2015 PGA Championship Commentary
A Day of Reckoning – Jason Day Wins His First Major at the PGA Championship
I swear I’m almost as relieved Jason Day captured a major championship as Jason Day must be. I even cried too, along with the wife, and she doesn’t know golf. Jason has been so close and had so many heartbreaking finishes. Day’s is a truly great story of resilience, persistence, tenacity, and heart. Hats off to Jason Day for a truly amazing and inspiring week of golf, and the years of his journey to get to this point.
Day’s historic day was capped off with a finish at -20, never before achieved in a major… ever.
“The way that I felt confidence wise with my game, I just felt like no one was going to stop me today even though this was one of the hardest rounds I have ever had to play. Playing with Jordan was very difficult, just being able to watch what he was doing. But on top of it, grinding it out as hard as I possibly could. It is a fantastic feeling, I can call myself a major champion now and it feels really, really good.” ~Jason Day
Jordan Spieth
Jordan Spieth is amazing, in a totally different way than Tiger Woods was in his prime. I can’t pinpoint what makes Spieth so good. He’s not super long. He’s not the best ball striker on tour. He’s not the best putter on tour (he’s really good, don’t misunderstand). His short game isn’t the best on tour… But what he seems to have is the ability to PLAY GOLF. He’s as strong mentally as anyone and the pressure simply does not get to him. In fact, it seems to make him play better. A look at his stats on the year prove that. His scoring in majors is better than in non-majors!
Spieth locks up 2nd place in class, giving thumbs-up to Jason Day when he knew the tournament was Day’s. Spieth’s second place finish at the PGA moves him to #1 in the world golf rankings. Everyone knew he was playing the best golf on the planet, even Rory McIlory. McIlory shows nothing but class in this tweet:
Tiger Woods
What can you say about Tiger Woods, who missed his 3rd consecutive cut in a major with scores of 75 and 73. The numbers don’t lie. Tiger has dropped to 285th in the world rankings.
Branden Grace
Branden Grace has come out of nowhere (at least in my small cranium) and is suddenly a regular contender in majors. 3rd place finish.
Justin Rose
Justin Rose is a total stud. Rose was in the mix with a 4th place finish. More importantly though his eyewear apparel script was some kind of Elton John, The Fly, Elvis hybrid. Nicely done.
Whistling Straits
I didn’t hear or read one complaint about the golf course this week, unlike Chambers Bay and the 2015 U.S. Open. The course was fantastic and the PGA wasn’t afraid to set it up for low scoring. Majors don’t have to be even-par events. The excitement this week was fantastic and the setup truly produced the player who was the best in the field.
Sad Day
With the PGA Championship’s conclusion comes my yearly moaning that the golf season is for the most part over. The FedEx Cup does not tickle my interest whatsoever, and the Presidents Cup is not far behind that. I will likely tune in to professional golf next when the 2016 Masters Tournament is on.
Before you head to the office, or the golf course, be sure to set your DVR to record the PGA Championship on TNT today. Below is the PGA Championship television schedule.
Thu, Aug 13 TNT 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET
Fri, Aug 14 TNT 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET
Sat, Aug 15 TNT 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM ET
Sat, Aug 15 CBS 2:00 PM – 7:00 PM ET
Sun, Aug 16 TNT 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM ET
Sun, Aug 16 CBS 2:00 PM – 7:00 PM ET
While you are at work you can see lots of great video coverage and follow the leaderboard at http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/. There are also PGA Championship mobile apps for your smartphone or tablet providing even more viewing options.
Who will win? Check the apparel scripts for that answer.
I get out, they pull me back in…
I can’t resist another commentary, okay rant, on apparel scripting. Yes, one billleeeeeooon times is apparently not enough. It’s PGA Championship week. The best part of a major championship week is not the drama, not the best players in the world competing on incredible golf courses under immense pressure… nooooo. The best part is the apparel scripting. PR firms and apparel companies release their “scripts” and lazy journalists blindly repost it because, well, it’s much easier than actually writing something useful and informative.
I look differently at apparel scripts. I analyze them for hours, even days. There is brilliance in these scripts. The last two major championships Tiger Woods’s pant scripter only put two pairs in the script, essentially predicting missed cuts. Boom. The pant scripter nailed both.
Below are a few PGA Championship apparel scripts with my expert analysis, and grades:
Above is the apparel scripting for Dustin Johnson. My first comment is that I’m amazed they were able to find four guys who look exactly like DJ to pose for this image. Either that or DJ is one of four identical quadruplets. This scripting is nearly identical in style to his scripting for the last two major championships, which he arguably should have won. The scripting says no win for DJ this year.
Grade: B – Nice gray colors. Bonus points for finding four guys who look exactly like DJ to post for the picture.
Pretty amazing apparel script above. Who would make an apparel script for the 278th ranked golfer in the world? Nike. As mentioned, this script only has two pairs of pants. The pant scripter once again is predicting a missed cut. There’s a lot of rough and about 40,003 bunkers at Whistling Straits. Not sure three balls and eight tees will be enough. Plus walking around this hilly course with no shoes, no socks, and no underwear can’t help Tiger Woods’s cause.
Grade: D- (no socks, no shoes, no underwear, no belt, shirts which only have a left arm)
Poor Under Armour has gotten sucked into the apparel script game. They think they have to do it because everyone else does. For that their grade has been reduced from an A to a B. While this is as good a script as I’ve seen, Spieth will have to overcome playing with no underwear, no socks, and no shoes.
Grade: B (downgraded from an A because UA made a script).
Poor Rickie Fowler. Assuming he makes the cut his ONE pair of pants is going to be awfully disgusting by the time Sunday afternoon rolls around, especially when he has no underwear either. Knowing that perhaps Puma should have picked a darker color, like brown. While Rickie’s script does have shoes, why three pairs? Is he going barefoot on Sunday? No socks either. Sunday’s round in gross pants, free-balling, and with no shoes? This should be interesting.
Grade: F (no 4th pair of shoes, one pair of pants, no socks, no underwear, one shirt with only a left arm, three shirts with no arms, one outerwear unit with one left arm).
Conclusion
Sure I didn’t cover every script out there. I simply don’t have the time because I’m working on my own PGA Championship apparel script and beer scripting. Stay tuned for those soon.
In my Twitter feed there are a lot of video clips from the PGA Championship. One in particular caught my attention, because someone in the press had the golf balls to ask Tiger Woods if he has lost a step. The second the video started and I heard the voice of the person asking the question, I knew who it was… Jay Flemma.
Tiger’s answer was intended to be a joke, followed up with a big Tiger smile. Nobody got it. #crickets #illbehereallweek #trytheveal
During the last couple of practice sessions on the putting green I tried the technique Jordan Spieth sometimes uses on shorter putts. He will actually look at the hole and execute his putting stroke. He’s not looking at his golf ball or having his head/eyes down in the stroke. Conceptually it is not that odd. Think about foul-shooting in basketball. The shooter is looking at the basket, not the ball. Well maybe anyone but Shaquille O’Neal. No idea what he was ever looking at.
It was weird trying this technique. I made the first one. It felt strange and was very odd to see the hole, then have the ball appear in my field of vision, let alone being on the proper line and then going into the hole.
I’d say using this technique I was making a large percentage of the putts in short range. I was surprised to make as many as I did without even looking at the ball. I suppose that means my stroke is fairly pure and consistent, even when I’m not looking at the ball.
Will I put this in play? Nope. I make a lot of putts and I’m very confident in my putting. No need to mess with something that isn’t broken.
Someone should have told that to Tiger Woods.
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