChambeau, Hatton, Niemann) will finally get some points and have an easier time getting into majors. Seems like as good a result as they could’ve hoped for.Josh Schrock: I don’t feel it needs untangling. LIV should be thrilled it got recognition from the OWGR board. It should allow its best players to hoover up the same number of points given out at an opposite-field event. Elvis Smylie received more points for winning LIV Riyadh than Patrick Reed did for winning in Qatar. It seems fair given all of the other things the OWGR board noted, including selecting members for the tour “based on their nationality and not meritocratic reasons.”Dylan Dethier: These points are a big, big deal. There would be relatively few points available outside the top 10 anyway, so — despite the grievance note — what they got far, far outweighs what they didn’t. LIV’s young stars now have a legitimate pathway to climbing the ranks and playing their way into majors. For the likes of David Puig, Tom McKibbin and Elvis Smylie (plus more established pros like Joaquin Niemann) that’s a potential game-changer.
This to me is delightfully schadenfreudalicious. They've blamed all their problems on the absence of OWGR points, and now all will see that, even welcomed back into the warm embrace of collectivism, LIV Golf still sucks. Who could have seen that coming?
World Ranking points are valuable pathways for LIV players to earn entry into major championships. But is last week’s news — and the points distribution — enough to lure players to LIV who were already on the fence about their major eligibility?
Melton: Perhaps, but with the PIF seemingly restricting the LIV budget of late, I’m not sure the massive paydays from yesteryear are still viable. Would a big name be willing to jump to LIV without a Rahm-like signing bonus? I’m not so sure.
Schrock: I doubt it. They might be able to lure one or two younger players who might have been on the fence but I don’t think another big name jumps unless the PIF decides to loosen the belt a bit.
Dethier: If you’re an established PGA Tour star, probably not. But LIV has picked up some young talents from outside the U.S. and that particular profile of player could be pushed over the edge by this decision. LIV and the DP World Tour continue to be on a collision course — competing for players, for regions, for legitimacy as the “World Tour” and now for points, too. More to come on that subject.
It's a big breakthrough for LIV, but the larger context is turning the other direction. I was horrified by Michael LaSasso's decision to join LIV, which absent this change would have left him likely unable to play in the majors. That said, it still feels like anyone inclined to that model, would have already cashed a check. It also doesn't help that so many of those who jumped have appeared to regret their decisions.
Speaking of which, it seems a strange time to be saying things like this:
Bryson DeChambeau offers ominous criticism of LIV change: ‘Didn’t sign up to play for 72’
If you're a young up-and-comer, do you want to sign on with the tour's biggest star sounding like this:
That new pathway back to the Tour was open only to Koepka and three other LIV stars: Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and DeChambeau.While all of them confirmed they would reject the PGA Tour’s offer, DeChambeau’s reaction was notable for its tone and brevity.“I mean, look, I’m contracted through 2026, so I’m excited about this year,” DeChambeau said at the time. But anyone who watches the video would struggle to describe Bryson’s demeanor as “excited.”Most striking was what he did not say. He did not offer a fully-throated defense of the league, nor did he commit to playing LIV beyond 2026.But in his recent interview with Today’s Golfer, DeChambeau went a step further, openly criticizing the league for its recent format change.He continued: “Look, it’s 72 holes, it’s changed, but we’re still excited to play professionally and play for what we’re doing and go across the world. I think it’s going to be great for our team.”He then added a second criticism of the 72-hole format shift.“Is it what we ultimately signed up for? No. So I think we’re supposed to be different, so I’m a little indifferent to it right now. Hopefully it weighs positively on me over the course of time, but you never know,” DeChambeau said ominously, “I’m not sure. We didn’t sign up to play for 72.”
Why wouldn't you sue, Bryson? It's gonna be the civil rights issue of our era...
Fifth Of Four, Revisited - There's not much that the PGA Tour has done the last few years that your humble blogger likes, but today's laughs come at the expense of the one event they haven't screwed up... at least not yet.
We haven't had a good belly laugh from Ponte Vedra Beach since they astutely replaced These Guys Are Good™ with the lame Live Under Par™, but see how you react to this:
Again?
Shall we let Geoff run with this?
The PGA Tour signals for The Players to be seen as a major. The move will only backfire and expose a thirst for profit over common sense.
Declaring you’re cool?You’re not cool.Reminding people that you’re a major championship?You’re not a major.And if you have to unleash an orchestrated ad campaign that’s immediately endorsed by eager-to-shill propaganda partners?You’re not even close to becoming a major.Despite a solid start to the 2026 season and one of the PGA Tour’s more iconic events playing out in sunny Scottsdale with a fun Sunday awaiting, the Tour launched a new ad campaign to pimp March’s Players Championship.
One of the risks in bringing in non-golf insiders is that they may not know how prior Tour administrations have embarrassed themselves....
We'll let Geoff have his fun:
The slogan might have been chalked up to a simple alliterative choice featuring “M” words. But then there were the signs of a coordinated hype campaign, complete with supportive affirmation from Tour toadies that suggested otherwise. The hard sell was all capped off by confirming comments from an unnamed Tour spokesperson in response to Golf Digest’s Shane Ryan.“Fans and players have long discussed THE PLAYERS Championship’s status as a major. We understand that is not for us to decide. Ultimately it is up to our sport and its fans to recognize what the professionals who play the game already know.”Yes, everyone knows: The Players is a very fine tournament generally held back by identity issues and deep insecurity from never being considered better than one of the big four.Also? Real majors never need ALL CAPS to let you know they’re majors.
And he even gets one more dig in at their edifice complex:
Ever since? The vision has been inconsistent. They’ve overseeded the place, then converted the whole thing to modern Bermuda, and are now back to drenching the place with water and ryegrass in a bid to look more like a certain tournament in April. They’ve harvested deep rough, cut it back to get balls rolling into the pine scrub, and seen the effort at restoring some of the crunchiness undone by all the EVP cooks who wanted to see emerald green on TV.They also went from a modest, disguised-into-the-landscape clubhouse that put the course and players forward, to a gaudy Mediterranean-ish castle designed by Lord Farquaad.
Google it if you're not familiar with the reference.
The TC gang has thoughts:
The ‘major’ debate surfaced again last week, when the PGA Tour released a Players Championship promotion with the tagline: “March is going to be major.” When asked for comment, the Tour told GOLF.com, “Fans and players have long discussed THE PLAYERS Championship’s status as a major. We understand that is not for us to decide. Ultimately it is up to our sport and its fans to recognize what the professionals who play the game already know.” [Eds note: the Players, by definition, is not a major.] Any thoughts on the peculiar messaging around this?Melton: The Tour is simply doing its job in promoting its biggest event. Does declaring the Players a major make it one? No — but you can’t fault the Tour for trying.Schrock: The PGA Tour doesn’t own the five most important events in golf. They are promoting their flagship product. Can the Players be made into a major? Probably not, but the majors as we know them weren’t “majors” until Arnold Palmer basically created the idea in the 1960s. The tournaments existed but the idea of a “major” or the “grand slam” could have meant any number of things until Palmer said he wanted to win the Open Championship and PGA Championship to have a “grand slam” of his own after winning the Masters and U.S. Open. Majors can be created and deleted. The PGA Tour might as well try.Dethier: I went deep on this exact subject here, but one feeling I can’t shake is that there should be four major championships. Five per year suddenly messes up history and the entire idea of the Grand Slam, which is a big deal in contextualizing great golfers. The Players has hit its stride in recent years as the PGA Tour’s greatest event. If it’s going to become a major it needs to stage a duel to replace one rather than add a fifth.
Zephyr, if the Players is their biggest event, where does that leave the FedEx Playoffs?
To this observer, rekindling this debate only serves to remind us all of the fact that the Tour doesn't own or control the events that folks care most about, so how is that helpful to PVB?
Dylan, I agree fully, but I'm guessing you have an incoming call from....Evian? But could there be a another context here. Riffing on Dylan, which major would the Players most like replace? Well, there's little doubt which is the weakest, the one that the Players keeps moving to accommodate. I'm thinking this might be best understood as a warning shot across the bow of the good ship Frisco...
Of course, Brandel has to bloviate:
Days later, Brandel Chamblee created headlines when he said the Players has the best and deepest field in golf and is “the hardest major championship to win,” adding: “the Players, to me, stands alone and above the other four major championships as not just a major, it is in my estimation, the best major.” What is going on here?
Melton: Ok this one was definitely strange. I can see an argument for making the Players a major, but to say it’s “the best” major? Now that’s a hot take. Credit to Brandel for sticking his neck out there, but I’m gonna have to disagree.
Schrock: He honestly kind of lost me with the argument that because “Live From” broadcasts at majors and the Players, it makes the Players a major. I’ll listen to an argument that the Players is more of a major than the PGA, but Brandel lost me with his soliloquy. But it got people talking!
Dethier: Brandel is a provocative thinker and talker. When he’s on TV he has my attention. And some of his nuance got lost with this headline-grabbing declaration. With that said — I think this pretty clearly misses the mark. A better major than the brawny, epic U.S. Open? Than the vaunted, iconic Masters? Than the Open Championship and its 150-year history? The cover ruins the book for me here.
The case that the Players has the best field in golf is a serious one, it just unfortunately is an argument that has been thoroughly adjudicated previously. There's no new information that's changed its status, except perhaps for its fields getting weaker due to the LIV defections.
But, if we're doing field strength, lets do the Signature Events next, then the Masters.
Eamon Lynch weighs in as well, though his characteristic pyrotechnics mask what I feel is a highly flawed argument:
Lynch: The Players isn’t a major and won’t be, unless the PGA Tour makes a big move — literally
Since they’re new to golf, it’s possible that the PGA Tour’s CEO, Brian Rolapp, and his investors think the “March is going to be major” campaign constitutes artful marketing, rather than pointless pot-stirring that’s wearisome even to golf nerds, a clot usually eager to fight duels over esoterica.The specific pot being stirred is whether The Players should be considered a major alongside the four accepted championships. If golf was like marathoning, it could be decided by fiat. For many years, the World Marathon Majors included six races: Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York. Then, in late 2024, Sydney was added, a tough pill for runners who’d achieved a lifetime goal of completing the original half-dozen. That change was possible because one entity could make the call.
I might have gone with LPGA, but whatever....
The most compelling rationale for major status is that least frequently offered: the political one. All of the most powerful bodies in golf own a major championship, except the organization that’s arguably the most influential — the PGA Tour. But even that position has a convincing counter argument in this Balkanized era: an event that excludes superstars like Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Talor Gooch as a matter of policy has no legitimate claim on major status.
Gee, Eamon, where is Talor Gooch playing these days?
If the Tour and its investors are hung up on not owning any of the sport’s five biggest titles (including the Ryder Cup), there are only two options: they can acquire a major or take steps to make fans concede that they already have one. Buying the PGA Championship might have seemed plausible of late, but less so since the PGA of America has hired a seasoned executive as CEO while simultaneously seeming to enjoin its most buffoonish liability to silence. So, how to convince folks that The Players deserves even greater stature than it already deservedly enjoys? Certainly not via the ham-fisted marketing the Tour has tried for years, which serves only to harden opinion against elevated status.One move that might possibly sway golf fans on the subject is a literal move: take The Players on the road. The notion of a major that travels to established and growing regions of the world has been mooted for years, usually in the context of wondering how the PGA Championship can escape its standing as the runt of the litter. But the PGA of America is a parochial organization in its membership, culture, ambition and administration. The PGA Tour, on the other hand, has reason to build its business beyond U.S. borders and to better leverage its strategic partnership with the globe-trotting DP World Tour. Instead of quibbling about whether an existing major can be mobile, perhaps the answer lies in The Players becoming a major because it is portable.
This strikes me as quite silly, but let's let Eamon give the yang to the above yin:
The Tour’s flagship event could go global on alternate years. One year at its traditional home of TPC Sawgrass, the next at Royal Melbourne or Durban Country Club or Koninklijke Haagsche (that’s not an ice cream brand, Brian). Let it be golf’s first truly global competition — two of the last five “international” Presidents Cup venues have been within walking distance of the U.S. border — with an elite, deep field that isn’t dependent on a couple of guys paid appearance fees.Even cynical fans would see enormous value — perhaps even major value — in an event that takes golf’s gospel to venues, audiences and countries long underserved. Making The Players mobile would come with costs that the Tour would probably be unwilling to countenance, however, like smaller viewership due to time zone changes and the likelihood of reduced revenues.Like so much else being considered these days in Ponte Vedra, it’s tough to balance tradition, fan enthusiasm, cost effectiveness, revenue generation, investor returns, player entitlement and obligations to the broader golf ecosystem. In which case, the Tour might conclude that the status quo ain’t all that bad.
The status quo is pretty damn good, though the amusement comes from the Tour's unhappiness with this successful event.
To me, the event succeeds for two simple reasons:
- It's the Players' Championship, appropriately played at the Tour's home in PVB, and;
- The Frigging Golf Course. The event is the course and the course is the event, and disconnect the two at your peril.
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