[gets on soapbox]
We have to stop the protein-ification of … everything.
It’s just marketing. It’s not even real. It’s the same thing as putting “Greek” on a bucket of yogurt. It sounds good but nobody even knows what it means.
Starbucks, Chipotle … Blue Bell???
Stop.
Just stop. Let me enjoy my ice cream. You’re not tricking people with “frozen dairy dessert.” Come on! It’s ice cream. This is insane. I’ll get my protein elsewhere.
[gets off soapbox]
[Jason gets on soapbox]
We've got the same protein problems in The Netherlands. Last year Arjen Lubach (our John Oliver) dug deep into the BS behind the hype so we don't have to.
[gets off soapbox]
Name drops today: Colt Knost, RNP, Luke Donald, Johnny Keefer, Curt Cignetti and Mr. Al-Qaeleb.
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Garmin.
Speaking of being trying to be healthy, I am in the midst of a 53-day streak of 10K+ daily steps. Brought to you of course by my Approach S70.
The phrase Neil from NLU uses a lot comes to mind: Low stakes meaningful competition with others (or yourself) is invaluable. Nobody — I mean absolutely nobody — cares that I’ve put up 53 days in a row of 10K+ steps. But it matters to me.
One night in the middle of December, I realized around 11 p.m. that I only had 4,500 steps so I started hustling around the neighborhood and hit 10K at 11:59 p.m. to keep the streak alive. I started fist pumping like a complete lunatic, just so proud of the moment.
A shout out to Garmin for helping me with my meaningless streak and for outfitting us over the last year. Glad to be partnered with them, and you should check out their Approach S70 right here.
Best watch I’ve ever owned.
OK, now onto the news.
No, sir!
Earlier this week, NCAA champ Michael La Sasso turned pro by joining Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers. An amazing standalone sentence.
In doing so, he forfeited his spot in the 2026 Masters as the reigning NCAA champ.
The Masters starts in less than 80 days.
The first name that comes to mind here is Colt Knost, who famously (?) eschewed his own Masters invite by turning pro in the fall of 2007 after the Walker Cup, a decision he says he doesn’t regret. Knost recently explained why he did it.
If you look at what I did that summer, I was the No. 1 amateur in the world and my stock was never going to get any higher. I got offered things financially that I didn't think I could turn down and I didn't know if they would still be there if I waited until Augusta in April.
I got three starts in the fall on the PGA Tour. I went to Q-School and ended up getting my Korn Ferry card. I just felt like the way I was playing, why not get out at one of these PGA Tour events? I might win the way I was playing. So, I just thought the time was right.
Golfweek
La Sasso’s timing is more curious though. Again, the Masters is in 11 weeks. LIV is in a difficult spot with Koepka’s exit plus no other big signings and almost certainly would have waited for him to finish up his amateur career with a 77-74 at ANGC.
But I’m sure there was also money involved. Like, a lot of it. And that can be alluring for someone who’s 21 with a career in front of them. That can be alluring for someone who’s 41 and has a career in front of them.
But when I read that news about La Sasso joining LIV, I couldn’t help but wonder how he will feel about it when he’s the 41-year-old looking back on what he did in golf. Maybe none of it matters. Maybe he goes on to play 75 majors and win a couple of them.
But I couldn’t help but consider how emblematic this is of what LIV offers and what a compelling thing it can be. Because what LIV (and not just LIV but the entire world) offers is the idea that there is an amount of money that can fulfill the hopes in your heart and the dreams in your head. There is a number that will satisfy.
Some days, I still believe there is truth to this falsehood. We all probably do.
There’s an incredible line in this astounding report on the recent sale of the Lakers — which reads like a season of Succession — about how the older brother of the family who sold the team doesn’t understand why the younger half brothers are upset about the family’s decision to sell for $10B.
Johnny said it is sad that bitterness lingers following the sale, given how much money the siblings made. "What more do you need?" he asked.
"What more do you want?"
ESPN
For Michael La Sasso, maybe nothing. But also maybe when he’s 41 or 52 or 68 and that HyFlyer money has long been spent, he’ll think about the magical week he gave up for a substantial amount of money and how all the money in the world could never buy that experience.
Let’s leave it with Bryson — of all people! — to sum things up after he won Winged Foot.
[Playing the Masters in 2016 as an amateur] … it is the single greatest week of my life, no matter if it was a major championship win in the U.S. Open or winning PGA Tour events, I still say that amateur week, that experience, was the greatest moment in my life.
NBC
I am saying this from a position of privilege, I realize, but we should more normalize the value extraordinary experiences more often than we normalize the affirmation of making another buck.
This was a bit of research that started as a Chris Gotterup stat from the Sony Open and somehow turned into a Scottie Scheffler stat by the time I got done with it.
My point was to highlight the company Gotterup has been keeping with three PGA Tour wins since the beginning of 2024 — Myrtle Beach, Scottish Open and Sony.
Elite stuff from Gotterup, who wins a lot (more than Morikawa, Fleetwood and JT combined over the same timeframe). Interestingly though, Gotterup is the worst player (by SG) with three wins in that period of time, and would also be the worst player with two wins and one of the worst with one win. A bit of the Brooks Koepka model where the weeks in which he’s great are Ws and nothing else really matters.
But all people seemed to care about (and rightfully so!) was the gap between Scottie and everyone else. Scottie is tied with the next four players behind him combined in total PGA Tour wins since the start of 2024. That is completely and totally insane.
Leave it to Scottie, to steal the spotlight from Chris who stole the spotlight from ViJay.
If you looked at his last six starts, he would still make the list (three wins). He has lost to eight golfers in those six starts.
Also, many were calling to make this a worldwide wins stat so that Rory’s number would go up. I’m happy to provide that, but it does provide a noisier dataset.
15 — Scottie
14
13
12
11
10
9
8 — Rory, Niemann
7
6
5
4 — Hideki, RNP, McCarty, Parry, Brennan
3 — Xander, Tommy, Gotterup and nine others
Not sure we need Matt McCarty and John Parry muddying these waters. Still, it doesn’t do much to lessen the Scottie effect here. The thing I keep saying to myself when I’m watching or researching is some version of, He’s just so much better than everyone else.
World No. 1's yard work.
I loved this from Scottie.
I like a lot of stuff about golf. It's really hard to put into words. It's something that I think about all the time. I have to force myself to think about other things so I'm not thinking about golf.
Scottie Scheffler | 2026 American Express
Just sick, sick stuff. And honestly, something — one of the few things about him — that probably a lot of us can identify with. I find that when I’m playing often — which is not very much of the time — it not only doesn’t satiate my itch to play but it increases it. Playing more makes me want to play more. Playing better makes me want to play better.
As I’ve said many times, this is so much different than how we internalize football or baseball as adults. Watching football is fun, but I don’t play it, and I don’t obsess over thinking about it. Golf is just very special in that way, and Scottie is a very special golfer.
Two more notes on that.
1. He’s entering his eighth year as a pro. Here are his SG/round over the first seven years.
2018: -0.59
2019: 0.64
2020: 1.61
2021: 1.63
2022: 2.32
2023: 2.83
2024: 3.22
2025: 3.29
The best we’ve seen since Tiger, and he’s gotten better every single year. That feels impossible, and eventually it will end. But I don’t think the end of it will be in 2026.
2. This is the first time ever (?) that I actually thought someone could snap Tiger’s record of 280 weeks in a row as the No. 1 player in the world.
Scottie is at 175 overall, which is already third all time.
He’s also at 140 in a row, which is still only halfway there. But he’s the only player to get halfway there. Also, lol that Tiger has two streaks of 250+ weeks as world No. 1. Two!
More Scottie-Tiger stuff coming in an upcoming edition, but I agree with ANGC Burner that this is probably the year the conversation goes mainstream.
Incredible thread here on the best throws you’ve ever seen. I’m addicted to watching people throw. Those dumb 15-minute videos on YouTube of borderline pros throwing bullpens at fancy pitching facilities where they hit 101 (or 107!) on the gun and have no clue where it’s going? I watch them all.
I said on Sunday that Rams-Bears had to be one of the great QB arm games ever. And of course got a lot of “What about Favre! Elway! Marino!” responses.
When you’re at that level though, it’s kind of all subjective. I think Stafford has the biggest NFL arm of all time. Maybe not the fastest or strongest, but the biggest. Just an easy 55 in the air with more clearly still in the tank. Kind of like Finau.
Regardless, the throw that I think of when I see the phrase “best throws you’ve ever seen” is this from Vick. A 63-yard dime that looked like he just flicked it.
I will now return you to you regularly scheduled golf information, but not before I point you to this video of Brady talking about the top throws of the season. It is brilliant, and when he has time to move around (with his words), he’s excellent.
Thanks a lot Rory … Thanks a lot.
• My friend, Chad Coleman, is now CMO of the LPGA. Big time stuff, though I’m going to miss his Dude Perfect-infused kindness to my kids for the last five years. Great guy, awesome spot for him. Pumped for what he does at the LPGA.
• This from Gabby on Johnny Keefer is excellent.
• This from Sean on Tommy Fleetwood is even better. Sean is such a great profiler, and Tommy is such a willing subject. Perfect match, and you will enter 2026 an even bigger fan.
• Wow, this on ChatGPT allowing advertising is incredible. I have never thought of advertising as paramount to the freedom of information flowing to everyone and not just the elite. The way it’s laid out here sort of broke my brain a bit. Great read.
• I have been on this block for a while now, but we need more of this in the golf (and sports) world. Slow, hard-fought media that has real depth and insight and not just the Beastification of everything that makes you click another thumbnail. I want to consume more of this. I want to make more of this.
• [Jason here] KVV's defense of blades served as an enjoyable lightning rod this week. It reminded me of running track & field in high school. Our school had a strong enough reputation that we felt confident rocking up to meets in sweatshirts adorned with quotes like “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift” -Pre Fontaine. Siiiick.
There was another school in our division who didn't have the same experience. They had a historically bad reputation, like “shot putters needing to run events” bad, but they also embraced it. They showed up to meets in shirts that said, "Don't push me, coach, I don't want to be a champion.”
Our team had fun winning and they had fun for fun's sake.
I loved their vibe then and even more so now when I read KVV's piece and think about my own fun and dumb decision to keep playing blades.
Some gems over the last few weeks, starting with this one from Joel Beall.
• Speaking of Cignetti, this made me laugh pretty hard.
• Al-Qaeleb!
• Gonna be using this meme a LOT this year.
• I just consume N.A. Spieth these days.
Thank you for reading our ridiculous golf newsletter. Every edition — and everything we make — is handcrafted by me (Kyle) and Jason.
It’s fantastic work that we love doing, and we appreciate you being part of the journey of trying to figure all of this out alongside us.
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