Hey Everyone,

Over the last few months, the readership of this newsletter has doubled, which is very exciting. I am grateful to any and all who have shared this newsletter with friends or simply reached out to let me know if something I shared struck a cord.

If you know someone who might like this newsletter, please forward it to them. Hopefully after one reading they want to subscribe!

News and Notes:

• The Northeast Amateur wraps up tomorrow. I spent Wednesday at Wannamoisett following Ryan Downes and Harry Dessel and jumping around to some other groups, too. It’s not every day you get to see the top amateur in the world, Gordon Sargent, and the top junior in the world, Miles Russell, on the same course. The event is free to the public, and tomorrow’s final round is sure to be good. At the very least, you’ll see some excellent golf at a cool course. Live scoring.

• New England Patriots punter Bryce Baringer qualified for the Mass. Amateur. Pretty sick. Mass Golf did a Q&A with him.

• Always love seeing Massachusetts golfers qualify for USGA events. Ryan Downes, C.J. Winchenbaugh, Matthew Quinn are all headed to Oakland Hills for the U.S. Junior. Isabel Brozena punched her ticket to US Junior Girls’ at El Caballero Country Club in California.

• Tracy Welch and Pam Kuong qualified for the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Fox Chapel in Pittsburgh.

• Michael Thorbjornsen is making his professional debut at the Travellers Championship this week. He shot 72 (+2) in round one. There’s no cut, so Thor will be out there all weekend.

• Check out the latest Bay State Golf podcast. Golf course architect Mark Mungeam (Butter Brook, Shaker Hills, Old Barnstable, and more) joined me to chat about a wide variety of topics.

Closing the book on the 2024 U.S. Open

1. Rory McIlroy’s collapse/choke at Pinehurst No. 2 unlocked an entirely new discussion about him as a golfer. The close calls he’s had in the past always felt like they were less self-inflicted failures than someone else hitting the after-burners and blowing past him. Cam Smith made five birdies in a row at St. Andrews as Rory two-putted his way around the course, stuck in neutral. Wyndham Clark caught lightning in a bottle and rode an incredible short game to hold off McIlroy in the 2023 U.S. Open.

   McIlroy is the only player in U.S. Open history to finish solo runner-up in back-to-back years.

   Last year, Clark held strong in the face of Rory’s name on the leaderboard. He finished the job and won the trophy.

   At Pinehurst, McIlroy started the hunter and then became the hunted, and he couldn’t close the deal. Now, people are making lists of McIlroy’s disappointments and close calls. This loss changed how people talk about Rory, and the only way to change the story is to win a major.

2. In Netflix’s Full Swing, Rory admitted he felt like he was trying to win his first major. He looked like it down the stretch.

3. You know who else is trying to win his first major? Rory’s caddie Harry Diamond. Obviously, Diamond didn’t miss those two short putts on Sunday. But DP World Tour golfer Eddie Pepperell thinks it might be time to move on from Rory’s childhood friend.

   I’ve been on this block for quite a while now. You could quibble with the iron shot Rory hit on 15 or the driver on 18 after Rory hit 3 wood all week. If your best friend is on the bag, it seems like the biggest value would be to calm down your player. From holes 15-18, everything sped up for Rory. You could also point to the strategy on the 5th hole, too, where McIlroy’s shot didn’t quite get far enough onto the green and rolled back into the waste area, where it is nestled into a hole. He made bogey.

   I believe that McIlroy wants to win with Diamond on the bag. McIlroy is loyal, but like I’ve said on the last three major previews. I’m not picking McIlroy until he does one of two things: wins a major or gets a new caddie.

4. I’m not sure what was going through McIlroy’s head when he left Pinehurst No. 2 without speaking to the media or congratulating Bryson Dechambeau for the win. I can imagine that McIlroy didn’t want to breathe life into LIV Golf with a handshake and bro-hug. Instead, he breathed life into the story that he’s a sore loser.

   Am I giving McIlroy more grace than I would Dechambeau if he had done the same thing? Probably.

   Maybe that’s what golf needs right now, though. It needs “my guys.” The ones we make apologies for. The ones that bend our principles to fit a narrative. The ones that make us root hard and leave us gutted when they lose. Sports needs “my guys,” and Rory is my guy. For others, Rory is a spoiled brat. That makes people want to watch golf.

5. Journalist Sally Jenkins has Dechambeau in her crosshairs and went in hard on the U.S. Open champion in the Washington Post: U.S. Open Champion Bryson Dechambeau is a World-Class Phony (I don’t subscribe to the WP, but they give one free article with an email address. I couldn’t resist…)

   What particularly bothered her was the use of Payne Stewart’s memory after the win. He claimed he wore a Tam O’Shanter hat early in his golfing life because of Stewart. In the past, he credited Ben Hogan for the inspiration. But that’s not what bugged Jenkins. I don’t fully agree with Jenkins, but she’s certainly carving out some property on “Bryson-Sucks Corner.”

   The overall scope of Jenkin’s piece calls out Dechambeau for climbing into bed with the Saudis, but this seems to be less and less important to many people who consume Dechameau’s YouTube content and enjoy his “aw shucks” attitude.

6. With Dechambeau only popping up on our radar four times a year, maybe that’s the perfect dose? There’s a lot of “Why do I like Bryson now?” commentary.

   I’d guess because he’s winning.

   As we’ve heard before, winning fixes everything.

   Even a rousing second-place finish in the PGA Championship was a win because of his great final round and the antics that went along with playing such good golf on a Sunday. He’s certainly comfortable on camera; he has plenty of practice as he films his videos for the Internet.

7. Some golfers, like Dustin Johnson, took the LIV money and basically quit caring about golf. Others, like Brooks Koepka, kind of stayed the same but didn’t do much to trumpet the LIV brand.

   Dechambeau is the reason LIV paid a handful of golfers a ton of money; some were going to flop, some were a way of weakening the PGA Tour, and then others they assumed would be standard bearers. Dechambeau is the latter. He’s changed since going to LIV. It’s given him time to work on himself and do other things that matter to him.

8. Bryson is capable of finding a camera anytime it’s on, and that’s when it starts to feel disingenuous.

9. At the heart of it all, though, is a person who wants to be liked by everyone, and for a while there, it was the opposite. Bryson was dueling with Brooks, and fans were calling him “Brooksy” during PGA Tour events.

   For all the praise he gets about his scientific, curious nature, I have to ask… did he just go into a “personality lab” and do some research on what people like? That’s how he treats everything else in life, and that’s what it feels like he did to his personality. He created a 3-D printed version of Bryson Dechambeau. We’ll see how long it holds up.

(Celtics) Double Click(s)

1. I was lucky enough to be in the building when the Celtics won the NBA Championship on Monday night. Incredible scenes. I bought season tickets the spring before Al Horford signed. He was the reason I bought them, and I think he should have his number retired.

   Here’s a few posts that I bookmarked over the last week.

When I’m not golfing…

I’m reading…

• Once I’m done with Small Mercies, which is exceptional, I think I’m going to flip back to some non-fiction. NYTimes shared 19 Non-fiction books to read this summer.

• NYTimes also shared the 4 best songs of the year so far… there are 20 artists I didn’t know on this list.

I’m listening to…

• Enjoyed this episode of The Town about Hollywood, tech, and AI.

• What’s the Story Morning Glory is one of my favorite albums. This YouTube video of Noel Gallagher going through each track is great.

I’m drinking…

• Hung out with some buddies this week. A nice summer evening, drinking on a patio. Had a Cut Water Margarita. It’s a perfect can to split. Pour it over ice.

I’m eating…

• Pressed Cafe makes a hell of a breakfast burrito. I had the Spanish Burrito this week. Incredible.

I’m watching…

• I've been watching a little bit of the European Championship. The group stages are coming to an end this week. There have been some great games so far.

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Bay State Archives

I'm (shamelessly) plugging...

• A list of golf courses open in the winter.

• Bay State Picks: Best courses you can walk for less than $60.

• Bay State Picks: Nine-hole courses to play before or after work

• Bay State Picks: 18 public golf that is worth your time

• Bay State Picks: Easy 18-hole public walks

• Bay State Deep Dive: Myopia Hunt Club

   

• "On Course" New England Journal Podcast

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• Amateur Golf Podcast

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