Greetings!
There are so many normal sport things going on at The Mink right now.
I cannot believe I’m not there to take in, for example …
Name drops today: LeBron, Si Woo, Blockie (of course) and Bellerive.
This newsletter is presented by our friends at Garmin. I won’t be getting my steps in at Aronimink this week, but I will be tracking my steps and HR at home using their S70 watch. An unofficial guide based on what could happen …
Rory-Scottie duel — Avg. RHR: 92 | Daily steps: 19K
Bryson-Blockie duel — Avg. RHR: 80 | Daily steps: 20K
Spieth gets involved — Avg. RHR: 140 | Daily steps: 37K
Spieth-Rory playoff — 🆘
The S70 is for much more than just keeping track of that information, though. I use it pretty much every time I play to give me middle-of-the-green distances on every shot (which is exactly what I need and also rarely pay attention to).
And thank you again to Garmin for its partnership with Normal Sport this year. We love their products and love how they’re expanding into junior golf watches (!), too.
OK, now onto the news.
Rory's pinky toe: “Cut me, Mink.”
Rory seems fine, by the way.
1. I went down a Wikipedia rabbit hole on Wednesday and realized that the winning score at the PGA Championship has been higher than the U.S. Open in five of the last nine years. Wait … what?!
2025: U.S. Open higher (more difficult)
2024: U.S. Open
2023: PGA
2022: PGA
2021: PGA
2020: U.S. Open
2019: PGA
2018: U.S. Open
2017: PGA
Boy do we view the difficulty of these tournaments differently!
I think the PGA’s “identity problem” — which has been a big talking point so far this week — is largely due to four things.
1. The USGA loves to manipulate par of the courses it sets up to try and maintain its stature as the toughest test in golf. The PGA doesn’t seem to really care. I’m sure there is an equipment discussion in here somewhere — specifically from the USGA: “See, golf is still very difficult, we don’t need to change the equipment!” — but that’s for another time (like after the paywall below).
2. When PGAs are easy, they’re really easy (Valhalla, Bellerive, Harding Park).
3. The PGA’s main talking point for a decade has been, “We have the most exciting finishes in major championship golf!” This is largely true. But it is also difficult to control or predict this identity. What if they get five blowouts in a row? Then what are you?
4. You could probably add that the PGA is following the U.S. Open playbook but at “worse” and less historic golf courses, which is tough on its marketplace positioning.
Add it all up, and you get a tournament that is not rooted in a place (like the Players Championship or the Phoenix Open) but also doesn’t brand itself as a difficult examination at an historic golf course (U.S. Open), even though it is often more difficult than the very tournament that does brand itself this way.
2. Outside of picking a place (might I suggest a two-course rota of Chambers Bay on the west coast and Kiawah on the east?!) or a theme (I have no suggestions), I’m not sure what can be done about this. They are a little bit stuck.
Though the irony is that I will mega stan their championships as some of my very favorite over the last decade. You could argue that the PGA has been the best and most exciting of the four majors over the 10 years and yet they still have the biggest branding problem of the four entities, which is bizarre!
3. Two other suggestions for branding, both fairly extreme …
1. Go back to match play. Jamie Kennedy laid out the 64-player bracket here. I’m not in love with it. I would prefer medal play for 36 or 54 holes (obvious reasons) and then 16 or 24 players in match play. There’s too much randomness in 18-hole matches with 64 players. Scottie could easily lose in the first round, and it would feel kinda dumb. If you want to talk about 36-hole matches, however, please dial me up!
2. Be the rollback championship. This would take huge stones and will never ever ever ever ever happen. But buddy, Winged Foot with proper equipment or Chicago Golf Club with hickories? Stick all of that in my veins. You go from least interesting major to most interesting in a hurry. Zig while everyone else zags. Into it.
FutureFit0 by Cobra
This post will continue below for Normal Club members (all 1,037 of them) and includes thoughts on Bryson’s actual chances of winning, Cam Young’s already-rolled back (?!) ball and my pick to win at the Mink this week.
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