In the wake of this month’s Masters, I’ve really struggled to describe it in hindsight. Save for the one hole when Cameron Smith nearly took the lead on Sunday, or when Rory McIlroy capped off a brilliant 64 from the bunker on 18, this Masters lacked its typical flair. There was the Saturday cold, where people ran into the merchandise center to buy clothes just to put them on. There was the five-shot lead that Scottie Scheffler built on Friday, and never once surrendered. There was the looming attention pulled away from the leaders in the direction of Tiger Woods, and his pair of weekend 78s.
This year’s Masters was, in a word, just weird.
We might as well get used to that word. Looking at the calendar, 2022 might be the wackiest summer of golf we’ve ever seen, starting with the elephant in the room on the Tour.
Phil Mickelson
Tiger Woods did Mickelson a favor at the Masters, simply by showing up. Woods was the story of the Masters, dating back as far as weeks prior when fanboys repeatedly refreshed the field list on Masters.com. At the bottom of it was Mickelson, listed under not competing. Only a bit higher on the page was Woods, in the field, the story of the event from Day 1. By the time any discussion turned to Phil — when Chairman Fred Ridley said that Mickelson confirmed his plans to miss the Masters via text — the world was swept up in Woods Mania once again.
But that won’t be the case at the PGA Championship next month. Not only might Woods not be around, but Mickelson’s return as the defending champ is in question, too. There is no way to preview the PGA without discussing the defending champ. It’s impossible. You can’t write about it, you can’t ask players about it, the PGA cannot promote itself in TV commercials without discussing Mickelson. That’s the world we’re living in right now: a bucket full of uncertainty around one of the most popular golfers on the planet.
If not the PGA, then when will Mickelson return? Could it be at the U.S. Open at Brookline? Or — gasp! — a LIV Golf event, potentially the weirdest events of all?
LIV Golf events
How does one properly assess the potential for LIV Golf Invitationals? They’re going to happen, we think. There’s a full schedule of eight events listed online, but at this point, seven weeks away from the first iteration of shotgun starts and three-round events, we only know of one competitor who plans to be there in London: Robert Garrigus. Are more names coming? Surely. We just don’t know who, and that feels important.
There will be an announcement soon, but we’ve said those six words on repeat for months now. Will the events be visible to the public on your television screen? TBD. Will you be able to purchase tickets to see them in person? Yes. But would you buy an event ticket without knowing what golfers you’ll be watching?
One of the events will go where no other golf brand seems comfortable right now: Trump Bedminster. The last time a pro golf event was hosted at Donald Trump’s New Jersey club, it was the U.S. Women’s Open in 2017, a clear five years before this year’s LIV Invitational starting on July 29th. Things were different then, for all involved.
There was supposed to be major event at Bedminster next month, but that all changed on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump Golf will get its pro event at Bedminster in 2022 after all, during the same weekend as the Rocket Mortgage Classic — squarely between the Open Championship and the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Money will be flowing in July and August. To whom? It could be anyone at this point.
Quarterbacks during U.S. Women’s Open
Less weird, but still weird nonetheless, is the next iteration of Capital One’s The Match. What started with a fake rivalry between Woods and Mickelson eventually made its way to a real rivalry between Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. This time, none of those guys will be involved. Zero pro golfers, to be exact. Just four quarterbacks.
Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady will face off against Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. That’s fun, right? We think so. But through a stricter lens, it’s harder to see it as a great event for golf. For starters, this sixth iteration of The Match will be the sixth one that does not include a female golfer. To this point, the only female golfer involvement in the series has been with Cheyenne Woods as an on-course reporter. What’s more, the event is scheduled for June 1, the Wednesday of U.S. Women’s Open week. Staging a men’s amateur, made-for-TV event on the eve of the U.S. Women’s Open, broadcast in primetime on a different network doesn’t exactly scream out support for the women’s game.
Perhaps that’s not for The Match to worry about. Still weird, though!
A Women’s Open unlike any other
And speaking of the women’s game, there is one particular oddity about this summer schedule we love: a Women’s Open at Muirfield.
Just six years ago, the R&A put the squeeze on the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers when it demanded it change its membership practices to include women. Its 272-year history had gone unchallenged on that front, at least by the R&A, and until they changed, the club would not host any R&A championships. Most notably, the Open Championship.
Only a year later did the club membership react to that call-down by approving female membership. In 2019, 12 female members were added, a tally that has grown to 18 and is expected to grow to 20 by the time the club hosts its first ever Women’s Open in August. According to Lindsey Garden, one of those female members, action has followed from the initial promises.
