Demise of McIlroy’s Masters chances greatly exaggerated

AUGUSTA, GA. — Rory McIlroy? We begin by paraphrasing one Mark Twain, another golfer whose long walks occasionally were spoiled.

The chatter about the demise of McIlroy’s chances to win the Masters after his semi-disastrous opening round have been greatly exaggerated. 

McIlroy shot the day’s low round on Friday—a 6-under-par 66—that brought him out of frustration and squarely back into contention, joining a leaderboard stacked with big names and even bigger games. McIlroy, the acclaimed favorite to finally add the Masters to his other three championships, seemed doomed after finishing Thursday’s round with double bogeys on two of the last four holes that dropped him figuratively into Ray’s Creek and dropped him down the list. But as we were reminded once again, golf is the most unpredictable of sporting ventures. One swing, you are despondent; the next, you are elated. Or vice versa.

Halfway into the 89th Masters, Justin Rose retained the lead. He earned the first round. Rose, a very young 44—look at how he is playing—is at eight under 136, after Friday’s 71. Second at 137 is Bryson deChambeau, the two-time US Open Champion, who had a 4-under 68 Friday at Augusta National. 

McIlroy is at 138, tied with Cory Conners for third, while defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who had a 71 today, is at 139 with Shane Lowry, Tyrell Hatton, and Denny McCarty.

After his opening-round collapse, McIlroy, usually a talkative sort, refused to do interviews. But, not surprisingly, Friday he said a lot after he gained a lot of strokes. Asked his mindset after Friday’s round, McIlroy said, “Not as frustrated obviously. But I mean, it’s only halfway. You know, we’ve got 36 holes to go on a very, very tough golf course. Anything can happen.”

What happened Thursday when he chipped into the water on 15 and then 3 putted 18, for the two devastating double bogies, left McIlroy more stunned than shaken. 

“I hit two good shots into 15 (Thursday),” said McIlroy. “And I felt like I hit a pretty good chip shot. I was really surprised at not so much the speed—I knew it was a fast chip. It was just the first bounce was so firm.” 

McIlroy, the Irishman, has been a golfing star since before his teenage years. The expectations have been as large as his talent. Early on, he won a PGA championship, a US Open, and a British Open. But the Masters has been elusive.  

Most famously, he had the lead at Augusta in 2013 and then shot 80 in the fourth round. That failure is brought up every time he comes here. 

McIlroy met with six-time Masters Winner Jack Nicklaus, arguably the greatest player ever, and listened to Jack’s advice on how to finally get that Masters victory. Jack told him the key is as much in the way he thinks as in the way he plays. And McIlroy mentioned that after his comeback Friday. 

“I was so frustrated last (Thursday) night because I played so well, and you can make these big numbers from absolutely nowhere on this golf course, just like the most benign position.  So it was a good reminder that you have to have your wits about you on every single golf shot.”

His prison days behind him, Angel Cabrera steps back into the Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — He earned a green jacket. Now, Angel Cabrera has something no less important in a life of success and failure: a second chance. Or, since Cabrera was, and is, a golfer, maybe we should call it a mulligan — the links term for an unpenalized do-over. 

Cabrera was in the field for the Masters, which began Thursday — an achievement in itself, considering all he has been through, largely due to his troubles off the course.

He served 30 months in prison in his home nation, Argentina, after conviction for domestic violence. Although some women’s organizations had protested his return, Cabrera, now 55, is able to return to the sport that lifted him from the bottom of life to the top.

“Life has given me another opportunity. I got to take advantage of that,” said Cabrera. “And I want to do the right things in this second opportunity.”

That Cabrera even became a golfer was against the odds. His parents separated when he was 4, and he was left in the care of his paternal grandmother. He had no formal schooling and found work as a caddie at age 10. 

He learned the game after learning the proper way to carry clubs for others. With natural athletic talent, he quickly rose through the ranks, winning the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont — where the tournament returns this year — and then capturing the 2009 Masters.

But his personal life hardly was as rewarding. He was accused and convicted of harassing his former partner and the mother of his children. After his release from prison, Cabrera began practicing once more, and last weekend he won the James Hardy Invitational, a non PGA tour event, in Boca Raton, Florida. 

This will be his first Masters since 2019, and because of the complaints of some women’s groups, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley was asked during Wednesday’s press conference what he thought of the situation. 

“We certainly abhor domestic violence of any type,” said Ridley. “As it relates to Angel, Angel has served the sentence that was prescribed by the Argentine courts, and he is the past champion, and so he was invited. 

Golfers, among athletes, are a particularly close group. In an individual sport, they turn to each other for support. They view Cabrera as their long-time fellow competitor. Gary Player, winner of each of the four majors, remained a friend and supporter of Cabrera.

“The only one I’ve always been in contact with is Gary Player,” Cabrera said of the famed South African, who is now 89. “He wanted to give advice that things were going to happen and things would get better, and that’s what’s happened.”

The Masters: a pretentious name, a great sporting event

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Was it the great Dan Jenkins who once wrote that the Masters is the championship of nothing?  What he meant was that no country, state, or organization gained recognition from the title. 

Masters? Who was so subjunctive to apply that label?

And yet, as Jenkins—who covered more than 220 major golf tournaments—was quick to admit, to the sport of golf, the Masters has become, if not everything, then almost everything.

The name itself implies a sporting event limited only to the best.

As the 89th Masters starts on Thursday, debates swirl on who the winner might be—perhaps Rory McIlroy finally grabbing the missing piece to complete his own grand slam, or Scottie Scheffler repeating for a second straight year, or one of the other names familiar even to those who don’t follow the game. 

Unquestionably the Masters—it wasn’t originally named that—and the city, Augusta, where it is held, have become almost interchangeable. There is an Augusta in Maine, but they don’t have a competition there where the winner gets a green jacket or headlines. And surely that Augusta’s motel rooms are not jacked up during the week from the normal price of $150 a day to $1,000 a day.   

Yet despite the negatives and not the undeserved criticisms, the Masters has become very much a part of both springtime and American sports.

That is in part attributable to Bobby Jones, the only golfer to win four majors in a calendar year (yes, two of those majors were the Amateurs, the British and the US) and who helped establish the tournament; to Arnold Palmer, who won it four times; to Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, who dominated the tournament in their time and certainly in this television era, to CBS and Jim Nantz’s signature phrase, “A tradition unlike any other.”

Consider our sporting icons: the Rose Bowl, the Super Bowl, the Final Four, the Kentucky Derby, the World Series, and no less, the Masters. Annually and to a nation looking to escape all the woes of society, importantly.

Long ago, when the Super Bowl was growing into the monster it has become, the then NFL Commissioner, Pete Rozell, shrugged off complaints, insisting, “we are just entertainment.” 

So too are all big sports events, including the Masters, although in the revised outlook where odds are posted on everything, there also are gambling options, where someone can lose dollars as quickly as a pro might lose strokes.

How Bobby Jones might have done when there were numbers besides his name, other than the ones posted on the course, must remain speculation. 

But the current golfers contend they don’t worry what others predict or wager. McIlroy and Scheffler are this Masters’ co-favorites. That makes sense, but it may not make the bettor a lot of money.

What truly helped make the Masters legendary was Gene Sarazen’s stunning double eagle—an albatross two—on the 15th hole in 1935.

“It only took five minutes after that to become a major,” wrote Jenkins, somewhat humorously. 

It doesn’t matter if Jenkins was serious. He was absolutely correct.

Viktor Hovland gives us something we’ve probably never heard before in sports

You’ve heard it all in sports, haven’t you? You’ve heard coaches of heavily favored football teams complain that the oddsmakers don’t know a thing. You’ve heard boxers boast what they are going to do to an opponent before they’re arrogant enough to step into the ring. 

But you’ve never heard anyone quite like Viktor Hovland.

He’s a PGA Tour pro. He’s from Norway. He went to Oklahoma State. And this past weekend, he won the Valspar Championship near Tampa.

Although you wouldn’t know it from his comments—which could be described as unique and, at times, baffling for someone who had just secured a victory—this was a man who had won five other events, including both the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship in 2023.

“It’s unbelievable that I won,” said Hovland. “I really didn’t think I was going to. It’s still the same swing. I still hit some disgusting shots, but somehow I was able to put it together this week.” 

So much for the advice you need to be positive to be successful. Better to be realistic and have the guy in front of you, Justin Thomas, who happens to have won two majors, collapse with bogeys on two of the last three holes.

Golf often is an evil game. The setting, a course beautiful enough on which to have a picnic, may fool even the most skeptical of individuals.

It may not be a long walk spoiled, but it’s a pastime that makes people lose their cool and often threaten to hurl their clubs—or themselves—into a water hazard or a trash bin. The little things get to you, like forgetting to sign the scorecard, negating all you’ve done with the clubs in your bag. So do the big things, like missing a tee shot or, worse, a short putt.  

Hovland probably had no expectations coming into the Valspar. He had missed the cut in the three preceding tournaments. Ah, but that’s the beauty and the agony of the game.

Once again, who could imagine Thomas, seemingly playing well at last, giving the tournament away with poor approach shots on 16 and 18?

Meanwhile, Hovland, down on himself, was able to get the ball down into the cup.

Apropos of nothing, the general chairman of the Valspar is Ronde Barber, the NFL Hall of Famer. You wonder if his years in athletics prepared him for the ending of the tournament and Hovland’s bizarre analysis.

“I’ve been playing poorly,” said Hovland. “No confidence. When you don’t believe you can play well, it is hard to come out and play week after week.”

As one of the Golf Channel commentators pointed out, “It certainly doesn’t sound like your typical post-match interview.”

That’s because it wasn’t.

A careful McIlroy has a cool week and a win at the AT&T

PEBBLE BEACH — This was as good as it gets in golf—magnificent Pebble Beach in the sunshine, a leaderboard full of major champions, and Rory McIlroy, his once wild game tamed by maturity and wisdom, now under control, beating them all. On this Sunday, McIlroy delivered a masterful 66—each shot carefully crafted—even opting for a 5-iron off the tee at the historic par-5 18th. 

That’s the bayside hole that was nicknamed “The Finisher” nearly a century ago, and it proved to be just that for Rory McIlroy, who won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am by two shots with a score of 21 under par, 267. In McIlroy’s wake were some of golf’s biggest names. Fellow Irishman Shane Lowry finished second at 269, while Justin Rose and Lucas Glover tied for third, another shot back. Lowry has a British Open to his credit, Rose owns both a Masters and a U.S. Open, and Glover is also a U.S. Open champion. Meanwhile, Sepp Straka, who led by a shot over McIlroy going into the final round, could only manage a 72 and slipped to a tie for 7th.  

McIlroy may be only 35, but he has been playing pro golf around the world, mostly on the European Tour, for years. He would hit the ball as far as possible to impress himself, spectators, and those in the media—but not always with precision, especially on the greens. Just last June he botched putts on the closing holes of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. But maybe that had an effect, if you listened to him and watched him at Pebble, McIlroy seemed to have learned from his failings—as golfers so often do as they mature. 

“Pinehurst hurt the most,” said McIlroy. “Again, thinking of strategy and maybe those impulses that I talked about, hitting the right shot at the right time or being in a different place mentally, calming yourself down, using breathing exercises, whatever it is, I think the one thing that I did  (Sunday) really well is that I didn’t get too flustered and it may—it certainly feels a little more boring to me.” 

“It might look a little bit more boring on the golf course, but it definitely is more effective. Today was a test and I was able to come through it pretty well.” 

McIlroy has 27 victories, no matter where they’ve been played, some of which were considered part of the PGA tour. This AT&T was his first this year on tour, with McIlroy having only arrived in California Monday from the Middle East, where he annually competes a few times during the Winter. 

So much success, and yet when people refer to Rory they mention how he fell apart in the final round in 2011 at the Masters, the only one of the four Grand Slam Events he has not won.  

“It’s been a great week for a lot of different reasons,” said McIlroy, who had an ace on the 15th at Spyglass Hill on Thursday, the first round, which is the other course used for the AT&T.

“Playing Cypress Point for the first time, obviously getting a win. Yeah—it’s been a really cool week. Obviously couldn’t wish for a better start for my PGA TOUR season.”

What the AT&T needed: A leaderboard packed with greatness including Rory and Shane

PEBBLE BEACH — This was exactly what the tournament needed and what the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am got, a leaderboard packed with big names who have big games and a spate of major championships, people like Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Justin Rose. 

After two rounds that felt as dull as the gray skies over Carmel Bay, the third day delivered a much-needed jolt of energy, fueled by standout performances from familiar faces. 

Nothing wrong with Sepp Straka—who remained in front after 54 holes. He’s a three-time PGA Tour winner, but he doesn’t attract the same crowds or TV ratings as Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, or Scottie Scheffler—who is not out of it even if six shots behind may not really be in it. 

McIlroy, arguably the most popular golfer since Tiger Woods stepped away, and his fellow Irishman Shane Lowry, each had a 7-under 65 on an afternoon with occasional rain and frequent wind. Straka had an even par 70. So with one round remaining and apparently any chance of bad weather holding off until at least the end of play, Straka, at 16 under 200, is a shot in front of both Irishmen, McIlroy and Lowry. 

In fourth place is Rose, who won the AT&T two years ago and as many of the others, is a major champion—actually a two-time winner, having claimed the U.S. Open and the Masters.

McIlroy, in his first PGA tour tournament since last summer, completed his round with a stirring birdie putt on Pebble Beach’s seaside 18th. That would please anyone and certainly elated Rory.

“After 18 years (on tour),” said Rory who is now 35, “Yeah, it was a really good Saturday to get myself in contention. I keep reminding myself this week, it’s my second tournament of the year. It's great to be playing well at this point, but the main goal for me is to play well from April through July. It’s really cool to be in contention this early in the season.”

April of course is when they play the Masters, the only one of the four major championships McIlroy has not won.

Someone pointed out to McIlroy that it is not surprising that he and Lowry perform well in gloomy, overcast, and frequently cool conditions. But Rory responded, “That is why we moved to Florida to get away from weather like this.” 

Lowry, in perhaps the most thrilling of majors, won the 2019 British Open at Portrush in his homeland. It was the highlight of a career that sometimes goes unappreciated by those outside Ireland or outside professional golf.

“When I arrived here (Saturday morning),” said Lowry, “People said this weather is gonna suit you. Yeah, it might suit me somewhat but I don’t enjoy it. You know, I live in Florida for a reason. Yeah, look I’m able—I think my game is well equipped to handle these conditions and I go out there kind of no fear and I know I just need to batten down the hatches and make pars when I can.”

Straka is the only Austrian to win on Tour. Not that nationality means as much as keeping the tee shots in play and making the putts. Hey, the ball doesn’t care who is hitting it. The only thing that matters from any player, famous or not, is striking it fewer times than anyone else.

Will Sepp Straka waltz off with this AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am?

PEBBLE BEACH —  He was born in Vienna and plays golf with consistency as beautifully as Strauss composed waltzes. His given name, Josef, offers a window to his origin, and his talent provides insight into his skill. Straka stomped across the California desert a week and a half ago, going 69 holes at one stretch without a bogey and winning the American Express Classic. Some 250 miles north, Straka is in the lead halfway through the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

He shot a 7-under par 65 on a cool, drizzly Friday at Pebble Beach and is at 14-under 130 for 36 holes. That put him 4 shots ahead of 2 men, 1st-round leader Russell Henley, who had a 69, and Cam Davis, 68, both of whom were at Spyglass Hill. 

The son of an Austrian father and an American mother, Straka and his twin brother Sam moved early on to Valdosta, Ga., where there may not be any strudel or downhill runs, but there are plenty of golf courses. He played at the University of Georgia and, since joining the PGA Tour, has secured three victories. A fourth could be as close as Sunday, but one thing we have learned in golf is never to make predictions—except when Straka is in the field. He's going to score effectively. So far in the two rounds of this historic event, he’s made only two bogies, one each day.   

“It was kind of a team effort,” he said about his spectacular second round. However, he was the only member of the team and was referring to the manner in which he scored.  “Hitting the ball really well early in the round, and then missed a few putts but made some really nice putts, too. So it was just all around a pretty solid day.”

Through the decades of this event which began as the Bing Crosby Pro-Am, frequent downpours have been so famous, that they’ve been labeled “Crosby weather.” Last year’s tournament was called after three rounds on a Sunday night, which was a precedent. A heavier rain than Friday’s drizzle has been predicted for Saturday, and how that affects Straka and the others is a guess.

“Yeah, the forecast looks pretty rough. I think it’s going to be a lot more challenging. Yeah, looking forward to that challenge.”

There was no 36-hole cut in this accelerated tournament, meaning everyone who started will finish—unless the player chooses otherwise, so still in the field are last year’s champion, Wyndham Clark, and Brendon Todd, even if they are 18 shots behind. Jake Knapp, with an-even-par 72 at Spyglass, slipped out of a first-round tie for second, but at 137, is in a decent position for a high finish. He is the former night club bouncer, who is now bouncing golf balls into cups. Of course, he and everyone must chase Sepp Straka, who has made the bogey virtually obsolete.

Waltz to that music.

One-time bar bouncer, Knapp, among those tied for 2nd at Pebble

PEBBLE BEACH — The cups that hold his attention these days are the ones on the putting greens where Jake Knapp makes birdies. Knapp was among six players tied for second at 7-under par—a shot behind Russell Henley—in Thursday’s opening round in the ATT Pebble Beach Pro-Am. But not all that long ago Jake Knapp was thinking about cups and glasses in the restaurant-tavern where he worked while struggling to become a touring pro.

Golf is never an easy game, but some people become successful more quickly than others.  Knapp was one of the others. He did modestly well while at UCLA some ten years ago. He got on the second circuit which was renamed the Korn Ferry Tour. And he didn’t make progress until after losing his card. Then everything clicked. 

He won on the Korn Ferry and almost exactly a year ago broke through on the PGA Tour with a first-place finish in the Mexico City Open last February.

“I worked as a nightclub bouncer. After losing status and missing at Q-School in 2021, out of funds, I needed to be away from golf. I needed some responsibility and some perspective on things. I wasn't aware that The Country Club, a restaurant in Costa Mesa, turned into a nightclub; I went there to be a barback (assistant bartender).”

His days were free since he worked at night, allowing him to spend them practicing golf. It obviously paid off for Knapp, who is now 30, which is considered late to start a career on tour. However, what matters is not how long he is on tour, but how well he does. 

On Thursday he did very well, shooting a 65 and not making a single bogey.  

“It was cold this morning,” he said with a southern California viewpoint. “I wasn’t playing super easy those first few holes, just how firm and kind of bouncy the greens were, but once it kind of warmed up you realized with not much wind out here you can give yourself a lot of opportunities and did a good job of doing that.” 

When you think of bouncers in bars, you might picture someone built like Arnold Schwarzenegger. But Knapp is built more like a defensive back—5-foot-11 and 190 pounds. Yes, that’s large enough to put a few glasses on the counter and maybe put a few unruly customers out the door. 

On Friday, when he shifts to Spyglass Hill—the other course used in this historic tournament—he needs to put a few more onto the fairways off the tees. If the weather turns nasty, as predicted, it's better to be at Spyglass, deep in the Del Monte Forest, than at Pebble Beach along the bay.

“If we get a little bit of weather and if that happens,” said Knapp, “just do our best to keep the ball in front of us and keep it below the hole.” 

If he can do that, the man who was once responsible for ejecting unruly customers might find more than a glass raised to his golf.

Would it be possible these days to create a golf tournament the way Bing Crosby did?

PEBBLE BEACH — You read the nickname on one of the many plaques posted behind the first tee. “Crosby Clambake,” it says, the briefest reference to a tournament that has been altered over time—and to some, diminished— evolving into what is now the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

You know how it all came about, a singer-entertainer whose popularity helped brighten America during the Depression of the 1930s, creating a golf event for his pals and impoverished pros. It was an original, and it became an anchor for the sport, which has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry.

Most of us know that. What we don’t know is whether that would be a possibility, or even a fantasy in today’s world. Is there any individual around whom you can build a golf tournament or any sporting competition as once was done? Television has made us aware of so many multi-talented athletes and entertainers.

Just watch any of the late-night shows or sports channels. Pick one of your favorite stars. Then remember he or she must be a golfer as was Crosby or Bob Hope. It doesn’t work anymore. It doesn’t need to. Which is why the Bing Crosby Pro-Am, once listed as “The greatest show in golf,” must be viewed through a historic prism.

You had Ben Hogan or Sam Snead trading strokes while Phil Harris or Dean Martin cracked jokes. It was like watching the Colbert show while it was being staged on the 18th green at Pebble.

There were birdies and bogeys and laughs. There were memorable lines, as well as memorable tee shots. The Golf Channel and ESPN didn’t exist in those days. If you wanted to know what was going on, you had to be standing there, even in the rain that came to be known as “Crosby weather.”

The purses were small compared to now—Scottie Scheffler, who is in this AT&T, earned $25 million last year. That figure would seem a dream for pros even in the 1950’s. 

Of course, everything changes, sometimes for the better and sometimes not. The tournament once was played on three courses including iconic Cypress Point where Bing himself was a member and once made a hole-in-one on the hole that juts into Monterey Bay, the 16th hole.  During his tournament, he would be seen wandering around the course welcoming fans and seemingly enjoying the golf as much as the players. 

Clint Eastwood, who became the mayor of neighboring Carmel, has a long history with the tournament, both as a player and an official.

In his book on the tournament, Dwayne Netland offered an Eastwood recollection. While a soldier at nearby Fort Ord, the Army Base which is now the site of Cal State Monterey Bay, he and a buddy crashed the Sunday night dinner, claiming they were assistants to Art Rosenbaum, the San Francisco Chronicle golf writer (and eventual sports editor). 

“I had the best steak I ever had and then went around and ate up all the desserts.”

You notice he didn’t mention a thing about clams. But that is how Crosby is remembered on that plaque behind the first tee at Pebble.

At Pebble Beach, Scheffler returns to golf after hand injury

PEBBLE BEACH—You hear it almost every time an athlete gets hurt doing something unusual, something unrelated to their sport: “We have to live normal lives too.

Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 ranked golfer, offered a version of that reminder when Tuesday addressed the media. He returned to the game after missing the opening weeks of the PGA tour season. He sliced up his right hand on a broken glass while making ravioli for Christmas dinner.

We never got a taste of the pasta, but we are going to get a figurative taste of Scheffler’s brilliant game in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, starting Thursday. 

“Yeah, it broke and the stem kind of got me in the hand,” said Scheffler. “So it's one of those deals where like it's truly — I can't live in a bubble, like got to live my life and accidents happen. You know, it could have been a lot worse.”

“I actually talked to somebody who did the exact same thing and the stem went straight through his hand. It's one of those deals where immediately after it happened I was mad at myself because I was like gosh, that's so stupid, but you just don't think about it when you're in the moment. Yeah, I’ve definitely been like a little more careful doing stuff at home.”

Rory McIlroy, who returned from his annual winter tournaments in the Middle East and is also in the AT&T, had his own thoughts about Scheffler’s accident.

“I think he made enough money to hire a chef. It's like why are you cooking yourself?” said McIlroy. In normal locker room repartee, Scheffler shot back, “I’ve got a chef, her name’s Meredith. She’s pretty cute.”

Indeed, Meredith is his wife and mother of their recently born first child, a son, Bennett.

Scheffler is as much a joy to listen to as to watch. He takes the sport seriously but not himself, poking fun at mistakes and making clear how much he understands the game is as much mental as it is physical. He isn’t full of theories or of himself. 

During his forced absence—Scheffler needed minor surgery on the right hand to extract tiny pieces of glass—he reviewed videos of his game during the season. It’s an old story for any golfer. No matter how well he or she plays, there is always room for improvement.

But after a year in which he earned $25 million on the Tour and a second Masters, you wonder how much better he can get? So much of golf, as any sport, is being at the right place at the right time. Yet Scheffler seems capable of performing excellently for many years, if he stays out of the kitchen.

TGL: Talent (including Tiger) and gimmicks

It’s called TGL, which stands for The Golf League, and it’s as dependent on gimmicks as it is on talent and there seems to be an abundance of both.

Unlike Mark Twain’s historical definition, this golf is not a long walk spoiled but, rather a short trip to fantasyland. And perhaps to the bank. Yes, Tiger Woods is involved, as an investor and as well as a competitor and so is ESPN, a twosome in this age of gaining attention and coverage, hardly is unimportant.

"It's not golf as we know it," said Woods. Rather it's an activity to fill time when there is no NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball—or golf as we know it.

You might say it's where personalities, Tiger, Xander Schauffele, and others who have done well at locations such as Augusta National or Royal Troon, meet technology. It is held indoors right now, at SoFi Arena in West Palm Beach, Fla.—not to be confused with SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. 

The evening begins with a bellicose announcement of the players as if they were battlers in MMA and not the PGA. There is a screen as in some golf facilities which records the distance and direction of the long iron and wood shots.  You might be familiar with one of those.  Some have you believe you are playing Pebble Beach or St. Andrews. The TGL screen is enormous—64 feet by 53 feet—and the course it depicts is not one in particular, just holes with bunkers and water hazards. The building itself is large enough for a basketball arena, and has rows of seats for fans encouraged to hoot and holler.  

The players are divided among six teams, each consisting of four PGA golfers chosen arbitrarily.  In Tuesday's inaugural, Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, Sean Lowry, Ludvig Aberg, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Wyndham Clark were involved. Each was placed on teams called New York and Palm Beach, not that this is important. If you are going to have competition the result must mean something and at the moment, who really cares other than how the players perform? After their long shots, the players then move to an artificially turfed putting green—and here come the gimmicks—which is constructed to be able to spin and undulate. So far no windmill. 

Woods did not play Tuesday but made an appearance, not surprisingly, since he is so involved.  The schedule is for him to compete in the next matches, probably for Palm Beach. 

Maybe the best part was the jabbering and needling among the golf stars, just as if they were in a practice round or friendly match.

The thinking is that the public drawn by the names will find TGL must-see stuff. Who knows?  But there are a lot of oddball shows on TV, and TGL may find its niche. After all, even a person who doesn't know a bogey from a birdie would most likely find it more compelling than Corn Hole.

If not, The Golf Channel will deliver the real goods on weekends.

This Maverick is now a PGA tour winner

The last hole of the last PGA Tour tournament of the year, and the kid named for an auto brand finally finished first.

Maverick McNealy birdied the final hole Sunday at the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Georgia, to break through in his fifth year as a pro after great success at Stanford.

“A moment I’ll never forget,” said McNealy. Understandably.

In his career McNealy, now 25, didn’t exactly need to pull himself up by his Footjoys—his father Scott was one of the founders of Sun Microsystems—but like a true maverick he obeyed his own desires. And it has paid off in much more than the mere $1.368 million prize money he picked up in this event. Or the realization that he has now achieved every golfer’s goal, the win that gained him a place in the 2025 Masters. There's also the recognition every athlete strives for—something McNealy had already begun to earn, thanks to both his name and his game.

When you think of Stanford golf, legendary names like Tiger Woods and Tom Watson come to mind. McNeely, although sharing the Stanford record of 11 victories, is a long way from that category. However, with this win, he’s taken a significant step forward in his journey.

As you hear every week, winning on tour is incredibly difficult. Especially when you are identified as McNeely has been. Scott McNeely, now 70, a one-time auto executive in the auto industry before advancing to Silicon Valley power and wealth, had four sons and named each after cars: Maverick, Scout (who now is caddying for Maverick), Colt, and Dakota. Whether the other kids or their parents found humor in their names hardly matters when you reside in Portola Valley in an estate that boasts a hockey rink (Maverick is a skilled hockey player too), a golf driving range, a basketball court, and other recreational facilities, including a gym. 

Maverick had shown the quality of his game the last few years. Victory seemed inevitable and it was. McNeely said there was a reason.

“My parents have always treated me and my three brothers like a team,” he told Cameron Morfit of PGA Tour.com. “Everything I remember growing up is family-related. I miss playing college golf and being part of a team.”

“This year, I’ve felt like I had more of a team with me than at any point in my golf career. That, I think, has been a huge difference-maker for me.”

The current team he refers to includes instructors, advisors, accountants, and trainers, 15 people.

The idea that golf is an individual game isn’t quite true anymore, although it is still one person swinging the club. A year ago, McNealy had problems trying to make that swing. He tore a ligament in his left shoulder and was unable to play on tour. He underwent biomechanical analysis, stem-cell treatment, and worked on a new swing.

Obviously, it all worked.

“Treeing” it up in the Procore, Kizzire takes the lead

NAPA — Golfers are known to try anything which will improve their game. Patton Kizzire has chosen to embrace trees, those items we’re told poetically only God can make—as opposed to the pars and bogeys created by man.

Now he’s hugging trees. 

Hey, whatever works, and in the first two rounds of the Procore it ’s been working for Kizzire. He shot a seven under par, bogey free 65 Friday at Silverado Country Club. That gives him a 36 hole total of 131, 3 under par and a one shot advantage over first round leader David Lipsky. Another shot back is Patrick Fishburn.

Kizzire doesn’t seem like one of those kids from the Berkeley Hills—he’s from Alabama and went to Auburn. But when he arrived for the media interview he, yes, became a tree hugger.

“I’ve had a little bit of time off,” said Kizzire. “I missed the Playoffs, so I wanted to make a little bit of an adjustment with my golf game, mental game and physical game.

“It’s been really cool to just get organized,” he continued, “and try to be more playful out there and be unflappable, that’s kind of my word.”

When asked if he had hugged a tree, Patton replied, "Oh, you know, not joking. I hugged that tree right there," pointing to one next to the first green.

Whatever his options for helping his game, tree hugging or not, Kizzire matches up well with Silverado. He finished 2nd in 2018, when the tournament was called The Safeway Open.

He said he was looking forward to bringing his “positive vibes and positive thoughts” back to the wine country.  So far, so good. 

“This is a good place,” he said, “this a great golf course, and I enjoy playing it.”

That’s not unusual.  Golfers like courses on which they play well, and it’s a two-way street. Or is that a two way fairway?

And they play well on courses they like.

“The first time I played it (2018) I think I should have won.  I had the lead with a few holes to play, and another guy, Brendan Steele, played really well at the end and beat me by a stroke.”

Steele, who is from Southern California, won the tournament twice. Obviously, there is a long way to go in this tournament and well positioned in fourth place, three shots back is the veteran Matt Kuchar, a multi-event winner over the years.

Still, the tree hugger, Kizzire, is confident. And why not?

“I know I can do it,” said Kizzire, “and I’m looking forward to the opportunity this weekend.”

It’s there, along with all the trees on the course.

Lipsky gets the Procore lead and a tough question

NAPA — David Lipsky got the first-round lead of the Procore Championship and the type of question that never would have been asked of golfers such as Scottie Scheffler or Tiger Woods:

If you take a long view on your professional career… how would you describe it?

Talk about putting a guy on the spot. What’s Lipsky going to answer that doesn’t make him sound disenchanted or like a misanthrope?

A journalist might say he’s been persistent and not unsuccessful, especially after learning that while at Northwestern Lipsky was undecided about what to choose for a career.

Or was the option of turning pro and as demonstrated from his 7 under par 65 Thursday at Silverado Country Club’s North Course, it wasn’t a bad choice. 

He was a shot in front of Martin Laird, and Patton Kizzire with Mark Hubbard, who failed to register in time and needed to qualify on Monday, coming in with a 67. Defending champ Sahith Theegala had a 69.

Lipsky is 36. He has won in Asia but on the PGA Tour.  He spent the last couple of weeks getting instruction from his old coach at Northwestern, Pat Goss. The advice apparently helped.  Lipsky had eight birdies and one bogey in the round that signaled the start of the fall season.

Lipsky’s best finish this year was a 9th at the Charles Schwab Challenge in May, a long time ago according to the golfing calendar. Then Thursday, on a course amidst acres of vineyards in America’s most famous wine area, he looked like a different competitor.

“I think that’s the funny thing about golf,” said Lipsky, “especially the level of golf we play on the PGA Tour. It’s just something small, these little things that can make the difference in your game.”

Lipsky grew up in Southern California but resides in Las Vegas—not unlike other golfers trying to avoid taxes.

“Sometimes you have to realize golf can be fun, and I think I sort of forgot that along the way as I’m grinding it out week in and week out. Sometimes you’ve got to put things in perspective, take a step back. Sort of did that, seems like it’s working out.”

Silverado, redesigned in 1967 by Robert Trent Jones II, is a resort course about 50 miles north of San Francisco. Accepting enough to be enjoyable for amateurs but tricky enough to provide a decent test for the pros.

The PGA Tour guys like it because the weather usually is beautiful—it was in the 80’s Thursday, and they and their wives or partners take advantage of tasting Napa’s vintages.

Lipsky said this week of the tournament he is staying with a friend from Chicago who owns a vineyard, name unknown.

If things go right, there will be more than a few glasses raised.

Wyndham Clark at Silverado—for himself and the team

NAPA — Wyndham Clark was playing ping pong in a garage when notified he had won the AT&T, which is a tournament of golf, not table tennis. It was February at Pebble Beach, and you’ve heard this before, officials decided to cancel the already rescheduled fourth round. Clark, of course, received the $3.6 million winner’s check, but something was missing.

“I would obviously would have gone back and played the fourth round and had the nerves and excitement that you do in the final round,” said Clark Wednesday. “And to come down 18 and hopefully with a lead and to win.”

Now it is September, a week and some seven months and roughly 150 miles north of Pebble Beach. Clark is back in Northern California at Silverado where starting Thursday he’ll be in the new Procore tournament. New in name, if not location.

This is a restart of sorts of the PGA Tour, using the term restart loosely. The Tour Championship was two weeks ago, there was a week off, and now here we go again, which is fine for Clark. He wants to improve his own game, and he wants to get ready for the Presidents Cup matches in two weeks at Montreal. Clark is 30 and has a major championship, the 2023 U.S. Open, yet he sounds like a kid just out of college when it comes to the way he approaches the game.

“I stopped trying to win and went out and played as well as I could,” he said.

The philosophy has been around for a long time, concentrating on the swing rather than the score. If you hit the ball properly and get a few putts in the hole you will succeed to a point.

He spoke of the consistency of Tiger Woods and currently Scottie Scheffler. 

“That’s what you want,” he said, “to be there at the time and give yourself a chance to win.”    

Golf is the most individual of sports. You are alone on a course aside from a caddy. That’s why so many of the pros, including Clark, enjoy the team competition such as the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup.

“It’s amazing,” said Clark. “I feel like when you kind of get into that inner circle with some of the top players in the world, and this is all just coming from my perspective, I feel like it helps you stay in that circle because you’re around—iron sharpens iron, so when you’re around these great players, you feed off of their confidence and the things that they do and you pick up little things here and there that help your game.”

As does playing Silverado, says Clark. 

“But the golf course itself presents challenges off the tee,” he said. “It’s very narrow and it usually gets very firm and you just end up having some kind of really cool awkward shots into greens that makes it really fun. I’ve always really enjoyed this golf course.”

Probably more than ping pong in a garage.

Schauffele, after the Open win, chases Olympic Gold. Again.

He holds the claret jug. Now Xander Schauffele reaches for Olympic gold. Again. From Troon to Paris. From dreams to reality. From near misses to wild success.

From the beaches of San Diego to the top of the world—and that’s not a reference to the rankings, where Scottie Scheffler remains No. 1.

But if Schauffele continues his ascent or even duplicates his bravura performances the last two months, in time he could move ahead of Scheffler, former British Ryder Cup captain, Peter McGinley said on the Golf Channel.

For the present, we consider how the 30-year-old Schauffele, who previously hadn’t finished first in a major, took the PGA Championship at Valhalla in May and then Sunday took the 152nd Open at Royal Troon in Scotland.

Schauffele entered the final round of the Open tied for second with five others one stroke behind leader Billy Horschel. And then quickly enough served notice with a birdie on Troon’s infamous Railway Hole, the 11th, the most difficult on the course.

Striding elegantly down the 18th fairway in front of boisterous crowds—they so love their golf in Scotland—Schauffele came in with a 6-under par 65 and a four-day total of 275 (9 under).

That was two strokes ahead of third-round leader Billy Horschel (68) and Justin Rose (67), who tied for second at 277. It wasn’t as if Schauffele was a disappointment. He won a Scottish Open and the Men’s golf division of the Tokyo Olympics in 2016.

What’s important in golf, however, is winning one of the four majors. He had none. Now he has two.

“I think winning the first one helped me a lot (Sunday), on the back nine,” said Schauffele. “I had some feeling of calmness come through. It was very helpful on one of the hardest back nines I have ever played in a tournament.” 

Which it is supposed to be. The Open is the oldest tournament in golf and depending on the weather and the width of the fairways is often the most difficult.

After half a day of driving rain Saturday, the weather was clear Sunday, albeit hardly warm. The temperature was in the low 60s, not taking into account the wind chill.

Schauffele was always accurate. Within the last year, he has picked up distance to go with the accuracy, which as pointed out made him a factor in the majors. 

“He has a lot of horsepower,” Rose said about Schauffele. “He’s good with a wedge, he’s great with a putter. He hits the ball a long way. Obviously his iron play is strong, so he’s got a lot of weapons out there. I think one of his most unappreciated ones is his mentality. He’s such a calm guy out there.”

One of the reasons for his stability is his confidence developed through practice and persistence. He said that playing in the Scottish Open enabled him to understand the vagaries of lynx golf, which is far different than that played on a course in the United States.

“It’s a dream come true to win two majors in one year,” Schauffele said. “It took me forever just to win one, and to have two now is something else.”

Despite Monty’s suggestion, Tiger isn’t the retiring type

The shots Tiger Woods took were not only with his clubs. At the beginning of Open Week, he opened up on Colin Montgomerie.

And so much for the idea pro golfers only treat each other with total respect. Hey, if you can’t have a good rivalry, then we’ll have to settle for a good feud.

Woods is at the 152nd Open at Royal Troon on the Ayrshire Coast of Scotland. As a former winner, Tiger, now 48, will be invited to play until he’s 60, which is only one year off Montgomerie’s current age.

Monty, as you know, never won an Open. Or any other major. Whether that failure contributes to a perceived displeasure, only he knows. What we know about Tiger is he disliked (putting it mildly) Monty suggesting he ought to, well, retire.

A cynic might ask, to do what? Play golf for fun? Something Montgomerie wondered if it was possible.

Woods hasn’t been in contention since his last victory at the 2019 Masters and missed the cut this year at the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship. All this hasn’t discouraged his loyal fans, but certainly has discouraged Montgomerie. At least one would surmise from his comments.

“I hope people remember Tiger as Tiger was,” said Montgomery in the Times article. “The passion and the charismatic aura around him—there is none of that now. At Pinehurst (for the U.S. Open) he did not seem to enjoy a single shot and you think ‘What the hell is he doing?’ He’s coming to Troon and he won’t enjoy it there either.”

Woods definitely didn’t enjoy Montgomerie’s thoughts, as Tiger made clear when asked by a reporter Tuesday at the scheduled pre-tournament media session.

“Well, as a past champion,” Woods said with an emphasis meant to embarrass Montgomerie, “I’m exempt until I’m 60. Colin’s not. He’s not a past champion so he doesn’t have the opportunity to make the decision. I do.”

If you want to believe this is teapot-tempest stuff, well, something real or imagined has existed between Tiger and Monty since the 1997 Masters.

Montgomerie was the successful veteran pro, a Ryder Cupper for England, who had been as high as no. 2 in the world rankings, and Tiger, after winning three consecutive U.S. Amateurs, was a hotshot rookie surrounded by expectations and hype. In the first round, Tiger shot a 2-under par, 70 while Montgomerie had a 72. In the post-round interviews Woods, young and enthusiastic, was understandably optimistic.

A short time later Montgomerie came into the Press Room, as it still is known, and seemed unimpressed with Tiger’s score.

He tried to remind the writers that there were three rounds to go and he was very much in a good position, subtly downgrading Woods’ chances.

However, as we were dramatically to learn, Woods burst free with a fantastic finish that included a 65 and 66. He not only won, but he did so with an eighteen-under par-270 that shattered the scoring record. Montgomerie stumbled and had a final round 81, finishing in a tie for 30th.

Woods was about to take over golf for years. Montgomerie was left in the distance. He could never get close, even with his comments.

Pinehurst No. 2 turns into DeChambeau’s No. 2

Such a cruel game, golf. Such a wonderful game, golf. A game where a two-foot putt can be as rewarding or devastating as a 300-yard drive.

As Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy know all too well.

McIlroy connected on those drives, but missed on the last few putts. And so DeChambeau – embracing the crowds’ chants of ‘USA USA’ – won a second U.S. Open. On the course named Pinehurst No. 2, but now with his repeated success in the Open, it could be called Bryson No. 2.  

The final round Sunday of this Open had all the joy and agony virtually guaranteed in a tournament where the rough is high, the bunkers are deep and the pressure unyielding.

It is, after all, considered to be America’s championship, of which several decades ago the late Sandy Tatum, after competitors complained the Open was too hard said, “We aren’t trying to embarrass the best golfers, we’re trying to identify them.”

After Saturday’s round when DeChambeau built a 3-shot lead, he was asked how he would approach the last day. 

“Fairways and greens,” he said, “and two putts.”

It didn’t exactly work out that way. But among the 71 swings he recorded in his 1 over par closing round, one was what he called “the best shot of his life.” After landing in the sand at 18, he hit his 55-yard bunker shot within 4 feet of the cup, a magnificent par saver.

McIlroy, who had the lead at times briefly, was in the scoring room watching. He came in with a one under par 70. His 275 total was one shot above deChambeau’s total of 274. Tony Finau, 67, and Patrick Cantlay, 70, tied for third.

It was Lee Trevino who said anybody can win One Open but it takes a great player to win two.  He won two, and of course, now the 30-year-old DeChambeau also has won two. For the record, Jack Nicklaus won 4, Tiger Woods 3.

This one came down to a series of short putts. DeChambeau made them. Rory did not. The late Payne Stewart, won almost the same way—beating Phil Mickelson—in the same place, Pinehurst, in 2019. 

After DeChambeau made the putt at 18, he yelled out “That’s Payne right there, baby.” 

And it was.

DeChambeau has had a great month. He was a shot behind winner Zander Schauffle at the PGA in Louisville and now gets the victory in the U.S. Open.

“As much as it is heartbreaking for some people, it was heartbreak for me at the PGA,” said DeChambeau, who a month ago made a dramatic birdie on the 18th hole at Valhalla, only for Xander Schauffele to match with a birdie to win the PGA Championship in May.

It’s one of the older cliches and truths of golf that “you drive for show and putt for dough,” as we found out again at this tremendous U.S. Open.

Scheffler makes Open cut; Tiger just misses

The best golfer of the year made the cut. The best golfer of the decade did not;

Anything else you want to know about the 2024 U.S. Open?

Oh yeah. The leaders, who are Ludvig Aberg in first and Bryson DeChambeau, tied for second with a shot back from Matthieu Pavon and Patrick Cantlay. But that’s not as important with 36 holes remaining at a course as difficult and historic as Pinehurst No. 2 as who will be playing those 36 holes.     

A lead in golf can disappear or reappear in a matter of moments. As the other guy doesn’t necessarily have to play well, you can play poorly. Need I remind you of the 1966 Open at Olympic Club when Arnold Palmer — yes that Arnold Palmer, the King — lost a seven-stroke advantage in nine holes.

If you’re there on the weekend in a major you have a chance. And Scottie Scheffler, who tops the world rankings and has won five events on Tour this year, is there—phew—barely, right on the cut line.

But unfortunately, Tiger Woods, arguably the most popular golfer in memory, if not the finest—Jack Nicklaus gets that call—missed the cut. Woods was at 74-73–147, 5-over. Exactly what Scheffler shot—71-74–145—and made the cut. 

Tiger had received a special invitation from the US Golf Association. And at age 48, not playing more than once a month because of his various injuries, he was thrilled. So were the fans on the property, whose vocal support of Woods echoed through the pines for which the golf resort is named.

Woods has missed the cut four times in his past five starts in the U.S. Open; he last made the cut when he tied for 21st at Pebble Beach in 2019. He had missed only one cut in his first 16 starts in the tournament as a pro.

It was his 13th consecutive round of par or worse in a major, the longest streak of his career. He missed the cut or withdrew in five of his past six starts in majors.

"Well, it's one of those things where in order to win a golf tournament, you have to make the cut.”           

Which Scheffler managed to do after teeing off Friday morning and then waiting through the afternoon until finally enough other people slipped to lower cut so Scottie was in.

Scheffler hasn’t missed a cut since the 2022 FedEx St Jude Championship (22 months ago) but after failing to make a birdie Friday, the streak was very much in jeopardy.

“This golf course can be unpredictable at times,” said Scheffler before he knew he had made it to a third round.

That’s why the game is so unpredictable and rewarding.

Cantlay, Rory and the movable Open feast

It was the great Dan Jenkins, borrowing the title from the no less great Ernest Hemmingway, who referred to the U.S. Open and its many venues as a movable feast.

One year it’s held in the historical setting of The Country Club, outside Boston. The next is amid the luxurious glass and steel buildings surrounding the Los Angeles Country Club. This week it is in the sandhills of North Carolina in Pinehurst Resort where the greens are elevated and the memories bittersweet.

It was at Pinehurst in the 2019 Open when John Daly would knock putts from one side of the eighth green to the other as if he were on a miniature golf course. It also was at that 2019 Open, when Phil Mickelson, his wife expecting the couple’s first child wore a pager, Payne Stewart won by a stroke, grabbed Phil, and told him, ”You’ll love being a father.” A few months later Stewart died in the bizarre LearJet accident.

Michelson, who will be 54 Sunday is in this Open, and in the first round Thursday, unfortunately, showed why Tour golf is for the younger guys, shot a 9 over par, 79, without a birdie. In contrast, Tiger Woods, who is 48 and received a special invitation to play, had a 4-over par 74.

There were co-leaders at 5-under par 65, after 18 holes, Rory McIlroy, who has won four majors, and Patrick Cantlay, who hasn’t won any.

Rory has been in the news the last month for something other than the way he hits his tee shots, which are always long and occasionally straight.

A month ago, immediately after the PGA Championship, McIlroy, 35, filed for divorce from his wife, Erica. Then practically, as condolences were offered, he announced he had changed his mind. How would all this affect his game at the U.S. Open? We found out quickly enough.

Cantlay grew up in southern California and competed at UCLA. He once was the No. 1 amateur in the world rankings, but that was in the past. He is virtually the only American at the top of the board. McIlroy is from Northern Ireland. Ludvig Albeg of Sweden was third at 67. Tied for fourth are Matthieu Pavon — he’s from France — and Bryson DeChambeau. He’s not only an American, he’s from Stockton. He won the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.  

The guy everyone has been favoring, the guy who is first in the world rankings, Scottie Scheffler shot a one-over 71. It was his 1st over-par opening round in a major since the 2022 PGA Championship.

He had played only 21 holes the entire season when he was over par in a tournament.  But this is The Open, and this is Pinehurst. Odd things take place.