Weekend Wrap - Arrivederci Valhalla Edition

Quite the weekend for sports, as Yesterday's golf was intermingled with the Yankee and Knicks games.   For those bloggers with attention-span issues, it all kinda worked.

Xander, Finally - I've never been as high on the X-Man's game as many observers, but he needed to win something, so why not a biggie:

PGA Championship 2024: How Xander Schauffele's hard-luck losses ultimately led to the major title he desperately craved

All along the way, Stefan Schauffele was there to provide constant reality checks with touches of sly motivation. "He bred an underdog mentality into me from a younger age— 'You need to go get it, because nothing is going to be handed to you,' " Xander has said.

That attitude has served Schauffele incredibly well in his pro career, considering that, at 30, he had seven PGA Tour victories before this week and wore U.S. colors three times in international cups. But even as he rose to be a top-five player in the world, Schauffele had to shed being the grinder and learn to lead. Too many times, and particularly in majors, he had been on the cusp of a defining breakthrough, only to see others seize the moment. Two runners-up, a pair of thirds and 12 top-10s among 27 major starts were the proof.

The opportunity came again on Sunday in the steamy hills of Kentucky. A first-round 62 that tied the all-time record for a lowest round in a major championship set up Schauffele to hold at least a share of the lead for three rounds heading into the final-day test. The question for all who questioned Schauffele’s finishing skills was could he wrap one up? The answer came in the most convincing fashion.

Unrattled by a couple of quirky breaks on the final two holes, Schauffele rolled in a six-foot birdie putt on Valhalla’s ever-thrilling par-5 18th to shoot a closing six-under-par 65 and beat Bryson DeChambeau by one shot. DeChambeau, the 2020 U.S. Open champion, threw everything at Schauffele, posting a 64 that included his own birdie at 18.

The most impressive part to your humble bloggers is that he won going wire-to-wire, meaning he endured four days of intense scrutiny.  But, for sure, he absorbed hits on those last two tee shots and got it done nevertheless.

Shack had this slightly curious take:

And not since Phil Mickelson at Baltusrol in 2005 has anyone captured a PGA with birdie at the last like Schauffele did on Sunday. Before Mickelson, it was the late Payne Stewart at Kemper Lakes in 1989, highlighting how rare the feat is. Yet Schauffele accomplished the rare last-hole-birdie while knowing exactly what was necessary.

OK, I'll not pretend to remember Kemper Lakes, but the citations are those PGA Championship venues that finish with shortish Par-5's so, yeah, they make birdies on those holes.  

But what of Xander's above-referenced Svengali?  Surely he was there to enjoy the realization of their family dream, no?

4,400 miles away, Xander Schauffele’s dad celebrated from a shipping container

 If that sounds weird, it's only because it is:

Some 4,400 miles away from Valhalla Golf Club, the man who has helped architect every step of

Xander’s golfing life wasn’t watching. But he was on his way. The back nine meant it was time to head down the hill to find a TV.

“I left my little container to go,” he said via phone call later Sunday evening.

Stefan was in Hawaii. On Kauai, to be specific. He’s there often these days, living in a tiny shipping container on a rural hillside. He’s always made grand plans but this is perhaps his most ambitious; he’s overseeing construction of what is essentially a family compound where he can spend time and his family can visit and find rejuvenation.

“It’s my sanatorium,” he said. “Where I can heal and lose weight and get better. It’s been a lot on my body, getting to this point in life.”

Sounds like they skipped Elba and exiled him directly to St. Helena....

Back to Xander, via our Tour Confidential panel:

Xander Schauffele, long thought of as golf’s best player to never win a major, finally got his. Schauffele made a six-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole of Valhalla Golf Club to win the PGA Championship on Sunday, edging Bryson DeChambeau by a stroke. Schauffele started the day tied with Collin Morikawa and leading a handful of worthy contenders, but he closed with a 65 to finish 21 under. Given he’s had trouble converting leads before (like last week), did you think he would get it done on Sunday?

Jessica Marksbury: I admit I was among Schauffele’s non-believers this week. I just didn’t have faith in his closing ability. But his performance for all four rounds was really impressive —

especially Sunday. To shoot 65 under that kind of pressure, making clutch putt after clutch putt, was awesome to see. He deserves this win, and may be one of those guys where the floodgates open and the wins stack up in quick succession.

Josh Sens: Schauffele’s struggles to close always seemed a bit strange, since he’s so highly regarded among his peers for his mental strength. Has he had some hiccups? Absolutely. But as much as anything, his many near misses before this are a reminder of how tough it is to win. Am I surprised? No. He was going to get one eventually. But I’m also not surprised that he had to scrap hard for it, right down to a final putt that came close to lipping out.

Zephyr Melton: With how often X put himself in contention, it felt like only a matter of time. But we’ve also seen some extremely talented players go through their entire careers without a major win. I’ll be the first to admit that I did not believe he’d convert on Sunday, but I’m glad he proved me wrong. Schauffele is a hell of a player and a deserving champion. (I’m also glad our colleague Dylan Dethier can finally stop picking him to win every major.)

Dylan Dethier: I’m just here for a quick victory lap. Yes, of course I thought he’d win on Sunday. That’s why I told you so in this space all week long!

Jess with the inevitable "floodgates will open" prediction.....  Not like we haven't seen this movie before.  The guy's difficulties closing are largely a function of it being so damned difficult to close, which won't change going forward.

Mostly it seems that Xander is opportunistic.  A really smart call to win the seek Scottie poses for a mug shot, because I'm guessing that's a one-off.

For those who enjoy awkwardness at awards ceremonies (and count your humble blogger amongst those souls), at least one writer picked up on that frisson:

Xander Schauffele’s complicated PGA of America relationship adds new chapter

Fortunately, the guys were getting paid this week, so no hat issues...

As Xander Schauffele spoke to Amanda Balionis of CBS during the PGA Championship trophy

ceremony on an idyllic Sunday evening at Valhalla Golf Club, just behind them stood the gleaming Wanamaker Trophy and two rows of sun-kissed PGA of America and Valhalla officials. It was a joyous scene: Schauffele, explaining why he was so emotional after his winning putt spun around the edge of the hole and dropped; Seth Waugh, the PGA of America CEO, and John Lindert, the PGA of America president, looking on proudly at the 106th winner of one of the association’s flagship events; thousands of fans still packed in the 18th green grandstands, soaking up the last few moments of what had been a historic 21-under-par week for Schauffele.

Good vibes all around, and also something else: a marked contrast from the last time we saw Schauffele signing off at a high-profile PGA of America event, the Ryder Cup last fall. Things did not go well for Schauffele and his American teammates that week in Rome, with the Europeans prevailing handily at Marco Simone, 16.5-11.5. Schauffele lost all three of his team matches before winning his sole point in a Sunday singles match against Nicolai Højgaard.

Yeah, that wasn't a good look, especially combined with indifferent play.  Does anyone think comments like this were helpful to his son?

“It’s a pretty simple kind of argument,” Stefan said of paying players to compete in an event that grosses nine figures for its organizers. “I think it would stand up in anybody’s mind, the court of public opinion and potentially in the courts.” He added: “We need to talk about it without [players] getting shamed into not being patriotic. If there is any portion of this that is unpatriotic, it’s the PGA of America that are unpatriotic.”

 And yet they're puzzled that ratings are down substantially....

No one is suggesting the Ryder Cup tension between the Schaufelles and PGA of America did anything to tarnish the proceedings at Valhalla Sunday. But it’s also hard not to see the irony in Xander, less than eight months after the Italy awkwardness, celebrating his first major win against a backdrop of PGA of America leadership (not to mention collecting $3.3 million for his efforts). Stefan is at staple at his son’s events — with his German accent, large frame and mop of curls, he’s hard to miss — but was notably absent this week. He was, in fact, more than 4,000 miles away, in Hawaii, Xander said. Stefan would have relished sharing the winning moment with his son. For as long as Xander has shown an interest in the game, Stefan has served as his swing coach, life coach and manager. But in recent years he has begun shedding some of those roles; instructor Chris Como now keeps an eye on Xander’s mechanics.

“He feels like he can kind of take his hands off the wheel,” Xander said of his father Sunday evening. “He trusts [Chris] a lot, I trust him a lot. My dad is at that stage in his life, I really want him to be happy, and I know this is going to bring him a ton of joy where he’s at in Hawaii right now.”

That's great, but I'm guessing he wasn't in Hawaii by choice.

Whose performance this week were you most surprised by?

Marksbury: I had almost forgotten how electric it can be when DeChambeau is in the mix. We got a taste of it at the Masters but he wasn’t much of a factor over the weekend. His performative energy brought a lot to this tournament, right up to the very end. I loved it!

Sens: Agree with you on DeChambeau. Whatever you think of him — and he definitely polarizes opinions — he’s a riveting performer. Brooks Koepka’s woeful third round was surprising, and I’ll add the showing by Wyndham Clark. Remember earlier this year when he was being touted as one of Scottie Scheffler’s chief rivals? It’s now two missed cuts in majors for him this year.

Melton: Scottie’s Saturday. Within the context of everything he went through this week, it makes sense. But after his flawless play on Friday, I tricked myself into believing he was immune to just about everything. Once the adrenaline wore off, it was a different story. But T8 in a week you get arrested isn’t half bad, though.

Dethier: I was impressed with just how hard Bryson and Viktor pushed Xander; this tournament turned into an epic three-horse race down the stretch. There was a little nerviness near the end, and Hovland will want a few of those back, but mostly they traded impressive birdies and made Xander earn it. I know it was a soft setup and scores were low, but these guys threw down a high level.

Surprised no to see Rory get a call-out here, as I have hi pegged as the Biggest Loser of the week, simply because he will never get another major venue/conditions set up as well for him as this week.

I agree that Viktor's return from the dead was quite the pleasant surprise.  Bryson as well, though tempered by his strong Masters.  But now he goes back into his Cone of Silence, at least until Pinehurst.

More on Viktor:

Viktor Hovland has struggled since his fall 2023 surge and admitted on Saturday that he was so dispirited with his form he almost didn’t even play the PGA Championship. Yet Hovland was in contention and finished third for his best finish of the season. Are you buying or selling Hovland’s return to form?

Marksbury: Hard not to buy after what he showed this week! Had a few more putts dropped on Sunday, we may be telling a different story. But isn’t that always the case at a major? Now that Schauffele has his, you have to think that Viktor is probably next in line to shoulder the “best-player-to-have-never-won-a-major” title. Hard to imagine a reality where he doesn’t win one.

Sens: I’m buying it. They say that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but Hovland himself said the tweaks he made there with his longtime coach Joe Mayo made sense to him right away. He brought them with him when he left the Strip, and I expect he’ll hold on to them.

Melton: Buying! I don’t know what Joe Mayo did with Vik, but he worked wonders. Hovland looked like the Hovland of old at Valhalla. I expect him to be a factor in both of the two remaining majors.

Dethier: Yup, time to buy. Hovland surprised even himself with just how quickly he was able to return to form. Get used to seeing more of him near the top, where he belongs.

He seems quite the likeable lad, so nice to see him return to form.  Although that late 2023 heater to me seems wildly overinterpreted.  He won twice, though that second one was against only 29 guys, so perhaps we were a little ahead of the facts on the ground.

They do also have a moment for Scottie's weird week:

Much of the week was focused on Scottie Scheffler, who went from a heavy betting favorite to a mega-news story after his arrest prior to his Friday tee time. Where does this moment rank among the craziest golf stories in recent memory?

Marksbury: This feels close to the recent major Tiger dramas — the car crash, the Memorial Day arrest — in terms of shock value, but the fact that Scheffler’s situation went down during a

major championship and on course property makes it all the more surreal. Based on the first-hand accounts we have of what transpired, the apparent injustice of it all makes it even more outrageous.

Sens: Agreed, Jess. From the player side, it’s the highest shock-value story we’ve seen since Tiger’s crash. But I’d say the Tour’s turnaround on doing business with LIV and the Saudis was right up there on the surprise-o-meter.

Melton: These two covered it well in their answers above, but I’ll add the Covid shutdowns in 2020 to the mix. That week at TPC Sawgrass started like any other and by Friday every sports league in America was shut down. Crazy times indeed.

Dethier: Hard to overstate that shock value. It’s one thing for a golfer to get into a traffic incident. It’s another thing for it to happen driving into a major. It’s another thing for it to result in an aggressive detainment. And for all of that to happen to Scottie Scheffler, the hottest player in the world? It still doesn’t feel real.

 Yeah, this was a pretty damn strange sequence, and color me shocked about this development:

Officer involved in incident that led to Scottie Scheffler's arrest 'did not have body cam footage turned on'

I'm not up for a deep dive into Scottiegate, but nothing sounds quite right in this accounting from an ESPN crew that witnessed the incident:

Darlington, though, wasn’t the only eyewitness. His four commuting mates had also been at the scene, watching on from the interior of the SUV. On Saturday, Wischusen, who has not yet publicly shared his version of what led to the arrest, spoke to GOLF.com about what he saw and heard. His account corroborates Darlington’s, but Wischusen also provided some new details.   

As Scheffler pulled up to the left of ESPN’s vehicle, Wischusen said he and his ESPN colleagues could not see who was at the wheel. Moments later, a police officer “kind of jumped in front” of what the ESPN crew would later learn was a Lexus driven by Scheffler. “He was pretty, you know, enthusiastic, let’s say,” Wischusen said of Officer Gillis. Wischusen said Gillis beamed his flashlight up and down Scheffler’s car and yelled at him with words to the effect of: “Whoa, whoa, whoa, who are you? Where are you going? Get back in line. You’re not allowed to come through here.”

Wischusen said he couldn’t hear any of what Scheffler said to Gillis but that Gillis was “scolding” Scheffler for passing the ESPN vehicle on the left. Wischusen said because the officer and his colleagues were in yellow reflective jackets, it was unclear to him and his colleagues whether they were police or tournament security.

After Scheffler and the officer’s interaction, Wischusen said Scheffler began to pull away. As Darlington described it, at this point Gillis “attached himself” to the car. As Gillis, whose body camera was not activated during the incident, described it, he was “dragged” to the ground by Scheffler’s car, which led to “pain, swelling and abrasions to left wrist and knee” and damaging his pants “beyond repair.”

Here’s how Wischusen recalls that moment: “When [Scheffler] drove past him, the cop got very angry pursuing the car. … My impression was he was kind of running alongside chasing the car, and maybe he tripped and fell. I mean, there was kind of an outcropping or median, you know, by the front gate. And keep in mind, it was raining. It was 6 o’clock in the morning. It was dark.”

Asked about Darlington’s characterization of the officer “attaching” himself to the car, Wischusen said, “I could see him stumble, but I did not have a very clear view of exactly how you want to categorize his contact with the car.”

Wischusen said Scheffler was moving at a relatively slow speed — “the speed that you would drive a car if you were pulling up to the front gate of a place,” he said — and before pulling over had driven approximately the 10 or so yards that Darlington had estimated.

When Scheffler stopped the car, Wischusen said Gillis was visibly upset. “He runs up to the driver’s side, and with the butt end of his flashlight starts screaming, you know, ‘Get out of the car, get out of the car’ — banging on the window — ‘shut the engine off, get out of the car. I’m a police officer.’”

The driver “peacefully” exited the car, Wischusen said, at which point the officer “put him up against the car and put him in handcuffs.” Said Wischusen: “That was when we realized — you know, all the way up until then we’re like, oh my God, whoever is in this car, there’s about to be an arrest of some sort. And then it was, ‘Oh my God, it’s Scottie Scheffler.”

That bit about the officer being dragged makes no sense, and it sure sounds like he was, shall we say, a little over-eager in his actions?

Scheffler was in contention after two days but fell off the pace with a two-over 73 on Saturday (his first over-par round of the season). Yet he rebounded to shoot 65 on Sunday to tie for 8th. What did you learn about Scottie Scheffler this week?

Marksbury: Scheffler has a reputation as the nicest man on Tour, and his reaction to what I can only imagine was a very traumatizing experience places him in even higher esteem. I thought he handled himself with dignity and humility, and was genuine, especially when offering his condolences to the family of John Mills, the man who was tragically killed on Friday morning. He is a guy who really walks the talk, and that’s refreshing.

Sens: Tough times don’t often reveal new traits in a person. They expose what has been there all along. Scheffler has always seemed like a guy who has his head on straight and his priorities in order. This week reaffirmed all that.

Melton: That he’s still the baddest dude on Tour (in terms of his golf, not his rap sheet). He came into the week fresh off having a kid, got arrested during the tournament, played with a backup caddie and STILL finished in the top 10. I’d be stunned if he doesn’t win another major this year.

Dethier: He’s good under pressure. Under golf pressure. Under crisis. I’m sure there’s more to the story that we don’t know and may never learn, but from what we’ve seen he handled everything as well as I could have imagined.

I don't think we necessarily learned anything new, but it confirmed our perceptions of the guy.

Some thoughts on the venue, though bear in mind that we're not going back anytime soon (or, perhaps, ever):

Before the tournament started, Justin Thomas said “there’s not a lot of different ways to play the golf course,” which he believed contributed to bunched leaderboards at Valhalla majors. Yet it’s produced PGA winners like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and now Schauffele, who emerged from a strong group of candidates on Sunday afternoon. Does the strong list of winners prove this is a worthy major venue, or do Thomas’ comments about variety prove it’s not?

Marksbury: With leaderboards like the one we just had, and winners like all of the above-mentioned players, I think Valhalla gets an A+. It was exciting through and through, with birdies, eagles, and chip-ins galore. Fun viewing!

Sens: I understand the hand-wringing from those who say they want to see a stouter test. But I don’t think it’s worth getting overly worked up over the final score. Ultimately, this is entertainment, and on that front, Valhalla has been a very good stage. Anyone looking for more of a torture chamber won’t have to wait long. Pinehurst No. 2 could/should be a very stout exam.

Melton: I’d prefer a little more variety than what Valhalla provided. Sure, it gave us some exciting moments, but it was a sprint rather than a marathon. Bogeys were rare and there wasn’t much opportunity to see any shuffling up top after the first two rounds. It’s nice when birdies are a reward rather than an expectation.

Dethier: Soft courses make for lousy viewing. Golf is most fun when the ball is on the move, when precision matters and when every shot has consequence attached. There was a lack of consequence this week; off-line shots often didn’t lead to anything perilous or exciting. The conditions also meant there wasn’t much ball-rolling. Bummer! But big picture golf tournaments build to Sunday afternoon drama, when the exciting question is also simple: Can you execute when it matters? We still got that question. And an exciting answer.

You don't go to a Nicklaus design for strategic value, and you don't go to Louisville in search of firm and fast conditions, so color me shocked.   Ironically, this event was awarded back when they thought it would be in August, so the anticipation would have been even softer conditions.

The argument isn't, as per Josh Sens, about final score, although that is telling.  It's more, as per Dylan Dethier, about shot values and the test provided, and this one comes up way short because of the soft turf.

Oddly, Geoff has this ringing defense of the venue:

Now that’s the Valhalla we love and know!

With more major championship scoring records falling faster than Ian Baker-Finch Kentucky-bourbon references, this problematic, birdiefest-of-a PGA Championship threatened to morph into the Louisville Slugger White Classic Presented By Bridgecore Financial. But yet again, that whole-Nordic-Gods-thing infusing Valhalla tournaments with notes of Ali, Mine That Bird, Tiger, limestone, Rory, Jack and Elijah Craig took a rain-softened Nicklaus design and reinforced the places spot next to Freedom Hall as Louisville’s greatest contribution to sports history.

On Valhalla’s fourth and final PGA Championship for at least eight years (and probably longer now that the dollars-first PGA of America has sold its stake), the course once again delivered a nail-biter golf fans will savor for decades. Particularly after the unthinkable events of Friday when a retired security guard lost his life en route to work and the World No. 1 was in a hurry to get to the course, disobeyed an officer, and found himself posing for a mug shot.

Typically, majors with so much going against them and loads of red numbers tend to feel, you know, not very major-like. This one saw two record-tying 62’s and a weekend full of red numbers that had Valhalla looking like a cut-and-dried birdiefest until, improbably, the seemingly shallow exam somehow filtered out everyone but the maddest of mad scientists.

That’s right, “all right in front of you” Valhalla shaved off a bunch of pretenders and turned the Wannamaker quest into a captivating battle featuring three of the modern game’s most renowned—sometimes to their detriment—tinkerers, range grinders, coach-firers, and overanalyzers of every conceivable detail.

Another indisputable fact regarding Viktor Hovland, Bryson DeChambeau and 106th PGA champion Xander Schauffele: they put in the work. Maybe too much at times.

Savor for decades?  I'm sorry, Geoff, were you watching the same event as I did?

There's a very interesting discussion to be had about elite professional venues, and what works for guys that carry it 325 yards.  This joint, mostly because of Tiger and Rory's wins, will support those who want to put them in a huge ballpark and ignore architectural merit.  It's just funny that Geoff would make that case, given that he's golf's major proponent of architectural merit.

I'm going to head for the exit on that note, and we'll cover further reflections as the week unfolds.  And, most importantly, how about those Yankees!

Midweek Musings - Hall of Slain Warriors Edition

They got the name of the golf club from somewhere, yanno.  Although Norse mythology seems an inapt fit with sultry Louisville...

Bye, Erica - Sad news, though one might note that it didn't affect his golf game last weekend:

Rory McIlroy has filed for divorce from his wife, Erica Stoll. Golfweek confirmed the news via online court records in Palm Beach County, Florida, as did McIlroy’s communications team.

The 35-year-old Northern Irishman filed for a dissolution on Monday, May 13, a day after his 26th PGA Tour win at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship and a day before he arrived on site at Valhalla Golf Club for the 2024 PGA Championship. McIlroy’s last major victory came 10 years ago here at Valhalla at the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla.

McIlroy and Stoll, a former PGA of America employee, became engaged in December 2015 and married in April 2017. The couple had a daughter, Poppy, in September 2020.

Pretty sure they still have the daughter....

Erica, you might recall, was responsible for getting Rory to Medinah for his singles tee time after he confused time zones.  The romance came later, but while I've often suggested that Rory clean house in his posse, I was thinking more of the childhood best friend caddie....

We never know how the players' personal lives affect their performance, but the two best players in the world both arrive at the PGA Championship with profound changes at home.  Stay tuned.

Bye, Jimmy - The act is curious, but the timing seems, well, curious.

On May 12, 2023, Jimmy Dunne was in Venice, Italy, meeting with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, among others. Jay Monahan was there, too, looking to

establish an agreement between the PIF and the PGA Tour to reunify the sport. Exactly one year and one day later — on May 13, 2024 — Dunne issued his resignation from the PGA Tour Policy Board, due to a lack of progress with that agreement.

Dunne’s resignation arrived Monday at 5 p.m. Eastern time in the form of a 361-word letter to his fellow board directors, which was obtained by GOLF.com and first reported by Sports Illustrated. Ultimately, two words stood out above the others: utterly superfluous. That’s how Dunne described his role and the weight of his vote less than 12 months after reaching a Framework Agreement with the PIF and the DP World Tour.

“Since the players now outnumber the Independent Directors on the Board, and no meaningful progress has been made towards a transaction with the PIF, I feel like my vote and my role is utterly superfluous,” Dunne wrote.

“It is crucial for the Board to avoid letting yesterday’s differences interfere with today’s decisions, especially when they influence future opportunities for the Tour. Unifying professional golf is paramount to restoring fan interest and repairing wounds left from a fractured game. I have tried my best to move all minds in that direction.”

Rory hardest hit?

That bit about the 6-5 player majority seems to be putting this all in Tiger's lap (after all, he's the sixth man and has the unlimited term), though Jimmy seems to have left quite the mess for others to clean up.

The call for unification will get an "Amen" from Rory, it's perhaps a poker tell as to how things stand among those six players, making one skeptical that Rory's new committee will make any meaningful progress, assuming Cantlay will continue to play Dr. NNo.

A couple of key bits, at least top this observer:

But only a framework was signed into place — a deal to make to a deal — one that included both sides dropping their ongoing litigation, at a time when Tour and LIV executives, players, agents, board members, etc., were starting to be deposed. In his letter, Dunne noted, “a path was created for the Tour to remain in control of professional golf.”

Yes, a term sheet with no terms, as some of us noticed.  It's eye of the beholder stuff, with one take being that the only bits that mattered, the withdrawal of the antitrust lawsuit primary, were covered in the D-Day Agreement, and that the rest of the deal wasn't ever intended to be completed.

But I've been using the C-word for longer:

At the end of July, Tiger Woods was hastily added in what amounted to a coup. Forty-one of the best players on Tour demanded so in a middle-of-the-night letter to Monahan, and a day later it was enacted. They wanted equal representation between players and independent directors on the board and they got it. Woods remains the only player without a fixed term. In November, the head of Valero Energy, Joe Gorder, filled the empty board seat left by Randall Stephenson, who resigned in July saying he could not “in good conscience support” a deal.

The coup actually happened in Delaware, though Jay avoided Elba and St. Helena, at least for now.

Never shy, Shack had this take:

There was little chance to catch any of the range chatter because (A) the PGA of America no longer allows media on the range in addition to numerous new bizarro restraints on press access, (B) the Dunne letter only reinforced that the Tour is a directionless chaotic mess being run by a bunch of players who should not be running a business.

I'm not sure the issue is the absence of a rudder, but more the competing versions thereof.  That said, who is in charge? 

Geoff is predictably all over the timing issue, which I'll introduce with this note:

After Dunne’s Monday resignation, the PGA Tour’s Commissioner told players in a message that the organization would not be commenting out of respect to the PGA of America.

Well, that's very considerate..... at least until you realize that Dunne wouldn't have stepped on the PGA of America with the release of his letter without said Commissioner's approval... Hardly the first time we've been lied to by these clowns.

Dunne’s timing is curious, at best. While it could be seen as rude to the PGA of America by dropping this a few hours before most player press conferences, I sense more to this story we don’t know just yet.

And while Dunne might not have been the ideal choice for explaining the infamous June 6th deal on national television, when someone who loves the game and has nothing to gain from serving on the board declares this at such a sensitive time, Dunne seems to be reinforcing what a disastrous mess the Tour has become.

This is a message being sent.  Whether it's to the Saudis, Tiger or Rory,. I don't know, but the timing of this is quite intentional.

Update: The pushback on the "no progress" meme is in full swing, first Jay:

But PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan pushed directly back against that “no meaningful progress” narrative in a late-night text sent to players on Monday, insisting that “we continue to make meaningful progress behind the scenes in our negotiations toward a potential agreement with the PIF.”

The goal of negotiations, Monahan added, remains simple: “To deliver the best possible outcome for the PGA Tour, our players, partners, tournaments and fans.”

So, Jimmy must be dealing in some of that Russian disinformation, eh?  But, remind me Jay, who put Jimmy in charge of negotiating with Yasir?

This guy is the leader in the clubhouse in non-answer answers:

Tiger Woods addressed the discussions on Tuesday morning. Sort of.

“It’s ongoing; it’s fluid; it changes day-to-day,” he said. “Has there been progress? Yes. But it’s an ongoing negotiation, so a lot of work ahead for all of us with this process, and so we’re making steps and it may not be giant steps, but we’re making steps.”

Woods referenced the PGA Tour as “for the players and by the players.” He said there’s a place for the player directors and for the independent directors, too. He said he couldn’t get into too much detail on the state of negotiations. But he acknowledged general fatigue on the subject.

“I think the fans are probably as tired as we are of the talk not being about the game of golf and about not being about the players,” he said. “It’s about what LIV is doing, what we’re doing, players coming back, players leaving; the fans just want to see us play together. How do we get there is to be determined.”

For the players?  No quibble with the concept that it's for certain layers.... 

Spieth has been fingered as part of the Dr. No Troika, but he too is pushing back:

But we got slightly more from Jordan Spieth, who addressed the media an hour after Woods and was asked specifically about Dunne’s comments about the board shifting in the direction of

player control.

“I would say that I think that there’s been a shift that direction, but I think that we’re finding the appropriate balance going forward,” Spieth said. He referenced the natural motion of a seesaw. He insisted that based on the opinions of experts and lawyers they’ve worked with, the governance structure is in a good spot.

The subject clearly struck a nerve with Spieth, who took over Rory McIlroy’s vacated board seat last fall and has been working extensively behind the scenes on crafting a stable future for the Tour. But in recent weeks multiple reports have pointed the finger at him, Patrick Cantlay and Woods for slowing negotiations, blocking a potential merger and clashing with McIlroy’s vision for a deal. Spieth insisted on Tuesday that that’s not the case.

“I think we’re going to be at a really, really good place where the players on the PGA Tour can feel really good about it, as well as not having players making business decisions,” he added. “Like, that’s not — if you’re in the room, it’s very obvious that players are not dictating the future of golf and the PGA Tour. Like, you need to have everyone’s perspective on both sides of it, and everyone that’s involved within [PGA Tour] Enterprises. You have a lot of strategic investors that know a heck of a lot more than any of us players.”

“So that’s a false narrative that the players are determining all these things. That’s not even what Jimmy [Dunne] was saying. Jimmy was saying more of the balance of things, and I think that balance is being restored.”

Jimmy likely found himself irrelevant with John Henry and those big-hitters on board, but quite the tortured evasions from both Tiger and Jordan.  But it's all just about balance, because Jordan wouldn't lie to us.... 

Scenes From Valhalla - Elvis is in the building:

After answering questions for the better part of April on the pending birth of his first child,

Scottie Scheffler officially became a father. He and wife have Meredith welcomed son Bennett to the world last week.

“It’s a pretty amazing feeling,” Scheffler told Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis. “It was fun times at the Scheffler home, for sure.”

The world No. 1 won the Masters and RBC Heritage back-to-back in April before shutting it down and heading home to Dallas as to await the birth of their first child. While Scheffler hasn’t announced publicly the date of the birth, he was on site at Valhalla Golf Club on Monday just as PGA Championship week is getting underway with a field of 156 golfers gathering for the season’s second major.

Good for them and he'll have the full week to prepare (though much of that might be indoors. It's passing strange that we don't have a name or date of birth, but good to see Nike getting their money's worth.

Everybody Talks About The Weather...- But someone really needs to do something about this ne:

Except for Rory, who likes things on the soft side.   I'll just add that the Sunday forecast is perfect, so they might be playing 54 holes that day.

Himself - Shack's Tiger notes:

• Tiger Woods played the back nine early and appeared in good form. As with recent majors he shows no signs of mailing in his preparation. Woods appeared to have his old Valhalla notes and hit most putts one-handed as he consulted his paperwork.

• Woods is using the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS putter he first put in play in 1999 and the putter for 14 of 15 major wins. He asked a couple of us watching the round how many players in the field are younger than his putter. I’m still researching this vital factoid.

• Woods stopped behind the 18th green to sign autographs for almost ten minutes. He even squatted down to pose for a few photos and that’s not normally his style. So I’d say he’s in good spirits.

• Woods is scheduled to meet with the media Tuesday at noon ET.

Glad he's in good humor, but this place is a bit of a long walk.  Let's see how the humor is on Saturday.....

Geoff's Notebook -  First, a busier Monday than usual, due to the above forecast:

Last year on PGA Championship Monday, Rochester fans kept asking where all the golfers were?

I explained how most players like to take it nine holes at a time, prioritize manage rest, and let

“teams” do a lot of the course strategy work.

“But it’s a major!”

I’d just shrug and acknowledge their viewing pain.

Monday at Valhalla provided an entirely different story. With an ominous forecast for most of Tuesday, the course looked like most of America’s tee-sheet-full courses: groups on every hole. One key difference: most courses are devoid of flunky entourages out helping the rugged individualists unlock Valahalla’s secrets.

It’s a burgeoning modern tradition unlike any other: more people inside the ropes than outside.

These reports keep whispering "Rory":

What did they see? A huge golf course still drying out from 2.23 inches of rain last week. Add on the new zoysia fairways and surrounds that give off a cushioned sensibility, and players should be ready to hit plenty of drivers while firing at greens holding their glorified Top Flites. Even with a surprising amount of poa in the surfaces, it should not affect putts. The ball is rolling beautifully and superintendent John Ballard’s team has the place in perfect shape.

Everything else looks like a traditional Kerry Haigh PGA Championship course setup, including:

• Fairways narrowed somewhere between 26-28 yards wide.

• Rough recently topped off around 3 inches that seems unlikely to get more mowing, meaning a healthy 4 inches by week’s end.

• A second rough height outside the ropes has once again been allowed to, well, prosper! While most of it will be mashed down by spectators, players are going to find some occasional (nasty) hack-out lies far off the fairways.

• If you are coming here to spectate please watch out. There are plenty of bad steps out in the tall stuff and undoubtedly a few burrowing animal hole rulings in our future.

More than 2" of rain before that dreadful Tuesday-Saturday forecast, leaving me happy that I don't have plans for Monday.

Geoff shows some begrudging respect for a venue purists love to hate:

Just in case we have a boring 10-shot runaway winner, I thought I’d explore what has made Valhalla work so well as a tournament venue. I’m happy to hear dissenting views, but after Monday’s re-acclimation, I’ve whittled it down to vibe, freedom to hit all shots, plenty of drivers and Louisville fans.

This 1986 Nicklaus design came on the major scene just ten years after opening. that alone turned much of the golf world against it—guilty as charged here—because it became the PGA of America’s latest nepo-baby venue. Soon after opening teh PGA of America took an ownership stake—since relinquished—in the latest twist that might explain why this week could be the last for a while.

Scheduling also fueled a negative perception. In the old August date, Valhalla majors finished off the Grand Slam season in summer heat and after the other majors visited stalwarts: 1996’s Oakland Hills and Royal Lytham, 2000s Pebble Beach and St Andrews in 2000, and 2014’s Pinehurst and Hoylake.

OK, suddenly Lytham and Hoylake are top drawer stuff?  But it's that 2000 version that jumps out, because after runaway wins at Pebble (15 shots) and the Old Course (8 shots), he had to fight off a journeyman at Valhalla.  Hard to explain, except that maybe by then the other guys had put their Pro-V1's into play?

Then there is the scale and look of the place. On many front nine holes the land is gentle and idyllic (other than the high power lines). It plays through woodlands, along and over creeks, and even a rocky stretch adding another element of character. It’s overshaped in places with needless mounding and other rolly-polly excess that was popular in the 1980s. But it also has some wonderfully understated greens with gentle tilts accentuated in difficulty by uneven fairway stances.

Then there is the scale of it: Valhalla is built over 450 acres. It features some huge climbs yet manages to put the pieces together well enough to make the walk fairly seamless.

“It’s a big test,” says CBS’s Dottie Pepper, who has covered multiple events here.

Huge climbs?  I know they can use their lasers, are they giving them carts as well?  If not, I don't much like HIS chances....

Big rarely translates to producing fun golf to watch. The best tournament venues are on a more

intimate scale for players and fans. They should have clusters of holes where roars reverberate, where players can feed off the energy or where decisions are made based on seeing what competitors are doing nearby (think 16 and 17 at TPC Sawgrass).

Valhalla offsets its spread-out nature with multiple amphitheater settings which have produced some of the loudest Ryder Cup and PGA Championship roars this century. I was reminded again on Monday just how many greens sit in bowl settings:

“You’ve got elevation changes which I think add to it,” says Pepper of the routing. “You’re coming up to the peak at No. 9. You’ve got a really cool first hole that has a great arena the way they build it out and there’s such great natural noise there.”

Even the island green at the 13th can be seen by fans from many different vantage points.

As anyone who remembers Tiger’s seesaw playoff battle with Bob May, many loud moments happened because of Valhalla’s natural amphitheaters. Like a great music hall where a band hears themselves well and the acoustics only heighten the music’s power for both audience and performer, Valhalla is a warm room. Throw in passionate Louisville fans happy to see the brats, and fan energy has carried it through several wet and weird tournament days. Valhalla achieves the same sensation many TPC courses hoped to create and that so few outside of Scottsdale and Sawgrass manage to capture.

That's the 16th green pictured above.  But this might be the larger point:

There is also the undeniable but unquantifiable idea that players are free to hit driver here. For all the hill climbing and trouble, players feel encouraged to attack. And attacking golf is way more fun than plodding.

“There’s a sense of drama building,” says Pepper. “You’ve got a pretty tough par-4 (17th) getting to that par-5 finishing hole. You definitely have excitement with the par-5 finishing hole.”

Curiously, the 18th has one of Valhalla’s less-comfortable tee shots. It’s elevated, bends left-to-right, and has water down the right. It’s big and open, which may not be comforting. But that peculiar sensibility has also fueled some of the final hole zaniness.

Which water Rory almost found off the tee in his haste to finish in 2014.

The ability to hit driver is another reason that Rory will likely never find an opportunity to get No. 5 that suits him better than this weeks combination of course and conditions.  Though that puts the lad under a wee bit of pressure....

But talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations:

The par 3s, while disappointingly all 190 and up to 250, at least play in different directions. They are interesting enough without overtaking the rest of the course as the Postage Stamp or Island 17th at Sawgrass do (in their charming way).

OK, admittedly that's something that the architect of Fairview Country Club didn't factor in, but it's a quite the low bar in golf architecture.

Many purists have long struggled to understand the relationship between great architecture and elite professional golf, an awkward pairing in many circumstances.   In this case there's no pretense of top level design, but the ballpark has produced entertaining events with top level winners and contenders, though you might want to stick with the big-hitters this week.  

Fun, Avoided - Ironically, I still have this browser tab open:

Transgender golfer hits out after tour ban

Hailey Davidson has taken to social media to express their disappointment after being banned

with immediate effect from playing on the NXXT Golf Tour.

Davidson made headlines in January after becoming the first transgender golfer to win on the circuit, formerly the East Coast Women’s Pro Golf Tour.

The Scots-born pro’s win at the Mission Inn Resort and Club moved them to the top of the NXXT Tour standings.

It also prompted a widespread backlash from the likes of Piers Morgan, Olympic silver medallist Sharron Davies and Caitlyn Jenner.

In response, NXXT Tour officials requested Davidson undergo additional testosterone testing to “ensure compliance with the appropriate guidelines”, whilst also polling players to gather their opinions on the circuit’s gender policy.

Which is why this item caught my eye:

Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson missed qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open on Monday by one stroke. Davidson finished in a three-way tie for third in the 36-hole qualifier at Bradenton (Fla.) Country Club with rounds of 70-73, emerging as the first alternate from the event. She tied two-time LPGA Tour winner Jasmine Suwannapura and Louis Olsson Campbell of Sweden. Suwannapura is the second alternate.

Only the top two players advanced from the 58-player field. Amateurs Amelie Zalsman from St. Petersburg, Fla., and Pimpisa Sisutham of Thailand claimed the two spots available to compete at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club later this month. Zalsman medaled at one-under 141 with a 66-75, while Sisutham carded a 68-74 to take second place at even par.

I have more sympathy here than it may seem, though I also know one thing that others seem determined to ignore.  To wit, if you want women's sports to be a thing, you better ensure that it's for women.   Harsh, but necessary.

That's it for today, as I await word on whether the Wednesday Game™ is a go.  I'll catch up with you down the road.

Weekend Wrap - Leaderborad Separation Edition

For once some PGA Tour alpha dogs delivered the goods.  Maybe that should have been in the singular, but both major tours featured a lone 2-ball separated by a touchdown from the rest of the field.  One deliver an epic finish, the other had Xander....

Owning Charlotte - Horses for courses, I guess, but perhaps peaking a week early:

Rory McIlroy waited for his moment Sunday at Quail Hollow. And when the moment came, he didn’t stop.

McIlroy went on a tear through the middle of the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship, making two eagles to play an eight-hole stretch in eight under and turn a one-shot deficit to Xander Schauffele to start the day into a five-shot win. According to stats guru Justin Ray, it’s McIlroy’s 14th come-from-behind win, six more than any other player since 2010.

The World No. 2 finished at 17 under after a final-round 65 for his fourth career victory at Quail Hollow. It’s also McIlroy’s 26th PGA Tour victory and officially his second in a row after he won the Zurich Classic team event with Shane Lowry two weeks ago.

“Quail Hollow, Charlotte in general has been really good to me over my career and this is just another great day to sort of add to all the rest of them,” McIlroy said. “I feel like these people have sort of watched me grow up from winning here as a 20-year-old to being the ripe old age of 35 now. They’ve sort of seen my progression throughout my career, and I’ve been lucky enough to win here four times. The support that I get here is absolutely amazing.”

The last time McIlroy won his last two starts heading into a major was before his most recent major title at the 2014 PGA Championship, played at Valhalla, this year’s host site.

More importantly, that 2014 PGA Championship is the last time your humble blogger successfully picked the winner of a major...  Rory was on a tear, and Valhalla in August couldn't help but be soft enough for his needs, plus he was on that tear.

Eight holes in eight under is just sick, but there's no player whose heaters are as impressive as this guy's, it's just that he seems to play his worst when he wants it the most.

The Tour Confidential panel tackles this event, but in quite the odd manner:

2. Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele battled it out in the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship, with McIlroy winning by five shots after an impressive six-under 65. A good confidence boost (for both) with the PGA Championship up next, or not quite so with the World No. 1 not at Quail Hollow?

Barath: Both players separated themselves this week on a long and firm golf course, and it

would be hard not to come away from this event without a lot of confidence heading into the PGA Championship. Sure, Scottie wasn’t in the field this week, but you can only beat those who are in the field. Rory went ballistic on the back nine while Xander stalled, and hopefully this continues for Rory at the PGA.

Dethier: Massive confidence boost! Nearly every good PGA Tour player teed it up at Quail Hollow and Xander Schauffele beat them all like a drum. All of ‘em except for Rory McIlroy, that is, and he proved to have far more offense when it mattered on Sunday. These guys both know winning the week before a major is no guarantee of anything — their most recent individual PGA Tour victories came at the 2023 (McIlroy) and 2022 (Schauffele) Genesis Scottish Invitationals, the week before the Open, which neither won. Still, short of Scheffler, who’s playing better golf?

Piastowski: Very much so, especially for McIlroy, the World No. 2. Everything seemingly clicked, against 67 of the PGA Tour’s best, on a course that next year will host the PGA. But I’m also wondering about the Zurich and his win with pal Shane Lowry. McIlroy talked this week of being freed up now. That can mean a lot of different things. But maybe this is the result for McIlroy. And yeah, there are good vibes at Valhalla, where he last won a major.

They seem to think that both Rory and Xander walked off Quail Hollow feeling similarly, yet I'm guessing that Rory's dinner tasted better than X-man's.  The latter hasn't won in two years and got run over yesterday, so finishing seems to be an issue.  He squandered a meaningful 36-hole lead, which has become a pattern, and hasn't won in two years.  Yet these guys think he's heading to Valhalla walking on air....

I've been a Rory skeptic for a while, and this dominating win doesn't really change anything.  But I've checked the Louisville weather forecast and, combined with those 2014 vibes, it smells like the kind of week that's up Rory's alley.  Almost no wind and humid conditions with a stray thunderstorm, which feels very much like Valhalla 2014 or Congressional 2011.  It couldn't set up better for him, now he simply needs to do it on demand.

Rose In Full - This game will baffle us, as the young lady wins her first start, then goes on an extended walkabout.  Hard to explain, but it sure seems as if she intends to stick around this time.  The header is a bit odd, though:

Rose Zhang wins Founders Cup as Nelly Korda’s streak comes to unceremonious end

I'm pondering what a ceremonious ending would have looked like for Nelly.  A marching band, perhaps, but does she belong in the header?  I know she was justifiably the story heading into the event, but two girls separated themselves from the pack by a touchdown and two field goals, then Rose wins with a late sprint, so Nellie wasn't a story after the third round...

If there was to be a two-player Sunday duel at the Cognizant Founders Cup fueled by hot putters and world-class ball striking, most would have guessed it would have included Nelly Korda

. After all, Korda had started the weekend just four off the lead and as the winner of her last five events, including the season’s first major at the Chevron Championship

Instead, it was the final pairing of Madelene Sagstrom and 21-year-old Rose Zhang who separated themselves from the pack, including the World No. 1.

Then it was Zhang, who fell behind early but closed the gap and flipped the script with four birdies over her final five holes, who won the Cognizant Founders Cup by two over Sagstrom.

“I’m still shaking right now. I think I never gave up. I always knew I had something in me to just grind it out, enjoy the time,” Zhang said on the 18th green after the win. “Madelene is an extremely solid player, she was basically hitting every single shot next to the hole, making putts. I had to prepare myself for the toughest challenge.”

Nellie is incredible and no doubt the only lady that can draw viewers right now, but she's gonna need a rival, and Rose might be the best bet.

Alas, this might be an even sillier question that the Rory/Xander bit:

5. Nelly Korda tied for seventh at the Cognizant Founders Cup — Rose Zhang edged Madelene Sagstrom to win — to end her streak of consecutive wins at five, which tied the all-time record. Korda’s remarkable run often evoked Caitlin Clark comparisons, or at least the conversation topic of if she could help elevate women’s golf like Clark did for women’s basketball. But do you think those comparisons were fair?

Barath: Women’s golf needs more mainstream coverage if it wants to break further into the general sports landscape, and unfortunately it still gets second billing to things like the PGA Tour Champions circuit. I think with the right investment, the best LPGA Tour players could be just as recognizable as the best PGA Tour players, which is still miles behind other sports like the NBA.

Dethier: I think the Caitlin Clark comps are well intentioned but misinformed. Korda has no team, no rival, no built-in fanbase, no March Madness tournament. I wrote about this earlier this week, but Korda has been right to point out that all she can do is keep playing top-tier golf — the sort she’s been playing — and let any boost happen naturally.

Piastowski: Points well made by my colleagues. The comparison is convenient, as we’re also in the midst of Clark fever. But it’s on the shoulders of Korda’s tour, and the broadcasters of Korda’s tour, and the advertisers of Korda and Korda’s tour to get her name out there — because it sure seems like she’s doing her part.

But if Ryan thinks the LPGA will ever be competitive with the PGA Tour, I have some swampland for him to look at.  That's actually dangerous thinking for the LPGA, because for them success comes through understanding their place in the golf ecosystem and carving out an audience where available.

It's easy to blame the networks and certainly checks off your virtue signaling requirement, but there's one niggling detail to factor in, to wit, when the girls are on, nobody tunes in.  There, I've said it out loud, but they have to earn their viewership.  They put on a good show yesterday, but it was maddingly hard to find on Golf Channel.  Unfortunately, the need to keep it up and make the show sufficiently important to deserve a better time slot.

Valhalla On Our Mind - We'll gear up slowly for the fourth of four this week, first with the TC panel's thoughts:

1. The 2024 PGA Championship begins on Thursday at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., where Scottie Scheffler will be the betting favorite and Brooks Koepka will defend his title. (There’s no word yet if Scheffler’s baby was born, but he’s on the interview schedule for Tuesday.) Any reason to think three weeks off could hinder Scheffler’s chances?

Ryan Barath: At this point with Scottie’s game, I don’t think three weeks off, even when it includes the birth of your first child, will do any harm to his golf game. If he can come out and win the RBC Heritage the week after winning the Masters, and deal with the whirlwind whiplash from that, I think he’s going to come out ready to go at Valhalla.

Dylan Dethier: As someone who just became a dad for the first time, I would say that’s the sort of thing that would throw off anybody’s golf game, even the World No. 1 — but I’m guessing we have different childcare setups. It certainly wouldn’t be a shock to see him contend. But we could forgive him if he showed up at Valhalla with something slightly less than his best stuff.

Nick Piastowski: The three weeks off won’t be an issue. The child, though? Quite possibly. Thoughts will be elsewhere, understandably so. Then again, if he wins, days after becoming a new father, his legend grows even more.

What these guys seem to be saying is that Rory's win at Quail Hollow should come with an asterisk, no?

It's simply impossible to know whether Scottie will be there and be on his game, so I see no value in the speculation.  But we have a full field  in Louisville, and we don't get to enjoy that very often these days, so I'm looking forward to watching some of them grind to make the cut on Friday.

And questions that no one is asking:

4. The PGA will also be the first time we see Tiger Woods since he finished 60th at the Masters, and he’s returning to a course he won the PGA on in 2000. Does Woods finish better or worse than he did at Augusta?

Barath: I hate counting Woods out, but Valhalla is very long, and the field as a whole is a lot stronger than the one he faced at the Masters So with all that factored in, I would be more surprised if he makes the cut, rather than missing it.

Dethier: Better! Stop doubting this guy.

Piastowski: I’ll go in the middle. Worse than the Masters, but only slightly and he makes the cut. The temps seem good — for the fans, for achy joints.

Did that which we saw at Augusta leave us wanting more?  Yeah, not so much....

6. Let’s wrap with one final PGA preview question. What’s a juicy storyline no one is talking about right now?

Dethier: Jordan Spieth seems injured and out of sorts — but he’s still going for the career grand slam! Don’t worry, though, nine good holes on Thursday and you’ll hear plenty about this.

Barath: Wow, even I forgot about Spieth’s career grand slam chance here until you mentioned it, Dylan, but I’m gonna go with Rahm. He’s still searching for an individual win on LIV and he didn’t play that well at the Masters. If the PGA isn’t going well, we could be in for a very angry and frustrated golfer come Friday afternoon.

Piastowski: This will get some run during the week, but club pro Tracy Phillips will be making his PGA Championship debut at the age of 61. But his story gets better. He once quit golf for 20 years, before being drawn back. Wild.

 Twenty years off from golf?  Don't tempt me....

I agree that Rahm is an interesting case, and I'll just add Talor Gooch.  A man who's done nothing in the game believers it owes him a living, but this will be his only major of the year (unless he wins it), and he's never done anything in big events.  If the golf gods are on their game, he'll be slamming a trunk on Friday....

Tour Stuff - A few bits on Tour governance and the like. before I get on with my day.  First, this on the Rory board seat grab from the TC gang:

3. One story that dominated the pre-tournament chatter was the status of Webb Simpson’s seat on the PGA Tour Policy Board. Simpson previously tried to step down, but only if McIlroy would take his spot. That, however, didn’t happen, and Simpson is serving the remainder of his term. “There was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on, for some reason,” McIlroy said. Reading between the lines, why wouldn’t some feel comfortable with McIlroy coming back on? Could he help golf’s division? And, finally, do you have any issue with him rejoining after he resigned his spot months ago?

Barath: A couple of things here. First off, even as someone who pays close attention to the men’s professional game, all of this is just an absolute slog, and at this point, I just want someone to wake me up once this whole thing is sorted and done with. Secondly, when it comes to people being uncomfortable, I believe there is a big schism between those who are OK with letting some of the PGA Tour history die so that there can finally be a true world tour, and those who still want to keep the PGA mostly structured the way that it is now. Saying that, I think Rory has made it clear that he’s on the side of the world tour, and is ready to negotiate with the Saudi PIF and bring all of the best players back together, while others aren’t quite ready to lose out on their share if that happens. As for coming back, Rory appears to be thinking a lot longer term, and for that reason, if he wants to come back in some capacity, he should be able to.

Dethier: As it turns out, though, McIlroy is a member — albeit a non-voting member — of the transactions subcommittee, which [pause for yawn] is actually doing the meaningful negotiating with the Saudis. It would have been sort of weird to reinstate McIlroy on the board after he’d stepped away just months ago. But he still seems a key figure in the process.

Piastowski: Bunch of light questions here! Let’s try to answer ’em, though. The uncomfortability? Tough to say without hearing from the sources. Maybe it’s that McIlroy once left the board and his commitment is still questioned. Maybe it’s a situation that Barath describes, where McIlroy wants a world tour, and others don’t. All good theories. Could he help golf’s division? You bet — and as Dethier notes, he will be, as part of the transactions committee. (Lots of committees these days!) The move is a good one, should you want an agreement. McIlroy has previously said he has at least some sort of relationship with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund. Any issue with him rejoining? Maybe a little. If it’s as simple as Simpson wanting McIlroy his spot, and McIlroy accepting, I think that’s OK.

I think it's a remake of Mean Girls, with Cantlay in the Wynona Ryder role.... But that my predication that we'd end up hating all these guys is looking pretty good, as the tearful resignation followed by the extrajudicial swap with Webb Simpson looks pretty needy on Rory's part.

Given his starring role as a useful idiot, I actually don't know why anyone would care what Rory thinks at this point.

Eamon Lynch has what seems to be an overly-optimistic take on the current state of play:

Lynch: The PGA Tour’s new committee will be mocked, but it’s the last hope for grown-ups to take charge

Grown-ups?   I thought I had heard that Rory was on it?

Eamon always has the best ledes in the biz:

Committees often have about as much utility as ashtrays on motorcycles, and in golf usually serve only as a mechanism to butcher great courses and honor the milquetoast. On occasion, however, they can be impactful. The three-man panel that negotiated the PGA Tour’s Framework Agreement with the Saudis last summer certainly made an impression, not least because other Policy Board members didn’t know of its existence nor much care for its output.

Ashtrays n motorcycles, eh?  Missed that one on my bingo card.

The backlash to that secretive process sparked a time-consuming and overdue governance review

that is essential as the Tour shapeshifts from an indolent non-profit with complacent members into a modern league with shareholders and investors. A handful of oversight committees have now been established at PGA Tour Enterprises, the for-profit entity that runs the business. Most are standard operating procedurals, but one panel in particular suggests the Tour is about to move beyond childish bickering and begin letting grown-ups shape its future.

The Transaction Subcommittee’s anodyne name belies its importance. It will handle talks with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia on a potential deal and make a recommendation to the full Policy Board — one the politburo is unlikely to reject from its hand-picked negotiators. Committee members include Enterprises chairman Joe Gorder, commissioner Jay Monahan and John Henry, the principal of Strategic Sports Group, which just invested a billion-five into the product. There are also four players: Joe Ogilvie (retired, and now a humble money manager), Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy. In short, a lot of people unaccustomed to making business calls by committee.

 But are the "adults" even on speaking terms with each other?

No one is on the panel to present moral arguments about being in business with a despot. Those who harbor any such reservations will check them at the door and treat negotiations as a matter of commerce, not conscience. But it is at least a committee of adults, something sorely needed in this sorry mess.

So the lack of moral reservations is a good thing?   Or will they just focus on ensuring that Adam Scott gets all the sponsors' exemptions he needs?

The PGA Tour has been consumed with dual crises, one internal, one ex-. The latter is obvious — the LIV threat, caused by the depth of Saudi pockets and the shallowness of character among the Tour’s own membership. The internal dispute mostly remained behind boardroom doors until spilling into the open this week when a faction of player-directors (Woods, Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth) blocked an effort to reappoint McIlroy to the Policy Board he left six months ago.

The rebuff wasn’t unjustified. There must be a legitimate and transparent process governing board appointments and having Webb Simpson nominate McIlroy as his successor ain’t either. Still, there was no hand-wringing when Woods was added to the board in the middle of the night, the only member without (still) an expiration date for his term. The Pope of Ponte Vedra serves at his own discretion, it seems. But the stiff-arming of McIlroy exposed how personal grievances have masqueraded as governance concerns.

OK, but by all accounts that Cantlay fellow doesn't want a deal, so do we think this Committee can prevail over the terrific penis?  And should we interpret Rory's attempted resurrection as a trial run in that conflict?

Here's Eamon's take on that:

There are ample misgivings about how the Tour is run and most are genuinely held and valid. But some guys just remain angry at being blindsided by the Framework Agreement, while others are pissed because they left LIV’s millions on the table and know their moment has passed. They want the heads of those who architected the June 6 deal — Monahan, Ed Herlihy and Jimmy Dunne — and the thirst for retribution has paralyzed the organization at a perilous time.

That faction sees McIlroy as too close to their nemeses, but in balking at his return to the board they might have overplayed their hand. A public perception now exists that the Cantlay camp wields power, which means that credit for progress — or, more likely, blame for a lack thereof — is destined for the same desks.

Cantlay and Spieth (perhaps) seem to like the spot they're in right now, with Saudi-level money but no moral ramifications and fewer top players to compete with in the money grabs.  So, Eamon, tell me how this gets approved without those two votes.

This isn't exactly a rave endorsment of Rory's role:

Thus McIlroy now finds himself used by both sides. Having long been a proxy for executives in fighting the public battle against LIV, he is now seconded to the Transactions Committee as a convenient means of providing cover for the players who didn’t want him to have a board vote, but who fear even more scrutiny for having rejected him. The Tour is fortunate that he’s sufficiently toughened (or soft) to endure its maladroit bungling in his effort to contribute to a solution. McIlroy’s relationships with stakeholders on both sides will be useful to the committee, but not enough to single-handedly forge a settlement in golf’s civil war. Even a good-faith effort might still mean the Tour moves forward without a toxic association with the PIF.

I've been calling him an useful idiot since June 6th.  Now he seems willing and able to be used by both sides, so we've got that going for us...

Meanwhile, back here on Planet Earth, the Faceplant Tour™ continues to yield predictable results:

Long-standing sponsor issues ominous threat to PGA Tour

First reportedly by ScoreGolf.com, RBC is refusing to commit to a multi-year extension of its current deal with the mainly US-based circuit until such times as changes are made.

The Royal Bank of Canada is understood to have paid the PGA Tour an eye-watering $25m to be the title sponsor for last month’s BC Heritage on Hilton Head Island and the upcoming RBC Canadian Open.

It has bankrolled the latter since 2008, saving the event from possible oblivion, and added the former to its portfolio in 2012.

However, with both deals up after this year and until such times as it gets some guarantees on the future of the PGA Tour specifically and men’s professional golf more broadly, the bank is refusing to spend another dime.

Yeah, why would they?  The business is in freefall, and the Tour keeps demanding more an delivering less....

Although this is quite the slam:

“It’s like they’re flying the plane and building it at the same time,” added DePaoli. “If some of these outstanding questions can resolve themselves in the short to medium term, and we can start to put some of the static and changes that a lot of people were not too pleased with behind us, professional men’s golf can get back on track and going in a positive direction again.

I think they just got compared to Boeing, which seems pretty damn apt...

They also sponsor a gaggle of players, who have effed them pretty good.  DJ is often credited as having gone to LIV without trashing things on the way out the door.  But, while that might be true for the Tour, he left the week of RBC's flagship Canadian Open, so a nice way to treat them after cashing years of checks.

I'll just embed this as our final bit:

There are a lot of really great golf photos, but this may be the best ever. https://t.co/AqvIEkQ6W4

— Zack Z (@ZZGolfs402) May 11, 2024

That's it for today.  We'll have PGA coverage as the week unfolds.