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.

The NBA logo, Jerry West, left his mark

That Jerry West left a mark on the NBA was more than a cliché. His silhouette, a depiction of him dribbling, became the inspiration for the logo of the league. Or if you choose, the Association.

Could there be a better affirmation of what he meant to the game in general and to the Los Angeles Lakers in particular?

Dribble. Shoot. Rebound. There was nothing West couldn’t do on the court. It was written he wasn’t so much a point guard as a guard who got points. 

West died Tuesday, it was announced. He was 86. He not only had the perfect game, but history will show that in the history of pro basketball, the relocation, the perfect name: West.

That’s where America was going. That’s where sports was going. The Giants and Dodgers moved to California in 1958. In 1962 the Philadelphia Warriors, with Wilt Chamberlain, would leave for San Francisco. The Minneapolis Lakers did it before the 1960 season. They had a star named Elgin Baylor. In the April 1960 draft, they grabbed Jerry West. 

Both were familiar to the Bay Area. Elgin took over the 1958 NCAA’s at the Cow Palace.  Another year in 1959, Cal defeated the Big O and Cincinnati in the semifinals, and West and West Virginia in the final 71-70.

 Exciting times for pro hoops, for a then-young sports writer. Jerry West was born in 1938; so was the Big O, Oscar Robertson. So was a kid journalist who was getting his feet wet and his bylines occasionally published in the late, not-so-great, Santa Monica Evening Outlook.

Jerry was a rookie, as was I. There was camaraderie. There was understanding. 

It was the first of numerous near-misses for Jerry. He once came back from a long road trip to score 60 points—  the 3-point basket had yet to be introduced. But in the playoffs, he was without luck. And the Lakers kept running and shooting into Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics. Disappointment after disappointment in LA. Eight trips to the finals without a win.      

Not until the marvelous Laker team that won 33 in a row in 1972 row did he at last reach the summit.

West was from Cheylan, W.V., a town not far from a burg named Cabin Creek. Thus did Baylor, obsessed with nicknames, labeled Jerry, “Zeek from Cabin Creek.”

The Warriors who would have loved to have West as a player — who wouldn’t —  were blessed with his advice when he went to work briefly as a consultant. But in time he was gone. Jerry worked on his golf game — as you might imagine — he was very efficient and kept busy in other ways.

A month ago, we lost Bill Walton. Now the great Jerry West. Sadness all around.

An NBA finals and no Warriors or Lakers?

You mean they’re holding the NBA finals and there’s no team called the Warriors or the Lakers? The next thing you’ll tell me is the U.S. beat Pakistan. In cricket.

Yes, I’m still paying attention to the NBA. It’s a way of life. The Celtics used to own the NBA. That was when they had a coach who smoked cigars, arrogantly it must be added, after all those victories. 

Boston has 17 NBA titles, and after Thursday night’s 107-99 rout of the incorrectly favored Dallas Mavericks in the opener of these finals most likely will make it 18.

The Lakers also have 17, which, when combined with the Celtics’ total perhaps makes the Warriors boast of seven in the heading of their promotional emails, a bit unnecessary. Then again Golden State has done more than anyone else in the last 10 years or so. 

That includes the current Celtics, of whom the “Pardon the Interruption” talk show co-host Tony Kornheiser a couple of days ago, referring to Boston’s supposed abundance of stars “If they could win, they’d be the Warriors.”

He meant the Warriors of 2015-22, the team that set a record for victories and spoiled the fans in Northern Cal. 

As we’re too aware, however, nothing stays the same. Teams keep searching for what they used to have, all the while understanding life has changed.

The Lakers, most notably are trying to reclaim their success, desperately again seeking a new coach. Wednesday ESPN said it was going to be J.J. Reddick. Thursday the would-be choice had been revised to Dan Hurley, who has led Connecticut to consecutive NCAA championships.

No question Hurley knows what he is doing, but as anyone understands there’s a difference between college, where the coach is the boss, and the pros, where the superstar calls the shots, which may be under the rim or beyond the 3-point arc.

The guy who makes the ultimate decisions for the Lakers is their icon — and arguably, the greatest. No matter what else, LeBron must be kept happy and healthy, in no particular order. Of course, LeBron is 39, and even in this new era of sports, that’s getting long in years.   

Steph Curry, around whom the Warriors are built is 36 and obviously showing the effects of his age and his length of service.  

Then maybe the Warriors or the Lakers will find a gem in the draft. But the way things usually go, the best end up being picked by the worst. Both the Warriors and Lakers are in the middle of mediocrity.

That doesn’t present the opportunity to choose players who can get you back to the NBA finals. that I comprehend. 

Just don’t ask how the US can defeat Pakistan in cricket.

Djokovic is quite respectable — and No. 1

Mark Twain told us politicians, old buildings and prostitutes become respectable with age. Dare we add veteran tennis players?

A better term might be beloved. Like Roger and Rafa and maybe Andy Murray were. And Djokovic now seems to be. Yes, those were chants of “Novak,  Novak” tumbling onto the clay court. Djokovic’s right knee was aching. His previous match didn’t finish until 3:06 a.m. Sunday. Monday afternoon he was a set and a breakdown against the 25-year-old Argentine, Francesco Cerundolo. 

But you don’t become No. 1 in the world because you are timid. Never mind the forehands and backhands. This became a matter of heart, something of which the Serb has plenty of. And in 4 hours 39 minutes, Djokovic was a 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 winner. Just barely, but when you’re great, as we can describe Djokovic, just barely is enough.

“I maybe was two or three points away from losing this match,” he said. 

But he didn’t lose. Even though twice during the second set the medical staff came out to massage the sore knee.  

In basketball, football, and baseball those two or three points seem more like 10 points or 200 when the edge belongs to a champion. He or she finds a way as did the Warriors in their glory years.   

Who knows how much more Novak has in him? Time is the ultimate opponent. You keep getting older, and the people think you are done. If he couldn’t get out of the first round of the French Open tournament he couldn’t win he has no chance at the other Slams.

Serena Williams departed. So did Federer. Djokovic battles on, gaining popularity as he works to pick up victories. 

Tennis and golf are sports without a home team. Both need names, recognizable figures, and stars large enough and bright enough to make even the non-fan turn on the TV set.

Djokovic has gone through a great deal and along the way put tennis through a great deal — refusing to be vaccinated, bounced from Australia — still it was out of the country, but he never was out of the news.

With the win Monday, Djokovic broke a tie with Federer for the most match wins at a major, now 370 — not exactly a surprise when you have the most Slams.

He is supposed to meet No. 7 seed Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Ruud, who eliminated No. 12 Taylor Fritz of the U.S. and southern California, in four sets Monday, lost to Djokovic in the French Open final last year and to Rafael Nadal in the 2022 title match.

“How did I find a way to win again?” 

Djokovic asked nobody in particular — but in effect the entire tennis world.

“I don’t know.”

Truth be told, he knows. We know. When he steps on a court he’s there for one purpose. To stay where he resides, at the top. Whether he’s popular or not, and without question at last he is.

Walton was one shot short of perfection

Jerry Norman was the lead assistant coach and chief recruiter under John Wooden, whose office door usually was open. One day, as the legend goes, Norman walked in and told Wooden he had seen one of the top players ever.

“But Jerry, we have Lew Alcindor,” said Wooden, referring to the man who had not yet changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Norman said, ”This guy could be better.”

Wooden said’ “Close the door.”

Maybe secrecy wasn’t required in recruiting Bill Walton to UCLA. He had grown up in the San Diego suburb of La Mesa, 120 miles south; as a kid he heard games on radio and had an older brother, Bruce, playing football at UCLA.

The story emerged with the announcement Monday that Walton, who met every expectation of basketball greatness and more, had died at age 71 after a long battle with cancer.

It may be an exaggeration to say Walton was one of a kind, but he definitely was unique, a star athlete — unquestionably one of the finest basketball players in history — who seemed as interested as those who watched the games as those who played them.

He was a person of his time, able to find a reason to open a discussion as well as find the open man. He took as much delight in passing the ball as shooting it.

Yes, as Walton, I’m a Bruin, but there are numerous reasons I grew to admire him — after first regretting I ever would have to deal with him as a journalist. 

He was never a difficult interview as Kareem in the Milwaukee days, but it was still tough. Walton would remain in the post-game shower seemingly until the water level dropped.

Maybe because he had a speech impediment and felt uncomfortable talking to people with microphones or notepads. But once he overcame that limitation, Walton was a gift. He would speak and talk about everything from defense on court to bike trips over the mountains. He was innately curious and became unhesitantly loquacious — as those who listened to his commentary for ESPN on college hoops would verify.

You wonder if the players of the 21st century, the ones who know him now for his observations, even have a clue how good, how efficient, how effective Walton was as a player. How he made 21 field goals in 22 attempts in an NCAA final, and how his Bruin teams won 88 games in a row, still a record.

As many big men, Walton was cursed with bone problems undergoing one surgical procedure on his feet after another. He wore sneakers out of necessity.  

He was a West Coast guy in philosophy as much as geography, and rued the dissolution of the Pac-12 Conference. 

Bill Walton was opinionated. Bill Walton was talented. That combination was enlightening and entertaining. And many NCAA tournaments ago, he was one basket short of perfection.

Valhalla drama ends with Schauffele finally winning a major

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —  It seemed less a sporting competition than a Hitchcockian drama, with police involvement, unpredictable weather, and an ending as thrilling as anyone could wish.

The 106th PGA Championship, on a course named for a resting place for mythological Norse warriors, gave us a battle that went down to the wire. Which is perfect in a city best known for horse racing. 

The guy who won it, Xander Schauffle, wasn’t exactly a long shot, but in years of trying he never had finished better than second in a major championship. Until Sunday.

Schauffele had been in the lead or tied for the lead since he shot a 9-under 62 Thursday at Valhalla Golf Club — well except for a hole during Sunday’s final round when he double-bogeyed the 10th.

That was followed by birdies on 11 and 12. Somehow it was going to be his tournament. And that was inexorably determined when Schauffele drilled in a six-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole which broke a tie with Bryson DeChambeau.

Schauffele shot a 6-under par 65, for a total of 263, which is a ridiculous 21 under and the lowest 36-hole score in history for a major.

Remember that promo about the Tour: “These guys are good”? Truth be told, they’re amazing.

Look, Valhalla is difficult. It has hosted four PGA Championships and a Ryder Cup. Tiger Woods couldn’t even make the cut. And Shauffele shot a 62. And Saturday so did Shane Lowry. You know what happened to Scottie Scheffler, the No.1 ranked player in the world, he got caught in a traffic tie-up while heading to the round on Friday he drove through police barriers, was arrested, and spent a few hours in jail. His Saturday round, understandably, was a disaster. He dropped from fourth to 24th. Oh, but Sunday he was back to his world-ranked self, a 65, and tied for eighth.     

Not that anyone knowledgeable about golf ever would confuse Schauffele (born in California and a San Diego State grad) and Scheffler (who moved to Texas very young and went to the U of Texas) but now Xander has taken a step out of any shadow. He had won the gold medal for golf at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Asked how determined he was to finally become a major champion, “Yeah, I mean, I’ve become very patient not knocking off any wins in the last couple years,” Schauffele said. “The people closest to me know how stubborn I can be. Winning, I said earlier, is a result. This is awesome.  It’s super sweet. But when I break it down, I’m really proud of how I handled certain moments on the course today, different from the past.”

“I really did not want to go into a playoff with Bryson. Going up 18 with his length, it’s not something that I was going to have a whole lot of fun with.”

No playoff was needed. The drama ended the way it should. As scheduled.

For Scottie, a warm-up in jail, a tie for fourth

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Words never expected to be heard from any golfer, much less the No. 1 ranked player in the world.

“I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell. That was a first for me,” said Scheffler. “That was part of my warm-up. I was just sitting there waiting and I started going through my warm-up, I felt like there was a chance I may be able to still come out here and play.”   

Scottie Scheffler played Friday and quite well considering the circumstances. No, exceedingly well no matter the circumstances.   

Two rounds into the 106th PGA Championship, a tournament that may be remembered for much more than the birdies and the bogies, Scheffler, having shot 66, is tied for fourth, three shots behind leader Xander Schauffele.  

Large sporting events in general and golf tournaments, in particular, are settings for crossing roads and fairways, security people caught between order and chaos, misunderstandings and on occasion missteps.

As what happened Friday at Valhalla Golf Club where in the darkness of early morning a concession worker was killed dashing across a thoroughfare, when frantically trying to arrive for work on time, he was hit by a shuttle bus.

An accident. A traffic tie-up,  Rain falling. Impatience growing. Police doing what they’re paid to do, keeping everybody safe. Touring pros unable to do what they’re paid to do, compete.

The word is Scheffler is cool-headed and respectful. A new father. But he couldn’t get around a traffic tie-up just before the entrance to Valhalla Golf Club so he steered his courtesy car, the one with the identifying painted on the side and front, PGA Championship, onto the center median.

Bryan Gillis is a long-time Louisville police detective. He’s usually on other types of assignments but he has worked the Kentucky Derby, where attendance is above 140,000 but the spectators are behind rails and the horses follow a jockey’s instructions.

When Scheffler headed for the practice tee, Gillis ordered Scheffler to stop and when Scheffler didn’t he then grabbed the side of the vehicle.  

Gillis was dragged through the mud and was injured severely enough to need hospital treatment. Scheffler was sent to jail, where while he waited for release in a cell practiced his warm-up exercises.

Scheffler was charged with felony second-degree assault on a police officer, along with lesser charges of third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from officers directing traffic, according to Jefferson County court records.

One of the Louisville politicians, worried that the arrest and jailing would be a large negative for Louisville, suggested the charges be dropped, which probably will happen.

What shouldn’t happen is how this all came to take place.

“I don't really know,” said a contrite Scheffler. “I feel like my head is still spinning. I can't really explain what happened this morning. I was sitting around and waiting. I started going through my routine and I tried to get my heart rate down as much as I could today, but like I said, I still feel like my head is spinning a little bit. But I was fortunate to be able to make it back out and play some golf today.”

Some very good golf, the type a No.1 ought to play. Golf that had people in a few hours selling T-shirts that read “Free Scottie.”

After a 62 at Valhalla, Schauffele says, “It’s just Thursday”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Just Thursday. That was the reminder, the warning, if you will, from the man whose golf was just remarkable.

Just Thursday, but whatever day of the week it was becomes irrelevant after the sort of record round posted by Xander Schauffele, on day one of the PGA Championship.

The old saying echoed for years by golfers of any age is you can’t win a tournament in the first round but you can lose it. For sure Schauffele didn’t lose it.

And he certainly put himself in a beautiful position to win it.

Indeed there are three days remaining in this second major of the year, and the weather, beautiful Thursday, is forecast to turn wet and miserable, and Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka are only miniscule distances behind.

Still, Schauffele shot a 9-under par 62 on that course named for a mythological place of Norse warriors, Valhalla, where former champions include McIlroy and Tiger Woods.

“It’s a great start to a big tournament,” Schauffele said. “One I am obviously going to take. But it’s just Thursday, that’s about it.”

Not quite. Not when a few days ago, last Sunday to be specific, the 30-year-old Schauffele entered the Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow, and was blown away by McIlroy and ended up sighing, “When (Rory’s) on, he’s on. Hats off to him for winning. He played unbelievably well.”

As did Schauffele even though as he pointed out it might have been just Thursday.

The golfers are stronger these days, and more aggressive. The kids grow up watching The Golf Channel and ESPN. And playing in college competitions at places like Pinehurst. Numbers don’t intimidate them… Neither do absurdly long par-fives.

A 62 in a major?  Rickie Fowler did it in last year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club. So did Schauffele.

Asked one of those nonsensical questions about how he would compare the 62’s, Schauffele said, “I don't know. I can't nitpick. I'll take a 62 in any major any day.”

His German-born father, Stefan, was an Olympic decathlon hopeful until a drunken driver crashed into his car which cost him an eye. An aerospace engineer, Stefan settled in the San Diego area where Schauffele was born and grew up. As everyone down there does, he surfed. Under Stefan’s coaching, Xander developed in golf, after high school enrolling at Long Beach State, then transferring to San Diego State.

He took the men’s golf gold medal in the 2016 Tokyo Olympics, yet he’s never finished higher than second in any major. Thus did that 62 at the PGA create possibility. And pressure.   

 “Yeah, I think not winning makes you want to win more, as weird as that is. For me, at least, I react to it, and I want it more and more and more, and it makes me want to work harder and harder and harder.”

A call to the post for a golf major in the Derby city

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The call to the post was being played. Not to announce the horses coming onto the track, but to tell us the luggage was arriving at the carousel.

The Derby may have been run a week and a half ago, but everything in Kentucky seems connected to racing.

Or bourbon, Or basketball. Until this week. When a golf major, the PGA Championship, returns. 

Not that people around here are going to forget the thoroughbreds — “We’ll have the Preakness on TV in the media tent Saturday,” said the golf exec — or college hoops, so help us Adolph Rupp.

He was the taskmaster known as the Baron of the Bluegrass when he coached UK to NCAA titles. It was a few years after the other school, the University of Louisville, began to get its own titles under Denny Crum. They came to appreciate Crum, who, yes, even got involved in horse racing, but Crum was from the south part of California not the south of America, and played under and became an assistant to John Wooden at UCLA.  

He started out by referring to the university and city as “Lewis-ville,” but the public forgave him. As the folks around here tell you it’s “Luville.”

And UK stands for the University of Kentucky, not the United Kingdom, although with the number of trainers and jockeys from England who show up each spring or the Derby, you might be confused.

Apropos of nothing but perhaps pertinent to a great deal, is Brit, Rory McIlroy of Northern  Ireland who along with No. 1-ranked  Scottie Scheffler, is one of the favorites at this 106th PGA at Valhalla Golf Club. 

Rory McIlroy may not know how to say Louisville, but he definitely knows how to play the course, having won the 2014 PGA Championship by a stroke over Phil Mi Mickelson, who indeed is here. As you are aware, McIlroy, in a bravura performance, won the Wells Fargo Championship last Sunday at Quail Hollow in Charlotte.

As you may not be aware, although news of a social nature travels like wildfire, McIlroy almost simultaneously filed for divorce from his wife of seven years, Erica. Strange timing some might say, but seemingly the split will not affect Rory as he seeks success. And no smart-aleck remarks that getting out of a bunker should be no problem after getting out of a marriage.

Rory will be ready. No question. We heard the call to the post, albeit for a few suitcases. Now for the golfers, the flag is up.

At a Valhalla PGA, memories of Tiger making history

LOUISVILLE,  KY. —  This is bluegrass country. The way the rain has been falling it’s wet grass country. They’re playing another PGA Championship here at Valhalla, a place named for the great hall in  Norse mythology where the souls of heroes slain in battle went.

Which has nothing to do with saving par but certainly captures one’s attention.

In a few days, we’ll be concentrating on who is able to capture the tournament, and yes as expected the favorites are Scottie Scheffler, first in the world rankings, and McIlroy, first in last weekend’s Wells Fargo event.

But now we deal once more with someone who also was No. 1 in the world, who also won the Wells Fargo and no less won the PGA Championship right here on the wet Kentucky bluegrass, Tiger Woods. 

Yes, golf can be slow. Or can be boring, but golf may be the only sport where yesterday’s legends go on playing. What else are they going to do? Retire and play golf for fun? Might as well do it for millions. 

Not that Tiger, after winning 82 PGA Tour tournaments, needs the money. His contract with Nike was dissolved. He now has his own clothing line, Sun Day Red. Clever, huh?

What Tiger needs is the competition. And companionship, camaraderie, the laughter, the satisfaction. His thoughts, “I still can hit the thing.” And he can, if at age 48, after the surgeries, not as he once could.

But while we wait for the names to be posted on the leaderboard, cognizant when the 106th concludes Sunday evening, let’s listen to Tiger’s comments in the media tent Tuesday. 

Indeed he’s entered this time. Former PGA champions have lifetime invitations  Yet, his past is what’s important, rather than the future. Woods won the PGA Championship four times, one fewer than the remarkable Walter Hagen, who won it in the 1920s  when it was at match play.

Of Tiger’s four, perhaps the most memorable, was at Valhalla in 2000 — the third of his four major victories that year.  He was locked into the closing holes with Bob May, who had faced Tiger in southern California when they were amateurs. The PGA Championship was in August, in the suburbs of Louisville while the weather was hot.

“I just remember the pressure that I felt, the chance, an opportunity to do something that Ben Hogan did in 1953. The summer was a whirlwind,” said Woods. “I was playing well, then coming into this event, being able to play with Jack (Nicklaus) in his last PGA championship. Jack played with Gene Sarazen in his last PGA. Just the connection with all that.”

Woods and May tied at the end of 72 holes, and Tiger won a 3-hole playoff. History had been achieved. He had three majors.

For the Warriors, draft workouts and new hope

The Warriors are conducting pre-draft workouts. Why not? You have to think of the future in sports, even when reality dictates it never will equal the past.

Another Steph Curry or Klay Thompson? They should be so lucky, and yes despite all the research and planning, luck plays a huge role.

A team has to be in the right place — meaning the bottom or close to it — at the right time. And then get the right break, picking high in the draft lottery or, going back in time, 1969, calling a coin flip correctly.

Which Phoenix that year did not. So Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — at the time, still known as Lew Alcindor — went to Milwaukee. The Suns ended up with No. 2, Neal Walk, who was not Abdul-Jabbar. Not even close.  

You have to have talent. But it must be the proper talent. The current Suns seemingly had a veritable all-star team on the roster. But they were swept in the first round of the playoffs. And 

11 days later, Thursday, head coach Frank Vogel lost his job, the modern-day equivalent of losing your head in ancient Rome.

Lucius Quinctius never should have sent in that lineup to face the Lions. Or, relating to the sport at hand, the Timberwolves.  

The 2020 NBA draft four summers ago, the one the Warriors owned the No. 2 pick, which turned out to be James Wiseman. The first choice was Anthony Edwards.

And so are sporting dynasties built or left unconstructed.

Edwards has done everything expected, leading Minnesota to two road victories over the defending league-champion Denver Nuggets. Wiseman offered potential, they tell us, and early on scored and rebounded the way a 7-footer should. For a while — a brief while.

Then came an injury. Whether Wiseman recovered is arguable, but the Warriors didn’t. They traded him to Detroit and in one of those convoluted transactions ended up with Gary Payton II, who was an integral part of an NBA title.

It’s probably unfair to label Wiseman as a bust. After all, he only had a short spell learning the game at Memphis before going pro.

The draft is what keeps the games competitive and the fan base believing. Nobody contemplates earning a high choice. That’s a definition the previous season was terrible — however, maybe a Victor Wembanyama is waiting up ahead.

Better to dream than regret.

Are the Athletics once again the Amazing A’s?

The Amazing A’s, what the Oakland Athletics were called in the 1980s, when they were winning World Series championships in rapid order.

Yet, in a way, the A’s of 2024 seemed no less amazing. Until the last few days, when the Texas Rangers and reality ganged up to ruin a good story and perhaps a good record.

Baseball is a sport of relative balance. The best team still loses 60 times. The worst team still wins 60 times. Unless it is the Athletics of 2023, who had a jarring 50-112 mark. 

Hapless. Hopeless. But not surprising. 

In baseball, just as with autos and wine, you get what you pay for. Want a Mercedes or a bottle of Domaine Romanee Conti? It’s going to cost you. The same goes for players such as Shohei Ohtani or Bryce Harper. What management was paying for was a lot of players who weren’t ready for the bigs (and might never be).

That was last year. And the year before. Now the roster is respectable, and the A’s play has been even more so. They had a six-game win streak. Which would also be a tenth of the victory total the previous year.

So we were only a month into the schedule? Don’t rain on our parade. Enjoy the present. A’s manager Mark Kotsay deserves a smile or two. It’s not his fault he doesn’t have the same people as the Yankees.

As we know, the A’s are based somewhere between the devil and the deep blue Lake Mead.  Talk about instability. They’re called the Oakland A’s, someday they will be moving up Interstate 80 to Sacramento and then, sadly, pulling up stakes and settling down forever in Las Vegas.

That’s the current plan arranged by people who have no heart and less compassion for the maligned folks in Alameda County.

Small wonder attendance for the A’s-Rangers game Monday night at — oh yeah, Oakland — was announced at 3,965. Tell the fans you’re high-tailing it to another town or another state and they’ll be no-shows. Then again, Monday night has never been worth much for baseball by the Bay. When the Giants were at old, cold Candlestick, they had numerous crowds under 10,000. 

But the issue here is not who goes to the ballpark (or doesn’t go) but rather how the home club again, the Athletics, is doing on the field.

Better than most of us believe — hey, a six-game win streak would make most teams envious — and some way to keep people interested. 

The Athletics should escape the ignominy of being the worst team in baseball. One small step for man is one amazing move for the A’s.

The U.S. Open invites Tiger; as it should have

The United States Golf Association offered Tiger Woods an exemption into the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. Anyone have a problem with that?  

I don’t.  

And one assumes NBC-TV, which has the contract to televise the tournament, doesn’t either.

Sports are about entertainment as much as they are about competition.  And in the individual games, golf, tennis, it’s the stars, the names, who bring us to the course or the courts, or the TV screen.

Four majors in golf, all of which have been won by Woods, and three, the Masters, PGA Championship and Open Championship, or British Open, give the winner a lifetime invite. You did something special, and you’ll be rewarded in a special way.

Unless it’s America’s national championship, the U.S. Open. Thanks, but in a few years you’ve got to qualify with the other guys, and don’t let the trophy get tarnished.  

Woods is not going to win. Not at age 48, with that beat-up body. He probably won’t make the cut. But as long as he’s able and willing, get him and the other former champions into the field as they do at Augusta or will do at Troon, in Scotland, where the Open is scheduled, or Valhalla, the site of the PGA Championship in May.

Golf is the forever game, with 25-year-olds challenging for the honors achieved by an older generation. Someone we barely know teeing off in the same group with someone already famous. Or about to be. 

No, you didn’t want to turn it into an invitational, but how come the British Open, the oldest event of them all, can find room for its former champions, and except for rare exemptions, such as this — and the U.S. Open can’t?

Woods seemed as excited about getting one more chance to play an Open as anyone.

He’s won three Opens, the last, in 2008 at Torrey Pines, when, with a leg so painful he grimaced on every shot, Woods beat Rocco Mediate, in a playoff that went 19 holes.

“This U.S. Open, our national championship, is a truly special event for our game, one that has helped define my career," Woods said in a statement. "I'm honored to receive this exemption and could not be more excited for the opportunity to compete in this year's U.S. Open, especially at Pinehurst, a venue that means so much to the game.”

Tiger himself did so much for the game. He brought in a different audience, which included various ethnic groups so long unaccepted in the game, and which also helped turn him into an attraction that before his time would have seemed unimaginable.

The U.S.G.A. did right by Tiger Woods and golf. It will be good to see him in The Open no matter how well he does play.

No LeBron, no Steph — is that what the NBA needs?

The old Hollywood execs figured it out practically from the day movies first hit the silver screen: The story didn’t matter as much as the people who were in it. Entertainment is not so much a business of plots as of personalities. Stars. Yes, Shakespeare is special, but did you want to see Lady McBeth or Lady Gaga?

The same is true in sports. As the TV people are aware.

A few days ago, before the post-season started, one of the announcers at ESPN said he wanted Steph Curry and LeBron James in the Western Conference playoffs.

Of course, because that’s what the viewing audience wanted to see. The player called one of the greatest of all time, still dominant at age 39, and the best long-distance shooter in history. You didn’t need to care about the Lakers or Warriors, not that being a fan of either team wouldn’t have hurt. All you really needed to be was a fan of basketball.  

Well, Curry — or more correctly his team, the Golden State Warriors — failed to advance to the postseason. And now, after playing only five games, the Lakers and LeBron are done.

Two favorites finished. 

The old guard — and old forward — about to depart. For now. And possibly how LeBron responds to the question on whether he’s played his last game for the Lakers, forever.

Change is inevitable in sports, as everywhere, yet it seems so much more personal and painful when the change is to the athletes we follow.

The NFL just had its player draft, selecting the new who will replace the old. In the summer the NBA will have its own draft. That doesn’t mean we have to replace them in our hearts.

The NBA West once belonged to Kobe Bryant of the Lakers. Then it became the property of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Now it has been usurped by Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. 

Hard to believe? Not really. 

Hard to accept? Only if you tend to live in the past, recent or distant.

We miss Kobe. We’ll miss Steph and LeBron. Time moves on as the memorable athletes slow down.

Up in Northern California, where we’ve waited and watched, and if you will, suffered the power and championships that went to the Lakers during the Magic, Kareem and Worthy years, we’re prepared for the worst.

But down in L.A., the future is being approached with particular gloom. 

“For the 13th time in 14 seasons, the Lakers have fallen far short in their bid to pile on another NBA championship, and, man, is this getting old,” wrote columnist Bill Plaschke in the Los Angeles Times. “Scream. Sigh. Get used to it.”

In the continuing world of sport it’s hard to get used to anything except nothing and no one stays the same.

On his 100th birthday, Schallock is still a (Hollywood) Star

Art Schallock roomed with Yogi Berra, faced Duke Snider in the World Series, and, perhaps most noteworthy of anything, on Thursday turned 100.

And, oh yeah, I saw him pitch.      

Not for the New York Yankees, for whom he was a contribution to those championships in the 1950s, but for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League.

Which admittedly also makes me old, if not quite as old as Schallock, who even before this momentous birthday was the oldest living former major leaguer.

Schallock was a little lefthander, but at 5-foot-9, he was still a couple of inches taller than the legendary Bobby Shantz. His story has been told in newspapers, The Athletic, and quite impressively a few days ago by Vernon Glenn of San Francisco’s KPIX TV station, who tracked down Schallock to his residence in Sonoma.

Schallock was born in Marin, was a star at Tamalpais High and hoped to join the San Francisco Seals of the PCL. The majors had not yet moved west of St. Louis.

What he joined after the attack on Pearl Harbor was the Navy, where based on an aircraft carrier he saw combat. When the war was over he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, who sent him to one of the Seals’ PCL rivals.

The Hollywood Stars played home games in a classic minor league park, all wood single deck, where CBS television city now is located in West L.A.

For a kid in junior high, it was a great place, easy to get autographs, people such as Bernier, Chuck Stevens, Frankie Kelleher, manager Fred Haney — and Schallock. 

He asked my name. “Same as yours,” I told him.  

For a player working his way back after not even throwing a baseball for years, it was a time of joy and a time of doubt.

The other PCL park in LA, Wrigley Field, where the Angels, PCL and briefly, in 1961, the major league played, was more elegant and double-decked. Not that it mattered, but it mattered to me.

The era was different. Salaries were minuscule compared to now — but, of course, a new car was only $1,500. Ballplayers held off-season jobs to support their families.

The Dodgers traded Schallock to the Yankees, who brought him up, making room on the roster by sending down a young outfielder named Mickey Mantle. After three years he was claimed off of waivers by the Baltimore Orioles.

A hell of a career. 

In the TV interview on, Schallock wore a Yankees hat. Understandable, but I’ll always remember him with the Hollywood Stars.

Warriors season is gone; does Klay stay or go?

Klay Thompson was upset. Not because he had missed every one of his field goal attempts — and surely that contributed to his discontent. But about the question posed to him this morning after, the one about his future, which at that moment seemed the only proper question to be asked. 

Of course when you went 0-for-10, and your team, the proud and until now eminently successful Golden State Warriors, would fail to qualify for the playoffs — ending a streak at 13 straight seasons — the question may not have seemed so proper.

“You don’t want to talk about the season first?” Thompson said, answering a question with a question of his own. “You want to talk about the future?”

Indeed. 

It does little good to discuss what has happened, other than in certain instances as a bit of self-satisfaction. Once a game is finished, a season complete, unless you’re stepping away, the issue is what will happen.  

The Warriors were the NBA’s best. No more. Their roster has become a blend of memories and possibilities.

The embarrassment of Tuesday night's play-in game, with the Sacramento Kings defeating the Warriors 114-98, may have been less of a disappointment and more of a revelation. Yes, Steph Curry still has his wits and his 3-pointers, Draymond Green is a defensive whiz and team leader, and Klay’s offense is invaluable — as his lack of scoring against the Kings made only too clear.

But the Warriors were out-muscled and out-hustled, pushed around as much symbolically as physically. They basically never had a chance. Except to show how much they lack.

Sport more than anything else makes us aware of the passing of time. The cliche that nothing and no one lasts forever is all too apparent on our courts and fields, diamonds and gridirons. The pieces are out there, and sometimes they fit perfectly — for a while. But it can’t last.

Veteran fans understand. Organizations are always on the lookout, on the rebuild, drafting, and coaching, but there only was one Michael Jordan, and there only is one Steph Curry.

The New England Patriots defied the odds. They were contenders in the NFL for a decade. Then they were hopeless and Bill Belichick was a nowhere man.

Where Klay Thompson is going to be next season and beyond is the topic of notable consequence. Curry and Draymond are under contract. Thompson is a free agent. 

“I can’t see us playing without him,” said Steph.

What Klay and the Warriors’ management see is what will count. 

“I previously just said about the season we had and how much commitment it takes to play the games we did and give it our all,” said Thompson, “so I really haven’t thought about that deep into the future because I still need to process the year we had and it was one filled with ups and downs, but ultimately, we — I personally and our team did everything we could to try and win as many games as we possibly could.”

He was asked, about living in the future, what were some of the things?

“Good place to be.”

Will that good place still be with the Warriors?

No drama this Masters; Scheffler wouldn’t allow it

AUGUSTA, Ga. — It wasn’t dramatic, the final round of the 88th Masters, but it certainly was emphatic. Scottie Scheffler grabbed the tournament by the lapel of its green jacket Sunday and never let go.

While many of the guys chasing him self-destructed with one double bogey after another, Scheffler played like the top-ranked golfer in the world.   

Which he is.

Now he’s also a two-time Masters champion after this overwhelming victory, four shots in front of the surprising Swede, Ludvig Aberg, joining Scheffler’s win of 2022.

“It’s hard to put into words how special this week has been,” added Scheffler. “It’s been a long week, a grind of a week. The golf course was so challenging, and to be sitting here wearing this jacket again and getting to take it home is extremely special.”

There’s an old saying that the Masters doesn’t start until the back nine Sunday. Oh, really? By then it was virtually over. Scheffler, in truth, locked this up with birdies on eight, nine and 10, and went on to shoot a 4-under 68.

Just before that, he had just bogeyed 6 to have his lead cut to a shot. 

“The best momentum turner that I had today was the birdie putt on 8. I hit two really good shots in there long of the green. I had an extremely difficult pitch that I hit up there about 10, 12 feet from the cup. It was a challenging read because it turned early and it was really straight at the end. So it was a putt that you had to really start on line and hope it held its line. I poured that one in.”

That gave him a four-round total of 11-under 277. Aberg, a rookie skilled enough to be chosen for the winning Euro Ryder Cup team, shot 68 for 281. Meanwhile, the Englishman Tommy Fleetwood shot a 69, joined by Cal alums Max Homa (73) and Collin Morikawa (74), all tied for third at 284. 

Last year’s winner, Jon Rahm, never was in it — the last person to repeat was Tiger Woods in 2001-2002. Tiger shot 77 on Sunday.

Scheffler is not yet another Tiger — no one will be — but at 27, he possibly could equal Woods’ five Masters victories in the coming years, one fewer than Jack Nicklaus.

Scheffler already owns one mark — he’s now the only golfer with a beard to win the Masters.

A Masters lead for Scheffler, an 82 for Tiger

AUGUSTA, Ga. — This was the Masters in all its glorious — and agonizing — inconsistency with shots missed and leads lost. Going into the final round, nothing was certain except Tiger Woods had his highest round ever here, a 12-over par 82.

The TV guys love to call Saturday “moving day” at tournaments, but with the way things went if any of the contenders, or Tiger, moved, it was to tears.

The scoreboards spread across the immersive landscape of Augusta National Golf Club had more number changes than at a race track pari-mutuel machine.

A Danish pro you’re probably not familiar with, Niccolai Hojgaard, temporarily grabbed first with birdies at 8, 9 and 10 and then, whoops, dropped out of sight and practically off the board by making bogies at 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15.

Then it was Collin Morikawa, the Cal alum, briefly in front. Finally, at least for moving day, it was the 2022 Masters champion, Scottie Scheffler, shooting a 1-under par 71 and at 7-under 209, ahead of Morikawa, 69-210, while Max Homa, the other Cal guy, had a 73, is at 211.

Hojgaard came in at 74 for 214. A roller coaster ride.

Something Woods wouldn’t have minded, no one expected Tiger to win — other than Tiger at least — but no one, after Tiger rallied with a 72 Friday to make the cut, figured he would play so poorly.

Still, he is 48, and he hasn’t played very much because of the injuries. His body won’t do what he wants it to do, a problem that confronts so many as the years go on.

To his credit and to the delight of his fans, and CBS television, Woods vowed to play Sunday said a few days ago he’s a fighter, and fighters keep fighting

“I wouldn’t necessarily say mental reps. It’s just that I haven’t competed and played much. When I had chances to get it flipped around and when I made that putt at 5, I promptly three-putted 6 and flubbed a chip at 7 and just got it going the wrong way, and when I had the opportunities to flip it, I didn’t.”

Asked if Friday, when he played nearly a round and ½ wore him out physically, Woods said, “Oh, yeah, it did.”

Scheffler is where a younger Tiger used to be, the favorite and No.1 in the world rankings. He knows the tournament and knows how to succeed.

“I think I have a better understanding of what morning is like (Sunday), I’m proud of how I played today. It was a good fight out there.”

One Scheffler seems prepared to win. One Tiger was destined to lose.