Weekend Wrap - Coronation Street Edition

Employee No. 2 and I are back from the Left Bank, and I managed to catch the last twelve holes or so of yesterday's action.... It turned out to be the coronation most folks expected, once the finished the trailer for the next Rahmbo film.

Geoff says that which we were all thinking:

This one was as dull as the Masters was thrilling.

Still feels like he's grading on a bit of a curve.....I for one am shocked that the nation wasn't glued to their TV sets merely to experience that electric Fazio architecture.

Shack does provide his usual statistical captures:

Round Four By The Numbers

• -11: Winning score of Scottie Scheffler (69-68-65-71-265)

• -9: Scheffler at the 14th and 15th holes this week

• 278: Score of the runners-up (English, DeChambeau, Riley)

• 65: Low Sunday round by Harris English (T2)

• 80: High round by Garrick Higgo

• 15: Final Round scores in the 60s

• 4:09: Round time for Sunday’s final pairing

• $3,420,000: Winner’s check

• $23,420: 74th place

• $4000: Pay to cutmissers

• 9-way: Tie for 8th and a spot in the 2026 PGA (Niemann, Griffin, McCarthy, Gerard, Highsmith, Fitzpatrick, Bradley, Rahm, Si Woo Kim)

• 72.505: Cumulative scoring avg (73.092 in 2017)

• 304-353-335-343-329-300-336-344-317-350-322-355-331-343: Bryson DeChambeau’s final round non-par 3 tee shot distances.

• 3-2-1: Difficulty ranking of the 16th, 17th and 18th holes

• +519: Scoring on the 16th, 17th and 18th holes for the week

• +172: Holes 1-15 for the week

Maybe the most surprising bit is Joaquin slipping in with a back-door Top Ten, stealing Rory's signature move.   But I've good news for you all, you've heard your last Green Mile reference for at least a year, and when the droning resumes next year there will be little reason to pay it heed.

Back to Geoff

Not that Scottie Scheffler failed to inject a little intrigue into the 2025 PGA Championship. He opened with a front nine 37 while sporting a problematic left-miss that fueled bogeys at the first,

sixth and ninth. But the epic bounce-back skills shown during Scheffler’s remarkable four-year run would see him follow up those first and ninth hole stumbles with birdies. A slight aim adjustment suggested by caddie Ted Scott and a light snack at the turn inspired him to come home in 34 to record a four-stroke win for his third major title.

“Finishing off a major championship is always difficult, and I did a good job of staying patient on the front nine,” the 28-year-old said. “I didn't have my best stuff, but I kept myself in it, and I stepped up on the back nine and had a really good nine holes. That's about it.”

Turns out, there was more to this one than the early round hiccups and a charge by two-time major winner Jon Rahm.

Funny how stories play out, specifically all of the sturm und drang about Rory's driver being deemed nonconforming:

The added layers were nothing as emotional as Scheffler’s first Masters win when he admitted to breaking down prior to the round when pondering how a Green Jacket might change his and new wife Meredith’s life. Nor did it resemble last year’s PGA when he briefly donned jailhouse orange. But we learned Sunday—via Xander Schauffele in a story reported by Adam Schupak—that Scheffler was en route to winning after his driver of the last year failed the same early week testing believed to have claimed Rory McIlroy’s gamer.

“My driver did fail me this week,” Scheffler said after his name had been engraved on the Wannamaker trophy. “We had a feeling that it was going to be coming because I've used that driver for over a year. I was kind of fortunate for it to last that long, I felt like.”

It's not the time to dive too deep into the long grass on this process, but there's a whole bunch of crazy there, no?  They squeal like pigs when it happens to them (maybe not Scottie), but note how they push the envelope and keep the gamer in play.  So, Scottie, were you not randomly tested this week, you would have won with a non-conforming driver, eh?  And you're comfortable telling us this?

“I was battling my swing the first couple days,” he said. “I didn't have as good a prep week as I

wanted to. It was a battle out there.”

Scheffler opened the warm and breezy final round with a bogey at the first followed by a birdie at the second hole. For someone who can turn angry, pouty, annoyed—whatever unflattering adjective you’d like—Scheffler’s bounce-back ability remains unmatched. Freakish, really.

He made bogey or worse nine times this week and responded with a birdie six times. No other player batted at-or-above .500 for the week.

“The shots on the golf course that are most important, those are the ones I feel like I did my best at this week and maybe at times out there, some of the easier ones maybe I lost a bit of focus or something, but overall when I needed to I feel like I hit the shots.”

Not sure this helps explain that tough front nine, or what Ted Scott might have said on the way to the tenth tee, but those two nines weren't the same guy.  

This may be the most curious item in today's news cycle, shockingly failing to pay off this header:

After an emphatic PGA, Scottie Scheffler told the world his secret

 Scottie's a Texan, so would I be wrong to assume the secret is in the dirt?

These gifts are merely symptoms of the disease Scheffler is afflicted — a malady that has lived

inside every great golfer since the beginning of time. Scheffler has it, the thing that separates the good ones from the great ones. It’s been called a passion, a look, or a mindset, but we’ll call it a fire — a white-hot flame that burns hot and bright beneath the surface.

It looks different in Scottie Scheffler than in other great players. He does not ice people out, stare into souls, or attempt to shatter skulls. He chuckles, smiles and extemporaneously quotes The Office. His press conferences occasionally read like the aspirations of a career middle-manager.

Q: Do you have any big career goals?

A: “Not really. I don’t focus on that kind of stuff.”

Q: Do you want to win, or do you want to crush the opponent?

A: “That’s a tough question to answer...”

Q: If you look statistically, you’re actually trending even better [than Tiger Woods], how have you been able to do that?

A: “I don’t know. We put in a lot of work.“

So, the secret is that he's competitive?  Which makes him different than the other guys how?

“He hates to lose. We all do,” said Luke Donald, the Ryder Cup captain responsible for stopping Scheffler in September. “If you don’t have that fire, you’ll never be a great player.”

Hates to lose.  Got it.

Shall we check in with the Tour Confidential panel?  Ummm, that was rhetorical:

Scottie Scheffler cruised at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, shooting a final-round 71 to win the PGA Championship by five and claim his third major title and first non-Masters major. What was different about this one? And what did you learn about Scheffler this week?

Jack Hirsh: It’s interesting because the winners of the first two majors of the year both won without the “A” games, which is really scary for the rest of professional golf. I feel like we’ve

seen Scheffler win without his best stuff before, but not in major championships. This week, he really shown that clutch factor that has allowed him to stay perfect with 54-hole leads. I don’t think we talk enough about how outstanding his short game is and how he just doesn’t make mistakes when leading. He made every putt he needed to on 10, 14 and 16 when the tournament was still up for grabs. At some point, we have to acknowledge how simply inevitable he feels. That’s the kinda performance that really helps sell that he could end up as one of the greats.

Josh Sens: Jack’s mention of “A” games seems apt, because Scheffler’s performance on Sunday called to mind a guy who used to use that term a lot. Whatever adjustment Scheffler made around the turn, after struggling on the front, it reminded me of Tiger Woods at the ‘97 Masters, when he struggled out of the gates and then shortened his swing, mid-round. Scheffler and Woods are different in all kinds of ways. But the mental toughness and talent it takes to make those kinds of adjustments on the fly–and to beat everyone when you’re not at your best–is a rare trait they share. This week at Quail Hollow hammered that point home.

Zephyr Melton: Echoing my cohorts above, but this win felt gritty. His Masters wins were impressive because of how in control he looked. At Quail I was most impressed by his ability to manufacture low scores in spite of a swing that wasn’t quite cooperating. That’s what separates the good from the greats.

Josh Berhow: This one wasn’t exactly that different from the other major wins since he was leading in all three, but it reiterated just how complete his game is. He has the talent to pull away and then also the mental game and steeliness to hang on to it and get it home. (Not counting that viral four-putt to win his first Masters.) He played the hardest three-hole stretch on the golf course perfectly despite not hitting some of his best shots. But that’s the key — he didn’t let it spiral. Short, safe shot out of the fairway bunker on 16. Putter from off the green. Safe shot right of the par-3 17th green. Approach away from water on 18. He’s now converted his last six 54-hole leads or co-leads. That’s not easy to do, even for someone with Scheffler’s talent.

Dylan Dethier: I guess what sticks out is that it felt pretty similar to a lot of his wins last year — it just came at a major championship. Scheffler’s ability to execute down the stretch every round on Quail Hollow’s “easy holes” at 14-15 and its brutal Green Mile finishing stretch meaningfully separated him from the field. He’s unbelievable.

That Tiger reference is interesting, though his adjustment between nines came on a Thursday, Scottie's took place within the cauldron of a major Sunday.

That to me is where the "A-game" stuff breaks down.  It's true he scuffled quite a bit all week, but the manner in which he elevated his game at the turn is the bit that should concern the other guys.

Scheffler has now won his last two starts and joined Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players in the modern era to win 15 times on the PGA Tour before turning 29. Has he shown you enough to think his career trajectory can follow those two?

Hirsh: I said I think he could end up as one of the greats, but not quite at those guys’ levels. Woods was 24 when he won for the 15th time. Nicklaus was 25, while Scottie is three years older. Scheffler needs to win 56 of his next 110 starts to catch Woods’ win total by his 250th start. That’s not attainable. Now granted, Woods didn’t win nearly as much after he turned 34, but catching those guys just might be too hard when the parody in golf is so high right now. The last six majors have been won by the definitive four best players in the world. A lot of competition for those titles.

Sens: And then there’s the parity in golf, which is also high. Comparing players and accomplishments from different eras is a slippery business. But I’m of the belief that it’s harder to win the big ones now. I don’t think Scheffler will match Jack’s major record, and he won’t be able to dominate as Tiger did—not with guys like Rory and Schauffele among others in the picture. But it seems pretty clear that he’ll be the next guy to win the career Grand Slam, and like Jack and Tiger before him, he stands to repeat that feat a couple of times. I don’t think we can say that about any other player of Scheffler’s generation, which is saying a lot.

Melton: He’s not going to ascend to that Tiger-Jack level (I think?) but he very well could be the most decorated player of his generation. I think another attainable summit will be taking the title of greatest Texan golfer of all time. He’s already surpassed Jordan Spieth, Tom Kite, Jackie Burke Sr. and Ben Crenshaw, but it’ll be fun to see if he can catch Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Lee Trevino by the end of his career.

Berhow: You could argue the stat mentioned in the question above is the exact evidence you need to prove he can follow their trajectory. Now, Tiger and Jack were a little younger when they hit that milestone, and I don’t see Scottie dominating as much as Tiger did year to year, but I can totally see him dominating more than any golfer we’ve seen since Tiger’s prime. He proved that last year winning nine times (seven officially), and now he’s got two in his last two starts. It’s going to be a fun summer.

Dethier: I’ll bail on the premise of the question here but it’s just fun to have another guy who has us asking those questions. As the saying goes, though: lot of golf left.

Silly stuff.  The rap on Scottie thus far would have been majors, specifically non-Augusta majors, so he's chipping away at that.

I do like that concept of a GTOAT, though I'd feel better if I thought the wet-behind-the-ears writer knew about collisions with buses and early retirements.

And on the driver testing:

A much-discussed topic at the PGA was … driver testing? The USGA said it tested one-third of the field at the PGA Championship, and it was reported that Rory McIlroy’s driver failed the test. (McIlroy had a different head in play but didn’t speak to the media after any round; no governing body confirmed or denied the report that McIlroy’s driver failed the test.) McIlroy hit just 46.43 percent of his fairways this week. Scheffler, who said Sunday his driver failed before the tournament, said, “We need to be even more robust in the way we test them.” What do you make of the driver-testing storyline that dominated the week?

Hirsh: If everyone knows that they’re going to be tested, then bad-actors would just able to carry a head they want to test and then switch it for the event. Not saying anyone would do that, but the fact that they could makes it dicey. The thing that needs to change is the secrecy so that people better understand how often this happens (it happens a fair amount!). I’m sure the OEMs have a hand in making sure the USGA doesn’t release names of players who fail as, without the proper context of how often this happens with pro golfers given their precision and swing speed could damage their brand. Fine, but let’s at least release the results of the testing without names. That way people can see that a few drivers don’t pass muster each week, but no OEM gets unnecessary flack for having so many drivers not pass in a given week (which doesn’t mean anything anyway).

Sens: I understand that there are economic and political considerations, but why have a test if you’re not going to apply it equally across the board. If non-conforming equipment is a concern, then figure out a way to make sure no one’s using it. I’m not sure I understand completely why that’s so hard.

Melton: “Driver-gate” was a big ole nothing-burger propagated by a bunch of disingenuous social media accounts looking to discount Rory’s Masters win. These sorts of things happen all the time. I can get on board with a rule that requires every player to have their driver tested each week, but so far as Rory’s situation goes, it was nothing out of the ordinary, save for him skipping media after all four rounds. Not the best look there.

Berhow: Covered pretty thoroughly above. I think something that could have been diffused quite easily was given legs that lasted until Sunday night. Seems … unnecessary? And yes, testing 1/3 of the field seems off. I don’t understand all the logistics that go into it and maybe it’s time-consuming, but it seems like a logical decision to just test them all and not have to deal with this.

Dethier: To me the most interesting part of this story is whether McIlroy’s replacement head was to blame for his subpar driving the first couple rounds — and the fact that he was never a factor in this tournament. The rest? A lot of meh. More transparency, for sure.

I've been reliably informed that it's not the crime, but the cover-up that gest folks in trouble....  I probably should have sequenced the post better, because this would be the better spot to use my comments about Scottie from above.  On the one hand, unlike Rory, he had no problem disclosing the failed driver test.  But he made it clear he would play the driver even while suspecting it no longer conformed,. and that to me is more than a little troubling.

But in all this verbiage about technical issues, the words that jumped out at me were these from the query:

McIlroy had a different head in play but didn’t speak to the media after any round

Gee, I had been reliably informed that the players only did that after an especially gut-wrenching loss.  Our hero Rory, fresh off his epic milestone career slam, dissed the media here for the simple reason that he can.  Next time Rory lectures us about growing the game.....  how seriously would you say we should credit him?  

As for this from Zephyr:

but so far as Rory’s situation goes, it was nothing out of the ordinary, save for him skipping media after all four rounds. Not the best look there.

Logic is hard.  If Rory is stiffing the media after every round, in what sense is that out of the ordinary?  Seems more like his standard practice, no?

Amusingly, Rory has tried to convince us that the only problem in professional golf is people not knowing when he'll be playing, transparently attempting to justify the limited field money grabs.  More importantly, I now have a complete calendar for when Rory will be ducking the media.  Good to know, as it allows me to duck those events.

see if you can spot the howler in this one:

Quail Hollow Club, the usual host of the Wells Fargo Championship, hosted the PGA for the first time since Justin Thomas won it there in 2017. The Charlotte course also took its share of criticism prior to the tournament kicking off. Fair or foul? What do you think of Quail Hollow as a major test?

Hirsh: Very fair! Not only does this course host a PGA Tour event every year at the same time of year as this event, I also can’t describe any holes outside of the last five. It’s a good golf course that I would love to play, but I just don’t think it provided a true major championship test. Yea it was hard, but too many balls got caught up in rough around ponds. Not that I wanna see carnage in a PGA Championship like a U.S. Open, but I feel like the difference between a major and a Tour event is that you can’t get away with bad shots.

Sens: With very few exceptions–Pebble and Riviera come to mind–regular host courses of PGA Tour events don’t make the most compelling major championship venues. Quail Hollow is no exception. For all the reasons that players and online pundits have griped about this week.

Melton: Agree with all above. It sucks a bit of the juice out of the early week when we know exactly what to expect from the course heading in. It provides a fine “major test,” but the over-exposure from seeing it every May makes for a very lackluster PGA Championship host.

Berhow: I think Pebble Beach and probably even Riviera are outliers where they can host regular Tour stops and majors, but I like major venues to be unique and almost somewhat mysterious to give your average golf fan something to be excited about (i.e. Oakmont next month). It’s a great course, but I’d like to see majors find homes we see less often.

Dethier: Agreed on the Tour crossover being bad. Can I add a word of praise for Quail, though? The finishing stretch of two birdie holes and three brutes means a lot of variance and creates the potential for a dramatic conclusion — and good TV. Scottie’s finish on Saturday (spectacular) and Bryson’s Saturday finish plus Rahm’s Sunday finish (less than spectacular) were prime evidence, even if the final score was a massive blowout.

Methinks there's been an angry phone call from a 904 area code:

No, Wells Fargo is not the sponsor of a PGA Tour event anymore. They had been the title sponsor of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, since 2011, but they announced they would not renew their sponsorship after the 2024 event. The tournament is now known as the Truist Championship, with Truist Financial Corporation as the new title sponsor.

You'd think these Tour sycophants would know the rules.  Not only is it nor the Truist Championship, but in a very Soviet manner, the past is rewritten and it's always been the Truist Championship, at least until it isn't.

On the substantive issue, wouldn't you think that in taking major championships to regular Tour venues, that they'd pick the good Tour venues?  You'd be mistaken....Those West Coast venues aren't just light years better than Quail, they play completely differently in June for an Open, than in their winter spot on the Tour's calendar.

Who won the PGA Championship without winning the PGA Championship?

Hirsh: The Charlotte Police Department and Karma. The police for not arresting the World No. 1 this year. Karma for giving Scheffler what he probably would have won last year had the Louisville PD not intervened in 2024 and sent his adrenaline to the moon.

Sens: JT Poston and Davis Riley would like to have a word. I’d also throw in Keegan Bradley. If he didn’t make an unassailable case that he should be a player captain in the Ryder Cup, he didn’t take his name out of the running either.

Melton: Rahm’s late collapse notwithstanding, I gotta go with him. He’s struggled in the majors the last couple years, but it was fun to have him in the mix late on Sunday. Looking forward to (hopefully) seeing him in contention at the majors regularly again.

Berhow: Davis Riley made an 8 on a par-5 — which is kinda like making a 9 to these guys — and played the next 11 holes in three under without a bogey to snag his first major top 10. Also, Bennett Scheffler.

Dethier: Harris English played his way from nowhere to runner up on Sunday; other than Scottie, tough to think of anybody leaving property happier

I do agree about Davis Riley's comeback, though at the end of the day he's still Davis Riley.  Guys like English and Niemann posted numbers early, but under the lights of the CBS cameras, everyone else seemed to be going the wrong direction.

But Rahmbo as a winner after that finish?  I doff my cap to Mr. Melton, as he has staked out a minority position.

And lastly:

We’ve officially reached the midway point of the major season. Whose stock are you buying and whose are you selling for the U.S. Open and Open Championship?

Hirsh: Buying Scheffler, I don’t care how much it costs. He had a slow start to the year and I think his over/under for the season is now 4.5. He’s got two more venues coming up he won at last year and he’s finished in the top-3 at Colonial the last three years. Selling Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Cam Smith. Aside from Brooks at the ‘23 Masters and PGA, these guys have not been the same world beaters they were before.

Sens: Buying Scheffler for sure. And Schauffele. And still holding Bryson, who now makes a habit of being in the mix. He hasn’t played up to his standards since coming back from injury, but there have been enough flashes to make me think it’s just a matter of time. I like him at a brute of a course like Oakmont, where patience will be so key. Selling Patrick Cantlay, whose performances in the majors are hard to figure.

Melton: Buying Scottie (duh), Bryson, Rahm, Rory, etc. Selling DJ, Phil, Spieth, Wyndham and maybe some others. This was a weird week pre-cut considering the mudballs, but some of these guys have been playing poorly in the majors well before, so it’s easier to judge.

Berhow: Buying J.T. Poston, who picked up his first major top 10 and has piled up a ton of really solid but not outstanding finishes this season. He’s close to winning more. Also buying Bryson. Selling Dustin Johnson and Michael Block.

Dethier: Buying Xander, as always — he’s back to underrated. Buying Rahm. And buying Davis Riley. Wondering what’s going on with JT at majors, though.

Hmmm.... Not like your humble blogger hasn't been saying this for three years now:

‘Not playing against best’: Brandel Chamblee blames LIV for Rahm, Bryson stumble

In addition to not, yanno, finishing, those LIVsters all seem to be in such fine spirits:

PGA Championship 2025: Shane Lowry unleashes F-bomb tirade, flips the bird on hole he wasn't granted free relief in fairway

PGA Championship 2025: Brooks Koepka invites heckler to ‘come down here and say it,’ continues the bad vibes at Quail Hollow

PGA contender suffers expletive-filled implosion at Quail Hollow

That last one deserves a spot in the header HOF due to it's use of the passive voice.  Apparently, the expletive-filled explosion is just something that happened to Tyrell Hatton, yanno, nothing over which he had agency.    

Obviously LIV Golf should come with a NSFW warning.

That's it for today, kids.  We'll catch up on further thoughts as the week unfolds.

Weekend Wrap - Seppsis Edition

I'll admit, a bit of an off-putting header but, as I caught bits and pieces of the denouement yesterday, it occurred to me that, of those in contention, there was only one guy with no discernable Q-rating, and of course that's who held on.

Scenes From The Cricket Club -  I'll lede by telling you that I made sure to see much of the coverage, just to grab a look at Philly Cricket Club, although most of my viewing was earlier in the week.  I thought the place looked spectacular, but unfortunately not a good fit for the modern elite game.  While it looked like a characteristically great course off the tee, with all sorts of interesting questions asked of players.  Alas, no questions for the best of the best, as they could carry most of the intricate bunkers that test mere mortals.  Maybe just a bit more on this below.

I'm not going to dive too deeply, but here's a refresher on the Austrian's path:

It wasn’t long ago that Sepp Straka was ranked outside the top 200 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He was searching. Searching for his first win, searching for consistency.

Straka decided to change some things after a 2021 calendar year that saw him miss 16 cuts and card just two top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour. Well, everything.

He switched to coach John Tillery early in 2022. Always known as an inconsistent bomber, Straka decided to throttle down a touch in the name of accuracy. Three months later, he won the 2022 Honda Classic.

That started Straka on a steady climb that continued Sunday, where he survived brutal nerves, some terrible shots and a loaded field to win the Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course by two shots over Shane Lowry and Justin Thomas.

The win, the fourth and biggest of Straka’s career, moves him into the top 10 in the OWGR and is the latest proof that the changes he made to his team and his mentality have paid off.

“Very grateful because it’s not just my hard work, my coaches …. the work that they put in day in and day out is very special, and it makes me — it makes it easier for me to go out and try to get better because I know that they’re doing everything they can to help me out,” Straka said Sunday night. “I think it’s just kind of a culmination of a lot of people putting a lot of work that’s gotten me to this point.”

A nice story and one assumes he'll have to play well for the Euros to have a chance at Bethpage.  When I looked at updated Ryder Cup standings he was shockingly low, though I did note that he would obviously be on the team, even if it required a captain's pick.  Here's at least a partial explanation of that:

There sat Rory McIlroy in a cart just off the practice putting green. The five-time major champion congratulated Straka and delivered a quick message to the Austrian.

“He told me at least this win counts for Ryder Cup points,” Straka, who joined McIlroy as the only multiple-time winner on the PGA Tour this year, said. “Really, really happy for that. I’ve been kind of behind in the points because of that win at [American Express], not counting [because it was opposite a Rolex Series Event]. “I knew that if I just kept playing good golf, I would have a chance to be there. I’m sure this will probably help me out with the rankings a lot. So very grateful, and hopefully I can keep the good play going and keep getting some more points.”

Of course Rory was there for his buddy Shane, who unfortunately recreated a couple of Rory's signature moves in coughing the event up.  And it was just on the golf course that he mimicked Rory's playbook:

Shane Lowry becomes the latest pro to blow off the media after a heartbreaking loss

 Classy.

The Tour Confidential panel was largely focused on Quail Hollow, but spared one query for this event and venue:

The Wissahickon Course at Philadelphia Cricket Club — a highly ranked A.W. Tillinghast design — hosted the Truist Championship (with Sepp Straka winning by two), which at just 7,100 yards was an obvious outlier to most PGA Tour stops. “These new renovated old-school courses, the strategy is just hit driver everywhere and then figure it out from there,” McIlroy said early in the week. With the evolution of the golf ball, equipment and professional athletes, the fear is Golden Age courses like this will become obsolete for pros. So, did this week help or hurt that assumption?

Hirsh: Don’t get me wrong, Wissahickon, a course I’ve played hundreds of times, showed out well this week and played much harder than I was expecting. But I think McIlroy said it best this week when he said the tough conditions Friday almost made the course play as it would with older equipment. I’ve been a ball roll-back proponent for a while. Cricket at 7,100 yards is a bear for most players — even the skilled membership who in the club championship do not play the course completely tipped out like it was this week. Let’s make 7,100 yards reasonable for the PGA Tour again. I think Cricket proved that Golden Age courses aren’t obsolete yet, while at the same time proving the need for the rollback.

Sens: I don’t doubt that grip-it-and-rip-it was the strategy this week. But with a few exceptions — Sawgrass, maybe, Riviera — isn’t that how pretty much all Tour venues play for these guys these days? Bomb and gouge is fairly standard. What a course like Philly Cricket lacks in distance it makes up for with interesting angles and features around the greens. Watching them face ticklish chips and putts on a cool course was a reminder that these types of designs are very much worth keeping in the rotation. I suspect it would have been even cooler without all the grain. We didn’t get to see the course at its firmest and fieriest.

Bastable: After Scheffler’s 31-under romp at TPC Craig Ranch a week earlier, Cricket looked like Oakmont. I loved it, and so did the players. More, please!

I think it showed great and did provide, with an assist to the weather, a reasonably proper test, including a winning score that started with a "1", not a "3".

Perhaps I'm going in the wrong order,  because this item includes a prescient query leading into the week:

As my colleague James Colgan wrote earlier this week, a perplexing question surrounded pro golf’s return to the Philadelphia area: Will what makes these old-school masterpieces special matter when facing today’s modern technology?

The answer form this week, absent weather, is largely "Hell no."  Firm and fast conditions would have helped, although those are not likely in early May.  But the deeper issue might be related to this specific design, because all of those spectacular fairway hazards were utterly irrelevant if you have a 325-yeard carry in your bag, which almost each and every one of them does.

Shall we let Rory connect the dots:

On Friday, with the wind blowing and the rain coming down, the PGA Tour’s best saw a different side of Philly Cricket Club. With the ball not flying nearly as far, McIlroy, a vocal proponent of rolling back the golf ball, better understood how Tillinghast’s creation was meant to be attacked.

“Absolutely. It’s a little more strategic,” McIlroy said after shooting a second-round three-under 67. “Even today, heavier air, rain, a bit of wind. I draw back on a few holes and then I hit driver on a couple. I think there’s a lot of debate about it, but if the golf ball just went a little shorter, this course would be awesome. Not that it isn’t awesome anyway, but right now, for the distances we hit it, it’s probably 500 or 600 yards too short.

“It would be amazing to be able to play courses like this the way the architect wanted you to play them.”

Allow the pros to play an interesting venue with hazards they can't carry?  Why start now?

The PGA Championship -  Your humble blogger is not a fan of Mr. Fazio or Quail Hollow, whose greatest contribution to the game has been allowing us to see Aronimink and Philly Cricket Club.

Let's see what the TC gang thinks should be discussed:

The PGA Championship, the second men’s major of the year, begins Thursday at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C. What’s the better potential outcome: Rory McIlroy winning to capture the first two of four legs of the season Grand Slam, or Jordan Spieth winning to complete his career Grand Slam?

Jack Hirsh: Spieth, just because him winning the career Grand Slam is far more likely than

anyone ever winning a single-season slam. If the Masters winner is one of the top-10 players in the world, then he is always the favorite or near-favorite for the next major (the PGA). Spieth has just started to get his game in order with two top-5s this season and a string of top-20s going back to the beginning of April that he just narrowly missed extending this week. He’s going to be part of the conversation at the PGA Championship every year until he wins it or retires — and this year, he’s trending enough to be a serious factor. As for McIlroy and the single-year slam, we can talk about this at Oakmont if he wins the PGA.

Josh Sens: Agree with Jack. If McIlroy wins next week, we can start with the season Grand Slam hype. Spieth would be the better story, especially given how long he’s been trying to regain his form. The problem with that narrative is that it belongs in the “fantasy” section of the bookstore. It’s not going to happen. Too many other top guys are playing too well while Spieth continues to search.

Alan Bastable: Was a bummer to see Spieth lose some of his sheen at the Cricket Club after playing so well at the Nelson. Would have been electric to have him, Rory, Scottie and Bryson — aka the men’s game four biggest needle-movers, non-Tiger Division — all rolling into Charlotte in peak or near-peak form. Still, we’ve seen far more positives than negatives from Spieth this year. [whispers] Maybe his wrist is finally better. Exciting week ahead!

The fantasy section was a good reference, but perhaps it's more the fantasy section's remainder bin....

I just don't think much of Jordan's game these days.  He'll throw up some good stuff and he's held things together a little better lately, but ultimately he's hit a crazy wild shot and post a triple.... or three

With McIlroy in form and Scottie Scheffler coming off a record-breaking win in Texas, are you taking the duo of McIlroy and Scheffler to win at Quail Hollow, or the field?

Hirsh: Nah, I’ll take the field. I think there’s just too much parity in the sport right now. McIlroy definitely didn’t have his best stuff in Philadelphia this past week, and while Scheffler dominated in Houston, that was no major championship by any means.

Sens: Yeah. Those two guys will rightly be the favorite but better odds go to the field. DeChambeau. Schauffele. Thomas. The list goes on of others who could win.

Bastable: I’m here only for Michael Block prop bets (he’s back in the field, folks!). But if we must ponder other wagers, yes, I, too, would take the field. At the Masters, I would have happily taken Rory and Scheffler vs. everyone else, but PGA feels like more of an unknown, even if the tourney is visiting a course the players know well and at which McIlroy has excelled. That said, if you gave me Rory, Scottie and Bryson…

Is Rory in form?  I don't actually think so, and his post-Masters performance supports my case.  Am I the only one expecting a post-Masters letdown for him?  you always take the field, but were I to risk actual money, it would be on Scheffler.

Whose game is trending (and whose is fading) since the Masters?

Hirsh: Justin Thomas has to be one of the hottest players in the game right now, having broken his win drought and then giving it a real run again at the Truist. Max Homa also has seemed to find something. He was T12 at the Masters and had another good showing at Cricket, despite being the last player on the range each day.

As for someone fading, it might be Collin Morikawa. He was T12 at the Masters after notching two runner-ups early in the year but has finished T54-MC (the MC coming at the Zurich team event) and fizzled this past week after an opening 63 with a 70-72 showing on Friday and Saturday. He’s been one of the straightest drivers on Tour, but made an interesting driver change this week as well as testing out a mallet putter in the two starts after the Masters.

Sens. Jack took the words out of my keyboard. Thomas trending; Morikawa not. But this week in Philly also gave us a glimpse of Cameron Young rising up the leaderboard. He’s a streaky player who we haven’t seen much from of late. Maybe the Truist was a sign of more to come.

Bastable: Shane Lowry, his tough finish at the Cricket Club aside, has been on a heater this year, contending nearly every time he tees it up; he has eight top-20s in 11 starts. Tommy Lad is also on the move. After a T21 at the Masters, he finished 7th at Harbour Town followed by a 4th-place finish this week in Philly. Ludvig Aberg has been quiet since winning the Genesis at Torrey. In his six starts since, he has just one top-20 finish (7th at the Masters) and two missed cuts. Of the players who finished the Truist, Aberg outplayed just seven of them.

Wait, I'm going to need a moment to compose myself after all those howlers.....But you make the call as to which is funnier.

Citing Max Homa after a T30 in a limited field event, meaning he beat maybe forty guys is quite exhibition of projection, though Alan Bastable makes such a compelling case.  he's unable to choose between Shane Lowry, after watching how tight the collar got playing with the lead, and Tommy-Lad, a stylish player whose career is defined by not winning anything anywhere ever.  Hmmm, that is truly a tough call.

What’s one other PGA storyline worth monitoring that’s not generating enough buzz?

Hirsh: I’m not sure this fits the question, but I’m going to use this platform to advocate that majors should not be played at regular Tour venues. The only exceptions should be for Pebble Beach and Riviera, which are two of the best courses in the world. Quail Hollow, while effective at producing good champions and compelling leaderboards, is not a world-beater. Why should we be playing one of the game’s four biggest events at a course we see every year when majors are supposed to provide a different challenge? We should be getting to see something new every year.

Sens: Like him or not, almost every time he’s been in a major since jumping to LIV, Bryson DeChambeau has been an exciting part of the story. Lots of Scottie, Rory, Spieth and Thomas talk for now. But I’m banking on Bryson having a say about that.

Bastable: Blockie! Our guy’s playing in his fourth-straight PGA. That’s no small feat.

I completely agree with Jack Hirsh, though I did have that minor rebuttal above.  Quail to me is a dreadful major venue, both because it's a regular Tour venue as well as the fact that it, yanno, sucks.  But, we got to see two Golden Age gems when they had to go elsewhere, and they're taking the PGA Championship to one of them next year.

Since all eyes will be on Jordan, Geoff has a Quad post up analyzing his chances:

Jordan Spieth could gain entry into Career Grand Slam G&CC just 36 days after Rory McIlroy accomplished the feat. Two golfers in just over a month after a 25-year wait list to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods? Are we, as fans, worthy of so much history in so little time?

McIlroy had ten prior cracks while on the waiting list and Spieth arrives at Quail Hollow taking his ninth try at winning each of The Masters, U.S. Open, The Open and the PGA. The sports and even non-sports world can grasp the difficulties and oddities of mastering four different disciplines as they can with the tennis CGS. Having eluded some of greatest ever also makes it easy to understand: Walter Hagen (no Masters in his prime), Sam Snead (the U.S. Open eluded him), Byron Nelson (only played The Open twice), Arnold Palmer (no PGA), Tom Watson (no PGA), and self-described- billionaire-turned-social media addict Phil Mickelson (no U.S. Open).

Quail Hollow’s long and lush presentation seems like Spieth’s least appetizing opportunity with his well-stated preference to play firm, fast, and windy golf that rewards creativity and precision iron play. Monday’s forecast of over an inch of rain won’t help. Next year he gets to tackle Donald Ross greens at Aronimink before the PGA comes to a new Gil Hanse design in greater Dallas. Spieth can exploit his residency to learn a Frisco course that might be more up his alley.

Long and lush for a guy recovering from a \wrist injury?  For a guy that hits it more than a little crooked off the tee?  

But as Geoff goes on he provides a little more encouragement for Jordan:

Spieth’s limited track record in prior events at Quail Hollow—excluding match play in the 2022 Presidents Cup—means he and wife Annie will be naming their third child “Quail” (beats Hollow though):

• 2013 - T32 (69-71-75-73)

• 2017 - PGA T28 (72-73-71-70

• 2022 - Presidents Cup: 5-0-0 (4-0 in matches paired w/ Justin Thomas)

• 2023 - MC (72-77)

• 2024 - T29 (69-71-76-70)

At 7,626 yards, Quail Hollow looks like a bad fit on paper. But 7,600+ isn’t long anymore, and he’s averaging 304.5 off the tee this year, which is more than enough firepower to get around the property. The 2017 PGA winner and three runners-up all ranked inside the top 20 approaching the green and putting. Spieth has rebounded in both categories this year, with his approach play leap the most encouraging sign of improving health. He’s gone from 138th in Strokes Gained Approach last year to 48th in 2025, with especially noticeable gains inside 150 yards boosting his number (even though his overall proximity average has remained the same).

Quail’s greens are big but have plenty going on, meaning the week will again call on putting prowess more than bombing and gouging. Or so we hope. Every player is significantly longer in the eight years since the Charlotte club last hosted and an increasing number rely on someone who tells them the numbers reward length over accuracy without regard for the stress caused by the approach. Spieth’s still not been great from the rough this year (145th SG), but Quail Hollow’s thick stuff is expected to be topped off at a modest 2.75”. Plus, he’ll be fighting through predominantly rye instead of illaqueable bermuda.

Not over the moon at Jordan's chances, and isn't his running mate JT the far better play?

Don't get me wrong, the guy everyone will be watching is Scottie.

Unfortunately, that will have to suffice for today, and that's not the last of the bad news on the blogging front.  Employee No. 2 and I are off to West Coast later this week to visit her family.  We d return on Sunday, so I expect that the next you'll see me is to wrap the PGA Championship on next Monday.  Have a great week.

Midweek Musings - Bonus Edition

I try to give a roadmap to my blogging so you'll know when to check the site, but things change.  In this case, we've moved the Wednesday Game™ to the afternoon, freeing up my morning.  Win-win, baby!

Monday Finish - That's Dylan Dethier's weekly feature, from which I shall pluck the gems of interest to me, necessarily entailing some jumping from topic to topic.  We'll begin where Dylan begins, and I'll beg forgiveness for the long excerpt:

Remember after the Masters, when Bryson DeChambeau said that Rory McIlroy, his playing partner in Sunday’s final tee time, hadn’t talked to him at all? I thought the “controversy” from

that interview clip was silly; fair play by McIlroy, who was locking in, and also good on DeChambeau for just answering the question honestly after a long, frustrating day. Still, it was a revealing answer, and a reminder of the ways in which these two titans of the modern game are distinctly different, in both approach and personality. DeChambeau is the YouTube entertainer chasing engagement, while McIlroy is the old-school competitor chasing history. (That’s a wild oversimplification, of course.)

But where did McIlroy learn to stay in his own zone — and has he always been this way? Let’s rewind.

A bunch of people on [gestures broadly] the internet wisely pointed out that this is hardly the first time one pro has stonewalled the other in the final round of a big-time event. One recent and particularly high-profile case: Tiger Woods in the 2019 Masters, en route to one of the most incredible major wins in golf history. Tony Finau has now told the story a couple times, including here on Subpar, about their first and last exchange of that round, which came as they walked off the tee together at No. 7:

Finau: “Hey Tiger, how are the kids?

Woods: “They’re doing fine.”

And that was it. Finau got the message.

“The next time we spoke was when I congratulated him on winning the green jacket,” he said.

Sound familiar? Where it gets interesting is if we rewind two weeks further. The Tiger-trackers among you may recall that in early 2019, Woods showed signs of serious form at the WGC-Match Play, where he advanced through pool play to make it through to the round of 16, where he faced [drum roll] Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy was in stellar form at the time; he was coming off a Players Championship win and a string of top-six finishes. Woods and McIlroy had become friendlier in the preceding years, spending time together on Tour as well as at home in Florida. But here was an alpha-dog showdown, mid-comeback Tiger against mid-flight Rory. How did the dynamic play out on course between two of golf’s modern greats? Here’s how the New York Times described the day:

“McIlroy tried to draw Woods into casual conversation early in the match only to have his attempts peter out like short putts,” wrote Karen Crouse. She described Woods as “a dispassionate adversary intent on making putts, not conversation.” In other words, back in 2019 McIlroy was the one who got rebuffed and got the message, the would-be talker rather than the tunnel-vision stoic. The story described a lengthy wait on the 5th tee where the two just killed time and didn’t talk at all.

Woods wound up a 2-and-1 winner, sending McIlroy home early. Later, McIlroy corroborated Crouse’s report as part of his epic interview series with Paul Kimmage of the Irish Independent:

“Tony Finau told a similar story … about Augusta,” McIlroy said. “So, same sort of thing.” In the context of the scorpion vs. the frog, McIlroy described Woods as “majority scorpion”, while “my natural tendency is to be the frog”.

You know how the next several years went for McIlroy at majors: close call after close all, each one heartbreakingly closer than the last. After one such near-miss at the 2023 U.S. Open he said he’d “go through 100 Sundays like this” to win his next major — and that it would be that much sweeter when he did.

And then came this Masters Sunday, April 13, 2025, where McIlroy made some shocking mistakes but hit just enough preposterous shots to win the craziest tournament anybody could remember. It’s impossible to know how to tally the X-factors involved, but maybe, just maybe, ripping a page from Woods’ book and shutting out DeChambeau plus the rest of the world gave him the tiniest edge he needed to finally get over the line.

I didn't realize there was a sequel to Mean Girls.  None of this matters, folks.  Tony didn't dump his tee shot on No. 12 into the water because Tiger didn't respond expansively about his kids, and even Bryson wasn't implying that it mattered, yet somehow it's supposed to matter?  Even if they were chatty, that would happen early in the day and as the round intensified it would get quieter and quieter....

If it helped Rory stay focused, I can accept it to that extent.  But there's an implication that the quiet treatment affected playing partners, and that to me is quite the stretch.  To the extent that any of them were affected by the silent treatment, that just means they weren't going to win anyway.

This is an amusing factoid:

One last crazy connection: Before Tiger won the Masters in 2019 he hadn’t won a major in 10 years, 304 days. That’s almost identical to Rory, who entered this year’s Masters Sunday without a major win in 10 years, 249 days. No, Rory isn’t Tiger; we’re not so swept up in the moment to make that declaration. But as of April 13 they are the only two guys to win the career grand slam in the last 50 years. And to think that Rory won the Masters while leaning on a lesson he’d learned from Tiger Woods himself, his childhood hero, six years ago?! I think that’s pretty cool.

Amusing and ironic, but for completely different reasons.

This caught my eye:

Bryson DeChambeau won LIV’s event in South Korea, fending off Charles Howell III — his Crushers teammate — with a furious finish; he holed a 50-footer for birdie at No. 17 and birdied 18 as part of a six under par back nine. It’s DeChambeau’s first win on LIV since 2023, although he’d held 36-hole leads at the league’s two most recent events. (DeChambeau’s Crushers also won the team title.) He also led the Masters through two holes on Sunday, making this close-out a bit more satisfying.

“I feel like I’ve been playing some great golf, but I just haven’t gotten the job done,” DeChambeau said. “That was a lot of tension. Just glad I was able to step up to the plate and get it done.”

Who cares, right?  But as God as my witness, not only didn't I know that Chucky Three-Sticks was still a professional golfer.  Let's just say that it's been quite some time since that name has crossed my field of vision...

This bit just made laugh because, well, Maxfli:

1. Last week’s Zurich Classic wasn’t just a massive win for co-champions Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak — it was the first Tour victory for reinvented golf-ball brand Maxfli. Our Jack Hirsh has the story of a 22-year win gap, plus what’s next.

If you're gonna revive the Maxfli brand, isn't Pinnacle next?

RYDER CUP WATCH

Spieth?!

With all due respect to third-place finisher Sam Stevens, this was a notably strong week for the Ryder Cup cases of Jordan Spieth and Sam Burns, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Spieth has been posting a series of strong results; he has six top-20s, three top-10s and now two top-fives in 2025.

Burns played well to finish 2024 but struggled earlier this year, including three missed cuts in a row beginning in March. But his T13 at Hilton Head combined with this fifth is promising.

One encouraging number for both players: strong strokes gained numbers with their irons. Spieth gained 2.13 strokes on the field on approach, while Burns gained 2.56.

Dylan, I believe you're falling into a trap that catches many folks.  The correlation between performance and captain's picks is far more tenuous than you perhaps realize.  I expect Sam Burns to be on the team, but I believe he will be selected for the wrong reason, to wit, that he's Scottie's BFF.

To this observer, the most important aspect of Dylan's column gets buried by that long Tiger-Rory dissertation, though I'll segue into with this from a Golf Digest piece:

Or have the Signature Events, particularly this season, actually been good? Look no further than the last two, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the RBC Heritage, which both delivered on the entertainment front. Strong leader boards, strong winners, strong ratings. But are they really all that different from LIV events, which get a ton of hate for their small, top-heavy fields and exorbitant purses?

You know what else they remind of?  Those WGCs that died an ignominious death.....  I couldn't resist that LIV reference, but here are the source comments from Erik Van Rooyen:

He was also thrilled to have played in way into next week’s Truist Championship, a Signature Event on Tour. But he didn’t mince words when it came to describing his feelings on the new limited-field structure of those events.

“How honest do you want me to be? I hate it,” he said, to laughter. “I strongly believe that the strongest fields are the ones with the most players in them. The guys on the PGA Tour are so good. It’s so deep. I get that you’ve got the Scotties of the world, the Rorys of the world, and people want to see them, it’s entertaining. But like, the PGA Championship coming up, for example. I think it’s the strongest field in the game, similar to the Players. I love competing, so selfishly I want to compete against those guys. Again, really proud of playing my way into it.”

Van Rooyen clarified that being able to play your way in is “100 percent a good thing,” and he sang the praises of the Tour’s meritocracy. He’d just draw things up a little differently. In the meantime, he’ll change his own plans instead.

“I’ve got my wife and kids here as well. I guess we’ll all just go to Philly and go to Quail [Hollow, for the PGA Championship] the week after.”

I encourage you to read that second 'graph over again, as i can only concluded that he must a closet reader of Unplayable Lies.

Compare and contrast the differing views of golf.  Van Rooyen (and your humble blogger) believe that the best events should have the best fields.  The PGA Tour seems to believe that the only way to grow the game is to ensure that Cantlay gets paid..... 

One last point before I move on.  That event Van Rooyen played himse4lf into is going to be special.  Quail Hollow is one of my least favorite venues on Tour, so you can imagine my excitement at the PGA of America taking their flagship championship there.  But there is one benefit, to wit, that regular Tour stop invariably moves to a far more interesting venue.  In the past this has allowed us a glimpse of  Aronimink, the Donald Ross gem outside of Philly.  This year we have another treat, as they're going to the Philadelphia Cricket Club, specifically the Tillinghast Wissahickon Course, which was faithfully restored recently by architect Keith Foster.  

It's insane to schedule Signature Events the weeks before and after majors, yet they do it, thereby diminishing their own events.  At least in this case they've given us one reason to tune in, the golf course.

LIV v. PGA - Just a snapshot of one week, but...

A gnarly storm in the New Orleans area, home of the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic, was to thank for LIV’s open waters, along with a longer-than-expected blackout at the broadcast compound affecting both CBS and Golf Channel.

By the time the PGA Tour came back on air after a 2-hour delay around 5 p.m., many of LIV’s more vocal social media supporters were giddy. This was the moment they’d been waiting for — a real opportunity to showcase LIV’s competitive product…and maybe even steal some viewership from the PGA Tour.

So, how’d it look?

Spoiler alert, pretty much like it always does:

THE RESULTS ARE IN…

LIV clocked in at 110,000 average viewers on FS1 for Niemann’s victory in Mexico. The PGA Tour delivered 1.63 million average viewers on CBS in roughly the same timeslot.

Of course, there’s a zillion different caveats available here, including that LIV’s broadcast aired on cable while the PGA Tour’s aired on a national over-the-air network, and that LIV aired the final round of a very compelling tournament for much of Sunday while the PGA Tour spent a good chunk of its telecast airing last year’s competition due to technical difficulties and weather delays.

LIV, still a train wreck....  though maybe that's unfair because people can't take their eyes off a train wreck, because they seem to have little difficulty taking them off LIV.

Udder Stuff - This header is just a reminder that one of may favorite golf events of the year is coming up:

Meet the teams, individuals who advanced to the 2025 NCAA Div. I Women's Golf Championship

The NCAAs are great mostly because of their embrace of team match play. The ladies start next week, the men come the week after.

Scenes from Scotland, first the good:

Excavations at site of new Tom Doak golf course site in Scotland nets prehistoric findings

Artifacts spanning thousands of years have been uncovered during work on a new golf course in

the Scottish Highlands.

Traces of ancient dwellings, a ceremonial circle and a wheel which belonged to a Bronze Age chariot have been among the "properly exceptional" finds revealed during the construction of the Old Petty Championship Golf Course at Cabot Highlands, near Inverness.

Excavations were conducted by Avon Archaeology Highland across the site, which covers 50 hectares, during its construction phase.

These revealed at least 25 prehistoric wooden buildings, alongside relics such as flint tools, quern stones, and the rare prehistoric chariot wheel.

Other discoveries include remnants of Neolithic wooden buildings, a 3,500-year-old Bronze Age cremation urn and evidence for medieval field systems and grain-drying kilns, adding to Scotland’s rich and layered history.

Castle Stuart is a wonderful new links built on a spectacular site overlooking the Moray Firth.  But mostly this a reminder to myself that the bride and I will be in the Scottish Highlands in a couple of months, which brings a big smile to your humble blogger's face.

Much as I romanticize the place, Scotland has gone down a political rabbit hole and suffers from all the ills of contemporary society:

Gang of e-bike vandals destroy 136-year-old muni golf course in Scotland

Unfortunately, on Friday 136-year-old Braid Hills Golf Course in Edinburgh, Scotland was vandalized by a gang of nearly 15 e-bikers in broad daylight. Head greenskeeper Gary Rodgers shared the following footage (and its aftermath) to X, calling the incident “absolutely heartbreaking.”

As Bunkered reports, this has become something of an epidemic in the UK, with vandals damaging all 18 greens at Bootle Golf Course, a similarly accessible community golf course in Merseyside, last week. A commenter from another course near Braid Hills also posted, “They are ripping us up to. They are hard to catch!”

 What a world we live in.  Any guesses as to the punishment?  

That will be it for today.  there is golf Friday morning, so I expect I'll see you again to wrap things on Monday morning.  Have a great weekend.

Weekend Wrap - Nailbiter Edition

That was quite the dramatic finish at TPC Craig Ranch, eh?  

It's still zero dark thirty as I hunt and peck, but I'm already on the clock....  And the next few days aren't any better.  This will be a somewhat cursory post and, absent rain on Wednesday, any catch-up will have to wait until Thursday.

I caught a bit of the coronation, after that desultory Yankee game came to a merciful conclusion.  That minor hiccup at the end reminded me of Jordan Spieth finishing off his 2015 Masters win, where he needed to par the finisher to eclipse Tiger's scoring record, yet ended up settling for a par.

Shack has a post up with one of his all-encompassing summaries of statistical dominance:

In capturing his 14th Tour title, the 28-year-old Scheffler put on a statistical performance for the ages:

• 1st in Proximity (28’1”)

• 1st in Total Birdies (29)
  

• 1st in Par Breakers (44%)

• 1st in 3-Putt Avoidance (0)

• 1st in Putting Average (1.52)

• 1st in SG: Approach (+3.203)

• 1st in SG: Tee-to-Green (+4.243)

• 1st in Greens in Regulations (82%)

• 1st in Par 3 Scoring Average (2.69)

• 1st in Par 4 Scoring Average (3.73)

• 1st in Par 5 Scoring Average (3.83)

• 1st in Putting From 3-6 Feet (56/56)

• 1st in Strokes Gained: Approaching the Green (12.811) 😵‍💫

• 1st in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (16.972)

So, how'd he do in the Miss Congeniality voting? 

That photo is about as golfy as anything you'll find, a six-year old Scottie with Lord Byron.  Though aren't you dying to see that six-year old's footwork?

What obviously added poignancy to the week was the winner's ties to the event, one that I'm a bit surprised and pleased to see has thus far survived:

Armed with a framed version of the photo, CBS’s Amanda Balionis attempted to tee up Scheffler

for something nice to say about that moment when he met a certified First Team all-time legend of the sport. It didn’t yield much.

“He's a great man,” Scheffler said while holding his son. “He was great for the game of golf. He was a great person, a family man, and I'm proud to be the champion at his event.”

After the round, he admitted his memory is not the best but gave a better answer.

“When I think about this tournament, I think about Mr. Nelson,” Scheffler said. “I think about what he did for the game of golf. He was a man of faith, and he was a great person as well off the golf course. He was a person that I've read a lot about. I've had the opportunity to meet him a few times when I was a kid, and I know a lot about him. He was a tremendous player and a tremendous person. So we look up to him in a variety of ways. I'm proud to be here supporting his tournament and his legacy.”

Scheffler also brought some much-needed emotion to what was otherwise a blowout win and a lackluster event.

“When I think about this tournament, I think about a lot of different stuff,” he said. “I grew up coming to watch it. This was my first start on the PGA Tour when I was in high school. The girl I was dating at the time is now my wife. We have one son. My sister was caddying for me at the time. She was here today. She has two kids.

Back in the Los Colinas days I thought this event couldn't possibly survive, not least because the kids wouldn't even know who Byron was.  What we see in that priceless photo above, though, is the last actual connection to Nelson, which only works because Scottie is a local boy.  Nelson was far greater and of far greater importance than is apparent from his playing records, his seemingly min\or haul of five majors, mostly because Byron only played until he had set aside enough money to buy that farm for Peggy and himself.  After that he retired early and dusted off his clubs 3-4 times a year, still a force, but a semi-retired force.   

You'll not be shocked to know that I hate the new name of the event, the CJ Cup Byron Nelson something-or-other, though I've evolved to begrudging acceptance.  Because the event would have died absent such a move, and at least a new generation of players might, who am I kidding, be sufficiently curious to investigate who Byron Nelson was.   Those that go to that effort will be rewarded, though we know how the current generation feels about dead white guys.

At this juncture I'm going to riff on this week's Tour Confidential panel, and then start hacking away at the pile of papers on my desk.  Though I haven't even looked at it, so we'll see how it goes:

Scottie Scheffler dominated the CJ Cup Bryson Nelson, closing with a third round of 63 or better to win by eight over Erik Van Rooyen. It was Scheffler’s first win in 2025, following his epic 2024 season of nine wins. So… what took so long?!

Josh Sens: First, a tragic ravioli-making incident that sidelined him for a spell. Then a run-in with the reality that winning is hard and often comes with the tiniest margins. Scheffler now has nine starts this year and this to show for it: a win, a runner up, five top 10s and not a single missed cut. What a slacker.

Sean Zak: Other people got in the way. Rory McIlroy, for one. Justin Thomas being another. Scheffler was probably 85% as good this year as he was last year — and that 15% is just enough to let one or two other guys have their best week. It’s just a numbers game, but the numbers he put up this week should scare the rest of the field, McIlroy included.

Josh Schrock: A little bit of rust and good play from Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and others kept Scheffler out of the winner’s circle. Before the Masters, Scheffler admitted that the ravioli injury set him back a little and that while he was pain-free, his hand still needed to be strengthened, which led to un-Scheffler-like ball-striking. It was only a matter of time.

Fair enough, though I couldn't have been the only one to wonder whether the hand injury was a long-term issue, though it only takes one week at -31 to dispel those concerns.  Given Rory and JT's track record at Quail Hollow, the forthcoming PGA Championship tees up to be pretty intriguing.  But if we assume that those three guys are hitting on all cylinders, I like that Scheffler guy.

The win is Scheffler’s first in nine starts this season; he had four in 10 starts at this point last year, on his way to seven. What side of the fence are you on: that this is the first step of another scorching Scheffler summer? Or is last year’s total too unrealistic to match?

Sens: I think we can fairly expect a scorching summer from Scheffler. But yeah, last year’s total was so outlandish, I don’t see him matching it, which doesn’t mean he might not also win Player of the Year for the third season in a row. Lots of golf left.

Zak: Yes, I think this pops the top off. I think he wins three more times this summer, at least one of those in a major. Last year’s total is too unrealistic to match, but who cares?

Schrock: Is he going to win six more times this year? Probably not. But I fully expect him to knock off a few more and win the first non-Masters major of his career. Put him down for Oakmont, a title defense at the Travelers and at least one playoff event.

I'm not as blown away by Scottie's 2024, because I fixate on those tiny field sizes.  Of all those wins, only the Players Championship had what I consider a full field, so there's that.  

But the whole in his resume is non-Augusta majors, so isn't that really the question for the remainder of 2025?  You'd think he'd pick off one or more, no?

Also victorious this week was Bryson DeChambeau, who won LIV Golf Korea for his first of the year. With the PGA Championship just two weeks away, who needed this first victory more, Bryson or Scottie?

Sens: Hard to say that either really “needed” a win. But I’d give the nod to Scheffler. He had some close calls and uncharacteristic stumbles — to the point where he showed some very outward signs of frustration, and even borderline snippy-ness in some of his exchanges with the press. For a guy as at peace with himself as Scheffler, I guess you could say that the dry spell had begun to eat at him a bit.

Zak: I think it’s Bryson. He had let wins slip a few times recently on LIV. And he kinda let the Masters slip, too. So starting the day with a lead and shutting the door was good to see. You can bet he thinks his best is still better than Scheffler’s.

Schrock: It’s definitely Bryson. He held the 36-hole lead in Miami and got run down by Marc Leishman. He scored well through three rounds at Augusta and somehow held an early Sunday lead before iron play nuked his chances to win. He held the 36-hole lead last week in Mexico but lost to Joaquin Niemann. If he had lost to Richard Bland or Charles Howell III, I think the confidence would have taken a hit heading into Quail Hollow. Scottie could have finished T10 this week, and my opinion of him wouldn’t have changed. Had Bryson blown a four-stroke lead in Korea, I’d be down on his chances in two weeks. As it stands, I think he’s the best [only?] chance at a person not named Scottie or Rory winning at Quail.

OK, silly bit... The wins were no doubt useful to both, but only needed in the sense that the same could be said for every guy out there.  I'm more focused on how well the PGA sets up.

They've got a couple more bits that I'll throw up just because it's so effortless:

Brandt Snedeker (USA) and Geoff Ogilvy (International) were announced as Presidents Cup captains for the September 2026 event at Medinah Country Club outside of Chicago. Like the picks? And why might Ogilvy be the guy to end the International squad’s drought?

Sens: Sure. Both likable players who have been around long enough to earn their peers’ respect

on and off the course. Could Ogilvy be the guy? Maybe. He’s got a great match-play record, including two wins at the WGC Championship. But ultimately, I think the influence of captains gets overstated in these events. The captains don’t hit shots or stroke putts. Pep talks and strategic pairings only go so far. In the end, it comes down to the players. And no matter how you shuffle things, the U.S. still has the stronger team.

Zak: I think we are seeing the result of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both not being available to captain right now. This era of teams was supposed to be led by them, and neither are anywhere near assuming that position. So, we get Keegan at the Ryder Cup — which his own play may negate — and a non-major-winner but overall “good guy” in Snedeker. Is that enough? Does it matter? I’m not sure it does. But something tells me Ogilvy will do a good job (in defeat) and then retain the position for the next Prez Cup, in his homeland, at Kingston Heath.

Schrock: I like the picks. I’m not sure how much they matter. If the U.S. is going to continue to trot out six of the top 10 players in the world every two years, the International side probably doesn’t have much of a chance. I don’t think Ogilvy leads them to victory in 2026, but perhaps in 2028 when they play in Australia.

All good stuff, but as we head into the heart of major season and eagerly anticipate Bethpage, I find myself without any bandwidth to contemplate the Prez Cup.

I guess I've allowed Prez Cup venue announcements to slip by, but Medinah?  That's what this struggling event needs, is for the 2026 iteration to include all those sepia-toned memories of....wait for it, the 2012 Ryder Cup.

There are only two words in all the above that mattered to me, and those were "Kingston Heath".  That's worth waiting for.....

World No. 4 Collin Morikawa has replaced long-time caddie J.J. Jakovac for Joe Greiner, who used to be with Max Homa and who recently won as a fill-in with Justin Thomas at the RBC Heritage. Morikawa has played well lately but is still winless since the fall of 2023. How much influence can a new caddie have? A little or a lot?

Sens: A lot, especially in the short run. Sometimes, it’s just the psychological shift that comes with making a change. I don’t mean to dehumanize the player-caddie relationship, but I think there’s an analogy to be made with the seeming magic of swapping out a putter and suddenly draining every putt you look at. You start feeling better, the confidence builds and a positive feedback loop kicks in. For the benefits to endure long term, though, there’s got to be more to the dynamic than just that sudden sugar rush.

Zak: A new caddie can have a ton of influence … in either direction. That’s why there are so few changes! Because bringing a new person into that walking, walking and gawking is a vibe-shift that players will notice. From the way Morikawa explained it, it sounds like that’s what he was seeking — a vibe-shift. Possibly during contention the most.

Schrock: The vibe-shift might help Morikawa get over the hump if he immediately puts himself back in contention. He hasn’t been playing bad, but when things feel off, it’s time to change things up. If getting Greiner on the bag helps give him a different Sunday feel when he’s in contention, then the move was worth it, but in the end it’s on Morikawa to execute the shots down the stretch when he’s under pressure.

No one really knows, which is why it's an interesting subject.  Though, for those that have listened to me rant about Harry Diamond all these years, I'm typically more amused by the caddies that inexplicably retain their jobs.

With my eye on the exit, I'll just leave you with this adorable father-daughter bit:

Daughter Poppy’s uncomfortable question during Masters week after attending the day care provided to player families: “So they did this kid’s photo one day, and they all got these Augusta National T-shirts. On the back of them was a list of all the past winners up until 2024. Poppy came up to me one day and said, ‘Dada, why is your name not on the back of the T-shirt?' When I won I came back and said ‘Poppy, my name is going to be on the back of the T-shirt.’”

Sweet, though one feels they were intentionally tweaking Rory....

That will have to suffice for today.  We'll meet again down the road.... 

Thursday Threads - Slow News Cycle Edition

I've been planning Thursday as a blogging morning, but that gosh darn news cycle isn't cooperating..... This might not take long....

Chevron Memories - The Tour that couldn't shoot straight continues to flounder.  While it's hard to contemplate a major commercial entity like Chevron being a negative, but when it locks you into a bad calendar slot at a dreary venue, how is it helpful?

Unsurprisingly, viewership wasn't great, although not as big a drop as I would have expected:

Chevron Championship: NBC averaged 811,000 viewers for Sunday's final round, which saw Mao Saigo come out of a five-way playoff.

Prior two years were 936,000 (Nelly Korda) and 941,000 (Lilia Vu). pic.twitter.com/oRhmKpP5WL

— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) April 29, 2025

At this juncture, there are maybe two players that can bring eyeballs to the living room TV.  Given the absence of anyone named Nelly or Lydia from said leaderboard, these bad but not dreadful numbers will likely come as a relief.

The header to Dylan Dethier's Monday Finish column includes a reference to major championship golf getting weird, and he pays that off by listing the entire sequence of weirdness on the 18th hole at the Chevron.  It's lengthy, but I've already tipped my hand that I need filler:

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Eyes on the prize.

Here are a few things that happened on or around the 18th green in the final hour of play on Sunday at the Chevron, the first women’s major of the year:

–Ariya Jutanugarn, needing birdie to definitely win and par to likely win, whiffed a chip from behind the 18th green and wound up making bogey.

–Haeran Ryu took several minutes to play from the fairway, took an extra club, nuked one into the grandstand, took several more minutes to figure out a drop — and then chipped in for eagle.

-Several pros got up and down from around the grandstand and made birdie to tie the lead.

-Five women finished at 7-under par, setting up a mega-playoff.

–Ronni Yin hit a sensational fairway-wood approach in the playoff, setting up a good look at eagle — and then three-putted.

-Jutanugarn missed a short putt for birdie when it horseshoed around the hole and out.

The last woman standing was Japan’s Mao Saigo, the 23-year-old rising star from Japan, who made birdie to get into the playoff, was the only player to make birdie in the playoff and walked off a winner.

That’s when things went from strange to downright scary. Saigo took the traditional winner’s jump into Poppie’s Pond — but soon was grabbing onto her caddie, Jeffrey Snow, for help.

“I’m not really a good swimmer. When I went inside, it was deep and at first I thought I was going to drown,” she said in her winner’s press conference. Yikes!

Beth Ann Nichols tracked down the details, reinforcing that a good caddie is there for their player when they need it; credit to Snow for going 19 holes on Sunday and pulling off his most crucial carry post-round. Let’s just say we’re impressed with Saigo’s two clutch birdie putts and not dwell too much on what would have been. A warm robe, some drama and a sense of relief — that’s golf stuff I like.

Perhaps only an actual drowning could have provided a fitting ending for that sequence of events.

While I understand Dylan's embrace of chaos, is this really golf stuff we like?  Or, asked a different way, do we think the ladies put on a good show?  Because I think it was major squandered opportunity, one in which their product was largely unwatchable.

I like women's golf and I want it to succeed, but often it seems me that they don't understand their product and its appeal.  The good news is that more folks than expected tuned in.  The nagging question the lades should be asking themselves is whether they liked what they saw.

Mixed Golf - Olympic Update - This tab as admittedly been open for a while, but it's an obvious segue from the above musing about women's golf:

International Golf Federation announces format for mixed-team competition at 2028 Olympics

Do tell:

The International Golf Federation confirmed the IOC's addition of a mixed-team event, which will debut at the Riviera in 2028. It will take place after the men's competition and before the women's, with all of them taking place at Riviera Country Club.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to see a Mixed-Team Event added to the program for Los Angeles 2028,” IGF Executive Director Antony Scanlon said in a release. “Golf was incredibly successful at Paris 2024, and as we continue building on the momentum from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, we’re excited to bring even more attention to our sport through this additional format. The athletes were very enthusiastic about their desire to play with their compatriots, and we look forward to watching them compete together in Los Angeles.”

The mixed-team event will be contested as a 36-hole competition featuring 18 holes of foursomes (alternate shot) for the first round, followed by 18 holes of four-ball (best ball) for the final round.

Sounds promising.  You'll have guessed that I'm especially intrigued by the alternate shot format.  But golf and the Olympics are an awkward fit, so what haven't they told us?

There will be a maximum of one team per country, with teams comprised of one male and one female who are already qualified for the Men’s and Women’s Individual Olympic Golf Competitions, per the announcement.

Thud.  One team from the U.S. means it's not a competition, it's an exhibition.  Is watching Scottie and Nelly play alternate shot interesting?  Especially at Riviera, where I'm curious as to who will hit the drive on the 10th hole, but you see the issue.  We think of the golf, but the IOC is driven by the number of dorm rooms.  There is probably no way for them to accommodate a proper field size, even a paltry Signature Event field size, so it can never be a meaningful competition.  If it's not a competition, what is it?  I call it an Exhibition, but you might have other thoughts.

M-I-C-K-E-Y -This piece is currently up at ESPN:

Top players, best moments and more at the PGA Tour midpoint

My first pass answer is that there haven't been any, but hold that thought for a second as we focus on the concept of being midseason.

Because there's also this:

You probably wouldn’t change the Super Bowl’s rules in the middle of the NFL’s regular season. You wouldn’t tweak the World Series at the All-Star Break. But the PGA Tour still feels it hasn’t quite nailed the recipe for its big-money, season-ending Tour Championship — so it’s planning to tweak the format. Those changes could happen in the next few weeks. And they could take effect as soon as this season.

On the one hand, that seems like a wild move considering the stakes; the FedEx Cup awards $25 million to its winner and $100 million in total. On the other hand it makes all the sense in the world — if you’re dishing out that big a prize, you’d like to make sure you’ve got it right.

Fair enough, but wouldn't it be appropriate to note that this event has had more tweaks than Zsa Zsa Gabor?  I'm sure they'll get it right this time, but the best way to avoid being considered a Micky Mouse Tour is, yanno, to stop acting like a Mickey Mouse Tour.

WHAT WE DO KNOW

Starting strokes are likely to be eliminated, per Scott, who said that he thought “everybody involved” wanted to ditch the confusing staggered-start format.

But match play, which was likely the flashiest potential addition to the format, seems unlikely to get incorporated, either.

“It’s hard to wrap your head around you play one style all season and then your final event is an entirely different format,” Scott said.

It seems like they have reached consensus; Sam Burns told Schupak that the Player Advisory Council met at last week’s RBC Heritage and reached a preferred format. Now it’s a matter of getting other stakeholders — broadcasters NBC and CBS, plus sponsors like FedEx, Coca Cola and Southern Company — on board.

Kevin Kisner, who wears multiple hats as a Tour pro and NBC analyst, teased out one TV-approved potential format where they’d cut the field down to 16, then to eight, then to four to ramp up drama. But that seems unlikely to be the final answer.

“I think it will be a more traditional tournament with more consequence,” Kisner told Schupak. “I don’t want to spoil the surprise too much.”

“It’s going to be a better tournament for the players, a better tournament for the sponsors and really everyone involved,” Burns said.

Change is coming. Players seem excited. The new format will likely be greeted with some skepticism. But one thing will measure its success: whether there’s an immediate push to change it again.

So, nothing then?  

This event almost can't work, because the Tour brass can't decide whether it's a season-long contest or a year-end shootout.  They want it to be both, but the internal contradictions are doom it.  To the extent that they're giving us anything of substance, it feels like a bit of push towards the latter.  But when they speak of whittling the field down to four guys, that will die when they realize they can't just pick the four guys   

Back to that ESPN item for just a sec, as this reminds of Jay's existential anxiety:

Best victory

The Masters, the first major championship of the season, provided golf fans with everything they could possibly want: Rory McIlroy vs. Bryson DeChambeau in the final round. High drama on the second nine at Augusta National in Sunday's final round, thanks to McIlroy's near-collapse and Justin Rose's stunning comeback effort.

Rose, who carded a 6-under 66 in the final round, sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to put even more pressure on McIlroy, who had squandered a four-stroke lead. McIlroy missed a 5-footer for par on No. 18 to force a playoff with Rose.

On the first playoff hole, Rose hit his approach shot to 15 feet of the hole on the No. 18 green. McIlroy hit his second to 4 feet. Rose missed his birdie putt, and then McIlroy sank his to capture his first green jacket in his 11th try.

"This is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time," McIlroy said. "I think the last 10 years coming here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and trying to achieve that, yeah, I'm sort of wondering what we're all going to talk about going into next year's Masters."

So, the best victory on the PGA Tour this season is not an actual PGA Tour event.....  In the existential struggle for professional golf, I don't quibble that LIV looks to have fewer cards to play than the PGA Tour, but the Tour position is quite tenuous as well.  The schism in the game has only served to elevate the importance of those four majors, to the detriment of the Tour.

Stuff I Like -  Hey, if Dylan can use it fill out columns, why not a humble blogger?  Do you know the name Clifford C. Wendehack?  The man literally wrote the book on golf clubhouses, and designed many of the greatest versions thereof:

Have you ever stepped into a clubhouse so beautiful, so historic, so relaxing that you wished you could live there? Well, now’s your chance … sort of. Enter 7 S Mountain Ave. in Montclair, New Jersey, a rare residential foray by Clifford C. Wendehack, the architect responsible for many of the Tri-State’s finest clubhouses including Winged Foot, Bethpage State Park and Ridgewood Country Club. The elegant French Norman-style estate hit the market last month and could finally make your dream a reality … provided you have $1.7 million in the cookie jar.

Pretty great, though I'd rather belong to Winged Foot than live there.

Just a couple of fun headers, and then I'll release you into the general population:

Oz the Mentalist reveals Scotties Scheffler’s ATM code to the entire world in latest viral stunt

I haven't clicked through, because the article can't live up the header, can it?

This as well:

Did I dishonor the game via handicap shenanigans?

No, you dishonored yourself.  The game will be fine.

I know, a bit of a thin post, but it will just have to sate you until we meet again.  Have a great weekend.