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Issue No. 133 | November 22, 2024
We will get to Rory and some TGL thoughts in a minute, but off the top I want to point you to one of the better deals you’re going to see ahead of the holidays and a great way to support one of Normal Sport’s primary partners for 2024-25, Meridian Putters.
Meridian just launched their blind draw collection, which is where they sell their slightly used putters for $100 off ($100 off!).
We’re not talking “Denny McCarthy used this putter for a season and a half on the PGA Tour” used. More like, “these putters were for promos or demos and are barely worn” used. You can get involved right here.
I’m currently gaming the Charleston, which I love and I’m told will go quickly. The sale is active while supplies last or through Sunday, Nov. 24 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
[Illustrator note] So you’re telling me the assignment wasn’t for me to blind draw Meridian?
One other programming note … this is our first members-only newsletter so bear with us on any kinks that need to be worked out. All subscribers — all 15,000 of you — will see the first part of it, but the second half is members only.
Please send any feedback you have right here. I actually love getting it because I think feedback —> iteration —> implementation is the only path toward improvement.
OK, onto the news.
1. Oh you thought you were getting away with a tiny mention in Tuesday’s newsletter of Rory getting choked up multiple times after tying Seve with a sixth Euro Tour title?
That’s on you, my friend!
There are two terrific moments in the interview.
The first is at 0:15 because he doesn’t see it coming.
Say whatever you want about Rory. It’s all out there already anyway. Say he has bad takes (fair). Say he’s a flip flopper (I get it). Say he’s unsure of what he wants and uneven in his leadership (some truth in there!). All of it is worthy of consideration.
But the thing I keep going back to is that underneath all of that, there is a sense of care and also a sense of genuineness that is difficult — and maybe impossible — to fake.
He goes into this interview thinking he’s just going to answer the questions in a straightforward way. Happy to have won a sixth Euro title. Love tying Seve. Hit some good shots out there. And then boom, five words in he just loses it.
It happens again at 2:08 when he starts talking about Seve.
Why that emotion there? Why is he so choked up? Were Rory and Seve close? What is it about this moment that affects him?
I do not know if Rory and Seve were close. Seve died three days after Rory turned 22. I doubt they were that close if they were close at all.
The emotion?
It’s from this sliver of Rory — maybe the most interesting sliver of them all — that is genuinely in disbelief that this is how his life and his career turned out.
When he touts the gratitude he has for how all of it has gone, that is not an act, not a show. There is a curious humility there, even off the record, when the cameras are put away. Like, Why me? How did all of this happen?
I find this to be so different than almost anyone else I have experienced in sports (at least at that level). I think it is natural to drift toward pride and ego as we age. That Rory is able to preserve an almost childlike wonder of the world and all the gratitude that goes with that seems to be the outlier.
I get all the other stuff. Rory is not perfect. He is a human. He deserves criticism like any human does. He does and says stupid things, just like everyone else.
But the worldview is not only unusual, I think it’s aspirational. And yes, the deserved response is, Yeah, I would act that way too, if I had his life!
But the truth is that you wouldn’t and neither would I. That is the human condition. Given a long enough timeline, all standard deviation lives become normal to all people who live them.
And plus, so many of us already live a version of that life that is worthy of more gratitude than we give. That is, if you are reading a newsletter about golf on a Friday afternoon because you are bored at work then you are living a more privileged life than almost any human that has ever lived!
Sometimes — most of the time — it is easy to forget that [raises hand]. Rory is compelling because sometimes he reminds you that he hasn’t forgotten it.
2. Here’s a question that I have been thinking about: Why does winning the European Tour yearlong race seem to mean more than winning the PGA Tour yearlong race? There has been so much Monty-Seve-Rory talk in the last few weeks, but can you name the top three winners of the season-long PGA Tour race?
(Btw, it’s Rory: 3, Tiger: 2, everybody else: 1).
Is that simply a history thing? The European Tour has it, and the PGA Tour does not? It might be. I’m mildly unconvinced of that.
Is it a money thing? The PGA Tour’s season-long race is so focused on the financial outcome and the TV ratings whereas Europe’s seems to be more rooted in legacy (shoutout to legacy, not leverage) and doesn’t seem to be about much else at all (I have no idea what the prize for winning the Euro Tour season-long race is!).
It’s all a little confounding to me, though it does give me some hope (though little optimism) that if there ever is an eventual world order in golf, the winner of that season-long race might actually be a real thing to aspire for and not just some front to launder money to the best players.
3. Jason Page — whose illustrations you see in this newsletter every single week — recently went on the Bag Drop with Kevin Moore, who is extremely thoughtful with his questions and podcast.
I think I learned things about Normal Sport from listening to Jason.
It gets the highest recommendation from me, and I wrote down one of the better exchanges for you guys.
Kevin Moore: Do you ever laugh to yourself as you're making these weird associations … because as a consumer, [Normal Sport] is hilarious, right? I always wonder behind the scenes … like Kyle's writing or you're doing the artwork, I could just imagine y'all laughing as you're doing it.
Jason: We have moments when we're editing it where I'll just send [him], “Like this line just killed me.” I think also with the Shane Ryan one we just published last week or two weeks ago, last week, there were some lines in there that I was like howling on the train.
I was working on the train by reading and coming up with some illustrations, but I was just like dying laughing, just enjoying that process. But oftentimes I will sort of judge the illustration that I'm working on by like how much fun I'm having on it.
Jason and Kevin on Bag Drop
Yes!
A thousand times yes.
Jason: Of course, there are a lot that are kind of like a slog and you're like, “I just got to get this done. I got to get it. I just got to get it done so I can get to the next one.” But sometimes you're like, “OK, I'm just goofing off.” Like things are popping up. I'm just laughing a lot … laughing at myself.
That's usually a pretty good sign of like if it's [going in] the right direction.
Kevin: [It’s] one of the things I appreciate most about, well, maybe not most, but definitely appreciate significantly about Normal Sport in your work, in Kyle's work in.
Jason and Kevin on Bag Drop
I don’t want to speak for Jason, but I know part of my delight in all of this is trying to write things that will make him (and the rest of our team) laugh. I know if I’ve done that then maybe some of the rest of you will find it amusing as well. That’s fun to have in a colleague and a friend.
4. Here’s another reason I love partnering with Jason …
"This is a sport comprised of millionaires traversing the globe, chasing a tiny white ball among various natural landscapes, adhering to a voluminous book of rules that no sane person can completely understand. Kyle captures the irreverent, joyous collective experience we all share as golf fans and reflects it as well as anyone. While golf (and all of us) walk through complicated times, we should savor this reminder that sports are fun."
"In Normal Sport, Kyle cleverly tells the story of the year in golf through his lens, yet manages to not make the book about himself. Anyone can list off the sequence of events of the last year. But Kyle has a special ability to both identify the most interesting moments to look back on, and at the same time, add his own personal flair that makes your time spent following golf feel worthwhile."
"Normal Sport is a deep retrospective of the golf year disguised as a group text with your buddies. It balances thought-provoking, serious topics with the most ridiculous things that happen in the game we love. It's a must-read then a must-read again."
