The Pro Tours Random Thoughts and Musings Thread

[boogielicious]

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The situation grows even more complex when considering this wasn't an encounter with an ordinary fan but University of Texas player Luke Potter, who should understand the game's etiquette.

I would love to see UT discipline the player. I don’t like heckling in any sport. Shows no class. I would add that we were explicitly told that we represented the school even when not competing.

[iacas]

I think Rory was completely in the right here. And he didn't "take" the phone, he said "can I see your phone?" or something like that. So long as the phone was returned (he probably gave it to the security guard and said "please remove the owner of this phone" or something), no problems with what he did from me.

[GolfLug]

Roareeee! Congrats. 

[GolfLug]

MSN

J. J. Spaun relief from sprinkler head under fire for not being in the spirit of the game. While I understand the advantage he gains by dropping a ball that ended up in rough in the fairway doesn't seem to kosher in lot of people's eyes, but I suspect this happens more often than lot of people realize and players take the entitled relief every time when the opportunity present itself. Not fair to call him out as a person of 'no integrity' IMO. 

A lot of people do not know that both fairway and rough are part of the same general area and ROG does not distinguish them as far as relief is concerned.

Edited March 17 by GolfLug

[saevel25]

Yea I find it ridiculous people having an issue that he could drop in the fairway. Every relief situation is its own instance. You re-assess after a drop. Sometimes the drop is in your favor or not. 

Too many scramble only golfers commenting on golf rulings. Usually scrambles you need to maintain the same lie if you hit with in a club length of the ball. 😉

 

[iacas]

4 hours ago, GolfLug said:

MSN

J. J. Spaun relief from sprinkler head under fire for not being in the spirit of the game. While I understand the advantage he gains by dropping a ball that ended up in rough in the fairway doesn't seem to kosher in lot of people's eyes, but I suspect this happens more often than lot of people realize and players take the entitled relief every time when the opportunity present itself. Not fair to call him out as a person of 'no integrity' IMO. 

A lot of people do not know that both fairway and rough are part of the same general area and ROG does not distinguish them as far as relief is concerned.

Ignorant people gonna be ignorant.

[boogielicious]

5 hours ago, GolfLug said:

A lot of people do not know that both fairway and rough are part of the same general area and ROG does not distinguish them as far as relief is concerned.

My ball certainly prefers rough over fairway! It spends a lot of time there.

[GolfLug]

28 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

My ball certainly prefers rough over fairway! It spends a lot of time there.

Carry you a sprinkler head map.. 😂

[WillieT]

4 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Too many scramble only golfers commenting on golf rulings. Usually scrambles you need to maintain the same lie if you hit with in a club length of the ball. 😉

 

Those were the exact words of the chief greenskeeper (acting for the course pro) in the scramble this past Sat.   I actually thought it was genius on Spaun's part to ask the tourney official if he got relief it the drop landed on the sprinkler head.  When he got the yes, he got free drop part deux.  Smart use of the rules.  

[boogielicious]

1 hour ago, GolfLug said:

Carry you a sprinkler head map.. 😂

You’re assuming the courses I play water the grass! 

Spaun did the correct thing. Knowing the rules in any sport helps a lot.

[ChetlovesMer]

On 3/15/2025 at 5:34 PM, iacas said:

I think Rory was completely in the right here. And he didn't "take" the phone, he said "can I see your phone?" or something like that. So long as the phone was returned (he probably gave it to the security guard and said "please remove the owner of this phone" or something), no problems with what he did from me.

BTW - The story I heard on the radio said the phone was returned 4 or 5 holes later. 

 

17 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Yea I find it ridiculous people having an issue that he could drop in the fairway. Every relief situation is its own instance. You re-assess after a drop. Sometimes the drop is in your favor or not. 

This.

 

19 hours ago, GolfLug said:

MSN

Not fair to call him out as a person of 'no integrity' IMO. 

People are weird. "No integrity"... why? He followed the rule. Was he "lucky" that the rule worked to his advantage? Probably. 

[colin007]

Adam Svensson'ss long putter stroke looks pretty cheaty to me. Doesn't pass my smell test.

I'll post a video if I can find one, all the ones I found just now are from when he was using a regular length putter

[GolfLug]

How does this Min Woo guy have 5-7 mph ball speed on Rory?? I saw numbers as high as 194 mph today. Insane.

[Zeph]

5 hours ago, GolfLug said:

How does this Min Woo guy have 5-7 mph ball speed on Rory?? I saw numbers as high as 194 mph today. Insane.

He's been working on increasing his speed and is the third longest hitter on tour currently.

Min Woo Lee: The secret to optimizing the driver swing from a talented

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Despite his slender build, Min Woo Lee is one of the longest drivers on the PGA Tour. With extensive tournament experience, he shares simple yet...

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But when Min Woo learned how to increase his driver speed and hit the ball farther than his peers, he started to take the sport seriously. Under the guidance of long-time coach Ritchie Smith, Lee gradually unlocked his potential and became a talented golfer.

Currently, he is among the top golfers on the PGA Tour, with a ball speed of 303 km/h – an impressive number considering he only weighs 75kg. Not only does he have an impressive ball speed, but Lee also ranks 4th in "strokes gained off the tee," demonstrating his exceptional ability to optimize his driver.

 

[Zeph]

Rory becomes the second person after Tiger to pass $100 million in earnings on the PGA Tour.

Earnings always favor recency since purses go up. Scottie's first win was in 2022, but he's already at $75 million with "only" 18 professional wins.

Rory McIlroy $100 million career earnings PGA Tour, joins Tiger Woods

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Until Sunday, Tiger Woods was the only golfer in the history of the PGA Tour to surpass $100 million in career earnings. Now he has company.

 

[ConorHealy]

Potentially a grumpy old man reflection, but two recent events made me question whether PGA Tour players are being held to a disappointingly low standard.

1. Nick Dunlap getting kudos for turning up and trying to shoot a decent score on Friday at the Masters: surely this is the minimum expectation of a pro who has agreed to play in any tournament. Some of the discourse I saw/heard suggested it would have been forgivable for him to phone it in or even not turn up at all. Leaving aside the argument that any round at Augusta is rare and should be treasured, it seems obvious to me that if you agree to turn up and play a tournament, you do just that, regardless of a shocker of a first round.
2. JT being given a massive pat on the back for calling a one stroke penalty on himself at Heritage. Why is this praiseworthy? He's behaved as the rules of golf and of the tour/tournament indicate he should. There's nothing gentlemanly or admirable in not cheating. 

Maybe I'm tilting at windmills here, but it seems that celebrating these acts sets a low bar for what is noteworthy, and thus an even lower one for what is acceptable.

A related point is that large parts of what people celebrate so much about the Masters — considerate crowds actually paying attention to the golf, no heckling, respect for tradition and other attendees — should be, in my view, standard features of live golf. Whilst accepting that certain events (LIV, WM @ Phoenix) cultivate their own atmosphere, it shouldn't take an explicit phone ban and threat of expulsion to encourage people to behave civilly at the majority of events.

[iacas]

Go ahead and name three things that, in the world of golf, have been more praise-worthy in the last three months.

I'll wait.

It's not like they got Congressional medals or something.

[ConorHealy]

Yeah, I take your point. Perhaps you've just identified the other side of the same coin: maybe there is very little to celebrate about pro golfers as people, so the golf media are clutching at straws trying to find something.