The (Current) Major Pecking Order, Part I

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Now that football has moved on and spring training’s start is up in the air, the Masters and condensed major season begins in earnest.

So what better time than now to rank the majors? I have done so in the latest Quadrilateral, this one for paid subscribers who already have it in their inbox.

For more on The Quadrilateral here is the standalone site explaining what it’s all about with big pretty pictures. And here is the Substack landing page with more words, few photos and info on how to sign up.

Trying To Grasp McIlroy's Take On Distance Research, Endorsement Of Bifurcation

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Quite a few folks have reached out to ask for clarification of Rory McIlroy’s contradictory remarks last week. As I noted at the time, say what you want about his criticism of the governing bodies, he endorsed their likely solution as well. They will take the latter and ignore the former.

But the Golf.com roundtable gang did a nice job summing up the matter for those trying to figure out McIlroy’s point.

Berhow: The study and research and time that went into this is important. Facts matter. And it’s good to see how the game evolves. Hardly a waste of money or time. I do agree with him that the game has other issues to address as well, but that doesn’t mean the USGA and R&A should give distance or any other relevant topics the cold shoulder. That would be irresponsible. 

Zak: I was seriously disappointed in Rory’s knee-jerk perspective. It surprised me. The USGA is not ruining the game for amateurs with this study. The R&A is not focused solely on professionals. They are simply trying to make sure that some of the pillars this game sits on — centuries-old courses and using all the clubs in the bag — are not bastardized and made extinct by extreme advancements in technology. If slight bifurcation is the answer that keeps Bryson occasionally using a 4-iron at St. Andrews, it would be a great success.

Sens: I think he’s right about bifurcation. It makes good sense. 

Bamberger: Oh, I got ahead of things here — yes, he makes good sense, to a point. All recreational golf, as well as club golf and after-work leagues and all the rest need rules and regulations. But we should play lost ball. drop one where you think you lost it, add a shot. The Tour can do it some other way. 

Koepka: "There was a period maybe for about two months where I just questioned whether I was ever going to be the same"

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Incredible stuff from Brooks Koepka in winning his fourth PGA Tour event to go with four majors. The chip-in eagle from a tough angle (embed below) and this frank quote after the round from Adam Schupak’s Golfweek game story:

“It was a lot worse than I probably let on,” he said. “There was a period maybe for about two months where I just questioned whether I was ever going to be the same, whether I was even going to be somewhat remotely the same golfer that I ever was. Those dark places, a lot of tears, questioning yourself, and in dark places mentally. You’ve got to come out of that. … I’ll tell you what, it takes a lot of effort just do get out of those places.”

Thursday Chamblee: "Spieth is headed into oblivion. That’s hard to turn that ship around."

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Brandel Chamblee on Thursday, talking to Golfweek’s Adam Schupak.

Q: You just said Jordan is “on his way to oblivion.” I take that to mean you see him getting worse rather than better.

BC: If you go back and look at Ian Baker-Finch and David Duval’s ascent and descent in the game of golf, they track a similar path to Jordan Spieth. When they get to a point where they are really searching and they get desperate there’s not only the insecurity of whether or not you’re ever going to find it again, there’s also that psychological scar tissue. It’s like a physical wound and some of them will heal up and some of them will kill you.

Ian Baker-Finch or David Duval, no disrespect to them, but the only reason I picked them out is they made the game look so easy for a period of time as did Jordan Spieth. Their descent is a reminder to all of us that it is ephemeral. You can lose it in the blink of an eye. He seems to be searching every single week, spending lots of practice swings, over the ball a long time.

Duval will be thrilled!

Now those of us used to Chamblee’s pivots on the distance issue will not be surprised to learn he had already forgotten the comments about his fellow Longhorn when Schupak returned for a follow up. This, after Spieth posted rounds of 67-67-61.

GW: Do you want to walk back any of your comments about Jordan since we talked the other day?

BC: What did I say? I can’t even remember. I wasn’t probably sanguine about his comeback.

He did something today I don’t think I’ve seen. I’ll go look it up. I can’t remember a person being in the lead position in a golf tournament being dead last in fairways hit and next-to-last in distance from the edge of the fairway. That’s unprecedented. I don’t know how you do that. I guess you can in a place like the desert where there is a lot of luck involved in the lies you get and then you hit your irons like a God. He still has the ability to stun us with his short game and putter.

As I chewed on it today, there are a handful of people who lost their edge. Sam Snead in 1947-48 he won only one time because he had the putting yips and then he won 17 times when he sorted that out the next two years in 1949-50.

From oblivion to losing his edge is definitely different.

As for that final round 72 and playing this week, Schupak also reported on Spieth’s post round remarks stating his pleasure at having decided to play the Waste Management. The T4 was his best finish since a T3 at the 2019 PGA Championship.

The commentary is as robust as ever even when the mic’s cut off on the live network show.

Golf.com’s Michael Bamberger listed the reasons so many were happy to see Spieth in contention again.

He set up an enjoyable read this way:

But the first sentence is the telling one. All of sports are loaded with I-don’t-know. Most athletes aren’t willing to admit it. Spieth is. How refreshing.

He’s a breath of fresh air and has been for years.

I was rooting for Spieth on Sunday at Phoenix. (Yes, sometimes we root.) Unless your name is Jena or Chase, I’m guessing you were, too.

"PGA Tour goes all-in on simulcast gambling"

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Morning Read’s Mike Purkey paid for Peacock Premium and did us all a public service in watching the first-ever golf gambling simulcast. Oddly, the whole endeavor is powered by PointsBet whose customers can legally bet in just six states. And sports gambling is no where close to even being on a legislative radar in Arizona, home of the Waste Management Open.

It sounds like there are a few hundred kinks to work out.

The TV guys did their best to explain how it all works and attempted to share their thinking on the faux bets on Thursday. They even asked Croucher and Teddy Greenstein, former longtime sports columnist at the Chicago Tribune, for advice on betting strategy.

To say the PointsBet pair hedged would be understating the point. They absolutely refused to give betting advice, and with good reason. The purpose of a sportsbook is for as many people as possible to lose. That’s why they call it gambling.

The most awkward part of the webcast was the effort by the announcers to mix golf analysis with betting analysis. Do one or the other, but remember: This is not a traditional telecast.

More than once, viewers were encouraged to have a gambling budget and stick to it, that advice coming from the American Gaming Association.

Like I said, thank you Mike. We owe you one.

This Is More Than A Metaphor For How We'll All Be Streaming CBS Golf

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While there was the oddity of seeing Bryson DeChambeau lumped in with a range of CBS and Paramount characters in a Super Bowl ad, it was also a gentle reminder of where cordcutters will find CBS golf broadcasts after March 4.

One other note: DeChambeau got the gig along with a brief cameo for Tim Tucker. It was Tucker who tried to block a CBS cameraman from capturing images of DeChambeau last year.

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Xander And Jordan: Waste Management Partying On Super Bowl Sunday Like It's 2017

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Put some fans back on the course—even whose life goal is to coin the next Baba Booey—mix in one of the most volatile finishing stretches on earth and put Jordan Spieth in the lead? It should add up to a stellar Waste Management Open final round.

It’s been a while since Spieth has had a chance to win but seeing his Saturday 61 reminded just about everyone that the sport is more fun to watch when he’s hovering around a leaderboard.

I’ll leave the rest of your Sunday preview to 15th Club’s Justin Ray who went on quite a Saturday evening Tweetstorm:

PGA Tour highlights from Spieth’s 61:

Flashback: How The Game Has Changed Files, Tiger Asks Trey Holland For Embedded Ball Relief Edition

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A week after Patrick Reed’s remarkable request, approval and endorsed embedded ball relief saga at Torrey Pines, it’s still the talk of 19th hole banter (at a safe distance). Playing it as it lies remains under assault on the PGA Tour. I’ve yet to hear from anyone who liked what they saw.

Then we added Wednesday word of a volunteer confessing to having accidentally stepped on Rory McIlroy’s ball. If true, it solidifies key differences between Reed and McIlroy’s situation on top of one other key point: McIlroy’s next lie was essentially no better than the first one.

It’s all pretty strange and was made otherword-bizarre when the rules community could not find one thing wrong wtih Reed’s actions.

It wasn’t always that way.

Thanks to reader E for sending in this gem from the Sports Illustrated when players were not bigger than the game.

Former USGA President Trey Holland wrote this guest piece for SI on Tiger Woods. It’s a fun read but best on the ruling part after Woods hit it some deep Pebble Beach rough:

"Then on the 3rd hole he hits his second shot short of the hole,
near a bunker. The ball sinks in the grass. He says to me, 'I
 think my ball is embedded.' If it's embedded, he gets a free
drop. There's an intensity in his voice. He knows how he wants 
this to come out.

"I say, 'Mark your ball, lift it and test the dirt with a finger.
 If the plane of the dirt--not the grass, but the dirt--is broken,
 it's embedded.'

"He tests it. He says, 'I think it is.' I say, 'Let me have a look.' I put my finger down there. I say, 'It's not.' He doesn't say a word. Replaces his ball. Hacks it out. Makes a triple

bogey.

"On Sunday we're back on the 1st tee. He says hi. Doesn't say anything about the ruling. He does his two-minute stare again, plays his final round, wins the U.S. Open. I congratulate him, and he says, 'Thanks, that means a lot. But I sure would have liked to have gotten that drop yesterday on 3.' Twenty-eight hours later and after winning the Open by 15 shots, he was still thinking about it. I was under the clear impression that he wanted to win by 18."

"Scores aren't really any different," Says The New Masters Scoring Record Holder

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Dustin Johnson, chiming in on the USGA and R&A’s proposed equipment standards changes, is towing the Taylormade line. But having just broken or tied nine scoring records at the fall Masters, this was a curious claim:

“I don't think so,” responded the 36-year-old, when asked if golf needs to have something in place to control distance. “I mean, if you look at the scores over the last 15 years, scores aren't really any different, and I don't feel like the game is too easy by any means.”

He also gives an endorsement of sorts and states the most important point: players will adjust.

“It's all conditions I think. But I don't think that we're hitting it too far or our scores are too good. So, if they want to do something, that's fine, but obviously we'll all adjust to it and go from there. But as of right now, I don't think there's anything they need to do.”

News And Notes From The Majors: The Open Will Happen, Torrey Pines Wrap

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So much to cover in a busier-than normal week for major championship news. But The Quadrilateral is here for you and Thursday’s notes edition is free.

Be sure to sign up and thanks to so many of you who’ve taken the leap. I’m beyond thrilled at the support on February 4th already, confirming my suspicions that the majors mean a lot to plenty of golf fans.

Here is more on The Quadrilateral and one note: I do anticipate Q&A’s and podcasts coming soon. But just keeping up with and analyzing the major(s) news has been kind of incredible lately! Thanks for your patience.

Augusta National Lends Support To Local Vaccination Effort

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Tom Corwin of the Augusta Chronicle reports on Augusta National Golf Club jointly announcing a $1 million effort matched by a community foundation to help the COVID-19 vaccine effort. AU Health System is the partner and besides opening the doors to a recently acquired property on Washington, the club is also sending a bigger statement in becoming the first golf organization to endorse the vaccine effort.

“Helping expand access to COVID-19 vaccinations is another meaningful way to do more for our neighbors in the Augusta community that has supported the Masters Tournament for more than 80 years,” Ridley said. “The dedication of (AU Health), Georgia Department of Public Health and all health care providers working courageously during this pandemic is inspiring, and they deserve our enduring gratitude and support. We hope these resources will have an immediate impact on their efforts to protect those most vulnerable and our community at large through more vaccinations."

Trump Golf Scotland: Scottish Parliament's Unexplained Wealth Order Loses 89-32

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A victory for Donald Trump in Scotland, reports this unbylined Reuters story.

The Scottish Green Party brought forward a motion calling on ministers to seek an "unexplained wealth order" (UWO) against Trump over his acquisition of the golf courses and resorts in north and west Scotland. It was defeated by a vote of 89 to 32.

The party's co-leader Patrick Harvie said there were longstanding concerns about Trump's financial conduct, describing the ex-president as "an untrustworthy dishonest, racist, conspiracy theorist" with whom Scotland should never have associated.

How Have Fan-Free Events Impacted Performance And Results?

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Fans or no fans? Impact on play or not? And what about the kids?

The obvious question after Collin Morikawa held off players like Matthew Wolff and Scottie Scheffler at the 2020 PGA: has it been easier adjustment in the pandemic era without loud, biased-to-veterans crowds or the inevitable adjustment to playing before large crowds?

And how to prove or disprove it?

Thankfully, that’s what someone like Justin Ray likes to answer. I finally got around to this and as always, enjoyed his approach and use of the data to answer an interesting question.

While plenty of younger players have found the winner’s circle since the season resumed after the pandemic hiatus, there hasn’t been a rush of new faces lifting trophies. The average age for PGA TOUR winners since last year’s Charles Schwab Challenge is 32.1 – right around average for recent seasons. It’s actually a slightly older median than the 2018-19 season (31.8), as well as every season from 2013-14 through 2016-17.

How about making the cut? From the beginning of the 2017-18 season through the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational, players age 24 or younger made the cut 53.6% of the time. In the mostly ‘fan-less’ tournaments since, that number has actually decreased, to 50.9%. That may be partly an effect of the Herculean fields that populated the TOUR shortly after the pandemic hiatus ended – an abbreviated season meant condensed schedules for the world’s best players.

Bryson Initiates Call With USGA Over Coming Changes And Sounds Convinced Rule Changes Will Protect "Human Element"

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Too bad more players are not this grounded when it comes to the distance and skill discussion.

Of course this was said in Saudi Arabia where Bryson DeChambeau is headlining the European Tour’s stop there, but we’ll set that aside for now:

Q. I don't know if you had a chance to see the fact that the USGA and the R&A -- you have, good. You seem to be the only one that's literate coming into this thing. Anyways, what's your thoughts on it, and do you think that distance is an issue?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Well, look, I had a great conversation with John Bodenheimer and Jason Gore yesterday when it came out, pretty much right when it came out. That was my doing. I wanted to talk to them and get their piece on it. I totally understand what they are about. They are trying not to take the human element out of it, which I think is the most important factor in this whole conversation.

When it comes to the equipment aspect, they are trying to make it more of a -- I guess you could say same or fair playing field where you can't just put a 48-inch driver and it works for this person, you could gain six, seven miles an hour where somebody couldn't because the driver just doesn't work for them or whatever.

I think the most important factor in this whole discussion is that they are focused on keeping the integrity of the game and trying to make it more of a fair playing field while not taking out the human element.

I’m just stopping here to let you go back and read that last graph again. This is Bryson DeChambeau. Yeah he’s definitely cut back on the bacon.

From my perspective, I think it suits me really well because as of right now, I'm still playing the 45-and-a-half-inch driver, and it's suiting me perfectly well, and I'm not going to the 48. So if someone was trying to go to the 48 for them they could gain six, seven miles an hour pretty quickly and now it's not a possibility. And I think it's going to be more difficult for people to gain speed easily. They are going to have to work really hard, just like I have.

For me right now, I feel like it's a pretty good advantage from the way I look at it.

Q. Did you initiate the conversation?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I did.

Q. All that being said, would you not have a problem if they decided not to make adjustments into the rules?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: No, I welcome it as long as they don't change the human element. Again, I'm going to play with whatever they gave me. I'm not worried about it. I'm going to do what that they say is legal and I'll just go from there and find the best way to play for me under The Rules of Golf.

There's no issues -- it's funny, I'm sure there's a lot of excitement about me having a potentially controversial thought on it but I don't. I think it's a really cool thought process. It's a little flattering in a sense, because I did talk about that 48-inch driver for so long, and it just didn't work for me the way I wanted it to.

As it's played out, I think it's really cool to see that there's some change off of the conversations that I've had, and it's just pretty interesting to me.

Human element. I’m borrowing that. So should the USGA and R&A.

Headline Writers Seize on Rory Slamming USGA/R&A Report, Less Impressed With His Endorsement Of Local Rule

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Rory McIlroy spoke at Wednesday’s Waste Management Open press center and made an inconsistent set of comments about the distance issue.

Headline writers loved his comments slamming the USGA and R&A distance report proposals for consideration, but the real takeaway should have been McIlroy’s endorsement (again) of bifurcation and the local rule concept floated as a result of the study. A position also inconsistent with the views of his partners at Taylormade.

Which is why you do such a study so that such companies see the decision was made on data and research, not opinions.

From Adam Schupak at Golfweek:

Asked if he would be in favor of a local rule or different rules for the pros, McIlroy said: “I would be all for that. If they want to try to make the game more difficult for us or more – try to incorporate more skill to the game, yeah, I would be all for that, because I think it only benefits the better play, which I feel like I am.

The waste of money remarks from Ryan Lavner at GolfChannel.com:

“So I think the authorities, the R&A and USGA, are looking at the game through such a tiny little lens, that what they're trying to do is change something that pertains to 0.1 percent of the golfing community, while 99.9 percent of the people play this game play for enjoyment, for entertainment,” McIlroy said. “

Of course, the manufacturers have the option to make anything they’d like to help people enjoy the game. Following the USGA/R&A rules are 100% optional.

For those keeping score at home, that’s a huge endorsement for a local rule picked up by the governing bodies.