The Card – Volume XLIII

by Gary Williams | Jun 17, 2024 | The Card

18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf…

1. Bryson DeChambeau provided a performance over the course of the week at Pinehurst that eclipsed his week at the PGA at Valhalla and it’s not just because he won.  Valhalla lacked nuance and was reduced to a pin cushion from persistent rain in Louisville.  His performance there fit the convenient profile associated with his style.  Pinehurst was fast, fiery and full of quirky funk.  He didn’t drive his ball to victory, instead he executed nuanced recovery shots like his par on 8 on Sunday, the short pitch for an up-and-down on 10 and the exclamation point with his 55-yard bunker shot on the final hole and the par putt to secure his second U.S. Open.  All along the way engaging fans and emoting in the most uncommon way among this generation of players.  Bryson has appeared in the past to be trying to satisfy everyone while rarely satisfying anyone.  It doesn’t mean some of the patronizing of fans may not appear orchestrated but, guess what, fans don’t care.  Connection is not felt between most of the world’s sporting stars and the masses today.  They are handled and the socio-economic divide is just one of the gulfs that exists between stars and the people who pay the freight to watch and attend sporting events.  Bryson has performed one of the greatest re-writes we have witnessed in sports.  He’s also a far more complete and grittier player than he was ever portrayed as previously. 

2. Rory McIlroy stood on the 14th tee with a two-shot lead.  Bryson DeChambeau birdied the 13th hole before Rory made par on the 14th hole, so his lead was one with four holes to go.  The combination of failed execution and poor decision-making which generally are never mutually exclusive was historic.  I walked with Rory every day and his play on a golf course that would not be on the short list of venues most people would think Rory could win on was extraordinarily good.  He displayed an arsenal of shots on Thursday that set the tone for the week.  His iron play was faulty on Sunday as he hit only 10 greens in regulation while driving very well.  He missed four greens hitting his shots from the fairway but his tidiness on 4-7-8-14 allowed him to save par by making putts all five feet or shorter.  The choice of club on 15 tee is a fair question but it will be the 30-inch putt that to me set the wheels in overdrive for what ultimately led to him losing the U.S. Open.  DeChambeau three putted the 15th right behind him and allowed Rory to keep the lead.  The short miss was an unsettling warning sign of immense pressure building and despite the up-and-down par save on 17, Rory was teetering, and the tee shot on 18 could be questioned knowing 3-wood would have left him no more than 140 into the green.  The par putt was sinister in length and movement, but to me, having seen a ton of his short par putts over the week was different.  It appeared ‘wishy’ and not with resolve.  It was a painful and unforeseen, by me, hour of golf.  Rory was making his magical moment with birdie putts and a chippy and steely determination until he let it all slip away. 

3. The jolt that Rory’s failings created launched an immediate collective declaration that his finish was the worst and most gut-wrenching major championship finish.  Greg Norman alone has a catalog and the Mize chip in was different because Mize pulled off a miracle, but Greg had many others.  Sam Snead in the 1947 U.S. Open, Hubert Green at the 1978 Masters, Doug Sanders at the Open Championship in 1970, Davis Love III at the 1996 U.S. Open, John Cook’s three putt on the 17th hole at the 1992 Open Championship, Ed Sneed’s three straight bogeys at the 1979 Masters, Adam Scott’s four straight bogeys at the 2012 Open Championship, Dustin Johnson’s three putt at the 2015 U.S. Open, Mito Pereira’s double bogey on the 18th at Southern Hills at the 2022 PGA Championship, Phil Mickelson at Winged Foot in 2006, Colin Montgomerie at Winged Foot in 2006, Thomas Bjorn at the Open Championship blowing a three shot lead with four to play in 2003, and of course Jean van de Velde with the magnum opus of meltdowns.  I believe this is a deeper cut than the U.S. Open last year by a wide margin and it supplants the final round of the Open Championship at St. Andrews, but to declare it the unkindest cut historically is failing to remember just how many there have been in this beautiful and unforgiving game. 

4. Rory leaving without speaking to the media and the optics of him speeding out of the parking lot were not good.  Historically, players have mostly faced the music after experiencing a gutting, most notably Greg Norman.  There’s irony in that Rory is being associated with Greg for being on the harsh end of several major losses but Greg stood and answered the questions more than once.  Phil did the same after Winged Foot in 2006.  It’s part of the job.  Undeniably Rory was immediately in a very challenging emotional place, and I empathize a great deal but the courtesy of congratulating the winner should be the least and most modest responsibility one should feel. 

5. Bryson landed 6th on the Olympic list for the United States because of the absence of points outside the majors.  All the LIV players should have had eyes wide open at the outset of their pivot professionally but today the omission of Bryson with the impending agreement with PIF and the Tour looks ludicrous.  He’s the second-best player from the United States and he will not be in Paris, and he also would be a massive draw for the golf competition and the potential for Rory, Scottie and Bryson one more time together beyond the Open Championship.  Just simply a monstrous loss for a sport trying to gain traction with inclusion in the Olympic platform. 

6. Patrick Cantlay tied his best finish in a major in his career but it was by far his best performance in a major.  His distant third at the 2019 PGA Championship is a footnote.  Cantlay started the final round closer to the lead than he had ever been in a major and hung close enough all day.  He’s the prototypical Open style player in an era where the prototype is not as easily amplified.  His conversation with Rory Sunday consisted of “Play well before it started and thanks when it was over”.  They are not friends. 

7. Maybe Scottie Scheffler was due a flat spot and maybe he had misgivings about the native areas but being with the group featuring 1-2-3 in the world rankings from their first swings on Thursday he was way off.  Drove it horribly right away on the second hole of the championship, missed the fairway with an iron on the 3rd hole and he never found any comfort.  Tied for 59th in fairways hit and was 70th in strokes gained putting for the week.  It was the inverse of what I saw when Rory and Scheffler were paired to start the Masters with the re-engagement this week at the U.S. Open.  Rory was locked in and dealt with much less stress and labor while Scottie was under the gun to make par on way too many holes.   

8. Brooks Koepka’s major season is now down to trying to salvage it at the Open Championship.  His results this year are a T45 at Augusta and back-to-back T26’s at the PGA and U.S. Open.  He was actually the leader of the U.S. Open early on Thursday when he got it to 3-under but he squandered three shots coming in to finish with a 70 and his Friday 75 took him out of the event and he was first off on Saturday morning.  A very quiet week all the way down to the only media he conducted was a text exchange/interview after day 1 with Golfweek and Golf Channel’s Eamon Lynch. 

9. Xander Schauffele had a quick turnaround from his PGA Championship victory and his T7 was actually pretty damn admirable.  Not easy to climb to the summit for the first time and go back to base camp only to try to ascend again four weeks later.  He drove it all over the property and battled his ass off.  He tied for 59th in fairways hit and yet he finished in the top 10.  He has become more weaponized with his driving distance but it’s his demeanor that I love.  He locks in and never deviates.  He even said pre-championship that Tiger is the only one who ever made celebrating look cool.  He just stays level and he’s a top three favorite for me at Troon. 

10. Matthieu Pavon was a wonderful story this past week.  A sporting background of professional soccer players has produced a man, at 31, that is finding joy in playing in the United States.  He has backed up his T12 at the Masters with a solo 5th at the U.S. Open and coupled with his win in San Diego he is emerging a viable candidate for Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup team next year.  Its forever from now but not too early to add him to the larger long term target list. 

11. Tony Finau had not contended in a major in over three years and on the hardest course we’ve seen in major championship golf in that same time frame he rebounded from a challenging Saturday playing alongside Rory McIlroy with a fantastic final round of 67.  Finau is a great choice when it’s a forgiving set up but his performance this week speaks to real progress. 

12. Neal Shipley won low amateurs honors at his second major of the year.  He adds low am at Pinehurst to his low am at the Masters tournament.  He becomes the fourth player since 1990 to be the low amateur at the Masters and U.S. Open joining Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar and Viktor Hovland. 

13. The conditions could not have been more optimal for Tiger Woods this past week.  I’m talking about level ground for the most part and very warm temperatures.  The set-up of the golf course was not ideal for someone who rarely plays anymore.  The most exacting major venue and potential punishment for not playing from the fairway.  Tiger missed the cut by a couple shots and his major record since he won the Masters in 2019 is now 14 starts and one top 25 at the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.  He was asked Friday evening if this might be his last U.S. Open and by not definitively saying no it opens the door to the possibility that it could be.  This was not his last U.S. Open.  He has one event left in his year at Troon.  His acceptance of the Bob Jones award was warm and endearing. 

14. The report that the tour will add a lifetime exemption category for Tiger to play any Signature series event going forward is neither surprising nor out of bounds.  They are running a business.  He helped make the business and his presence at an event or two in the years ahead makes complete sense. 

15. Expect news this week that the tour and PIF have the foundation for working together.  There appears to be a ton of work ahead to know exactly what the relationship will look like, but it will include investment from PIF into PGA Tour enterprises.  How quickly all the players share events is the most important thing to fans and I don’t expect it for another year. 

16. Phil Mickelson came and went this week without much of a whimper.  He got off to a horrendous start and had no chance of making the cut by mid-morning on Friday.  He is a former champion golfer of the year, and he was sensational at Troon but he returns there with the feeling that ten lifetimes have gone by since 2016. 

17. Jim “Bones” Mackay was front and center for the up-and-down by Payne Stewart 25 years ago as the youthful looking caddy for Phil Mickelson.  He was front and center again on Sunday as the walking on course reporter for NBC.  He helped call the incredible up and down bunker shot of Bryson DeChambeau.  Golf journeys are wild, my God, he’s seen a lot. 

18. Pinehurst is the de facto home of the USGA and they have made a massive commitment to the resort for many championships with the U..S Open being the ultimate showcase.  Pinehurst won the week.  The footprint, infrastructure, practice set up, main entry, the golf course, the village, the hospitality, the state law enforcement and shuttle system, all of it was a home run.  The golf course was provocative and exceedingly interesting.  Pinehurst and the U.S. Open is a match.