Monday, May 8, 2023

Weekend Wrap - Coronation Edition

I'm always happy to learn new stuff, and this was only the second coronation ever televised, the first in color.  But did you know about the royal infinity gauntlet?

Apparently it's only golfers and sovereigns that wear only the one glove....

You're Certain This Was Elevated? - As you might have noticed, quite a few alpha dogs traveled all the way to Charlotte for the sole purpose of mailing it in.  I personally enjoy when unheralded players take that all important step forward, though in this case not enough to actually watch.

I'm guessing that the ratings, when released, will show that I was not alone in that decision-making.  But, it was big in the Clark family:

Wyndham Clark opened the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship with a nervy bogey after sleeping on the lead for just the second time in his PGA Tour career.

However, by the time he finished, there were no signs of those first hole jitters and he looked every bit of the PGA Tour winner he was about to become.

After going out in even through nine holes, Clark caught fire on the back nine, making four birdies in six holes, and turned what seemed like a battle with Xander Schauffele into a comfortable four-shot victory at 19-under par.

“I’ve dreamt about this since I was probably 6 years old,” Clark said after the win. “Since I’ve been on the PGA Tour, you fantasize about it all the time, and I’ve done it multiple times this year where I catch myself daydreaming about winning. And to do it at this golf course against this competition is better than I could ever have imagined.”

Not only was the win a first on the PGA Tour for Clark, a seventh-year pro from the University of Oregon, but it was his first as a professional. His last victory came at the 2017 Pac-12 Championship.

This is the kind of story we should be embracing in our game, yet seem to be attempting to outlaw.   

One of my amusements in this current cycle has been how commentators have been so eager to declare those Elevated Designated Events a success, without a passing thought for the impact of elevation/designation on those lesser events.  I guess we'll now see how they react when, aside from the X-Man, the name-brands didn't perform.

As a proxy, where would you set the over/under line for the number of questions about this event to be found in Golf.com's Tour Confidential panel.  Yeah, trick question, always take the under, but now set the over/under for Tiger questions....  How's it all working out, Jay?

This was as close to this event as the TC gang got:

3. Rory McIlroy will be penalized $3 million for missing his second Designated event of 2023, as McIlroy skipped Hilton Head the week after the Masters. He previously missed the first Designated event of the season (he played the DP World Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic instead of the Sentry Tournament of Champions). Under the Tour’s current policy, players can only miss one Designated event before it starts cutting into their PIP winnings. Two questions: Is it a bad look for McIlroy, who has essentially acted as PGA Tour’s de facto player/commissioner, to now miss two of these? Or are McIlroy’s absences evidence that this current model isn’t working?

Berhow: No, it’s not really a good look, but it also shows that these guys are human, just like us,
and have bad days and weeks and need some time away. (It also probably helps that McIlroy is, absolutely loaded, so an extra $3 million in his pocket doesn’t mean the same thing it would mean to us.) The Tour’s designated events model is still new and a work in progress, but I’ll give the guy a break because we know how much the Masters means to him and I won’t act like I know what’s going on in his life, but yes, this proves there will always be hiccups no matter what the formula is. ‘Tis life. That said, if he missed a third with a non-injury, then Jay, we got a problem.

Dethier: Yeah, it’s kind of a bad look for McIlroy to skip out after essentially designing a system where the best players would show up. But 1. This rule is changing next year, allowing pros to skip, and 2. He’s also being significantly financially punished for missing the RBC. The current model is working. What’s more concerning is McIlroy’s game, which looked uneven all week in Charlotte en route to a T47 finish.

Barath: Considering all the things Rory has said about having to stick to a schedule, it does come off the wrong way, but as Dylan said, having this rule change next year is going to make this a moot point at the end of the season.

It seems that it's not just the players phoning it in.  Not only was this all hashed out a few weeks back at Harbor Town, but Dylan also misses the point that there are only eight of these money grabs next season, the idiocy being having fourteen this year.

Obviously Rory laid a bit of an egg this week, which after his Masters funk and Harbor Town no-show is worth watching, given that the majors will come at us quickly.  But I have a different interest in Mr. McIlroy,  given how I tend to fixate on minutia.  As you might not recall, Rory switched back to a blade putter at the Match Play and made two subsequent statements that caught my eye.  He said that putter switch did the following:

  1. That it made him more athletic with the putter, and;
  2. It made him also more creative with the putter.
Are we done laughing yet?  It is funny, and I certainly laughed when I heard each claim for the obvious reasons.  Then I though more about and how we struggle to find positions and feelz out there, and then further struggle to describe them, so I was inclined to give slack, the more so since he did seem to play and putt well in Austin.

But, there was that Masters flame-out in which he looked clueless on the greens and then he shows up in Charlotte with the mallet back in the bag and we can only conclude that athleticism and creativity are overrated.  Or that he wasn't so much trying to convince us as himself.

Today in Tiger Centrism - I know they have column-inches to fill, but are we adding any value here?

1. Joe LaCava had been Tiger Woods’ trusted caddie since 2011, but with Woods out, the long-time looper has now joined Patrick Cantlay’s bag full-time, debuting with a T21 finish at the Wells Fargo Championship last week. Do you see this immediately improving Cantlay’s prospects going forward? How can a caddie like LaCava help him?

Josh Berhow: It will be interesting to see what this move does for Cantlay, a.k.a. one of the best — if not the best? — current pros without a major title. Sometimes, it’s the little things that vault
players over that hump. It’s not like he was carrying his own bag before, though, and had a good looper in Matt Minister, but sometimes a change of scenery is good for all parties. LaCava’s resume speaks for itself. It will definitely be a fascinating duo to watch going forward. It can’t be a bad thing, right?

Dylan Dethier: Predicting caddie dynamics is a fool’s errand. I think caddies are hugely important but there are so many different ways to be a good caddie that it’s tough to know how it’ll go. With that said, this pairing makes a ton of sense. LaCava is a pro’s pro, which I’m sure Cantlay will appreciate. But he also just seems to have a great sense for when to keep things light and when to dig his heels in. I’m excited to see what happens.

Ryan Barath: With the NHL Playoffs in full swing, thinking about caddies has me drawing a direct line to coaches and the old saying “they get hired to get fired”. Sure there are some extremely long-term relationships out there on tour but in most cases the end result is up to the golfer and not the guy carrying the clubs. Do I think it helps Cantlay’s chances — honestly no, but I’ve been wrong before.

It's an interesting question, despite being asked only because of the linkage to you-know-who.  But we've seen a run of these, from Scottie Scheffler and Ted Scott to Cameron Young and Cameron Young grabbing Paul Tesori (not to mention Bones and JT).  I personally might be happy if Joe simply got Patrick to play more quickly, but Cantlay has certainly under-performed on the biggest stages, so stay tuned.

And this click-bait:

2. Woods and LaCava won 11 times together, including a five-win 2013 season and the 2019 Masters, which was Woods’ 15th major title. What was your favorite moment or most memorable interaction between the two? And how much will this hurt Tiger’s chances when he does get healthy and tees it up next?

Berhow: Loyalty was a word thrown around a lot last week, as in the loyalty LaCava had to Woods to stay on his bag despite Tiger missing significant time with injuries. Now there’s a good chance LaCava was still getting paid something during that absence, but there’s always that strong will to compete between the ropes for player and caddie. He had to miss out, and I think a move like this was a matter of time. I’ll always think back to that pep talk he gave Woods during the final round of the 2019 Masters — “He was saying some things that I can’t really repeat here,” Woods said — which ultimately led to Woods turning his game around and winning his fifth green jacket. As for what this means to Tiger? I’m not sure he’s worried too much about that right now. His first step is to get healthy and, when he’s ready, I think he’ll have a long list of candidates lining up to see if they can find lightning in a bottle another time or two.

Dethier: I posted this video last week from ESPN’s Tiger doc Return of the Roar and the line from LaCava has stuck with me since:“If I could live another 100 years I’d wait another 100 years. I was never not going to work for Tiger as long as he was going to have me.” LaCava’s departure signals the end of an era, but there’s plenty left to celebrate from his partnership with Woods.

Barath: I think the 2019 Masters has to be the moment for me as a whole but I can distinctly remember earlier this year at the Genesis Invitational, Tiger was out first in the pro-am on Wednesday and one of the few guys out just as early was LaCava. It was still dark, near freezing, and there he was with Tiger’s bag getting ready for 18 holes. Lots of people can be there in the big moments but for me, the small moments like that show just how much it meant to be there for Tiger.

Don't wanna ruin your week, guys, but might be time to move on....

Goochgate - Wow, who knew that Phil bore a grudge against the USGA?  Hard to think where that might have come from, but do I sniff the reek of desperation?  Because when a man who's never had a thought beyond his own vested interests goes to the barricades for, checking notes, Talor Gooch, something is in the water.

This is the gist of Phil's most recent diatribe:

Phil Mickelson continued his crusade against golf's establishment on Friday—only this time with some slightly more colorful language.

The six-time major champ has been in a war of words with the PGA Tour and the Official World Golf Ranking for the past year, but more of his ire in recent days has been directed at the USGA following a tweak in language regarding U.S. Open criteria. Previously, any golfer qualifying for the PGA Tour's Tour Championship got into the following year's U.S. Open field, but the USGA changed that to “those players who qualified and were eligible" in February for the 2023 championship at Los Angeles Country Club.

What's the big deal? Well, that rules out any LIV golfers who qualified for the Tour Championship, but weren't eligible to play at East Lake after being banned by the tour for joining the new Saudi-backed league. Specifically, that ruled out one golfer: Talor Gooch.

As you can imagine, Gooch wasn't happy about this development. And Phil wasn't happy about this development. And after USGA CEO Mike Whan defended this development, Phil still wasn't happy, tweeting this message directed at Whan:

So many lay-ups it's hard to choose.

The lie about it being retroactive is quite the tell, especially since the LIVsters have had one due diligence face palm after another....  It turns out that taking Greg Norman's word is fraught with peril, if only they'd asked your humble blogger.

We should also note that Phil trotted out that d**k move bit in several subsequent tweets, which Geoff picks up on the cognitive dissonance just as he awkwardly ducks behind his paywall:

The Google alerts piled up after Phil Mickelson thrice labeled the USGA’s 2023 U.S. Open exemption criteria tweak “just a d!*k move.”

So I did what all adults of a certain vintage will do and went over to the Urban Dictionary for the etymological clarification.

Mickelson used the phrase repeatedly in replies to reinforce that (A) he has a lot of free time on his hands and, (B) he is definitely not in any way whatsoever projecting.

Yeah, I think we can all agree, that our Phil retired the dick-move championship belt years ago....

Combined with the mewling about the OWGR, it's almost as if things aren't going according to plan.  Who could have seen this coming, but do they not realize they're in a hot war?  Shane Ryan had some thoughts, beginning with this rather serious question:

When you're in a war, should you expect the other side to be "fair"?

Why it's almost like they expect the PGA and DP Tours to march in columns so they can be readily picked off by snipers...

Again, it doesn't mean you have to like it. If you're a LIV Golf supporter, or you just think guys like Gooch have become collateral damage in the ongoing fight, you might think this is an unnecessary or even petty punishment. But the important point is that the minute Gooch signed up for LIV Golf, he took sides in a fight, and was no longer a neutral party. Once you jump in the fray, you have to live with everything that comes next. For Gooch to complain strikes me as equivalent in microcosm to some small nation declaring war on a superpower, and then being shocked when its capital gets bombed.

Hail Fredonia!  Anyone with me on that reference?

But I think I can explain this to Shane:

This works both ways. If LIV Golf finds itself on the ascent, you can bet any mercy they show to the Tour will be on their terms. And if you back an organization like the PGA Tour into a corner, they're going to fight with every weapon at their disposal—as far as they know, their survival is at stake. That's a basic concept, so it's baffling to see a litany of woe-is-me complaints anytime the Tour or any other party exercises its power and influence. LIV players still expected to play in the FedExCup playoffs last summer; they still expect an easy path to OWGR points; they still want to play in the Ryder Cup.

Remember all those years when I was ranting about the Tour not disclosing disciplinary actions?  Covering for D's failed drug test with a fake jet-ski accident?  Is it any surprise that they reek of entitlement and thought their actions would have no consequences?  In a delicious irony, those they covered for most are doing the most whining...

Although I think he's ignoring one possibility here:

And they may get some of those things, eventually, but if they do, they're going to get them the
same way you get anything in a war: either by conquest or by amassing enough power that your enemies are willing to negotiate. At the moment, though, players like Gooch seem to want their cake and to eat it too; to join the war on the side of LIV Golf, but still be treated "fairly" by the organization they're directly threatening.

That's not how it works. When you throw a metaphorical punch, and it's not a knockout blow, you can't whine or be shocked at the inevitable retaliation. The public-facing side of the Tour, of the USGA, and of LIV Golf observe the rituals of politeness and nicety, but those same poses may not actually govern their actions. Naïveté doesn't play; the rules of conflict don't include the subjective concept we call "fairness," and actions have consequences.

They're going to get some of those things, probably the OWGR points, because of the the lawyers.  Although it may well be that it's because the Five Families believe they can win the war of attrition over the long-term.

Eamon Lynch has a similar take:

As much as I typically enjoy Eamon's pyrotechnics, this might be slightly over-the-top:

Since being accused of a “dick move” by Phil Mickelson is comparable to having the Pope commend one’s catechism scholarship, Mike Whan ought to take the stigmatic legend’s intended insult as a compliment, and file it as yet more evidence of how Mickelson never emerges best in USGA contests.

Mickelson attacked Whan in defense of Talor Gooch, who Mickelson felt was unfairly discriminated against by a change in exemption criteria that cost him an automatic spot in next month’s U.S. Open. Having now taken a stand in support of someone treated shabbily by tournament regulations, it can only be a matter of time before Mickelson steps forward to shield those who might find themselves at the business end of his employer’s bonesaw.

Does a bonesaw have a business end?  I might have gone with a scimitar instead, but that is literally Monday-morning quarterbacking...

Eamon does defenestrate Mr. Westwood for his duplicitous hypocracy:

“As a European Tour member, I was allowed to be a member of the PGA Tour without any problem for all those years. Tell me, what is the difference?” Westwood said to the Telegraph. “Just because LIV is funded by the Saudis — a country where my tour used to play and where we were encouraged to play?”

Westwood is conflating separate reasons why the LIV enterprise upsets people. For many fans — including plenty of his own, once upon a time — the issue is absolutely where the money is coming from, in this case, an autocrat eager to use golf to sportswash his abuses. But for those in charge of the DP World Tour, or the PGA Tour for that matter, the issue has only ever been where the money is going — to a rival league. For them, LIV is a commercial threat, not a moral dilemma.

That’s the context Westwood omits when he says there’s no difference between playing sporadically on other tours versus signing a long-term commitment to a circuit intent on supplanting the very tours he claims loyalty to. The LIV threat underpins the strategic alliance between the DP World and PGA tours, an arrangement Westwood dislikes.

That last bit is pretty key, here but also to those clamoring for a settlement.  The LIV model from Day One calls for the destruction of the PGA Tour as it exists, yet they keep saying it should be accretive.  They say that because they have only the most transactional relationship with the truth, but why would we be surprised at that from Phil, Sergio or Patrick?

But Eamon finishes strong:

Among some LIV players, the stench of desperation is rising as rapidly as Greg Norman’s hollow promises are falling apart. Those who believed the flaxen-haired finger puppet have cash, sure, but no access to the PGA Tour, no right to cherry-pick from the DP World Tour, no ranking points, and no respect as game-growing visionaries. Decisions by the British arbitration panel and a federal court in Northern California have for now marooned LIV players on an island, a reality that must be apparent to even the most obtuse of their number (it may take a while longer with Pat Perez).

This explains the rising pitch of whining about access, about ranking points, about all manner of supposed conspiracies against them. It’s the defining trait of LIV and its bottom-feeders: the legitimacy of any institution is entirely dependent on whether it favors them, be it rankings, regulations or elections.

The crybaby routine is destined to grow louder in hopes that some spineless industry executive will act as a pacifier and see to it that LIV demands are met. It could work. Golf’s upper echelon doesn’t lack men who would cheerfully peel off Saudi riyals for their beleaguered organizations under the guise of making peace among warring factions. But for all the noise, the arguments mounted by LIV players are little more than whimpering by those who made a clear-eyed choice, the consequences of which they are increasingly unprepared to live with.

I just can't stop laughing at their surprise and outrage that the golf world hasn't rolled over and played dead for them.  And when that outrage is coming from Talor Gooch, a man who has done exactly nothing in this game, it becomes a full-body laugh...

Can you imagine holding a U.S. Open without Talor Gooch?  Yeah, I was pretty sure you could....  

Gotta run and likely won't see you until Thursday.  

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Friday, May 5, 2023

Bonus Friday Blogging - LIVsters Say The Darndest Things Edition

OK, wasn't intending to blog this morning, but then people open their mouths, and the rest is out of my control.

I started this blog in January of 2014, and its early years were a more innocent time.  Without the evil Saudis threatening our feed lot, we had time to actually cover some golf.  It was the tail end of Tim Finchem's reign of error, and he became affectionately known as Nurse Ratched in these pages.  Oh, don't worry, we still had no shortage of amusement at the expense of Greg Norman, as a brief spin through my photo directory quickly reveals:

One has to admit that he wears it well....

He never was one for shirts....

That was just a quick spin through file names with no preparation, but what a guy!

One of the recurring themes in those years was my frustration with the PGA Tour over their refusal to disclose disciplinary actions against the players.  There were some chinks in the armor such as the disclosure of John Daly's file in a silly defamation lawsuit and that iconic DJ jet-skiing accident.

My sense was that they wanted us to believe that each and every player was a Capital-G Gentleman, and they therefore would not allow for any contrary information to reach the public.  My belief was that this was unnecessary, because I thought most were pretty good guys and that the few bad actors would stand out as exceptions.

Your humble blogger has no choice but to face the music.  I was wrong, disastrously so, and Nurse Ratched correctly sensed that he ran a tour of entitled jerks whose actions needed to be shielded from the public.  I made a prediction a while back that the net result of the LIV threat is that we would end up hating everybody in golf, even then underestimating the speed with which that would occur.

So, our first sound bite comes from Lee Westwood, a man who was genuinely liked, not least because he took the game and his own place in it with what seemed to be some ironic detachment.  Westy fits the LIV mold to a "T", well past his prime of conceding but never winning significant events.  He obviously felt no obligation to the tours that made hime a wealthy man for indifferent results, but he also didn't seem to throw Molotov cocktails either.  Yeah, I know, it's quite the low bar....

Yesterday we had news of Westy's resignation from the Euro Tour (along with fellow miscreants Sergio and Poults), but today we have this precious sound bite:

Lee Westwood, who joined three other LIV Golf players in resigning their DP World Tour membership this week, slammed the formerly named European Tour, questioning its sanctions after his move to the Saudi-backed league and calling the DP World Tour a “feeder tour” for the
PGA Tour.

“People say I knew exactly what would happen, but nobody told us the extent of the punishments,” Westwood told the Independent in a story published Thursday. “And they continue to do that. The way I view it is that, as a European Tour member, I was allowed to be a member of the PGA Tour without any problem for all those years. Tell me, what is the difference? Just because LIV is funded by the Saudis — a country where my tour used to play and where we were encouraged to play? …

“But now, in my opinion, the European Tour has jumped fully in bed with the PGA Tour, and even though Keith [Pelley, the DP World Tour chief executive] says he hates to hear it, it is now a feeder tour for the PGA Tour. … Sorry, I don’t want to play under that sort of regime.”

Sheesh, where to begin with the disingenuous revisionist history, except to note that he's a pathetic, has-been crapweasel....

I think most folks will focus on that last bit, and it's hard to argue otherwise.  I mean one can readily understand a man repelled by the noxious "regime" of Keith Pelley, I mean the eyeglass frames alone are a crime against humanity.  But calling it a "regime" is like catnip to the irony police because, well, those crazy Saudis and their kooky mass beheadings and all.... that's just a different culture and all.

Because I march to a drummer others can't hear, I'm fascinated by that middle 'graph, which is really exposed Westwood as none too bright.  The more substantive obfuscations are the latter, in which this highly sophisticated and entitle warrior cannot see the rather substantial difference between allowing the Saudis to host one feeder tour event, vs,. allowing them to create a Super Tour that threatens the business model of both the U.S. and Euro Tours.  Is he dimwitted or merely disingenuous?  You make the call.

Of course, Lee can't be bothered with any of the practical realities, after all who needs the worry lines?  Why did the Euros place that event in Saudi?   Why did they take all that Middle East money?  Because their tour is profoundly weak and needed it, which makes that shaking of the fists in the last 'graph so laugh-out-loud funny.  That Euro Tour weakness is, of course, partially the result of players like one Lee Westwood playing most of their golf in the U.S., so this business pf panting for financial handouts is nothing new....

But I just can't get past that first sentence in the middle 'graph, and its pathetic, take no responsibility attitude, because as he was screwing everyone on the way out the door, apparently they had some kind of affirmative responsibility to tell him every woe that might befall him.  Gee, Lee, seems like there's a crybaby that needs to go into time out.  Boo-friggin'-who!  I continue to laugh out loud at the amateurism of LIV and how woefully unprepared they are for the pushback from the Tours.  Yanno, if only they hired a professional firm to help them, yanno, like McKinsey.

Next up, the antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour continues to hemorrhage players, though this header is pretty amusing:

A star?  They only have a couple of those, so I'm guessing it's a pretty loose definition thereof:

Peter Uihlein has withdrawn his name from the LIV Golf lawsuit against the PGA Tour, leaving
just two of the original 11 players attached to the legal battle.

In a 105-page complaint filed in early August of 2022, Uihlein joined Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford, Matt Jones, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Ian Poulter, Pat Perez and Jason Kokrak in challenging their suspensions by the PGA Tour for joining LIV Golf. However, in a filing with the United States District Court in San Jose Thursday, Uihlein was granted voluntary dismissal as a plaintiff.

Uihlein a star?  OK, even I couldn't conceive of so defining a man whose major accomplishment in the game of golf is being Wally's kid (OK, I am ignoring his U.S. Amateur).  Though one must doff one's cap at the delicious irony of a man that can't hold a PGA Tour card suing that same tour on antitrust grounds.  

You'll be asking the obvious question, and that's exactly where I'm headed:

With Uihlein’s departure, only DeChambeau and Jones remain on the suit. DeChambeau said last fall he remains on the lawsuit because the tour owes him money for making its Player Impact Program, but added, “It's not about the money; it's about the principle. It's the way you deal with situations."

Isn't it special when those LIVsters tell us it isn't about the money?  I just love when they tell us how the world works and how special they are....

Bryson has informed us that it's all about how one handles things, so shall we spend a few moments reminding ourselves of how Bryson handled things?  First, where does Bryson come down on the honesty thing, because this was his comment in late May 2022:

As recently as last week, DeChambeau denied being enticed by the mammoth upfront payouts and appearance fees being offered to the world’s top golfers by LIV Golf.

“Me, there’s obviously a lot of conversation,” DeChambeau said at the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament. “For me, I personally don’t think that at this point in time I’m in a place in my career where I can risk things like that.”

A week later?  Well, you know....

But Bryson doesn't like how he was treated by Jay, shall we see how he treated others?

Apparently, it was that cameraman's job to protect Bryson's brand, which I was happy to learn.  Because I had these naïve belief that he was there to record the golf tournament, but I'm happy to be corrected.

So, it's just a camera guy, and we know where he sits on the food chain, but one assumes that Bryson treats other better, right?  How about those whose checks he's cashing?

When Bryson DeChambeau tugged his tee shot at the par-3 fifth hole on Friday at Detroit Golf Club, the ball bounced hard left and buried in a cavernous bunker.

Was it another case of the “bad luck” DeChambeau said had doomed him on the back nine of the final round of the U.S. Open? We don’t know because he declined to speak to the press for the second straight day after his round at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

For the record, DeChambeau shot an uneven round of 1-under 71 on Friday morning and his 36-hole total of 1-under 143 missed the 36-hole cut. It marked just the second time this season he’s done so and first since the Genesis Invitational in February. It’s not unusual for a player to decline to speak after a poor round, but DeChambeau is one of Rocket Mortgage’s paid ambassadors. As defending champion, he’s the face of the tournament and as the top-ranked player in the field and one of the most popular players in golf, he has a responsibility to answer questions even when the topic doesn’t suit him.

Are you developing a sense of what an entitled jerk he is?  This was his sponsor's flagship event and he was the defending champion, and he was off in the corner sulking.

The good news is that Bryson and I are in complete agreement, it is how you handle things.  The bad news?  Bryson himself isn't very good at handling things....

This was at the 2022 Rocket Mortgage event and ties back nicely to that bit about Nurse Ratched above.  How did Jay react to Bryson failing to meet the demands of a professional?  He excused and failed to hold him accountable, saying merely that "Bryson is going through some things".  As with DJ, it does seem that in some kind of karmic punishment that those most protected by the Tour were the quickest to jump.  Food for thought, no?

One last bit of amusement, as I was wondering whether those Euro Tour fines had been paid after the arbitrator's decision.  It so happens that all but one have been satisficed:

According to a release from the DP World Tour, Sergio Garcia has not paid the £100,000 fine that he was issued for playing in LIV Golf’s first two events last June.

In the statement, posted to the European Tour’s website on Wednesday afternoon, the Tour revealed that 16 of 17 players have paid the fine, but Garcia has yet to do so and has not given “any indication that he intends to.”

Garcia, Lee Westwood, Richard Bland and Ian Poulter, announced their formal resignations from the DP World Tour on Tuesday.

“Sergio Garcia has not paid his £100,000 fine, nor has he given any indication that he intends to. We will therefore take appropriate action if he continues not to respect the Sport Resolutions panel’s decision,” the statement read. It is unclear what action the DP World Tour is referring to in this case.

His exit from that tour was surpassingly elegant, running from Wentworth back to Austin, TX when the event was delayed due to weather (and he was playing like, well Sergio).

Bob Harig has an interesting take:

He's just a petty, spiteful, overly-entitled crybaby.  

That's it for today.  Not much of a post, I readily concede, but just always amusing when they reveal themselves.... The only good news is that we're well rid of their lot.

 See you Monday.

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Thursday, May 4, 2023

Thursday Themes - Return of the Prodigal Son Edition

I've stiffed you since Monday, yet time is not in abundant supply.... So, who shall we trash?

Back In The Saddle -  Well, there is that prodigal son I mentioned above....  He stiffed the folks in Harbor Town because....well, he had temporarily misplaced his mojo, forgetting that it's always in the last place you look.  But am I the only one that finds his explanation of the Augusta meltdown odd?

“I honestly thought I was going to have the best Masters I ever had,” McIlroy said on Tuesday evening at a private event at Puttery, the indoor modern spin on mini-golf of which he’s an investor.

And yet as golf fans know all too well, the quest for the elusive Green Jacket goes on as McIlroy missed the 36-hole cut.

“It sucked,” McIlroy said. “I shouldn’t be thinking about if I’m going to be having a good week or a bad week. I should only be thinking about that first tee shot on Thursday. That’s getting ahead of myself and feeling really good about my game but having those thoughts of, jeez, I’m going to have the best week I’ve ever had at Augusta isn’t the right mindset going into it. You need to be thinking about staying in the present. I feel like at Augusta I didn’t do a good job of that because of how well I was playing. I was almost too – not overconfident – but maybe got ahead of myself.”

So confidence is now a bad thing?  I saw Rory play at the Masters and, having seen that, it's hard to imagine that he hasn't successfully resolved that issue.... 

More importantly, Puttery?  It deserves to fail just on account of the stupid name.

I'm actually old school, and think the4se guys should be able to play where and when they choose.  But it's pretty rich when the man whose signature is on the schedule opts out, and the explanation is rather lacking:

McIlroy remained coy about why he skipped the RBC Heritage, his second missed designated event. Players are allowed one absence, which he took at the season-opening Sentry Tournament of Champions. The second miss means forfeiting 25 percent of his $12-million Player Impact Program bonus, or $3 million.

“I knew the consequences that could come with missing one of those. It was an easy decision. It was worth that for me to get some other things in place,” McIlroy said. “I had my reasons to not play Hilton Head and I’ve expressed those to Jay. Whether he thinks that’s enough to warrant – again I understood the consequences of that decision before I did it. So whatever happens, happens.”

I'd go with, "Because he could".

An amusing back and forth between Eamon Lynch and Brentley  Romine on this subject:

That didn't format well, but Eamon is saying that Rory doesn't owe anyone an excuse for not playing.  I agree, he owes us an excuse for the hash he's made of the Tour schedule and the coming exclusion of the riff-raff from all future big money events.

Jay did confirm that the $3 million penalty is real and spectacular (bonus points for those picking up on the Seinfeld reference):

UPDATE: Monahan confirmed he would be docked $3 million and called the decision “cut and dry.”

Cut and dry means that there are too many people watching....

But the state of play seems to be this.  We have to limit the fields for the big-money events to hold onto our alpha dogs, but they are rolling around in so much money that they can take a weekend off and forfeit $3 million with a mere shrug.  

Say It Ain't So, Joe - Commence the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, because a certain Big Cat no longer requires his luggage toter:

Joe LaCava is moving on. After 12 years working for Tiger Woods, a good bit of it waiting on the sideline for him to return from various injuries, LaCava has taken a full-time job caddying for Patrick Cantlay.

The two decided to work together last week after Cantlay had parted ways with his long-time caddie Matt Minister following the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. And after LaCava called Woods to explain his decision.

The move also appears to be permanent, pending a good working relationship going forward with Cantlay. LaCava said it is not likely he’d caddie for Woods if he were to return at the Masters next year.

Color me surprised only in the sense that I though LaCava was at a stage that he didn't want to grind through a full schedule.  He does squash predictable rumors about one major:

The move also appears to be permanent, pending a good working relationship going forward with Cantlay. LaCava said it is not likely he’d caddie for Woods if he were to return at the Masters next year.

OK, but he's strangely silent on the far more significant event, the Father-Son.

Obviously this had to happen at some point, but it's not like Tiger projects to be able to play much golf.

Mercifully, in explaining his break-up, our favorite TP at least didn't try to foist it off as a mutual beak-yup (yes, another Seinfeld homage):

On Wednesday ahead of the Wells Fargo Championship, Cantlay explained how he ended up parting ways with his current caddie, Matt Minister, who had worked for him since 2017, and hiring LaCava.

“[Minister and I] accomplished a lot together and I’m really proud of all we accomplished,” Cantlay said. “He’s a great friend of mine and we had a lot of good finishes together and a lot of wins. So I’m incredibly grateful to him, just needed a change.”

Obviously that "needing a change" connotes some level of dissatisfaction with his performance.  As for how this came about, Patrick fills us in:

“I’ve been friend with Fred Couples a long time, he’s been in Newport Beach for a number of years now and we’ve played a lot of golf together, so I’ve heard a number of great things about Joe,” Cantlay said. “You know, when I reached out to Joe, he said it was possible and ended up working out and I’m really happy about it.

“[LaCava’s] just a steady hand on the steering wheel,” he continued. “I know he’s been in every moment a caddie could be in and he’s just a good guy. So I’ve enjoyed the limited time that I’ve spent with him and feel confident that we’ll be a good team out there.”

 So, seemingly a blind date.  But we wish the couple all the best...

Before moving on, we have a new Shipnuck mailbag that features this one odd question about Tiger:

When media members and golf “fans” declare that Tiger Woods *must* retire following every physical setback or less than stellar performance, do you get as needlessly angry as I do? Why do people stink? Should we play Giannis’ postgame presser for all these individuals? #AskAlan@corrado_dan

Dan, do you need a hug? I haven’t seen many folks demanding Tiger retire—it has been more like low-grade anguish as all of us struggle to accept Woods’s golfing mortality. If Tiger wants to try to play more tournaments, the golf world will cheer for him, as always. For Woods, tournament golf was always zero-sum: You win or you have failed. This is the antithesis of Giannis’s riff. Woods’s broken body has recalibrated the golf world’s expectations, and even Tiger’s. If he wants to keep trying to climb the mountain, more power to him.

Yeah, I too haven't seen any demands that Tiger retire, but lots of folks in denial about his ability to compete.  It might, however, be interesting to contemplate the future, which is a bit murkier.  To me, the only basis on which we could object to Tiger continuing to try to play majors is the value of that spot in the field to another player.  That's obviously a judgement call, but there is a line of demarcation, to wit, the expiration of his exemption from winning that 2019 Masters.

This to me is where the past champions exemptions into the other majors becomes dubious, but does not affect the Masters.  So, what this space.

Don't Let The Door Hit You.... - This is certainly interesting, though I'm only partially sure of the logic:

Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Richard Bland have officially resigned from the DP World Tour, according to a news release from the European circuit.

The players “were sanctioned for serious breaches of the Tour’s Conflicting Tournament Regulation committed last June,” according to the release.

The predicate is logically that European arbitration decision that allows for the punishment/suspension of the players, and doing it in lockstep seems to be a unified strategy, I'm just still unclear as to the logic of that startegery.

But this passive-aggressive statement amuses:

“The DP World Tour would like to take this opportunity to thank the four players for the contribution they have made to the Tour and in particular to Sergio, Ian and Lee for the
significant part they have played in Europe’s success in the Ryder Cup over many years.

“Their resignations, however, along with the sanctions imposed upon them, are a consequence of their own choices.

“As we have consistently maintained throughout the past year, the Tour has a responsibility to its entire membership to administer the member regulations which each player signs up to. These regulations are in place to protect the collective interests of all DP World Tour members.”

The old saying is that form is temporary, but class is permanent.  But take a DNA sample from Sergio, and you'll not find even trace elements of latter....

That puts all of LIV's eggs in the OWGR basket, no?  At least to the extent that they care about playing in the majors.  Alan had an interesting series of questions on that subject:

Question – Why should I care about LIV with their no-cut, 54-hole, shotgun start, millions of dollars of guaranteed money traveling circus? All LIV is is a series of high-stakes exhibition “tournaments.” @TimWhitcomb4

This is America—nobody is going to make you care if you don’t want to! But if you are open to counter-arguments, I would suggest that 54 holes vs. 72 isn’t a big deal. An extra round gives the best player more opportunity to separate himself, but 54 holes has a certain urgency and demands three good scores with little room for error. I prefer events to have a cut but even the PGA Tour is moving away from that model at its biggest tournaments, and who does or doesn’t make a cut is almost always immaterial to who wins, which is what matters. Yes, the shotgun feels a little hokey, but it makes for a much better spectating/TV/streaming experience, with all the players on the course at the same time in one compressed window of time. The PGA Tour is already guaranteeing money to its top players this year with the $500,000 stipend and $100 million PIP slush fund, to say nothing of the no-cut Tour Championship and Tournament of Champions. Next year, nine of the 12 elevated events won’t have a cut, which means…more guaranteed money for the players. So the LIV and Tour products are becoming increasingly similar. Also, the Ryder Cup by definition is a goodwill exhibition and we all seem to care about that. In closing, do remember that you don’t have to pick sides—it’s actually possible to watch and enjoy both LIV and the Tour.

 So very curious....

First, Alan prevaricates by telling us that 54 vs. 72 holes isn't a biggie, and then articulates perfectly why it is.  Allowing talent to separate itself is the essence of an athletic competition and the counter to Alan is then, why not just play 18?

Lots of navel gazing on cuts, but not even a passing thought about field size?  Though he's spot on about the Tour moving in that direction, which isn't good for the game but also negates so many of their strongest arguments about LIV.

Do you feel like the OWGR is politicized and refusing to give ranking points to LIV to protect the PGA Tour? #askalan@Tourpro7

Not yet. The OWGR had a set of pre-established criteria, and the governing board is following it to the letter. July will be one year since LIV put in its application. If after that long review period the OWGR is still denying LIV points, it will be a very bad look. I’ve spoken to folks on the governing board and in their mind the primary issue is that LIV doesn’t meet the average field size of 75. But the ranking itself will automatically penalize LIV, based on the revised algorithm—announced in August 2021, before LIV had launched—that favors full fields over smaller one. As for protecting the Tour, the governing board made a huge p.r. blunder by not forcing Tour commissioner Jay Monahan or Euro Tour CEO Keith Pelley or Pelley’s lieutenant Keith Waters to recuse themselves sooner. (They waited until December 2022, after having already participated in two board meetings.) But the fact is, the major championships control the OWGR, representing four of the seven seats on the governing board. (Chairman Peter Dawson does not have a vote.)

Now, after the recusals, Augusta National, the PGA of America, the R & A and the USGA have the only votes on LIV’s future. While they have traditionally been aligned with the old-guard tours, the majors are inherently selfish and want what’s best for their respective tournaments. That means finding a way to get all of the best players there, without squabbles, controversy and potential legal challenges. A more inclusive OWGR is the only thing that makes sense. Anti-LIV folks can get hung up on specific wording in the moldy criteria of the OWGR bylaws, but these are unprecedented times and a little flexibility is the best path forward…especially for the OWGR, which will render itself obsolete if it doesn’t follow its mission to rank all professional golfers.

That's mostly fair, at least on the timing issue and the delayed recusal.

I personally think they probably will get the OWGR recognition, though I don't actually think they should.  I think it'll happen because of lawyers, and also because of that issue that Alan describes above, that the point values for the LIV events will sufficiently (and appropriately) reduced to account for the small and unimpressive fields.

I don't actually think that a tour featuring 48-player fields and 54-hole events is worthy of OWGR points, though the PGA Tour keeps undermining my position.  But how funny is that the LIVsters, with McKinsey on their payroll, never saw this issue coming?  Can you say "incompetent"?  I thought you could...

There is another possibility that no one seems to haver considered.  To wit, that the OWGR folks could render a decision that is neither a clean yes or no, but rather might tell the nice folks in Kingdom what they have yo change to qualify.  To me, 72 holes is pretty sacrosanct, and would eb quite the poke in the eye given, yanno, their investment in roman nhumerals.

Stay tuned, kids.

Alan Scat - We'll fill this out with quick hits from that mailbag:

Would you rather have Tony Finau’s 6 wins or 1 major championship? @ZitiDoggsGolf

The knee-jerk response is one major, but I’d take the six wins. Through the years I’ve written a lot about Shaun Micheel, whose only career victory was the 2003 PGA Championship. He feared, perhaps rightfully, that folks would devalue the one major in the absence of other victories, and felt so much pressure to justify that breakthrough that it robbed the joy from the rest of his career. Six wins is a healthy total that attests to sustained excellence. In Finau’s case, the habit of winning should propel him to success in the majors, in which case he’ll have the best of both worlds.

I don't actually think Alan is correct that the one major is such an obvious answer, as I'd take the six wins as well (with a caveat about which Tour events matter as well).  But, yeah, Big Tone is far from finished...

But we have a candidate for stupidest question of the week:

Do you see the U.S. Open facing backlash from prospective amateurs when they have to deal with LIV golfers in sectional fields that otherwise wouldn’t be there? #askAlan@MColorusso

Nah, U.S. Open qualifying is the ultimate meritocracy. Shoot the scores and you’re in, simple as that, whether you’re a plumber playing scratch or an established touring pro.

It's called an Open for a reason....

I don't actually know all that much about this young man:

#AskAlan What do you make of Akshay Bhatia? The transition has been tougher than many might have imagined, but do you think he may have finally found the highway to relative success on the PGA Tour? @SportASmile

The kid is 21 years old! He has certainly taken an unorthodox approach, but Bhatia has proven he can win on the cut-throat Korn Ferry Tour and has already locked up his 2024 PGA Tour card with some stellar play in the big leagues. He has a tremendous work ethic and palpable talent, so I think Bhatia is going to have a long, productive career.

This one could have been excerpted above as well: 

Is Talor Gooch the perfect emergence of LIV conundrum? He was developing a nice career on the PGA Tour with one win and now he is winning events on LIV. How do we compare what he’s doing on LIV to a guy of a similar age doing it on the PGA Tour? Max Homa as an example? @EatandSleepGolf

One of LIV’s issues is the randomness of the venues. The muni in Orlando and next week’s unknown country club in Tulsa, Okla., are not useful yardsticks. At least Sentosa was the venue for the Singapore Open from 2005 to ‘2022, and the list of winners includes Angel Cabrera, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott three times. (Runners-up: Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington, Jordan Spieth and Ernie Els twice.) So at least one of Gooch’s recent wins came on a course with provenance. Clearly the strong Masters showing by LIV golfers went a long way toward reminding people of the talent level on that tour, but the golf world as a whole seems disinclined to put much stock in LIV wins. The World Ranking is now useless. So what to do? Data Golf’s player ranking has become my go-to, and this week Homa is 16th and Gooch is 21st, which feels right. Now more than ever the major championships are crucial in assessing how players compare. Homa’s record in the majors is putrid: Since the start of 2020 he has missed the cut in seven of 12 and finished better than 40th only once. Gooch has played eight in that stretch with a bit more success, with two top-20 finishes and only two missed cuts. The upcoming three majors will help us make sense of the Gooch-Homa divide, and much more.

The problem is, why did they go to LIV?  Just listen to the guys that went... Graeme McDowell telling us that its golf without the grind and the elderly Englishmen making clear that they didn't really care if it precluded their presence at the majors.  So, Alan, if they don't care, I'm having trouble understanding both why you care and think we should as well.

This Q is a bit of a hot mess, as is the A necessarily:

Rahm is significantly better than every other player in the world. Unlike Scottie and Rory, his game has no weaknesses. Even in today’s ultra-competitive game, it’s hard to envision him not knocking off a 2017-19 Brooks-like run. With two to his name, over/under on Rahm winning 5.5 major championships? And, at their absolute peak powers, how many current players’ best game beats Finau’s? Over/under 9.5? #AskAlan@opinionsvary328

Predicting golf futures is a tricky business. On Sunday night at Valhalla in 2014, what would have been the o/u on McIlroy’s haul—8? 10? More? Jack Nicklaus said, “I think Rory has an opportunity to win 15 or 20 majors or whatever he wants to do if he wants to keep playing.” I’d take the over on Rahm, but there is a lot of golf and life between him and four more major championship victories.

Best versus best, I’d take the following over Finau: Rahm, McIlroy, Cam Smith, Scottie Scheffler, Dustin Johnson, Koepka, Justin Thomas and Matt Fitzpatrick. In the emeritus division, Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth and Collin Morikawa. That’s 11, but very stout company.

As I've noted before, I had speculated last year about Rahm's ability to separate himself from the chase pack, though that premis in the questions seems a titch premature.  Do I think Rahm has more majors in his future?  Oh yeah, but I'd still be reluctant to put a number on it.  Though I'd be interested to know the odds on who will achieve the career slam first, Rahmbo or Rory?  Bit of a conundrum, given that the Spaniard still needs two, but I like his chances better.

The bit on Tony is arcane, because there aren't many better when his putter and short game behave.  The issue is how often that actually occurs....

This one does tie into the above Q&A:

Why pretend the PGA Championship is a “major,” other than we decided there have to be four of them? #AskAlan P.S. I know why it used to be a major. It used to be match play; it used to be the players’ own championship; it used to have the toughest field. None of those are true anymore. @HenriDeMarsay

Well, every major is a social construct. When Gene Sarazen prevailed at the second Masters, in 1935, it’s not like folks pounded him on the back and said, “Congrats on winning a major, old boy.” That took time and a collective consciousness. The PGA Championship has an incredible history and some spectacular (and, admittedly, a few so-so) venues. It has the most recognizable trophy in the sport, if that counts for anything. In the LIV era, it will have one of the two or three best fields of the year. You may not be fan of the PGA but it is a perfectly acceptable major.

Ummmmm, Alan, the Claret Jug beats the Wannamaker, 6&5.  If only be4cause the top doesn't come off during the presentation ceremony.

Also, Alan, did anyone congratulate Sarazen on completing the career slam?  That may be the more absurd retroactive achievement....

That's it for now.  I'm planning on a light blogging schedule until Oak Hill, so will most likely take a day off tomorrow and catch you for ur typical wrappage on Monday.  Have a great weekend.

 

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Monday, May 1, 2023

Weekend Wrap - Bad Nestor Edition

My Sunday afternoon plans included building a fire and hoping our basement wouldn't flood, the plan being to split my viewing between the Yankees and the golf from Mexico.  As you might have sussed out from the header, I watched far more of the golf than intended...

Tony In Full - He seems a solid guy, though they're way over-playing the mano a mano aspect of the week:

While Jon Rahm is still undeniably the hottest player in golf right now, the man who held him off Sunday might submit his name for consideration.

In a rematch of the 2022 Mexico Open, where Rahm picked up his first of seven wins in the last year, Tony Finau came out on top this time.

Finau started Sunday with a two-shot lead over Rahm and Akshay Bhatia and ended it with a bogey-free 66 to finish at 24 under, good for a three-shot win at this year’s Mexico Open at Vindanta over Rahm. The top three on the leaderboard are identical to a year ago with Brandon Wu following his co-runner-up with a solo third this year.

“This tournament propelled me I think into the season that I had last year,” Finau said. “This was the first high finish that I had all season in my season last year. I was playing not very good golf and then I make a run on Sunday and after that, I played great golf throughout the rest of the season.

“To get this win was huge and hopefully propels me to do more great things as the season unfolds.”

The Salinas brothers got good value for their non-designated sponsorship pesos, because the only two A-listers in the field ended up in the final group.  And when looking at things like the Ryder Cup points lists, Finau was the most conspicuous name missing.

Is Rahm the hottest player in golf?  By a certain measure, the hottest evah:

As you probably know, Ford Frick invented the asterisk to protect Babe Ruth, but they don't make them large enough to cover circumstances such as these:

Jon Rahm’s second-place finish in his title defense at the Mexico Open may have been
disappointing, but his runner-up still adds to his record-breaking season.

Rahm collected $839,300 for coming up three shots short of Tony Finau, but that pushed his 2022-2023 season earnings total to $14,462,840. It may be April 30th, but that sets a new PGA Tour single-season official money record.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise given the PGA Tour created the Designated events this season with their $20 million purses — not to mention that Rahm has won four times already. But purse sizes had already been increasing over the past few seasons, with some events offering winners’ shares north of $2 million before this year.

He's on quite the tear, it's just that money has ceased to be an effective metric for comparisons. 

The Tour Confidential panel took time out from its core function of gazing at Tiger's navel to offer some muddled thoughts on Big Tone:

1. Tony Finau proved his 2022 was no fluke, as he won the Mexico Open at Vidanta by three over Jon Rahm on Sunday. For years, Finau was the guy oozing with talent who didn’t pile up enough wins, but he’s now got his first of 2023 after winning three times last year and once late in 2021. What’s been the biggest change with him over the past year and a half?

Jessica Marksbury: I don’t think you can overstate the value of confidence. It’s something even recreational players can relate to. Finau was so close for so long, and kept coming up short. Once he finally notched that breakthrough, the floodgates were open. The fact that he held the lead over multiple rounds with a chaser like Rahm makes Sunday’s victory even more impressive.

Sean Zak: I think we overstate and overuse confidence when it comes to a lot of things, but this is not one of them. Tony’s skillset was incredible before his streak of wins. His mindset was incredible, too. He just needed to pair the two down the stretch once, and it was going to make it easy to continue doing it after. Remember his quote from the Rocket Mortgage Classic last year? “A winner is just a loser who kept on trying.” Might have been quote of the year in 2022.

Dylan Dethier: The thing I appreciated most about this week’s win was his ability to hold a lead with the clear-cut World No. 1 (Rahm, who doubles as Finau’s frequent sparring partner) breathing down his neck. Beating up on one of the PGA Tour’s weaker fields feels a lot more legit when you outduel the tournament favorite. Yes, there’s still another step for Finau to take at the game’s biggest events. But he gets plenty of credit for this one nonetheless.

Jonathan Wall: I don’t think anything changed. Some guys just come close countless times and can’t seem to close — and then all of a sudden it clicks. The competition on Tour has never been better, in my opinion, so you simply can’t make mistakes and expect to close things out. I think Tony’s managing the mistakes and realizing he doesn’t have to force things, especially when he’s out front. Tiger was the best at doing this, and I think Tony’s did his TW impression in Mexico.

It must be confidence.  Unless, yanno, it's momentum.... But I'm pretty sure the answer is to be found in a trite cliche... Of course, nothing has really changed except that Tony had a good week with the putter....

What amuses me about that "Winning with the No. 1 player in the world breathing down his neck" is.... well, as an aside, why the neck?  But perhaps that's not important now... But beating the No. 1 player in the world seems a more substantive feat when the guy is on his game which, excepting that Saturday 61, Rahm didn't seem to be.

But they're all in on this Finau v. Rahm bit:

2. Rahm has dominated this year, with four wins and the second major title of his career, so how much more meaningful is this win for Finau knowing he held off Rahm (aided by a two-shot advantage to start the day) while playing in the same final grouping?

Marksbury: That’s got to feel huge for him. After Rahm’s course-record performance on Saturday, it would be totally understandable to feel a little spooked, even with a two-shot lead. But Finau kept the pedal to the metal. Taking down the World No. 1 is no easy feat. He’s got to be feeling good about his major chances going forward this year.

Zak: It definitely makes the win sweeter! I think Tony would probably like to bag another big event rather than beat Rahm and what was ultimately a pretty weak field, but we don’t need to parse out the meaning of it. Rahm is the king right now. You beat him, especially while playing with him in the final group? You’re ballin’. That’s why Nick Taylor’s solo second at Phoenix was still damn good for his confidence. He lost to Scheffler, but he beat Rahm from the same group. He’ll remember that even while we forget.

Dethier: It looks like I should have read Question 2 before answering Question 1, but yeah, it makes a significant difference. Finau’s game theoretically sets up well anywhere, so when he’s in the mix at Oak Hill in a few weeks, this will be useful to draw on.

Don't be too hard on yourself, Dylan.  It's a silly sequencing...

Wall: I think it’s massive when you’re able to beat back a human cheat code and win by three. The way Rahm has been playing, it’s easy to get caught looking and worry about when — not if — he’s going to catch you. Tony’s been around long enough to know his game is good enough to win. I hate trying to predict Tour wins as a jumping-off point for major success, but I could definitely see this being the kind of W that nets hardware at Oak Hill.

Beating one guy, even Rahmbo, just doesn't amount to a hill of beans, though we've not much else to talk about until Oak Hill.

Gooch, Ascendant - Of course, beating a certain 47 players isn't much more substantial than beating just the one, but this makes your humble blogger laugh:

Talor Gooch is LIV Golf’s first back-to-back winner.

After nearly blowing a 10-shot lead last week in Australia, Gooch defeated Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia in a playoff for his second consecutive win on Sunday at Sentosa Golf Club on
Sentosa Island. Brooks Koepka finished one shot outside the playoff in third at 16 under.

“I know that I’m not going to continue playing this level of golf forever. So you just enjoy it while it comes and try to make it last as long as you can,” said Gooch. “So you try to savor these moments and try to feel these feelings and emotions and try to remember ’em so that when they go away you can really get back as quickly as possible.”

Don't know if you will, either, but I'm heartened by the fact that it will happen inside an hermetically-sealed isolation tank.  Win-win, baby!

Why the mirth?  Because this story was circulating last week:

Talor Gooch thought that he would be exempt into the U.S. Open in June at Los Angeles Country Club.

As Lee Corso would say, not so fast, my friends.

It turns out the USGA made a subtle change to its qualification categories this year that has Gooch instead on the outside looking in with work still to be done.

Gooch, who banked $4 million for winning LIV Adelaide, was suspended from the PGA Tour when he left for the breakaway Saudi-backed league last summer. But the 31-year-old Gooch had played well enough before his departure last season that he finished 29th in the FedEx Cup standings to qualify for the Tour Championship. That typically has earned players a ticket into the four majors. But Gooch wasn’t allowed to compete in the playoffs because he was suspended from the PGA Tour. Therein lies the reason that Gooch isn’t exempt. When the USGA updated its exemption criteria it added a stipulation that players “must be both qualified and eligible for the Tour Championship.”

Goochie is playing up the sympathy angle, though it might be nice if he could so in a more factual manner.  He's accusing the USGA of making the change retroactively, which is simply inaccurate.  

But this is exactly the issue the players were warned of before they jumped to LIV but, to a man, they were perfectly comfortable putting their ability to qualify for majors at risk....  Or maybe the lad took Shark's assurances that they couldn't be suspended from the Tour at face value.  Perhaps he'll know better next time, but there were lots of zeros on the check....

Udder Stuff - Gonna blitz through a few things, so buckle that seatbelt....

JT @ Thirty - I can't explain why it's of interest, other than to note that it's an extremely slow news week in the game:

3. Justin Thomas turned 30 on Saturday, and our Sean Zak profiled the Tour star and went deep on his career evolution and drive to accomplish even more in a recent edition of GOLF Magazine (and online right here). “Having two majors is great, but I want five,” Thomas said at one point. “Fifteen [career] wins is great, but I want 30. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing, but that’s the reality.” ​​Well, since JT brought it up (kind of), how many wins and majors do you see him having by the time he turns 40?

Marksbury: I actually sent Sean a message to tell him how much I enjoyed reading that piece. JT is such an interesting player! I loved learning about the lofty goals he sets for himself. But, given how tough it is to win out there, I think one more major and 5-7 regular-season titles over the next decade would be a huge yet feasible addition to an already stellar career.

Jess, you're predicting at least three winless seasons for JT in the next decade?  That's kinda lowballin', no? 

Zak: There is one thing holding him back from having more than 15 and 2 right now. It’s his
putting. But I think the roller coaster with the flatstick will level out soon and we’ll see him go on a stretch of, say, five wins in three years. I think he bags two more majors by 40, and if the putting gets really good, give him a third. He’s just so singularly focused on tallying up those totals. Oh, he also has, what, a top 3 caddie on the bag? That continues to pay dividends we can’t see just yet.

Dethier: Eek, I hate that we’re reducing Thomas’ next decade to two numbers — that feels like the same sort of binary decision-making that already plagues him. But maybe that’s the point: If JT is measuring himself this way, why shouldn’t we? The over/under on JT future majors has to be set at 1.5. Marksbury went under and Zak went over. I’ll join him there with the belief that his putting will come back into the light for a few top-tier years. At age 40, he’s the owner of 24 PGA Tour wins and four majors. Solid haul.

Wall: I mentioned it in my first answer, but I think the competition is making it damn-near impossible to dominate on Tour. I think JT is still one the top talents on Tour, but as he creeps closer to 40, he’s going to lean more on his short game and putting as new bombers enter the arena. And as Sean already mentioned, the putter has been a massive question mark recently. If he can get the flatstick hot, I think a couple of majors and six Tour wins is very feasible.

Kudos to the writers for actually noting that rather obvious deficiency in his game.  In fact, to me JT might well be a candidate for the Academy.... As for majors, when does he win his first (OK, I guess PGAs are still technically majors)?  

Euphemisms Gone Wild - This is quite the trotured logic, but it seems golf faces a uniquely-shaped issue:

I'm sorry, what shape is a LIV?

There isn't actually any conundrum, but Michael McEwan must have been sampling the edibles, because he frames it in a manner beyond our ability to imagine:

Today is John Daly’s 57th birthday. The perfect time, then, to remind yourself that he is the only eligible multiple major champion who has never played in the Ryder Cup.

What makes this all the more surprising is that the larger-than-life American’s two major wins both came in Ryder Cup years.

Any curiosity as to why that might be, Michael?   Did you ever hear about him being fined 21 times for failure to actually try out there?  Sounds like a perfect guy for the team room to me...

I may not know everything about the war between the PGA Tour and LIV, but I know just enough to know that John Daly has nothing to do with it, but why would you even think of him the week after the Tour beclowned itself by allowing him to peg it in NOLA?

Even Daly himself gets it....apparently the only oen that doesn't is McEwan:

In a 2020 podcast appearance, the ‘Wild Thing’ was asked why he thought he had never represented his country on the biggest team stage in golf.

“Probably attitude,” he replied. “Probably some of the things that I did off the course. And some of the things that I didn’t do that I was accused of doing, and there was a lot that I did that I really did.”

Ya think?  So can someone explain this segue to me?

This is all relevant in the context of this year’s match at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club near Rome.

US captain Zach Johnson, much like his European counterpart Luke Donald, faces a conundrum when it comes to fleshing out his side.

It's not relevant in the slightest.... 

With six picks at his disposal, two-time major champ Johnson will have plenty of decisions to make but arguably none bigger than whether or not to choose any players from the LIV Golf League.

Ummm, no!  That will not be a hard decision for Zach, because it won't actually be his decision at all.  And it's a little disconcerting that McEwan doesn't understand this....

But under ths tortured reasoning I'm quite certain that Henrik Stenson will be stopping by to pick up his captaincy....Shessh!.

Too Good To Fact Check - McEwan no doubt expects this guy to be on Zach's roster.  But this also goes on the list of things making your humble blogger laugh this morning:

Dear Internet reader, can we interest you in more potential Patrick Reed subterfuge on this fine spring morning? You bet we can!

A trashed vehicle that looks very much like Patrick Reed’s custom Masters-themed Porsche 911 GT2 RS appeared at salvage auction this week, sending golf sleuths into hysterics. Even the first 10 digits of the VIN match those on Reed’s original vehicle, as The Drive reports. We don’t know for certain that this is the 2018 Masters champ’s former whip. Nothing in life is 100%—some people can’t even agree on whether or not the earth is round—but if it looks like Patrick Reed’s Porsche and talks like Patrick Reed’s Porsche, well, you know how the saying goes.

I'll wait for confirmation from @UseGolfFactsNow.  Justine, are you there?

That will wrap today's programming.  Hope to see you down the road.

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