Waste Management
Well last week at the Farmers Insurance Open was interesting to say the least. Patrick Reed ended up winning the event by 5 shots, his largest margin of victory. Reed walked to the finish line with ease, none of his competitors even gave him a challenge. However, many believe, myself included, that Reed’s win has a looming grey cloud over it. During Saturday’s round Reed believed his ball was plugged in the rough. Now to preface Torrey Pines received harsh wind and rain so the course conditions were very soft to say the least. However what Reed did next caused the controversy. Reed went up to his ball and asked a volunteer if she saw the ball bounce, the volunteer stated “she didn’t see it.” Now this could be interpreted in two ways either she didn’t see the ball bounce at all, or she totally didn't see the shot at all. Reed interpreting the former picked up his ball without bridging over his playing partners or a rules official. Once the ball was picked up he placed it on the ground in a new location and called the rules official over. When the rules official got to the scene he asked Reed where the ball was and Reed told him he already picked it up and put it off the side. The rules official was slightly startled by Reed’s action. The rules official then proceeded to examine the area where the ball “supposedly” was plugged and determined that the ball did break the plane and Reed would receive free relief. There are many things wrong with this situation. First Reed should have either brought over his playing partners or a rules official before he touched the ball. Secondly, Reed knows he is under a microscope for his past issues on the golf course in regards to “stretching” the rules and lastly, you can never take a volunteer’s word as to what actually happened a majority of the time, they aren’t even paying attention. Later that day video evidence proved that Reed’s ball did bounce at least 5-6 feet in the air, almost proving without certainty that his ball did not plug. Nevertheless, Reed is the only person that knows the actual state of his ball in the rough and hopefully it was actually plugged and this is all just a poor handling of a situation. I’d hate to see such a stellar player have his legacy and wins tarnished by suspect play. With that being said the PGA Tour also holds some blame in this situation. Many players have spoken out about this issue, specifically Xander Schauffele stated that “the talk amongst the guys isn’t great and the tour is protecting him [Patrick Reed] I guess.” The PGA Tour has an obligation to keep things as honest as possible. I believe in this situation the Tour did not handle this situation correctly. (Mike)
The Patrick Reed thing is a bigger story than it should be. I understand everyone’s frustrations around the matter, but the fact is he won by 4. We do not know how it would have changed the outcome, but nobody really made Patrick Reed sweat at all. It is clear he is pretty sketch on the course and probably not the best guy to hang out with, but he won last weekend pretty easily. I think the tour should take a stand against Reed, but this story is not as big as some people are making it out to be because he whooped the field's ass last week. I understand why people are fired up about it, and I think he should have to face repercussions and watched more closely going forward, but I just cannot get behind this being the only talking point in the golf community. (Tyler)
With that being said the tour moves on, this week heading to Phoenix for the Waste Management Open.
This year the Waste Management will be looking a little different than years past. Due to Covid-19 Pandemic, the event will be limited to 5,000 fans per day. Now many of you golf fans out there know that The Waste Management is home to the coveted 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale. Every year crowds upwards of 16,000 people race their way through the property to make it to golf’s biggest party hole. Now this hole is a scene like no other. It is never quite so players must block out the noise as best they can, people are as drunk as they possibly can get, it’s essentially like a football or basketball game. What makes it even better, the players love it. The players love when the fans are involved and it's a shot like no other. Like I said however, the 16th hole this year will be much quieter, and too many a lot less fun. Even so, the players still have a tournament to play, and a win at the Waste Management is definitely a good one to win.
Before I get to the picks of the week, I wanted to talk about The Waste Management open Monday Qualifier yesterday, more specifically one of the competitors Nick Hardy. Hardy was close to the cut line yesterday with 2 holes to play, however daylight ran out and he had to come back the next day, today to fish off his round. Without skipping a beat Hardy chipped in on 17 and made a 8-12 footer for Birdie to force a playoff. Ultimately after two playoff holes he made it through. Been following Nick the past few months, and he’s had a lot of success on tour as of late. Don’t be surprised when this kid does something really special on the PGA Tour this year. (Mike)
The Waste Management is an event that all sports fans should attend. I have been fortunate enough to attend this event with my dad and there really is no sporting event like this one. The crowds are massive, there is more alcohol than I have ever seen, some people are dressed up like its halloween, others like it is a nice summer day in the Hampton’s. The golfers and the fans interact in a way that does not typically happen in sports. In a non-covid world, the 16th hole is one of the most electric places to be in sports. The wait may be long, but that is part of the fun. Tournaments like the Waste Management are what get the average sports fan interested in the sport. I am not saying we need more tournaments exactly like the Waste Management, because it does need to remain unique, but more tournaments need to think outside of the normal golf bubble and find ways to become unique and to truly grow the great game that we all love. (Tyler)
Pick’s of the Week:
Mike: This week we have yet another stacked field, this week fans will be able to watch Jason Day, Daniel Berger, Sungjae Im, Rory McIlroy, Webb Simpson, Justin Thomas, Matthew Wolfe and lastly Bubba Watson. Be prepared for yet another roller coaster week out in Arizona.
My picks for last week’s event were pretty close, Brooks missed the cut, my winning pick Xander finished T-2 and Will Zalatoris, my underdog pick finished T-7. This week I'm hoping to carry on with some more good picks for you guys. Now this week I'm slightly torn between two players, Webb Simpson and Justin Thomas. JT obviously is a safe pick for a top 10 at worst, but with that being said I believe last year’s champion Webb Simpson will pull off the repeat. Webb plays very solid at TPC Scottsdale, he really loves the green complexes out there and he always seems to finish very well down the stretch on 16,17, and 18. Webb will win this year's Waste Management Open at 16 under par.
This year's notable to miss the cut goes to Matthew Wolfe. Wolfe struggled last week, and ended up withdrawing. I don’t think his struggles will last, I just think he’s going through a minor bump in the road. I don’t think he will find this week, I believe he will miss the cut by only a few shots at the very worst. Nevertheless, I hope to be proven wrong, especially since i'm a huge Wolfe fan these days.
Lastly my underdog pick of the week goes to Will Zalatoris again. Will was very much in contention last week, and with a strong T-7 finish I believe he will carry that strong play into this week. Not only is Will a safe bet to make the cut expect him to crack the top 25 at the very worst. (Mike)
Tyler: My pick last week was Tony Finau and my dark horse was Cameron Champ. Another strong pick by me as Tony finished T-2 at -9. He really has come so close way too much to only have 1 win. Not sure when he gets over that hump. Cameron Champ was a pretty bad pick since he missed the cut. Hopefully both of my picks are near the top of the leaderboard this week!
My pick this week is Rory at 11-1. I think he is the best golfer in the field and at a course that is not that challenging I think he will get comfortable there very quickly. The field is stacked compared to this event typically, but Rory is the best and will put it on full display this week. I like him to finish right around -19 and win by 2. I think he finds lots of fairways this week and gives himself a plethora of easy birdie looks.
My dark horse for this week is Jason Day at 50-1. I have picked him here quite often. His game has shown glimpses of what took him to world number 1, but injuries or bad timing have seemed to keep him from gaining any real momentum. I like for him to give himself a lot of birdie attempts this week and if he putts how he is capable of then he should be right there come Sunday afternoon. I will always be a huge Jason Day fan so I really hope this is the week he finds his game for four days and makes a serious run at the win.
My notable to miss the cut is Xander Schauffele. I think he struggles this week and his good run of form comes to an end. I make this pick half heartedly because I really don’t think too many notables will miss the cut. This is not a hard course for them. (Tyler)