Let The Debate...Oh Forget It, Brooks Koepka Wins PGA Of America Player Of The Year On Points

We did all of this debating on Morning Drive today and there is still hope for the poor souls trying to make the FedExCup the next Masters, but for now the PGA of America has given their player of the year award to Brooks Koepka on the back of its points system. How civilized.

Congrats to both players on sensational seasons. But as I’d like to reiterate from today’s debate below, Brooks got Rory by 21 strokes in the three majors where Rory made the cut.

Tour Championship Down From Tiger's Historic Win, Up Over 2017 But No Comparison To August PGA Championships

The 2019 Tour Championship moved up the schedule a month to avoid the NFL and college football, while the PGA Championship moved to May.

In year one of the revamped schedule, both events lost ground in the ratings chase.

May’s 2019 PGA at Bethpage drew a 3.9 and was down 36%.

The 2019 Tour Championship’s final round 2.9 overnight was down substantially from last year’s Tiger Woods return to glory (5.1 overnight), but up from 2017, reports SBD’s Austin Karp. The Tour Championship was played in late September last year against NFL football.

While the 2019 Tour Championship was played a little later than a typical August PGA Championship, it’s worth noting that PGA’s in August drew some big numbers in recent years:

2018: 6.1

2017: 3.6 and lowest since 2008

2016 3.4 but still one of the bigger golf ratings of the year

2015 5.1 at Whistling Straits

Going back later, you’ll find plenty of 6’s, 7’s and 8’s for PGA Nielsen numbers and there is certainly the chance a PGA in May will have some big years.

But in year one of the new schedule, the PGA lost a lot of eyeballs—but kept audience sizes similar to the Players it replaced—and the Tour Championship/PGA Tour Playoffs essentially held it’s own against late summer Tour broadcasts of the past.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s Tour Championship suspension of play meant the Little League World Series’ USA final (2.1) easily beat the golf (1.5), while Sunday’s championship game drew a 2.0 to the Tour Championship’s 2.9 while going head to head.

2019 Tour Championship Winners And Losers

Covering a lot of ground as there were plenty of big winners and losers from a much-improved season ending event.

Here is my Golfweek take.

McIlroy Closes Our 2018-19 Season In Grand Fashion And Now Mercifully We Don't Have To Hear About The FedExCup For A Month!

The Tour Championship was mostly a fantastic culmination to the season—unless you had a brush with death Saturday as a few people did including one poor young lad knocked unconscious who can’t get on a plane back to Northern Ireland. and I believe I speak for most who are very pleased to see the FedExCup season over.

The marketing gurus will love all the mentions, impressions and other measurements to justify the shipping corporation’s huge spend. But judging by social and most fans, there is an exhaustion level of hearing about this important competition that sadly will make many happy to see the PGA Tour go away for a while.

Not to worry, the big boys will be back in action a month from now.

In the meantime, Rory McIlroy won the Tour Championship and $15 million, capping off a sensational season outside of a few bad days in the majors.

As Steve DiMeglio writes for Golfweek, the numbers show McIlroy doing it with both his driving prowess and incredible short game play (second in SG scrambling for the week).

While the money is nice, Rory sounds like he was most tickled by facing down Brooks Koepka and prevailing with ease, writes Brian Wacker.

Bob Harig dug deeper into McIlroy’s dominating performance where he started the event five back of Justin Thomas for those still keeping track at home. As Ryan Herrington explains, McIlroy would have won this one under any format.

Koepka chalked the day up to not feeling comfortable, writes Dan Kilbridge.

Joel Beall declared the new format a success though it still has some loopholes.

The threat of runaway winner endures under the new format; the 10-under pre-tournament leader starting 65-65 as No. 2, 3 and 4 falter would produce a snoozer. And as much as cash is supposed to be the storyline, it continues to be a disconnect with fan.

What exists is not perfect. But it is a notion acknowledged by officials and players.

“It's been an evolution since Day 1,” Rose said. “We're trying to figure it out.

Remember, it was the players who signed off on this scoring chassis, and although not universal—count McIlroy as one of its early week detractors—many cited the conversion of points to strokes as a positive.

As for the near-disaster Saturday, the PGA Tour issued this statement updating the welfare of those injured and the all important ShotLink equipment damaged.

Updated PGA TOUR Statement, 9 a.m., Sunday

The Atlanta Police Department and Atlanta Fire and Rescue have confirmed that five individuals were injured and transported to nearby hospitals; a sixth person was treated and released at the scene.  All were released from the hospital last night.

The safety and well-being of our fans and players is our highest priority, and we were with those being treated until they were released from area hospitals.  We are deeply grateful that the injuries were not more serious, and we’re proud of the collective efforts of the on-site team to quickly care for our fans during this frightening incident. 

Furthermore, late yesterday afternoon, officials were brought on site to assess the integrity of the pine tree that was struck and determined it to be safe. Additionally, several pieces of ShotLink equipment were damaged by the lightning and were replaced overnight. 

The lone comment from PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan came during the 18th green trophy ceremony and was met by lukewarm applause. Hopefully a more comprehensive response and plan of action will be forthcoming.

If you weren’t watching here are Rory’s final round highlights:

Questions Abound After Tour Championship Lightning Strikes

Saturday’s unfortunate Tweet from the Tour Championship’s @playofffinale account

A pair of lightning strikes at East Lake left six people injured from flying debris, darkening the mood for Sunday’s Tour Championship and FedExCup conclusion. 

Dan Kilbridge with the details from Golfweek and this quote from U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland summing up the reaction of many:

“It’s frustrating that they didn’t move tee times up,” Gary Woodland said. “You saw the weather, you saw it was 80 percent (chance) at 4 o’clock. I’m sure with 30 players they thought they could get it in. But obviously now wish they would have moved them up. Now you just hope people are OK.”

The PGA Tour’s official statement:

At 4:17 p.m., the third round of the TOUR Championship was suspended due to inclement weather in the area. At 4:45 p.m., there were two lightning strikes at East Lake Golf Club; a tree near the range/15 green/16 tee was hit, and debris from that strike injured four people.

EMT tended to those fans and two others immediately and transported them from the property via ambulance for further medical attention. Our latest report is that their injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.

Due to these circumstances, the third round has been suspended for the day and play will resume on Sunday at 8 a.m. ET.

The safety of our fans, players and partners is of the utmost importance. We will provide further updates as they become available.

As we have seen since a spectator was killed at the 1991 U.S. Open, golf has largely taken an abundance of caution by moving up tee times, or moving people off of courses well in advance of possible storms.

Unfortunately in this case, poor weather was forecast all week for Saturday afternoon. Yet, the 1 pm start of round did not budge even after play was delayed 80 minutes on Friday.

Hhere was the Monday long range forecast from Dark Sky putting the possibility of Saturday precipitation—and therefore in the south in August, electricity—at 90%.

Next is Saturday’s forecast at 8:19 pm ET/5:19 pm PT Friday, the same as it had been for days. This displays the Saturday window where the chance for thunderstorms were in the 60 to 80% range.  Leaders vying for a $15 million first prize and what has been billed as one of golf’s most important championships, were set to begin at 3:30 pm ET even as the forecast called for likely storms with electricity. (The Apple weather app allowing anyone to slide on over to see the next 24 hours (area circled).)

Had a revised tee time window accounted for the forecasts and moved up to 8 am—still a civilized hour in golf—the last group would have teed off at 10:30 am. On a four-hour pace, they would have been finished by 2:30 before the forecasted ugly stuff. While NBC’s third round telecast would have been on tape, it’s something that has occurred many times in recent years in the interest of fan and player safety, and getting a tournament played by Sunday.

In the case of this championship where a $15 million first place check is on the line, leaders would have played a continuous third round. Now they restart at 8 am after play was wisely called once the strikes occurred and fans were injured.

Even as the day progressed, it was apparent storms were coming. Here is a National Weather Service future cast captured at 12:20 ET showing what conditions would look like at 2:30 pm ET close to East Lake, with projections of the activity popping up all over the area and when moving, to the north.

Play was called at 4:17 pm ET and lightning struck East Lake less than 30 minutes later.

If anyone is ever to feel safe attending a PGA Tour event again, the organization will likely need to expedite and couple its slow play policy deliberations with an enhanced, more detailed weather warning system. While the current system in place has worked well since the awful events in 1991 at Hazeltine (a USGA event), something went terribly wrong Saturday when times were not even moved up some to allow for plenty of time to vacate the course.

Just a few questions that likely will need to be addressed by the PGA Tour:

—What will instigate the moving of tee times in the future? The Tour’s Tyler Dennis is quoted as saying in this ESPN.com story by Bob Harig, "And so we have a lot of scenarios throughout the year where we look at it, and there's a very high degree of certainty that there will be storms coming. And there's a lot of other days when we look at it and we see, as it was today -- I believe it was a 50 to 60% chance of storms from 3 to 6 this afternoon -- and we just have to evaluate it and make our best decision when we make the schedule. Obviously when it comes down to suspension of play, we don't leave any room for error there. Safety is a huge priority for us.''

An error was made and it would seem that as a data-driven organization these days, they may need to set a forecast number for tee time shifts. 50% and up seems like a no-brainer.

—Will more time be allowed to evacuate. A half hour ahead of when storms are projected, may not be enough.

—Can this event return to the south In August? The notion of electricity in the air came as a surprise to no one in the region or maybe the country. East Lake always envisioned itself as hosting fall events, but now moving to August, is this date sustainable given weather patters in Atlanta in August? As Mark Russell said Saturday, "I think if we did that every time we had a possibility of thunderstorms in the Southeast, we'd do that basically every time we played golf.''

—Were any outside forces part of the decision to not move tee times and expose the tournament to a situation like Saturday’s? Finally, the most sensitive of all questions.

Having seen how the names mentioned above work along with the talented rules staff and meteorologists, and knowing how much they consider safety, I’m struggling (as are many) with the idea that the traditional decision makers went the route they did. It seems entirely plausible that the circumstances around this event—first year under new format, big boost in prize money, determination to sell this as a significant championship—somehow might have influenced the decision to keep tee times in place to show live golf as late as possible.

A forceful statement from Commissioner Jay Monahan will be needed to assure fans, players and partners that this was simply a mistake, bad luck or a terribly unfortunate event, with strong pledges made to update or strengthen weather policies.

Howard Milstein (Already) Shaking Up Golf Magazine

The New York Post’s Keith Kelley reports on a firing frenzy at Golf Magazine only months after a print and website reboot.

Kelly says five on the editorial side were recently let go, while two sales executives brought in at the start of Milstein’s reign were recently let go (Kelly reports that they were holdovers from Meredith, the magazine’s seller to Millstein, though Cooney joined the operation in March, 2018 while Keating joined in February, 2018, the same month as Milstein took over.)

Milstein has also already forced out the CEO he installed who also brokered the sale, longtime magazine and digital publishing veteran, Tom Beusse.

And after a much ballyhooed rollout of new columnist Paige Spiranac in November, 2018, her column and masthead presence ended in March 2019.

The magazine countered Kelly’s story with this claim:

A spokesman for Golf said he could not comment on personnel matters but said that at the time of the takeover a year and a half ago, the media property was down to only 22 employees and has since grown to 50. He also said ad revenue is up 50% and web traffic has doubled.

In other news, Golf recently announced the hiring of GolfClubAtlas.com founder Ran Morrissett to head it’s course ranking panel. A debut podcast included this social media spelling mishap that has made the rounds (it’s Cypress in case you were wondering):

Nantz On Whitaker: "He had a unique ability to blend peak thought with context in perfect prose."

What a grand tribute from Jim Nantz to his friend and mentor Jack Whitaker.

The Athletic kindly made this available to non-subscribers and it’s well worth your time, even if you are of a vintage that does not recall the days of Whitaker and the ABC golf team.

He first met Whitaker at Pebble Beach when his roommate that week, Bob Drum—oh that Chirkinian humor!—took Nantz down to Club XIX for a nightcap. It was a somber day after the space shuttle Challenger had exploded earlier in the day:

Upon entering the restaurant, there was Jack Whitaker, leaning against the bar, a martini filled to the top, perfectly poured. He had on a tweed jacket with a turtleneck underneath and he was just the personification of elegance, a man well-traveled. I honestly could not believe I was shaking his hand, feeling as though I had just been introduced to Ernest Hemingway.

His short essays often concluded the biggest sporting events around the world, and he had a unique ability to blend peak thought with context in perfect prose. Though there were no words that could soften the shocking horror of the day, Jack, with his gift, was somehow able to bring some solace and perspective to an otherwise unexplainable event.

The Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame tribute piece has now been added to YouTube:

New Look Tour Championship Off To Great Start, But Issues Loom

As far as first rounds go, the 2019 Tour Championship did not feel like a Thursday.

More like Saturday of a big-time event when every Justin Thomas mistake added drama and his -10 lead to start the day slipping away. Combined with some stellar opening rounds from top players, and it was a lively opening day.

That’s the fantastic news for the FedExCup, and as Mike McAllister noted for PGATour.com, from here on we have clarity with the leaderboard and hopefully very few tutorials on the format going forward.

Now, for the less peachy news. It appears that leadership lacks the privileges some projected Justin Thomas would enjoy in getting to start -10 after winning the BMW Championship.

From McAllister’s story:

A hot start could have deflated the field. “If he came out with five straight birdies, it would be like, OK, we’re done,” Casey said.

Instead, with Thomas shooting even par, the field is now bunched. Five players started the tournament within five shots of the lead; after the first round, there are now 12 players in that position.

“If I were Justin Thomas, I would be more upset than me in my position,” said Charles Howell III, who opened at even par (10 shots off the lead) but shot a 68 to cut his deficit to eight. “Justin’s played phenomenal golf and has done what he’s done, and he could theoretically fall quite a bit, and I could move up, and he’s played better than I have.”

And ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach in his game story notes how quickly the FedExCup lead turned “meaningless”, notes how the leader may not have enough of a lead, and how quickly it went.

What was perceived as a big advantage for Thomas -- he started the tournament with at least a two-shot lead over every other player in the field -- didn't prove to be much help at all because of the way he played the first 18 holes.

Thomas had two bogeys and one double-bogey with four birdies. He hit only six of 14 fairways.

"Coming in six shots back, I have a lot less pressure than J.T. does," Schauffele said. "J.T. has a two-shot lead [going into the tournament]. Everyone's assuming he should just start running away with it. It's a hard golf course. You can play great golf and shoot even par, 1 under, and vice versa."

The overall sense after day one: the importance of the season long points race was severely negated by the first two playoff events. And now the advantage gained from playing well in those events also feels a bit muted. That’s great for viewers wanting a fun finish this Sunday, but has deeper ramifications for incentivizing more starts from top players. There is also the matter of subjecting fans to meaningless cup points updates in January. Or even July.

Brooks Fires Back At His Body Shaming Critics: "They don't have the balls to do it"

Arnold Palmer surely lashed out at his critics when he wore an extra tight shirt for a Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year spread.

No, we’re in uncharted territory here.

This week’s Team Koepka bulletin board apparently consisted of Tweets and Instagram comments responding to Brooks baring all. Wait until Brooks hears where Matt Kuchar’s mind went. (If you don’t want to know, let’s just say he’s seen some of the leaked Vonn image portfolio.)

From JuliaKate Culpepper’s Golfweek story:

“It’s one of those things where all these people that talk crap and whatever on social media, they don’t have the balls to do it, and they wouldn’t look that good,” 

No argument there! Was anyone arguing it? Anyway…

“It was something I enjoyed,” Koepka said of the shoot. “I was looking forward to it for months. It’s something I definitely don’t regret doing. It’s been enjoyable to see the pictures over the last couple of months and see, I guess, all the hard work I put into it and see the results.”

On newstands now! Oh wait, they don’t print it anymore. But you can read this Kevin Van Valkenburg story with Brooks and there is this video below where there is no holding back on the nudity front. Well, except the part Kuchar mentioned.

And Here Is Why The PGA Tour Is Taking Their Time Changing Slow Play Rules...

Joel Beall followed Bryson DeChambeau during round one of the Tour Championship, and like Andy Johnson did earlier this year, timed DeChambeau.

In neither case was it very pretty.

However, this East Lake timing at the 2019 Tour Championship comes as the PGA Tour announced it was reviewing some of its pace of play policies, with the possibility of using data to time individual players.

I encourage you to read how fast Bryson played up to the point when his green reading book came out and the task of putting was involved. But here’s Beall’s conclusion, which explains why the Tour won’t be rushing out any four point plans anytime soon.

If that theoretical shot clock existed, DeChambeau would have racked up 10 over-50-second violations through his first nine holes, 14 if the bar was 40 seconds.

After the Northern Trust, DeChambeau welcomed possible penalization. "I am not opposed to it one bit, because if it is my issue and I'm taking too long a time, absolutely penalize me," he said. "I've got no issue with that. That may come as a shock to a lot of people, but I'm okay with that because it's my fault, if it's warranted, and that's where we've got to talk about that and see what happened and when we are timing and how things are going along."

Brooks Koepka Body Issue Pic Surfaces: Countdown Begins On The, Uh, Homages

The camera adds ten pounds and the ESPN Body Shoot calls for losing thirty. Or so the old saying goes.

Forget that Brooks Koepka posted an image from his long-rumored shoot that prompted him to go on a strange, golf-game affecting diet. Which then set up his first of several manspats with Brandel Chamblee, who called it “reckless self-sabotage.”

More important than manspats on a global stage though: who will be the first to shed thirty pounds for a photo shoot, get waxed and then emerge from a light spritzing to post a spoof version of this? (Which will then inspire Brooks Koepka to win three majors next year.)

Dufner? Mickelson? Caliendo?

Anyway, I’m glad he’s eating cheeseburgers again. And giving good press conference, as he did this year at East Lake after not even getting invited in last year. Eamon Lynch of Golfweek dissects the deadpan jabs delivered in Koepka’s lastest sitdown with the scribblers and content creators.

View this post on Instagram

September 4th go get a copy of the @ESPN Body Issue! #ESPNBody

A post shared by Brooks Koepka (@bkoepka) on Aug 21, 2019 at 6:27pm PDT

Rory Asks Rhetorically Of FedExCup Finale: Is This Really The Best Way?

Rory McIlroy, holder of 13 top 10 finishes in 18 starts, two of the more prestigious non-major titles in golf and unofficial title of 2019’s most consistent player week to week, is entitled to be a little annoyed with his fifth place FedExCup status.

McIlroy had his usually wise take on big picture items, not surprising since he’s one of the few players who will step back and ponder questions beyond his game or life. Brian Wacker reports for GolfDigest.com on McIlroy’s doubts about, well anything related to this reimagined FedExCup finale at East Lake, aka the Tour Championship.

“If the FedEx Cup really wants to have this legacy in the game, like some of these other championships do, is people starting the tournament on different numbers the best way to do it?” he said.

Of course not.

He also brought up the increase in overall winner’s take, to $15 million.

“One of the things that I’ve talked about over the past couple of years is I don’t think the money needs to be front and center, because I don’t think that's what the fans care about,” he said. “Players might care about it, and we want to be rewarded and paid for what we do. But at the same time, competitively, it’s not about that. It’s about trying to win golf tournaments.”

And that he will do, just starting five strokes back before he puts his peg in the East Lake grounds.

Little League Putting An End To Launch Angle Chase With New "Deader" Bats

The Wall Street Journal’s Amanda Christovich looks at the crackdown on what had been a speed and distance chase in youth baseball. Home runs are way down in the Little League World Series two years in a row now since “deader” bats mimicking wood were introduced for a variety of reasons.

Thanks to reader LS who detected the many things golf can learn from the USA Baseball moves, which seemed determined to keep the sport sane and safe both instead of emphasis on exit velocity, particularly since most young lads may not be physically ready for the emphasis on speed.

But that kind of power surge is not likely to happen at this year’s Little League Baseball World Series, which is now underway. Regulation changes—most notably, the switch to a “deader” bat that mimics wood bats—mean home runs in Williamsport this year are on the verge of becoming extinct.

“The difference is astounding,” said Patrick Gloriod, who coached the Peachtree City Little League team in the 2018 LLBWS and witnessed the steep decline in home runs at that tournament once the new bats went into use.

None of this would be a problem, if not for the fact that the best youth players have spent the last few years developing a swing designed for one thing: to hit as many home runs as possible. 

They’ll get over it. Will TV?

“Telling everyone to swing up is the same as telling everyone to swing down,” said Bleecker. 

If last year’s trend continues, those dismayed that the major-league ball is juiced can rejoice in how the Little League bat is deadened.

“I’m not sure how much ESPN is gonna like watching small ball,” said Gloriod.

Distance Debate: Focus Is Turning Away From The Ball And Toward Drivers

The Mauling At Medinah is Mike Clayton’s label for the shock and awe at the 2019 BMW, where Justin Thomas and many others overwhelmed the rain-softened 7600 yard course.

(Random thought interruption here: I thought it was the improved agronomy that meant tons of roll, yet Medinah was a sponge…anyway, we now return to our regularly scheduled distance post).

After looking at past Medinah majors and what scores were needed to succeed, Clayton writes:

Justin Thomas was unquestionably brilliant this past week at Medinah, where he answered all the questions the course posed. His 263 represents amazing golf, but is it a full 24 shots more compelling than Graham’s 287 was 44 years ago?

The question for the game, for the professional tour and the administrators in New Jersey and St Andrews is: How will you manage the technological assault on the game’s great courses and a game so out of balance at the top level?

Or do they abdicate their responsibility to restore the balance MacKenzie and his great contemporaries understood and built?

The evidence of what we watched from Medinah is the golf isn’t so interesting when the questions are so easily answered with power and wedges.

Much was made of Adam Scott’s comments calling out designers and officials to set courses up to require shaping the ball, but that’s tough to do overnight.

But it was his comment as reported by Evin Priest about drivers that accelerated his previous public statements about driver head size.

Scott warned superstar drivers may no longer stand out, such as Australia's Greg Norman and American Davis Love III did in previous eras.

"The driver is the most forgiving club in the bag now; it's just swing as hard as you can and get it down there far," he said.

"It's not a skilful part of the game anymore and it's really unfair for some guys who are great drivers of the golf ball.

"I don't think their talents are showing up as much as they should."

And there was Tiger as well at Medinah, echoing comments he’s been making all year:

“Now you just pull out driver, bomb it down there and you’re looking for three to four good weeks a year,” Woods said. “That’s how you play. It’s not the consistency, it’s not about making a bunch of cuts. It’s about having three, four good weeks a year. That’s the difference. Guys understand that.”

These comments have all presumably been made to the USGA and R&A as part of their distance insights research. No one mentions the ball much these days—calm down Wally!—some because they are paid not to, while others genuinely believe it’s maxed out.

So are we seeing a shifting focus to reducing the driver head size for elite players and would it make a difference? There is only one way to find out, once the manufacturers stop kicking and screaming about the massive R&D expenditures needed to knock 75 cc’s off their current models.

Taylor Made has a jump start with this mini-driver released earlier this year. Anyone test it out on a launch monitor?

Commish On PGA Tour's Pace Of Play Efforts: "When we’re ready to talk about what we’re going to do, I’ll be excited to talk to all of you about it.”

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan met with Tour Championship media Tuesday and talked about his round Saturday with Donald Trump, Fred Ridley and Pete Bevaqua (Steve DiMeglio reports here) along with the slow play debate.

DiMeglio endorsed Monahan’s view that the PGA Tour should take things more cautiously, despite the European Tour’s aggressive moves this week. Here was Monahan’s remark:

“I wouldn’t say we’re going to be influenced in any way,” by the European Tour’s freshly minted directive, Monahan said. “I think everybody looking at this, talking about it is a good thing, and they’ve obviously decided that that’s the right thing for the European Tour. And when we’re ready to talk about what we’re going to do, I’ll be excited to talk to all of you about it.”

Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com saw Monahan’s comments differently, sensing the Commish did his best Heisman pose in a contradiction of the tour’s normally boundary-pushing efforts on other fronts, calling the current strategy “reactionary at best and indifferent at worst.”

Hoggard writes of the tour’s plan to keep studying data:

Still, it’s difficult to imagine how endless data points can speed up a game that’s been grinding along at a snail’s pace for decades. Or how the Tour, which leads the game on so many fronts, can become more than just a follower when it comes to pace of play.

Also confounding: every major sport is looking for ways to speed things up, trim game or season time and the PGA Tour has gone the opposite direction, resisting such efforts and endorsing exploding distances that only add time to rounds.