PNC Championship, Augusta, & Other Happenings
Tiger has a Kid that Golfs, Golf Balls Rolled Back, Rahm to LIV & The Fall Out
Charlie Woods Is going to get some airtime this week. It’s already at a fever pitch and it’s barely even a real tournament. I have bet on the PNC Championship in the past, but showed some restraint this week.
A few more weeks until the real schedule starts!
Next Wednesday - Wildly early look at Valhalla ahead of the PGA Championship
Wednesday the 27th - Another early peek, this time at Royal Troon
Rahm Suspended by PGA Tour!!!!
It did seem like it was something that was bound to happen, but we’ve been fooled before. Hell, even last week it was pretty heavily rumored that Tony Finau would be joining Rahm on the LIV. Big Tone but those to rest with his IG post:
Funny Unintended Consequences
With the suspension, Jon Rahm was removed from the FedEx Cup points list that is used to determine 2024 priority rankings. When someone near the top of a list is removed, naturally everyone moves up a spot. Why is this important? Three golfers’ 2024s will be drastically different by jumping up to the 50th, 60th, and 125th spots via Rahm’s departure. From an article by SI’s Bob Harig:
Mackenzie Hughes was 51st and with his jump will now join the top 50 golfers at ALL EIGHT signature events ($$$) instead of just the two he was guaranteed.
Alex Smalley will get two signature event starts automatically as the new 60th-ranked golfer. He’s now in the field at Pebble Beach and the Genesis.
Carl Yuan is now fully exempt for the 2024 season, which to the best of my understanding means he’ll be in more field and won’t have to play Monday qualifiers nearly as often.
This can happen again! If another player in the top 125 were to jump ship before December 31st, the rankings would again shift up and as many as three golfers could again be affected positively.
Speaking of Jon Rahm, he will be back on our TVs in April as the defending Masters champion. And speaking of the Masters, it is the second in the four very early previews we’re doing during the cold, dark part of the year. Troon and Valhalla will make appearances on either side of the holiday as we count down the days to being back to real golf again.
Since it’s a static stop and one of the most talked and written about courses in the damn world every spring, there’s not much to say that most don’t know. I did dig in a bit on any changes that we might see and all I could come up with were the possible plans of a second course being built way down the road and the fact that there are three changes to the qualifying criteria for 2024 (they discussed them last April, but to reiterate):
The Reigning NCAA champion will be invited, so long as they retain their amateur status. Gordon Sargent, the ‘22 champ from Vanderbilt was invited last year as a special exemption, going forward it will be a permanent qualification criteria
All winners of tournaments in the 2023 fall season will be invited. This comes as part of the fact that the calendar is switching and the fall swing is kind of off on its own. I think the ANGC powers that be just wanted to make it clear that the swing season wins count. (Camilo Villegas, you are IN!)
Players who qualify and are eligible for the previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship will be invited. This seems to have been added to make it clear that top players need to be on the tour and participate in the Tour Championship to get the invite, not just have the points. A bit of a loophole closer for possibly LIV defections.
I’m not sure if there will be changes to the OWGR at any point, but that is still the biggest driver to qualify for those who aren’t getting in based on wins or high finishes at majors. Both Augusta and the R&A have said they won’t currently be making exceptions to the qualifying criteria for LIV players. For now, without the points, it looks like it’ll be eight LIV players in the field come April:
Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel, and Bubba Watson based on lifetime exemptions for being Green-Jacket owners, and Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith, and Brooks Koepka for being recent major champions.
Back to the course though, it appears there won’t be any real material changes like we saw last year when they renovated the par-3 course and lengthened the 13th hole. Regardless, we still took an early look at the course if you need to think about a warm day in Georgia on a cold day in December:
Augusta National
From the towering Georgia pines and flowering magnolia trees to the luscious green fairways and immaculately manicured white-sanded bunkers, Augusta National is a pristine wonder to behold. There are countless characteristics that make the course both timeless and imposing at the same time including the elevation changes, the routing of the holes, the risk-reward options, the genius of Amen Corner, and the treacherous slopes of the green complexes.
Augusta National Golf Club is a par-72 course that was stretched out to its longest distance ever at last year’s event at 7,545 yards. At that length, it measures as the 8th longest course in the annual Tour rotation. With a premium on thoughtful strategic play, every hole offers players bail-out options if the goal is to survive with par. Yet birdie opportunities abound for those who wish to be more aggressive and take on the risk that most holes provide.
Over the past five events, the average score has been 1.14 strokes over par, which ranks as the second-toughest annual course on Tour. Only one of the par-3 holes plays over 180 yards, yet due to the bunkering and difficult green complexes, they rank as the second-toughest group of par-3s, averaging 0.15 strokes over par.
The four par-5s are the holes that bring the most excitement to the course each year. One of the shortest groups of par-5s on Tour averaging only 561 yards per hole, each is reachable in two shots and averages a birdie or better rate at 39.2%. With eagle chances possible on each one, they are the essence of risk-reward holes. This is especially true on the 13th and 15th where stray approaches will be eaten up by the water hazards…
Last Augusta thing: just because it was something I bookmarked when I stumbled upon it. I accidently clicked into a minor league baseball boxscore for the single A Atlanta Braves affiliate team based in Augusta - The GREEN JACKETS! I’ll bet a bunch of you already knew this, but I didn’t and it made me smile.
Ball Rollback
I don’t break news here, in fact, I like being a few days behind on most stuff. It gives you time to calm down, collect the facts, and have a nice measured response to things.
The “ball rollback” alarmists made it sound like this was going to be the final death knell that ended the centuries-old game, both professionally and as a leisure activity.
When I found out that the average duffer was going to lose like 5 yards I audibly laughed. I have no idea how long most of my shots are going, I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to tell either way.
As for the pro game, I thought it was cool when Bryson hit it over that damn lake and all, but I’m a sucker for gorgeous shots with an iron from about 200 out, so I’m not sweating this one much.
I could write a bunch more about it, but why not just click on this and listen to Paddy’s take:
Lastly
Welcome back, Angel Cabrera!
As always, be good, have fun, bet responsibly, and enjoy watching Tiger tee it up.
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