Golf: PGA TOUR 2024 FedExCup Season

[Filthy Dangles]

Good for Taylor, he's a very solid player right in his prime and he's peaking at the moment.

But he's pretty boring and unremarkable player and doesn't do much for me, was pulling for old man Hoffman down the stretch and playoff.

NT wacked it all over the place in the final round and got away with it. He drove it dead into the bunker on 18 twice and inexplicably rolled out both times into the rough. Rough was no issue and almost helped the players most times, always seemed to sit up in good lie and helped take off spin for them on the soft greens

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Tigers new clothing line…he’ll be teeing it up this week at Riviera

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

 

[Ben Grimm]

'Just shut up': WM Phoenix Open crowds infuriate pros all over the course

'I'm just sick of it': Zach Johnson, Jordan Spieth, other pros have had enough of the unruly Phoenix gallery.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[Filthy Dangles]

54 arrests at TPC Scottsdale

Change coming next year

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Just declare it out of bounds to easily force them to stay on 15. I'd have no issue with it other than it pace of play and slowing down the golf course having to wait for potentially two groups on 17, one teeing off and another on approach.

If more players start doing it, it will slow things down too much.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I just can’t do the yearly Tiger circus. I was a big fan of him as a kid. He got me interested in golf. I will still root for him if he is in contention in a golf tournament. But I’ve made peace with what he is. He’s too beaten up physically to be one of the best players in the world anymore. He probably on average per event could be that, but his body doesn’t allow him to play enough to get into any type of form. Every time he’s played he’s completely out of form, and that’s not what his A game is.

I don’t have the mental energy to get hyped every time he tees it up. I know some still do, but I just don’t see any real upside anymore. I personally don’t think he can win a golf tournament on the tour anymore, especially if he’s not capable of playing 15 times per year. You can’t play so infrequently and beat guys who are playing 3X or 4X as often as you are.

I’ve got no problem either with him trying to tough it out and do his best. I admire the toughness. I think though that the media have to eventually start recognizing that point where the attention on him as the guy in golf is empty noise, and he’s not seriously a competitor to win.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

A true legend.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Tiger being carted off the course looks like another WD, he can’t walk.

Sad



2019 masters was a helluva swansong

 

[Dr John Carlson]

Unlucky.

 

[GKJ]

It’s just seems like his body is not going to allow him to do it.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

I truly don't understand going for the green on 10...yet the players keep going for it and more often than not are scrambling for par after leaving themselves in really bad spots.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Jordan Spieth disqualified for signing incorrect scorecard at The Genesis Invitational

Jordan Spieth, though he marked down a par, actually made a bogey at the par-3 fourth on Friday.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Welcome to my Ted Talk:

I’m sick and tired of hearing about Scheffler’s tee to green numbers.

Don’t get me wrong. He’s very good. The best player in the world right now, but people overdo it. Strokes gained and data golf is starting to be misused by people who don’t understand context or at least aren’t applying it because they are caught up in the moment.

I keep hearing how his current golf is the best since prime Tiger. It’s so insulting to the many players who were winning a lot more than he was. He has 6 tour wins including 1 major the last two years. That’s far from bad. That’s probably going to earn you world #1 over most two year spans, but there have been players since the early 2000’s that were winning like 8, 9, 10 times and 2-3 majors in a few year span.

Winning is becoming devalued. Scheffler is great in certain areas almost every week. That’s admirable, but padding stats in those areas doesn’t make him better than dudes that won.

Ted Talk Over.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Welcome to my Ted Talk:

I’m sick and tired of hearing about Scheffler’s tee to green numbers.

Don’t get me wrong. He’s very good. The best player in the world right now, but people overdo it. Strokes gained and data golf is starting to be misused by people who don’t understand context or at least aren’t applying it because they are caught up in the moment.

I keep hearing how his current golf is the best since prime Tiger. It’s so insulting to the many players who were winning a lot more than he was. He has 6 tour wins including 1 major the last two years. That’s far from bad. That’s probably going to earn you world #1 over most two year spans, but there have been players since the early 2000’s that were winning like 8, 9, 10 times and 2-3 majors in a few year span.

Winning is becoming devalued. Scheffler is great in certain areas almost every week. That’s admirable, but padding stats in those areas doesn’t make him better than dudes that won.

Ted Talk Over.

I’m doubling down after further research.

Literally every player who has gotten to World #1 in the last 10 years (McIlroy, Day, Spieth, Thomas, Koepka, Johnson, Rahm) other than Justin Rose has had a more impressive run during their time there than Scheffler.

He’s stat-padding at the expense of winning. And that’s not even to mention players like Mickelson or Singh who also won a lot more pre last 10 years. Heck, I’d take Morikawa getting to #2 with 5 wins including 2 majors over Scheffler with 6 including 1 major.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Stat padding is bad terminology, you could say strokes-gained might be overrating him but he's not doing anything that is sacrificing winning just to look good statistically (obviously), he just can't roll the rock.

The fact of the matter is no one hits the ball more close to the flag and consistently gets good birdie looks like he does. Seems like every hole he has at least a solid to good look for birdie.

He's also world class around the greens, jsut can't roll the ball. He's been the most consistent and best player since coming along on Tour. Far from done, he'll be around playing at this level for years to come.

Too early to say he's overrated at this point.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Stat padding is bad terminology, you could say strokes-gained might be overrating him but he's not doing anything that is sacrificing winning just to look good statistically (obviously), he just can't roll the rock.

The fact of the matter is no one hits the ball more close to the flag and consistently gets good birdie looks like he does. Seems like every hole he has at least a solid to good look for birdie.

He's also world class around the greens, jsut can't roll the ball. He's been the most consistent and best player since coming along on Tour. Far from done, he'll be around playing at this level for years to come.

Too early to say he's overrated at this point.

Fair, stat-padding might be the wrong word. He's not doing this intentionally. Obviously wants to win, but these stats don't accurately capture his overall success. I think in golf wins have to matter disproportionately and majors matter more. Koepka is the perfect example of that.

People marvel at these stats and I'm not saying they aren't very impressive, but I think Scheffler needs to start translating this consistency in these categories to tangible wins, and wins in more majors. Otherwise, he's just gonna be an analytics darling. I'm sure his goal is to win, first and foremost.

 

[Johnny Rifle]

He’s stat-padding at the expense of winning. And that’s not even to mention players like Mickelson or Singh who also won a lot more pre last 10 years. Heck, I’d take Morikawa getting to #2 with 5 wins including 2 majors over Scheffler with 6 including 1 major.

I’m not a professional golfer, but in my experience there are some golfers who pay attention to thier advanced statistics and others who merely play by feel and intuition. I’ve played with golfers who will mark up their scorecards with all kinds of stats during the round and there are those like me who just put down the score.

However, after the events where I play golf, the happiest golfers are the ones who walk out with cash as opposed to the ones who hit the most fairways. Stats in golf are more for preparation and practice than bragging rights, at the lower levels to the Tour pros.

Not only that, but his iron play isn’t helping him as much as you think. The following paragraphs have some rough estimates, so no nitpicking please, lol.

The average miss on a typical approach shot is 30 feet or so let’s assume that Scottie is 25 or even 20 feet. The percentage of putts made from 30 feet is nearly identical to the putts made at 25 or 20 feet, so while better iron play helps a bit, most Tour pros are two-putting from there 90 percent of the time.

What separates the winners from the rest of the field is the ability to stay out of trouble and making the occasional long birdie putt. Scheffler just hasn’t made many putts from outside 10 feet lately, while others have.

Lee Trevino once said that if he could putt better, you may never have heard of Jack Nicklaus. While that’s a bit of an exaggeration, the sentiment is more true today. When the rough gets penal and the cabbage around the greens rewards accurate tee-to-green play more, players like Morikawa and Scheffler who hit fairways and greens more often have an advantage, however, this advantage cannot overcome poor putting.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I’m not a professional golfer, but in my experience there are some golfers who pay attention to thier advanced statistics and others who merely play by feel and intuition. I’ve played with golfers who will mark up their scorecards with all kinds of stats during the round and there are those like me who just put down the score.

However, after the events where I play golf, the happiest golfers are the ones who walk out with cash as opposed to the ones who hit the most fairways. Stats in golf are more for preparation and practice than bragging rights, at the lower levels to the Tour pros.

Not only that, but his iron play isn’t helping him as much as you think. The following paragraphs have some rough estimates, so no nitpicking please, lol.

The average miss on a typical approach shot is 30 feet or so let’s assume that Scottie is 25 or even 20 feet. The percentage of putts made from 30 feet is nearly identical to the putts made at 25 or 20 feet, so while better iron play helps a bit, most Tour pros are two-putting from there 90 percent of the time.

What separates the winners from the rest of the field is the ability to stay out of trouble and making the occasional long birdie putt. Scheffler just hasn’t made many putts from outside 10 feet lately, while others have.

Lee Trevino once said that if he could putt better, you may never have heard of Jack Nicklaus. While that’s a bit of an exaggeration, the sentiment is more true today. When the rough gets penal and the cabbage around the greens rewards accurate tee-to-green play more, players like Morikawa and Scheffler who hit fairways and greens more often have an advantage, however, this advantage cannot overcome poor putting.

Those are some great points. I didn't think about the point about how the difference between 25 and 30 feet for birdie isn't that important. As you allude it, it would be more important for the difference between 5 feet and 10 feet or 10 feet and 15 feet.

And like you say, putting is what wins golf tournaments. The best golfers in the world hit the ball the best, but winning requires putting well. There are only like a few tournaments won all year on the PGA Tour where a player putted average or worse for the field. Thats a little of where the difference is between his current run and the run of some of those I named. They were obviously hitting it pretty great, yet they also made putts. Whether Scottie hits it better over the long-term than all those were able to, and can sustain this consistency, we'll have to see, yet as good as his consistency and strokes gained numbers from tournament to tournament were compared to those players who were winning more and bigger events, his highs weren't as high due to the lack of putting, even if his lows probably weren't as low. Volatility in pro golf is often rewarded more than consistency.

 

[Dr John Carlson]

Hideki, who hasn't really been heard from outside of LIV rumors since early 2022, with the round of his life to win. Willy Z back too.

Just a murderer's row of ballstrikers in the top-10, excepting Hadwin. Riviera has a way of doing that.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Masters invites LIV Golf's Niemann, two others on special exemptions

LIV Golf scored a significant win with the Masters' decision to invite one of its own to Augusta.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

I find this Scheffler talk weird lol.

His ball-striking is astronomically good, and his putter is laughably bad. Nothing really more to be said about it. The fact that he is on this run of good finishes while being a terrible putter is insane. It is actually the exact proof of how ball-striking puts you in contention every single week but you can't win if you can't make putts.

His tee-to-green play over the last couple years is among the best we have ever seen, but he can't separate himself because he can't make anything. The fact that it doesn't seem like he has really done much about it is concerning though, seems like he doesn't want to admit that it is as big of a problem as it is.

 

[Ben Grimm]

WG Rankings​

- 1	1	1		SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER	9.2103	423.67355	46	-68.98556	51.39133	46
- 2	2	2		RORY MCILROY	8.0896	364.03393	45	-53.04416	45.98735	45
- 3	3	3		JON RAHM	7.3092	299.67647	41	-46.49432	-	41
- 4	4	4		VIKTOR HOVLAND	6.0391	289.87656	48	-39.92393	6.62476	48
- 5	5	6		XANDER SCHAUFFELE	5.5843	240.12554	43	-34.29486	47.82006	43
6	7	5		PATRICK CANTLAY	5.2981	211.92378	40	-34.80311	30.49725	40
7	6	10		WYNDHAM CLARK	5.1575	268.18798	52	-21.67688	80.98875	54
- 8	8	7		MAX HOMA	4.1263	198.06354	48	-29.19954	13.75634	48
- 9	9	8		MATT FITZPATRICK	3.9724	206.56710	52	-34.25592	9.41869	54
- 10	10	9		BRIAN HARMAN

 

[Filthy Dangles]

The average miss on a typical approach shot is 30 feet or so let’s assume that Scottie is 25 or even 20 feet. The percentage of putts made from 30 feet is nearly identical to the putts made at 25 or 20 feet, so while better iron play helps a bit, most Tour pros are two-putting from there 90 percent of the time.

What separates the winners from the rest of the field is the ability to stay out of trouble and making the occasional long birdie putt. Scheffler just hasn’t made many putts from outside 10 feet lately, while others have.

Lee Trevino once said that if he could putt better, you may never have heard of Jack Nicklaus. While that’s a bit of an exaggeration, the sentiment is more true today. When the rough gets penal and the cabbage around the greens rewards accurate tee-to-green play more, players like Morikawa and Scheffler who hit fairways and greens more often have an advantage, however, this advantage cannot overcome poor putting.

The bolded is flawed for a few reasons...

1) It doesn't even factor if you hit the green! Average proximity stats include balls that miss the green up to 30 yards. Scheffler is by far the best at hitting GIR. So while those stats you cite include more players having to get up and down for a par, Scheffler is putting for birdie and 2 putting for par more often then they are from similar distances on approach.

2) It doesn't account for going for Par 5's in 2, where any GIR is good and you will be further from the hole than someone who lays up with a wedge, but will obviously be picking up strokes on the field, because you will be 2 putting for a birdie, where players who layed up need to 1 putt for bird.

Putting does involve some luck and it peaks and valleys but no matter how slice it, the average PGA Tour player would be scoring better by a couple-few strokes per tournament if they were hitting it like Scottie. For Scottie, that's the difference between a win and a runner up.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

What does everyone make of Tiger's son getting so much attention from the media?