Two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange took to Twitter to voice his displeasure with how Jon Rahm and Andrew Landry interacted during their playoff of the CareerBuilder Challenge on Sunday.
Rahm, 23, and Landry, 30, traded pars on the first three playoffs holes before Rahm birdied the fourth to win for the second time of his young PGA Tour career.
But Strange appeared to have an issue with how the two pros chatted to each other during the playoff. He later clarified his thoughts by replying to a tweet, saying he would never want to make an opponent feel more comfortable.
Watching Andrew Landry and Jon Rahm in playoff. Walking off tee talking to each other. Are you kidding me ? Talking at all. ?
— Curtis Strange (@golf_strange) January 22, 2018
The issue is I don’t want to make you a bit relaxed or comfortable. High pressure, good.
— Curtis Strange (@golf_strange) January 22, 2018
Strange isn’t the first to bring up the issue of too-friendly Tour pros. In fact, it’s come up several times in the past years as Tiger Woods has struggled to stay healthy and a younger generation of pros — many of whom are friends on and off the links — have taken center stage.
But, according to a 2011 interview with GOLF, just because Strange doesn’t agree with how players interact between the ropes doesn’t mean he thinks this generation is softer than his.
“I think Dustin Johnson is a tough guy, an athlete,” he said in the interview. “I think there are a lot of them. You know, I would never say that my generation was any different than the other generations. We’re kind of made up of our environment. I think they’re plenty tough out there.”
And, to further punctuate Strange’s thoughts about interacting with opponents, you might remember the 1988 U.S. Open, the first of Strange’s two straight, in which he defeated Nick Faldo in an 18-hole playoff at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
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— Curtis Strange (@golf_strange) January 22, 2018
