Issue No. 104 | August 21, 2024

Hey,

I have alluded to this a bit in recent weeks, but it has been such a good experience to move some of my time spent on Twitter to time spent working on this newsletter.

Twitter = people who may hate follow me making bad faith arguments in my mentions about the future of the Fireballs farm system.

Newsletter = people who are willingly choosing to enter into sicko world on a weekly basis, and though they may (and should!) disagree with some of the takes, they at least respect where I’m coming from.

Wonder where I’m going to spend more time?

Onto the news.

A Couple of Things I Loved

1. I was reading through some old Xander transcripts this week for a piece I wrote for CBS Sports, and I came across a great quote in reference to something Scottie said about him.

Of all the concepts I’ve stumbled into in pro golf, this is one that confounds me the most: Can a steady, even-keeled guy actually win at that level, or do you need some fundamental understanding of the rhythms of a golf tournament and an emotional tank that’s full enough to seize it?

The poster boy for this has always been Rickie. Never loses his cool! Steady as they come! Doesn’t get too high or too low! It all sounds great until you’re down two with five to go and you have to have a sense of the moment.

The answer — as with most things in life — is that it’s probably both. You do need to be emotionally and mentally steadfast, but you also need to be able to summon the dog when it’s time to summon the dog.

The fist pumping and screaming is mostly window dressing, and if it’s not who you are then you can’t (and shouldn’t) fake it. But it’s also the easiest way for us as fans to tell if you have the emotional IQ to win at a high level. Some people like Xander, it seems, have it but don’t show it. I think you could also make this argument for Rickie, by the way, who once played the last six holes at TPC Sawgrass in 6 under to get into a playoff, which he won with two birdies on the 17th. Somehow, all of that gets swept under the rug when we’re talking about his career.

Regardless, this is a topic I think about constantly and I’m sure will continue to confuse and frustrate me.

2. I only caught the very end of the U.S. Amateur, but if styles make fights then gravity makes golf championships, and it all came crashing down on Jose Luis Ballester on Sunday afternoon when he realized he had become the first Spaniard to win the U.S. Am.

After a seemingly stoic week at Hazeltine, Ballester wept on the shoulder of everyone he looked at. I love seeing that gravity.

It’s not always the biggest and most important events or the ones with the most money at stake. In fact, it might rarely be those things. It’s the ones that hit the hardest given the context of player, career and moment: Lydia at the Olympics to get in the Hall, Dunlap at the AmEx to launch a career, JLB at the Am to fulfill a dream.

The best events should be ranked by how many people cry in the aftermath.

Normal Sport

1. I’m not totally sure why, but this made me laugh so much. Maybe it’s the thought of Kuchar getting a red jacket for his T12 at the Wyndham or the idea of Kuch dropping some obscene language in a CFB locker room OR the idea of his name being Eddie Kuchar and not Matt .., but the entire thing just got me.

2. This is a bit of an underrated one that I don’t think about too often. But how weird would it be if Steph Curry was getting buckets in your driveway? And yet, when Rory or (more likely) Spieth is trying to bend one around your walnut tree, it’s like, “Well … yeah. Also, probably should have just pitched out.”

Data Golf Corner

I mentioned this in my piece for CBS Sports on Xander, but it’s pretty crazy that two of the three best individual seasons of the last 15 years are happening right now.

Here’s the strokes gained list by year (not season).

Couple of notes.

• The non-2024 years went through December so Xander and Scottie still have some work to do to keep these up (or to move further ahead).

• Tiger being on there twice and Rahm, Brooks, Morikawa etc. not being on there at all is pretty amusing.

• Rory: So good for so long.

• Tiger putting up the same number in back to back years is wild.

• I’ve been yelling it from the mountaintops, but this two-year run from Scottie is more special than it seems. Never happens. But now has happened two years in a row.

• If your reaction is “Well of course they’re having great years with everybody over at LIV now,” here’s what the Data Golf folks said to that:

1. SG is adjusted so even if the fields did get weaker, that’s accounted for.

2. Despite some guys leaving, the average field that the top Tour guys played against this year isn't weaker than past years. See here.

Idea of the Week

I definitely don’t want to vote every week, but I do want this, and I would want it to be public. Would be tremendous.

Take of the Week

I got a reader email proposing the following global slate.

It’s lengthy, wonky and probably not for the non-sicko.

It’s kind of amazing (although I’d likely say the same about any similar proposal), however my qualms include …

1. Too many events -- I want a "here's your 20 game schedule, go play it" schedule.

2. I would like the Open to end the golf season. If you want to start the season in November or December and travel east around the world over the next nine months before ending in July in Scotland, I love that. That's essentially what is proposed but with a start in January instead of November.

There are so many ways to do this. SO many. But I don't think the folks sitting at the table will take advantage of this specific moment. And to be honest, there are probably good business (TV) reasons to not move a global tour around like F1.

The thing I would be fascinated in is total global TV contracts for F1 vs. audience size and then compare it to total global TV contracts for golf vs. audience size. I presume golf is higher, but you start to add up some of that international TV money in F1, and maybe it's not?

That would be a huge tell on whether or not something like this makes sense from a business standpoint because I think with the right marketing — and LIV has proved this a bit — going global can definitely work from an in-person, on-site perspective. But as we all know, the real profit is in the TV deals.

Rock the Vote

We put up this poll last week about whose major championship medal count (of the ones listed here) made you think most differently about the player.

First, here’s the table.

And now how our readers voted (I was limited on how many players I could include, so I only did those with 12+ total medals).

The results.

Gold: Jack
Silver (fittingly): Phil
Bronze: Big Ern

Phil finishing second in this poll is so on brand it’s almost comical. He’s up there for me, too, though. Extraordinary career that has probably been a bit underrated. He was the forerunner to what Rory is currently doing. To be that good for that long … it just doesn’t happen.

Does that make him the third best golfer ever like some were suggesting? No. But Phil has 11 medals at age 39 or later, including three golds (2010 Masters, 2013 Open and 2021 PGA). He nearly won the slam after turning 39. 

Other golfers that are currently 39: Webb Simpson, Charl Schwartzel, Martin Kaymer. Imagine one of them winning three more majors at this point!

The only player who has more golds and silvers than Jack has silvers is Tiger. That is completely insane.

A question I’m asking: Is Rory going to have Ernie’s career, Arnie’s career or Phil’s career?

Here are some of the comments we got.

• “Honestly did not realize Ernie won FOUR majors, granted I was under the age of 10 for all but his last one. And 15 total medals is 8th most on that list! Would Ernie ever come to mind if you asked me to name the top 10 all time? Almost certainly not. Should he? Perhaps.”

• “I assumed Tiger and Jack were fairly close when it came to performances in the majors. Not the case.”

• “The fact that Jack was just maybe a few shots away from 37 (!?!) majors is nuts”

• “Brooks in a negative way and Els in a positive way.”

• “Peter Thomson was my original thought because no one thinks about Peter Thomson at all. SO that would be the biggest change in my thoughts about someone’s career. From 0 to "Hmmmm how about that?"

I might rename the newsletter to “No one thinks about Peter Thomson at all.”

Corrupt Golf Media

👉️ This Jeff Francoeur story about playing golf with Tiger Woods is great, but Tim Kurkjian’s reaction to it is even better.

👉️ Good story on Mark Hubbard. I really enjoyed it. Also, I would light him up in Pop a Shot.

👉️ This by Gabby Herzig on Bryson’s caddie, Greg Bodine, and the miscarriage he and his wife were working through when Bryson called to see if he wanted a job is so good.

👉️ Normal sport, baseball edition. A player playing for the Jays and Red Sox in the same game.

👉️ Smartin on the tiny margins in pro golf.

👉️ Nobody enjoys talking about their own industry more than writers and media folks [raises hand], but this from a former CNN reporter who talks about the benefits of going independent is excellent.

👉️ I went down an Alex Honnold rabbit hole a few years ago, but hadn’t followed in a while. Last week, I stumbled into this video of him soloing something called The Phoenix, and while it’s not quite as thrilling as the Free Solo film, it’s worth the 10 minutes.

Overheard on Twitter

Low hanging fruit is a thing, but have you ever seen a low hanging apple you'd want to eat? They're either not ripe, or past their prime and filled with bees. The good stuff doesn't come easy, and is rarely just waiting to be picked. Meaningful progress is tough to reach. -Jason Fried

How is This App Free?

• If you haven’t seen this clip, it’s like 90 seconds of a world class player describing a very specific thing he’s doing incorrectly with his swing, which makes Matt’s response so hilarious and perfect.

• The simple response sends me.

• No win situation, but I do hate it that the Tour fell into this trap …

• Imagine this happening in 2024.

Speaking of reading, thanks for reading until the end.

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

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