“I talked to people. I’ve reached out to people,” Thomas said, choosing his words carefully. “I mean, it’s not — I mean, I’m not embarrassed to say that I reached out to talk to people to kind of let my feelings out and just discuss stuff with them. I think it’s something, especially at our level, a lot of people probably think that they’re bigger and better than that, but some of the thoughts and things I was feeling, it wasn’t fair to myself, and I needed to do something, and my girlfriend Jill was very helpful with that and staying on me to make sure I was taking care of myself, like I would want to do for anyone else in my family.
“Yeah, just like I do in my golf, if things are going on in life, I need to work on it to try to get it better.”
ALMOST-WINNER’S CIRCLE
Who came up just short?
We’ve gotten in the unfortunate habit of treating second-place finishes purely as missed opportunities. We do this especially with famous runners-up, like Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele and the Revived Artist Known as Jordan Spieth. So there’s a real joy in seeing someone like Lee Westwood celebrate the quality of golf that has powered him into back-to-back final pairings and back-to-back solo second-place finishes at Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass.
“Everybody keeps telling my how old I am. I’m 48 in a month’s time, and I’m still out here contending for tournaments and playing in final groups with great players like Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas, people like that. It’s just a joy to be involved.”
And why shouldn’t he celebrate? Westwood is nearing Champions Tour age. We have no grand expectations for him, nor should we. He’s made more than 2.6 million dollars in the last two weeks. He’s pushed two of the best golfers in the world to the brink, and he’s done so with his fiancee on his bag and a smile on his face. And tomorrow, he’ll head to Augusta National for a practice round with his son Sam — who he expects will caddie for him Masters Week.
Who is Lee Westwood’s caddie? Helen Storey is his ‘secret weapon’
There’s a beauty in appreciating life’s accomplishments for what they are rather than merely rueing what they could have been. Westwood seems to have hit that sweet spot. There’s no guarantee that he’ll ever again have such a strong stretch of competitive golf, so it would be a huge missed opportunity not to enjoy it in real time. Good on ya, Lee.
As for the best of the rest? Bryson DeChambeau finished a shot behind Westwood and seemed encouraged: “I can play on golf courses that don’t really suit me. That’s a big lesson,” he said. Brian Harman made a gutsy 2 at 17 and a lengthy par save at 18 to secure his best tournament finish since 2017. And Paul Casey, who finished T5, reminded us Westwood isn’t the only 40-something Brit who’s aging like a fine wine.
COURSE TALK
Some words on Sawgrass.
I’ve already said plenty about the way the course played this week, No. 17 in particular, but I appreciated the way the contenders were put to the test with firm, fast conditions Sunday afternoon. Paul Casey put it best when breaking down the challenge the course presents:
“You’re always on the hairy edge of disaster,” he said on Saturday evening.
Sunday proved him a prophet. We were reminded of the perils of the 17th when Brendon Todd hit the most glorious of golf shots — a pure cold shank — that nearly satisfied one of my great Tour dreams by landing on the second island. That would have led to a wild rules fiasco and the opportunity for Todd to tempt the gators, swim to the island and play from there (more on that here).
But just as we were recovering from shank shock, DeChambeau hit a cold top into the water at No. 4, and Westwood followed with a wild slice into more water still. Doug Ghim, playing in the penultimate pairing, splashed two water-balls off the 7th tee just minutes later. Golf gets much more difficult when you’re counting by twos.
As for the final numbers on No. 17:
After a startling 35 golf balls found the water in the first round, that total fell to 13 on Friday and eight on Saturday before ticking back up to 11 on Sunday. The big-time carnage was limited to Thursday, when the hole yielded nine triple-bogeys or worse — including a bunch of 8s and an 11. The last three days, just two players made 6 or worse (including Ghim with an unfortunate late triple on Sunday).
As contenders landed safely on the center island green, one after the next, I couldn’t help but feel impressed by one golfer in particular: Rickie Fowler. No, not because of his play this week (he shot 77-73 and missed the cut by a half-dozen) but because of what he did at the very same hole in 2015, making birdie three times in a row under the gun.
Besides Harman, I don’t remember any of the contenders even taking on that pin in this year’s edition. Granted, some of that conservative play was dictated by firm greens, but still — as the Players continues to elevate in status I can’t help but think that if Fowler pulled off that fantastic finish today, he’d get even more credit than he did at the time.
WHAT WE’RE HEARING
One long pause.
After Rory McIlroy shot a Friday 75 to miss the cut by 10 shots, he took questions from reporters. One in particular, a salvo from Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner, stood out.
“What are you most frustrated by, Rory?”
McIlroy’s intense pause before his answer was telling. His answer was, too. For weeks he has danced around the idea that his swing hasn’t felt quite right, his path has gotten messed up and he’s frustrated with how it all feels. But on Friday he admitted that chasing DeChambeau is, he believes, at the heart of the issue. It’s a startling admission for arguably the greatest male golfer since Tiger Woods to make. Why shouldn’t being Rory McIlroy be good enough?
My hope is that admitting it publicly will be cathartic for McIlroy, and the first step towards chasing the best version of his own game instead of imitating DeCheambeau’s which seems particularly impossible to replicate. With our gazes now shifting towards Augusta, Ga., McIlroy has a few weeks to figure out the answer to one question: How can he get his swagger back?
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
What will Bryson do next?
After the PGA Tour nixed DeChambeau’s prospective line off the 18th tee (which would have meant he’d play over to the water to No. 9 on his tee shot and back across the water to the 18th green on his approach) DeChambeau expressed some regret about revealing his plans to the media.
“I understand it,” he said after the ruling. “I probably shouldn’t have said anything. Knowing that now, I won’t ever say any lines that I’m taking anymore. But that’s okay. I understand it.”
In other words, the next time DeChambeau has a creative use for his 200 mph ball speed, we may not know in advance. It might be even more fun that way anyhow.
CLOTHING CORNER
Who wore what?
Since Ralph Lauren split with Justin Thomas in January, Thomas has been an apparel free agent of sorts. But in recent weeks he’s been more consistently sporting Greyson shirts adorned with his sponsor logos. You’ve seen Greyson on a number of other pros in recent years, from Luke Donald to Harry Higgs to Erik van Rooyen to Sam Ryder and more. But JT remains the top-ranked golfer without a clothing deal. For now.
Another golfer who exceeded expectations this week was Phil Mickelson, who put together a shockingly consistent week of 71-72-71-71 to finish T36, his best result on Tour since last summer. Mickelson is famous for playing like he has an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. This week I couldn’t help but notice he dressed that way, too:
