18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf…
- The tragic event that occurred early Friday morning outside Valhalla Golf Club that claimed the life of 69-year-old John Mills will forever be associated with the 2024 PGA Championship. The retired Louisville native was working in a security capacity when he was struck by a shuttle bus at 5 AM crossing the street near the club and was pronounced dead on the scene. The ensuing events involving Scottie Scheffler immediately overshadowed Mills death, which was the reason for the initial delay of play on Friday, but his passing is the most significant and saddest chapter in and around the 106th PGA Championship.
- The Scottie Scheffler arrest was extraordinary on many levels. The fact that of all the players in the field who may have been navigating entry into the club under the tense circumstances of the morning the #1 player in the world being hastily detained and subsequently booked with four charges two-plus hours later was a bizarre narrative to follow. ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, on site as a reporter, provided all the video evidence of the handcuffing of Scheffler in addition to his eyewitness account of the aftermath of the detaining. According to Kevin Van Valkenburg of “No Laying Up” the charges will soon be dropped which, based on my conversations with lawyers since Friday was the likely outcome. Additionally, the police report initially indicated that video footage was captured only for that to be changed with the disclosure from the Louisville mayor that the arresting officer’s bodycam was not activated. As bizarre an episode as we have ever seen at a major championship outside of the ropes involving a player.
- As for the reaction of the golf world, sports world and beyond in real time and throughout Friday to the video images of Scheffler and the gratuitous mugshot, all the way down to the orange jumpsuit, what did anyone expect was going to happen on social media, despite the subtext of the fatality earlier in the morning? To act surprised or appalled by the memes, GIF’s, and parodies immediately populating Twitter/X would suggest you haven’t been paying attention for the last decade. A landscape of snark, pettiness, ugliness, humor, and comedy is not taking a pass on a top golfer being arrested regardless of the awful circumstance that preceded it. Civility, reflection, and deference are endangered sentiments on social media platforms so to project outrage simultaneously suggest naivete. Not being a party to it doesn’t also mean one had to act surprised that the people who cover the sport would be different from those covering the bizarre circumstances surrounding an incident in any other sport.
- This always appeared to be Valhalla’s goodbye for now to major championship golf. The PGA of America was incentivized to use Valhalla beginning with the 1996 PGA because of their financial position with the club. That position no longer exists and their commitment to PGA Frisco for this championship beginning in 2027 and the other championships, KPMG Women’s PGA, Senior PGA, and PGA professional championship likely signals Valhalla’s exit from the major stage. I expect the PGA to return to Chicago, specifically Medinah if the President Cup is deemed a success after the redo to course #3 by Geoff Ogilvy’s design firm. I can also see a desire to identify a site in Florida possibly in the next ten years as well. Virtually every area of the country is now in play with the May date and while Valhalla had big moments and great support from a fantastic fanbase the future of the PGA championship is not expected to include them in the rota.
- Jon Rahm’s missed cut at the PGA was a surprise to him and it followed a similar vibe to his defense of the Masters in April. Posturing in a defensive way in his pre-tournament press conference when pressed on the LIV prep and his place on the LIV golf tour was followed with sharp criticism from on-site analysts and TV gasbags. Rahm is inclined to digest the opinions of others and being there to watch his body language and tone indicated a guy not in the greatest headspace. It’s two majors and Wyndham Clark also missed the cut following a missed cut at the Masters, but Clark is not the generational talent that Rahm is and therefore the measurement is not equal. Jon is a past U.S. Open champion, but it may serve him to pass on the pre-U.S. Open presser at Pinehurst and just focus on the task at hand. Rahm in the mix at majors makes it bigger and better and here’s hoping he gets in the mix next month in North Carolina.
- Tiger Woods had a short week punctuated by a very poor short game and a mini implosion to begin his second round which sent him immediately well outside the cut line and resigned to battling with pride like he’s inclined to do. I never thought he would win again after the accident, and it wasn’t a “hot take” it was simply assessing the realities of age, inactivity and severe injury. We have entered the long goodbye phase of his life on the stage. It doesn’t mean that he won’t shoot a score and give us moments in majors over the next ten years if he continues to train and prepare as best he can but he’s not winning again. It’s ok to say and it’s not an insult or a shot at the greatest player I’ve ever seen. Reaching for comparisons to Jack at the Masters in 1998 at 58 or Tom Watson at 59 in 2009 are excluding the greatest element that separates these men and that is careers uninterrupted by significant injury. I hope Tiger plays in many more majors and garners plenty of invites to the U.S. Open and his results will never diminish the extraordinary moments and historic feats he achieved.
- ESPN personnel does one event a year in full and it’s the PGA Championship. Its challenging to convene a large group of voices spread out over a golf course and have cohesion and chemistry and ESPN pulls it off in large measure because their host is a generational technical broadcaster but an even better conversationalist. Scott Van Pelt can handle chaos, calm, and calamity with ease, and he has deep roots in the game from the early years at Golf Channel. He’s an ideal host for a long flowing broadcast that welcomes the casual viewer. SVP is ESPN’s MVP.
- Michael Block couldn’t possibly have maxed out his performance in the 2023 PGA Championship any more than he has over the last year. Tournament invites, sponsorship opportunities, commercials, voiceover work, celebrity outings and culminating with the honor of striking the opening tee shot in the championship this year. We are a society determined to choke the charm out of most everything and his memorable week last year was no exception. He went from loved to being loathed before he left Rochester. It’s a fascinating study in navigating instant fame while taking advantage of opportunities one never dreamed about. Michael is a fine player and I expect him back in the field next year at Quail Hollow. The Block party may have gotten quieter but it’s not shutdown altogether.
- Phil Mickelson has kept a very low pre-major championship profile over the last two years since embarking on his journey with LIV golf. He was once the man under the big top regaling the media with pre-tournament thoughts and observations but that is not the case anymore. Off his missed cut in the PGA, which he won in 2021, he heads to Pinehurst 25 years after his first close call in the U.S. Open. His relationship through the years with the USGA has been contentious and you wonder if he would be a willing participant on any retrospective of that memorable first U.S. Open at Pinehurst and the tragic death of Payne Stewart three months later. Phil will always be a huge part of that chapter of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, and I can only hope efforts have been made by the USGA and its broadcast partner NBC to get his reflections.
- When Rory McIlroy left Valhalla ten years ago he had four majors and two of them were PGA Championships. He leaves Valhalla this week with four majors and his best result in the PGA, the one built best for him, with his best result since 2014 being a tie for 7th last year. Be presumptuous about the game of golf at your own risk.
- Jordan Spieth told me a month after he won the Open Championship in 2017 and right after Justin Thomas’ first PGA title, that winning the PGA would be the hardest one for him to win not because it would mean the career grand but because the set ups were not necessarily suited to his strengths. His results since have produced one top 10 and that was a distant tie 3rd at Bethpage in 2019. At the beginning of the year, I believed Pinehurst offered a good shot for him to contend again at the U.S. Open. Since winning it in 2015 his best finish is a tie for 19th in 2021. His improved driving with the width of #2 and his depth short game are a match, but lingering wrist issues have me hedging four weeks out.
- Brooks Koepka went in reverse on Saturday at the PGA with a round of 74 and a bounce back on Sunday kept him outside the top 20 for the week. He expressed continued frustration with the results in the first two majors and he heads to Pinehurst with distant fond memories of his first top 4 in a major in 2014. He knows best that the opportunities are precious, and he has built his brand about being one of the true few who can thrive in the major heat. Two weak results down, two left in 2024.
- Two more rounds of 62 in a major within a year of the two last June at the U.S. Open take the total now to five rounds of 62 and now in three of the four major championships. Only Augusta National has been spared the distinction with it being a par of 72. 61 was threatened by Shane Lowry on Saturday at Valhalla and the cat calls for an asterisk were ringing out on social media if his birdie putt fell. Don’t imagine the cries for an * will be as pronounced if that number is in the crosshairs on the next trip to the Open Championship at the Old Course.
- Nelly Korda begins a new streak with her win at the Mizuho LPGA at Liberty National. That’s six wins in her last seven starts and her march to a monster and historic year rolls on to the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club. Her next stage will only get bigger and it’s the most monumental major in the women’s game.
- Viktor Hovland was so lost heading into the PGA Championship he admitted to Jason Sobel on SiriusXM after his third round that he contemplated not playing at Valhalla. After a resuscitating performance that coincided with him reuniting with his swing coach Joe Mayo, Hovland re-emerges heading to his defense at Memorial and then onto the U.S. Open. He was the dude coming into 2024 and just like that Viktor is that guy again. Give talent time, it’ll return, and Joe Mayo just bumped his retainer.
- Xander Schauffele has been a plow mule of production since he found his footing on the PGA Tour in 2018. He has consistently gotten himself into the deep and of the pool in majors with two 2nds and two 3rds coming into this week. His absence from the winner’s circle since the summer of 2022 seems inexplicable. After getting lapped by Rory McIlroy last week, he might have been jolted. Instead, he went wire to wire on a golf course giving up preposterous scoring and outlasted an outstanding leaderboard. It’s dangerous to use the word “inevitable” but with Xander it certainly seemed likely. Pursuing speed is not always a cautionary tale and his work with Chris Como has paid off with a major. Bravo.
- Bryson DeChambeau is great TV. I’m not imploring anyone to change their viewpoint on him, that’s what viewpoints are, they are to each his own. However, I think it’s undeniable that he’s unique, provocative, captivating and just plain different, and on that landscape, different stands out. His major performances are positively trending.
- Pinehurst is next and introduces itself as an official U.S. Open anchor site for the first time in June. Interesting list of players to identify as the best without a major since Xander is now off the board. Take a pick, I’ll take Viktor, once again.