Pros
Thoughts on the professional game, the people who play it, and the joy and anxiety that come with them both.
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Thoughts on the professional game, the people who play it, and the joy and anxiety that come with them both.
There’s nothing new that I can write about the Masters and Augusta National. But I know how it made me feel.
Long neglected by the PGA Tour, Pebble Beach and LIV could form a match made in Hell — but a match just the same.
Patrick Reed’s defamation lawsuit against Brandel Chamblee and Golf Channel digs a deep hole for itself.
Judge Beth Labson Freeman hands the PGA Tour an early win in its courtroom war against LIV.
Until now, Phil Mickelson versus the PGA Tour was a storyline. As of August 3, 2022, it’s a historic lawsuit.
LIV is golf’s New World Order. But as wrestling’s NWO showed, that ascent brings no guarantee of permanence.
Sportswashing is not a new strategy. But through the Super Golf League, Saudi Arabia has found pro golfers to be a particularly eager lot.
Vaccines remain the world’s best weapon against COVID-19, and mandating vaccination has proven to be wildly effective. The PGA Tour should accept the pandemic’s changing nature and change along with them by requiring vaccination.
Rumored changes to the PGA Tour’s fall schedule, along with the title sponsor’s pending sale, cloud the future of the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Maybe the United States’ blowout Ryder Cup win portends something bigger than just three days. But it would be foolish to swear to it until at least 2023.
Dropping the pretense of being a superhuman change agent and acknowledging his own emotional turmoil could be Bryson DeChambeau’s real chance to make history.
That Bryson DeChambeau continues to draw admiration from a segment of the PGA Tour’s fans says as much about America as it does about DeChambeau.
Torrey Pines’ greatest service as a U.S. Open venue might be its examples of what other golf courses shouldn’t do.
The confounding duality of Phil Mickelson is his place as one of golf’s most popular figures and his years-long, documented history of selfishness.
The PGA Tour’s recently acknowledged plan to buy its biggest stars’ loyalty lays bare still other of its weaknesses.
The Masters’ return to April is a reminder of how precious life’s annual milestones are, and how fragile the journey is.
Augusta National’s failure to make a clean break with its ugly past leaves fans clinging to a flimsy distinction between the club and the tournament it hosts.
Conversations about the Olympics’ inability to attract top golfers should clarify that this is a problem on the men’s side alone. The women are doing just fine.
There is nothing inconsistent between praying for Tiger Woods’ full recovery and wondering what caused the car crash that now requires that recovery.
Tony Finau isn’t one of the chokers that Jack Nicklaus could count on to melt down at the top of a leaderboard. But he doesn’t have a knack for climbing on top, either.
Bad behavior and no accountability certainly are the stuff of great villainy — and yet, Patrick Reed is no great villain. Reed isn’t one of the ones that people love to hate; they just hate him.
For someone who claims to have done nothing wrong, Phil Mickelson seems to dodge a lot of questions about Billy Walters.
If, as the PGA has explained, holding the 2022 championship at Bedminster “would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand,” then Shoal Creek alone offers the PGA a mulligan.
There is fecklessness. And then there is cowardice. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has chosen the latter.
Like Garcia or don’t, but there is no doubt that his win further legitimizes a tournament that has spent years seeking star-powered legitimacy.
The USGA’s move toward an exclusive rota of U.S. Open courses is hard to reconcile with its mission of serving the game’s best interests.
Justin Thomas doesn’t have to win the PGA Championship. But now at the height of his powers, and with seven majors scheduled for the next 11 months, he will never see a better chance to build his legacy.
Bryson DeChambeau doesn’t just want to innovate: he wants to be admired as an innovator. But his mess of contradictions complicate that goal.
I have always assumed that Masters refers to the players in the field. But I am a white man. And if Rob Parker says that “the Masters” conjures a different image in his mind, then that’s good enough for me. I believe him.
Perhaps golf is a meritocracy, but the PGA Tour isn’t. And the inequity of its payout structures is creating new problems for players during COVID-19.