Greetings!
“It's a weird deal, it's a weird game.”
-Jordan Spieth
Round 2 had the juice that Round 1 lacked, and much of it was on account of the play (and quotes) from our favorite three-time major champion.
Let’s get right into it.
Name drops today: Vijay Singh, Michael Kim, Publix, Bones, Keegan and Gold Boy.
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by OGIO, whose bags I want to use to just carry around amusing Jordan Spieth quotes like the one above.
My current weapon of choice is their OGIO Venture backpack, which is my everyday pack that totes around all my Turtlebox rangers, Sap’s Original drinks and Holderness and Bourne gear.
Some of that is even true.
But really, it’s my favorite pack I’ve ever had, big enough to use as a (short) overnight bag and versatile enough to just take to the coffee shop to look up all my dumb little stats and strokes gained data.
OGIO’s promise is that if it’s something that carries stuff you really care about, they make a premium version of it. That is true, even if I probably shouldn’t care about Jordan Spieth quotes and SG ball striking numbers.
OK, now onto the news.
As a reminder, this week’s content is partially behind the paywall (though thankfully not behind the moat). You can read it all — as well as the rest of our major championship coverage — by becoming a Normal Club member right here.
1. Six notes on Players Championship leader, Ludvig Aberg.
• A 9.4 SG number in a single round is filthy, obscene stuff.
• Shades of JT’s 62 in R2 last year, which gained … 9.4 strokes.
• That he leads from the early-late wave — which was nearly 2 shots tougher — is wild.
• I’m glad they have him in the old Adidas logo. It’s a great look.
• Mrs. Normal doesn’t care what he’s in.
• His swing makes you wonder how he ever shoots over 66.
The pièce de résistance on Friday was this tee shot on 16. An easy 184 ball speed that went 354 on the Rory-in-the-2025-playoff line and led to his seventh of eight birdies/eagles on the day.
Art.
It’s now his tournament to lose. Which certainly doesn’t mean he’ll win it. After shooting 62 in R2 last year, JT finished 73-73 and was not even remotely a factor.
But this has been building a bit. After a MC at Torrey, Ludvig went T37-T20-T3 in his next three tournaments. He flushed it last week. He’s flushing it this week.
Off the tee: 1st
Approach play: 5th
Ball-striking: 1st
Tee to green: 1st
I’m sure there are guys who make it look easier than Ludvig does — Rory and Tommy come to mind. But I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who makes it look simpler or less complicated than he does. Watching Ludvig makes you think, “I mean, I think I could probably do that,” which is an incredible skill.
Making this complex thing look so basic and languid. Making the bottomless well of golf intricacy look like you’re simply dipping a ladle and taking a drink. It feels impossible that anyone could ever waste less effort being great at the game than Ludvig does.
The glazing disparity between a Friday 63 and 64.
2. Here is a Ludvig concern: Does he have a feel for the inflection points of a tournament. Sam pointed out on Friday that one of Ludvig’s strengths is that he never looks too high or too low. No matter what storms pound around him, he’s fortress.
It is true that this is a strength.
But it was also true for Rickie Fowler that this was a strength that sometimes got exposed late in events. Because there will come a time for every leader of the tournament where you have to truly go for the trophy. Throw down and announce nobody’s going to be better than you in this given week.
Outside of the 2015 Players, I never believed that Rickie really grasped that reality. I think Ludvig is wired differently than Rickie, but we also don’t have much proof of that yet, which is part of what makes this weekend so interesting.
I hope this weekend makes this Ludvig Rickie Transformer illustration make sense.
3. I asked on Thursday whose career folks would think most differently about if they went on to win the tournament this weekend. Ludvig has to be up there, right?
I didn’t list him for the reasons I was hesitant to list Tommy — because I already think incredibly highly of him and a win would be more validation than me rethinking his career — but you do have to win tournaments at some point.
And suddenly a 26-year-old Ludvig going into the Masters as one of the four favorites with an RSM, Torrey and a Players on his resume is a much different thing. Big weekend, big stakes for somebody who’s immensely fun to watch perform in that arena.
4. Also … amazingly normal sport that the gentleman sticking his finger into the side of a hill while Ludvig examined the grass and dirt is potentially affecting the legacies of like three different guys and determining the outcome of a $25 million sporting event.
5. The last time Scottie missed a cut, Carlos Alcaraz had zero grand slams. Think about that. Alcaraz has won seven slams since Scottie last missed a weekend on the PGA Tour (or in a major championship … or almost major championship). That is insane.
Everything looks difficult right now, though. The driver, sure — 14 of 28 fairways hit — but everything else also. There’s no rhythm to it. Nothing looks simple like it has for most of the last three years. Some of that is because when the ball isn’t coming out of the correct window, that move at the ball gets a lot more stressful looking. The energy he’s expended over the first two days has been enormous. Clearly fighting himself, his swing and his speed on the greens.
If his first two rounds were a screenshot, this would be it.
It was legit cool to see him grinding on the last two holes to keep the cut streak alive, though. A fake cut streak given the number of tiny fields he plays but a cut streak nonetheless.
His 36th hole of the week was the most Scottie hole he’s played in the tournament. Roasts a drawing drive on a hole (No. 18) that demands it. Hits a great approach to a back right pin that picks up a half shot on the field and drips in a 3 on a hole that didn’t see many 3s on Friday afternoon.
JT, who played with him, had a great quote afterward.
He's still hitting shots that not many people on planet earth can hit in the same rounds. It's just golf. He's been hitting it pretty much where he wants within like a blanket size for what seems like two or three years. He's still had a pretty damned good year. I know I'd trade with him, but I'm probably not the person to ask.
JT
Maybe that’s a harbinger for the weekend. But either way, I’m glad he’s still in the mix, and with him and Rory cooking early on Saturday, we’ll get a full day of the good stuff in R3 and at least the tantalizing idea that, you know, Scottie could go out in 30 early on Saturday.
6. Speaking of cuts!
Here’s what I wrote on X (the everything app, not Xander Schauffele).
The last five holes of this Rory round are must see because he could absolutely go 65-66 on the weekend to scare the leaders, but he has to actually get to the weekend to do that. It makes each day feel more important instead of making the first three rounds feel like just a mechanism for getting to the last nine holes of the tournament.
I'm unconvinced that anyone in golf (including Rory) moves the needle in person or on TV to a degree that is more important in the long term than having an increasingly good product (which is what a cut provides).
If a tournament sponsor doesn't understand this, then you probably don't want to have a long-term relationship with them anyway.
Me
TL;DR cuts make events better and are far more important in the long term than any one player.
You don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s the slam winner.
Bones asked me walking down the 9th hole there, my last hole, “What's your plan after this for like the next few weeks.”
I said, “Bones, I'll tell you after this hole. There's a lot riding on this golf hole.”
So I mean, obviously I wanted to make the cut, of course. I mean, yeah, of course you want to be here for the weekend.
Rory McIlroy
Or how about Keegan Bradley.
I feel more nervous a lot of times on the cut line than I do to win a tournament. I actually am way more nervous.
If you have a tee time on the weekend, especially around here, you can go out there and shoot, you know -- you may not win the tournament, but you've still you got a lot to play for on the weekend here.
Keegan Bradley
Cuts matter. They create drama. They generate storylines. They provide friction to a league that could use more of it.
7. I’m not sure exactly how to explain this, but nobody scares me less when they’re on a leaderboard than Corey Conners. He is Taylor Fritz if Taylor Fritz was Canadian and played golf. You can’t deny the talent or the ability to flush, but let’s just say my confidence level on a scale of 1 to prime Tiger when he’s in a situation that means something is a lot closer to 1 than it is to prime Tiger.
At least Corey inspired a new dog for our Round 2 leaderboard.
8. The beautiful boy.
No … not that one.
…
Yes … that one.
Spieth cooked in the middle of his round and looked like he was going to legitimately pull himself into the tournament. But a second consecutive round-ending double dropped him down (and probably out after what Ludvig did after that).
Come to his mini presser for the quote of the week (video here).
Reporter: "Will you be able to think mostly about the good stuff [and not the double bogey at the end]?"
Spieth: "Never. Have you ever played golf?"
But don’t let it distract you from the (maybe) funnier (and possibly more telling) quote.
Reporter: “Overall what's clicked in these last couple starts?”
Spieth: “Everything. I'm doing everything well. The stats aren't necessarily showing exactly how solid things are. I feel like I've hit a lot of especially approach shots the last two weeks where I'm posing, saying, ‘Man, I did my job,’ and then I'm just shocked at where they end up, short or long or whatever. I think that's pretty normal for last week and this week.
“But it's been better than my scoring. I toed a drive on 18 yesterday and then on one of the easiest holes I made a 7 today, and it's just a bit of a bummer to finish that way, right. They don't tell the story of how I'm really playing; they were just two swings that I just needed to miss on the other side.”
Spieth is the guy in your group who “would have shot 78 if not for the two bad swings where I wasn’t really paying that much attention anyway because I got a text from my boss” if that person was also one of the 50 best golfers in the world.
I’m not saying I’m not into it. I very much am.
But I think we have enough recent evidence of this to call it what it is.
Two rollercoasters
9. This is a big “prove it” week (and year) for Xander. I want to know if you’re Padraig Harrington or Vijay Singh. The former made a career off of a two-year heater, which we saw from X in 2024. The latter was world class for like 20 years and won 34 times on the PGA Tour.
Which one is Xander? I’m not saying that the next two days will determine that. I am saying that if he wins this week then I’ll be more convinced that he’s closer to a Vijay Singh than he is a Padraig Harrington.
Also, I thought this quote was interesting (and maybe telling?).
I'm definitely hitting a lot of really good golf shots. I think even earlier in this year I started hitting a lot of good golf shots again. 2024 was a year full of really good results, and right now I think we're a little bit more focused on the process bit of it and trying to make sure things are sort of ironed out and in a decent spot, and then after that you go and compete.
Xander Schauffele
That does not scream of someone who’s about to go win a Players Championship.
10. Two reasons I love TPC Sawgrass.
1. The SG ball-striking list is basically just the leaderboard.
2. There were several scores in the 80s on Friday, but also a 63 and a 65. Tom Hoge shot 80 after playing what has to be one of the worst holes in pro golf history. Max Greyserman shot 31-42-41-39 this week. Michael Kim posted 81 with two birdies. Pierceson Coody shot 83 (just 20 back of Ludvig!) and made a 2-3-4-5-6-7-8.
Great variance and truly an awesome championship golf course.
11. A grown man measuring the distance between another grown’s man feet while the man who is being measured holds a metal stick in his hands. Normal stuff.
Austin forgets the tape measure.
12. I asked people on Twitter on Friday to guess Russell Henley’s career earnings. Most weren’t even close. The actual answer is $48 million. Just behind Ernie Els. Just ahead of Webb Simpson. And he’s done it on five wins.
The sweet spot of “rich but not famous” in golf is often directly correlated to your money earned divided by your total wins. The Charles Howell III Corollary.
Henley might lead everyone in this category at $9.6 million per win, which is wild and means he can walk in a Publix unnoticed and also buy the entire store on the spot with whatever’s in his checking account at that minute.
A wild, wild place to be.
On to Round 3.
Thank you for reading our handcrafted, algorithm-free newsletter. Don’t forget to check out our Rory/Masters book. As always, we appreciate your support of our business. May it blow 25+ this weekend.
Greetings!
“It's a weird deal, it's a weird game.”
-Jordan Spieth
Round 2 had the juice that Round 1 lacked, and much of it was on account of the play (and quotes) from our favorite three-time major champion.
Let’s get right into it.
Name drops today: Vijay Singh, Michael Kim, Publix, Bones, Keegan and Gold Boy.
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by OGIO, whose bags I want to use to just carry around amusing Jordan Spieth quotes like the one above.
My current weapon of choice is their OGIO Venture backpack, which is my everyday pack that totes around all my Turtlebox rangers, Sap’s Original drinks and Holderness and Bourne gear.
Some of that is even true.
But really, it’s my favorite pack I’ve ever had, big enough to use as a (short) overnight bag and versatile enough to just take to the coffee shop to look up all my dumb little stats and strokes gained data.
OGIO’s promise is that if it’s something that carries stuff you really care about, they make a premium version of it. That is true, even if I probably shouldn’t care about Jordan Spieth quotes and SG ball striking numbers.
OK, now onto the news.
As a reminder, this week’s content is partially behind the paywall (though thankfully not behind the moat). You can read it all — as well as the rest of our major championship coverage — by becoming a Normal Club member right here.
1. Six notes on Players Championship leader, Ludvig Aberg.
• A 9.4 SG number in a single round is filthy, obscene stuff.
• Shades of JT’s 62 in R2 last year, which gained … 9.4 strokes.
• That he leads from the early-late wave — which was nearly 2 shots tougher — is wild.
• I’m glad they have him in the old Adidas logo. It’s a great look.
• Mrs. Normal doesn’t care what he’s in.
• His swing makes you wonder how he ever shoots over 66.
The pièce de résistance on Friday was this tee shot on 16. An easy 184 ball speed that went 354 on the Rory-in-the-2025-playoff line and led to his seventh of eight birdies/eagles on the day.
Art.
It’s now his tournament to lose. Which certainly doesn’t mean he’ll win it. After shooting 62 in R2 last year, JT finished 73-73 and was not even remotely a factor.
But this has been building a bit. After a MC at Torrey, Ludvig went T37-T20-T3 in his next three tournaments. He flushed it last week. He’s flushing it this week.
Off the tee: 1st
Approach play: 5th
Ball-striking: 1st
Tee to green: 1st
I’m sure there are guys who make it look easier than Ludvig does — Rory and Tommy come to mind. But I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who makes it look simpler or less complicated than he does. Watching Ludvig makes you think, “I mean, I think I could probably do that,” which is an incredible skill.
Making this complex thing look so basic and languid. Making the bottomless well of golf intricacy look like you’re simply dipping a ladle and taking a drink. It feels impossible that anyone could ever waste less effort being great at the game than Ludvig does.
The glazing disparity between a Friday 63 and 64.
2. Here is a Ludvig concern: Does he have a feel for the inflection points of a tournament. Sam pointed out on Friday that one of Ludvig’s strengths is that he never looks too high or too low. No matter what storms pound around him, he’s fortress.
It is true that this is a strength.
But it was also true for Rickie Fowler that this was a strength that sometimes got exposed late in events. Because there will come a time for every leader of the tournament where you have to truly go for the trophy. Throw down and announce nobody’s going to be better than you in this given week.
Outside of the 2015 Players, I never believed that Rickie really grasped that reality. I think Ludvig is wired differently than Rickie, but we also don’t have much proof of that yet, which is part of what makes this weekend so interesting.
I hope this weekend makes this Ludvig Rickie Transformer illustration make sense.
3. I asked on Thursday whose career folks would think most differently about if they went on to win the tournament this weekend. Ludvig has to be up there, right?
I didn’t list him for the reasons I was hesitant to list Tommy — because I already think incredibly highly of him and a win would be more validation than me rethinking his career — but you do have to win tournaments at some point.
And suddenly a 26-year-old Ludvig going into the Masters as one of the four favorites with an RSM, Torrey and a Players on his resume is a much different thing. Big weekend, big stakes for somebody who’s immensely fun to watch perform in that arena.
4. Also … amazingly normal sport that the gentleman sticking his finger into the side of a hill while Ludvig examined the grass and dirt is potentially affecting the legacies of like three different guys and determining the outcome of a $25 million sporting event.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members and includes thoughts on …
Scottie’s made cut streak.
Some insane Russ Henley numbies.
An incredible Jordan Spieth round quote.
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