by Gary Williams | Apr 1, 2024 | The Card
18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf…
- The news this past weekend that Tiger Woods made a trip to Augusta National is not surprising. Reportedly he played with a fellow former U.S. Amateur champion and Justin Thomas. I can only hope that Augusta National chairman, Fred Ridley, and Tiger busted JT’s chops for not winning the Theodore Havemeyer trophy.
- Tiger’s recon trips have been legendary through the decades. His first look at Bethpage before the 2002 U.S. Open, 2004 at Shinnecock, 2007 at Oakmont when he played with Bob Ford who shared that Tiger literally didn’t miss a shot a week before missing a playoff by a shot. These trips will always be cool, but it’s transitioned from whether he was even money to win to whether he will make it through the week. Here’s hoping for an injury or ailment free Masters for the five-time champion.
- Houston has fantastic history with professional golf and professional golfers including the recently deceased Jackie Burke Jr. and Jimmy Demaret. Memorial Park was Demaret’s haunt for years and this past week was a really encouraging week for the future of the event. After moving venues and moving to the fall the event is back in the spring and with the heavy overseed, the proximity to downtown and the provocative stretch of holes on the inward nine, Houston has a bright future. Rightfully so.
- Sahith Theegala is a delightful guy and a fantastic young player. He was given first pitch honors at an Astros/Yankees game and to his credit he threw from the mound and the ball made it across the plate. It’s a nervy experience for sure and at bare minimum he didn’t go full 50 Cent or Gary Dell’Abate.
- Justin Ray has rightfully established himself as the go to guy for virtually any query related to present day info or historical data on professional golf. I am starting to envision his inbox being like Jim Carrey’s in the movie, “Bruce Almighty”. Give the man a day off please.
- Keita Nakajima, who was ranked #1 in the world amateur rankings for 87 weeks won his first event on the DP World Tour. At 23 years old and moving steadily up the world rankings, he is likely to gain exemptions into majors this year. He professed his desire to get to the PGA Tour and offers Japanese golf fans a belief that they may have their next star.
- Another former world #1 amateur from Japan, Takumi Kanaya also won this past week claiming the opening event on the Japan Tour including shooting 64-65 on the weekend. A former Asia-Pacific Amateur champion, Kanaya now has six wins on the top Japanese tour at 25 years old. The Far East is coming with serious talent.
- The 15th hole at Memorial Park was quite the scene this past week especially on Saturday when the final two groups played the hole in five over par. The hole was measuring 121 yards to the right front pin and world number 1 Scottie Scheffler hit his tee shot to within 10 feet before it retreated off the green and into the water where he proceeded to make double bogey. Walking the fine line between good hole and ridiculous hole is razor thin and according to many players Saturday’s set up made the hole pretty stupid.
- Alejandro Tosti got testy with Tony Finau on Saturday on the fourth green in an effort to determine who was away on the putting surface. John Wood said it was an “icy” situation. Tosti has a few episodes from his time on the Korn Ferry Tour and he was already an interesting story from his roots in Argentina to his college years at the University of Florida. Here’s hoping he remains feisty and confrontational. Since the creation of LIV too many of the guys we would all pick a side for or against are playing on that tour. I toast Tosti for being him.
- The report this week that several top names have already privately declared that they will not participate in the Olympics might be a bit premature. With the reliance on world rankings several of these players may only be stating that they would not make their nation’s respective teams and in the event any of them win a major or closely contend their feelings might be amended. The bottom line is that the golf competition in the Olympics has not gotten the cleanest runaway since it was re-introduced after more than 100 years off the program. First it was the Zika virus excuse in 2016 and then covid effected the field in 2021 in Tokyo. Paris might be the LIV/World rankings wrinkle.
- Bryson Dechambeau recently played nine holes with a ball that would be on the conforming list once the ball rollback is instituted in 2028 for elite players. What was likely an exercise to portray the ball as a disaster and bad for the men’s professional game may have had the inverse effect. I was pro rollback and I’m not more pro rollback because of his melodramatic exhibition but it most certainly made many more curious to see the game played with a rollbacked ball.
- During covid David Skinns was driving a food delivery truck to help pay the bills. He came into this season without a top 10 in his PGA Tour career having played most of his career on the Korn Ferry Tour and now in one month he has two top 10’s and possible starts in signature series events. Keeping the dream alive in his 40’s is always a great story.
- Tony Finau had a solid week in his defense of winning in Houston a year ago last October, but it is simply too much to look at the putting stroke and then glance at the putting stats that show him outside the top 140 on tour and make him a Masters favorite. He is a major contender until further notice, but he hasn’t performed as a favorite and Augusta National is unkind to the uncomfortable on their greens.
- Rory McIlroy will play this week at Valero in San Antonio and I’m not sure there is anything that will occur that will influence anyone’s thoughts about his Masters chances. He will get reasonable consideration but his form and the current form of Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Xander Schauffele and a few others should put Rory firmly on the second line of favorites.
- The Augusta National Women’s Amateur has become what everyone thought it would become. Special but it’s not the U.S. Women’s amateur. The amateur is the most grueling and most mentally taxing examination in amateur golf. Playing and winning at Augusta National has massive cache but it’s not the amateur.
- Stephen Jaeger was always productive on the Korn ferry Tour, but he has struggled to find firm footing when he’s graduated to the PGA Tour until now. Nine pars on the inward nine Sunday was mundane but he was playing with world #1 and more importantly his determination to gain speed and distance has changed everything for him, including now being a PGA Tour winner.
- Scottie Scheffler is the surest contender in years. His putter was tepid on Sunday but his second to 18 was a shot no one else could produce. He missed a playoff by a shot with the sloppiest three putt on Friday and a clownish double bogey on 15 on Saturday after spinning it into the water. It’s an almost impossible thought that he won’t be lurking at the worst on the weekend at Augusta National.
- American women winning three events before the first major of the season is a very rare occurrence with Patty Berg, Louise Suggs, Kathy Whitworth, JoAnne Carner and now Nelly Korda. Korda is a freight train headed into the major championship season and she is VERY good for business.
by Gary Williams | Mar 25, 2024 | The Card
18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf…
- Jesper Svensson won the Porsche Singapore Classic in a playoff over Kiradech Aphibarnrat. Svensson shot a final round 63 to secure his first win on the DP World Tour. After winning on the Nordic Golf League in 2020 and then the B-NL Challenge Tour, Svensson began his ascent on leaderboards on the DP World Tour. Based on the reaction from some established players in Europe the Swede has a high ceiling.
- Californian Asterisk Talley won the girls division and Giovanni Daniele Binaghi from Italy won the boys division of the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley. Talley led wire to wire and the 15-year old’s 9 under is the lowest total recorded on the girl’s side. Binaghi went 30 holes without a bogey and shot 64 in the final round. Italy might have another top talent for future Ryder Cup consideration.
- The reports that Tiger Woods was fully engaged in the meetings last week between the PGA Tour and Yasir Al-Rumayyan and the PIF should come as zero surprise. If it was reported that Tiger acted disinterested, then you might have a story. As for Al-Rumayyan, you think he was pumped to play golf with Tiger? Based on his golf nerdiness he had to be downright giddy.
- Hughes Norton was Tiger Woods’ first agent, and he was a super-agent to the stars in the 70’s. 80’s and 90’s. His new book, “Rainmaker” is a recommended read for all the stories about Greg Norman, Raymond Floyd, Fred Couples, Curtis Strange and of course Tiger. It also provides very good historical context about the growth of IMG as a sports agency and industry monolith. Hughes joined me for an hour conversation about the book and his motivation to tell his story including Tiger Woods firing him and then losing his job and career. It’s available on all the digital audio platforms, our YouTube channel and website at www.5Clubsgolf.com
- Jordan Spieth missed his second straight cut and unlike the Players where his record is abysmal the missed cut at Valspar is more troubling because he plays very well at the Copperhead Course including winning there in 2015. The most troubling is the continued poor iron play. Spieth needs to find something in his final start in a week’s time at Valero for many people, me included, to believe he’s a real contender at the Masters.
- Justin Thomas entered the weekend at Valspar as the favorite and after Saturday’s debacle was left scratching his head. His putting performance on the weekend, punctuated by the Saturday 79, was among the worst statistically in the last several years on the PGA Tour. After a solid start to his season, he has become a question mark again, especially on the weekend. He’s missed the cut in two of his last four starts and his putting stats are among the worst on tour. NOT the trend line for Augusta National.
- Rory McIlroy has always let his opinions evolve with time and information. His stance on LIV/PIF is a case study on why it’s important not to take absolute positions. He made it clear and without ambiguity that he did not like the source of the LIV money at all and later that he hated LIV. He still says nothing positive about the LIV product, but he has become almost an advocate for Yasir Al-Rimayyan. He said this past week that there is a clear distinction between LIV and PIF and that LIV and specifically Greg Norman have done Yasir a disservice in the way they’ve represented him. He is now unabashedly supportive of PIF investment the PGA Tour.
- The Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship this past week on the LPGA was played at Palos Verdes Golf Club outside of Los Angeles. Golf in Southern California is so rich with good golf courses. Wilshire Country Club is undergoing a major capital project and Hillcrest, which hosted a U.S. sectional qualifier in 2023 also underwent a restoration, both under the direction of Kyle Phillips. Phillips doesn’t get the attention of Gil Hanse or Coore/Crenshaw but his work is outstanding.
- Speaking of Kyle Phillips, he will design the third golf course and final golf course at the Apogee Club in Martin County, FL with construction getting rolling in 2025. I played the first golf course completed at Apogee this past week which was designed by Gil Hanse/Jim Wagner and their great team. The project is ambitious to say the least. Three courses, a 55 acre practice complex, two clubhouses, 55 cottages for members and their guests and every other conceivable amenity. The developers are Steve Ross and Michael Pascucci, owner of the Miami Dolphins and the founder of Sebonack respectively. This is a legacy project for both men who are in their 80’s. Apogee amplifies the appetite for super high end golf offerings, specifically in South Florida. The Hanse course ties in the natural surrounds exceptionally well and shows off the deft touch of Hanse/Wagner to create something that simply fits in.
- I also took in the Grove XXIII experience for the first time while in South Florida. Michael Jordan loves golf, and he also loves the finer things and the best toys. Grove XXIII is one of golf’s great toy departments. The caddies on scooters, souped up golf carts, a grill room that would be the ideal place to watch every single global sporting event simultaneously and the best wagyu nachos in golf. What an obscene display of every bell and every whistle. GOAT doing GOAT things.
- Houston has been a fantastic market for professional golf for decades and decades. It will once again play host to the women’s first major next week at the Chevron and this coming week it returns to an early spring date on the PGA Tour. Houston had embraced the week before the Masters date at Golf Club of Houston and attracted good fields with an agronomic set up trying to mirror Augusta National. The event moved to the fall at a re-done Memorial Park under the direction of Tom Doak. The field is ok this coming week, but they have made progress and getting out of the fall was critical to reclaim a semblance of what they used to be.
- Billy Harmon has spoken publicly and passionately about his life of recovery from alcoholism. This weekend Bill and his wife Robin hosted the Harmon Recovery Foundation fundraiser. With the PGA Tour Champions in Southern California, Bill was able to garner the support of many of his old friends to participate in the golf outing on Monday to raise money for the foundation, including Mark Calcavecchia, Billy Andrade, Jay Haas, Joe Durant, Mark Hensby and brother Butch Harmon. Bill Harmon is an inspiration and a guiding light for so many in the recovery community.
- Xander Schauffele lives inside the top 10 and makes a ton of cash but he leaves you wanting. His Sunday 65 at Valspar gave him another great result but winning separates players, not top 10’s. He is inching toward two years without a win on the PGA Tour and he will go into the Masters as a legit favorite but he’s got a vortex he needs to break through to be looked upon the way JT, Scheffler, Rahm, Morikawa and Koepka are.
- Cam Young finishing second is what he does but the inevitability of him winning is stronger than any non-winner currently playing. What I will not subscribe to is the idea that him winning will open the floodgates. His putter, which failed him on 18 Sunday, will be the preventative of him winning in bunches. His ball striking is elite but it’s not as good as Scottie Scheffler, who is, and Scottie almost went a year without a win when his putter went ice cold. Young is a threat at Augusta, but he needs strides to make him a short list favorite.
- Peter Malnati has kept his name in the golf news over the past couple years because he’s been representing the rank and file on the policy board. His win at a ball strikers paradise is beyond impressive. He had absolutely zero record at Valspar and he’s a pea-shooting unicorn in a land of bombers. Him winning can inspire anyone that they can do it they believe they can do it. Peter oozes positivity and his immediate reflections with Kira Dixon were outstanding. What a great win.
- Grant Boone never seeks personal attention as the primary host of the LPGA on Golf Channel. Grant is such a professional broadcaster. Excellent in all areas.
- Michael Bamberger has returned to Golf.com and Golf magazine and his first profile of David Feherty is outstanding. Michael is such a wonderful writer and his ability to capture the essence of someone is a wonderful skill.
- Nelly Korda winning on the LPGA is the best result for that tour. Full stop.
by Gary Williams | Mar 18, 2024 | The Card
18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf…
- This was an outstanding week for NBC/Golf Channel’s team. The Live From crew and their aggregate of writers and reporters filled early week hours. The decision to bring Gary Koch and Roger Maltbie back was nostalgic and they were what they’ve always been, excellent. That should be duplicated at the U.S. Open. The combination of Mike Tirico and Dan Hicks made the broadcast feel weightier. The limited commercials and enhanced graphic packages raised the TV product and Kevin Kisner and Brad Faxon meshed. All together it was very well done start to finish.
- Great chemistry doesn’t need reps. The Live From team of Rich Lerner, Brandel Chamblee and Paul McGinley have not been together since last fall, and they did not miss a beat. It is a superior television product and the lack of recognition from those responsible for handing out Emmy nominations should be ashamed. I consume, and have consumed, studio shows in all sports for decades and there are not five better studio programs in all of sports. Lerner is a world class host, McGinley has depth and righteousness, and Chamblee is a true lethal weapon of eloquence, quantitative data and historical context. This is not a golf bias; this is a bias toward great television work.
- The 5 Clubs team knows how good Johnson Wagner can be at the golf gasbagging job. He knows it and he loves it. This past week under the direction of senior coordinating producers Matt Hegarty and Alan Robson of Golf Channel, Johnson was unleashed to show his range. They expertly put him in a variety of roles from an early walk and talk with Justin Thomas to his nightly re-enactments of events from the day at the Players. Expect more of “What Would Johnson Do” going forward at the PGA, the U.S. Open and beyond. We hope the co-host of “The Wagyu Filet Show” will still have time for 5 Clubs duties.
- The annual debate of the merits of the 17th hole at the stadium course are always going to be interesting. I think it’s the most appropriate hole for the Players and especially where it is on the golf course. It is provocative, controversial (not to me at all), telegenic and captivating. What more could you possibly want from a televised golf hole in a professional event. Alice Dye, you nailed it.
- Jordan Spieth missed the cut at the Players. No shock, that’s his sixth missed cut since his debut T4 in 2014. Spieth is in the top 10 in strokes gained total for the season and his chipping and putting have been have excellent. He needs to improve his iron play between now and Masters week. I remain very bullish on him at Augusta because nobody has been more consistently good since his first three starts at the Masters produced a 2-1-2 area code. He’s my Masters pick until further notice.
- Jay Monahan’s Tuesday press conference was neither damaging nor fortifying to his current persona amongst the fans and the media. Kevin Van Valkenburg of ‘No Laying Up” wrote an excellent piece summarizing the challenges and dynamics at work right now for the commissioner but the biggest challenge I see and feel facing Monahan is the ongoing vibe that he has been irretrievably diminished.
- This past week you heard more opinions on the path forward for the tour from the stars to the “rank and file”. The common conclusion is that the house is divided and that’s not only at the top between the likes of Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy.
- Speaking of Spieth and McIlroy, the drop ruling on the 7th hole on Thursday of the Players along with Viktor Hovland got a ton of attention. Three stars taking that amount of time is uncommon, but one thing was unequivocally true. It was an adult and professional discussion. It never got contentious or confrontational. If I’m a fellow competitor I want Rory’s group to not be pushovers or disinterested in what he is doing. All parties wanted to get it right. It was a good lesson.
- Anthony Kim played in his first event since his return with a cut and he missed it by eight shots. I’ll remind you what I said in advance of his first start on LIV, let’s give a thorough assessment at the end of the year. He’s been exactly what you’d expect him to be. Overmatched.
- Shane Lowry had T4 at PGA National and 3rd at Bay Hill and just added another solid finish at the Players with a final round 66. Add to that his last four starts at the Masters have produced four results in the top 25 punctuated by a T3 in 2022. He is doing a proper build to the first major of the year.
- The world’s best junior golf tournament will be held this coming week. The Junior Invitational at Sage Valley was created in 2011 and winners in the modest history include Scottie Scheffler, Austin Eckroat, Joaquin Neimann, Akshay Bhatia, Caleb Surratt, and Aldrich Potgieter. Sage Valley wanted to make a contribution when the club was founded, and they’ve cultivated an event that provides the biggest stage for junior golfers. They have more recently added a girl’s division and Anna Davis is the reigning girl’s winner.
- Sam Ryder put together one of the greatest roller coaster rides in Players Championship history. Ryder set an all-time Players at the stadium course record by recording 27 birdies for the week. He also added 10 bogeys, 2 double bogeys and a triple bogey. If you were a friend of Ryder and walked all four rounds with him, you will be equally exhilarated and nauseous.
- When he concluded his final round, Patrick Cantlay confirmed that members of the PGA Tour’s policy board will have a meet and greet with members of the Public investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. How substantive the get together will be is hard to say but the sharing of ideas beyond Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Jay Monahan had to happen if they expect to truly advance the dialogue.
- Rory McIlroy recorded 26 birdies for the week, but he offset that great stat with too many double bogeys. He has yet to record a top 15 in five starts on the PGA Tour but he did get a win in the Middle East to start the year. He committed to more golf in advance to the Masters and his personal Rubicon, but the build has not fired yet. It may mean very little when he gets to Augusta National but not being in contention one time in the United States for three months would be odd and not ideal.
- Scottie Scheffler in his own words said he slapped it around on Saturday because of the neck discomfort. That line will stand up for a long time. He is doing historical stuff and if he putts reasonably well, he is going to win. The other thing about Scheffler is that he is not distracted. He’s not attending clandestine meetings with the PIF or sparring on social media. He plays golf for a living and does it better than anyone.
- Brian Harman will leave the Players proving once again that he is among the best. His shot shaping and insistence on being in the mix bodes well for him as we head into major championship season. He would not be among the Masters favorites, but he is carving out a reputation in a bombers era as a throwback.
- Wyndham Clark did not have his best stuff on Saturday and gutted out a 70. Sunday his putter failed him and yet he hit monster shots on 16, 17, and 18 and his violent lip out on the closing hole will be a lasting image of the championship. He’s got as much big tools as anyone, and he looms very large at Augusta National.
- The Players was the type of event that the PGA Tour desperately needed. The best stood tall, and the golf course is always a costar. The men’s professional game needed a boast and the best player and the stage delivered.
by Gary Williams | Mar 10, 2024 | The Card
18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf…
- The best story in professional golf this week occurred in South Africa. Matteo Manaserro, from Italy, was a prodigy, achieving historic benchmarks at a tender age. He was the youngest winner on the European Tour, at the time, the youngest player to make the cut at the Masters and appeared destined to be in the rarest air in professional golf. And then he wasn’t. Matteo was reduced to cobbling weeks together on the Alps Tour in 2020 and the Challenge Tour in 2022, playing in front of no one. On Sunday he returned to the winner’s circle and said it was “the happiest day of his career”. Looking into the abyss and staying at out of it… 3942 days between his 4th and 5th wins on the DP World Tour. Golf is revealing. Mannasero revealed that he wouldn’t submit to the game driving him out of it. Bravo.
- I was fortunate to spend the weekend around a handful of men who have devoted their professional lives to making others better at golf and running golf programs at clubs across America. Bruce Davidson, John McNeely, Gordon Johnson, and Charlie Epps convened at Congaree Golf Club to conduct a concentrated weekend program of instruction for a group of Congaree ambassadors. The program was like the one executed every year for several deserving juniors from across the country with financial challenges. To listen to these men talk with emotion about their gratitude for one another was a profound reminder that the GAME is not men playing for large sums of money. The game is really everything else.
- Billy Harmon and I did a show together many years ago on Golf Channel called, “On The Range” along with Billy Kratzert. It was designed to share the methods of the best players working on the range each week on the PGA Tour. The show did not have a long run but for those who saw it they were gifted the insights from Billy Harmon that were outstanding. The Harmon family is golf royalty, but I only wish Bill’s voice was heard much much more. Humor, truth and humility is a splendid combination to have in a golf analyst. This past weekend he had me crying with laughter and poignancy. He’s a real gem.
- Bailey Tardy turned professional in 2019 after a collegiate career at the University of Georgia. After building a resume through being productive on the Epson Tour she earned her LPGA card in 2023. Sunday, at 27 years old, she won for the first time on the LPGA at the Blue Bay. After winning Tardy talked about the doubts and the financial realities that come with struggling and missing cuts. Pondering getting a “job” but ultimately pushing through to find progress. Tardy winning is a great story and another reminder that doubts are inevitable especially as you go it alone, but belief that wins out makes the triumph even more satisfying.
- Rory McIlroy continues to share his thoughts on the evolving nature of the PGA Tour structure and schedule. He removed himself from the tour board, but he suggested this week that he’s for the tour being “more cutthroat and more competitive. He wants less players and less tour cards. What? Haven’t we shrunk the tour enough already with 70-man fields and no cut events? Don’t we already have a two tour and tier system at a time that more players are proving their ability to win? More competition is the field at the Players this week despite it being diluted by LIV’s existence. Making fields smaller doesn’t make it more competitive, it just makes the odds greater that name players win. By the way, Rory has come a long way from saying he absolutely hates LIV to his latest with ESPN’s Marty Smith when he was asked about joining LIV and simply said, “it’s not for me”. I don’t think there is anyone in the men’s game who wants a deal with LIV more than Rory. His position has evolved.
- Rory put together a scintillating inward nine on Saturday at Bay Hill to vault him onto the first page of the leaderboard only to go in full reverse on Sunday. He managed to avoid making a triple in the API for the first time this season, but he did make a “7” on the par 5 6th at Bay Hill to continue a weird trend of sloppy play. McIlroy now returns to a place in the stadium course where he has won but his stats thus far this season are bad outside of his exceptional driving. He is currently outside the top 130 in SG approach, around the green and putting. His commitment to a more robust schedule in advance of the Masters has yet to produce even one week of contending let alone finishing in the top 10.
- No more camping out for that elusive time at the Old Course. An online ballot will replace the overnight queue for single golfers hoping for a last-minute tee time on the Old. The modern and equitable digital solution will begin on March 12th with assistance from the golf logistics company, “ClubUp”. While it was romantic that players were literally sleeping by the starters hut this more civilized and organized system is a proper solution to the unwavering demand to get a slot on the Old Course.
- Will Zalatoris is trending and his play at Bay Hill locked up a spot in the Open. His early year has been a true build back and he will get a ton of attention this week at the Players and most certainly at the Masters. In addition to the alteration to his golf swing after back surgery he has made a tweak in the length of his driver shaft. It looks like he is hitting 5 iron off the tee but he is putting it in play more and the broomstick is far less disorienting to watch than the stop and start loop stroke with the conventional length putter.
- Abraham Ancer was just getting to a point in his career that he was being considered one of the better players in the world and then he left for LIV. Sunday in Hong Kong he won his first individual title against a field of players that is simply better than it was 18 months ago. He does not have the major exemptions that other LIV players have so seeing him in the best fields will require him to work his way through the qualifying system for the Opens.
- The Players week always produces the stale and unoriginal discussion about its status as a championship. I once asked Jay Monahan if he liked the event being called the 5th major and he paused which allowed me to editorialize my own position if I was in his. Why would you want to be 5th? You either are or you’re not and the Players is not a major. It’s the Players and that is massive. It’s not for forever, but especially now with the absence of so many players who play on LIV and will not be present, that conversation needs to take a year off or a decade.
- The Stadium course is one of a few courses that costar their events. I played it one year after it opened in 1983 and it was a blast. It was also unkept, rugged and truly looked native. Those days are long gone but it remains one of the few provocative courses that are host sites for big events. Here is hoping that the tour set up staff does not present a neutered examination. March means lush overseed but it doesn’t have to be SOFT. It’s a TV show, and firm is fun.
- I used to love sitting around the newsroom at Golf Channel with my researcher, Kevin Ryan, the day after the Players perusing the earnings of lesser-known players. The Players purse was so bloated in comparison to all the other events that Ollie Schniederjans T16 in 2019 grossing him 193,750 seemed like a HUGE deal. It was then. I feel like I’m talking about 25 years ago not five.
- Luke Donald appears like a guy running an investment house in Canary Wharf while holding down the medal title at Sunningdale. In reality, he’s a former world number 1, victorious Ryder Cup captain and a very capable lead analyst calling golf on television. Kevin Kisner will be back in the tower next week in Ponte Vedra but it appears NBC may have options and they might exercise all of them to a degree.
- Mike Tirico shared the 18th tower in what is a four-wide arrangement this past week on NBC at Bay Hill. Tirico is a machine and he’s also someone that everyone likes working with so his cozy proximity to Dan Hicks, the lead voice with NBC, did not make it awkward it just made it better. Tirico is the big event face of NBC sports so his participation in the golf broadcasts is a bonus. You can also look forward to hearing him on the Masters coverage from SiriusXM as the lead host. Why? Because he’s a machine. Don’t be surprised if he calls a Savannah Bananas baseball game in that week.
- Scottie Scheffler breaking back through after 51 weeks without a win is frightening… for his peers. He is a truly historic ball striker and good putting means he will blow fields away which is what he did at Bay Hill. He is now returning to the Players where he won last year and the Masters looms in less than a month. This might be the beginning of a really special tear. Add his menacing new beard which I think he can grow in a practice round and he casts the longest shadow on the PGA Tour by a legitimate margin. Rory suggested he return to the mallet putter at Riviera. Great suggestion, dangerous suggestion.
- Jackson Van Paris is not the best player on the Vanderbilt Golf team. Van Paris finished tied for 10th in the Puerto Rico Open on a one-off sponsor exemption. And we are talking about shrinking the PGA Tour down to less than 100 players? Please.
- Great to see the Cologuard Classic on PGA Tour Champions celebrate individuals who have and are battling cancer, and it was especially sweet to see Stewart Cink playing for my old partner Charlie Rymer who has come out the other side of colon cancer treatment.
- Wyndham Clark is one of my Masters favorites.
by Gary Williams | Mar 4, 2024 | The Card
18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf…
- 4.5 trillion to 1 were the odds that Amelia Garvey bucked at the NXXT Women’s Championship at Royal St. Cloud in Florida when she recorded a hole in one, an albatross, an eagle and a birdie in a single round of competitive golf. Garvey, from New Zealand, has played on the Epson tour for the last two years opened her insane round with an eagle and then proceeded to ace the par 3 6th hole. She punctuated the historic day by holing out her second on the par 5 13th hole. Garvey made four bogeys as well during the round for a psychotic scorecard that totaled 66. In true golfer martyrdom form the player who made an eagle, an albatross and a hole in one lamented that it was “a little bit annoying that this was a mini tour event, it didn’t make me that much money”.
- Viktor Hovland is a bright light amongst too many players who appear utterly downtrodden to be making a living playing golf. Appearing on Claude Harmon III’s podcast, “Son of a Butch” Hovland shared a sentiment felt by tons of fans when he said, “Obviously getting the paycheck for winning is nice but if that’s what you’re remembering by the end of the week that feels a bit soulless”. Amen. Hovland also expressed that it is sad that the only main talking point from the PGA Tour in response to LIV’s presence has been money. That is the blame of everyone involved.
- Talor Gooch is a fabulous player. He also epitomizes the undercurrent of entitlement and aggrievement permeating from some elite players. Professional golf is a meritocracy, or it was. Play well and be rewarded, play poorly and feel a sense of vulnerability and jeopardy. The world ranking system is in a precarious place in need of reform now with the existence of LIV. However, Gooch throwing a pity party in the form of an imbecilic asterisk suggestion as it pertains to Rory McIlroy and the Masters is embarrassing for him. The list of excellent players who have failed to qualify for major championships through the years is endless to say nothing for hall of fame players who missed majors due to injury. The aggrieved golfer is an utterly pathetic look.
- Monday is the annual pro-member at Seminole. When I was on the professional staff there in the mid 90’s the event had long since been shuttered for various reasons including the presence of a bloated Calcutta by the early 60’s. In 2004, then Seminole President Tim Neher, resuscitated the event with a healthy dose of club professionals solicited by the platinum standard of the profession, Bob Ford, the then resident professional. By the early 2010’s Jack and Arnie were playing together with members in addition to all four major champions from 2013, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson, and Jason Dufner representing in 2014 with the green jacket and the major trophies in tow. It is currently the greatest assemblage of golf talent and corporate power players, past and present, on one golf course any day of the year. Paint on the wall in the Seminole locker room is the summit.
- Tiger Woods playing in the Seminole pro-member Monday with PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh is interesting on a couple fronts. One, this is his first appearance in the event at 48 years old. In all the years Tiger has lived on Jupiter Island he has only played Seminole a few times including his first round with then President of the club, Tim Neher. It doesn’t indicate to me that he’s any closer to playing the Players but it’s another modest example of his evolution.
- Luke Donald was exactly what I expected him to be on the NBC broadcast in the lead analyst chair; prepared, insightful and easily conversational with his tower mate Dan Hicks. What we have discovered thus far is that there are varied voices capable of doing the job, but like a playing career, a broadcast career can be very long if you’re good which means the openings are few and very far between.
- An argument can be made that the best player in the world is playing on LIV, Jon Rahm. Additionally, the most prolific major championship winner of this generation, Brooks Koepka, also plays on LIV. But when you add Joaquin Niemann, Cam Smith, Dustin Johnson, Tyrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau, etc., etc., you start to understand the erosion week to week of PGA Tour fields. Moreover, at a time where there is NOT a player captivating the public you realize the perilous position the tour finds itself in. That dynamic will be amplified the next two weeks at Bay Hill and the Players.
- When Rory McIlroy made a reckless triple bogey on the 16th hole Saturday to fall from the top 10 to outside the top 25 the Cognizant Classic was looking at another “star-less” leaderboard. Shane Lowry is a major champion and imminently likable but he’s not a sticky TV guy. Meaning you don’t stick around just to watch him. NBC, CBS, ESPN sees these sagging numbers and they are all asking the same thing. When are the stars going to take over a tour event?
- Joaquin Niemann has now won two events early in the year on LIV. A fantastic player but his immediate reaction on each occasion was to point out something that should be better in his life. After Mayakoba he moaned about not being in majors, not entirely accurate, and just this week he received a special invite to the Masters, earned, by the way. Sunday, after winning in Saudi Arabia, the on-course interviewer suggested he’d be a favorite to win a major this year and his reaction was to point out his current world ranking was too low to support that claim. Everyone knows the world rankings are out of balance but Neimann’s reflexive reaction in the form of lame humor is stale. Literally in a week he won a golf tournament and received a Masters invite his first words after victory was stale aggrievement. I don’t attend pity parties and Niemann is suddenly a regular host of them.
- Anthony Kim’s week was of zero surprise. He finished 33 shots behind the winner in a 54-hole competition. Immaterial. As I stated on the 5 Clubs YouTube channel on Thursday Kim’s results should be judged based on progress seen over the course of the season. Eventually the scores will tell most of the story, but he has so much he needs to improve on after a lifetime away. Crowds on the ground in Saudi were nonexistent and it’ll be interesting to see the level of interest he can conjure when the tour returns to the states, after next week in Hong Kong, in Miami before the Masters.
- Hannah Green will likely win several more times in her professional career but her closing 30-foot birdie putt to win the HSBC in Thailand will be hard to eclipse. Green chased down Celine Boutier by making birdie on the final three holes to win by one and become the second Aussie to win the HSBC alongside Karrie Webb. Green’s fourth LPGA title comes soon after getting married in January and then more recently moving into a new house. Green and her new husband, Jarryd Felton, have not had a honeymoon and have been apart for almost a month. They will celebrate this coming week when they are reunited.
- Jordan Gumberg at 28 years old has kept the dream alive and the lights on as he’s globetrotted playing professional golf on various tours. Sunday, as the 669th ranked golfer in the world, he won in a playoff on the DP World Tour to win by far his biggest title. The University of Arizona grad, by way of Ft. Lauderdale, now has a home away from home on the DP World Tour. Gumberg got some late help on Sunday when Robin Williams, the leader with two holes to go made a double bogey to open the door for the playoff win for Gumberg who has played in three PGA Tour events in his career including qualifying for the 2023 U.S. Open. Any day, anywhere in the world, there are a ton of guys who can win golf tournaments.
- The USGA announced on Saturday that Tiger Woods will be the recipient of the 2024 Bob Jones Award. The award is the highest honor the organization bestows on someone in and around the game of golf. Woods would have appeared an inevitable recipient considering his immense impact on the game, but this year makes practical sense because it conveniently ties in with the USGA’s likely decision to give Woods a special invite into the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. The Jones award ceremony is conducted the week of the U.S. Open. Woods has come agonizingly close on two occasions at Pinehurst in 1999 and 2005 finishing two shots back of the eventual winners, Payne Stewart and Michael Campbell.
- The Saturday announcement by the USGA that the 2036 U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open will be conducted in consecutive weeks at Shinnecock Hills is cool. Pinehurst pulled off the national championship fortnight in 2014 and two weeks on the eastern end of Long Island in June is dreamy. Moreover, the future sites for the women’s open are a murderer’s row of historically great venues, especially the 30’s.
- 2030-Interlachen
- 2031-Oakland Hills
- 2032-Los Angeles Country Club
- 2033-Chicago Golf Club
- 2034-Merion
- 2035-Pebble Beach
- 2036-Shinnecock Hills
- Of all the things I miss about not having Arnold Palmer of this earth, the scene of him riding around his own golf tournament, the renewal is this week, with a set of clubs strapped to the back was his essence. He played golf, with anyone, especially at Bay Hill. Arnold was the Everyman, the iconic sportsman, and golf’s first TV star. He loved the engagement of a golf game more than any other. The clubs on the back of his cart in the twilight of his life at an event he created but no longer competed in was emblematic of how he saw the game. For all and for life.
- The Florida swing is associated with a much more punitive style of golf when players hit errant shots. PGA National, Bay Hill, and the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass have an identity of punishing the fate of heart. PGA National was softened by rains and they did not have a blistering wind day, but it doesn’t change the fact that the course was set up in a more benevolent way. Stats proved that with proximity from the rough, which was lighter. Even without the winner being decided on Sunday, the scores were much lower this year than past years. Taking into consideration that the 10th was converted to a par five the most accurate way to show the leniency of the set-up is in the overall scoring numbers. In 2023 there were 10 players who shot a four-round total of 272 or better. This year there will be more than twice that number. Bottom line from hearing from several players, the set up was easier and NOT because they had heavy rains on Sunday. That’s not in the best interest of interest in the event.
- Austin Eckroat was a member of an Oklahoma State team with studs in Matt Wolfe and Viktor Hovland but also absurd depth in Sam Stephens, Kris Ventura, and Brendon Jelley. A college team that produces multiple winners on tour is not that common but when you potentially have five guys who will all win tour events at some point, that is crazy good.
- Jake Knapp has the best new gait in golf. It’s really not close.
by Gary Williams | Feb 25, 2024 | The Card
18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf…
- Every winner on the PGA Tour is a great story. To cross the line on the deepest tour in the world is a massive accomplishment but the absence of stars winning on tour coupled with the number of terrific players now playing on LIV is a problem as they embark on the “for profit” arm of their business. Leveraging departures for a two-tier system and more money against the backdrop of a force not required to adhere to market principles is a far more palatable strategy if the stars driving the changes are winning, and they are not.
- The winning drought that the tour’s remaining stars are experiencing is ironic and bad timing.
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- Jordan Spieth, last win April 2022
- Justin Thomas, last win May 2022
- Patrick Cantlay, last win August 2022
- Xander Schauffele, last win July 2022
- Max Homa, last win January 2023
You add the weird and frustrating stretch of amazing tee to green performance with the confounding putting of Scottie Scheffler, who is approaching a year without a win, and you have a ratings nightmare. Without LIV players at THE PLAYERS the PGA Tour needs a star to step up, like yesterday.
- This past week saw Yasir al-Rumayyan speak at the Future Investing Initiative in Miami. The leader of LIV golf was a star among billionaires, and he shared that more than 70% of the public investment fund’s investment are within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the international investment has declined to around 25%. The reality is that the PGA Tour and its new partnership with the Strategic Sports Group NEEDS the PIF. The players on the PGA Tour may think their new partners make them healthy and whole but it’s simply not the case. The continued fracturing of the men’s game is wreaking havoc on the tour’s product.
- Joaquin Neimann receiving a special invitation to the Masters Tournament is hardly a surprise. What would have been a surprise is if the press release announcing his invitation was supported by his results on LIV. He’s a past Latin America amateur champion and his win in the Australian Open was the biggest boost to his recent accomplishments. He’s a fantastic player and his inclusion is deserved and earned.
- Miles Russell is the number one junior golfer in the U.S. with a bullet. He shot a 2 under par round of 70 at the pre qualifier for the Cognizant Classic. He’s not the first 15-year-old to attempt to pre-qualify for a tour event and won’t be the last.
- Rafael Nadal is ready to begin what might be his last year of professional tennis. In advance of his return, he won the Balearic Mid-Amateur Golf Championship in Mallorca, Spain by seven shots. I have no idea the quality of the field but is it possible Mardy Fish will have a new “celebrity” am nemesis in Tahoe?
- The report this week that Gil Hanse and his team, Caveman Construction, are being commissioned to undertake a decade long project at Sunningdale in England is just another amazing feather in their restoration cap. No designer has been entrusted with more, by a multiple of many, than Gil to return more historic golf courses to their prior design principles. Soon enough the world will see their expedient work at Colonial Country Club in Ft. Worth, the host of the Charles Schwab Challenge.
- If you never read Michael Bamberger’s “To the Linksland”, it has been republished for the 30-year anniversary of its release. Buy it and read it. Michael is a wonderful storyteller and his accounting of his journey with his then new bride to the British Isles is fantastic. We featured the book in the 5 Clubs book club this past week on SiriusXM and with a new forward from Michael Murphy it’s a must.
- The 1286th ranked player in the world rankings, Carlos Ortiz, won the International Series Oman on the Asian Tour. His world ranking is a result of playing on LIV and seeing his world ranking nosedive in the last year. He held off a few fellow LIV players and will not get a huge world ranking bump because all his peers on LIV have seen their rankings plummet as well in the last 18 months. He beat some very good players including Joaquin Neimann who finished third.
- Gil Hanse has described the Ohoopee Match Club golf course as a tapestry that is frayed at the edges. Tucked away outside of Cobbtown, Georgia, Ohoopee has earned a reputation in the first five years of its existence as one of the finest and coolest hangs in golf. It’s golf’s great dude ranch and after being on the property for two days this past week I have an even greater appreciation for the design. I made a point of walking “outside the lines” and what I found was land that talks. Fallen limbs, decayed walking paths leading to who knows where, vegetation with countless colors and textures leave you nourished. You punctuate your walk looking across the meadow at grazing Zebra and wildebeest and you feel a sense of gratitude for the time that is uncommon.
- NBC gives Luke Donald the main chair next week as they continue their season long audition for the lead analyst post for the network. Donald has always been sneaky good at everything. He got to Number 1 in the world at a time that length was exploding as a huge asset. He was the passed over European Ryder Cup captain who only got the post when Henrik Stenson left for LIV, and he performed a masterclass in understanding his team. I expect him to be thoughtful, insightful and a great listen. No, he’s not going to bring huge levity, but I expect the response to be very positive.
- Getting to see Old Town Club in Winston Salem, North Carolina for the third time in the last couple months has me even more convinced that it is one of the finest routings of a golf course in the United States. The tree removal and re-grassing of the greens under the direction of Coore/Crenshaw has taken the Perry Maxwell design to another level. It’s among the very best golf courses in the country. The convergence of the double green for the 8th and 17th holes is one of the coolest design features anywhere.
- The quartet featured in Monday night’s match are appealing and exceedingly likable, but the real star will be the Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner designed ‘The Park”. The public facility was opened last year, and its open canvas will be fantastic for the match play format but it’s the angles and contour that make the golf course a total blast. Under the lights the reachable par 5, the drivable par 4 and the fantastic par 3 17th, which will play as the 11th hole in the 12-hole match are fantastic golf holes. After a couple flat episodes, I expect this Match to deliver an entertaining evening.
- The Florida swing on the PGA Tour brings a much greater premium on ball striking. Punitive and penal design is the hallmark of PGA National, Bay Hill, and the stadium course. The value of par is much greater than the west coast swing and Bermuda grass and overseeded rye are now the agronomics of the month of March. Save me the monikers associated with stretches of holes at each venue, but the Florida swing signifies that all roads lead to Augusta National.
- Jake Knapp may not have drawn a big TV audience in winning the Mexico Open, but he is extremely appealing. He has a flow that reminds you of the 70’s and 80’s coupled with his Munsingwear swag. He also has a gait and golf swing that emotes cool. He’s a really good story for the PGA Tour especially if he can continue to build on the win.
- Three rookies to win before March on the PGA Tour matches the total number of rookie winners in 2023. There are more and more players coming from everywhere who can contend and win, and it flies in the face of a group of players trying to create a “super” tier on the tour with fields of 70 players. The most elite of all these events should always have fields of at minimum 100 players with cuts.
- Anthony Kim will play competitive golf this week halfway around the world on LIV. He was a legit star when he became physically compromised and walked away more than a dozen years ago. Of course, the golf nerds, me included, will be into his return. My question is whether he gets any attention from the mainstream sports media. My easy answer is positively No. He faded away; he wasn’t shutdown while he was at the height of his stardom. He just wasn’t a big enough deal outside of golf to warrant much if any attention this coming week.
- When I think of PGA National and the rebranded Cognizant Classic, I think back to 2012 when a rising superstar in Rory McIlroy held off the biggest star in sports in Tiger Woods, who shot 62 on Sunday, to win the Honda Classic and ascend to number 1 in the world. Rory is back this week, and the tour could REALLY use a healthy shot of full flight Rory.
