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Issue No. 169 | March 14, 2025
You have a choice.
Illegal substances.
Jordan Spieth.
At this point, it’s difficult to tell the difference.
One note before we jump into the festivities: There is so much going on during weeks like this, and I absolutely love hearing everyone’s thoughts and takes.
Unfortunately it’s a bit more difficult to respond than it is in a regular old Valspar week so I apologize if an email or message or Tiktok goes without response (actually all Tiktoks will go without response).
Know that I still love seeing and hearing that interaction and keep full sending my way!
OK, onto a fantastic Day 1 at the Players.
Today’s newsletter is presented by our friends at OGIO.
I love businesses that boil down to one simple idea (and Jason wishes I would land on just one idea with ours).
Here’s OGIO’s: If it’s something that carries stuff you really care about, OGIO makes a premium version of it.
That’s straightforward and easy to understand
They also make it a point that they give golfers a chance to express their personality through their gear, which has me wondering what Spieth’s bags would look like if he could express himself through his gear.
Fever dream stuff, truly.
Check out OGIO. They are — unlike Jordan from tee to green — the best.
Tosti Ladder > Hogan Bridge (watch the video asap if you haven’t!)
1. I’m not at the PLAYERS this week, which is a bummer, but even from afar everything feels buzzier, more important than a usual week.
I’ve droned on about this enough but high level championship golf on an incredible golf course that we are familiar with and forces you into tough decisions and real golf shots is amazing. I was walking around my house this morning just saying to my wife, It is so nice to have meaningful golf to cover right now!
The Players catches some flak for its identity, but I think most of that is nonsense. There’s always going to be ancillary stuff at events like this where you have huge companies putting out their premier product. Some of it is cool, a lot of it is not.
Who cares. The good thing in this case is that the Tour leans on the actual tournament, and the actual tournament in this instance is, to me, as good as non major golf gets.
As an aside (and speaking of ancillary things): the J.J. Jakovac ace earlier in the week on 17 absolutely ruled.
Kids and I were enthralled, and this Morikawa/Min Woo GIF is a winner.
If the The Players merch tent doesn’t stock these by Saturday what are we even doing?
[Jason here] Trent Ryan’s presence Wednesday at The Creator Classic will certainly go down as one of the buzziest and, as Claire Rogers described it so well, maybe our most meaningful memory from The Players week. Claire gets to the heart of how it is to put yourself out there in the world through vulnerability and fears. The last paragraph is pure chef’s kiss. Give it a read.
2. I will never understand why a milquetoast white dude from Dallas, Texas makes me feel like I can run through a brick wall from a three-point stance at 8:20 a.m. local time on a Thursday morning.
But here we are.
I’d love to write a book someday exploring that very idea because (somehow, improbably) its layers have layers. But for now, this amended Jon Bois tweet will do.
He started (STARTED!) …
Birdie
Eagle
Par
Par
Deep breath
Double
Bogey
Eagle
Bogey
Birdie
Par
Birdie
And one of those three pars was from here.
And it somehow wasn’t the weirdest card of the day!
This comment got me so good.
At one point on Spieth’s second nine, he squeezed a drive into the pine straw up the right side of the sixth hole and hit low screamer off the side of a bunker on his approach before making par with pine straw hanging from his back. All while 3 under and one shot off the lead.
If the Spieth Experience was a screenshot, here it is.
I’ve said this a thousand times, but it all feels so relatable. It’s not, in any way, but it feels like it is, which I think is half the appeal.
Rory’s pumping drives 188 with a 6-foot cut into a 20-foot wide fairway while Scottie’s hitting little drawing wedges off ridges into dirty pin positions. Nothing about any of that is relatable. Spieth smoking shots through seven trees and fast walking putts from 7 feet that miss the cup by the length of the leather?
Yeah, been there.
I want that. - Pete Dye
3. Unfortunately, he has zero chance of winning with the current state of his game (decent and slowly getting better), his history at Sawgrass (not good) and this statistical profile.
Unsustainable.
4. Real quick before we get to the rest of the newsletter, I was asked by someone on Thursday if I would be interested in doing an annual majors + Players pool.
Some kind of picks pool with real money ($50 or $100 for the year or something like that) and giveaways from our sponsors at stake for Normal Sport readers. I’m not a huge fantasy guy, but as I watched today, I thought about how much fun that could be for NS readers during the five big weeks.
Anyway, quick poll before we finish out Round 1 thoughts.
This post will continue for Normal Sport members below, and includes …
How a tree (!) is transforming a golf tournament.
What’s going on with the Rory phone incident.
And a random golf Twitter thought.
If you aren’t yet a Normal Sport member — we’re nearing six hundy! — you can sign up at the link below. 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.
5. Very normal sport moment from Hovland here in Round 1 (full video of him removing himself from the woods here).
The lost boy shot … 80. My gosh. Somebody fix him.
6. Speaking of shooting a score that’s not going to get it done, Max Homa shot 79 and nearly finished last in approach play.
This was one of the 10 best iron players in the world 18 months ago!
I was curious if he’d commented on his approach play or his equipment changes (Titleist —> Cobra) recently so I went hunting and found this from the second Torrey event of the year.
It's been frustrating on my end just because I would never switch anything in golf to make my golf be more difficult. I care about this more than damn near anything. Yeah, that has been like zero out of 10 the problem.
Max Homa at 2025 Genesis
What’s interesting is that this comment came at the end of a long chat about how he feels like he’s letting down all the Cobra folks who are working so hard behind the scenes to make great products and put him in position to succeed.
All of it is interesting. Changing equipment. Playing poorly. The way Max views the world. All of it. He’s unique, thoughtful, mega talented and the best in the world and explaining to a normal person what it feels like to not be a normal golfer.
What’s perhaps most interesting, though, is that if you asked me tomorrow who is more likely to make the United States Ryder Cup team between Max Homa, Max McGreevy and Max Greyserman, I honestly do not have any idea.
7. It’s a very normal sport thing that a tree wreaked havoc on the field on Thursday.
Biggest offseason moves.
Football: Darnold to Seattle
Baseball: Soto to NYM
Golf: Tree to 6th tee box at Sawgrass
Jamie Kennedy dove into the numbers here. They are significant! It is not a stretch to say that this tree will affect the outcome of the 2025 Players Championship.
Weirdest sport.
8. Rory was 108th in the field in strokes gained off the tee on Thursday and shot 67. That might be problematic for everyone else in the field.
While we’re here, let’s talk about the incident between Rory and Texas golfer, Luke Potter earlier in the week. Alan Bastable wrote about it for Golf.com, and it’s good reporting. He talked to Potter’s college coach at Texas, and whole thing is really bizarre.
A lot of the blame was put on Potter, who yelled about the 2011 Masters after Rory hit a ball in the water in a practice round this week. That’s fair, but I also don’t think it’s crazy to question what in the world Rory was doing swiping somebody’s phone during a practice round in the manner in which he did.
Maybe more backstory there that I don’t know about — and tbh, it has to be exhausting catching strays from randoms all the time — but I thought Rory’s reaction was way over the top, and his answers were a little strange as well.
I don’t think this is going to be a Big Thing, but it did catch my attention as a very unlike Rory thing to do. Also, this comment got me good.
9. On Thursday, the Tour invited me and the kids out to Cosm Dallas — one of those mega immersive places where you feel like you’re on the field of play.
Favorite normal sport tidbit: I was told that guy in a ghillie suit gets in the water every day and moves the specific 8K cameras used for this experience around on 16 and 17 depending on where the pins are.
The whole thing ruled.
And yes, this is a Josh Allen home (but not as much as it’s a Joe Burrow home).
10. One stupid thing I was struck by on Thursday: I don’t participate in the Twitter of other sports (football, hoops etc.), but I cannot imagine any of them being as congenial and friendly as golf Twitter.
Specifically, I’m talking about all the media and media-adjacent folks who make up the strange network of people that are yelling about things like how Justin Lower looked momentarily British on Thursday after making an improbable 3 at 17.
We all (for the most part) just … like each other and are rooting for one another, even though a lot of us are like a 7 or 8 on a scale of 1 to Tiger in terms of competitiveness.
That is unusual, I think, and it’s something I’m quite proud to be a part of.
11. Yo if this is how golf makes the guy who [checks notes] has been the undisputed, far and away best player on the planet for the last 95 weeks feel, then what chance do the rest of us have?
12. I watched a lot of J.T. early. He walked to 17 at 2 under, one back of the lead. Then he lost [wait …. this can’t be right] nearly 7.5 (!) strokes ball-striking over the next 11 holes of his round. Seven and a half?! That’s almost one a hole! He lost nine overall on the day, and nobody else lost more than six.
Incomprehensible.
13. There was a two shot difference between morning wave (more difficult) and afternoon wave (easier) on Thursday. Two shots!
Maybe Spieth really is going to win …
KP said I couldn’t share the photo he just posted in our Normal Sport Slack, but he didn’t say I couldn’t illustrate it. Let’s have a Friday, Spieth tees off at in 36 minutes!
Thank you for reading until the end.
You’re a complete and total sicko for reading a golf newsletter that is 2,107 words long. It has been so gratifying to cover our first monster event this week, and we’ll see you again on Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning!
Issue No. 169 | March 14, 2025
You have a choice.
Illegal substances.
Jordan Spieth.
At this point, it’s difficult to tell the difference.
One note before we jump into the festivities: There is so much going on during weeks like this, and I absolutely love hearing everyone’s thoughts and takes.
Unfortunately it’s a bit more difficult to respond than it is in a regular old Valspar week so I apologize if an email or message or Tiktok goes without response (actually all Tiktoks will go without response).
Know that I still love seeing and hearing that interaction and keep full sending my way!
OK, onto a fantastic Day 1 at the Players.
Today’s newsletter is presented by our friends at OGIO.
I love businesses that boil down to one simple idea (and Jason wishes I would land on just one idea with ours).
Here’s OGIO’s: If it’s something that carries stuff you really care about, OGIO makes a premium version of it.
That’s straightforward and easy to understand
They also make it a point that they give golfers a chance to express their personality through their gear, which has me wondering what Spieth’s bags would look like if he could express himself through his gear.
Fever dream stuff, truly.
Check out OGIO. They are — unlike Jordan from tee to green — the best.
Tosti Ladder > Hogan Bridge (watch the video asap if you haven’t!)
1. I’m not at the PLAYERS this week, which is a bummer, but even from afar everything feels buzzier, more important than a usual week.
I’ve droned on about this enough but high level championship golf on an incredible golf course that we are familiar with and forces you into tough decisions and real golf shots is amazing. I was walking around my house this morning just saying to my wife, It is so nice to have meaningful golf to cover right now!
The Players catches some flak for its identity, but I think most of that is nonsense. There’s always going to be ancillary stuff at events like this where you have huge companies putting out their premier product. Some of it is cool, a lot of it is not.
Who cares. The good thing in this case is that the Tour leans on the actual tournament, and the actual tournament in this instance is, to me, as good as non major golf gets.
As an aside (and speaking of ancillary things): the J.J. Jakovac ace earlier in the week on 17 absolutely ruled.
Kids and I were enthralled, and this Morikawa/Min Woo GIF is a winner.
If the The Players merch tent doesn’t stock these by Saturday what are we even doing?
[Jason here] Trent Ryan’s presence Wednesday at The Creator Classic will certainly go down as one of the buzziest and, as Claire Rogers described it so well, maybe our most meaningful memory from The Players week. Claire gets to the heart of how it is to put yourself out there in the world through vulnerability and fears. The last paragraph is pure chef’s kiss. Give it a read.
2. I will never understand why a milquetoast white dude from Dallas, Texas makes me feel like I can run through a brick wall from a three-point stance at 8:20 a.m. local time on a Thursday morning.
But here we are.
I’d love to write a book someday exploring that very idea because (somehow, improbably) its layers have layers. But for now, this amended Jon Bois tweet will do.
He started (STARTED!) …
Birdie
Eagle
Par
Par
Deep breath
Double
Bogey
Eagle
Bogey
Birdie
Par
Birdie
And one of those three pars was from here.
And it somehow wasn’t the weirdest card of the day!
This comment got me so good.
At one point on Spieth’s second nine, he squeezed a drive into the pine straw up the right side of the sixth hole and hit low screamer off the side of a bunker on his approach before making par with pine straw hanging from his back. All while 3 under and one shot off the lead.
If the Spieth Experience was a screenshot, here it is.
I’ve said this a thousand times, but it all feels so relatable. It’s not, in any way, but it feels like it is, which I think is half the appeal.
Rory’s pumping drives 188 with a 6-foot cut into a 20-foot wide fairway while Scottie’s hitting little drawing wedges off ridges into dirty pin positions. Nothing about any of that is relatable. Spieth smoking shots through seven trees and fast walking putts from 7 feet that miss the cup by the length of the leather?
Yeah, been there.
I want that. - Pete Dye
3. Unfortunately, he has zero chance of winning with the current state of his game (decent and slowly getting better), his history at Sawgrass (not good) and this statistical profile.
Unsustainable.
4. Real quick before we get to the rest of the newsletter, I was asked by someone on Thursday if I would be interested in doing an annual majors + Players pool.
Some kind of picks pool with real money ($50 or $100 for the year or something like that) and giveaways from our sponsors at stake for Normal Sport readers. I’m not a huge fantasy guy, but as I watched today, I thought about how much fun that could be for NS readers during the five big weeks.
Anyway, quick poll before we finish out Round 1 thoughts.
This post will continue for Normal Sport members below, and includes …
How a tree (!) is transforming a golf tournament.
What’s going on with the Rory phone incident.
And a random golf Twitter thought.
If you aren’t yet a Normal Sport member — we’re nearing six hundy! — you can sign up at the link below. If you are, keep reading!
Normal Sport is supported by nearly 600 sickos who can’t get enough. By becoming a member, you will receive the following.
• The satisfaction of helping us establish our business.
• The entirety of our behind-the-paywall major (and PLAYERS) coverage.
• A first look at future merch drops.
By clicking below to join the Normie Club, you will have a front row seat to what we’re building. Like Spieth’s first round, it won’t always be pretty, but it’s likely always going to be a ride.
