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The year’s third major tees off Thursday at Torrey Pines in San Diego, and maybe no storyline is bigger than the winner of the last major.
Josh Sens, senior writer : As Zak said, slim to none, and Slim just dropped a couple of shots trying to chop out of deep kikuyu rough.
Nick Piastowski, senior editor : I’m a bit more optimistic than Sean and Josh — but still pretty pessimistic.
This is why he will likely miss the cut at Torrey — and then win another Masters when he’s 60.
Michael Bamberger, senior writer:I think Bones had it exactly right: It wouldn’t surprise me to see him in the mix.
Mickelson was 50 — and Julius Boros, at 48, had previously been the oldest player to win a major.
Open at Torrey, where he played the first two rounds in the 1-2-3-in-the-world grouping, he tied for 26th.
No matter how’s he playing, dude has a knack for showing up at the majors, especially the U.S.
Thirteen years ago, only Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate got around 72 holes under par — and by one, at that — before Woods won in a Monday playoff.
He’s a different animal, and Winged Foot is a different course, where Bryson played strategically to angles that allowed him to run the ball up and use the flanges on certain greens to his advantage.
But I think your winner may play somewhat more like Patrick Reed did back in January, who was excellent after the tee, too.
Bamberger: Irons and fairway woods off the tee, and mid-iron approach shots into these wicked greens, always below the hole.
The PGL also imagines fans being treated to “dream fields and match ups, the best versus the best each week, a compelling team dimension with added storylines and rivalries, no cut, 3 days, team play-offs, relegation and promotion, a 5-hour broadcast window, exceptional production and a range of viewing options to suit a range of fans, existing and new.” But maybe the biggest takeaway is that neither the PGL nor the other alternative golf league, the Super Golf League, appear to be going away anytime soon.
The kind of thing that can inspire change, if ever so slight, in the monotonous nature of the PGA Tour.
On the other hand, if big money and big names alone were enough to make compelling entertainment, then the Phil-Tiger match at Shadow Creek would have been riveting.
We’re seeing signs of that with the PGA Tour and European Tour working together, and the creation of the Player Impact Program.
Bastable: Way too early to know! Sure, loaded-field events sound like great fun, but if they’re being played in the Middle and Far East, that’ll mean early-morning or middle-of-the-night viewing for U.S.-based fans.
Competition is good, but in every boxing match, presidential campaign or most anything else, usually you can identify the competing parties.
It falls along the lines of playing a different style of baseball — some have higher seams and would help a pitcher.
The easiest fix for this rules issue is one that only a tiny number of us like: At the elite level, a governing body or tournament sponsor should hand out game balls.