Koepka defends title; shows charisma with fist pump; glfwrx goes wild

[Baitkiller]

Showing a lot of the bottom of the leaderboard just now and it's really fun. Kind of like watching my group. The course is so amazingly cruel. My A+ game if playing today like these guys maybe buys me 110.

[Baitkiller]

I hope the caddies get HD pay for raking bunkers.... holy moly, poor guys are redressing two traps a hole or more.

[Brock Savage]

> @chrismikayla said:

> In related news, Greg Norman said Tiger in so many words was intimidated by Brooks the first couple rounds. Why is Norman always taking not so thinly veiled shots at Tiger? Did he feel Tiger stole the spotlight from him? Did Tiger run over his dog?

 

I think we can blame Monty for Norman's jealousy of Tiger.

 

On April 12th, 1997, Greg Norman had 30 wins on the PGA and Euro Tours, including two majors. He was in his 95th consecutive week of being #1 in the world golf rankings, and had been #1 for another 209 weeks before his current streak started.

 

Tiger had been a pro for less than six months, had won zero majors, and had only 3 PGA wins -- two weak-field fall finish events, and the very short field Mercedes.

 

And after playing the third round of the Masters paired with Tiger Woods, Colin Montgomerie (who was dominating the Euro Tour at that time) sat down in front of a bunch of microphones and reporters and said there was no possible way that Tiger would lose the Masters, because he was not Greg Norman.

[Z1ggy16]

Will be interested to see how HV3 handles playing with Brooks today. Too lazy to look but when is the last time he was in a final pairing, let alone in a major? I think he's only one once on the Tour?

[MtlJeff]

I feel like the starter just called him Hue-Deki Matsuyama LOL

 

Gonna try to enjoy this day, maybe Koepka will let it get interesting

[bscinstnct]

Go Jazz Hands!

 

[Poor Posture]

I"m tuned in but the probability for this to be incredibly lame is exponentially high - may leave at the turn and go play 18.

 

AND those NIKE hats are lame AF. The tour should ban those.

[Brock Savage]

@Golfnutgalen said:

> I agree, but the old school thought was majors are everything.

Nope, that's new school thought. It's only since around 1970 that "most majors" was a criterion for GOAT, because before that, Walter Hagen had the most majors, and nobody thought he was the GOAT. The debate for GOAT was between Snead and Hogan, neither of whom had as many majors as Hagen.

 

That really helped Jack, because he was the only player in the world who played all four majors every year, the only player who skipped regular events so he could scout and practice at the major venues weeks in advance, and the only player who built his schedule around the majors. And then once he approached the record, he was smart enough and persuasive enough to convince the golf world that "most majors" was the only fair way to compare golfers of different eras.

 

I still can't believe it. For people born after 1980, that makes perfect sense, because now the majors are by far the biggest events, and EVERYBODY builds their schedules around them. But in 1970, people were old enough to remember that almost nobody from the US played the British Open after WWII, and that all four majors were cancelled for up to six years during the war, and so guys like Snead and Hogan didn't play nearly as many majors as Jack in their primes, and Hagen didn't even have a PGA or Masters to play when he won his first US Open, and had to take a month off the tour to travel by ship to play the British. And yet, they still went along with Jack. It would be like Tiger saying "most WGCs" should be the criterion for GOAT.

 

> We dismissed Billy Casper's 51 wins because he "only" had 3 majors

 

Billy Casper never got his due because of the publicity juggernaut of Mark McCormack promoting Arnie, Jack, and Gary as the "Big Three." They even had their own TV show for a few years, while Casper quietly won 27 individual PGA events from 1964 to 1970, along with three Vardon Trophies, two money titles, and two Player of the Year awards (and he was easily the POY in 1968 as well, with six wins, the money title, and the Vardon, but the PGA of America didn't award a POY that year because it was mad at the tour players after they split off to form their own group). He also picked up his second US Open win and a Masters title during that period, but like 95% of American golfers before Jack, he never bothered to play the British Open, until late in his career. In his day, the Western Open was a bigger deal (for example, Casper was paid $11,000 for winning the Western in 1965, while Peter Thomson made just $4900 for winning the British), and he won three of those during that 7-year period. Yet another reason why "most majors" is not a good basis to compare careers.

 

By comparison, Jack won 24 individual events, zero Vardons (and only one self-awarded scoring title), two money titles, and one POY. Arnie had 14 individual wins and one Vardon, Player had 6 wins.

 

In other words, Casper had more wins than any of them, more wins than Palmer and Player combined, the same number of money titles as all three combined, more Vardons than all three combined, and more POYs than all three combined, even including Jack's self-awarded Vardon, and even not counting a POY that Casper deserved, but was cheated out of by PGA petty politics --- right smack in the middle of the years when people with hazy memories think that Jack dominated, or at least Arnie and Jack combined, or certainly Arnie, Jack, and Gary combined.

[00steven]

Anyone else look at their iPhone alarm?

[Brock Savage]

> @Cwebb said:

> Lets compare it to some other sports. In the NBA or NFL, how many teams are remembered for winning a 1st or 2nd round playoff series/game? At the highest level in today's age, championships are what it's all about for the top ranked teams and players.

 

The important words there are "today's age." You can make a very good case for "most majors" being the most important criterion for GOAT from Tiger on, or maybe even from Watson on. But you throw everybody who came before Jack under the bus when you do that, because Vardon, Jones, Hagen, Nelson, Hogan, Snead, and even Arnie didn't know that "most majors" was the standard. Post-WWII Americans were looking at most wins, most money titles, most Vardons, and most POYs, along with most majors. All you have to do to prove it is look at how rarely Americans played the British Open, and how rarely foreign players played the other three majors, before around 1975-80.

[sappytop]

Koepka wearing a Nike shirt off the sale rack

[MtlJeff]

Koepka in the rough on the first hole. Bringing a lot of people back into this baby!

[PZero]

First hole and the "fans" are already calling Harold Tiger.

[bladehunter]

Go get em Hv3 ! Go pirates argh!!!

 

[Ronnie Mundt]

Varner is so much more likeable than BK. BKs disposition is so meh. I respect the hell out of his game but as a golf fan he’s just very whatever.

[BearQ]

Need a brooks tracker soon (twitter)

[kcsf]

I'm on Team Varner.

[bscinstnct]

Hes cut!

 

[Ronnie Mundt]

Why is all of the Nike golf stuff 90s normcore? Man is it fugly.

[Ronnie Mundt]

GO VARRRRNNNNNNEER!

[Cwebb]

Nice start by Varner. Pipes one 346 down there and pitches it up close

[bladehunter]

Lead to 5. Argh you ready for this ?

[Mr. Grumpy]

> @"Ronnie Mundt" said:

> Varner is so much more likeable than BK. BKs disposition is so meh. I respect the **** out of his game but as a golf fan he’s just very whatever.

 

Totally agree,, Varner is like an adorable teddy bear,,, with Jordan's

 

[MtlJeff]

I was kind of amused when they pointed out that Harold Varner the 3rd's father was named Harold Varner the 2nd

 

I would not have guessed that

[BearQ]

Nike error with brooks hat choice this week

 

Swoosh > text

[bladehunter]

When gary McCord says you will “ talk his ear off “ that’s a major compliment coming from the king of oral diarrhea

[Mr. Grumpy]

> @MtlJeff said:

> I was kind of amused when they pointed out that Harold Varner the 3rd's father was named Harold Varner the 2nd

>

> I would not have guessed that

 

But his grandfather's name is Chuck.... :wink:

 

 

[fly787]

Most of you guys can't spell Varner and now you are fans? Guys a hack---

[BearQ]

2 shot swing let’s goooooo varner

[Poor Posture]

What the heck is EKIN? Haven't heard of that company.