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Issue No. 211 | June 5, 2025 | Read Online
Our goal going into this year was 1,000 members of the Normal Club.
We are now getting close to reaching that number, which is both a surprise (since it’s only June) and also (obviously) a delight.
With a lot of our writing next week behind the paywall, there is no better time to #getinvolved by joining the Normal Club than right now.
Cost: $82/year in honor of Tiger’s incredible run of 82 PGA Tour victories Sam Snead’s co-record of 82 PGA Tour victories, which includes wins at the prestigious Anthracite Open, the Miami Biltmore International Four-Ball and the Palm Beach Round Robin.
Benefits:
All of our major championship content.
Free entry into next week’s U.S. Open fantasy contest (prize pool = $2,500).
First rip at new merch (dropping, I believe, in the next week).
To sweeten the pot, I will put together one care package with everything pictured below and send it to one of the next five people who sign up for membership today (which you can do right here).
Today’s newsletter is presented by OGIO. They just loaded me up with some gear for my trip to Oakmont next week, including this Alpha Venture Backpack, which I’m stoked about. I will report back on traveling with it to a major championship, but if it’s anything like the rest of OGIO’s gear, it will rock.
The Alpha Venture Backpack is “the ultimate travel bag for the spontaneous traveler.” Given that I waited until this week to book my flight and hotel for Oakmont, I think I qualify as "the spontaneous traveler.”
There is also a detachable pad at the base of the bag that transforms into a sling bag. We’ll see if I’m brave enough to wear a sling bag around Oakmont for a week. Regardless, I will be giving away an OGIO travel bag on Twitter over the next few weeks. Follow on Twitter here for more details and in the meantime, check out their Alpha Venture Backpack here.
OK, now onto the news.
Let’s get right to it.
1. As I watched this clip of Arnold Palmer from the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont — famously, Arnie’s last U.S. Open — I thought about how much Arnie there is to Rory. Both deeply in love with the game and both contain more emotion than they probably wish they did.
Tiger is Jack in so many ways, even from the standpoint of his disposition. Rory, though, is so much more Palmer. The way he sees the world, the way he sees the sport and the way he sees himself. I’ll never forget him going on the NLU pod several years ago and talking about the Jason Days of the world. Guys that were terrific players but not legends. He said something like, If they win three more, they get to me. If I win three more, I get to … Arnold Palmer.
I don’t know if Rory will actually get to Palmer, and I actually believe he’s having more of Phil’s career. But his whole aura is very Palmer, and I don’t think I’ve ever noticed that (perhaps because Palmer was almost 10 years past his last event when I started covering golf).
2. This is some extremely normal sport behavior. Bacon-connoisseur-turned-YouTube-star galavants across the globe, hitting balls off mountains and working on spin control with global leaders. Giannis hooping with the prime minister of Greece in a weekly pickup game at an outdoor court off the coast of the Mediterranean. But the American version of that.
3. One of my favorite moments of the year is seeing reaction from a handful of middling (even struggling) players after making it into the U.S. Open. The intersection of all those years of work and the reality that they will tee it up at Oakmont … mighty Oakmont … in an Open. It’s so good.
Here are three I loved.
The Dentist (Coach)
Zach Bauchou
James Nicholas
When The Dentist (Coach) is talking about how his dad — who passed away two months ago — tracked every shot even though he was never really into golf and wasn’t the one who taught his son the game. That’s the good stuff.
Being present, caring. What we all aspire to as parents.
Also of note: Zach Bauchou was the fifth-best player on that 2018 Oklahoma State title team. The fifth-best!
Hovland
Wolff
Eckroat
Ventura
Bauchou
The first four are all in the top 200 in the Data Golf rankings, and Bauchou is in the U.S. Open. Sick, sick stuff for a college team.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members and includes …
Thoughts on Rory’s first media appearance since before the PGA.
More on Jack and Scottie from Muirfield Village.
If you aren’t yet a Normal Club member, you can sign up right here.
If you are, keep reading!
Normal Sport is supported by exactly 851 deranged individuals. By becoming a member, you will receive the following …
• Our very best stuff during majors.
• First access to future merch drops.
• The delight of helping us establish this business.
By clicking below to join the Normal Club, you will also be eligible for our 2025 U.S. Open fantasy contest where someone will win at least $1,500.
The way Kyle has been able to mold a silly Twitter joke (normal sport) into a must-read newsletter on the weekly happenings in our silly game gives a great look into why he's one of the smartest people in golf.
Kyle's content is a product of a sick sense of humour, a clear passion for golf and unquestionable dedication to hard work. That's not normal!
Few make the sport feel as fun and as thought provoking.
Normal Sport is exploratory, ometimes emotional, always entertaining. It also has one of my favorite writers in the biz at its foundation.
Kyle sees golf in a way that no one else does—and we're all fortunate to get to share in that view through Normal Sport!
There’s been no one else in golf that has tickled my funny bone as often as Kyle Porter does. He’s been instrumental in ushering in a new era of golf coverage and it’s been a pleasure to be along for the ride in that.
Kyle is the best columnist in sports. That he has channeled those talents through strokes gained and Spieth memes is a blessing to golf.
Kyle approaches coverage of the game with both conviction and curiosity
Kyle is a perfect curator of the necessary moments of levity that accent a sport that will drive most of us insane.
It's a treasure trove of the important, the seemingly important, and — importantly! — the unimportant stuff. It's an asset in my inbox.
I’ve always enjoyed your love for golf. So often I see favoritism showed to golfers in the social media world, but I enjoy reading you telling a situation how it is regardless of the person.
Kyle is one of the best in the golf world at finding and synthesizing the absurd, the thoughtful and the fun things that make being a golf fan worthwhile.
