With its longshot winners and cantankerous climate, this yr’s West Coast swing on the PGA Tour has come and gone.
What stays are questions on what this yr — and the longer term — will seem like in males’s professional golf. Earlier than the Florida circuit and main season begins, listed below are some lasting snapshots from the primary two months of the season.
Scottie Scheffler’s Kryptonite
By now, the stats have turn into as unavoidable because the physique language Scheffler reveals when he tosses his putter or a ball in frustration following a missed putt — each of which he did at Riviera final week.
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Each time Scheffler tees it up, his ballstriking ensures he’ll be in competition, but his placing will get in the best way. On the Genesis Invitational, Scheffler ranked useless final in placing out of the gamers who made the minimize, and he at the moment ranks 128th in strokes gained: placing on tour. As soon as once more, as if to pour salt on his personal wound, Scheffler additionally leads the complete tour in strokes gained: tee-to-green.
However what is probably most alarming is how a lot Scheffler is clearly grinding over his placing, whereas it’s seemingly not getting any higher. He is switched putters (albeit simply from one blade-style putter to a different), started working with a world-class placing coach and spent ample time working towards each his alignment and stroke. Watching him on the apply greens at each Pebble and Riviera, it was clear that his placing woes weren’t a story however moderately a problem Scheffler is keenly conscious of and making an attempt to resolve.
And but, the problem persists. Final yr, Scheffler was in a position to overcome these struggles by placing collectively a season of historic ballstriking proportions on his approach to wins on the WM Phoenix Open and the Gamers Championship in addition to 17 prime 10s and the present No. 1 world rating. However throughout majors, his struggles on the greens had been enhanced, particularly when merely a median placing week may have seemingly secured a victory after a top-10 end on the Masters and top-5 finishes on the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.
With this yr’s majors developing quickly, the West Coast swing did not precisely present a lot promise by way of Scheffler enhancing his placing. It is secure to wonder if the 27-year-old will attain the tip of the yr with no main win as a consequence of his placing when each different a part of his recreation is able to proceed including to his résumé.
The celebs’ stoop
The previous two years, the Genesis Invitational has been a reminder of how a lot Tiger Woods remains to be the game’s prime needle-mover. This yr, despite the fact that his taking part in time was minimize brief by sickness, the thrill surrounding his opening spherical Thursday was palpable, with what felt like many of the crowd on-site following his group. It did not matter how Woods carried out, folks nonetheless needed to observe.
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The longevity of Woods’ magnetic pull stays, but it surely additionally exposes. Whereas the West Coast swing had a number of distinctive storylines in its winners (hey Nick Dunlap!), Wyndham Clark was the one top-25 participant on the earth who gained a match at Pebble Seaside. And that was one which was minimize brief after 54 holes as a consequence of climate.
Whereas these wins by Dunlap, Nick Taylor and just lately Hideki Matsuyama confirmed the depth of the tour, it was additionally a reminder of the top-end expertise they’ve both misplaced to LIV Golf or is not performing as much as its normal degree to date in 2024. Examine that to final yr when the early winners on tour had been Jon Rahm (thrice), Scheffler and Max Homa, and it isn’t essentially the most star-studded state of affairs to open up a season.
Rahm alone would not repair every thing, however very like Scheffler, he’s a kind of gamers who all the time rises to the highest of the leaderboard over the course of 4 rounds and sometimes has a chance to win. His wins within the early a part of final season arrange his Masters victory seamlessly, giving the yr in golf (not less than on the PGA Tour aspect) a really clear storyline that featured a dominant drive. Parity, in sports activities, is often solely good in idea.
Match outcomes, particularly with the depth within the recreation proper now, are maybe extra unpredictable than ever. However whereas the fields on the subsequent two PGA Tour tournaments (Mexico Open and Cognizant Basic) do not get far more thrilling, each the following two signature occasions at Bay Hill and the Gamers would do nicely to function a real battle and a winner from the cream of the crop within the sport.
Tiger Woods’ ramp-up plan
The ripple impact of Woods withdrawing from the Genesis Invitational as a consequence of influenza goes far past this week. Final yr, the Genesis was the one match Woods performed earlier than the Masters, the place he ultimately withdrew after three rounds as a consequence of plantar fasciitis that required an ankle fusion process that saved him out of play till December.
In his post-surgery return on the Hero World Problem within the Bahamas, Woods already mentioned on document that, if all goes nicely, his aim is to play in a single match a month via the foremost season. With a brief stint on the Genesis in February, March now awaits. After his solely accomplished spherical at Riviera, Woods did be aware he is been experiencing again spasms at house, however that these are only a product of his again being fused and never one thing he can predict or wholly keep away from.
“Issues are a bit of bit sore, however that is to be anticipated,” Woods mentioned. “That is nothing that we weren’t ready for.”
The 15-time main winner has remained steadfast in his perception that his return to golf after numerous surgical procedures is rooted in his want to compete and win. However in preparation for Augusta, 24 holes at Riviera merely is not going to chop it. Whether or not it is Bay Hill or the Gamers — the previous being the place he is gained eight occasions and the latter being the simpler stroll — all indicators level to Woods having to swimsuit up for an additional match that he is not internet hosting.
The ready recreation
From the moment response of gamers following the deal between the PGA Tour and Strategic Sports activities Group at Pebble Seaside to watching Boston Purple Sox proprietor John Henry stroll across the grounds of Riviera Nation Membership, it has been an fascinating few weeks for the PGA Tour.
Whereas everybody from Rory McIlroy to Jordan Spieth to Rickie Fowler appeared to vary on what an integration between the Public Funding Fund of Saudi Arabia and LIV Golf with the PGA Tour would seem like sooner or later, all gamers may agree on a sure sentiment to explain the SSG deal, its $12 billion valuation of the PGA Tour and the participant fairness that was introduced to be a part of the deal:
“We all know as a lot as you do. We all know as a lot as everybody else does.”
Whereas the tour did ship out a memo outlining the completely different classes relating to how a lot fairness will probably be given out and to whom within the wake of the formation of PGA Tour Enterprises, the main points for what this implies for the precise golf product stay unclear. Gamers like Collin Morikawa and Mackenzie Hughes have expressed dissatisfaction with every thing from the TV product to the best way cash has overtaken the sport.
“I simply suppose that it is unlucky the place we’re within the recreation proper now, the place plainly it is all concerning the cash and it is all about, how a lot cash can I make?” Hughes mentioned throughout Sunday’s CBS walk-and-talk at Riviera.
“I believe we misplaced the spirit of the sport within the course of, and it was simply by no means the rationale I performed on the PGA Tour … now we’re in a spot the place I believe followers are simply typically fed up with it, to be sincere, and people are the folks that drive our sport.”
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Some gamers see a dire scenario whereas others see mild on the finish of the tunnel, accepting that whether or not LIV Golf and the PGA Tour are introduced again collectively in some unspecified time in the future or not, the tour wanted to evolve as a way to enhance.
“I believe it was a fairly large danger to depart our enterprise mannequin in the identical place an excessive amount of longer,” Adam Scott informed a bunch of reporters at Pebble Seaside.
“I believe at this level this is sort of a line within the sand if it needs to be for the PGA Tour and you’ll put every thing on the desk proper now so far as I am involved, yeah, let’s take a look at the whole thing. I believe every thing will be mentioned proper now, and I believe that is thrilling.”
