Major(s) News & Notes, September 5th, 2024
Major(s) News & Notes, September 5th, 2024
Captain Furyk has no choice but to fire assistant captain Bradley. Plus, the toughest courses of 2024, Birkdale's new 7th, more Hallowed Grounds, Quotables, This, That and Reads.
Days to The Masters opening tee shot: 214
Keegan Bradley has been fired.
Oh, he’s still the surprising Ryder Cup captain for next September’s matches at Bethpage State Park. But plans to let Bradley use a Presidents Cup assistant captaincy to get reacquainted with the bickering, egos, neuroses, monetary demands, preferred banana ripeness of America’s finest, and other miscellaneous mishegas has been put on hold. Presidents Cup Captain Jim Furyk selected the 38-year-old to play in next month’s Montreal matches and then announced a replacement assistant will be given Bradley’s cart so he can focus on winning matches.
Since the recent BMW Championship winner still has plenty of good golf in him, Furyk may end up needing the pesky match player in every session. Particularly without LIV defectors Brooks Koepka or Bryson DeChambeau as options in the PGA Tour-operated biennial matches.
America’s vaunted depth suddenly seems in doubt and not just in the men’s professional setting. While the red-white-and-blue captured all four men’s majors, this week’s selection of the struggling Max Homa and Brian Harman as Furyk’s final two picks highlighted the lack of no-brainer or even obvious match-play specialists. While both Homa and Harman could just as easily turn things around by month’s end—match play might be just the spark Homa needs after going 3-1-1 in Rome—America’s global dominance has taken a recent hit.
Only Nelly Korda captured a women’s major this year for USA. Add in Europe holding the Ryder and Solheim Cups with Great Britain and Ireland’s Curtis Cup victory last week, and we might be seeing a shift. If the Internationals win the Presidents Cup then it’s a full-blown situation that has absolutely no impact on our lives other than the joy of watching some massive egos take a light bruising.
Although it’s worth noting that the one-point win in the Curtis Cup for GB&I could have easily gone the other way with a few putts made (or missed). Which made The Telegraph’s headline a tad aggressive: “US grip on global golf weakens as GB and Ireland win Curtis Cup.”
All of this fuels some needed intrigue for the fall’s two Cups and enhances the prospects of Europe’s bid to retain the Ryder Cup on U.S. soil next fall. But Captain Luke Donald has his share of annoying itches threatening to soon become infuriating, no-cure rashes that even Dodo’s analytics can’t soothe.
Next Thursday’s Spanish Open entry deadline list may or may not include Jon Rahm. His presence there will determine the Spaniard’s eligibility for Bethpage’s Ryder Cup. As James Corrigan lays out in The Telegraph, Rahm is running out of time to play four DP World Tour events this year to remain a member. A large fine is also part of the equation, as is the status of Kelly Rahm’s pregnancy. There are also two LIV events for Rahm to play before the Spanish Open as well.
But as Corrigan notes, the DP World Tour rules will not be altered for one player, with the Telegraph quoting an insider saying Rahm is “digging in his heels.” Corrigan also says a membership rule book re-write would be cumbersome. The DP World Tour already has gone above and beyond by determining that fine print allows for Rahm to be eligible with four starts and paid fines.
Adding to the sticky situation: players are no longer speaking out on Rahm’s behalf. Justin Rose backed the DP World Tour’s stance last week in an interview with Sky Sports.
“The guys on LIV do get the opportunity to represent Europe,” Rose said. “It think there is a structure in place, the European Tour has its rules and regulations, if they play in a conflicting event, they accrue a fine and if they pay the fine, they're eligible to play. So I think there is a fair pathway for everybody to be part of the team.”
Qualifying under a codified points system began last week at the Betfred British Masters won by Niklas Nørgaard.
With sensational venues ahead it all makes 2025 that much more intriguing. Though we still have plenty to mull from a terrific 2024, starting with this week’s edition looking at the most difficult men’s professional venues. After some dramatic data sharing and before memories fade, we’ll launch the 2024 Quad reader survey of the best from 2024.
If you are looking for an audio version recapping last week’s Curtis Cup and Tour Championship, the latest McKellar pod is now out.
Onward!
Toughest Courses
Last week’s Tour Championship conclusion of the 2024 PGA Tour season provides a chance to dig into Shotlink and discover statistical nuggets.
Three major championship venues led the way in difficulty. And since three of them also hosted in 2014 I thought it’d be worthwhile to see if much changed.
Pinehurst No. 2 played as the toughest course in 2024 with a +2.891 scoring average to par. That’s compared to a +3.076 average during the 2014 U.S. Open when the course was also the toughest on that season’s calendar.
Royal Troon ranked second in difficulty thanks to some hellacious Open Championship scoring weather (+2.851).
Augusta National ranked third, a stroke easier to par than the top two. The +1.906 average was consistent with 2014’s 73.946 average when the Masters site ranked second.
Valhalla ranked 13th in 2024 difficulty based on a -0.426 average. When Rory McIlroy captured the 2014 PGA, the course par was 72 and produced a -.421 average to rank 15th.
Quail Hollow, host of the 2025 PGA, played as the 6th toughest course in 2024 with a +0.732 average.
Riviera, host of the 2031 U.S. Open, ranked 17th in difficulty this year with a -0.896 average. In 2014 the course ranked 24th with a +0.209 average.
TPC Sawgrass saw a similar shift from over par to under par and yet moved up the difficulty list, ranking 14th this year with a -0.529 average score to par. In 2014 when The Players was contested in May, TPC Sawgrass ranked 25th with a +0.155 scoring average.
Quotable
Luke Donald on Jon Rahm’s Ryder Cup eligibility. “I’ve had many conversations with Jon. He absolutely knows what the deal is. He knew when he signed for LIV what the policies were on the DP World Tour. You have to play your four. Per all the policies, he can pay the fines or he can appeal like some of the guys have, and that gives him the opportunity to do that. It’s really up to him to do that and become eligible. He certainly mentioned at the [US] PGA Championship he was willing to do whatever it took to commit to me and the team. I hope that happens.”
Rory McIlroy on the state of the professional tours. “Anyone that cares about golf, I think has to be frustrated…I just think that it's gone on long enough. Everyone is trying to find a solution. It's just a solution is hard to get to. I go back to -- even though I was on the wrong side of things, like the U.S. Open with Bryson and I, you're only really going to get that four times a year at most. The game of golf deserves having those sort of things happen more than just four times a year.”
Birkdale’s New Par 3 7th
Royal Birkdale’s Instagram account has posted drone views of the remodeled 7th green by Mackenzie and Ebert (here and here).
The hole remains in the same location, but according to the post, “the 7th green has been lifted and moved slightly to the left to increase drainage.” And difficulty!
The new surface is noticeably raised—it’s for drainage people!—with a nasty little fall-off guarding the back hole locations. A couple of screen grabs show tees have been added and staggered compared to the prior version.
The revamped hole next tests the world’s best during the 2026 Open Championship.
Hallowed Grounds: Amen Corner
Episode three of The Masters’ look at various traditions and landmarks continues with Amen Corner. Architecture geeks will enjoy seeing the variety of looks the famed stretch has had over the years, including the lack of a swale between the 13th green and bunkers.
This And That
Tickets for the 2025 AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales are now on sale. Prices start from £20. Children aged 16 years or under before the Championship are admitted free of charge. Spectators aged 24 years or under will be entitled to purchase youth (16-24 years) tickets which have a 50% discount. The event is billed as “the largest women’s sporting event to be played in Wales.”
Captain Mike Weir finalized the International Team for the 2024 Presidents Cup by selecting South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Canada’s Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith and Mackenzie Hughes, South Korea’s Si Woo Kim and Australia’s Min Woo Lee. This marks the first time in Presidents Cup history that three Canadian players will compete for the International Team. The matches return to Royal Montreal Golf Club Sept. 24-29, 2024.
Reads
🤪 Michael Catling with 18 crazy stats/anecdotes/oddities from the 2024 PGA Tour season.
⛳️ Joseph LaMagna on the much improved East Lake design.
❤️🔥 Richard Gillis with some delightfully pithy takes on team golf in the Unofficial Partner.
🥴 Bill Peters on why the breakup of Topgolf Callaway could be complicated.
Does anyone know who designed/built Birkdale's 7th before the M&E "makeover"?
It’s nice to know Rory thinks fans deserve to see the top players compete together more than four times a year. I’m not sure anyone cares that much. Beyond the committed fans, I sense indifference to professional golf. A reunion of some sort wouldn’t lead to some massive celebration. Maybe signature events would get a little more attention if Bryson, Brooks and Rahm were competing, but golf will remain a niche sport, probably even more so than before the shit hit the fan.