Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we can’t believe how much happened this past week in golf. It’s mid-November and yet this may have been the busiest stretch of the year. You had the DP World Tour’s finale, the PGA Tour and LPGA in action, the latter of which included the most-hyped celebrity pro-am ever and a controversial sponsor exemption. And yet the biggest story of them all was a YouTube event that was actually recorded months ago. It’s too much! Kidding, it’s great. And we’re happy to talk about all of it. Let’s get cracking.
WE’RE BUYING
Adam Schenk: It took 243 starts, but Adam Schenk is finally a PGA Tour winner. And it only took him one arm on the greens to get the job done. That’s right, the dude gave one-armed putting a try and wound up with both hands on the trophy at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
Advertisement
Now, there were putts where you’ll see his left hand on the club as well, but Schenk said that was only to keep the putter from moving too much in the high Bermuda winds (More on those later). And he honed the method—often used as a practice drill by Tiger Woods and others—in his hotel room throughout the week. Hey, whatever works, right? Schenk pretty much said the same thing after:
That’s good advice, Adam. In golf and beyond.
Matt Fitzpatrick: Speaking of unorthodox short-game methods, the cross-handed chipper won the DP World Tour Championship for a third time. And, in fitting fashion, Fitzpatrick, who leads the DP World Tour in strokes gained: around-the-green despite his weird-looking action, clinched his playoff win over Rory McIlroy by getting up and down for par.
It’s been quite a season save for the 2022 U.S. Open winner as well. Fitzpatrick had fallen down to 75 in the Official World Golf Ranking, but rallied to make the European Ryder Cup team (as a captain’s pick) and is now back to top form. Turns out, he doesn’t hold his trophies cross-handed:
2246964189
David Cannon
Advertisement
Linn Grant: The LPGA Tour also saw a fitting ending to a wild week as the 26-year-old Swede won the event hosted by her country’s all-time greatest golfer. Grant won the Annika then accepted the trophy from the Annika Sorenstam:
It’s kind of amazing Grant only has two LPGA titles with that swing, although she has won an additional six times on the Ladies European Tour. Great job by her. And good job by Kai Trump. Yes, the sponsor invite finished dead last by six shots, but her scores of 83 and 75 were pretty good by a high school senior who never claimed to be an LPGA-level golfer. At least, not yet.
The Internet Invitational: Let me start by saying I’m still not a big YouTube golf guy. I’ll watch a social clip here or there, but rarely dive into an actual video—Barstool’s Writer Cup and the Bryson DeChambeau “Breaking 50” with Steph Curry being notable exceptions. That being said, the Internet Invitational—presented by Barstool and Bob Does Sports—was about as good as it gets. The stakes ($1 million to the winning three-person team), the drama and tension (fueled even more by multiple rules controversies), the venue (Big Cedar Lodge looks spectacular), the side commentary provided by Dave Portnoy, Ryan Whitney and Big Cat, the breakout stars (Chaz!), the random viral moments (Fasoli!), and, finally, one of the most heartbreaking endings you’ll ever see (RIP Beef).
What a product. Forget the finale being the best YouTube golf episode ever, I’d argue it has to be one of the best episodes in the history of reality TV. Anyway, congrats to the winners, including Barstool’s Francis Ellis, who did a lot more than just ride Brad Dalke’s coattails and was kind enough to join us on this week’s episode of The Loop podcast to discuss it all.
Advertisement
Please have a listen—even better if you multi-task and listen while you read The Grind. You can do it! I believe in you!
WE’RE SELLING
The Scottie-Rory POY debate: First off, congrats to Rory McIlroy on claiming another milestone by wrapping up an amazing seventh Race To Dubai title to pass Seve Ballesteros and put him one behind Colin Montgomerie. It’s been an incredible, historic season for Rory, who won the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam in addition to winning the Players, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Irish Open on top of helping Europe win the Ryder Cup.
2246947433
Luke Walker
However, he is still NOT the Player of the Year. Sorry, Rory, but that honor still goes to Scottie Scheffler, who won two majors, leads in the most important advanced metrics and went 8-4-1 against McIlroy in the 13 tournaments where they both played. Plus, Scheffler even won when they played in Sunday singles (after having a rare off week) at the Ryder Cup. I know everyone wants to make this a debate because we love debates, but Scottie Scheffler is the POY and that’s it.
/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2021/251118-grind-thatsit.png
That’s how my golf buddies and I emphasize arguments on our text chain. And you’ll be stunned to learn that I actually like those bars.
Advertisement
Slopegate: Speaking of debates, this one actually rages on: Did Good Good’s Malosi “Mo” Togisala have the slope function turned on during the final match of the Internet Invitational? And, perhaps worst, did he try to cover it up and lie? I’ll let the video speak for itself:
First of all, it was amazing that they have cart cams and that the participants were able to take a look at that during the match. It was also amazing that this came moments after another rules controversy involving Paige Spiranac improving Mo’s lie in the fescue on the ninth hole.
Spicy stuff. And, again, there was $1 MILLION on the line! What drama! What an event!
Playing out of divots: In particular, this divot that Ryan Palmer had to hit dig out of at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. After finding the fairway!
Advertisement
What an injustice. That thing was buried deeper than Malosi’s ball on No. 9!
ON TAP
The PGA Tour fall season (officially) concludes at the RSM Classic, AKA that one I went to a few years ago and ate a lot of BBQ and drank a lot of sweet tea. And the LPGA has its season finale as well at the CME Group Tour Championship, AKA that one where they hand out wads of cash to the winner. There’s a lot on the line at both events, but especially the RSM where many are fighting to keep their tour cards.
Random tournament fact: Tyler Duncan won the RSM Classic the year I went and his Purdue teammate Adam Schenk was there to congratulate him. Six years later, their roles were reversed in Bermuda:
2247016359
Mike Mulholland
Advertisement
Aww. That’s what friends are for!
RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK
—Rory McIlroy will win PGA Tour Player of the Year: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds
—Rory McIlroy will win the Golf Writers Association of America POY: 10-to-1 odds
—Golfers everywhere will be more careful using rangefinders: LOCK
PHOTO(S) OF THE WEEK
Great to see Tiger Woods (And Elin Nordegren!) out there following Charlie at his high school state championship:
Charlie has to be the coolest kid in school. By far.
VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Poor Frankie. Why the heck didn’t he putt that? Especially given the situation and his ugly history with chipping. Blading one into the water there has to be one of the worst pressure shots in golf history. Not that I could have even pulled the club back with that much money on the line. But man, that’s going to sting for a long time.
Advertisement
VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (PGA TOUR DIVISION)
And, yet, somehow, the winning score was still 12 under in these conditions. These guys are (so freaking) good.
VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (INTERVIEW DIVISION)
We loved hearing that Eddie Pepperell came up clutch to re-earn his DP World Tour card—and loved hearing his words after even more:
What a lad.
THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS
For a second consecutive year, Caitlin Clark had her pro-am at the Annika televised on Golf Channel:
Talk about star power.
THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION
Whoops!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I would never say I questioned how much he wanted. But, like, he’s always been so nice….so nice! Then I’m like ‘is he too nice?’ Because you need to have that little bit of edge, p–ck in you, whatever you want to call it. I know I have it and I feel like that’s what you need to win. . . . I think it is harder for Tommy to feel that than others because of how nice and empathetic he is. But I feel like he has developed that little bit of edge this year.” —Rory McIlroy on why Tommy Fleetwood has made a leap this year. Golf Digest might have to do a 10 ways to be a bigger p–ck instruction piece with Rory.
Advertisement
THIS AND THAT
Congrats to Charlie Woods on helping his high school team win another state championship and finishing T-4 individually in the tournament. The young man has had quite a year. . . . Henrik Stenson is returning to the DP World Tour after being relegated from LIV Golf. The middle-aged man has had quite a few years. . . . And, finally, congrats to Golf Digest’s Will Irwin on making his first hole-in-one. Unfortunately, Will was playing solo, but, fortunately, he happened to be filming this perfect 4-iron (!) from 189:
Congrats, Will. Both on the ace, and for being good enough to still have a 4-iron in your bag.
RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER
Should I try one-armed putting?
Should I try cross-handed chipping?
When is the next Internet Invitational?
