OK, Really, 10 Final Final Thoughts on the PGA

Edition No. 86 | May 24, 2024

Hey,

Last night, final day of vacation, I had a dream that Jordan Spieth walked up to me on a tee box at some event and asked me if I’d ever read the Normal Sport newsletter. Very normal stuff.

Here are an additional few thoughts I’ve been thinking to go with the seven I dropped on Tuesday.

Thank you, as always, for reading.

1. On Valhalla: I’m not steep enough on architecture or setup to have an opinion that is going to supersede what you’ll hear from Andy or Shackelford or the NLU boys so I usually defer to them on stuff like this. In person, it was fine. Just fine. A big, brawny, bruising ballpark that felt swampy and hot and heavy and a little manufactured.

I guess I don’t get super worked up about the course because, though I intellectually understand that good courses produce separation at the top of the leaderboard, every once in a while, I’m totally fine with a traffic jam of high-end sports cars. I don’t need it at every major – and I was probably more frustrated with, say, Torrey in 2021 when Rahm won – than this course, but it’s certainly dramatic and fun and electric on Sunday even if it doesn’t always identify the greatest champion.

We talk all the time about how randomness in links courses is fine and that players should just deal with the breaks. Sometimes that’s how I feel about championships at golf courses like this one. It feels like there’s a bit — not a lot, but a little bit — of randomness to the outcome at times, and I think that’s OK.

2. One thing I thought about a lot on Sunday as the tournament wound down is that there is nothing quite like the silence of a major championship ending. The murmur-murmur-murmur sound of 5,000 people surrounding a green and a fairway followed immediately by total disbelief that that many people could immediately engage in that level of silence.

A noiseless arena in which the air seems almost thick because of how quiet it is. And then an absolute explosion when a long putt is made or the high king of content does something that delights. Nothing like it. Greatest job.

3. This isn’t really directed at any one in particular, but I’m broadly good on swing, short game, putting, whatever coaches basking in the glory of a player’s major success. Honestly, that’s probably unfair to many of them given how much work they put in alongside a player, but it just sometimes gets under my skin. Not even totally sure why.

4. Did you ever think the kid in the newsies paperboy cap would possess the best and most electric celebrations in the game? Don’t lie. You did not.

My favorite was the encore pump on Sunday following the starfish after 4 at the last. He gave one final roar as he skipped up the hill. Why am I into Bryson?

His entire 16th hole was also electricity. The pulled drive on probably 195 ball speed followed by the kick and his bent over “be good” look at the green as he approached.

The crowd up by the green came undone when it landed, and it felt in those lingering minutes like Bryson was going to be a two-time major champion.

5. It didn’t get celebrated like it could have because he was never really in contention, but it felt like a week in which JT matured more than most stars mature in normal major weeks.

It started two weeks ago when he was given the keys to the city or something tantamount to that and he completely broke down.

I don’t know if shocking is the right word, but I was surprised to see JT let it go like that. It’s not something we’ve seen from him very often, and it’s not an easy thing to do in public, to allow yourself to feel what he was feeling.

It happened again on Sunday when he finished up and broke down. I think JT has often displayed more characteristics of an only child than, say, Rory, and it’s fun to see some of that broken down by a specific type of gratitude that can only be brought about by reflection.

A great week for him even if he didn’t win.

6. Who is more must-see TV: Tiger Woods at the 2000 majors or Johnson Wagner on Live From?

I can’t help but think that Golf Channel sort of stumbled into this bit after everyone went wild when Wagner started throwing golf balls at the side of the hill at TPC Sawgrass, and now it’s become one of the most thrilling part of every big golf day.

Here’s the thing: I’m dubious if you sat down in a big meeting room and pitched this, anybody in a suit would have said, “Yes, great idea!”

It feels like they just sort of fell into it by accident, which is an encouragement to try stuff, even (maybe especially) the ridiculous stuff and see what happens.

Also, not shocking advice from somebody writing a newsletter about pool noodles and on course amphibians and starfish celebrations.

7. Legacies tilt on literal millimeters.

That’s part of the thrill.

That’s why it’s a drug.

8. Bryson will say almost literally anything, which makes me long for his contention because we get quotes like these. He’s like Phil if Phil wasn’t also halfway in on the bit.

“Didn't strike it my best all week. Felt like I had my ‘B’ game pretty much. My putting was A+, my wedging was A+, short game was A+, driving was like B. You know, shot 20-under par in a major championship.”

Literally the lowest score ever shot at the major championships — which began before the Civil War started — until the guy two pairings behind him finished up B game!

And then.

“Well, the speeds at I guess my level or Jake Knapp's or a few other bombers out there have not really been tested. If we are all being honest, if everybody is being honest, it's not truly been tested on a robot, nor can it be. And then FEA models only go so far; so it's kind of a journey. FEA is finite element analysis -- or finite element modeling -- element analysis modeling, sorry.

“It's only as good as the inputs you give it, and it's just a model in the computer. There's not enough information known right now, but I'm willing to go down that path and figure it out.”

When he starts a quote with “if we are all being honest” or “we’re just beginning to understand” you know you’re about to get the goods.

9. Wins change already-accomplished feats, don’t they. How differently do we view this now?

Because he’s now won one, it flips all those Xander top 10s from “can’t win the big one” to “look how much he’s in contention.” A true SG at majors better than Rory and Rahm is wild.

10. For most of the back nine on Sunday, I thought it was going to be Viktor. Golf is stupid and outrageous. Look at these screenshots Golf Channel pulled from the last two months. Not two years … two months!

Complete and total lost boy, and he was a couple of putts from winning a major championship last week.

The lesson: We generally know what we’re getting, but the delight of sports (and particularly golf) is that — as Scottie’s arrest, Viktor contending, Xander closing and Bryson galvanizing the entire Valhalla property — sometimes we know, and I cannot stress this last part enough, nothing.

Thank you for reading until the end.

You are a sicko, and I’m grateful for it.

Long live the $80 pants.