Issue No. 224 | July 1, 2025 | Read Online

STILLWATER, OKLA. — Why am I writing this newsletter from Stillwater, USA? Well, on Sunday, I picked up my dad, who lives in Stillwater, to go to a Fried Egg Golf event at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, Kansas. On the way back home, I stopped to write this newsletter at the coffee shop where my wife and I once started becoming my wife and I nearly 20 years ago.

All of it makes me feel old. All of it also makes me feel grateful. Having a job where I can write from anywhere, having a wife who encourages me to do so, having a dad who’s willing to join me in playing one of the harder courses I’ve ever seen.

Not that they need it, but I would love to plug Fried Egg’s events. If you haven’t played one, you should check them out. They are so well run and so much fun. Just a bunch of golf nerds coming in from all over to see and play tremendous golf courses. Truly a blast and some of my most memorable golf times.

Instagram post by @kyleporterns

I’m very glad for Fried Egg Golf, their hospitality and the path they have forged as a business for people like me who are trying to figure it all out.

One other note before we get to our sponsor of this newsletter and some golf news.

Last week, I promised that if we reached 1,000 paid members (or more) by 11:59 p.m. on June 30, I would give away this launch monitor slash simulator from Garmin to one of our new members. At the time, we were at 884 so we needed 116 to get to 1,000. I was going to give away the launch monitor to one of those 116+. We didn’t get there — currently at 935 — but I do have two updates.

1. I’m extending the deadline to 11:59 p.m. on July 1 (today). That’s still 65 people to go, which is a lot, but we can definitely do it! There are 17,000 of you reading this newsletter, and I’m desperate to spend $5,000 on this launch monitor.

2. Even if we don’t get to 1,000, I’ll still give away a Garmin product to one of our newest members (No. 885 and beyond). It won’t be the $5K launch monitor, but no matter what we get to by tonight, I’ll give away this S70 watch — which I love and wore on the course all day on Monday at Prairie Dunes — to one of you.

I think it’s my favorite and most useful little gadget while I play. If you become a member today, you’re eligible to win that watch, even if we don’t get to 1,000 by end of day (or eligible to win the launch monitor if we do!). And as of the time of this writing, we’re only drawing from a group of ~50 people.

You can still use the code normalsportmidyear at checkout to get 10 percent off your annual membership right here. Our membership is the lifeblood of this business, and it allows us to do so many things like travel to the Masters and U.S. Open, work on various side projects and start a podcast 👀.

So thank you to those of you who have jumped in and also to those of you who will in the future. It’s my favorite job I’ve ever had, and it is sustained by those of you who are sick enough to enjoy this stuff as much as I do.

Today’s newsletter is presented by Meridian Putters.

July 4th week, and I’m not sure you can do anything more American than buy a Meridian putter over the next few days. Or, potentially even better for you, join their Key West giveaway on Instagram (winner announced July 3 at noon CST).

How is any of this an act of national pride?

I’ll let founder Ryan Duffey explain.

So yes, grill your dogs, launch your fireworks, do your swimming. But remember, as the vanilla ice cream trickles over the homemade apple pie and Aaron Judge swats home runs in Yankee stadium on the television with bald eagles circling the grounds, that the most ‘Merican act you can commit this week is purchasing a metal stick with a block on the end of it that is designed, built, finished and shipped in Wisconsin, USA.

Happy July 4th week.

OK, now onto the news.

Group of Five

Seve
Rory
Niemann
Tom Kim
Aldrich Potgieter

The five non-Americans who have won PGA Tour events before turning 21.

It’s … something. It’s not nothing.

I’m not sure what exactly it is yet, but I do know that if Aldrich Potgieter from South Africa was Andy Parker who spent one year at Georgia before turning pro, living at 192 ball speed and winning Detroit in his 20th start on the PGA Tour, well, we would for sure have him in a practice pod with Scottie, Spieth and Cantlay at Bethpage.

Age gets distorted big time in golf. Soly has been living on this corner for a while, and I have joined him. We think of Morikawa and Hovland as young and Ludvig as really young. But the reality is that Morikawa is 28, Hovland is 27 and Ludvig is 25. They are young compared to regular humans but not super young compared to either pro golfers or other pro athletes.

Akshay (23), Tom Kim (23), Luke Clanton (21) and Potgieter (20) are actually young, and Potgieter is shockingly “guzzles Diet Coke after his win” young.

But we do this thing where we equate exposure with age. When we have been exposed to two players for similar lengths of time, we presume they are similar ages. But some players develop in college for four years while others (like Potgieter) develop as pros.

Winning — as always — is a skill, even winning weak fields like Detroit. And the head start he has on players who will come out of college in the future and seem younger than him — even if they’re several years older — is impressive.

Also, I’m also not saying he’s going to be Rory, but I am saying that if I told you to differentiate between curly-haired-non-American-bombers-who-still-have-some-baby-fat and their early career statistical profiles, it wouldn’t be that easy.

Take of the Week

If players started answering questions with what they actually think instead of saying what they think you want to hear or what they think their agent wants to hear, boy, my job would be a lot easier and some of these guys would immediately become a lot more interesting. I wouldn’t say interesting = smarter, but there would certainly be more texture there.

Like, the next time I ask JT why he tried to cut a 6 iron into 16 at Sawgrass instead of holding up a draw against the wind to that back right pin, I wish he would say, “You know what, Kyle, I just shot 68 at one of the hardest golf courses in the country, why don’t you get your fat ass out there and try to hit that shot.”

That would rule.

JT is just an example, and probably a bad one since he seems to often say what he’s actually thinking. All of this of course is just a Morikawa subtweet. You may have seen all the brouhaha last week when he went at Adam Schupak of Golfweek after Adam put this quote into his article.

It’s a nothing quote. Doesn’t need to be in there. Doesn’t not need to be in there. It’s just there. Just exists. And Morikawa was pissed about it because he thought it made him look bad. But the reality was that getting upset about a nothing quote was the only thing that made him look bad.

All of this was kind of odd. But also kind of sick.

And in terms of how I’m considering this specific moment, I’m definitely co-opting this take from Patrick McDonald.

There are a lot of different ways to think about all of this. Here’s one: Morikawa being irritated by small things is bad for him, a little unprofessional, pretty soft and not how I would advise him or anyone I was advising (a player I didn’t know, my own kid, anyone).

On the other hand, it gives me something to talk about, something to make Broad, Sweeping Points On How Media Works about. People take up sides. Some people hate the Soft Pampered Players, others hate the Crooked Golf Media. All of it is good. Why? Because getting people to care about things is difficult.

Again, what’s best for Morikawa personally — staying out of the way, out of the headlines — is not what’s best for golf as a whole. What’s best for golf as a whole is ridiculous player-media spats, Rory popping off about how he’s annoyed with everyone in the media etc.

All of this is a bit of a game that’s been played for over a century in golf. What’s fascinating is how much the power dynamic has shifted.

Writers used to be gods. Players not so much. Some were, but not like they are in 2025. Now, because we as a country have arbitrarily decided that being good at hitting a ball is more entertaining to us than being good at typing words, players are gods and writers are many levels below gods (possibly, according to the way Brooks treats us, a subhuman species).

And because of this, many players have forgotten about the game. Or never knew it existed. I have written this before, but Rory is one of the few who has not, which is part of what makes his own journey so weird an intriguing.

new putter = new stamp

The Game

And what is the game? The game is giving yourself and your takes and your opinions to the media for the good of both your own profile as well as that of your sport.

Let’s pretend for a minute that from this point forward, nobody ever did another press conference, nobody ever did another podcast or interview or Q&A. That probably sounds great to the players. It would to me.

Also, golf wouldn’t exist in its current form 20 years from now because of it (barring another Tiger Woods-like figure coming along to carry it).

Because fans — who explicitly and implicitly bring every dollar to the table that these guys make — don’t fall in love with highly skilled avatars, they fall in love with humans. I wrote this last week as it relates to Thomas Fleetwood. Golfers are good at golf but often bad at humanizing themselves.

If you hate the Crooked Media, you might push back on this idea, which I understand. But remove the media entirely from any sport, and let me know how much fans attach themselves to stuff like this.

The media might not be liked by individuals, but the media is necessary for the sport. For clashing characters and hooking fans. This may be an unfortunate reality, but it is a reality nonetheless.

[Jason here] Not saying that writing about Morikawa's caddie is on the same level as what I’m about to describe, but I like this quote about Bernard Darwin from Links Magazine.

[Jason out]

There is no big takeaway here as it relates to Morikawa and the media. And there are of course a billion other ways to look at this stuff (and I will undoubtedly explore every single one of them over time).

My point in all of it is that the health of a sport is more dependent on the media that covers that sport than anyone wants to admit (especially players). The media isn’t here to be little PR boys for the golfers. We’re here to make all of this interesting, which in turn makes the golfers unholy amounts of money. That all seems to get lost.

And maybe it’s good that it gets lost because the fact that it gets lost can lead to little nonsensical spats like Morikawa had last week, which leads to interest and the entire unvirtuous cycle continues. Maybe the entire commercial enterprise of professional golf actually dependent on players being miffed by dumb things and then getting mad and calling people out publicly!

Either way, Morikawa is definitely more interesting today than he was two weeks ago. I don’t know if that’s good for him, but it’s definitely good for everybody else.

Also, this from KVV is a great series of thoughts on all of this …

New H&B Gear

Our Holderness and Bourne gear is now available to everyone — including non-members — after our Normal Club members got first rip at it last week.

You can check it out right here or by clicking the image below.

Princes and Kings

I found this to be amusing.

Why is it amusing? Because you could argue that almost none of it even matters.

O'Neil runs a league he has no power over because his bosses are literally princes. Rolapp runs a league that he has slightly more power over but not total autonomy because his bosses are golfers who think they are kings.

I have become so cynical about the PGA Tour-LIV stuff. And maybe it changes in the future, but it definitely feels prisoner’s dilemma-adjacent right now (with the added bonus that there may at some point be actual prisoners!).

It just bums me out in every way. I want Brooks smashing tee markers on the PGA Tour, not at a tournament watched by an amount of people that wouldn’t fill up 75 percent of SEC football stadiums. I want Reed and his strawberry refreshers (no water, no inclusions) walking into Sawgrass. I need Rahm back playing again.

But I’m convinced it’s not going to happen outside of a very abrupt 180 by Yasir or MBS, which is always on the table but not a linear process.

Quote of the Week

Been thinking about this one for the last 10 days.

After the Thunder won the title last Sunday, SGA was asked about what he’s going to remember most from the championship, the series, an NBA Finals Game 7 and this team. His answer was so good, so simple, so pleasant.

Ultimately, all of this is nonsense. Games. Games within games (see Morikawa section above). People covering games. Players playing games. Fans watching and arguing about games. It is all eternally insignificant, even if it is very temporarily significant.

And so to hear someone like SGA — an NBA MVP, Finals MVP, world champ — voice that the best part of it all was “The fun I had tonight,” is so refreshing, and almost lovely. I don’t know why it hit me like it did. I like the Thunder, don’t love them. I like SGA, am not a lifelong fan. But “The fun I had tonight” was so nice, such a great view of the world.

Like, This is awesome, but it’s also not the whole world. It’s still fun to me. I don’t carry with me the burden of other people’s expectations or the weight of the world. I just had fun tonight.

That’s such a nice way to view the challenges and difficulties and successes that are in front of us.

The fun I had tonight.

Thank you for reading a golf newsletter that is 2,954 words long.

This Luke Clanton video is very cool.