Hello fellow sediment observers,
I kind of can’t believe the PGA Tour season is over. Don’t blink. Wait, that’s LIV. That was LIV. Regardless, it feels like if you blinked you missed one of the weirdest seasons in recent memory, capped by (of course) the most predictable, consistent ending imaginable. More on the deliverer of that ending and his crazy three-year run below.
Name drops today: Peerless Price, Southern Crust Catering (obviously), dangerous (and non-dangerous) wasps, Ludvig, Blockie, Marvin Harrison, LaDainian Tomlinson and Si Woo.
Today’s newsletter is presented Ship Sticks.
Speaking of not blinking, Ship Sticks offers real-time tracking and an on-time guarantee, which means you have peace of mind from pickup to delivery.
“Peace of mind” is not how I would describe what’s running through my head over a tight chip from 20 yards away with a false front running back down to my feet, but at least the lengthy journey with my clubs on trips is worry-free up until the point that I have to, you know, swing them.
You can check out Ship Sticks right here and use the code NORMALSPORT at any point to get a 20 percent discount on your first purchase with them. Thank you, as always, for supporting the businesses and brands that make our work possible.
Alright, now on to the news.
We’ll get to the wins and all the absurd numbers in a minute, but first I want to talk about this clip I saw from Scottie a week ago, before the Tour Championship even started. You can click on the video below. It should take you to the ~40 second clip I want to discuss.
I’m impressed with a lot of different aspects of Scottie Scheffler’s game and life. But the one I go back to most often is his ability to (seemingly) compartmentalize an overwhelming competitiveness and historic run of success in a way that it does not define his identity.
This is so aspirational and unusual, and even though I have thought about the concept often and even tried to implement it in my own life, I still don't really understand how he's able to do it. It seems to be a bit of a preternatural gift (one I’m professionally jealous of).
Scottie may not be 1 of 1 in golf in the same way Tiger was 1 of 1 (or he might be?). But he is certainly one of the most unique world class performers in any industry today.
Take it wider than golf, take it wider even than sports or entertainment. Throw any category or profession you want to throw into the mix, and Scottie’s ability to divorce not only process from result but also result from identity is peerless.
(Free aside: my favorite sports name of all time is Peerless Price. Different newsletter for another time).
All of this is subtle. You have to pay attention, to look closely. But it is also powerful and something we should all try to emulate in our own jobs, families, ambitions and lives.
Hitting shots like these is impressive. But maintaining the tension in his life somewhere between these two extremes …
Giving his entire self over to golf or …
Acting as if it doesn’t matter to him as much as we all know he does (and should!).
Is so much more impressive than any shot he’s ever hit or tournament he’s ever won.
Because we all fail to understand how good, say, Denny McCarthy actually is at the game of golf, it is almost impossible to properly contextualize just how good Scottie has been over the last few years.
Here’s my best effort …
Since January 1, 2024, Rory McIlroy has won nine times (including two Masters and a Players). A hall of fame career over 33 months for Rory. In that same window of time, Scottie has been 1.07 SG better than Rory, which is more than the difference in SG between Rory and … Alex Noren.
Think about how much better Rory is than Alex Noren. Now think about the fact that this is — statistically, at least — how much better Scottie is than Rory.
There’s a Marvin Harrison feel here where you watch it and think, “Yeah I mean that looks pretty good,” but then you look up again and it’s 1,400 yards and 14 TDs every single year.
Me every week: This bit will surely not have any new submissions this week.
Also me every week: Wrong again.
1. Jacob Bridgeman hit a shot into a pizza stand in his second round on Friday. Sure. I’m sure Brock Purdy will throw a football into a popcorn machine on the first drive of the second quarter against the Rams next Thursday.
2. This one was incredible. Instead of enjoying Scottie’s third win of the season on Sunday, I was embroiled in a tussle with my own ability to screenshot and dissect whether multiple grains of sand moved in a bunker on the 13th hole at East Lake when Viktor Hovland did or did not touch them.
At first, I was dubious that he did. But after going full Zapruder, I landed in the same spot as Soly did (his homemade before/after GIF is even more compelling than this).
Golf is ridiculous. Also, this probably should have been a $3 million penalty. Hovland won $5 million for finishing second, but the T4 he would have received after a two-shot penalty would have been around $2 million.
3. Ryan Gerard got free relief on Saturday from the spot you see below. At first, I thought it was because of the wasps running amok in the bunkers at East Lake. But Mark Dusbabek clarified the situation.
Dusbabek: “Those wasps are not dangerous wasps. We already confirmed that with the players earlier in the week. That is not a dangerous situation.”
Instead it was because his ball was embedded in the grass.
Then Trevor Immelman brought up a fascinating point, which is that Trevor is allergic to wasps. So to him, all wasps are a dangerous situation. So now we’re in a hypothetical where to some players, some animals are dangerous but to others they are not.
Then what? Very normal stuff.
4. Imagine in a different sport someone over the age of 50, playing against other 50+ year olds and completely stealing the show from the 20- and 30-somethings who, at the same time, were playing arguably their most important day of the regular season.
That’s what happened with Blockie on Sunday as the most performative man in golf history flipped clubs to his caddie, riled up the crowds at the Ally Challenge and high fived walking scorers during the senior even en route to his T3 finish.
Yes we know Josh Allen and Drake Maye are playing this weekend for the AFC East title, but LaDainian Tomlinson and Torry Holt are lighting it up in this flag football game against Drew Brees and TO, and it is must see TV.
He is truly a force of nature.
Blockie does the dishes.
This one has so much potential runway.
Greeting a professional QB for the Browns.
Notre Dame linebacker greeting his date.
Seeing a Dwight Howard fan out in the wild.
Here are Scottie’s worldwide numbers for 2026.
Starts — 20
Wins — 3
2nd — 5
3rd — 2
4th — 3
Here are the combined numbers of the next four players in the Data Golf rankings.
Starts — 78
Wins — 3.5 (Fitz won the Zurich)
2nd — 4
3rd — 5
4th — 6
Want more?
Here are the number of people who rank ahead of Scottie in the following categories so far this year.
Wins: 0
Top 5s: 0
Top 10s: 0
Top 25s: 0
Scoring: 0
Money: 0
Strokes gained: 0
Strokes gained tee to green: 0
Strokes gained ball striking: 0
Strokes gained approach: 0
Birdie average: 0
GIR percentage: 0
Final round scoring: 0
Major championship score to par: 0
Being a former Masters champion who lives in Dallas, went to Texas and deeply believing that he is playing the best golf he’s ever played no matter the results: Fine, 1.
Scottie is not even playing the same game.
As always, some gems this week.
Porath low key the twitter goat.
Not really here because it’s a great tweet. Mostly because I could not possibly feel more seen. The number of times I think, Oh I am going to be early to this coffee meeting or this parent-teacher deal only to end up at least 10 minutes late is unbelievable.
You know what’s not late, though, based on their on-time guarantee?
Yeah, that’s right.
Thank you for reading our human-made newsletter about pizzerias and non-dangerous wasps. It’s a preposterous exercise every week to write and illustrate it, and it would be nothing without you, dear recipient.
Kyle sees golf in a way that no one else does—and we're all fortunate to get to share in that view through Normal Sport!
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