And here is a putt that is just as famous. Scott Hoch missed a 2 1/2 footer on 18 to win the Masters with Nick faldo looking on and ultimately lost in a playoff. Like Sanders he never contended in a major again. that’s “Hoch” as in “Choke” they said. Then again Nick was known as “Nick Foldo” earlier in his career and Tom Watson famously choled several times before he started winning majors.
I don’t agree with the headline that dwells on Rose wanting something “better”. I would say he wanted something “different”. In any event he hasn’t won a major after LIV came into being while Dechambeau and Koepka have.
I consider it a personal choice. Like in real life (ie. not dealing with multi millionaires already) there are many of us, indeed probably most of us, that would move to a different job or company for a huge increase in pay. Taking care of the family and securing the future and all that. Some might stay at their old job for reasons of loyalty or otherwise. I don’t consider it any more than a personal choice and don’t get the criticisms of players who choose differently, other than it is often an outpouring of jealousy.
It is also pure hypocrisy. The PGA Tour owes it’s recent increases in purse valuations to LIV. Also, the concept of the elite or world championship events is a Greg Norman idea from the 80’s/90’s which the PGA quashed and then later stole when it suited them. The PGA has always been an old boy’s club that cared naught for it’s players and hoarded cash they could have paid them in purses. Remember that they managed to suddenly find an extra $55 million to add to purses under the couch cushions after LIV commenced play and since then purses have increased even more. So the PGA Tour players benefit from LIV money as well so that isn’t a valid criticism of LIV.
I have also always been appalled at how the PGA Tour treats some of it’s players. You can google and find numerous articles about how Rory has been thrown under the bus after accepting the taxing role of PGA Tour spokesman, only to have Monahan operate his standard bait and switch and backstab, reaching a deal with LIV that Rory knew nothing about. I have so much respect for Rory as a result and although he wasn’t my first choice to win this weekend (Conners was but missing a 1 footer on 1 is all you need to know about his title chase on Sunday) the man has gone through a lot relatively speaking compared to any other player except Phil. Phil as it turns out is the modern day Palmer and has done more for the tour than anyone in history except for perhaps Arnie in giving LIV it’s credibility, without which it probably would have failed.
If you recall Rory was originally very adamantly anti LIV and pro PGA Tour. He was very vocal and I recall even posting video of him on the LIV thread unnecessarily going ballistic on a PGA Tour player outside of a clubhouse at a major and having to be restrained by Shane Lowry of all people. I always liked Rory, until I didn’t. I love him now and give him immense credit for changing his opinion on LIV and recognizing that it is a personal choice and doesn’t have anything to do with the kind of person you are. Along with Phil and Jon Rahm Rory is the voice of reason in trying to unite golf again. It shows me incredible maturity and intellectual capacity in that Rory thought his way through the situation and changed his mind, the sign of a true thinker as opposed to a one track MAGA type person for example. Of all people Rory had more reason than any to turn his back on the Tour with the PGA knives still sticking out of it.
I reiterate my wish for people to stop judging the sides (mostly uninformed judgements being rendered) and demand some kind of unification and restoration of best on best tournaments for at least the majors, the Players, maybe up to 5 other tournaments and the Ryder and President’s Cups. Unsurprisingly it is the PGA Tour holding up reunification with it’s need for control and the Draconian thirst for compensation blood that some of it’s members have as a way to punish those who chose to leave the authoritarian pyramid scheme that was the PGA Tour. In any other context in life virtually everyone would be siding with the hard done by proletariat or worker bees that are the players and oppose their lack of say in how things are run. They were until LIV came along and exposed further the PGA Tour’s resemblance to the old robber baron owners in team sports who would simply tell players like Gordie Howe that they were being paid $9,000 that year and that if they didn’t like it then off to the salt mines with you.
The problem of course in sympathizing with either side in the dispute is that all involved on either side are filthy rich already and therefore the conceptual comparisons I have made, which I believe are accurate, are just conceptual as everyone involved on both sides already has more money than they know what to do with. In the meantime the fans are getting screwed by not seeing best on best and it is only the fans that have the ability to pressure the parties to bury the hatchet. The PGA Tour bent the knee when they were losing the war and their $700 million TV contract was in jeopardy, which is a power only us fans have. Unfortunately we have fallen for the standard PGA Tour bait and switch as their numbers, once down 25%, are up again even though they haven’t followed through on their promises. It won’t be easy and maybe it is impossible to mobilize the fans, but a brief boycott of everything golf by fans might be the only way to resolve the dispute where the fans have been secondary and relatively without a voice since the start.
I guess Conners wanted out of the limelight real quick so he took a dump on his 10 inch putt on the 1st - just to make sure CBS wouldn’t turn their cameras on him the rest of the way. (a valiant 75 as predicted but a Top 10 finish which no other current canuck is capable of). What a tragic/foolish mistake I made taking Pendrith. Didn’t think about how he’d kill my cumulative score. Pendrith is the least likely Cdn to win a masters. Even Hapless Hadwin & Ben Silverman have more delicate game than Giant Pendrith, who’s just a tee-banger with average irons and below average short game.
Finally, after obtaining Grand Slam status, I don’t know if Rory realizes how much power he has. If he wants to escape Monahan’s ‘bag of tricks’ he should threaten to take an offer from LIV. Can u imagine what kind of money LIV would offer Rory if he said “Ask me?” Perhaps 250 to 450 million over 3 yrs to play as a LIV tour rounder with major’s privileges. Even a cockroach like Monahan might get alarmed.
Frankly, if Rory joined LIV that alone might equalize LIV as a tour vs. PGA. So Rory, you have the power - WILL YOU USE IT?
I don’t think he will, but he can still do lots of good in conjunction with Rahm in getting things settled. Phil has done his part and for the most part his competitive days are behind him so it should be left to the younger stars in my opinion. Rory supposedly turned down close to $500 million to join LIV already and is worth north of $100 million as it stands.
A tournament summary for posterity:
Anybody who thinks Rory who thinks he will succumb to the trash crap LIV crap BS “below BS” is living in dream world. Think otherwise people here. Do a double and triple check on your Montreal Cognitive Assessment. 
“Trump included a cognitive exam, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, as part of his physical during his first term, and his doctor later said he scored 30 out of 30.”
In this vein, some here may appreciate this:
“Following his monumental win, swimming icon Michael Phelps, known for his record-breaking 28 Olympic medals, including 23 golds, reached out to McIlroy with a powerful three-word message on Instagram: “L.F.G.” The message symbolized a bond beyond sports, emphasizing their shared struggles with mental health and the pressures of competition. Both athletes have been vocal about their battles, creating a unique camaraderie that transcends their respective sports.”
Pre Corey Conners. There was George Knudson, who actually finished 2nd in a Masters (1969). Knudson had a cigarette growing out of one hand and an old curling broom he used as a putter (putting about same as Conners). Forgot I’d written a poem on George - only performed it once at a local poetry event. For the record:
**SWING, GEORGE, SWING**
The man from Winnipeg, George Knudson,
A golfer with a swing heaven-sent,
His sweaters were ratty, his style was elegant,
But his putting game was far from heaven-sent.
He won eight PGA Tour events in his prime,
Tied for second,1969 Masters in Georgia air,
But his putting game was his Achilles’ heel,
And robbed him of a Masters jacket he should wear.
George’s approach to the swing was meditative,
A style that was unique and contemplative,
He wrote a book on it with Lorne Rubenstein,
A testament to his love for a game divine.
George Knudson, the man with the swing of an angel,
A Canadian, forever in our hearts, his bag of irons loved.
Knitted old sweater, buttons amiss
Swing for the stars George Knudson, you can’t miss.
Rory moves the needle.
I suspect the reason that Tigers 2019 win doesn’t top this is because it was early in the morning vs primetime.
Probably also because Dechambeau was involved. He is the social media king of golfers. The announcers kept saying that him and Rory are the two most popular golfers in the world and I don’t doubt that. Even though the epic duel didn’t materialize between the two Rory kept it interesting on 13 and after that it was pretty riveting TV. If he had been up 4 or 5 coming home it might have been different. Plus Rory going for the career grand slam I’m sure kept people watching.
Id agree. The combo of Rory, Bryson, the Grand Slam on the line etc all did it.
2023 we had Rahm and Brooks in the final group and though it was a good finish, this was much more entertaining.
The only thing that could have topped the Rory vs. Bryson phenomenon and the bizarre Grand Slam chase (11 yrs) is if somehow Tiger Woods and/or Lefty Mickelson could have been resurrected from the dead and competed for the lead. . . . ie. a hobbled Tiger in a gunfight for his 16th major at nearly 50 yrs old; the broken soul Lefty going for a major approaching 60! Those two “oldies” going for the one in the twilight of their existence would have dwarfted the Rory/Bryson numbers.
/Slow, golf-clap applause
Hearty effort, good poem, great finish, and fine recital it sounds like to me there…
sounds to me like you are due for a retrospective performance this summer or perhaps in the days before the Grey Cup at some local cafe`,
plus I bet you own a curling broom and have some ratty sweaters,
and for style, I don’t know but it sounds like you rock the “caddy-chic” look too.
But do replace those buttons on your ratty sweaters.
Gave up my sturdy curling brush (only had one as the brushes emerged as the dominant force after I’d burned thru about 50 twigs (corn brooms) from 1968 to 1983. Should have kept my old High School sweater (we won the championship) in 1971), it was actually a crew neck and red, very unusual for the times. Confession - I modeled the sweater and the style from one of my curling idols, Rod “The Arrow” Hunter who just passed away the last few years. He was without a doubt the Original Arrow. Got to play with Duguid’s front end Pettapiece and Wood after they disbanded - both very powerful men who could strangle you with their pinky.
Golf, Curling & CFL football are my enduring sports. Stopped golfing when I was just short of 42, stopped curling before 40 and only played a few junior football games (usually getting wiped out by very fast moving and angry young men, no shortage of angry young men in Winnipeg those days!
DOZE WERE THE DAYS! YOU HAD TO BE THERE!