Weekend Wrap - Day Late Edition

To be fair, it was the Tour that finished a day late....

It was quite the weird Sunday of golf, with both major events derailing TV schedules.  Apparently some Yankee fans were angered that NBC stayed with the rain-delayed Travelers in lieu of the Yankees-Re Sox game but, given the Bronx Bombers recent form, that seems more merciful than triggering.

I prefer to discuss other matters, so let's dispense quickly with the actual results.  First, Hartford:

Scottie Scheffler misses short putt to lose Travelers playoff to Viktor Hovland

Twelve hours before Scottie Scheffler stood over a 4-footer to extend a Monday playoff at the Travelers Championship, he had faced a putt twice that length just to force one.

Now, with Hovland in the house at 21 under, Scheffler needed a 8-footer to finish on the same number. With the tournament on the line in the dying moments of Sunday evening, Scheffler drained the putt, following it into the hole with a fist pump and appearing for the moment to seize the momentum heading into a Monday playoff with Hovland.

But then, 12 hours later, there Scheffler was again on the same hole, staring down another putt with the same stakes on the line. It didn’t seem like much — an 8-footer for birdie with a touch of left-to-right break — and yet the enormity of the moment was lost on nobody: a make and the tournament would continue; a miss and Scheffler would head home the loser.

Scheffler seemed at worst very likely to make his putt, but in reality it was more of a coin flip: The Tour make-rate from the same distance is 50% to 54%, depending upon the year (53.55% this year) — and that’s leaving out the stress of putting with a Signature title on the line.

Scheffler stepped to his putt, settled and gave it a good stroke, watching as the ball headed toward the hole. But he’d hit it too hard. The ball caught the left edge of the cup, looping around and out. A lip-out for the loss.

Well, that bears no relation to my 21-hour old memory.  It was to me more like three-four feet, and I don't remember it catching any of the edge.  But, once Viktor's putt lipped in from the low side, my Spidey Sense kicked into the red zone, and I knew Scottie would miss.

The more significant event was the ladies' PGA, but that of course had to be buried at Hazeltine.  Here's Geoff's lede on the event:

Haeran Ryu Wins The KPMG Women's PGA

Of course, women's majors have their own tortured history, as Geoff can't help but introduce in his game account:

It wouldn’t be a major championship at Hazeltine National without some quirky drama.

Chased by Nelly Korda in pursuit of her third straight major victory, Haeran Ryu overcame a rain

delay, front-nine traffic that saw her lose the lead, and only minor signs of rust caused by an unexpected mid-season surgery, to win the KPMG Women’s PGA by two

In Thursday’s opening round—which also happened to be Ryu’s first start in six weeks—the 25-year-old opened with 73, leaving her a record-tying 10 strokes behind 63-shooter Ina Yoon. But with subsequent rounds of 64-68-70, Ryu ended up two clear of Yoon after making up 12 shots in 54 holes.

“Feels like dreams come true right now,” Ryu said after being dowsed by champagne on the 18th green. “I’m so happy right now. And thanks for God.”

The ten-shot deficit Ryu overcame tied the most in any women’s major. If you remember the other one, well, please leave your brain to science.

In the 1964 Women’s Western Open at Scenic Hills CC in Pensacola—yep, that was a major for 37 years—Carol Mann opened with a less than stellar 83 and trailed Ruth Jessen by 10 and went on to win. (Fun Final Golf Jeopardy answer: Scenic Hills is the only Florida course to host a U.S. Women’s Open, won by Donna Caponi in 1969.)

Well, Nelly was never going to win them all, though there wasn't enough chase in her to make things interesting.  And the last thing the LPGA needs is another unknown Korean major winner but, as a wise man said, it is what it is.

Shall we get to some more interesting stuff?  

Open Leftovers - Geoff has posted his usual follow-ups, and we'll start with his Champions:

Shinnecock Hills, the architecture. Ninety-five years after William Flynn’s dramatic reimagining of the property, the course continues to wow with a perfect mix of holes: long, medium, short, uphill, downhill, playing in a mix of directions and featuring just as many moments of engineered brilliance (Nos. 1-8, 14-17) and seemingly found rollicking wonders. incorporating sea-shaped rolling land (9, 10-12, 18). It’s not the course’s fault that modern green speeds, juiced equipment, and other “progress” often turns the focus away from the ingeniousness of each piece in the amazing puzzle. Thankfully, the setup showed off the course this time instead of detracting from one of America’s masterpieces.

OK, that's a take.  I should probably reread my cranky take from last Monday, but I found the week mostly lifeless.  It seemed to this observer that, based on Thursday and Saturday wind forecasts, that the USGA erred on the conservative side this year, and I battled boredom for the four days.

But Geoff giveth and Geoff taketh, as he adds this from his Cutmakers post:

Shinnecock Hills as a modern championship venue. The architecture remains supreme and the course still “tests” the world’s best in our juiced equipment era. But an excessive amount of

energy is required to inject the U.S. Open edge while maintaining the dreaded “fairness.” The USGA setup team and Shinnecock Hills crew did a miraculous job of keeping the course tough and still reasonable to play. But even with putting surfaces kept slower (and therefore bumpier), a majority of the greens see little dispersion in hole placements. The only solution would be to rebuild the greens and deaden slopes to create more cup options. (That should never be a solution for one week of golf every decade or so.) As impressive as the setup was in preventing any questions about equity, it’s hard to imagine how they’ll manage things in 2036 with even greater strides in equipment and agronomic practices. Thankfully, they have time.

Well, isn't that what I was getting at?

This is from his Champions column as well, but the most famous hole on the property was, well, kind of neutered:

The Par-3s. Shinnecock’s sinister one-shotters seemed more reasonable this time thanks to the USGA team’s setup measures and lessons learned from the last two Opens. The infamous Redan 7th played as well as it could, given the way double-digit Stimpmeter speeds force a tight bubble of hole locations. This makes what’s supposed to be an option-filled hole a bit one-dimensional for a course with so many layers. Using the left-hand tee three of four days helped, too.

This is obviously about the broader issues of making any venue capable of holding elite competitions.  But we have an Open Championship at the Old Course next year, and we'll be dealing with these same kinds of issue.  While oceanside golf is to this observer the purest form of the game, one quickly sees the issue with elite competitions.   

There's no solution, so let's get back to our snark, which is at least fun.

This is oddly from his Cutmaker category:

LIV and the U.S. Open. In what increasingly looks like the last U.S. Open awarding spots to LIV-affiliated golfers, six of 13 made the cut. They were a combined +39. Seven others went home early, including Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Cameron Smith. The two exemptions graciously granted to the fading operation can now be returned. They’ll be better spent on Final Qualifying spots where the success rate was higher.

Excuse me, Geoff, but LIV had a devastating week.  Bitterly clinging to unrealistic dreams of privately financing their fever dream, they put on a demonstration of what happens to careers when players stop grinding.  Not pretty, is it?

The only LIV guy to show any form was this guy, though he showed other form as well, rendering his placement in the Winners post a major category error:

Joaquin Niemann. Even with an 11 on the card, a bruised ego, and signs he’s surrounded by a

neurotic team that tried to claim coverage of his club hurling was all part of some grand ant-LIV conspiracy, the Chilean posted a final round 66 to finish T7. After an opening 78 with a two-stroke penalty for hurling a club, Niemann played the final three days in seven-under-par thanks to 15 birdies. In becoming the poster child for Code of Conduct policies deemed necessary in the pro game after too many brats have shown a lack of concern for courses or people, Niemann became the first contestant in U.S. Open history to shoot as high as 8-over in the first round and finish the championship as low as 1-over. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the only other time a player made a 10 or higher in the U.S. Open and finished among the Top 10 was back in 1895—when the field went a whopping 11 deep and players didn’t have “teams”. John Reid, who finished 10th, made a 12 on the sixth hole in the second round. Fun fact: his caddie also did not try to call a reporter a liar for simply quoting a witness whose observations were backed up by…Joaquin Niemann.

Good on him for his play after the fact, but how was this anything but a disaster for LIV?

Geoff is certainly onto something here:

Late finishes. Championship golf benefits from “prime time” finishes by showing the sport to larger audiences. But in an era when so many golf fans are playing the game and ticket prices

have hit new highs, it’s increasingly common to see empty grandstands and a vacated property late in the day. Golf fans are morning people and people have lives. The rounds are way too long and not particularly easy for fans to justify hanging around until sunset. In 2026 alone, we’ve seen properties clear out at Augusta National, Aronimink, Riviera, and Shinnecock Hills even when big names are wrapping up play. The look is terrible. Since the perks for television to finish late are well-established, organizations need to ponder cheap, after-4 pm tickets and other perks for fans who stick around. “It was kind of unfortunate that we’re finishing in the dark and people weren’t really out there because there were some obviously key, big moments, and it did get a little flat,” Clark said of Saturday’s finish in front of a few hundred people. “I still felt the moment. It’s just maybe unfortunate that there weren’t all the people there.” That was a kind assessment. It was embarrassing for a U.S. Open. As was the round taking over four-and-a-half hours…in twosomes.

I called the week lifeless, and this was a contributing factor.  Obviously the late finishes work better with Left Bank venues, but I've long been puzzled by the USGA's love of Fathers' Day weekend.  The long days are great for getting your field around the course (and I don't take the large fields for granted these days),  but June is agronomically challenging at many venues and here's another factor in play.

But let's bring the heat with his (Point) Missers post:

Whatever that was. The weekend antics amounted to something far more complex and perverse

than simply chalking up the rudeness to Islanders being Islanders (again). There were no issues the first few days, and much of the crowd was not from Long Island. The galleries seemed pretty wonderful the first few days. They knew good golf and seemed genuinely appreciative to watch the best take on a magnificent course. But Sunday will be remembered as the most bizarre fan behavior in modern golf history (Old Tom v. Willie at Musselburgh has its own special place). The circumstances, allegiances and crowd demographics were different than last fall’s Ryder Cup, making the situation even more perplexing given the supposed lack of partisanship. These were Americans turning on an American playing his own ball and getting no empathy from his fellow playing competitor as jaggoffs hurled insults and entire grandstands cheered misfortune. For all of the overserved nimrods who live a tad too vicariously through the inbred-adjacent grievance machine (who are dear friends of the USGA!), the hostility toward good play was hard to believe. A massive number of seemingly traditional U.S. Open fans applauded poor outcomes and would not acknowledge Clark’s great shots. Early in the round, some of this could be chalked up to the size of his (six-stroke) lead. Maybe fans just wanted a close contest in the same way a tennis crowd can sometimes turn against someone running away with a match. Underlying factors may also include the perception that golfers are overpaid and are now fair game for heckling in the same ways fan abuse has surfaced in other sports. Clark kindly, even admirably, blamed it on the fans rooting for his playing partner pursuing the career Grand Slam (on Father’s Day, ICYMI). But the crowds were hardly sounding like the new Arnie’s Army in willing Scheffler to a win over the pesky young Nicklaus.

Just a really off-putting week.

See what you think of this take:

Scottie Scheffler. Golfers have never been the most dazzling sector of pro athletics. But they’ve always been revered by fans, sponsors, and other athletes because of their graciousness and uncanny tendency to act like no other athletes. Some of the classiness is a product of golf’s slow pace, which allows for sportsmanship instincts to take in, say, a long birdie putt from the fairway and pulling out a white flag to wave in mock surrender. Or conceding a putt that’ll leave the contest tied and the greater purpose of a team match from becoming something chippier than a goodwill exhibition. At Shinnecock, Scottie Scheffler was repeatedly given the opportunity to add himself to the list of all-time greats who also could read the room. Turns out, he ultimately wanted to win the U.S. Open more than sticking up for his fellow competitor and the right thing to do. He chalked up the harassment of Clark up to being in “the arena.” Sure, maybe in ultimate fighting. But this is golf. Sadly, his veteran caddie and man of faith also chose winning at all costs over dignity. Thankfully, Clark rose above it all to prevent the 126th from being remembered as the championship where fans cost someone a win.

Yeah, he's on to something here....  I saw Scotties comments, though I did not see what Ted Scott may have said.  I'm of two minds here, because crowd control isn't Scottie's job.  On the other hand, though, he ends up excusing the inexcusable.  And, come to think of it, what was Scottie saying at Bethpage?

This, I agree, is totally pout of hand:

Mashing and tapping. Any time Scheffler has a lie in the rough, he presses the grass down behind the ball to test the lie instead of accepting his fate. Any time Clark had a short putt, he began using his mallet to smooth the green without actually repairing damage, as the rules require. Scheffler too. The 2019 changes to the Rules destroyed “play it as it lies,” so now it has come to the thing the rules world feared most: players smoothing out their lines because no one wants to call them out.

Scottie is deep into Patrick Reed territory here....

The Schedule -  I haven't blogged the schedule announcement, so let's draft on the Tour Confidential panel to see what we think:

It’s official: beginning in 2028, the PGA Tour will witness the biggest shift in its competitive structure in decades, a plan that’s been long teased and was further rolled out by Tour CEO Brian Rolapp at the Travelers Championship. There’s lots to break down — you can read up on all of it here — but in short it’s two different tracks (a Championship Series and Challenger Series) with more schedule certainty and promotion/relegation. Let’s keep it simple: Will it work? And is it an improvement?

Josh Sens: It doesn’t solve the biggest problem, which is that so many players expect to get paid more than they’re worth in the market. I don’t see that going away. But this is definitely an

improvement in the simplicity at the top and clarity of the schedule. Players know at the start of the season where and when they’ll be playing, and fans do, too. The relegation – and elevation – paths are also more straightforward. The total number of main events will be (slightly) fewer as well, which is good. The world does not need more professional golf. It needs more interesting events. On that front, how can you not like the shift to match play to determine the season-ending playoff winner?

Josh Berhow: It does seem like an improvement, and I’ll admit I wasn’t a huge fan of this a couple of months ago (it seemed like still too much golf). But with more clarity now, I’m optimistic. I like that every event will know where it stands and fans can eventually figure out at which tournaments they’ll see Scottie Scheffler and at which ones they will not. And the match play tweak is a good addition. I can see why they shied away from it over the years but it’s time for a change and some added juice. Maybe they get lucky and get some marquee matchups along the way. Match play is simply too much fun, and too essential to golf’s history, to not be played more on the top tour.

Josh Schrock: It’s for sure an improvement. The PGA Tour was in desperate need of a shakeup that made its competitive model easier to understand instead of just being a large number of individual tournaments that lead to a convoluted postseason event that is hard to understand. Promotion and relegation is a system that is easy for every fan to understand and gives clear stakes to every tournament. Having a defined schedule for players on both tracks is a bonus for them. Having a clear structure that determines the best player of the season, rewards them and then goes into a match-play postseason is a huge win if the Tour can pull it off. I’m very optimistic about these changes and they come at a time when the Tour needs to elevate interest to get as big a chunk of the TV pie as they can as the NFL prepares to renegotiate.

There is so much BS contained in all these discussions, mostly around this issue of where the guys will play. But riddle me this, Batman, did we not know where Tiger would play pre-LIV? They keep telling us that they've solved a problem that never existed. Boy, these guys are good!

We always had important events and lesser events, but what we've lost is the competition amongst the events.  We always saw the fortunes of events ebb and flow, Torrey became important when Tiger played there but has faded since..... Honda had a renaissance for a few years, then waned.... That was an important feature that has been lost.

The schedule certainty helps the players, but is insignificant for the rest of us.  To me, the only bits that really matter are the following:

1. Field size!  120 isn't great, but it's one hell of an improvement over 70.
2. Putting the FedEx Cup out of our misery.

Maybe I'm forgetting something else, but isn't that about all they've done.  The FedEx Cup nonsense was all about their inability to choose between a season-long competition and a shootout, so now the football guy seems to have figured that out.  But the format is very much TBD, and they will quickly discern that match-play has limitations.

Time to nitpick. What don’t you like? Or what still needs work?

Berhow: For this to work I think it needs to be cutthroat and I like that sponsor exemptions are being eliminated, although I’m curious if certain players will be grandfathered in (through career exemptions created) to make sure they are on the more desirable tour. If that’s the case I hope it’s not too generous because that’s how the sponsor exemption craze became an issue to begin with.

Schrock: I agree with Berhow. There seems to potentially be some wiggle room for big name players to drop out but be placed back into the Championship Series through career exemptions. Those need to be few and far between or else the Tour risks having this all fall flat. How good you are at getting the ball in the hole should determine what Tour you are on. I don’t want to see Tony Finau or Jordan Spieth or Popular Player X finish 110 on the Championship Series and not have to go down to the Challenger Series unless there’s a good reason. Career exemptions should have a high bar and be able to be used one time.

Sens: Good points above. On a non-structural note, no serious effort to improve pro golf is complete without addressing the problem of pace of play. The game, like baseball before it, needs to pick it up. Rolapp’s from the NFL. Maybe they could institute a pass rush. At the very least, enforce the play clock mercilessly and without exception. I hope an announcement like that is coming next.

Good catch on the Career Exemption bit, especially since we saw how they abused the Sponsor Exemptions to buy off the Peter Malnatis of the world when they needed their votes.

I always look at who the Tour is screwing when they make these changes.  For instance, hasn't Korn Ferry just taken it in the shorts.  They put up their millions to be the principal feeder tour for the PGA Tour, and now the Tour itself is inserting another level above them.  You effed up Korn Ferry, you trusted them.

The sponsor exemptions is also interesting, given the number of long-term contracts in which sponsors have the right to reward their endorsers.  Oh, you thought you had a contract?  Isn't that precious?

Which type of players are happiest with this schedule, and which aren’t?

Sens: The Track 1 guys are clearly the happiest as they’re guaranteed to be playing in the biggest events throughout the year. For the guys outside the top, it’s obviously the opposite. Eliminating sponsors exemptions (another good move) can’t be welcome news to certain players who have relied on their popularity more than their performance to get into events.

Schrock: I think the Track 1 guys are happy because of the defined schedule and the purses they will play for, but this is a big win for players on Track 2, especially those who would be playing on the Korn Ferry Tour or splitting their time between the two. The $4 million purses on the Challenger Series will be a big increase from the KFT and the Challenger Series gives them a clear competitive avenue to get where they want. There has to be enough churn between Track 1 and 2 to make it right, but I think almost everyone should be happy with this development outside of the players who have been feasting on sponsor exemptions, made-cut exemptions and career money exemptions while playing bad golf. They won’t be pleased.

Berhow: It’s great for the middle tier of the top-track guys (are you following?) because they are safe on the most lucrative tour. I don’t think Scottie and Rory and those guys are much worried about dropping down. Although it puts pressure on the guys closer to the 100 range. For a lot of them, their spot on one tour vs. the other has significant ramifications.

C'mon, they took care of the same guys they always take care of, themselves.

I guess let's finish with the TC:

One other juicy nugget: the Tour’s postseason will introduce match play and finish at a “prestigious” course the Tour wouldn’t otherwise use to host a full-field event. Do these mystery venues add any intrigue for your average fan?

Sens: Venues definitely matter, and not just for architecture junkies. The better courses pose more interesting questions, which makes for more interesting competitions, even if you don’t give a hoot about design. The rumors of the likes of Pine Valley, Cypress and Seminole being in the picture seem like just that. Rumors. And besides, I actually think it makes more sense for them to go to high-pedigree resort courses, somewhere the average fan can actually play. That formula works nicely at Pebble, Kohler, Pinehurst and such. There are others.

Berhow: I like the high-end public option, Sens. And venues matter, but honestly not just for fans but for players. Most of these guys are bigger golf nerds than the audience watching, so they’d love to change it up as well. Cypress Point, Pine Valley, whatever — they’d look great on TV. And many of the ones rumored are great match-play courses too.

Schrock: Venues matter a ton for the players and the fans. As excited as I am about the match play championship, that’s something the Tour has to nail with the venues it chooses. If it leaks the possibility of Pine Valley, Seminole, Cypress etc., only to end up playing at East Lake, TPC Southwind etc., that will be a big loss. I think a rotation of these exclusive courses (if they are interested), along with prestigious courses, or even unique courses we’ve rarely seen like Chambers Bay, is the right combination the Tour is looking for to nail this format. But, in short, yes, venues are the most important part of this gambit in my eyes.

To me let's just enjoy them putting a bullet in the odious FedEx Cup.   But everything else remains on the come line.....

But maybe the funniest note on the subject was this:

Tiger Woods said little in return to public eye but made his presence felt

I'll allow you to read that on your own, but apparently that presence makes itself known to a precious few.

Phil In Phull -  Phil is enjoying his latest news cycle, which caused the NY Post to remind us all of the the Pat Perez incident.  Well, really the Ashley Perez incident, as explained herin:

Six-time major champion Phil Mickelson is facing fresh scrutiny after a new report detailed

allegations that he made an inappropriate advance toward the wife of fellow golfer Pat Perez during a PGA Tour event in 2015, according to The New York Post.

The claims were published by golf journalist Alan Shipnuck in a report for Skratch. Mickelson's representatives have strongly disputed parts of the allegations while acknowledging that he has previously apologized for past mistakes.

It's a lie, yanno, unless it's one of things he's apologized for...But care to see our hero in action?

According to Shipnuck's report, the incident allegedly took place during the PGA Tour's Barclays tournament at Plainfield Country Club in New Jersey in 2015.

Mickelson had reportedly invited Perez and his then-wife, Ashley, to stay at a villa near the course. The report claimed the three were drinking wine on the patio when Perez briefly left to use the restroom.

During that time, Ashley alleged that Mickelson showed her a nude photograph of himself on his phone. According to the report, Mickelson then allegedly told her: “I’m going to leave my bedroom door open tonight. When Pat falls asleep I want you to come see me.”

What a guy! 

One of the recurring themes with Phil is the nature of his apologies and explanations.  In the latest bit he's hinted that there's video of the incident, but I suspect we'll never se it.  But this bit had me doing spit takes:

Shipnuck reported that Mickelson later apologized to Perez on two separate occasions. One apology allegedly occurred at the Madison Club in Southern California. Another reportedly took place during a 26-minute phone call after Perez remarked on a 2022 podcast that he had: “a different hate for Phil than most people.”

According to the report, Mickelson alternated between expressing remorse and claiming he could not fully remember the details of the incident. At one point, Shipnuck wrote that Mickelson suggested he may have been only partially clothed in the photograph rather than fully nude.

The report added: “Without admitting what he had done, Mickelson apologized directly to both Pat and Ashley and said, ‘I can’t tell you how disgusted and embarrassed I am in myself.’”

It never happened, but if it did I was only topless....  This is our Phil and this is how he treats his friends.  Any questions?

How Tiger and Phil have fallen.  What a sad moment in our game.

That's it for today, kids.  I'll see you when I see you.