By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.
For comments: [email protected]
Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as we look back at the Masters while looking ahead to this week’s RBC Heritage. |
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1. Shane Ryan: Appreciate Scottie’s greatness
Golf Digest’s Shane Ryan…”This is what’s called generational talent, and we haven’t seen it in almost 20 years. Steve Stricker read the tea leaves when he picked Scheffler for the 2021 Ryder Cup—a decision that was richly rewarded—and starting in 2022, he was off to the races. The only hiccup was a few putting woes last year, but even that only served to highlight how remarkable his ball-striking had become—instead of winning, he was finishing third. When he fixed the putting, with help from a new coach and a bit of equipment advice from Rory McIlroy, he soared yet again to the top of the game, but this time he seemed more indomitable, more inevitable, more brilliant.”
- “The sustained success of the last three years has officially made him the best professional golfer since Tiger Woods, a conclusion supported by analytics, the eye test, and every other metric you could dream up. With fewer majors, he has nevertheless leaped past Spieth, McIlroy, and Koepka in terms of pure ability. He doesn’t have their legacy, yet, but if we’re talking about peak performance, he’s already surpassed them.”
- “He’s so much better than everyone else, which is a sentiment that is both commonplace—I saw it on Twitter over and over again—and revelatory. It’s the thing you say because there is nothing else to say. You’re left with the wild truth, which words can describe but never capture.”
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2. Aberg: I want to be No. 1
The AFP’s Simon Evans…”The 24-year-old finished second, four strokes behind winner Scottie Scheffler, after carding a final round 69 but he certainly won many admirers among the patrons at Augusta National and beyond.”
- “And his performance has filled Aberg with self-belief.”
- “Everyone in my position, they are going to want to be major champions. They are going to want to be world number one, and it’s the same for me, that’s nothing different,” he said.
- “It has been that way ever since I picked up a golf club, and that hasn’t changed. So I think this week solidifies a lot of those things are there, and we just need to keep doing those things and put ourselves in positions to win tournaments, ” he said.
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3. Homa’s honest answer on double bogey
Golf Channel staff report…”But Homa’s tee shot at No. 12 bounded off the putting surface and into a bush. After a healthy search, Homa found his ball and had to take an unplayable lie. He made double bogey, effectively ending his bid at a maiden major title.”
- “Homa tied for third, seven shots back of Scheffler. Asked about what happened on the fateful 9-iron, Homa offered two replies.”
- “The honest answer is, it didn’t feel fair. I hit a really good golf shot, and it didn’t feel fair. I’ve seen far worse just roll back down the hill,” he said.
- “The professional answer is, these things happen.”
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4. Harbour Town ahead
RBC Heritage field notes, via Adam Stanley of PGATour.com…”Scottie Scheffler is, for now, set to tee it up at the RBC Heritage. He was clear to say that if his wife, Meredith, would go into labor during the Masters, he would head home to be with her, so it’s safe to assume that same rule will stand at Harbour Town. Scheffler has not shot an over-par round all season and has three victories (and one runner-up). He made his debut at Harbour Town last year and finished T11… Matt Fitzpatrick looks to become the first golfer to go back-to-back at the RBC Heritage since Boo Weekley in 2007-08. Fitzpatrick, a playoff victor last year, has two top-10 finishes this season. He has just one missed cut at Harbour Town over the last six years and he finished fourth in 2021 to go along with two more top-15 results in a three-year span (T14 in 2018 and 2020)…”
- “Jordan Spieth is hoping to continue his run of fine play at Harbour Town after a playoff loss last season and a playoff win the season prior. Spieth has five top-25 finishes at the RBC Heritage in seven starts… Justin Thomas earned a spot in the field after remaining in the top 30 (he’s No. 30) in the Official World Golf Ranking despite a missed cut at the Masters. Thomas, who finished T25 last season at Harbour Town, has two top 10s on the season… Ludvig Åberg, who is tops in the Aon Next 10, will head to Hilton Head for the first time. Åberg has had a fabulous 2024 campaign thus far with four top 10s (including two runner-up results) and is knocking on the door for a victory… Hideki Matsuyama was the only eligible player who did not commit to the RBC Heritage, while Viktor Hovland – after a missed cut at the Masters – withdrew from the field on Saturday.”
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5. Reed’s caddie’s needle
Our Matt Vincenzi…”After a particularly bad drive during his third round on Saturday, Reed’s caddie, Kessler Karain, also his brother-in-law, made a snide but factual comment to Patrick.”
- “Your driving has cost us a lot this week,” Karain remarked.
- “Reed didn’t disagree and told reporters after the round that there was nothing good about his round…
- “A reporter then asked: “It’s a good thing he’s a family member, right?”
- “Yeah, exactly. I’d probably be dragging him up that last hole,” Reed said. “I swear.Just what you want to hear as you’re looking at the ball in the tree, and he goes, ‘You need to drive it better.’ Thanks, Kessler. I appreciate it. Great words of wisdom. Drive it better.”
- “This may be the last major for Reed for a while, as the 33-year-old has not been invited nor qualified for next month’s PGA Championship.”
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6. LIV wants Hovland next?
Ewan Murray for the Guardian…”Rising speculation that Viktor Hovland will be the next high-profile golfer to be coaxed to the LIV tour will increase the need for Ryder Cup Europe to apply a simple qualification process for golfers on the Saudi Arabian-backed circuit.”
- “LIV is forging ahead with plans for 2025, which include new events and the recruitment of more players from the PGA and DP World Tours. The rate of turnover is likely to be increased by the number of golfers who had three-year contracts when joining LIV, which will expire at the end of 2024.”
- “Chatter on the range at the LIV event in Miami this month and again at the Masters largely surrounded Hovland, the world No 6 who starred for Europe in the defeat of the United States in Rome last year. Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, who also played in that team, have subsequently joined LIV. Hovland missed the cut at the Masters and promptly withdrew from the PGA Tour’s $20m stop in Hilton Head this week.”
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7. Rory’s management: LIV reports are ‘fake news’
Brian Keogh for the Irish Independent…”A report that Rory McIlroy was on the verge of an $850million move to LIV Golf has been slammed as “fake news” by his management.
“Fake news. Zero truth,” McIlroy’s manager Sean O’Flaherty said in an email.
London financial paper “City AM” reported today that sources have told them that McIlroy “could” join LIV Golf
The paper reported that “two separate sources have told City AM that they believe a deal is close. It is claimed that LIV Golf chiefs have offered world No2 McIlroy an eye-watering $850m to join, plus around two per cent equity in the competition.” |
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Greg V
Jan 30, 2019 at 1:38 pm
From the data, the LPGA has not gotten longer, while the Web.com Tour and PGA tour have.
My conclusion, the very longest players can benefit from higher COR and lower spin driver heads; the ladies do not. Most of the rest of us do not, as well.
I say bring back the COR for elite players – the same group that has to abide by the groove rule.
Jack Nash
Jan 30, 2019 at 1:46 pm
Good points for sure. I would like more if they got results from the Top 100 PGA pros. Many there bombthe ball. That could skew the number a lot higher I think.
~j~
Jan 30, 2019 at 11:50 am
I have a solution. Unlevel tee boxes for the pros. Not like the crap we pedestrians play on, but let’s see Brooks hit a drive off a 10* sloped tee box.
Travis Goodspeed
Jan 30, 2019 at 11:31 am
Why don’t they just say the longest club in your back can be no more than 43” with no less than 12* loft and regulate face hotness CT/COR and be done with it? The long hitters would still be long, the short hitters still short, but you can shave off 40y across the board of everyone’s distance.
Jack Nash
Jan 30, 2019 at 1:50 pm
Dammed if you do Dammed if you don’t. The ball makers come after you or the club makers. So what the ruling bodies do is sit on the fence. I would like to see the shaft length shortened. That’s a good idea like you said. As for loft they can bend that lower, and they do it now.
appletree
Jan 30, 2019 at 11:13 am
IMO. It seems that much time and expense has gone into gathering all this data. Curiously, how does this data help a mid-handicap senior golfer like me? Scheiss’ comment as noted above hits the nail on the head for a very high percentage of the every day golfers. We can move forward a tee block or two. Work on our flexibility and fitness and our golf skills in general. These stats are not going to help us shoot lower scores or have more fun with our sport. So why go to this effort.
Shallowface
Jan 30, 2019 at 9:42 am
Mark Twain may not have said it, but he certainly popularized it.
“There are three kinds of lies. Lies, damned lies and statistics.”
The dude
Jan 29, 2019 at 8:24 pm
Its because of Trump!…
Brian
Jan 29, 2019 at 6:22 pm
Good thing no forum members are on any of the tours it would have been a 50yd increase.
Tartan Golf Travel
Jan 29, 2019 at 5:46 pm
This is mostly because of the natural aging out of older shorter hitters and the rise of younger bigger stronger players.
Greg V
Jan 29, 2019 at 7:23 pm
That is an astute remark. But the fact remains, the young guns are too powerful for most of the courses that they play.
Tartan Golf Travel
Jan 29, 2019 at 7:33 pm
I don’t disagree but that just means what we need bifurcation. I belong to several clubs both in the states and in Scotland and I’m sure they all have one thing in common with the place you play…… every single member got a year older. The tour is getting younger. 99.9999% of the golfing population does not play the game they play. The ball and the clubs don’t need to be dialed back, the courses don’t need to be changed. The tours need their own set of rules if they are worried about distance. I’m a scratch player and I’ll turn 50 this year but I don’t hit it as far as I did when I was 20 or even 40 despite the gains that TaylorMade and the like have promised (lol).
Greg V
Jan 30, 2019 at 2:09 pm
I agree with bifurcation. There are so many older courses – a real treasure for the game – which are outmoded by modern equipment. Since the older courses are on the best properties, play to around 6500 yards or a bit more, doesn’t it make sense to shrink the modern game to fit the older courses. Not the other way around.
Love to see a US Open at Merion with COR reduced for drivers, and a ball that goes shorter. Same with Pebble Beach.
Tartan Golf Travel
Jan 30, 2019 at 7:02 pm
Agreed. The game absolutely needs bifurcation.
Tom
Jan 29, 2019 at 5:20 pm
Uncle Rico added 40 yards per drive in 2018! Now he can hit it over that there mountain.
Scheiss
Jan 30, 2019 at 10:15 am
No need for bifurcation.
The older members at our club, and I mean the older guys into their 60s and 70s and 80s have moved forward tees, sometimes a couple of tees, and some of them even play the same tees as their wives.
So just move forward a tee.