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Issue No. 178 | April 3, 2025
This week, a reader reached out about something, and his intro to the email was maybe the most compelling description of golf that I have ever seen.
Here’s what the he said.
I started playing golf about three years ago. I love it, but I stink. Still need clubs that are actually fitted for me and lessons, but damn it, I still love it.
Eric K.
Golf is amazing.
Even though I’m bad at it.
And I want to be better.
But golf is still amazing.
Onto the news.
Before we get deep into some wild Masters stats, today’s newsletter is presented by Precision Pro, which recently released its Titan Slope — Azalea Edition.
Very normal stuff, by the way, for companies in a sports industry to put flowers on their products and all of a sudden grown men — 40 year old men! — flock to purchase them. That can’t happen in many other sports. We’re here for all of it.
Anyway, Precision Pro rocks, and you should check out their limited edition Azalea Edition product here. I have been using the Titan (non-Azalea edition), and it’s terrific. Among its features, I would say this one is , if not my favorite, then at least up there …
• Golfer-friendly display — shows only what you need with no distracting clutter.
I admire that Precision Pro does one thing and does it very well, and I have learned in running my own business that it’s more difficult than it seems to stay disciplined like this. We are proud to partner with a company like that.
OK, now onto the news!
Speaking of sponsors! We will be giving away the following to our readers next week. We might do a few adventurous giveaways or contests on a couple of these, but for the most part we will just randomly pick folks who are subscribed to the Normal Sport newsletter (which you are).
While we'll select winners and mark them down next week, I (with the help of my kids) will follow up and ship things out the week after when I'm back from ANGC.
Here’s what we’re giving away.
Five (5) Turtlebox speakers ($450 value) in Masters colors.
Five (5) Meridian putters (~$270 value), earned gold on the Golf Digest hot list.
Five (5) OGIO travel bags (values vary).
Five (5) Precision Pro range finders ($270 value).
Three (3) dozen Seed Golf balls with the Normal Sport logo.
Three (3) boxes of Holderness and Bourne and other NS gear.*
*These won’t go out in the mail until we receive our first big shipment of gear later in April.
That’s ~$7,000 in giveaways, or [checks notes] $2,000 more than the first Masters purse!
Thank you to all of these sponsors for going above and beyond to help us deliver the best Masters week experience possible for all of our readers.
And of course, if you’re considering joining the Normal Club for Masters week so that you can enjoy everything we’re writing and illustrating, you will receive a free entry into our Masters fantasy contest (pick 8 players, lowest team score wins)
This contest is only available in 48 states* and Canada. We will send that link out to members numerous times before the tournament starts.
*They are working on assisting those of you who are in states where it was difficult to sign up before the tournament starts.
1. Here’s a fun one on lowest career scoring average.
With 100+ rounds — Tiger Woods (71.30)
From 75-99 rounds — Hale Irwin (72.18)
From 50-74 rounds — Rory McIlroy (71.60)
From 25-49 rounds — Jordan Spieth (70.95)
Less than 25 rounds — Scottie Scheffler* (70.40)
*Presumably … ANGC doesn’t keep this as an official stat.
The most remarkable career scoring number I found? Jack Nicklaus is still under 72.0 (71.98) despite playing 163 rounds. That number is better than Bryson DeChambeau, Bubba Watson, Adam Scott and Viktor Hovland (among others).
One other note: Phil (71.39) has a better scoring average at age 54 than Rory (71.60) does at 35. That’s wild.
2. This Masters is supposed to be Bernhard Langer's last Masters and last major championship. At his first major -- the 1976 Open -- Gene Sarazen was in the field. Sarazen was born in 1902.
In Langer’s last major, Tom Kim is in the field.
Kim was born in 2002.
This post will continue for Normal Club members below, and includes …
Some Morikawa numbers that intrigue me.
A wild Tiger-Phil-Jack comparison.
The importance of luck in Masters wins.
If you aren’t yet a Normal Club member, you can sign up right here. If you are, keep reading!
Welcome to the members-only portion of today’s newsletter. I hope you both enjoy it and find it to be valuable to your golf and/or personal life.
For those of you who are new to the Normal Club: Welcome! Here’s the link to join our Masters fantasy contest.
Best of luck to everyone vying for the $2,500 first prize.
For everyone: I wanted to say sorry for any confusion or snafus around entering this contest. The first time you try something is rarely as easy or as smooth as you would like it. I know for some of you, signing up for Splash Sports — the third party that runs our contest — has been simple and straightforward. For others, not so much.
I’m sorry for that! We hope it will be more frictionless in the future.
If you live in Washington, Nevada or outside the United States, the unfortunate reality is that you cannot participate in the contest because of, well … the law. I said this on Tuesday, but because that was not clear up front, I am more than happy to refund your membership.
I have been told that if you live anywhere else (the other 48 states), you should be able to sign up with Splash Sports (our third party hosting the contest) and fill out an entry for a free contest like ours.
Unfortunately, there are a few states where signing up has been a bit difficult because Splash doesn’t normally deal with free contests. I’m told they are working on straightening this out before the tournament begins.
They also gave me a good contact for anyone who is struggling to sign up so please just respond to this email and I will try to help you get everything fixed up before shots are in the air next Thursday.
3. Speaking of our contest … one guy I’m big on this year is Morikawa. A lot of scoffing when you start throwing that name around, but he …
Is No. 1 in the world in 2025 in SG approach, ball-striking, tee to green and total.
Is one of two players to finish in the top 10 each of the last three years (Scottie).
Played in the final pairing last year.
Is a two-time major champion.
Only three players have made the cut at the Masters in each of the last three years and also have an aggregate score under par.
Scottie: -25
Morikawa: -12
Cam Smith: -3
It seems wild to me that he’s still 14-1 or 16-1 at some places. He has literally been the best scorer in the world in 2025, and he crushes at ANGC!
“But the wind …” is a reasonable take regarding Morikawa. However, remember when it howled last year on Friday, and he shot 70? I feel like that one (understandably) doesn’t get brought up a lot when discussing him.
I’m not saying he’s going to win (though I am going to pick him), but I’m saying he should not be ignored. Not when Scottie and Rory are doing what they’re doing and Morikawa has arguably been … better.
4. I’m not sure we have appreciated what Phil + Tiger have done at ANGC, which means I’m almost certain we have not appreciated what Nicklaus did.
Here’s the tale of the tape.
Tiger + Phil | Jack | |
|---|---|---|
Starts | 57 | 45 |
Missed cuts | 4 | 8 |
Top 25s | 37 | 29 |
Top 10s | 30 | 22 |
Top 5s | 24 | 15 |
Avg. Score | 71.30 and 71.39 | 71.98 |
Wins | 8 | 6 |
This is crazy!
Tiger and Phil have played in 12 more Masters than Nicklaus with just eight more top 10s (and not likely to add to that list). Nicklaus went 1 for his last 13 in top 10s, too, which means at one point that he had 21 top 10s in 32 starts. Lol!
He lost to 25 golfers at Augusta in the 1970s. Like … the entire decade!
Also of note: Those three guys have won 16 percent of all the green jackets that have ever been handed out.
5. Six humans have ever made a birdie on the 72nd hole to win the Masters, and only two have done it since 1988. Here they are.
Art Wall, 1959
Arnold Palmer, 1960
Gary Player, 1978
Sandy Lyle, 1988
Mark O’Meara, 1998
Phil Mickelson, 2004
Here are four of them in a video where CBS claims this feat has only happened four times (ANGC says six, and Wikipedia agreed with ANGC).
6. This is one I have a hard time reconciling. You guys know how I feel about strokes gained. I’ve talked about this 100 times, but if you’re at 5+ SG for a major, you have an 80 percent chance (or better) of winning that major.
So here are the true strokes gained of the last eight Masters winners.
Scottie: 5.1/round
Rahm: 4.6
Scottie: 4.9 (this is a pretty normal major-winning number)
Hideki: 4.1
DJ: 5.4
Tiger: 3.4
Reed: 4.9
Sergio: 4.4
Here’s what’s infuriating as a player … I can give you a dozen numbers better than Tiger’s winning number in 2019. Off the top of my head: Rickie in 2018 (4.6), Rory in 2022 (4.2), Ludvig in 2024 (4.1), Cam Smith in 2020 (4.1) and Brooks in 2023 (3.6).
Even though they all played the course and the field better in those years than Tiger did in 2019, they have a combined 0 green jackets. Some of that is how tournaments played out. Tiger probably could have shot a better score, but he was more conservative than Ted Cruz coming down the stretch in 2019.
Some of it, though, is luck. And probably more than anyone wants to admit.
Thank you for reading until the end.
You’re a complete and total sicko for reading a golf newsletter that is 1,852 words long, and your support of our business is appreciated.
Don’t forget to register for our Masters contest.
Issue No. 178 | April 3, 2025
This week, a reader reached out about something, and his intro to the email was maybe the most compelling description of golf that I have ever seen.
Here’s what the he said.
I started playing golf about three years ago. I love it, but I stink. Still need clubs that are actually fitted for me and lessons, but damn it, I still love it.
Eric K.
Golf is amazing.
Even though I’m bad at it.
And I want to be better.
But golf is still amazing.
Onto the news.
Before we get deep into some wild Masters stats, today’s newsletter is presented by Precision Pro, which recently released its Titan Slope — Azalea Edition.
Very normal stuff, by the way, for companies in a sports industry to put flowers on their products and all of a sudden grown men — 40 year old men! — flock to purchase them. That can’t happen in many other sports. We’re here for all of it.
Anyway, Precision Pro rocks, and you should check out their limited edition Azalea Edition product here. I have been using the Titan (non-Azalea edition), and it’s terrific. Among its features, I would say this one is , if not my favorite, then at least up there …
• Golfer-friendly display — shows only what you need with no distracting clutter.
I admire that Precision Pro does one thing and does it very well, and I have learned in running my own business that it’s more difficult than it seems to stay disciplined like this. We are proud to partner with a company like that.
OK, now onto the news!
Speaking of sponsors! We will be giving away the following to our readers next week. We might do a few adventurous giveaways or contests on a couple of these, but for the most part we will just randomly pick folks who are subscribed to the Normal Sport newsletter (which you are).
While we'll select winners and mark them down next week, I (with the help of my kids) will follow up and ship things out the week after when I'm back from ANGC.
Here’s what we’re giving away.
Five (5) Turtlebox speakers ($450 value) in Masters colors.
Five (5) Meridian putters (~$270 value), earned gold on the Golf Digest hot list.
Five (5) OGIO travel bags (values vary).
Five (5) Precision Pro range finders ($270 value).
Three (3) dozen Seed Golf balls with the Normal Sport logo.
Three (3) boxes of Holderness and Bourne and other NS gear.*
*These won’t go out in the mail until we receive our first big shipment of gear later in April.
That’s ~$7,000 in giveaways, or [checks notes] $2,000 more than the first Masters purse!
Thank you to all of these sponsors for going above and beyond to help us deliver the best Masters week experience possible for all of our readers.
And of course, if you’re considering joining the Normal Club for Masters week so that you can enjoy everything we’re writing and illustrating, you will receive a free entry into our Masters fantasy contest (pick 8 players, lowest team score wins)
This contest is only available in 48 states* and Canada. We will send that link out to members numerous times before the tournament starts.
*They are working on assisting those of you who are in states where it was difficult to sign up before the tournament starts.
1. Here’s a fun one on lowest career scoring average.
With 100+ rounds — Tiger Woods (71.30)
From 75-99 rounds — Hale Irwin (72.18)
From 50-74 rounds — Rory McIlroy (71.60)
From 25-49 rounds — Jordan Spieth (70.95)
Less than 25 rounds — Scottie Scheffler* (70.40)
*Presumably … ANGC doesn’t keep this as an official stat.
The most remarkable career scoring number I found? Jack Nicklaus is still under 72.0 (71.98) despite playing 163 rounds. That number is better than Bryson DeChambeau, Bubba Watson, Adam Scott and Viktor Hovland (among others).
One other note: Phil (71.39) has a better scoring average at age 54 than Rory (71.60) does at 35. That’s wild.
2. This Masters is supposed to be Bernhard Langer's last Masters and last major championship. At his first major -- the 1976 Open -- Gene Sarazen was in the field. Sarazen was born in 1902.
In Langer’s last major, Tom Kim is in the field.
Kim was born in 2002.
This post will continue for Normal Club members below, and includes …
Some Morikawa numbers that intrigue me.
A wild Tiger-Phil-Jack comparison.
The importance of luck in Masters wins.
If you aren’t yet a Normal Club member, you can sign up right here. If you are, keep reading!
Normal Sport is supported by exactly 667 sickos. By becoming a member, you will receive the following.
• Entry into our first annual Masters contest.
• The satisfaction of helping us establish our business.
• The entirety of our behind-the-paywall major championship coverage.
• First access to future merch drops.
By clicking below to join the Normal Club, you will also have 1. A lot of explaining to do to your spouse re: your CC statement and also 2. A front row seat to the community and world we’re creating here at Normal Sport.
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