Issue No. 190 | April 24, 2025

I have a friend who barely pays attention to golf. We met last week to talk about writing and books and things we are both working on. “I watched the Masters,” he told me. “And … this is strange … it made me want to go play a game I have almost no interest in.”

There is a bit of magic, a bit of mystery to this game. I think it is probably the most mystical of all the sports, mostly because of how tethered it is to nature and how powerful the pull of nature can oftentimes be.

SMartin wrote about this recently.

I also find the game and its branches to be almost limitless in their intrigue. They suck me in again and again. When you start a business like this, there is always a fear that you won’t have enough material or content to work with, but the truth is that you almost always have too much, to the point of being overwhelmed.

The best game. I love loving it.

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And one of my favorite places I have experienced the game is Erin Hills. I was there for the 2017 U.S. Open, and it is such a wondrous property.

Fun to get around, easy to get lost. It is grand.

This year, the USGA returns with the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally on May 29-June 1. I could not be more excited about this. The U.S. Women’s Open is not only my favorite women’s golf event to tune into every year but also one of my favorite events overall.

This year, the USGA had the second most qualifier entries in the event’s 80-year history, including entries from a 9 year old (!) and a 61 year old (!).

Very normal sport stuff right there.

If you are even remotely in the area of Erin Hills, you should make your way out to the event for a day or two or the entire week.

There are few opportunities better than a women’s major to see greatness up close, to get the kids #involved and to send me all kinds of normal sport-related photos than a women’s major, and especially this women’s major.

You can get tickets right here.

The 15th at sunset. How can you not be romantic about golf?

10 Random Golf Thoughts This Week

1. Let’s just get right into it.

I was bouncing around the other day when I saw this clip of Eamon talking about how JT is the best American player of his generation. If you watch the entire thing, it’s actually more defensible than the headline would lead you to believe, but still … JT might not even be the best American player from his generation in his Tuesday money game.

What Eamon is saying is that JT is the best player from his class (Spieth, Berger etc.), which is decidedly not a generation. That begs the question, though, what is a generation? Are Brooks (age 34) and JT (31) in the same generation? What about JT and Rory (35)? JT and Scottie (28)?

We (I) throw the term “generational player” around with absolutely no regard for what it actually means. In my head, though, I think of a generation being 10 years. Generational player = someone who comes along once a decade. Rory is generational. Rahm might be generational. Phil and Tiger were (obviously) generational. I thought Spieth was, too.

So then I guess the JT question depends on when you start his generation. Does every player have his own generation of 10 years, spanning five years on either side of his age? Do you just look at decades (like 2000-2009 and 2010-2019)?

If your span is 10 years like mine is, then five years on either side of JT includes Brooks and Scottie. This seems like a … not unreasonable way to look at things? In Brooks’ case, it would put Rory in his generation but Scottie and Morikawa (28) would not be. I think that’s also fair? Kinda similar to how I don’t think DJ (40) and JT are in the same generation.

Anyway, JT is not the best American player of his generation. Brooks is. And Spieth may still be hanging on. And Bryson has a claim as well. And depending on how you define it, Scottie has probably passed all of them.

Here’s one head-to-head JT comp.

Spieth vs. JT

Whose career would you rather have? Who would trade their career for the other guy’s?

And this — Spieth vs. JT, which, I admit is heading in the wrong direction for Spieth — is the least compelling of the arguments for best American of his generation.

Here’s JT vs. Brooks by the way.

JT vs. Brooks

Aside: How strange has Brooks’ career been? Has anyone ever won 5+ majors and outpaced his PGA Tour total? Andy North (two majors, one PGA Tour win) is a decent comp, I guess, but Brooks is tied with Nelson and Seve!

Here’s the truth: It may end up that JT — who I absolutely ride for — goes down as the best American of his generation, but as it stands right now, I would argue that he’s not even in the top three within his generation. And even if we’re using Eamon’s definition of the same year, I’m not sure he’s even in the top two (Spieth and Bryson)!

2. A version of this gets passed around every year, and every year I get sucked in.

My answers this year …

9 tee to 7 green — par 5
6 tee to 15 green — par 3
14 tee to 12 green — par 4?

I stole that last one from Jamie Kennedy because it is brilliant.

My 6 tee to 15 green might be dumb considering how much that green tilts toward the water on 15. You might literally not be able to hold it. I’ll ride for 9 tee to 7 green though. You going to play it down 8 (which is shorter) or up 9 (which provides the better angle)?

You could maybe get me going on 16 tee to 6 green, too. And I like this suggestion from Jake Nichols.

All of this would obviously require clearing some (if not a lot of) trees, but that place is just the best golf playground.

3. How do we feel about Collin Morikawa right now? I thought he was going to win a lot this year and predicted that he would win Player of the Year. Though he still might win some, he almost certainly will not be POY, and his performance to date has made me question some things.

Like, this is a list I expect Corey Conners to be on.

Collin Morikawa is not Corey Conners.

Right?

This post will continue below for Normal Club members and includes …

• Nick Faldo’s insane Masters record.

• xWins at majors since 2020.

• A podcast business I’m always compelled by.

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