Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us @golf_com. This week, we discuss the PGA of America’s decision to move the PGA Championship, Harris English’s victory, Mike Whan’s legacy, the new Tiger Woods documentary and more.
1. The PGA of America, late Sunday night, announced that it was terminating the agreement to play the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster. “It has become clear that conducting the PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand and would put at risk the PGA’s ability to deliver our many programs and sustain the longevity of our mission,” PGA of America President Jim Richerson said in a recorded statement. What venue, in light of the decision, should hold the tournament?
Michael Bamberger, senior writer: Any course not associated with Donald Trump. Some suggestions in different categories. Innisbrook, Florida resort course. East Potomac G.C., muni with a view of the Washington Monument and no need to do much to it–just let the fellas play, whatever they shoot, they shoot. Cypress Point Club, private club, nice views, good course. (Regarding scores: ditto.) Augusta National, a month or so after the Masters. The first Senior PGA Championship was held at Augusta National and that went so well the second one was held there, too.
Josh Sens, senior writer (@JoshSens): Baltusrol will be fresh off a renovation. Or Canterbury in Ohio. Great championship pedigree that hasn’t hosted a biggie in some time. Or (Bay Area bias alert), bring it back to Harding and let our city course have its crack at another major. With fans this time.
Luke Kerr-Dineen, director of game improvement (@LukeKerrDineen): How about Riviera? It’s an iconic course everyone loves that’s hosted two PGA Championships in the past, there’ll be lots of birdies to go around, and it’s obviously on the west coast, so you’ll get the championship into prime time.
Alan Bastable, executive editor (@alan_bastable): Given it’s super-short notice, the stand-in is going to need to be a plug-and-play venue that has hosted big-time golf in the past. It’d also be nice to keep the event in the Jerz. Baltusrol comes to mind, though I’m not sure that’s many fans’ first choice. And Liberty National is reportedly a front runner. But I’d love to see it at a more classic design that only coincidentally is a five-minute drive from my house: Plainfield, you free?
Dylan Dethier, senior writer (@dylan_dethier): Anyone who visits this space regularly already knows what I’m going to say: Chambers Bay. It made for spectacular tournament viewing the first time around, and that was before they redid the greens — no player-grousing this time around! If we ended up with half the quality of leaderboard we had last time, it would still be a rousing success. Plus, what better time to highlight muni golf?
(If I’m limited to a non-Chambers answer, let’s head back to Royal Melbourne. Yes, I know, it’s the PGA of America … but just file this one under “growing the game” and let’s all head Down Under for a week or two.)
Alan Shipnuck, senior writer (@alanshipnuck): Shoal Creek. For so long, it was a symbol of what’s wrong with the game. But the club has changed, and returning the PGA there would be a symbol of progress at exactly the right time.
2. Harris English snapped a seven-plus-year PGA Tour winning drought with his victory at the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Sunday. Which other win-starved player (let’s say no PGA Tour W’s in the past five years) is most likely to return to the winner’s circle in 2021?
Bamberger: Jimmy Walker. Sneaky Jimmy Walker.
Sens: Has it really been nearly five years since Tony Finau won in Puerto Rico? It has! Dang, time flies. As a runner-up, I’ll modify the terms and go with Abe Ancer. He got his card in 2016 and has yet to get his first win. That’s gotta change before long.
LKD: Jordan Spieth. He’s off to Butch for a second set of eyes — with the blessing of his coach Cameron McCormick — and I gotta believe it’s going to turn around for him soon.
Bastable: Man, it’s fun to watch players who haven’t won in years getting a taste of victory again. You can see it in their eyes — and hear it in their voice — how much it means, or at least you could with English on Sunday. But to answer the question: Bernhard Langer, 2021 Masters champion.
Dethier: Each of these is a bad answer for one reason or another, Luke’s math issues chief among them (Spieth’s 2017 Open wasn’t THAT long ago). The correct answer is Louis Oosthuizen, who owns just a single PGA Tour win: the 2010 Open Championship.
Bamberger: One would not normally say that there is a correct or incorrect answer in these matters, but Dylan is correct: must be King Louie. Or J. Walker.
Shipnuck: Phil Mickelson. The Senior Tour is giving him shots of confidence, he’s longer than he’s ever been, and one hot week with the putter is all it will take.
3. LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan, after 11 years at the helm, announced he is stepping down. (He did not say what, if anything, he’s planning next.) At the beginning of Whan’s tenure, the tour had only 24 tournaments and official prize money of $41.4 million; in 2021, the women will play for a record $76.5 million across 34 official events — in the midst of a pandemic. What has been Whan’s greatest impact on the LPGA?
Sens: Growing the tournament schedule globally to better reflect the global nature of the women’s game. But also developing programs through the Tour that reach into the junior ranks, getting more girls into the game.
Shipnuck: Suzy Whaley is a great choice. But how about a hugely respected former player who is still revered by the membership: Karrie Webb.
5. Adam Scott, who has won 14 times on the PGA Tour, said earlier in the week of the PGA Tour schedule: “I think you’ve got to identify that there’s probably 10 or 12 serious competition events during the calendar year and then the rest is a bit of entertainment, really. But the thing for all of us and people trying to peak for those 10 or 12 serious events is they have got to use those entertainment events to get prepared and get ready.” Do you think most top-tier players look at the schedule the way Scott does?
Sens: For sure. Scott is far from alone in thinking about peaking for the big ones. A young Tiger Woods was out for blood in every event he played. I’m hard-pressed to think of a top player who is wired like that today.
LKD: No, I think most players look at the schedule and see about five truly “serious” tournaments (the majors + Ryder Cup) — and everything else. That doesn’t mean they don’t take those events seriously, of course. No pro out there enters an event not wanting to win it. But when push comes to shove, it’s all about the majors.
Bastable: Exactly. For a handful players — see: Tiger, Phil, Brooks — forget about 10 or 12 events; they’re trying to peak for only four events.
Bamberger: What Adam Scott said, and said well, is true for the top 40 or 50 players in the world. The rest are trying to make money, qualify for the Masters and the Players and the WGC events and trying to keep their job for another year.
Dethier: Golfers who have made as much money as Scott has in his career are afforded the opportunity to chase titles based on their legacies. It’s a funny thing, but that makes their pursuit in some way more pure, right? They’re not in it for the money, anymore — already plenty in the bank.
Frankly, for fans, Scott’s vision makes plenty of sense, because it’s hard for a viewer to rally for 50 stroke-play tournaments per year. But 10 or 12? We can handle that. It’s a fun thought experiment, that tournament hierarchy: If you’re limited to 10 events, what gets left out? FedEx Cup Playoffs? WGCs?
Shipnuck: Top tier? Yes. But there are so many other tiers, too.
6. Part I of HBO’s Tiger Woods documentary, Tiger, debuted Sunday night. In your mind, what is the most intriguing element of Woods’ life/career arc?
Sens: The comeback. Though I don’t know how you separate that arc of the story from the rest of the narrative, since part of what makes it so enthralling is the heights to which he rose and the depths to which he fell. It was basically a Greek tragedy, with a Hollywood ending.
