Greetings!
We have a really exciting announcement that will drop later in the week (if you’ve been paying attention, you can probably guess what it is).
Two other things before we get to the goods.
1. Congrats to Brad C. for winning our OGIO bag giveaway, and thank you to OGIO for believing in a newsletter about rough collars and Twitter polls enough to support it. Also Brad, please answer your email.
2. Some of you are enamored with the quad god. I know you are. I know you watch at night with your family, and you’re in awe of his back flips and his insane, gravity-defying jumps. I know this because I am also enamored with him and think he has truly one of the great nicknames in sports history.
And while rooting for Ilia Malinin has been fun, I would like to take this moment, formally, to announce that in my house there is only one quad god we recognize.
via YouTube.com/@TheMasters
Thank you for indulging my PSA. Please carry on.
Name drops today: Michael Kim, Matt Fitzpatrick, Damon Hack, USGA, @pilkhawk, ballknowers.
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Seed Golf.
I read something the other day about a tennis tournament where the balls are not round (this is a real thing).
“Are they round? Head balls, are they round? Are you sure? Because I see it not round…”
Later in the match, Medvedev said “these balls are horrible. Please delete these f—ing balls from this f—ing life.”
“The balls are made for … People who love to please … People who love to please with a little bit of saliva,” he added.
Daniil Medvedev | The Athletic
Normal sport! Normal sport! Normal sport!
One thing I can guarantee you about Seed Golf is that their balls are in fact round. Maybe the most round! And you will never want to delete them from your life.
Don’t take it from me. Here’s My Golf Spy review.
None of the [Seed SD-01] balls in the sample fell under the USGA’s minimum diameter standard. All met our standard for roundness. Size consistency across the sample was on the higher end of average. Those consistencies will likely translate to better results on the course as long as you do your part, too.
None of the Seed SD-01 balls in our sample exceeded the USGA’s weight limit.
My Golf Spy
Normal sport. Normal business.
One of my favorite parts about playing Seed balls — other than the fact that they are round — is giving them away and hearing friends say things like, “Hey, but these balls are actually very nice.” Yes, we know, that's why we work with them!
I'm confident that you'll have the same experience (if you haven't had it already). So, the first five people to email me a receipt of a recent Seed purchase — I suggest the SD-01s — get our surprise drop later this week for free.
You can use NORMALSPORT at checkout for a percentage off your order.
OK, now onto the news.
Merch is going to be major.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually kinda loved Brandel’s take about the Players. If you haven’t seen it, the entire thing was an absolute banger (transcript below). I’ll set it up and then give my opinion on the entire thing.
First things first … the Tour released this video earlier in the week, which ended with a provocative six-word graphic.
Then Damon Hack teed up Brandel during a segment in Phoenix, and here we are talking about TPC Sawgrass after another classic at TPC Scottsdale.
We do Live Froms from major championships. We’ve been doing Live From from the Players Championship since 2004. Just by that mere fact, we give it that attention of a major championship, we give it that prestige.
What constitutes a major championship? Of course, it’s history, tradition and reverence. All those things. But at core, these are hard events to win. They’re meant to be harder events to win because of the pressure, because of the setup. Because everything’s right on that line.
They have to be great fields. They have to produce indelible champions and indelible moments. When you look at the Players Championship — with all due respect to other four major championships — it is the best field in golf, it is the deepest field in golf.
By virtue of the fact that only one person in its 50-year history has managed to successfully defend it, I would argue that it is the hardest major championship to win.
TPC Sawgrass … in my estimation, save one hole, is perhaps arguably the best golf course they play a major championship on from a shot value standpoint. You can talk about aesthetics all you want, risk-reward holes, certainly.
But from a shot values standpoint, you cannot touch TPC Sawgrass.
In every single way that a metric can be used to measure whether something is a major, the Players to me stands alone and above the other four major championships as not just a major. It is in my estimation, the best major.
Brandel Chamblee
Five quick thoughts.
1. The push from the Tour is unsurprising for two reasons. The first is that this argument gets resurfaced every few years. And the second is that when Brian Rolapp got to the Tour and started looking around and talking to the folks who invested multiple billions of dollars into the league with no ownership in any of the five most important events, I’m sure they all said, Yeah, we need to stir the pot here.
It must be frustrating for both the Tour and for SSG (which has a massive investment in the Tour) that the PGA Championship — the worst of the big five events the Tour doesn’t own — is (probably) a nine-figure week for the PGA of America.
2. I (obviously) disagree with Brandel that the Players is THE major, which is an outrageous claim even by Brandel standards.
However.
You could absolutely talk me into the idea that the Players is the third best professional golf tournament in the world right now. I certainly look forward to it third- or fourth-most in a given year (depending on where the U.S. Open and PGA are).
I have the Masters and Open way ahead of it, but the arguments for the Players against the PGA and U.S. Open are as follows.
PGA — Players has a real identity at a tremendous golf course. What is the PGA’s identity? The PGA is basically the Players with more history, but the Players has built up 50 years of nostalgia and familiarity at the same venue (like the Masters). The PGA’s venues — unlike those of the U.S. Open and Open Championship — aren’t quite historic or quality enough to justify what they lose in nostalgia and familiarity. I think which tournament is better right now is a good and fair argument.
U.S. Open — Players is just more fun to watch. Ironically, the USGA allowing equipment to run rampant has hurt its identity as the toughest major because it has made the task of creating a tough test on 7,000-yard golf courses almost impossible. Or at least extremely uninteresting.
3. I like Brandel’s point about shot value. As Joseph LaMagna pointed out on the Fried Egg four years ago, TPC Sawgrass is a vastly different test than any other course on the PGA Tour and normally different than other major venues in a given year. Every shot does feel meaningful in ways that start to become familiar and interesting over time.
I saw someone suggest that the Players should start going to different venues in the future to solidify its big-time status. No! One of the great things about the Players is that you know what’s at stake when players step to their second shot on No. 11 or where they’re trying to land the ball on No. 3. Every shot feels familiar and meaningful on a Thursday morning, which is a great indicator of a big time event.
4. Two great arguments against the Players as a major are …
Not all the best players can play in it, which seems detrimental to the argument.
The testing of the golfers — which is half the formula at majors — is conducted by … the golfers.
Obviously, in other sports, it doesn’t matter that the players have a huge stake in the league because those players have no say in how difficult their opposition is. Golf is quite different. If the players complain enough about the conditions of a golf tournament and those same players run the organization that conducts that golf tournament. Well … you start to see the issue.
5. And lastly (of course) is the age-old question of who gets to determine what a major is. I’m unconvinced that Brandel is incentivized to push the envelope this much for the sake of the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour is definitely incentivized to push the envelope this much for the sake of the PGA Tour.
But Brandel? I just can’t see how it benefits him personally that much.
Personally, I think we probably overrate how many majors a golfer has and underrate how many other great events they have won. Think about the Brooks-Rory debate a year ago. You had actual people who would have argued that Brooks was a better golfer historically than Rory because he led in majors 5-4.
But the reality of who’s better is not even remotely close. Because being great in golf means being consistently great over a long, long time.
That Brooks-Rory argument a year ago would have been so dumb, and any conversation that reduces the argument of who is best to a majors-only debate lacks nuance. In this sense, I like that the Players isn’t a major because it kind of exists for the ballknowers only.
In other words, if there were no majors, and you were to have media folks vote on them right now, today — [whispers] this is how we got the four majors in the first place — I think the Players would probably be on the list.
Instead, it’s a rorschach test to see who’s actually paying attention and who’s just counting up major championships. Winning the Australian Open should matter. Winning Wentworth and the Scottish Open should matter. Winning the Players and winning Riviera should matter. All of it should matter when we talk about a golfer’s career.
How much money the Tour does or does not make because its premier event is or isn’t considered a major does not affect me whatsoever. And while the Players is among the best tournaments in the world, I am great with it remaining the IYKYK event of the year.
Speaking of incentives! This amused me …
After Chris Gotterup’s run in Scotland and Northern Ireland last year, a lot of folks went in on him as a U.S. Ryder Cup selection. Perhaps it was my Oklahoma State showing, but I was unconvinced. When he faded at the end of the summer, I felt justified.
However, Gotterup has started 2026 doing what he has consistently done throughout his career: Improve. Work. Get better.
Here’s SMartin ….
Here’s the full quote from Gotterup on Sunday.
You know, after getting -- you get humbled a bit on Korn Ferry, and even when I got out here, you realize how good everyone is. I definitely knew I was a work in progress, and still am. But I knew that my game was suited for out here, and I knew if I continued to work and at least had faith in what I was doing that I would be able to be in the position someday.
Chris Gotterup, four-time PGA Tour winner
Two things.
1. Perception is a funny thing. Ludvig looks the part. Built to make women and tournament officials throw themselves at his feet in equal proportions. Gotterup looks like he’s a washed up third baseman who hit .211 for the Tigers’ single-A affiliate and can’t find a landing spot. Who has had a better career? Who will have a better career?
2. I appreciate it when guys clearly put the right kind of work in. Bryson comes to mind. Gotterup’s DataGolf page reminds me of another insane worker, Matt Fitzpatrick.
Here’s Gotterup. And yes, I know he won the Haskins in 2022. Measured against pros, though, he was still pretty average. The bigger point is that he was steadily improving from terrible to not terrible to No. 5 in the world.
Here’s Fitzpatrick. It looks very similar to Gotterup as he moved from being an amateur into being a professional.
Here’s Michael Kim on Gotterup.
Crazy how someone can improve so fast. When I first played with him, I thought he was a classic bomb and gouge guy that didn’t really know where the ball was going. But boy has that changed.
If you can control speed, it’s an unreal weapon. A super guy as well.
Michael Kim
Pitching vs. throwing. Gotterup was a thrower. Gordon Sargent is a thrower. You can go on and on and on with guys who are throwers. Throwing is relatively easy if you have the right body and are a moderately good athlete. Learning to pitch is difficult. It takes much more time and a lot more mental and emotional effort.
Gotterup has learned (and is learning) to pitch. It’s a ton of fun to watch.
If the WM Phoenix Open made live merch. (call us)
We are just forever prisoners of the moment.
I sent this poll on Sunday of Torrey when Justin Rose was lapping the field.
I sent this poll — worded exactly the same as the one the week before — on Sunday of Phoenix when Hideki looked like he was going to lap the field.
I know different people voted on it each time. But come on.
Also, speaking of overvaluing majors, we have underrated Hideki’s career!
• Masters winner
• Bronze medal
• Riviera
• Two WGCs
• Two (should be three) Phoenix Opens
• Six Presidents Cups
• 22 wins worldwide
• Six top fives at majors
He's not even 34 yet.
This is what I’m talking about when I talk about not just looking at majors. Not all one-major winners are created equal, but sometimes we treat them as if they are.
Thank you for reading our handcrafted, algorithm-free newsletter. Don’t forget about our fun surprise we have coming later this week.
A not-very-subtle hint!
The way Kyle has been able to mold a silly Twitter joke (normal sport) into a must-read newsletter on the weekly happenings in our silly game gives a great look into why he's one of the smartest people in golf.
Normal Sport is exploratory, sometimes emotional, always entertaining. It also has one of my favorite writers in the biz at its foundation.
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Kyle is a perfect curator of the necessary moments of levity that accent a sport that will drive most of us insane.
There’s been no one else in golf that has tickled my funny bone as often as Kyle Porter does. He’s been instrumental in ushering in a new era of golf coverage and it’s been a pleasure to be along for the ride in that.
Kyle is the best columnist in sports. That he has channeled those talents through strokes gained and Spieth memes is a blessing to golf.
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Kyle is one of the best in the golf world at finding and synthesizing the absurd, the thoughtful and the fun things that make being a golf fan worthwhile.
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