Report

Day 197 - 2025-04-15 Played 18 holes at Yeaman's Hall Club.

Day 13 (15 Apr 25)- late afternoon session with 6i full swings into the net and short pitches in the yard, before moving to Sw for controlled up and downs.  For kicks broke out the DCI 16° 1 iron and hit a few as into the net.  Definitely different beast. 

Day 24: Tax Day Stack Training Session for Full Speed Spectrum. Good session!

Very respectfully, I disagree.  I still believe there’s a small kernel of truth to my theory.  Hey, you, iacas and many others here are extremely knowledgeable, know the game inside out, know the tour inside out.  I’m just a schmuck who posted a take, admittedly unsupported and not up to reasonable high standards. There’s a background to my take - I’ll attempt to briefly describe it.  Back when Rory first came on tour, I thought he was great - most folks did, his talent was undeniable, and his youthful happy go lucky looking demeanor made him even more likable.  And he won early, fast - at the highest levels. And then the physical workouts started.  That was cool, man he’s looking good.  And as it went along, was even a bit shocking.  But all was still good in the Rory fan club. But as a few years rolled along and the majors stopped, folks like me started to question the effect of the physical build up.  (raising my hand here - - folks like me were probably concentrating 95% on the majors record, and failing to acknowledge his stellar play overall) The matches with Patrick Reed...  Somewhere around that time, Patrick became “the most hated man on tour”.  Raising my hand again, not sure if that timing is accurate, or even if that moniker was deserved.  But when Rory got into the screaming flex-off, it definitely detracted from the earlier Rory likability.  It’s kinda like he was lowering himself to Patrick’s level.  Not so great, for me at least. As the mid 2010s rolled along, and the majors drought continued, and the near misses at the Masters happened, the dreaded ‘choke’ perception inevitably raised its head and persisted.  I joined in with the chorus, not disliking Rory, but certainly questioning his ability to close the Masters or any other major.  Rightfully or wrongly, it was there. Then LIV came along.  As that developed, I saw the anti-LIV sentiment develop along with it, and I took offense to it.  My thought - these guys are being offered life changing $$, and the anti-LIV folks are trying to stop them from getting it. And then when Rory rose to ‘lead’ the anti-LIV sector, that really rubbed me the wrong way.  The press conferences, the parking lot shouting match - it just all seemed really distasteful to me.  And it seemed far far away from the early Rory, who I really liked. So all that (in my own mind) led me down the “Rory will never win.. yada yada”.  Not based on any real statistical analysis.  Not taking into account the incredible stats and winning record he had amassed. Purely based on perception and cultural silliness.  AND - the physical thing, which as I mentioned, I think there’s a tiny kernel of merit there. So - fast forward to Rory’s post win press conference.  THAT was the old Rory I remembered!  The totally cool guy, humble, forthright, honest, self deprecating.  He’s probably been like that all along.  And he’s certainly backed off the hard core anti-LIV persona, at least in public. That’s it.  Just a stupid unsupported take from a dumbsh*t golf fan.  For me, this was the most exciting major since the Tiger era. I really thought it would be a gladiator death match between Rory and Bryson.  I’m surprised that Bryson fell off - - I thought he was well-set-up to handle the pressure.  I’m sure he’ll be there many times in the future, along with Rory.

I've been watching golf for 35 years and I've seen my fair share of exciting events, but I cannot recall ever watching so much up and down in the fortunes of one player in one round of golf. How good the good shots were and how bad the bad shots were and how he was leading, then not, then leading again, then way clear, then tied, then behind, then leading, then in a playoff, then winning. Heck I aged just watching it on the TV - Rory must have gone through some stuff out there. Just incredible. Consider that Rory had two double bogeys, three bogeys, six birdies, and Rose made only 4 pars, 4 bogeys, and 10 birdies. 10! Round that place? Mind officially blown.