Tour Confidential: Are the Rules of Golf STILL too complicated? - Golf.com

3. Recent Presidents Cup captain’s pick Patrick Reed said the Ryder Cup controversy he started in 2018 in Paris has been “put to bed,” and there’s no lingering issues heading to Royal Melbourne. Any reason to doubt Captain America?

Bamberger: The very question is un-American. You cannot doubt the man. His name is Captain America!

Sens: Excellent dodge, Mr. Bamberger. Forgiven? Maybe. But forgotten? I can’t imagine. I don’t see Tiger Woods agonizing about a lot of his decisions in Australia. But one that is likely to give him at least a bit of pause is, Who should I stick with Reed? In that sense, I wouldn’t call the matter entirely put to bed.

Dethier: If they win, it’s (closer to becoming) water under the bridge. If things get tight, and Reed struggles with his partner? His presence comes under a microscope. Passing judgment on a one-week team event is rarely fair, but it’s pretty fair that the guy who publicly called out his captain and team just 13 months ago would take the brunt of the scrutiny.

Berhow: Yes, there are several reasons to doubt him. Just look at his track record. But winning is really all that matters here, so if Reed does his job and doesn’t cause any drama, there’s no reason to think we won’t see him at Whistling Straits next fall.

4. Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Kevin Kisner and Phil Mickelson are just a few of the players who were denied a Presidents Cup captain’s pick by Tiger Woods. Which of these players — or another one not mentioned here — is most likely to bounce back and make the 2020 Ryder Cup on his own via qualifying?

Sens: I’ll go with Fowler. Mickelson has age working against him. Spieth is dealing with serious hobgoblins. And Rickie’s got more firepower than the very talented and feisty Kisner.

Bamberger: Spieth. Hobgoblins be damned.

Sens: I mostly just wanted to say hobgoblins. Thanks for taking up the cry.

Dethier: According to Wikipedia, “Hobgoblins are humanoids that stand nearly 6’6″ tall on average, a little taller than orcs.” That’s some serious baggage to deal with. The correct answer is Rickie Fowler, who would have made this team had he not gotten married (and picked up a subsequent bacterial infection). But Collin Morikawa may be as reliable an answer as any of the above.

Berhow: Wow, this got weird. Anyway, the answer here is quite obviously Jordan Spieth. No chance he misses two team events in a row. He’ll be eating cheese curds in Sheboygan in no time.

5. Tommy Fleetwood won the Nedbank Golf Challenge on Sunday to claim his fifth career European Tour victory, yet the 28-year-old has four runner-up finishes and no wins in 62 starts on the PGA Tour. Why do some of Europe’s best players — i.e. Fleetwood, Casey, Poulter, Monty, etc. — thrive on the Euro Tour but struggle to win on the PGA Tour?

Bamberger: Let us not forget Seve! Also Langer. Also Westwood. As Tiger said when he missed the cut at the British Open this year, “I just want to go home.” They prefer home. Most people do.

Sens: I was going to say the same — home cooking. Who doesn’t love it? Plus, the fields here are generally the deepest in the world, which is why those guys cross the ocean to play in them in the first place.

Dethier: There’s a depth-of-play issue (every single guy on the PGA Tour is intimidatingly good) and a style-of-play issue (you don’t see much in the way of linksy Tour designs) but it’s also just a statistical issue. By my count, Fleetwood has nine top-fives on the PGA Tour. Statistically, those same performances that result in runner-ups on Tour can be wins on the Euro Tour. He may not be an overachiever, but he’ll win before long.

Berhow: Winning is hard, regardless of which tour you are on. But forget winning just a regular event on the PGA Tour, Tommy Fleetwood has to be one of the few major-less pros ready to claim one of the big ones soon. It almost happened at Shinnecock.

6. A day after withdrawing from the Nedbank pro-am due to discomfort from kidney stones, Louis Oosthuizen gamely carded a first-round 63. What’s the most uncomfortable condition you’ve gutted out on the golf course?

Bamberger: Stories due and bosses calling. Wife calling. Kids calling. Bills on desk. Lawn overdue. Mental stress rising. But the promise of 89 if you can play the last three in two over overwhelms all.

Sens: Two solid years of the driver yips. I tried meditation. Hypnosis. Beta-blockers. What finally worked was a visit to a voodoo doctor in New Orleans. True story.

Dethier: Well, the most adverse conditions I played under came after missing so many cuts that I felt a desperate need to win back every $400 mini-tour entry fee just so I could feel good about eating dinner that night. But in the spirit of the question, I remember our high school golf team took two taxi cabs from school to a match one week. Our driver was used to driving his cats around with him, and man was I allergic to those guys. By the time we arrived to our match with Monument Mountain High School that afternoon, my left eye was nearly swollen shut. Safe to say I didn’t perform to the best of my abilities — and we took vans after that.

Berhow: Does firing a couple of low-90s scores during Bachelor-party weekends count? Had some gutsy bogey saves.

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2019-11-18 03:56:15Z
https://www.golf.com/news/2019/11/18/tour-confidential-are-rules-golf-still-too-complicated/