Hello,
I, like many (most?) of you have been completely engrossed in this World Cup. I went into it thinking, “I will watch some U.S. matches and maybe a few others” and now I’m yelling about how “VAR is ruining the integrity of the sport!” and how I am going to retroactively claim that we named our son “Jude” because of No. 10 from England.
Very normal stuff.
I say that to say this: That Cape Verde-Argentina game was maybe the most electric sporting event I have ever watched. England-Mexico was a better game. Norway-Anyone was more fun and Argentina-Egypt was a better (and possibly more corrupt) finish. But Cape Verde-Argentina sucked me in like very few things I’ve ever watched.
It almost felt like watching a documentary that was being made in real time.
The equalizer in the 103rd was astonishing. Nobody — including the guy who made it and the teammates of the guy who made it — could believe it.
There was an almost mystical quality to the event. Like what was happening was absolutely happening but also that it was maybe happening in a different dimension. If you watched the last 40 minutes of the game, surely you felt it too.
I’m not sure I’ve ever experience anything like that.
I often get into a rut of “oh well here’s what’s going to happen” and because of the way sport works, that’s usually what happens. Example: I rarely watch guys putt 3-4 footers anymore in big spots because you know what’s going to take place.
But sometimes — very rarely but every once in a while — someone yaks a 3-footer and his opponent pours one in from 85 feet to tie up the match. When you cover sports for a living, the rote becomes the expected, and to be jolted out of that by something special is to be surprised by an unexpected grace.
What a moment. What a tournament. Truly, the beautiful game.
Name drops today: Cape Verde (!), Chris Gotterup, Landon Donovan, Ryder Cup and Erling Haaland.
Today’s newsletter is presented by our friends at Ship Sticks, which does not deliver to Cape Verde (which has a population roughly equivalent to Phoenix Open attendance) but does deliver to hundreds of other countries around the world, including all of the ones left in this year’s World Cup.
If you’re taking a golf trip this fall, you should check them out right here. If you go through that page, you can get 20 percent off your first order with Ship Sticks. Just don’t try to play the [checks notes] one golf course in Cape Verde.
And now … onto the news.
We’re back to golf!
Strokes gained matter in professional golf. Full stop. Getting the ball in the hole faster than everyone else matters a great deal. But they are both precursors to the actual point of the whole thing, which is winning golf tournaments.
Enter a New Jersey boy whose SG numbers are good but not amazing. Who points his feet 25 yards left of his target. Who split time between Rutgers and OU in college (amazing crossover). Who can’t be bothered to strap his glove all the way on. And who does not ever give off “professional athlete at the highest level” vibes.
But he wins. A lot. Over the past 12 months he has as many wins as Rory, Rahm, Ludvig, Burns, Lowry, Cantlay, Si Woo, Brooks, Straka, Keegan JT and Harris English combined.
Through his first 85 starts on the PGA Tour and at the majors, his winning percentage —compared to other stars and superstars in similar eras — is outrageous.
He has as many wins in his 85-event career as Ludvig, Tommy and Bob Mac have combined in 342 starts in majors and on the PGA Tour.
It’s not as if — despite what the haters and losers are saying — they’re all the Myrtle Beach Open! Also, the list of guys he’s defeated of late is 👌👌👌.
You know that I — maybe as much as anyone — think that data is more undervalued in golf than in probably any other sport. Partly because it is an individual endeavor but mostly because the eye test lies over and over again (the eye test makes up such a tiny percentage of what goes on!).
However, data isn’t everything. Not all shots are created equal. Not all rounds are played with the same feelings. Closing is a skill that is difficult to develop and even tougher to define.
You can know, scientifically, what makes a great swing or a well struck ball. It is much harder (bordering on impossible) to know what makes a great closer or prolific winner.
The easiest answer is that players with great SG numbers have a lot of opportunities and close some of them out and that players who win at a rate above what their SG says usually can’t sustain it. The opposite is ostensibly true as well. Those who win at a rate below what their SG says will normally return to the middle and win more later in their careers.
But if you’ve played sports, you know this is just not how it always works.
It is reductive to say that some guys just want the ball more.
Or is it reductive?
The beauty of sport is that it cannot be solved by science [gestures at Bryson]. It cannot be spreadsheeted into submission. It does not bend at the pulling of the levers by those of us who are not in the arena.
Hand up, I have not been a Gotterup believer to date.
Fine and good, but I wasn’t buying. However, you can’t win this much at this level and not have something special about you. Trying to figure out what that thing is reminds me of trying to figure out why teams win in the Ryder Cup. There are so many theories that could be true, and the actual truth is probably some combination of a lot of them.
He probably does want the ball more. He probably is more comfortable than, say, Ben Kohles late on Sunday. He probably has gotten slightly lucky with his win percentage.
Will it ever be as beautiful as Rory? No. Will he ever strike it as flawlessly as Hovland? Absolutely not. Will he ever look the part like Ludvig? Zero percent.
But — and this is easy to forget! — none of those things are the point of pro golf. The point of pro golf every week is to win. And nobody has done that as effectively over the last year as Chris Gotterup. Nobody has collected more trophies in the last 12 months. Nobody has changed the way I (we?) think about them as much as Chris Gotterup.
Four-time winners since July 5, 2025.
[Jason] Pencil up, I have been a Gotterup believer to date. The sheer number of illustrations he's appeared in since the 2025 Scottish Open shows that he has something worth paying attention to.
Hypnotized after the 2025 Scottish Open to see every course as a links course. It worked?!
WM Open [Sap's]
Bethpage VR
Luke Donald and Justin Rose at Wimbledon, wearing $400,000 worth of clothing and watches (approximately), and Donald is getting Brandel levels of steep on the swing.
Sick, sick (I cannot express this enough) sick stuff.
Instagram post
• This from Shane Ryan on how the World Cup vibe shift resembled the Ryder Cup vibe shift from 2025 is fascinating. I disagree that the pay-for-play chatter affected the U.S. Ryder Cup team at Bethpage, but agree wholeheartedly with the idea that narratives shape how teams perform and that this was very much the case with the USMNT.
If you don’t want to read the entire article, here’s a pretty good summary.
• Terrific look at both the men’s and women’s Open Championship venues by JLM here. The Sunday back nine at Birkdale in 2017 was the greatest Golf Twitter two hours of all time. Not even sure it’s close. If we get even half of what we got that year, I’ll be delighted.
The World Cup has produced some absolute banger tweets. And a lot of them even have golf crossover!
• I feel this deeply.
• I also feel this deeply.
• This one amused me.
• He’s not talking about me, but he could be.
• I don’t understand the system for administering penalties. The Harry Kane one in the Mexico-England game was egregious!
• If you’re into goofy and sheepish Scandinavian superstars, let me introduce you to another fellow who is pretty decent at sport.
Thank you for reading this ridiculous newsletter.
Our OMNI giveaway is still running through the end of this week. Go win it!
Also — this is yuuuuuge — hoodies are back up in the store.
Normal Sport is exploratory, sometimes emotional, always entertaining. It also has one of my favorite writers in the biz at its foundation.
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