Normal Sport is presented by Seed Golf this week. An Irish golf ball company presenting our coverage of a golf tournament started in Scotland, played this year in England and attended by an American (Jason) who currently lives in the Netherlands.
Sure, absolutely. Let’s do it.
Check Seed out right here.
[Jason here]
I nearly didn't make it to Southport today. I was waiting for my transfer in Paris watching people board for Oran. I suck at Maptap so I Google Oran (it's in Algeria). I am early and relaxed when I see the dictionary definition of a golf guy — wearing an [OEM that’s not Cobra] hat and a striped Holderness and Bourne polo (possibly this Maxwell) — rush up to the gate to board.
Cool shirt. What's golf like in Algeria? Is there golf in Algeria? Is that guy actually going to Algeria? I crane my neck and see another board that says Gate Closing Manchester. Crap. I made the flight and was never so thankful to see an [OEM that’s not Cobra] hat in my life.
I arrived at Birkdale this evening with just enough time to touch one very firm and surprisingly dusty (so dusty) fairway and witness Geoff Shackelford chuckle to himself as he sent out The Quadrilateral, which arrived 1 second later in my inbox. Aspirational energy. It's delightful to be in the mix.
Getting to illustrate a tournament live is a gold mine for observing and dreaming up ideas. Too many ideas to fit into the final illustrations. I thought you might like to see how the sausage is made. Or in this case, how the Birkdale Biscuit was made.
Here's my Tuesday doodle on the train to Southport.
[OK, I’ll throw it back to Kyle for his usual nonsense]
Name drops today: The Beatles, Cam Young, Granit Xhaka, meme kings and Gary Woodland.
An Open in Birkdale, just down the road from Jason’s home base for the week in Liverpool? Too easy.
Today’s newsletter is presented by our friends at Cobra, which is who I thought of when I saw this bit from Michael Kim on Tuesday.
Why did I think of Cobra? Well, because I wondered, Maybe Michael Kim doesn’t have those shots, but you know who does? Gary Woodland and his King irons, which also happens to be the model of iron that I’m playing right now (results may vary).
I’m giddy to see him rip long irons with max 7.5 feet of apex all over that place all week as he tries to bookend his U.S. Open at Pebble Beach with an Open Championship at Birkdale and pull off what would be one of the sports stories of the last several years.
King irons, built for the noblest traj in all the land.
And now, onto the news.
The Birkdale Biscuit, hard as the dickens.
1. Birkdale looks unequivocally fast and firm (maybe the firmest). I have to say, this kind of sneaked up on me a bit. Yes, all Opens are browned out, and many of them are even fast and firm. That is kind of the entire brand.
But I did not expect this …
Or this.
The turf is still spectacular but about as dry, firm, and fast as any rota venue since the Old Course.
Geoff Shackelford
This is a delight, of course, but now my brain is in a bit of a blender about how exactly Birkdale is going to play and who’s going to thrive there.
The cool part? So are the brains of the players.
There's a lot of thinking off the tee on whether or not you want to just hit driver up there somewhere and kind of play from the rough most likely, or do you want to start hitting some irons, getting it in some fairways and hitting some longer shots into the greens?
On each hole there's a good bit of strategy; there's a decent amount of thinking. If it wasn't as firm as it is now, there wouldn't be as much decision-making, but I think with the firmness, it creates a whole lot more challenges, I think, for us as players, just to try and control your ball and figure out where it's going to end up.
Scottie Scheffler
This is everything — I mean everything — I want from an Open. And while it’s probably a bit overstated to say that The Open is the Thoughtful Major, I’m not sure there’s been another golf tournament this year that has presented players with such a wide variety of options and potential decisions from the tee shot all the way through the putt. That’s unique about The Open and especially about this Open.
Golf at this level is most interesting to me when you can see guys going through their options and having to make not only a choice about strategy but then go execute it right after. That is a layer of the game that we don’t get to see as often as I would like.
And listen, the World Cup has been fun but the soccer mind could never comprehend …
2. Speaking of Scottie! I am fascinated to see what he does this week.
Which camp are you in?
Camp 1
• 1st in the world in SG (last 50 rounds)
• 2nd in the world in SG (last 20 rounds)
• Three top 14 finishes at majors this year
• Won last year’s Open Championship
• This course requires a ton of patience
Camp 2
• Open has been probably his worst major (“worst”)
• Just missed a cut for the first time in four years
• Hates the randomness that Opens often bring about
• Doesn’t really feel like the best player in the world
• Has clearly lost a step and a half with his iron play
Here’s how I’ve been thinking about it: Scottie could definitely win, absolutely. Of course he could. But instead of having a 12-15 percent chance in my head when the event starts, it’s more like a 3-5 percent chance. No longer in the Tiger range. More in the range of other stars.
This squares up with how he’s played, too. He is still playing at the level of a star (maybe even a superstar), but he’s not playing at the level of a “having (another!) one of the great seasons of the last 40 years” guy.
It’s hilarious to type all of that and also consider the fact that 17 guys (out of 400) have beaten him at the first three majors.
3. New pod with Hayden Martin dropped this afternoon. We answered the question of not who we think is going to play well and/or win, but which player winning would get us the most excited. No real surprises, but we got rolling here, especially toward the back half of the pod. A ton of fun, and I hope it’s a good bit of entertainment heading into Thursday.
One note for after the jump below, I’ll drop the link to our Open Championship pool with over $1,000 in prizes. If you want to join, it’s free for our members.
5. Here is the link to our 2026 Open Championship pool for Normal Club members. The game — if you haven’t played it before — is to pick six players in different tiers. You can drop one player’s scores, and best total score wins. Good luck!
6. Two groups that made me laugh.
The Hey Scottie, congrats on your 12-month reign as Champion Golfer of the Year. We will take that trophy back from you now, and we will hand over two of the most unhinged, performative, and possibly distracting golfers of the last 25 years as your playing partners for the first 36 holes. Good luck and great playing a year ago group.
The meme king group. Fleetwood is gonna get stuck between two guys who are generationally meme-able.
At their best, they make it all look so completely and totally effortless. Astonishingly easy, really. Tommy has been the better player of the three so far this year, but he has a few things to learn.
To wit (and this is a small sampling) …
We should get a barrel full this week at Birkdale.
7. I think we’re due for a wild, wild Open.
A couple of reasons.
1. No clear favorites. The superstars are playing … well … but not amazing. Nobody going in seems like they’re going to control it from tip to buzzer like Scottie did for the most part a year ago.
[which means Cam Young shoots 67-66-68-70 to win by seven].
2. This from Data Golf …
It’s also worth pointing out the skill coefficient from Hoylake in 2006: 0.32, the 2nd-lowest value among PGA Tour events and majors since 2004. A reminder that when a links course gets really firm, weird stuff happens.
Data Golf
In layman’s terms: What we think of as “bad” players can (and often do) play well at events with baked out conditions like this one for a variety of reasons.
I am unquestionably here for it.
(although get back to me when Marcus Plunkett is up three on Sunday afternoon).
8. I enjoyed this course preview from Bradley S. Klein on Birkdale. This part in particular I found so interesting.
In the post-World War II era, they variously oversaw routing changes involving the par-3 12th and the later holes of the back nine, in the process undoing an unusual finishing par run of 5-3-5-4-5-5, which is how the course played during The Open Championships of 1965, 1971 and 1976.
PGA Tour
Par is a social construct of course, but four par 5s in the last six holes would be provocative. You could — much like the Ryder Cup — continue to convince yourself that your guy is still in it. If Spieth can just figure out how to eagle three of those last six, I think we’re right there. Things of that nature.
Sort of related: I would love to see a tournament change its par to, like 76, for the week. This would be completely insane and wildly entertaining for everyone. Entertaining to casuals because “can you believe Rory made 17 birdies today?!” and entertaining to sickos because the traditionalists would be tying themselves to the starter’s microphone stand in protest like a group of environmental activists.
I would love it all.
9. I have been radicalized by Joseph LaMagna to heavily weight (like, 95 percent to 5 percent) recent form over past performance at specific events.
So I want to look at some SG, and let’s look at players’ last 20 Open rounds first because in this formula, that is the least important.
SG last 20 Open rounds
min. 10 rounds — some guys haven’t reached 20 in their careers
Scottie: 2.7
Xander: 2.7
Rahm: 2.5
Harman: 2.4
Rose: 2.3
Cam Young: 2.3
Lowry: 2.1
Spieth : 2.1
Rory: 2.0
Fleetwood: 1.9
• Scottie and Xander at the top makes sense given that they have won the last two. People might be surprised at Rahm in third, but they shouldn’t be.
• Rose and Cam Young, yep, checks out.
• I think the most curious thing here is [squints] Spieth over Rory? What?
Here are Spieth’s last 20 Open rounds.
And Rory’s.
They have definitely been going in different directions here. Rory has felt like he’s been lurking at this event for most of the rounds of the last four years. While the last time it felt like Spieth was truly, truly in contention was St. George’s in 2021.
OK, on to the probably more important stat.
SG last 20 rounds
Wyndham: 3.0
Scottie: 2.6
Burns: 2.6
Fleetwood: 2.5
Fitz: 2.3
Rory: 2.2
Si Woo: 1.9
Ben Griffin: 1.9
Tom Kim: 1.8
Hovland: 1.8
My pick is on this list (I’ll disclose it on Wednesday).
• Wyndham going U.S. Open + Open would be crazy.
The only four to do that are Tiger (2000), Watson (1982), Trevino (1971 at Birkdale … gulp), Hogan (1953), Sarazen (1932) and Jones (1926). So four in the last 90 years. Surely this list won’t include Wyndham Clark … right?
• Burns winning here would be awesome. One of my favorite narrative arcs is the guy who lost a tough event the previous major and bounced back to win the next one.
• Is Tom Kim about to pull the Phil? Is Tom Kim about to match Adam Scott and Justin Rose in majors and have more Tour wins than Ludvig and Tommy combined? [holds finger to ear to touch fake earpiece] I’m getting word that he already has more Tour wins than Ludvig and Tommy combined.
• It’s all right there for Tommy. But that’s kinda the whole deal, isn’t it?
10. Let’s end with this great email from a reader on my soccer comps from Saturday’s newsletter.
Hey, I wanted to comment on your World Cup-golf comps. My high school buddies group chat is filled with some golf sickos, some soccer sickos, and some in between. I thought we had some good additions.
Neymar and DJ: I know you had Rickie for this one. For us, it was two old guys who have been great, and at one brief point in time, they were the best in the sport. Now they seem to just be hanging on.
Hatton and Granit Xhaka (Swiss midfielder): Two guys that casual fans probably know nothing about, but when they do get on your screen, they have the hottest heads while playing the game.
Alexi Lalas and Brandel: Underqualified, highly opinionated, and not well liked by the fans of the sport.
Ed. note: I don’t condone this Brandel slander!
Smylie Kaufman and Stu Holden: Very involved in the biggest broadcasts, but didn't necessarily have the careers to deserve it at first.
Kevin Kisner and Landon Donovan: Good to great careers on the field, but are still figuring it out in the booth.
Thanks for the podcast topic and all the great content you do. Gave my
group chat a great evening of back and forth on comps.Greg D.
I irrationally love comps. They’re just so dumb but also fun to think about. Give me any category of person, event, anything, and I’ll unquestionably give some C-tier golf comps right back to you. Politics? Sure. YouTubers? Absolutely. Beatles songs and albums? I know less about the Beatles than I do about the World Cup, but I promise that will not stop me in any way.
Thank you as always for supporting Normal Sport. It allows us to do things like attend The Open at Birkdale this week. And thank you to Seed for sponsoring our travels as well. Nothing hits seeds like a Cobra, and no seed gets compressed quite like a Seed.
Normal Sport is presented by Seed Golf this week. An Irish golf ball company presenting our coverage of a golf tournament started in Scotland, played this year in England and attended by an American (Jason) who currently lives in the Netherlands.
Sure, absolutely. Let’s do it.
Check Seed out right here.
[Jason here]
I nearly didn't make it to Southport today. I was waiting for my transfer in Paris watching people board for Oran. I suck at Maptap so I Google Oran (it's in Algeria). I am early and relaxed when I see the dictionary definition of a golf guy — wearing an [OEM that’s not Cobra] hat and a striped Holderness and Bourne polo (possibly this Maxwell) — rush up to the gate to board.
Cool shirt. What's golf like in Algeria? Is there golf in Algeria? Is that guy actually going to Algeria? I crane my neck and see another board that says Gate Closing Manchester. Crap. I made the flight and was never so thankful to see an [OEM that’s not Cobra] hat in my life.
I arrived at Birkdale this evening with just enough time to touch one very firm and surprisingly dusty (so dusty) fairway and witness Geoff Shackelford chuckle to himself as he sent out The Quadrilateral, which arrived 1 second later in my inbox. Aspirational energy. It's delightful to be in the mix.
Getting to illustrate a tournament live is a gold mine for observing and dreaming up ideas. Too many ideas to fit into the final illustrations. I thought you might like to see how the sausage is made. Or in this case, how the Birkdale Biscuit was made.
Here's my Tuesday doodle on the train to Southport.
[OK, I’ll throw it back to Kyle for his usual nonsense]
Name drops today: The Beatles, Cam Young, Granit Xhaka, meme kings and Gary Woodland.
An Open in Birkdale, just down the road from Jason’s home base for the week in Liverpool? Too easy.
Today’s newsletter is presented by our friends at Cobra, which is who I thought of when I saw this bit from Michael Kim on Tuesday.
Why did I think of Cobra? Well, because I wondered, Maybe Michael Kim doesn’t have those shots, but you know who does? Gary Woodland and his King irons, which also happens to be the model of iron that I’m playing right now (results may vary).
I’m giddy to see him rip long irons with max 7.5 feet of apex all over that place all week as he tries to bookend his U.S. Open at Pebble Beach with an Open Championship at Birkdale and pull off what would be one of the sports stories of the last several years.
King irons, built for the noblest traj in all the land.
And now, onto the news.
The Birkdale Biscuit, hard as the dickens.
1. Birkdale looks unequivocally fast and firm (maybe the firmest). I have to say, this kind of sneaked up on me a bit. Yes, all Opens are browned out, and many of them are even fast and firm. That is kind of the entire brand.
But I did not expect this …
Or this.
The turf is still spectacular but about as dry, firm, and fast as any rota venue since the Old Course.
Geoff Shackelford
This is a delight, of course, but now my brain is in a bit of a blender about how exactly Birkdale is going to play and who’s going to thrive there.
The cool part? So are the brains of the players.
There's a lot of thinking off the tee on whether or not you want to just hit driver up there somewhere and kind of play from the rough most likely, or do you want to start hitting some irons, getting it in some fairways and hitting some longer shots into the greens?
On each hole there's a good bit of strategy; there's a decent amount of thinking. If it wasn't as firm as it is now, there wouldn't be as much decision-making, but I think with the firmness, it creates a whole lot more challenges, I think, for us as players, just to try and control your ball and figure out where it's going to end up.
Scottie Scheffler
This is everything — I mean everything — I want from an Open. And while it’s probably a bit overstated to say that The Open is the Thoughtful Major, I’m not sure there’s been another golf tournament this year that has presented players with such a wide variety of options and potential decisions from the tee shot all the way through the putt. That’s unique about The Open and especially about this Open.
Golf at this level is most interesting to me when you can see guys going through their options and having to make not only a choice about strategy but then go execute it right after. That is a layer of the game that we don’t get to see as often as I would like.
And listen, the World Cup has been fun but the soccer mind could never comprehend …
2. Speaking of Scottie! I am fascinated to see what he does this week.
Which camp are you in?
Camp 1
• 1st in the world in SG (last 50 rounds)
• 2nd in the world in SG (last 20 rounds)
• Three top 14 finishes at majors this year
• Won last year’s Open Championship
• This course requires a ton of patience
Camp 2
• Open has been probably his worst major (“worst”)
• Just missed a cut for the first time in four years
• Hates the randomness that Opens often bring about
• Doesn’t really feel like the best player in the world
• Has clearly lost a step and a half with his iron play
Here’s how I’ve been thinking about it: Scottie could definitely win, absolutely. Of course he could. But instead of having a 12-15 percent chance in my head when the event starts, it’s more like a 3-5 percent chance. No longer in the Tiger range. More in the range of other stars.
This squares up with how he’s played, too. He is still playing at the level of a star (maybe even a superstar), but he’s not playing at the level of a “having (another!) one of the great seasons of the last 40 years” guy.
It’s hilarious to type all of that and also consider the fact that 17 guys (out of 400) have beaten him at the first three majors.
3. New pod with Hayden Martin dropped this afternoon. We answered the question of not who we think is going to play well and/or win, but which player winning would get us the most excited. No real surprises, but we got rolling here, especially toward the back half of the pod. A ton of fun, and I hope it’s a good bit of entertainment heading into Thursday.
One note for after the jump below, I’ll drop the link to our Open Championship pool with over $1,000 in prizes. If you want to join, it’s free for our members.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members (all 1,056 of them) and includes thoughts on some of the groups, who I think will play well, that Open contest and an amazing follow up to my World Cup-golf comps.
By becoming a member, you will receive the following …
• Access to 100 percent of our content this week.
• An invite to our Slack channel where we watch and talk golf together.
• A free digital copy of our Rory book.
• 15% off to our pro shop.
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