He had to have.
Jordan Spieth looked the most likely contender.
But come winning time the putter, of all clubs, didnt comply.
Just before McIlroy came Harris Englishs 9-under bid on the exact same line.
It was low all the way.
Only he fatted it and needed three more from there for a buzz killing bogey.
All the while, pesky little Kurt Kitayama kept punching back.
Hed absorbed that ninth-hole wound, found his feet and carded eight straight pars to begin his back nine.
Hed likely have signed up for two pars and a playoff right then and there.
Then, the shot that changed his career.
I still felt comfortable.
I didn’t feel out of place.
It was just one bad swing.
He kind of backed me up.
He said that, he goes, I know, you look fine.
Kitaymas story is professional golf at its romantic, meritocratic best.
Kitaymas first career victory came on the Asian Development Tour.
Hes played the Asian Tour.
He missed the cut at the first one, at Riviera.
He won the second.
And he beat some pretty damn good players to do so.
you might’t ignore it.
(The PGA TOUR would argue its Yasir al-Rumayyan; LIV would insist Gregs at the wheel).
Poor play in a PGA TOUR season will result in a demotion of sorts to the non-designated event slate.
There will, however, be turnover from one designated event to another.
Win a non-designated event and youre into the next designated event.
Keep it rolling and the world is yours.
Tom Kim did it.
So did Cameron Young, and Kurt Kitayama.
Its hard, but its possible.
Each LIV event, on the other hand, will have the same 48 guys.
Sihwan Kim will be in Tucson despite shooting 23 over par for three days.
So will Chase Koepka after his 75-82-74 in Mexico.
But it is absolutely still open, and the rewards for getting there are sweeter than ever.
As we always say, says Matt NeSmith, who, at No.
40 in the FedEx Cup standings, could well end up sweating that top-50 cutoff.
Playing good takes care of everything.
Not everyone feels that way.
Hes got a point with the popular thing.
At least over the past two years.
Now, are the stars benefitting from these changes?
Of course they are, but stars is really just another word for best golfers.
Few would argue that Scottie Scheffler has Brad Pitts charisma.
Hes a star because hes fucking excellent at golf, and for no other reason.
They burn bright and they fade into the abyss.
Guys like Brandt Sneaker, Webb Simpson, Matt Kucharthey wouldve been top-50 locks 10 years ago.
Its all earned next year.
Its not like only 10 players get these benefits.
Andrew Putnam finished inside the top 50 last year.
So did Russell Knox, Taylor Pendrith, Denny McCarthy, J.J. Spaun, Aaron Wise and Maverick McNealy.
And on the worlds premier golf tour, shouldnt the best players be rewarded?
Id also argue that the rank-and-file players are better off than they were before this whole LIV ordeal.
It boils down to this: Did the top players get a sweet deal out of this?
But thats just how the world works.
In any industry, the most talented enjoy greater leverage and rewards.
I do, however, hate the no-cut move.
I see no reason why they couldnt have gone to top 35 and ties after two rounds.
Go out there and earn your money.
Eat what you kill.
Now, youre eating no matter what.
Its what leads to compelling scenarios like the one Greg Koch found himself in.
If he made birdie, the cut wouldve moved to +1 and seven players wouldve been eliminated.
A par, he makes the cut, and so do the seven others.
A bogey, the seven others make the cut but he doesnt.
It was a battle-within-a-battle, and the tour felt it was cool enough to tweet it.
Koch celebrated like hed won the tournament after knocking in a 3 1/2-footer for par.
For the biggest PGA TOUR events to do away with that dynamic feels…short-sighted.
But heres the thing about the stars: they dont miss many cuts.
Thats why theyre stars.
At the Genesis, the only one who missed it was Matthew Fitzpatrick.
Was the Arnold Palmer Invitational significantly harmed by Morikawas absence?
Did Riviera suck because Fitz wasnt there?
Not even a little.
But again, theyre the best players.
They earned that leverage.
In Hawaii, we had Collins collapse.
In Phoenix, Scotties return.
In LA, Rahms rampage.
And at Arnies Place, a challenger beat the established.
Still, theyre doing it.
The smaller-field, no-cut move brings tennis ATP Tour to mind.
Top tennis players only play best-of-five sets four times a year, at the majors.
The ATP owns none of the majors.
Theyre essentially the PGA Tours designated events.
All the top healthy players.
Now, its the history and the format.
If there have been any winners in golf over the last two years, its been the majors.
Even before Wednesday announcements, both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf crafted their schedules around them.
An exciting prospect to keep an eye on.
Jin Young Ko beat Nelly Korda to win the HSBC Womens World Championship event in Shanghai.
Its Kos first win of the year after the former world No.
1 battled injuries throughout 2023.
Korda, world No.
2, has finished sixth or better in her first three starts of 2023.
Two outsiders enjoyed excellent showings among all the stars at the API: Pierceson Coody and Ludvig Aberg.
Coody, grandson of Charles Coody, finished first in the PGA TOUR U standings last year.
He, too, got an invite, and he stood inside the top 10 heading into the weekend.
I disagreed pretty strongly with something Rory McIlroy said this week.
Until, that is, he started talking about the conditions.
So I don’t know how people find that entertainment value?
Hes insinuating that fans prefer watching guys make birdies and birdies and more birdies.
One of the reasons Sundays round was such good TV was the course was part of the story.
Missing a fairway came with a penalty.
You could attack certain pins, if you dare, or you could play it safe.
Thats the good stuff.
We love watching guys plot their way around a, in Jon Rahms words, fucking hard golf course.
Birdies arent nearly as cool when everyones making them.
Granted, not every golf course can play as springy and crispy as Bay Hill does.
In my opinion, at least.
Earlier this week Rory McIlroy called for some future designated events to be outside the United States.
I couldnt agree more.
Three of the four majors are already in the United States, as is the Players Championship.
The PGA Tour absolutely should give a shot to visit other golf-mad regions to extend the fanbase.
Thats very doable, and we could use more primetime golf in our lives.
The players would love getting to play on different-style golf courses and see another incredible part of the world.
As for the travelyes, its not ideal to fly across the world for one week.
Make it the second of a back-to-back designated event stretch, so the guys can rest the following week.
Its not likely to happen, but Im getting pretty amped thinking about it.
Woof…that broadcast.
After CBS crushed it with its west-coast coverage, NBC delivered a stinker yesterday.
There were full commercial breaks during crucial moments.
They abused the Playing Through feature time and time again.
They didnt provide nearly as much information about the shot itself as CBS did.
They didnt debut any new graphics or diagrams or visuals or really anything at all.
I understand how the television models work, and the role advertisers play in that model.
They also cited internal data as part of their calculation, so believe into that as you will.
Tigers not playing but all the other big boys are.
Lets have ourselves a week.
Ill be on-site starting Tuesday and we have merchandise in the official merchandise tent.
If youre coming to TPC Sawgrass at all, do say hi.
And thanks for reading.
Until next time,
Dan
