Greetings!
Let’s start with a mea culpa. I could (and probably should) lie and say that in my PGA Tour schedule post from Friday, I was presuming the NFL would go to an 18-game schedule and play the Super Bowl in Week 3 of February so we could play the PGA Championship in Week 2.
But that’s not true. The truth is that I forgot to schedule around the Super Bowl. So let me amend the February slate like this.
January
Week 1:
Week 2: Australian Open (Tour 1000 event)
Week 3:
Week 4: Hawaii (Tour 1000 event)
February
Week 1: Phoenix Open (Tour 1000 event)
Week 2: [Super Bowl]
Week 3: Riviera (Tour 1000 event)
Week 4: PGA Championship (Tour 2000 event)
There was a lot of angst about having the PGA in February to begin with, and I understand why. It won’t happen. But from a viewing experience, it would be phenomenal to have a west coast major in February. Plus, there’s precedent.
The championship was played in February rather than August, due to anticipated oppressive summer weather in Florida. The rescheduling changed the PGA Championship from the fourth and final major of the calendar year to the first in 1971, and the 1970 and 1971 editions were consecutive majors. It returned to August in 1972 at Oakland Hills in Michigan.
1971 PGA
I don’t know if it’s good precedent. But again, go back and look at the months here and tell me which one you aren’t giddy about.
Name drops today: Keegan Bradley, Si Woo Kim, Kurt Kitayama and Ronald Acuna Jr.
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Holderness and Bourne, which has you covered no matter if you’re attending a PGA Championship in August in Tulsa — I would recommend their Airation polos — or attending a PGA at Torrey in February — seems like more of a Sullivan pullover event.
Either venue, and you’re probably going to be helping Jordy look for a lost ball like the good folks of Orlando were last week at Bay Hill (more on that below). You might as well look (and feel) good while you do it.
OK, now onto the news.
Monday publish today because we have a lot of Players content to get to over the next several days. First, let’s look back at the API and everything else that happened this weekend.
1. Three guys age 26 or younger have won big events so far this year — Gotterup, Bridgeman and now Akshay — but I would argue that only one of them has The Juice.
The Juice, of course, is a very subjective thing. But if you’re ripping at that pin on 18 and then immediately going on camera to talk about how “sick” your ball striking was down the stretch of one of the biggest events of the year, it’s fair to assume that you have it.
Some guys are just impossible to take your eyes off of, and Akshay seems like one of them. Having it doesn’t mean you’ll be great (Matthew Wolff). And not all good players have it (Patrick Cantlay). But the marriage of a terrific career with an electric personality is the holy grail in all sports, but especially individual ones like golf.
And with Akshay — as evidenced by his 31 on the back yesterday and his nearly 3-2-4 finish to win in regulation — it is pretty clear that the hint of both a tremendous golf character and a great golf career are very much present.
2. Speaking of that career, I don’t know exactly what will look like. It currently has a bit of a … Daniel Berger shape to it.
And if you squint, it could have a bit of a Justin Thomas shape to it.
JT broke out right at the age that Akshay is now. And with a dearth of electric American golfers under the age of 25, this would be a pretty great time for Akshay to do the same. Ultimately, I think Akshay’s career probably falls somewhere between those two guys. I don’t think he’s the iron player JT is, but I do think he’s better than Berger (who has been pretty good!) and nearly has all the wins to prove it.
3. The duality of golfers.
Akshay said both of these quotes in his post-tournament presser.
I never really thought that I could really do this with that amount of pressure. I feel like I've shied away from that.
Akshay Bhatia
And also this one.
I love the big moments. I think that's what I play for. And you just can't shy away from it when you're trying to win big golf tournaments.
Akshay Bhatia
I think sometimes we are very binary about the way we view The Big Moment.
Either a guy loves and embraces it or hates and shies away from it. We rarely believe that you can actually view it both ways and change how you handle those moments over time. Bhatia clearly loves those moments and also clearly has struggled to play great golf when they have presented themselves in the past.
It’s fun to see (and hear) him shift in real time.
4. One of the great tweets of our time. Literally laughed out loud here given who was at the center of the photo.
One other normal sport moment here … this on No. 6. Has to be the biggest gator in Orlando. Has to be!
Also reminds me of another one of the great tweets of our time after the gold medal game a few weeks ago.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members and includes thoughts on …
Daniel Berger comps.
Why not to panic about Scottie.
The most underrated golfer in the world right now.
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