That’s nearly double the viewership for the final round of this year’s Masters final round.
Again, I get it.
This is Football Season.
But talking about golf is what I do.
That’s part of the deal.
Which brings us to an unexpectedly compelling weekend of mid-January golf.
Two tournaments, decided by statistical anomalies on the putting greens, across the world from one another.
Let’s dive in.
Rory McIlroy had been near the lead the entire week.
Especially so after he stuck his tee shot on the 180-yard par-3 14th to just about two feet.
That’s when disaster struck.
We use that idiom often, but it’s never been so appropriate.
McIlroy somehow managed to three-putt from there for bogeyfrom two feet!to fall a shot behind.
“This will be flat out…MUNCH TIME!”
McIlroy dropped and made bogey.
“I’m very happy,” Fleetwood told reporters after his seventh DP World Tour victory.
“It was amazing winning.
This is obviously where I live and have a lot of support.
It’s great to kick off the year with a great result and push on from here.
I have amazing people that I’m working with, win, lose or draw today.
Next week will be the same.
We just crack on and we keep pushing forward and hopefully keep moving in the right direction.”
If history’s any indication, McIlroy will have a chance again this next Sunday.
He just needs to be a bit more detail-oriented.
He’s had a no-golf-in-December policy for the last few years.
Just a bad swing at the end there.
Just a couple little mental errors in there that hopefully Ill clean up for next week.
Grayson Murray gave up on life.
Then he found purpose
Some irony here…let’s rewind to June 2023.
The PGA Tour has just announced its stunning Framework Agreement deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
Grayson Murray, of all people, was leading the charge.
Harsh, but perhaps not untrue?
Murray, according to those in the room, then told Rory to “fuck off.”
Murray putts first…and cans it.
Freakin' hoops it, for birdie, on the first playoff hole.
Bradley’s effort slides by on the left side.
An shoves his effort, missing the hole entirely.
That wasn’t really talked about after the round, and rightfully so.
Murray’s victory is the culmination of a getting-well story that reached its pinnacle on Sunday.
He’s got quite the history.
Golf wise, he was the top-ranked junior prospect coming out of high school.
He began his college career at Wake Forest, then transferred to East Carolina, then transferredagainto Arizona State.
Murray’s issues with alcohol and depression began early in his career and lingered throughout his 20s.
He’d frequently find himself in ugly Twitter battles.
He sent a really, reallycreepy message to a high-schooler.
He drove a motorbike into oncoming traffic during the 2022 Bermuda Championship.
He reached rock bottom at last year’s Mexico Open and told the story on Sunday.
After shooting an opening-round 68, he fell off the wagon.
And I got out there and shot like 80.
(He shot 79.)
I got home and had an anxiety attack that lasted four days; it was the worst feeling ever.
I would have rather been dead, those four days.
I just kind of locked myself in my room and didnt tell my parents or anything.
It was really, really bad.
We love to see it.
The curious case of Ken Weyand
So, who is Ken Weyand?
That’s how it’s been for years.
That got a reply from Richard Mansell, who played with Weyand during the first round.
Good on you, Ken.
Elsewhere…
Gary Woodland returned to competition after a harrowing health scare.
An MRI showed a lesion on his brain that eventually required surgery for removal.
Keegan Bradley took the playoff loss hard.
Bradley’s an emotional guy.
He feels things, heavy.
“It’s tough right now,” he said after the round.
Playing in the last group with the lead is hard on the tour.
I’ve done a really good job of doing that the last couple years.
I’ll learn from what happened today.
Until next week,
Dan
