18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf…
- Marcel Siem has had a rollicking ride in professional golf. Any player with 20 years between wins has shown an abundance of skill, determination, resolve and belief. On Sunday Siem defeated Tom McKibbin, 21 years old, in a playoff and in 2004 he defeated Raphael Jacquelin, who is now 50, in a playoff. Siem has seen multiple generations of players come and go and come again and he’s still battling, fist pumping and smiling his way across the globe in pursuit of the lowest score he can post. The Italian Open win marked his 6th career victory and resplendent in pink trousers and a floral top Marcel remains original on an increasingly homogenous landscape.
- Melanie Green became the first American to win the women’s amateur championship since Kelli Kuehne in 1996. It’s been 77 years since Babe Zaharias became the first American to win the trophy in 1947. Green, a native of Medina, New York, played college golf at the University of South Florida, and she earns spots in the AIG Women’s British Open, the U.S. Women’s Open, the Evian Championship and the Chevron Championship as well as a return trip to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur where she competed this past April. The invites are a bounty to look forward to, but she now has a remarkable achievement to look back on forever.
- The news this past week that Seth Waugh is stepping down as the CEO of the PGA of America is not surprising. He never needed the job but felt a sense of obligation to contribute at the level he did out of a debt of gratitude for all the game of golf has given him. Covid was the ultimate happy accident for golf as participation took off and has not waned, but it does not discount his impact. Membership in the PGA has accelerated in the last five years, the transition to Frisco was executed relatively smoothly which was a massive undertaking. The platform of the PGA has been solidified by his relationships and gravitas. Waugh was a respected insider investing in golf through his post running Deutsche Bank Americas. He helped foster more harmony with the PGA Tour, assisted in unifying USA golf, and left the position far more attractive to his successor. Additionally, the creation of deferred compensation for PGA members makes the career more appealing and more secure. Waugh was ideal to handle complicated and divergent conversations as someone schooled by his father, a teacher, to listen and advance the conversation and not make it more divisive. Seth always viewed himself as a fortunate friend of the game, filled with gratitude for the relationships and nourishment the game has given him. He was good for his organization and for that it was a job well done.
- 15-year-old Miles Russell shot rounds of 74-70 to miss the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic but another opportunity to watch him play competitive golf is like an optical illusion. It’s as though a 30-year-old 10-year tour veteran has been put in a 15-year-old body. The proliferation of young people into the upper reaches of professional golf is cresting and it’s not likely to abate but Russell stretches into junior golf not college golf. He is not a man child, his physical make up is reflective of his age but his process, his technical prowess and his game plan are spooky mature. Everyone’s journey is different, and his choices are his choices so the next couple years will be interesting to watch. One thing has been universal in the game, very few great players skipped steps. Winning at every level has crossed generations and the skill of winning is the most important one.
- Nelly Korda withdrew from her next start on the LET as the result of a dog bite. A month ago, she could make dogs fly and now she’s missed three cuts in a row and was bitten by a dog. The next women’s major, The Evian, is two weeks away and here’s hoping she can flip the script on what has been a very weird summer so far for the best player in the world.
- Newport Country Club played host to the U.S. Senior Open this week and it should have a special “anchor site” designation from the USGA. Whenever the club wants to host a USGA championship they should be immediately put in the Q. Senior championships and amateur championships should be played there at least once a decade. Seeing Newport from the air this past week for the first time with drone cameras showed it off in a way we’ve never seen it before. It’s as foundational a site as the USGA could ever hope to have as an original member of the USGA and also the site of the first U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur. A timeless place where championship golf can still be played.
- The report this week that Pierce County, Washington is interested in advancing a discussion with LIV about possibly hosting an event is not surprising. Chambers Bay is a wonderful site, albeit saddled with some extreme holes, and the county should be trying to monetize the course. They are not getting another U.S. Open and the great staff at Chambers Bay is still operating out of the tiny clubhouse they had a decade ago. In a part of the county with very few professional events it could be a market for LIV like Nashville. Give them great players and fans will support it. Chambers Bay is a great story, but it’s viability for another men’s major has been wounded by the tightening of the belt with anchored sites and with Riviera getting a shot again with the Open down the road, the west coast is accounted for.
- It’s July and the USA does not have a Ryder Cup captain and the PGA of America is shopping for a new CEO. Seth Waugh’s departure will not likely have any effect and whether Tiger Woods will choose to accept the post and Waugh will still be an advisor for the organization and the PGA’s greatest conduit to Tiger, but the clock is weirdly ticking. If Tiger balks and waits for Ireland, then what does the PGA do? Returning to their short bench of past captains would be beyond uninspiring.
- Neal Shipley, the low amateur in the Masters and U.S. Open had a very nice opener on the PGA Tour with a finish inside the top 25 at the Rocket Mortgage. Shipley is actually older than Akshay Bhatia because he exercised the complete college experience, but he has the cache because of his two special major weeks to garner some starts on the PGA Tour and his path ahead will be one to watch.
- Rocket Mortgage is working the same future bets model that Travelers has for years. Identify the best young talent and give them a shot in hopes of fostering some goodwill if they pop quickly on tour when they get there. Ben James, Luke Clanton, and Jackson Koivun were extended invites this past week and Clanton had a fantastic week and James made the cut and finished at 8 under par. It’s a tenuous time for players needing starts and the decision of sponsors to extend invites to non-members will always be a talking point. I have always believed they pay the bills so they own those invites and betting on futures for an event stuck in a riptide of signature events and overseas events on the horizon they can do what they want.
- I liked Aaron Rai at the U.S. Open as a sneaky pick to have a week and he did finish T19. Do not be surprised if he top 10’s at the Open Championship. He finished T19 in the Open in 2021 and he’s much better player now. You can also look at the previous three leaderboards at the Open at Troon and find some eclectic names in the top 10. Rai is rising.
- Min Woo Lee is a scintillating talent. He loves showing off and his place on the International Presidents Cup is waiting and he is poised to make a jump to the elite level of the PGA Tour in the next year. At 25 he’s polished his tools and contending is getting ready to translate to winning.
- Cam Young might win his next start; he also might not win for another year. I will lean to much sooner than later but there is something agonizing about seeing him contend because the closer he gets to the hole the more his deficiencies expose themselves, especially his putter. Him winning is an inevitable as anyone who hasn’t won but for someone who went to the Presidents Cup two years ago as the one everyone wanted to play with, almost two years later we are still waiting on win number one.
- Hiroyuki Fujita had a glorious week at the U.S. Senior Open, but his crowning achievement was bringing the “Master Bunny Edition” swag to Newport Country Club. C.B. Macdonald won the first U.S. Amateur at Newport in 1895 and he was the godfather of American golf design with a massive ego. I am not sure C.B. could pull off the mock turtleneck Master Bunny look for the final round of any event. Live long enough and you’ll see the bunny at Newport.
- Akshay Bhatia will be on the U.S. Presidents cup team and he’s becoming a truly elite level player at 22 but the manner in which he lost Sunday is gut wrenching. He appeared in control of the golf tournament. He got the break anyone needs when Cam Davis had his ball roll into the penalty area on 14. Bhatia missed a very makeable birdie putt on 17 to give him a shot lead on 18 and from the middle of the fairway he made bogey with a tentative three putt. He’s special but that loss hurts.
- Cam Davis tantalizes analysts with his ridiculous talent. He is somewhat of a tease. His repertoire and golf swing don’t jive with his results. Winning this week removes him from the playoff bubble and maybe it’s the ignitor for more consistent production. He is the player built in a lab for professional golf in 2024, it’s time for him to show it more often and to his credit he overcame the bad fortune on 14 to dig back into the lead and it was good enough.
- Richard Bland would be a dominant force on PGA Tour Champions if he was playing the tour full time. His golf swing is dynamic, and he would mutilate the par 5’s on that tour, instead he’s making big money on LIV. He could cherry pick senior majors and win five of them in the next three years.
- It’s three weeks away and my viewpoint may change but I have a feeling about Rory at Troon. Having walked with him in three of his last four starts he is displaying an arsenal of shots that is so impressive and suited for the finicky nature of the Open Championship and his results since winning in 2014 are outstanding. Its darkest before the dawn, I just have a feeling.