Rory’s return to the top of golf, Tiger is stuck in the middle, and other Players thoughts

Five thoughts on Rory, Tiger, Rahm, and the weekend at TPC Sawgrass.

The Players Championship’s return to March finished with a hall-of-fame winner and a frenzied final round. It’s not a major, but it is an event that stands alone at one of the best and most instantly recognizable venues. Rory McIlroy has been the best player in the world in 2019 and his win at the biggest event of the year to date validates that. Here are five thoughts from the weekend at TPC Sawgrass.

1. The anticipation of a Rory approach

The first attribute we cite with Rory’s game is his driving, and with good reason. He is the best driver of the golf ball in the world. He leads the Tour in strokes gained off-the-tee and hits it mind-boggling distances. His game is obviously about so much more than power, but if you have to pick one trait that is cited first as a signifier of his premier spot in golf, that’s it.

When he’s cooking, however, it’s the approach shots that are always the most fun to follow. The drives are reliably there, but when he’s dialed, the approach shots are what generates the anticipation and tension. This not necessarily unique to Rory, but it’s been the case throughout his career. It was the case when he won the U.S. Open on a soft Congressional. It was when he won his PGA Championships. It definitely was the case when he won the British Open, where he hit two approach shots into par-5s during what is arguably the greatest hour or two of golf in his career.

The driver does so much work for Rory and puts him in all these great spots with massive advantages. But the approach shots are the moments when you edge onto your seat with the ball in the air, the moments that feel so determinative, and the moments when you most often see Rory in full flight.

The one example of I’ll pluck from his Players Championship win, and one that will stay with me the longest, is his second shot into the 16th hole on Friday. This felt like the stretch when Rory put the pedal down to ensure he’d be a contender near the top of the leaderboard all weekend. It was a perfect 4-iron distance and Rory hit the perfect 4-iron, with the stimulating shot tracer there to pick it all up as it sailed over the water and drew back to the front of the green. These are the few seconds of payoff that make golf worth watching.

The next day, a crazy attempt at this green resulted in his ball bouncing into the water. On Sunday, a 9-iron from the rough resulted in the clinching birdie. What he called his best shot of his entire year so far was an approach shot, a pured 6-iron from a fairway bunker that put him back in the lead on Sunday. The driver will always be there, and it’s the club that makes it all possible. But when he’s on, Rory is the most fun player to watch in golf, and the second shots are where we so often see why.

2. Weighting the “growth” stuff

The coverage of golf excels at overblowing personal growth narratives that probably have less to do with the outcomes or success and failure of an individual player. Sergio Garcia “found peace” and was centered, until he didn’t and hauled off on a bunch of greens. Rory has final round demons, until he doesn’t because his wedges or putter or whatever club come through for four rounds, not just Sunday. So much time and energy is put into discussing unprovable and intangible ephemera that’s not counted on the scorecard.

Rory is beloved by the media and fans because he does so often brilliantly articulate how he’s feeling or who he is beyond the golf shots. He sounds like a real human being, a smart one, and not some golfing automaton. This Sunday, he dropped a line about how much had changed in his time at The Players, from his first time missing the cut 10 years ago and then getting thrown out of nearby bars in Jax Beach for being underage. It’s not much, but he’s relatable at least for a second.

The larger narrative around Rory at the moment is how he’s not letting golf define who he is as a person. It’s not media-created, but from Rory’s own words over the last year and throughout this successful start to 2019. He preached it again on Sunday night, telling Golf Channel he’d shoot 65 and be happy for the day or a 75 and be sad for the rest of the day in whatever else he was doing with his life. Now, he tells us he’s separated the two — the golf life and who he is as a person away from his successes and failures on the golf course.

It’s catnip for the narrative-loving media. Rory has undoubtedly gone through a stretch of real self-reflection over the past year or so. He is one of the few players you can reliably assume has put actual thought into talking about who he is and how he’s feeling and is not just spewing it out there to fill uncomfortable time talking about something more than his golf shots. How much weight we assign it for explaining those good golf shots is a separate matter.

3. The mind of a middling Tiger

On the matter of the unprovable and unknowable intangible stuff, the idea of Tiger Woods as “just another guy” on the PGA Tour is a fascinating concept to monitor this year. He’s played four events, made four cuts, looked “fine” throughout, and never sniffed actual, real contention on the weekend. Tiger is obviously the biggest draw in the history of the game and it’s impossible for him to quietly do anything and be “just another guy” in the field. This is more about where he slots on leaderboards and not all the hype and scrutiny from the outside.

Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

It feels odd to say for a 14-time major winner that played the greatest golf ever seen, but the 2018 season was a comeback where each start, whether it was the Valspar Championship or the Masters, was an accomplishment. By the end of the year, when he’d made a handful of starts and stayed healthy, a win, any win, whether it was a major championship or a random limited field party in a far-flung corner of the globe, would be a triumph.

Now we’re in year two after we’ve seen him make a full season of starts, win, and stay healthy. What’s he chasing now at these non-majors and how do continued early tee times on the weekends affect him? How much can he gain, both personally and from those measuring and scrutinizing on the outside, from playing Bay Hill or another WGC or even The Players? That’s not discounting those events or what he personally gets out of them. I’m legit curious.

The reps matter as he gets ready for the four events that can still seriously alter the final view we take of his career. Does another win or top five at Bay Hill or the WGC Match Play do that? He will say it is all part of a #process as he readies for the majors, but playing each weekend completely out of contention cannot be fun for the most maniacally competitive golfer in the game’s history.

Tiger is older and his body is patched together and he’s never going to approach his peak golf. Maybe just making the starts and staying healthy is still the accomplishment in year two of the comeback. He can still obviously be great and probably will be this year. It may just come in shorter bursts. He may be more consistently a top 30-40 player on the leaderboard instead of somewhere in the top 10. How does he handle sustained runs of playing-out-the-string weekends at events that can have minimal impact on the larger view of his career?

4. Rahm’s regret

Sunday at The Players brought manic leaderboard movement and a flurry of absurd highlight shots in the final three hours. The most compelling play, however, was not a good shot but rather a horrible one that followed an intense caddie-player conversation.

Jon Rahm’s rapid ascent to the very top of the world rankings has come with fantastic golf, entertaining eruptions and tantrums, and some puzzling on-tilt decisions. Sunday’s round included his worst mistake yet, one that Golf Channel’s postgame show compared to Jean van de Velde. Rahm attempted a 1-in-10? 20? shot at a critical time on the back nine while in the lead and playing from the final group.

Rahm tried to play an 8-iron from the sand, that needed to draw some 30 yards against a hurting wind, and carry 220 yards around trees, over water and another bunker. His caddie was, uh, strongly against it.

Aside from the shot, this was an example of the rapid improvements in production of these events and another argument for mic’ing up the players. It may be uncomfortable at times, but the entertainment product is better.

There will be overreactions to this obstinate Rahm moment. Is this a sign of “needing to mature?” “Will he ever get it?”

It was just a horrible decision, but also one that makes Rahm far more interesting to watch than some other young superstars. The golf shots are great, but the volcanic activity, caution-free approach, and high-wire tension make him stand out. He doesn’t need to change to win. He may just win less than he should.

5. Word salad

A fun game to play all weekend was listening to how the broadcast and Tour reps would characterize The Players as something of great importance that is not officially a major championship. I heard these people call it a “mega-event,” one of the biggest events, the first championship of championship season, the ultimate paradox, the purest test, an unparalleled test, the gold standard, and the biggest event of the year ... so far ... in golf.

I’m sure I am missing many other examples but the arbitrary categories we’ve assigned to events, including majors, puts the Players in a position that can have the hypemen and broadcasters tied up in knots. It is an amusing game of framing and branding to listen for during the championship.