2020 PGA Tour

[Don Wassall]

Justin Thomas wins the Tournament of Champions on Maui, the annual first event of the calendar year, for the second time in four years. At 26 he becomes the fourth youngest golfer since WWII to win 12 PGA events, one more than Jordan Spieth.

Of the potential young "Big Four" of a few years ago, Thomas has been the most consistent. McIlroy has been up and down but had a big year last year (edging out Brooks Koepka for player of the year). Day and Spieth have struggled and have been passed up in the world rankings by Xander Schauffele, 26, who is now 8th. Thomas is 4th, McIlroy 2nd, and 29 year old Koepka is number one.

 

[Carolina Speed]

Justin Thomas wins the Tournament of Champions on Maui, the annual first event of the calendar year, for the second time in four years. At 26 he becomes the fourth youngest golfer since WWII to win 12 PGA events, one more than Jordan Spieth.

Of the potential young "Big Four" of a few years ago, Thomas has been the most consistent. McIlroy has been up and down but had a big year last year (edging out Brooks Koepka for player of the year). Day and Spieth have struggled and have been passed up in the world rankings by Xander Schauffele, 26, who is now 8th. Thomas is 4th, McIlroy 2nd, and 29 year old Koepka is number one.

I watched quite a bit of this tournament. I was down with a cold and the weather wasn't good here over the weekend. Happy for Thomas. It went down to him and Patrick Reed in a playoff. I'm a little concerned about Spieth. He hasn't won in two years. He has withdrawn from this weeks tournament, Sony Open in Hawaii, due to a cold. Hard to understand what's happened to him. I've heard he's made a swing change and have been told most don't ever make it all the way back from a change of swing. It will be sad if Spieth doesn't get back. I was hoping he would rival Tiger in Major wins. Spieth is currently 43rd in the world. Jason Day is 37th.
On another note. I was watching this tournament with interest in a local product, JT Poston. He and my oldest son were friends in college. He won his first tournament last year. He was on the first page of leaders for most of the tournament and finished T-11. He's currently 67th in world rankings. His career is progressing well. Hopefully, it continues.

 

[Booth]

Great win for Webb Simpson yesterday at the Waste Management Open in Scottsdale, Arizona. He came from 2 shots back with 2 holes to play to win in a one- hole playoff with Tony Finau.

 

[Don Wassall]

Adam Scott wins the Genesis Invitational by two strokes over a very strong field at famed Riviera course, which has held majors in the past. It was Scott's first PGA Tour win in nearly three years, but his 14th overall (third all-time among Aussies) and 29th win worldwide.

Tiger Woods was inserted as the tournament's official host this year and responded by coming in dead last, including a five over 77 yesterday, which must have caused color analyst Nick Faldo to do everything in his power to hold back tears.

 

[FootballDad]

But hey! God-like Tiger made the cut and only finished 22 strokes behind. I'm sure if they added another 9 holes he could have caught up!

 

[Shadowlight]

The easiest sport to pull off without fans is golf. My governor Ned Lamont announced today that the Travelers will be played in June without fans. Fans may appear as the season progresses.

See below the wild revised schedule. The only major cancelled is the British. The US Open has been moved into the fall and of course the Masters takes place in November.

https://www.pgatour.com/news/2020/0...son-2020-2021-regular-season-coronavirus.html

 

[Don Wassall]

The PGA Tour resumed yesterday with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth. Really nice field but no fans, daily testing of players and caddies due to the plandemic, no handshakes between competitors following the completion of rounds, but at least it's a start. Hopefully fans are allowed by the time this year's three majors begin in August (the British Open has been cancelled for 2020), because it would be a depressing atmosphere without them.

 

[icsept]

Pretty nice leaderboard for the weekend. I have nothing against Harold Varner III, but the media is already making a big deal about a black player leading during the George Floyd nonsense. Dechambeau, Spieth and McIlroy round out the top four. I’ll definitely be watching this weekend.

 

[Don Wassall]

DeChambeau has muscled up to about 240 pounds and looks more like a linebacker than even Brooks Koepka. But he didn't do it for vanity reasons; as always with him everything is very well thought out. He's not only significantly longer off the tee now but also more accurate. Could be someone who makes the jump to superstardom very soon.

 

[Carolina Speed]

Yes, I'm looking forward to watching this weekend as well. However, I will have to watch the delayed version on the Golf Channel this evening. I will be playing myself this afternoon with one of my sons. It's a beautiful day here in NC.
As usual, I will be pulling for Spieth. Speaking of being off the tee, I saw some highlights of yesterday's round and Spieth was longest off one particular hole, a short par 4. Most of the big hitters were laying up. Spieth hit a huge drive over the trees and into the fairway. If he can stay consistent with his driving, he has a chance to break out of an almost three year slump.
Should be interesting with DeChambeau and McIlroy in the mix as well.
I've been able to play a lot myself during the pandemic, so I'm looking to break 80 today!

 

[Carolina Speed]

Yes, I'm looking forward to watching this weekend as well. However, I will have to watch the delayed version on the Golf Channel this evening. I will be playing myself this afternoon with one of my sons. It's a beautiful day here in NC.
As usual, I will be pulling for Spieth. Speaking of being off the tee, I saw some highlights of yesterday's round and Spieth was longest of one particular hole, a short par 4. Most of the big hitters were laying up. Spieth hit a huge drive over the trees and into the fairway. If he can stay consistent with his driving, he has a chance to break out of an almost three year slump.
Should be interesting with DeChambeau and McIlroy in the mix as well.
I've been able to play a lot myself during the pandemic, so I'm looking to break 80 today!

Forgot to mention. Local guy from my area of the country, JT Poston is T-14 at -6. He won his first PGA Tournament last year at the Wyndham Championship. Obviously will be watching for him as well.

 

[icsept]

DeChambeau is bigger for sure, but it looks like he was quarantining with Ben &Jerry’s. I hope Spieth wins this thing and gets career back on track.

 

[Carolina Speed]

Dustin Johnson wins the 2020 Travelers Championship. He now has won at least one tournament in 13 consecutive seasons.
Palmer and Nicklaus went 17 consecutive seasons with a win.

 

[Booth]

Richie Werenski wore a Blue Lives Matters wrist band at the 3m open championship in Minnesota this week. As soon as a reporter spotted it, he put it on twitter and all heck broke loose about him wearing it so close to where George Floyd was killed. It was later revealed that he had worn it for four years. He has family members who are policeman. No apologies from the reporter. Werenski finished tied for third.

 

[Booth]

Can't help but to feel a little sorry for Ricky Flower. He whiffed on a 5 or 6- inch putt yesterday at the PGA Championship and went on and missed the cut.

 

[Don Wassall]

Collin Morikawa (Japanese father, White mother) won the PGA by two shots. There were seven players tied for the lead at one point on the back nine but Morikawa chipped in on 14 and then drove his tee shot to seven feet on the drivable par four 16th and then sunk the putt for an eagle, which put away the tournament. It was an exciting final round, if there had been fans there would have been lots of roars.

Like the rest of pro sports, the PGA Tour is bowing to BLM. Numerous commercials were aired pushing "diversity" and various black golf pros lamented the supposed "systemic racism" they face. An amusing side note was the presence of blue-eyed Cameron Champ as one of the contenders in the tournament. His father is black but he obviously takes after his mother genetically. He was mentioned as being a role model for "African American golfers" even though he looks more like a local country club pro than an African.

Champ:

 

[Shadowlight]

Crazy tournament. Morikawa joins elite company winning the PGA at the tender age of 23. He has a nice swing. By the way Morikawa's mom is Chinese. He is all Asian.

I was surprised at how listless Tiger played. Very tentative. Justin Thomas didn't play all that well either even though he was hot coming in. DeChambeau is an interesting character. I was rooting mostly for Dustin Johnson but he fell just short yet again. Was in good position but Morikawa deserved the win.

 

[white is right]

Collin Morikawa (Japanese father, White mother) won the PGA by two shots. There were seven players tied for the lead at one point on the back nine but Morikawa chipped in on 14 and then drove his tee shot to seven feet on the drivable par four 16th and then sunk the putt for an eagle, which put away the tournament. It was an exciting final round, if there had been fans there would have been lots of roars.

Like the rest of pro sports, the PGA Tour is bowing to BLM. Numerous commercials were aired pushing "diversity" and various black golf pros lamented the supposed "systemic racism" they face. An amusing side note was the presence of blue-eyed Cameron Champ as one of the contenders in the tournament. His father is black but he obviously takes after his mother genetically. He was mentioned as being a role model for "African American golfers" even though he looks more like a local country club pro than an African.

Champ:

Yes Nance had the "heart warming" story ready to read about the "2nd" African American golfing champion when he was a co-leader but he quickly dropped a few strokes and never was in serious contention after this high water mark.

Not that I have anything against him, but his victory would have been way too much sugar in my tea if Nance spun that story...

 

[Flint]

Ugh, I missed the final round, I thought sure it was going to be a battle between Johnson and Koepka. I can't believe Morikowa won. If it was going to be an oriental I thought it would be Li. I had no idea Champ was part black. I still find it hard to believe.

 

[Shadowlight]

Depending on the picture I found former Cal WR Vic Wharton a tough nut to crack.


Then there is potential VP candidate Kamala Harris. If her mother was not Indian (the country) her complexion would probably be White. Below is a pic of her Jamaican dad.


Champ probably takes the cake. His dad is biracial and light skinned.


I like to see two types of winners in golf. Either a fresh young face like Morikawa who is well educated and comes across likeable or an established star like Dustin Johnson or Justin Thomas. I even like it, believe it or not, ( media hailstorm non withstanding) when Tiger is in the mix. The one outcome in Majors that I don't care for much is when a middle aged journeymen pulls it out. I think the people who produce golf on TV feel the same way. It calls to mind that terrific Kevin Costner movie "Tin Cup" where they actually used the real CBS golf producers at the time and he was playing some unknown middle brow player who jolted to the lead and you can hear the anxiety from the production team.

It struck me as unusual that Murikawa is half Chinese and half Japanese. What do I know but I don't think that is a very common set up? Makes me think of a Jew marrying a Muslim which is probably not all that common either? But in fact top 5 2020 NBA draft pick Deni Avdija's father is Muslim ( Serbian) and his mother is a Jew.

but his victory would have been way too much sugar in my tea

Not quite sure I have heard that expression before but it sounds British. I like it. It is a nice and classier way of saying something makes you nauseous.

 

[Don Wassall]

Champ's father isn't particularly light-skinned, looks more like the average American black who has some White admixture, and his grandfather is full-blooded. Here's three generations of the family tree:

 

[Flint]

I think they stole that kid from somewhere.

 

[Booth]

Tony Finau has a black cousin who plays NBA basketball in Jabbari Parker who played at Duke one year before going to NBA.

 

[Freethinker]

This Champ guy sort of looks like Aaron Judge of the Yankees. Similar levels of “blackness”.

 

[Don Wassall]

Jon Rahm beats Dustin Johnson on the first playoff hole to win the BMW Championship, which is the second leg of the three week FedEx Cup playoffs. Johnson ran away from the field last week, carding an amazing 30 under to win by 11 shots. Today Johnson had to birdie from the rough at 18 to even get in the playoff, and did by sinking a very long and winding putt. Rahm outdid him by making an incredible 66 foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole. Just some spectacular golf.

The Tour Championship next week decides the Cup winner. Rahm is the first seed, Johnson the second and Justin Thomas is third. They start off a certain amount of strokes ahead of the rest of the 30 man field, e.g. Rahm goes to the first hole at -10, Johnson will be at -8. Rahm, Johnson and Thomas are also ranked first, second and third in the world rankings at the current moment.