GOLF: A LOOK BACK AT 2018

There were several historic moments in men’s professional golf in 2018.  I’ve chosen a few to comment on and have given each a corresponding golf score.

Double Bogey: The United States Ryder Cup performance

It’s hard to believe that after taking a 3 - 1 lead in the first session of fourball, also known as best ball, the United States Ryder Cup team barely showed up for the rest of the weekend. Tiger Woods went 0 - 4 for the week and the United States team was blanked 4 - 0 in Friday afternoon foursomes and lost 3 -1 in Saturday morning foursomes to fall into an almost insurmountable 8 - 4 deficit. The foursomes format, also known as alternate shot, has historically been an issue for the Americans, and 2018 was no exception. Whether it was the home course advantage, more enthusiasm for the event or collective fatigue on the part of the Americans, it was clear beginning Friday afternoon that the visitors would leave France without the Ryder Cup, now in possession of the Europeans. To add more pain to the loss was the very public, apparent feud between  Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth.  It was an embarrassing episode for the Americans and probably will carry over into future team events. My take was that every American on the Ryder Cup team, except for Spieth, had just finished playing in the FedEx Cup playoffs in Atlanta five days before.  Tiger Woods ended a five year drought with an incredible and emotional victory at the Tour Championship, his 80th in his illustrious career, then hopped on a plane to France. By contrast, only half the players on the European side qualified for the Tour Championship, giving them a week of rest prior to the Ryder Cup matches. In the future, I hope the PGA of America and the R & A can schedule the event to give all players a week off. But still, a team with the firepower of the Americans should have given the Europeans a better match.

Bogey: Zach Johnson parts ways with longtime caddie Damon Green

A couple of weeks ago, Zach Johnson decided that he and his caddie  “...need to take a break. It’s not a firing.” Really? Damon Green said that he  “was shocked.” That sounds like a firing to me. Green had been on Johnson’s bag since the two-time major champion’s rookie season, with the pair combining for 11 Tour wins and that pair of majors.  Last season, Johnson finished 58th in the FedEx Cup, only missed two cuts, but managed just a couple of top tens and 14 top twenty-five finishes in 25 events. He won just short of $2 million. It wasn’t much different than his results a couple of seasons earlier in 2016. Johnson is 42 years old, the same age as Tiger Woods. Perhaps Woods’ win makes Johnson feel that he’s underperforming and maybe Green is the problem. Still, I don’t believe it’s a good look for a guy who is generally considered one of the nicest player on Tour. Does Zach Johnson have every right to employ whoever he wants as his caddie? Absolutely. Do I have the right to criticize him for a bad optic and how it apparently went down? Of course I do.

Par: The Match

When Phil Mickelson jabbed at Tiger Woods during The Players tournament in May to play a match for big bucks, apparently plans for The Match were already underway, so Mickelson was merely priming the pump. The Match itself was a winner -take-all, $10 million pay-per-view event over Thanksgiving weekend. What many fans were hoping for were 18 holes of jabbing, side bets and entertaining byplay between Phil and Tiger. What we got was fairly competitive golf, with both players reverting to form as Phil tried to engage Tiger in conversation and Tiger focusing instead on playing golf shots. One of the reasons that there were less side bets than we wanted is because the PGA Tour has some rules that limited the amount of betting activity, etc. during the match. As far as the golf being played, it wasn’t spectacular, but it was competitive. The positives were how close the match was and getting to see the two best players of their generation going head to head. The negatives were that it was a bit more boring than we wanted and the contrived par three playoff hole where the players teed off from a practice green. I liked that neither player wanted to win with the other player missing a short second putt and that it took a good birdie for Phil to walk away with $10 million. I just wish we’d seen this ten years ago, when both players were in the middle of major tournament winning seasons. 

Birdies: Molinari at The Open Championship and Rose taking the FedEx Cup

Since the Europeans seem to thrive on the team concept, I decided to pair these two great golfers together in this piece. With Tiger Woods breathing down his neck at Carnoustie, Francesco Molinari held it together down the stretch to become the first Italian major champion. The 36 year old had an incredible month of July, winning the Quicken Loans National with a closing 62 and finishing second in the John Deere Classic a couple of weeks later. Then he hopped on a plane for Scotland and left a few days later with the Claret Jug. The Quicken Loans was his first PGA Tour win to go with a quintet of European Tour victories.  Molinari has only been playing on the PGA Tour full time since 2015 and it appears the move has finally paid off. Rose’s win in the season-long FedEx Cup competition solidified the nine time Tour winner and former U.S. Open champ as one of the top players in the game. He finished one shot out of finishing 2018 as the number one player in the world rankings, losing out to Brooks Koepka. Rose’s rise to prominence is interesting as the Englishman crashed into our consciousness as an 18 year old amateur who contended at the 1998 Open Championship. He turned pro shortly thereafter, but missed his first 21 cuts. His perseverance eventually resulted in 12 European and 9 PGA Tour victories. His FedEx Cup championship was overshadowed by Woods’ win at The Tour Championship, but it was a hard earned accomplishment.

Eagle: Brooks Koepka’s two majors and second consecutive U.S. Open

For only the second time in almost 70 years, a golfer won back to back U.S. Open Championships. Brooks Koepka, who defeated 155 other golfers and a brutal Shinnecock Hills golf course, was greeted at the 18th hole by the last one to accomplish the feat, 1988 and 1989 champion Curtis Strange. Strange was a member of the Fox broadcast team and the only one alive who can relate to what Koepka was dealing with as he made putt after putt to secure the win. A couple of months later, he capped off an incredible season by taking the PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, outlasting Tiger Woods down the stretch with an awesome display around the greens. Koepka capped off a great 2018 by winning The CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges, his first start of the wraparound 2018 - 2019 season. Of his five Tour victories, three are major championships. It almost seems as if he lacks a pulse, or at least nerves. The 28 year old out of Florida State appears to have a  bright future.

Hole-in-One: The return of Tiger Woods

As the gallery swarmed through the ropes on the fairway of the 18th hole at East Lake Golf Club, a red shirt clad Tiger Woods emerged, with Rory McIlroy a couple of steps behind. A few minutes later, Woods was standing over a putt to end his long journey. Less than a year before, as vice-captain for the victorious American Presidents Cup team, Woods had reportedly questioned whether he would ever play another round of competitive golf. His comeback had begun quietly in November of 2017, at his own Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. Tiger seemed to be pain free after well documented knee and back surgeries, the last one a risky fusion operation. His drives were long, at times outdriving big hitting Justin Thomas, his playing partner in the first round. He went on to finish in a tie for ninth in the 18 player field. His world ranking was somewhere in the 900’s, but it was cause for cautious optimism.  Could he stay healthy? By the time the Masters rolled around in April, the 14 time major winner was coming off consecutive top five finishes, including a second place at the Valspar Championship. A tie for 32nd at Augusta was a little disappointing, but the progress in his game was evident. He was making cuts and slowly moving up the world rankings and the FedEx Cup standings.His tie for 11th at The Players on a course that is not well suited to his game caused interest to soar once again. An ugly start at the U.S. Open doomed him to missing the weekend, but a fourth place tie at the Quicken Loans sent him into The Open Championship with renewed confidence. Standing over a greenside chip shot on the 11th hole on Sunday, Woods had a one shot lead, just seven holes from a 15th major title. But a poor decision on the shot resulted in a double-bogey and a sixth place result as he watched Molinari go onto victory. The top-ten finish, however, advanced him to 50th in the world rankings, qualifying him for the World Golf Championship - Bridgestone Championship a couple of weeks later. He finished in the middle of the pack and headed to St. Louis for the PGA Championship. As mentioned previously, he again contended and settled for second behind Koepka. But he’d done something almost as incredible as his first year on Tour, when he qualified for one of 30 spots in the Tour Championship in only seven events. This time, he qualified in 20th place and posted finishes of 40th, 24th and sixth in the first three playoff events. More importantly, he’d played five out of six weeks without any adverse physical issues. That he had that two foot putt to win again had the sports world mesmerized.  A few moments later, he was bent over at the waist, his head in his hands, having just sunk a putt that would give him his 80th career PGA Tour victory. To see him embracing caddie Joey Lacava in victory was as emotional a scene as I’ve witnessed in sports. The Tour Championship win ended five winless years for perhaps the best golfer of all time, marking what could also be the most unlikely comeback in sports  history.

Don't forget to check out my new book, "Offsetting Penalties - A PK Frazier Novel" at  Amazon.com. Also check out www.thechtonsports.com for our podcasts and live broadcast on Tuesday's at 9:00 pm EST. I can also be reached via email at kevin@pkfrazier.com.

A WEDNESDAY IN NOVEMBER: DUKE ROLLS, COWBOYS STRUGGLE, ALABAMA ON TOP AGAIN

Duke Embraces One and Done: Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski was a little late to the "one and done" party in the college game, but in a contest pitting his young squad against the master of the strategy, John Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats, it's apparent the reigning king of coaches has figured it out. Led by freshman RJ Barrett, Zion Williamson and Cam Reddish who combined for 83 points, the fourth-ranked Blue Devils scorched second-ranked Kentucky 118 - 84. Those three top scorers came just one point short of beating the Wildcats by themselves. This wasn't done against some early season sacrificial lamb in the friendly confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium, but on a neutral court against one of the other premier programs in NCAA history. Kentucky is also supposedly stacked with talent, but we'll have to let the season unfold before getting a full understanding of how impactful this win is for Duke. As we've seen in the past, whether it's basketball for football, an opening game win that we thought would set the stage for the season can lose its luster if either team stumbles in the ensuing weeks. People are already talking about Duke going undefeated, but I'm not jumping on that bandwagon yet. Is Duke undoubtedly a great team? I would tend to say yes. Are we premature in anointing the Blue Devils as the next great thing? Absolutely. Duke is a young team and had the advantage of jumping out early on Kentucky, another team made up of freshman and sophomores. If the Blue Devils are able to dominate a very difficult ACC, then I'll check back on the subject in March. Until then, all I know is Duke put a big time hurt on Kentucky in the season's opening game.

Cowboy's Fan Base Must Be Getting Restless: As a long suffering one-time avid Redskins fan who has fallen to lukewarm status, it surprises me that the Cowboys still enjoy a rather rabid following. They have an owner in Jerry Jones who feels like he knows football because he pulled off one big trade almost thirty years ago in the pre-free agency era that resulted in three Super Bowl wins in four years. The Cowboys have won just a single playoff game in twenty years. Jones has stuck with head coach Jason Garrett despite mostly mediocre winning records that have made it difficult for the team to get any high draft picks without trading up to get them. By refusing to bring in an NFL savvy general manager, Jones has perpetuated that mediocrity. I suspect, although last week's trade for Amari Cooper with the Raiders was a good one, that Jones' high profile may make it difficult for him or his son Stephen to do the back channel work necessary to get the players necessary to upgrade the team. I actually have a lot of respect for Jerry Jones. He is a loyal manager about whom many say good things. The fact that he revolutionized what a franchise in the NFL looks like are a tribute to his business acumen. Just like Dan Snyder in Washington, that business success hasn't translated into winning on the field in the current millenium. Even when they have talent, the Cowboys find a way to lose. Running back Ezekiel Elliott has been held to just 94 yards on 32 carries in the last two games. In a game that Dallas could still win Monday night against the Titans, Elliott disappeared in the second half. I have to agree with Troy Aikman, the Hall of Fame former Cowboy quarterback, who said in an interview Tuesday that the Dallas organization needs a total overhaul. It's doubtful Jerry Jones will fire himself or son Stephen as general manager, but perhaps they'll start the process with bringing in a new coaching staff.

Where Does This Crimson Tide Team Stand Historically? After dismantling what is considered a pretty good LSU team 29 - 0 on Saturday night at hostile Death Valley in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, it's probably not unreasonable to start speculating where this Alabama team ranks with the best teams of all time. The last couple of regular seasons I wasn't totally sold on the Crimson Tide as a complete team. Even though he was talented, quarterback Jalen Hurts was a bit inconsistent and their secondary was vulnerable to big plays. With the emergence of Tua Tagovailoa behind center and a strengthened defense, Alabama looks virtually unbeatable to me. Tua hasn't even had to play a full game, so it's scary to think what the Tide would do with the top offense on the field for 60 minutes. A lot of so called experts are speculating what happens if Georgia beats Alabama in the SEC championship game. Did they not watch the second half of last seasons' national championship game? Georgia is probably not quite as good as they were last year and the Tide is clearly better. It would be a huge upset for someone to be able to topple Alabama this season, unless it's Clemson in the title game. So where does this team stand in history? As premature as it is, since they haven't won the title this season, I believe they rank pretty high, perhaps first or second. The other team that comes to mind that I believe is in the same class is the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers, who dismantled a pretty good Florida team 62 - 24 in the Fiesta Bowl to cap off an undefeated season with a national championship. The 'Huskers scored more than 40 points in all but two games and one of those was a 37 - 0 thrashing of rival Oklahoma. Will this Alabama team meet those standards?

Don't forget to check out my new book, "Offsetting Penalties - A PK Frazier Novel" at  Amazon.com. Also check out www.thechtonsports.com for our podcasts and live broadcast on Tuesday's at 8:30 pm EST. I can also be reached via email at kevin@pkfrazier.com.

A SURPRISE FINALE TO THE USGA'S 73RD U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

When Ariya Jutanugarn stood on the 10th tee Sunday afternoon in the U.S. Women’s Open, her lead over Hyo Joo Kim was a seemingly insurmountable seven shots. It appeared the rest of the field was playing for second place and a nice piece of the biggest purse on the LPGA Tour schedule. Five birdies and a bogey by Jutanugarn had bettered her score by four shots to 16 under par. A couple of hours later, she stood over a five foot  bogey putt to secure a spot in a playoff against Kim, who carded a bogey-free 67, with two birdies on the back nine, including a chip in on the 15th hole, to erase the huge deficit. I’m certain Ariya was asking herself, “How did this happen?”

It began with a pushed three wood on the 10th hole that found the water hazard on the right side of the fairway. She had to play a short third shot because of tree issues and finally brushed in a short putt for a triple-bogey seven. The shock of the score was not just the three lost shots, but the break down by the most reliable club in Jutanugarn’s bag: her three wood. Without a driver in her bag, Ariya had depended on the length and accuracy of her fairway metal to forge the big lead and it was surprising to see that wayward drive on the 10th hole. Compounding her problems, she decided to abandon the three-wood for most of the rest of the round in favor of a driving iron and it appeared to shake her confidence and rhythm.

Ariya Jutanugarn With Her Driving Iron

Meanwhile Kim, the 2014 Evian Championship winner, was putting together a flawless inward nine holes. The similarities between the 22 year-old Korean and Jutanugrn are interesting. Both share a birth year, the same number of majors as well as only a single previous  made cut in the U.S. Women’s Open in 2016. Of course, there was nothing similar about what transpired for the players on Sunday’s back nine. Kim entered the two-hole aggregate playoff without a bogey in her last 31 holes and was beaming with confidence before teeing off on the 14th hole. Her mood further improved after her birdie on the first playoff hole. giving her a one-shot lead going to the 18th hole. Forty-five minutes later, Ariya Jutanugarn was holding the trophy after somehow averting one of the biggest collapses in major championship history after Kim bogeyed the 18th hole twice, the second time after the playoff had gone to sudden death when the two players were tied after the end of the two-hole aggregate portion.

Hyo Joo Kim

Initially, this piece was going to be about the weekend dominance of Jutanugarn, who had turned a five shot deficit to Sarah Jane Smith at the beginning of her second round into the large lead with nine holes remaining. It was going to be about how far she hits the ball, out-driving most of her competitors using a three wood off the tee. It was going to be about her calm under pressure and her ability to make big putts at the right time, as she’s done to chalk up eight LPGA titles, including the

2016 Ricoh Women’s British Open. It was going to be about we might be looking at the next dominant player in women’s golf, especially with the way she can close out wins after leading going into the final round. The question is did a bad nine holes, including a pair of closing bogeys, change all of that? If all we look at is the result, perhaps not. She won her second major championship at the age of 22 and did so by demonstrating incredible resiliency by hanging in there despite falling a stroke behind with one hole left in the playoff. A bad nine holes certainly doesn’t diminish her power and poise. In fact, coming back and winning despite a collapse of that magnitude should actually enhance the impression we have of the best golfer to ever come out of Thailand. It was no surprise that Ariya Jutanugarn was holding the trophy as the light faded Sunday afternoon at Shoal Creek, but the three hours leading up to the moment certainly was.

Don't forget to check out my new book, "Offsetting Penalties - A PK Frazier Novel" at  Amazon.com. Also check out www.thechtonsports.com for our podcasts and live broadcast on Tuesday's at 8:30 pm EST. I can also be reached via email at kevin@pkfrazier.com.

MOTHER NATURE MAKES A COMEBACK AT THE 73RD U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

Shoal Creek, Alabama: Mother Nature decided the match wasn’t quite over, making another run at the U.S. Women’s Open Friday afternoon. Play was suspended at 2:27 p.m., just before the final groups of the afternoon wave teed off, because of dangerous weather conditions, primarily due to lightning in the area. Three hours and 49 minutes later at 6:16 p.m., with darkness looming, players returned to the course and made it to 7:20 p.m. before play was suspended once again due to weather. With sunset  at 7:50 p.m., it was doubtful, given the cloudy conditions, that the players would have

had enough light to play much longer. There was little or no rain that fell during the initial suspension, so officials had hoped to begin play at Saturday at 6:45 a.m. with 78 players still on the course. This is where Mother Nature decided to try to even the match, dumping just short of an inch of rain on the course overnight and delaying the start of play until 7:45 a.m.

Despite the weather delays, there were some highlights of round two. First round co-leader Sarah Jane Smith of Australia birdied six holes in an 11 hole stretch to get to 11-under par and take a six-shot lead on Ariya Jutanugarn, who was in the afternoon wave. Smith eventually cooled off, playing her final six holes in one-over par to finish at 10 under par for the tournament, the same total she was able to post for the back nine. “I think the side sets up nice for a fade and there’s been a few pins tucked on the right side of greens and that’s made it a little easier for me to get at them, I think,” the leader remarked after her round. Smith’s caddie also happens to be her husband. “We’re experienced together. He knows me better than anyone on the course and off, probably. So I think it’s just a comfort level that comes with that.” Smith has been on tour since 2006 and has yet to record a victory. Her best finish in a major were a pair of ties for second at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2010 and 2017. This is her seventh U.S. Women’s Open and she’s only made one cut, when she finished in a tie for 46th in 2013. Her 2018 season has been disappointing, with six made cuts in 13 tournaments and a highest finish of just a tie for 26th at the Kia Classic. To categorize her hot start as a surprise would be a vast understatement.

Ariya Jutanugarn’s presence on the leaderboard is no surprise, as she’s coming off a victory at Kingsmill, her eighth win on the LPGA Tour, including a major title in the 2017 RICOH Women’s British Open. Her record in the U.S. Women’s Open isn’t nearly as impressive, with only one made cut in five appearances. Jutanugarn birdied her first hole and stood at six-under when play was halted Friday evening, putting her in a tie with Su-Hyun Oh, another Australian who completed play in the early groups. No one else was better than three-under par for the tournament, with only Jutanugarn among the late starters in the top ten.

In other news, there was a somewhat premature announcement that Brittany Lincicome will be competing in the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship, July 19 - 22 in Lexington, Kentucky. Lincicome will be playing on a sponsor’s exemption in the event held opposite The Open Championship. “I love competing with the guys. I feel like I step up my game when I play with them. I always thought it would be cool to try,” the two-time major champion commented following her round on Friday. “I just got a text from my agent. We weren’t going to announce it until Monday, so I don’t think anyone knows.” Well, that all changed in a big way following  her quick appearance before the press. The seven time winner on the LPGA tour will join Annika Sorrenstam and Michele Wie as the only women to play in a PGA Tour event.   

Don't forget to check out my new book, "Offsetting Penalties - A PK Frazier Novel" at  Amazon.com. Also check out www.thechtonsports.com for our podcasts and live broadcast on Tuesday's at 8:30 pm EST. I can also be reached via email at kevin@pkfrazier.com.

         

73rd U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN ONE UP ON MOTHER NATURE

Shoal Creek, Alabama: In a golf match where Mother Nature took a big lead on the USGA in the opening holes, the staff and grounds crew scored a comeback and despite heavy rains earlier in the week inflicted by Tropical Storm Alberto, the U.S. Women’s Open started on time at 6:40 a.m. Thursday morning. Under cloudy skies, groups teed off on the first and tenth holes, and with the only rain in the forecast coming on Friday afternoon, it appears the tournament will end as expected on Sunday. The players are playing the ball as it lies, with the USGA choosing not to break with its tradition of never having held a round in any of its championships where they went with lift, clean and place rules. “Our intention is to rely on our considerable experience. We played 72 of these U.S. Women’s Opens, in fact, 117 U.S. Open Championships playing the ball as it lies, finishing the competition and so it’s our intention to do that this week as well,” commented John Bodenhamer, Sr.Managing Director of the USGA during an interview Tuesday afternoon. So far he’s been true to his word.

Lexi Thompson and Michelle Wie on the 8th green

I’m here at Shoal Creek to continue my coverage of U.S. professional golf. My first experience with the U.S. Women’s Open was as a nine year old wandering the fairways of The Cascade Course in Hot Springs, Virginia. That tournament boasted some of the pioneers of women’s golf, including Mickey Wright, Betsy Rawls, Louise Suggs and Patty Berg, who between them had 11 U.S. Women’s Open titles. The course was brutally difficult, with the winner posting a score of 10 over par 294 on the par 71 layout. It turned out to be an historic finish for Catherine Lacoste of France, still the only win by an amateur in the history of the event. I remember watching her joyfully running through the parking lot after her victory, back in the day when the players were much more accessible to the spectators than they are today. Former champions Betsy Rawls and Brittany Lang both came close as amateurs, finishing second, but neither matched the feat of Lacoste, from the famous alligator shirt company family.

Shoal Creek Clubhouse

Shoal Creek, which opened in 1977 and  hosted the 1984 and 1990 PGA  Championships, as well as U.S. Amateur in 1986 and the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2008, was the first solo design by Jack Nicklaus. It’s situated southeast of Birmingham and offers beautiful, rolling terrain, not unlike another of Nicklaus’ designs, Muirfield Village where the PGA Tour’s Memorial is taking place this week. Although the grounds of the course are wet, the fairways and greens themselves appear very playable. I watched several groups come through the par 4 eighth hole and didn’t see any mud on the balls. The putting surfaces, which have sub-air drying systems, are still firm. With the weather forecast of sunny conditions, light winds and no rain, it’s possible the course will get dryer and firmer as the weekend moves on. 

Don't forget to check out my new book, "Offsetting Penalties - A PK Frazier Novel" at  Amazon.com. Also check out www.thechtonsports.com for our podcasts and live broadcast on Tuesday's at 8:30 pm EST. I can also be reached via email at kevin@pkfrazier.com.