#AskAlan, Vol. 73
With thoughts on Tiger’s decline, the PGA Tour’s malaise, Rory’s ennui, why Cantlay can’t close and more
Is it time for Tiger to ride into the sunset? @rgen_hle
That is not for you or I to decide. Woods, 48, has certainly earned the right to wind down his career however he damn well pleases. But it is hard to watch his decline. For all the social media hyperventilating that accompanies every Tiger start, the primary emotion I feel is wistfulness, or maybe even sadness. When he was 32, he owned 14 major championships and was easily the most dominant and celebrated athlete on the planet. Every sports fan had the priceless thrill of being witness to a once-in-a-millennium phenomenon. The last decade and a half has been mostly a story of self-destruction. I admire the grit Tiger continues to show but, man, it didn’t have to be like this.
What is the “Hideki one-handed follow-through on a great shot” equivalent in sports journalism? @MRileyGolf
I recall a Sunday night at the Masters in the mid- to late-90’s, when Dan Jenkins (below) was still writing game stories for Golf Digest. He would still bang out the articles following the final round even though they wouldn’t appear in the magazine until weeks later, a nod to his old deadlines at Sports Illustrated. I took a little break from grinding on my story and bumped into Jenkins in the courtyard in front of the press building, where he would smoke cigarettes and hold court. “Don’t tell me you already filed,” I said. Jenkins took a drag and mumbled through the corner of his mouth, as he was wont to do, “Fooled ‘em again.”
Strange PGA Tour week. No questions. @santafelife
Well, I have a few notes. It’s been a messy season so far. A Frenchman and an amateur have won. Phoenix was a clown show. Pebble got washed out. Tiger and Jordan Spieth were unceremoniously bounced out of Riviera. Hideki is the only blue-chip player to get it done on a Sunday (though Wyndham Clark had one heckuva Saturday) but the TV ratings for the L.A. Open were abysmal. And now this week’s Mexico Open has only 3 of the top 40 in a World Ranking that has been badly watered down by LIV defections. Eek.
LIV may not be resonating with large swaths of golf fans but it has badly damaged the Tour by stealing headliners, grinding down those who stayed and creating a bifurcated schedule with so many starless fields. (Not for nothing, Jon Rahm won three times on the Tour’s West Coast swing last year.) There’s barely enough players we care about to sustain one tour; the game has been cleaved into two different circuits and each feels flat and lacking. No one loves the West Coast swing more than me but for once I’m looking forward to Florida, which always signals that the Masters is finally getting close. The only hope for the Tour is that is that its stars, who are suddenly making more money than they ever dreamed possible, can start playing with a more palpable hunger. Otherwise this whole season is going to be about the majors and the Olympics with a lot of uninspired filler in between.
How long before the pros don’t have to keep their own score? I mean, every shot is tracked already. In 50 years, guys will still be writing their scores on paper? @ricksterps
But who is tracking the scores? Harried volunteers. Do we really trust them more than the players themselves?! Years ago I served as a Shotlink volunteer at the Crosby Clambake and it was intense. There was so much information to log and myriad distractions. I was stationed in the second fairway at Pebble Beach and if a player had a misadventure in the deep barranca near the green I wouldn’t have seen it. Most of the leaders’ shots are shown on TV but how much of Matsuyama’s front nine at Riviera did we get to see on Sunday? Only a smattering. There is simply too much happening all at once across a 150-acre playing field to entrust the official scorekeeping to anyone besides the players. Now, getting DQ’d for signing an incorrect scorecard is probably too harsh and should be amended to a two-stroke penalty; I expect it will. But I think the players will always be the official scorekeepers, and for good reason.
Why do you think Cantlay has had such difficulty in closing out 36/54 hole leads? @TheStroker83
Yeah, he’s now oh-fer-8 in converting 36-hole leads, having just frittered away a 5-shot cushion in LA. The easy answer is Cantlay is merely an average putter: 57th in strokes gained this year, and 129th in putts per round for the final round. (Last season he was 47th in strokes gained-putting.) He particularly struggles to cash in the mid-range putts that can turbocharge a round. But maybe the explanation is more metaphysical. Cantlay is a prickly personality who has rubbed a lot of his colleagues the wrong way. Behind-the-scenes, as a member of the board of directors, he’s been a muckraking figure in the LIV-Tour wars. Having a clear mind makes winning a lot easier; there always seems to be negative juju swirling around Cantlay and perhaps that creates just enough internal discomfort to prevent this mega-talent from winning more often.
Something is up with Rory, what is it? @mark_cusack
Over the last decade the guy has won everything you can possibly win around the world: the Players, the Race to Dubai, the FedEx Cup, tournaments from China to Scotland to Canada to Korea to Ireland. Obviously the only thing missing is more major championships. Imagine the interminable wait for Rory from the end of the Open in July until the ensuing Masters in April. Torture! I’m sure he’s a little bored and antsy with all these ho-hum tournaments he has to slog through to get to Augusta. Can’t really blame him.
When will you follow the very best ANTi-LIV account? @ANTi_LIV
At least one more week, apparently.