In this edition ending this year, we celebrate the year of DJing, Bryson ‘s best and a season unlike any other.
Make a cut
Latha DJ. For most of the World Golf Hall of Fame career, Dustin Johnson has been proving to the world the benefits of competitive blinds.
When he lost the 2010 PGA Championship after breaking weird rules, he moved on and moved on. When he lost the ’15 US Open on the 72ndnd hole, steered for just 5, according to various accounts, and never looked back.
Feelings and how much he was at the moment were obstacles that did not go unnoticed and when he went through the FedExCup playoffs with victories at the Northern Trust Championship and Tour to win the crown all season after bout with COVID-19, he said they’ve already earned a place as one of the most exciting stories in this weird season.
But it was in November at the Masters where he grew from a stock golfer to a true champion. DJ was born about an hour away from Augusta National and went to college in South Carolina. Winning the Masters would no doubt mean the world to him, but the emotional release after his five-stroke win was so surprisingly off-brand.
“It’s just unbelievable, of course, as you can tell,” Johnson said, fighting back tears.
For the first time in his career the world could tell.
Sustainability. With all the major professional and college sports now back at work after the March pandemic closing it is easy to return the Tour to action, but that would be a neglected Herculean effort.
The Tour was the last sport to turn off the lights in the spring as COVID-19 began to change daily life and was one of the first major sports to return to competition in June at a time when the appearance of a vaccine years ago and the coronavirus still felt like a mystery to most.
Without the benefit of “bubbles” to protect their players, the circuit created safety and testing protocols while other leagues were completely satisfied taking a wait-and-see approach. When things seemed to be looking wildly off the tracks after a number of positive tests, Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan flew to the Passenger Championship with a message.
“We need to learn to live with this virus,” Monahan said in June. “This virus is not going anywhere … You will have more [positive] trials are underway. ”
Throughout the ongoing return of the Tour, the commissioner has been at a stage – this was not the message that his members want to hear but it is the message that they need to hear.
Phil ‘had a great time winning the first Champs time
Make an unfinished cut (MDF)
High reliability. In January, we asked Phil Mickelson his plans for 2020 with his 50sth birthdays approaching in June and the resumption of A Tour that was light on recent success. The answer was very Lefty.
“When I stop bombing I’ll play Heroes Tour, but I’m hitting subtle bombs right now,” Mickelson said with a laugh. “No, I still have speed, there’s no reason I couldn’t play out here. I hit the ball so long. ”
Mickelson missed the cut in four of his five Tour events before the pandemic stopped in March and began changing his views on the tour over 50. In August he won his first Tournament Tournament start. PGA (Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National). In October he won in his second start of the high round (Dominion Energy Charity Classic).
It seems that Lefty is still committed to playing the PGA Tour in the future but there is no denying that any cameos he does with the set over 50 are good for PGA Tour Tournaments and are the continued good success for Mickelson.
Being Bryson. Where do you start with DeChambeau?
2020 was the toughest year for everyone but for the 27-year-old, this is a season he will never forget.
His debut in January in Abu Dhabi reached 17 pounds heavier than a month earlier. When he started his record in June at Colonial, he added another 20 pounds, eating almost anything that was moved in front of him.
He won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July with a driving average of 313-yards and threatened to redefine the game, or break it over his knee, with his big win in September at the U.S. Open.
He said Augusta National was a par 67 for him and missed the cut.
It was on the wrong side of the management dust at the monument and WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and was trolled by Brooks Koepka for the latter.
Bryson was visionary and confused and strange and impressive. But for the most part it was entertainment.
Cutting lost
September Wolf. Pencil an The Ryder Cup every two years as an event not to be missed. The games are almost always the most exciting theater in golf and the main event in Wisconsin this year was Wisconsin.
Steve Stricker would lead the US side in his home state and he was going to cry a lot. Patrick Harrington would redefine what it means to be a captain with his hyper-analytical approach to golf and life, and the American team would prefer … again.
This is not America’s PGA criticism for postponing the games until 2021. Unlike other stops on the post-quarantine Tour schedule, the Ryder Cup is not without fans. What made this delay / postponement stand out, is that the Ryder Cup is almost always the highlight of the year for all intents and purposes.
Without the games it just made 2020 feel even more empty.
Speed of play. Among the list of things that brought the pandemic of golf in 2020 was the most overlooked, and surprisingly, what was recorded as a new time for playing speed on Tour.
As a result of a few slow-moving events (we are watching you, Bryson) the circulation created a policy that many believed would remove some much-needed teeth from studying slow play, leading to -enter a checklist for the tours. slower, penalties for excessive firing times and greater fines.
The revised policy also shifted the focus of officers responsible for keeping records on a slow pace from timekeeping groups to keeping individual players at a distance.
The new policy was due to start in April at RBC Heritage after an education period, but when the pandemic stopped in March and pushed Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, it stopped until June to spread the word. off the shelf until 2021.
Frustration among players had been building for years and the new policy was an encouraging move with officers always willing to accelerate the slow routine and wait another year for a feeling of change. like, well, slow play.