Now that we’ve had some time to sit back and digest the results of this year’s U.S. Open, we have to ask the question: should the USGA return to Erin Hills to host its national championship? I have my answer – and for a different perspective I recruited my friend and teammate Jack Musgrave to share his thoughts.

The U.S. Open is currently suffering an identity crisis. Rather than reclaim its place as the greatest test in golf, the U.S. Open at Erin Hills this year produced record low field scores because of a comparatively mild course layout that did not punish poor shots – a hallmark of the U.S. Open. Extremely wide fairways, accessible pin placements, and mostly wide-open green complexes with shaved collection areas allowed players to save par after bad shots at alarmingly high rates. During the broadcast, Fox commentators (who still talk too much – looking at you Shane O’Donoghue) did discuss an important point on Thursday and Friday – the idea that players were navigating Erin Hills largely without fear. Players attacked the course all week because they knew saving par would be much easier than in previous years.

Erin Hills #2, surrounded by manicured fairway and a single bunker. Even I could get up and down here. (David Cannon/Getty)

The point of America’s national championship should be to truly identify the most complete player within a given week. It is a tournament which in the past has rewarded only the truly great performances with low scores. Players who consistently avoided mistakes and capitalized on scoring opportunities have thrived. Tiger in 2000 and Rory in 2011 come to mind as players who put together near perfect weeks resulting in record-breaking tournaments.

Now, it is important to understand that there is no problem with a very low 

 score. Brooks Koepka played phenomenally and is a very deserving champion. He was among the leaders in fairways hit (T4), greens hit (1), and birdies (T2). The issue lies with so many players reaching deep red numbers. When Tiger and Rory won they were the only players at double digit under par numbers. This year, 7 players finished at least -10. They each would have won every single U.S. Open in history outside of 2000 and 2011 with those scores.

Tiger Woods’ winning score in 2000 is now the third-lowest in U.S. Open history (

Furthermore, the cut line was +1 at Erin Hills, tying the 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah as the lowest cut line number in history. The same score after 4 rounds would have won or gotten into a playoff at Winged Foot in 2006, Oakmont in 2007, Olympic in 2012, and Merion in 2013. When low numbers pervade golf tournaments, it means that the course is setup in such a way that it does not punish mistakes as severely as it could, or as in the case of a U.S. Open, should.

That said, focusing too much on numbers is a mistake – it is the course layout at Erin Hills (which produced such low numbers) that does not keep with what a traditional US Open should entail. Many golf analysts have rejoiced in Erin Hill’s decided lack of high rough near the fairways or punishing green complexes, seeing it as a step in the correct direction for the USGA in presenting a more fair championship. I see it as them abandoning the U.S. Open’s role as golf’s toughest test.

There is a reason the Open Championship is not held at great venues like Swinley Forest, Gleneagles, or Sunningdale – they are not links-style courses and the Open Championship is the world’s greatest links golf tournament. The U.S. Open is the most difficult golf tournament in the world to win. It should be held at a venue which can provide such a test. Erin Hills is a beautiful course and suitable for an exciting golf tournament, just not the U.S. Open. Bring on Shinnecock Hills and a return to golfing blood, sweat and tears.

Shinnecock Hills, well-known as one of the hardest courses in the hemisphere, will host the U.S. Open in 2018 (

I enjoyed watching the U.S. Open, and I enjoyed experiencing Erin Hills for the first time. My biggest criticism of the course was that people wouldn’t stop talking about their criticisms of the course. And yet, here I am giving my criticism of the course.

I would be in favor of the USGA choosing to return to Erin Hills in the future. The venue provided a Sunday leaderboard that featured all kinds of different playing styles, and this was definitely the best aspect of the course. As the fried egg noted in some of their tournament coverage, Erin Hills is “the rare fair fight” that allows this kind of diversity of playing styles. Shouldn’t that be how golf is played? Isn’t the whole point that you can gain strokes on the field in the strong areas of your game?

I think people can become so focused on making the U.S. Open hard that they forget how to do it fairly. Take, for example, the traditional U.S. Open practice of having thick rough around the green. Erin Hills (like Chambers Bay) did away with that, instead opting for closely-mown slopes that could funnel golf balls as far as 50 yards away, but usually still in the short grass. What does that do? It means that people with a great short game scoring ability can take advantage of their skills when missing the green. If I miss the green at Oakmont, and it rolls into 5-inch rough, it doesn’t matter how good my short game is – I’m probably not going to get it up and down. Thick rough like that places an undisputed premium on ball striking. Erin Hills shows that you can have a steep penalty for missing the green but still reward a good short game.

Brian Harman gives short hitters like me some hope that short game can still win championships. (Golfweek)

The other common criticism of the course was that the fairways are simply too wide. This is a point that I have more sympathy for, because it pretty much took a complete mishit for someone to miss the fairway. And then, sometimes, players would miss the fairway by so much that they would end up in the grass trampled down by spectators and have a great lie! Very bizarre.

I understand that with wide fairways, angles into the green become very important (for more on this, see the fried egg’s article 

). However, I think this argument only extends so far. When you hit it as far as Koepka, you have such a short club in your hand that the angle into the green isn’t all that important.

I would suggest that the USGA pinches in the landing area as it gets farther from the tee box – so that the farther you hit it, the narrower the fairway should be. That way, bombers can take a riskier play by hitting driver, or they can lay back, which would re-emphasize having the proper angle into the flagstick. The longer guys don’t lose their advantage, but they have to really 

I think with this small change, the USGA would be in good shape to host another open here. Erin Hills has some great things going for it: the course was so pure, the state of Wisconsin was extremely welcoming, and it produced a really exciting tournament. I would be willing to sacrifice a little of the “US Open carnage” for the kind of leaderboard we saw last Sunday.

Opinion: Should the USGA return to Erin Hills?

A guide to all the players you should watch in the unlikely event they appear on TV.

Nothing says major championship like a lot of amateurs, Europeans, and mid-level Web.com tour players all somehow managing to front-, back-, and side-door their ways into the tournament. At the U.S. Open, 156 players in the field means 156 great storylines, many of which we’ll never see again. Unfortunately, golf coverage can be a little narrow-minded when it comes to major championship weeks, and many of these stories pass by unexplored.

Jordan Spieth’s 2-year major drought (eye roll)

A thorough history of the Erin Hills landscape, and the fescue

This article takes a quick look at three players’ unique stories that have caught my eye this week.

There’s nothing like qualifying for the first ever U.S. Open held in your home state, and that’s exactly what someone other than Steve Stricker did.

Niebrugge’s tough path to the PGA Tour has not inhibited his #TourSauce abilities

Jordan Niebrugge spent most of his childhood in Wisconsin and will hit the opening tee shot of the tournament at 6:45am on Thursday morning. As Tim Collamore wrote in his great U.S. Open preview, Jordan is patiently working his way through the ranks of the Mackenzie Tour (PGA Tour Canada), with a smattering of PGA Tour and Web.com events thrown in. He played the Walker Cup twice as a part of a remarkable amateur career, which included him recording the lowest total score by an amateur in Open Championship history. That piece of information could make a great trivia question — if you can remember how to pronounce Jordan’s brutishly-Midwestern last name. Good luck.

This week, he’ll play his first U.S. Open and fourth major championship (one Masters, two Opens). There’s a lot to like about this guy, and I’m cautious when it comes to making predictions, but I’ll say it wouldn’t surprise me to see him play well. Being from Wisconsin, he has played Erin Hills 10-15 times (in his own estimation), saying that most of those were in competitive settings. Undoubtedly, that makes him one of the most experienced players on this golf course.

In other news, he possesses copious amounts of wind-ignorant pop off the tee. Dial up 56 of these, please:

…



6-under thru eight holes, then this laser drive at the first. 

I’d be lying if I told you that his ball flight is ideal for courses like Erin Hills. It’s ideal for any course, ever. Hoping to see a strong showing from Jordan this week.

Up next, one of the best storylines of the week is Bryson DeChambeau’s incredible…hahaha I hope you didn’t believe that for a second.

For a spot-on description of Alex Noren, visit his website, 

. On it, you will find a singular page that reads “New website coming soon.”

That says it all. Noren has blindsided everyone—even his own website designer—with his meteoric rise in the OWGR. He is taking the whole Kuchar-backdoor-top-10 move and applying it to not just one tournament, but the whole ranking system. It’s a kind of subtle savagery unseen since the days of “World No. 1” Luke Donald. Seriously, the only thing more impressive than Noren’s recent performance is the lack of attention it’s received. He plays on the European Tour, I get it, but this dude is for real. He has won five (FIVE!) European Tour events since last July. How has Noren been able to fly so completely under the radar? I don’t know, but it won’t stay that way for long.

For those who don’t know much about Noren, he is 34 and a graduate of Oklahoma State. The general vibe around him is that he has gotten in the way of his own potential throughout his career — former Oklahoma St. head coach Mike Holder said as much in a recent interview with Tim Rosaforte. In 2014, Noren developed tendinitis in both wrists from the sheer quantity of balls he hit on the range. He was sidelined for most of that season, but maybe that was the wake-up call he needed?

In my opinion, he seems to be radiating shades of Dufner, who fought for years to get his Tour card and then exploded onto the scene with a run in 2012-2013 that culminated in a decisive PGA Championship win. I’m not 

 implying that Noren has an excellent chance to win a big one. Personally, I’d love to see him play full-time on the PGA Tour, so I have more highlight reels like this (maybe he’ll bring the commentator with him):

 at Wentworth by two shots with an incredible eagle on the 72nd hole! ?? (Video: 

In his last two U.S. Open appearances, he has missed the cut twice. Know what that means? Nothing. He’ll play well.

Sergio Garcia isn’t the only one with a chance to keep his major streak alive this weekend. Stewart Hagestad, 26-year-old amateur and former college player at Southern Cal, will compete for his second straight low amateur award at a major. Then, if he qualifies for the Open Championship in July, he could go for the trifecta of “Low-Am” at all three majors that have amateurs in the field. Call it a stretch, but I really think it’s possible.

As a self-proclaimed lifelong amateur who plans to return to business school in the fall, Stewart is a kind of layman’s hero, representing the glimmer of hope that someone who works a day job can hold his own against the pros. To be fair, he has taken a lot of time off to prepare for the Masters and now the U.S. Open, but it’s still impressive. Stewart gives a mid-major college golfer like myself some encouragement that maybe my game won’t slowly wither into disrepair after my NCAA career has ended. A man can hope.

On the other hand, Hagestad has enough money lying around so that he doesn’t have to work his day job and can still pay for his memberships at several clubs (one of which he played in the sectional qualifier). We probably aren’t as similar as I’d like to think.

Long and lanky, Stewart could be confused with Big Randy. Until he swings the club.

Something I didn’t know is that Hagestad was actually not exempt for this tournament as the 2016 Mid-Am champ. That means he stood toe-to-toe with some really, really good players last Monday in order to qualify. Add that to the list of his recent accomplishments. You hear this about a lot of players, but Stewart really seems to embrace the big stage. Maybe it’s because he knows he has to sit in class next fall.

Unquestionably, I’ll be pulling hard for him out there. On a side note, Tron and I are planning a more in-depth look at Stewart, so stay tuned for that one.

Enjoy the tournament. If you see these players on TV, watch them. And if you haven’t already, be sure to check out Tim Collamore’s full 

U.S. Open: Three stories to (probably not) watch

The US Open may not be my favorite major – that distinction belongs to the annual sensory delight delivered by the greenest place on earth AKA Augusta National – but it may be the best major. Much is made of the US Open being the greatest test in golf, provided that god doesn’t decide to stir up conditions resembling “The Perfect Storm” during the OG major on the other side of the pond. The difficulty of the tournament is both a blessing and a curse. While it’s fun to see the best players in the world tested to their limits, it’s also exhausting. As tough as it is for the players on the course, it may be that much tougher to witness them grinding so hard for four straight days. By Sunday afternoon, I feel like Michael Jordan at the end of the infamous flu game – depleted and hooked up to an IV bag of fluids. I don’t want to call myself a hero, but I’d like to see Thor crush 4 bags of Doritos in 4 days while riding on the emotional roller coaster known as the US Open.

That being said, on the spectrum of tournament setup ranging from the Bob Hope* birdie-fest to US Open carnage, I lean slightly towards the side of carnage. I like to see a course play tough but fair. I like to see good shots rewarded with looks at birdie and bad shots penalized with bogeys. I like to see players forced to think their way around the course. I don’t mind a little bit of gimmickry, (see, the greens at Chambers Bay back) because it’s interesting to see how the pros react to a deviation from the immaculate setups they usually face. It’s kind of fun to see who will adapt to atypical conditions and who will become petulant and throw professional tennis player level temper tantrums. To that end, I don’t really care about where the tournament is played, although I do appreciate a course that is both viscerally pleasing and an excellent test of golf. I know nothing at all about Erin Hills – until 2 weeks ago, I thought Erin Hills was the sideline reporter for the Orlando Magic. The most annoying part about the course choice and the setup as it pertains to the US Open is that both have a tendency to become a prominent part of the narrative during the tournament. There is truly nothing worse than when the course becomes the narrative, particularly in the Hot-Take Era.

(*NOTE: I have no idea who the current sponsor is of the Palm Springs tournament and I will call it the Bob Hope forever. I refuse to keep up with the rotating cast of corporate shills out of defiance over the number of hours I’ve had to witness some CEO regurgitate platitudes to a smiling Jim Nantz as golf action passes by, forever to remain unwatched.)

One of the other fantastic characteristics of the US Open is its propensity to elevate journeymen, amateurs, and has-beens into the fold. Whether it’s Andrew Landry, Beau Hossler, Michael Campbell, Erik Compton, or Lucas Glover (definitely unfair to include him with this company), there has been no shortage of fun underdog stories over the past dozen years. Some would actually cite this fact as a demerit against the US Open, arguing that a leaderboard light on big names makes the tournament less compelling. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I tend to think it is a bad take.

One of the reasons why golf is so compelling is because it is an individual sport, and a torturous one at that. Every golfer has battle scars. In recent years, I have discovered the joy in learning each golfer’s individual story in depth. No one gets to this level in golf without some blood, sweat and tears. As fascinating as it is to learn the backstories of the prodigious talents on tour like Mickelson, Rahm, and McIlroy,it’s also really interesting to learn about the guys who truly toiled before reaching the promised land.

Maybe some of why I’m drawn to the underdogs is due in part to my wiring. I have seen Rudy and Cool Runnings more times than Phil has seen the lobby of the sports book at Caesar’s. Nevertheless, my golf fandom became infinitely more fun when I started paying more attention to the Web Tour, the mini tours, college golf, and the perennial qualifiers. Familiarizing yourself with the fringe guys and qualifiers before the tournament starts will prime you to root for them and monitor their progress. After all, one of the beautiful parts about this game is that it is truly a meritocracy. Every stroke is earned and there is no debate about which player is the best in any particular week. The picture is clear. No tournament is more emblematic of the game of golf than the US Open given the arduous qualifying process that each player had to go through to get here. This tournament is purer than the waters of Lake Minnetonka, which I’m told by reliable sources is quite pure.

Now that I’ve gotten that off of my chest, I wanted to dive into some of the US Open pairings that caught my eye. I don’t know who is responsible for creating these pairings and what methodology is utilized, but they definitely do a good job of stirring it up.

Jordan Niebrugge, Talor Gooch, Kevin Dougherty – “The 2013-2014 Oklahoma St Cowboys”

In addition to having great names – “Gooch” and “Niebrugge” sound like euphemisms for naughty body parts – all 3 off these guys were part of the stacked 2014 Oklahoma State golf team that earned a runner up finish in the NCAA Championships, and all three are currently trying to battle their way onto the PGA Tour. Gooch is currently on the Web.com Tour and is a couple decent finishes away from earning a call-up to the big boy leagues next year. Niebrugge and Dougherty are both on the PGA Tour Canada circuit hoping to make their way up to the Web.Com tour. Niebrugge may be a familiar name to some. He finished T6 at The Open in 2015 as an amateur, which is the highest finish ever by an amateur in The Open, and also had a storied college career.

All three of these guys are a walking illustration of the incredible challenge that top college golfers face in trying to make it on the professional golf circuit. In no other professional sport is it such a struggle for top college talent to make it to the big leagues. While top rookies in baseball may be stuck in the minors for a few years and top rookies in the NBA may rot on the bench or spend some time in the D-League for a couple of seasons, they are at least earning guaranteed money. Top college golfers are forced to start from the bottom, facing an arduous series of qualifying processes and a hectic travel schedule with virtually nothing guaranteed outside of some sponsorship cash or staked entry fees, which dries up quickly without performance. Any of these guys would be a fun guy to root for, and I am betting that at least one of them will make the cut.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Thomas Pieters, Brooks Koepka – “The Bull Market”

If I had to go long in buying the stock of three guys from the field, these would be three solid choices. RCB is quietly becoming a force and despite a shaky stretch this past spring, is one of the most consistent players in the world. He’s also coming into the US Open hot on the heels of putting on the blue suede shoes last week in Memphis. While Koepka hasn’t made it to the winner’s circle this year, he’s been solid and has made 8 cuts in a row with 4 top 11 finishes in that stretch. Pieters is sort of the European version of Koepka, although he may actually have more potential. I’ve been burned by falling too hard for promising young Euros in the recent past (*cough* Matteo Manassero and Thorbjorn Olesen *cough*) but historical returns are not an indicator of future performance, so I’m all in on Pieters.

Henrik Stenson, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel – “Adele”

I’ve named this group “Adele” in part because it is a group of international sensations, and also because the only thing purer than Adele’s voice might be these three golf swings. This group will be a ball-striking symphony. At the same time, it would be fair to categorize 2/3 of the group as divas given their affinity for demonstrative antics. Stenson is not shy when it comes to showing his displeasure. Recent evidence supports the notion that Schwartzel is one of the more underrated head-cases on tour, between the divot middle finger incident this past week and Tron’s recent reporting of his post-round driving range self-flagellation sesh. Other groups have more brand name recognition, but for my money this might be the most entertaining group in the field.

Jimmy Walker, Justin Thomas, Paul Casey – “T Swift”

This group is basically the American version of the “Adele” group, hence the “T Swift” label (yes, I know Paul Casey isn’t American, but he’s been a full-timer on the Tour for awhile and it makes my moniker work, so just roll with it). Scholars maintain that the Iron Age officially ended around 350 AD, but this group provides ample evidence to support that we are still squarely in the midst of it. I’m going to make a bold claim and say the one of these guys is going to win this week. Mark it down.

Gary Woodland, JB Holmes, Jason Kokrak – “The Manhattan Project”

If you threw in that parkour specialist that James Bond kills in the opening chase scene of “Casino Royale” (niche joke), we would get the 4 foremost bomb makers in the world assembled in one group. I’m unfairly categorizing all of these guys as one-trick ponies, with that one-trick being some serious driver traj – this group will thrive under Fox’s generous usage of the pro-tracer this week. It’s an unfair narrative I’m crafting because all three have solid all-around games and have been successful on tour, but none has come through in a meaningful way in the majors. If anyone is to emerge into contention from this group, I like JB.

Russell Henley, Scottie Scheffler, Harris English – “Sherman’s March to the Sea”

Whether anyone in this group will make the cut is basically a 50-50 bet, although English as a first language had a nice finish this past week in Memphis, Henley is as good as anyone in the game when he’s in a groove, and Scheffler has intriguing potential. Regardless, these southern gentlemen might have the best odds of partaking in post-round Mint Juleps of any group out there. Rumor has it that Lefty was even thinking about throwing down some action at 3:1 odds (I made this up).

Danny Willett, Angel Cabrera, Zach Johnson – “The Undesireables”

It’s as if the USGA’s methodology was to take the least sexy major winners from the last eight years and banish them to one group. Shout out to El Pato, though, because he doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment.

Brandt Snedeker, Tyrell Hatton, Alex Noren – “Adult Top 40 Contemporary”

This is a greatest hits collection of the least heralded guys currently ranked in the top 40 of the OWGR. I like the sneaky potential of these guys generating some buzz.

Enjoy the US Open, everyone. Make sure to stay hydrated, have plenty of snacks, and carve out a comfortable spot on the couch – it gets pretty brutal out there.

2017 US Open Preview

A quick trip, but an amazing one nonetheless. I met up with Jamie Kennedy of the European Tour, along with his buddy Keith Paterson as we met up in Belfast for a bit more than 48 hours of world class golf in Northern Ireland. First up was Royal County Down, followed by Royal Portrush, and capped off with Portstewart.

In addition to these summary posts, please check out 

 after the trip talking about the experience.

The hype train for this gem on the North Atlantic Ocean has been steaming along well before the R&A announced that The Open Championship would be returning to the Dunlace Links at Royal Portrush in 2019 for the first time since 1951. A lot has changed in tournament golf since Portrush last hosted a major championship event, and significant changes were required to both the golf course, and the layout in general to be able to accommodate thousands of golf fans, players, grandstands, and all of the other logistics that go into a golf tournament. The changes are numerous, and according to some locals, the property has spent more time in recent years resembling a building site rather than a golf course. We were lucky enough to see it in late April as spring was blooming on the northern coast of this small country, and saw a golf course ready to emerge from a construction cocoon into a a big boy championship golf course.

We were afforded the luxury of time that we were not blessed with the day before at Royal County Down, and we made sure to make the most of it. The two hour drive from Newcastle that morning was a disaster for my hangover, but as we pulled onto the property, it magically lifted. We hit some balls on the range, scraped some putts around the putting green, and even hit some chips at the wonderful practice facility.

Our host for the day was David Mulholland, a member at the club, and as we would soon find out, quite the stick. He hadn’t played 18 holes since July of 2016, but the Northern Irish Jeff Knox showed no signs of rust on this day. We joined him and his son for lunch in the Skerries Room, then set out for one of the more enjoyable rounds of golf I can ever remember.

I didn’t want to start out immediately discussing the changes being made to Royal Portrush, and for a couple of reasons. One, I had never seen the course before the changes that have been made and the ones that continue to be made, thus I have nothing to compare it to. Two, the course that we played on this day was so great that I don’t want it to seem like the developments surrounding the course supersede the experience of actually playing it.

The first hole is a bit nondescript. A straightaway par-4 with an uphill approach to the green (shoutout to Keith for stuffing one to a foot for a tap-in birdie on this Saturday). The second is a strong dogleg left par-5 where you begin your views of the sea in the distance. The third is a cute par-3 with generous banks flanking the green that will help bound the ball towards the center, or punish you if you miss. This is where I captured the first footage of the sweet swing of David:


Effortless and repeatable. I’ve never seen someone make golf look so easy. Jamie was David’s only challenger on the day, but more on that a bit later.

The 4th is a strong two shotter, with a tee shot that aims you at the out of bounds down the right, and an approach that heads back out towards the sea. I busted on a drive and still needed a 5-iron to reach a green guarded by dunes. Such a strong par-4.

Your sense of anticipation begins to rise as you climb the tee box to the world famous par-4 5th. Everybody’s cameras came out for this signature hole on a course chalked full of them. There’s a reason I’ve got four pictures of this hole alone in the space below. It’s one of the most scenic holes of golf I’ve played, and somehow manages to look sexier from every different angle you look at it.

It’s a shorter hole, and strongly encourages you to swing away at a driver. Jamie and I were able to get it down within about 50 yards of the green, toss some wedges in, and walk off with some rather memorable 3’s.

This scene was so great that we went back out after the round with the drone to attempt to fully capture it. Just off the property to the right, there was a wedding on the beach. Families were down in the sand with their dogs and their kids soaking up the April sunshine. Waves crashed on the shore and on the cliffs in the distance. Not a lot of words were shared among our group when we reached this point, as we did our best to just take in the sights, smells, and sounds.

The 6th is a strong par-3, pictured on the right below, requiring a mid-iron that must be kept left of the large mound protecting the right side of the green.

Looking back down the 5th fairway, with the par-3 6th to the right

From what I gathered from David, with the agreement to bring the Open Championship back to Portrush, there were a series of changes required by the R&A to be made to the golf course. The most significant change is the removal of the 17th and 18th holes in their entirety, and the addition of two phenomenal looking new holes near the sea. The new holes will be the 7th and 8th holes, and the original 7-16 will be pushed back two holes, with the old 7th hole being the 9th, and the old 16th now being the finale.

Here’s a brief flyover of the magnificent par-5 7th. (The wind was crazy, and the drone was not performing well, so I wasn’t able to take it further down).


It may help that the turf on these holes had been virtually untouched by play to this point, but the holes look 

. Two holes from the Royal Portrush Valley course were absorbed by the Dunlace Links, and I’m going to assume that the changes will be met with 100% approval. The original 17th and 18th holes were rather non-descript, and deemed to be not worthy of a closing finish of an Open Championship. While the views of the sea will be limited due to the size of the dunes framing the right side of the new 7th, the upgrade is significant, and I can’t wait to see them in play.

The 7th as shot above is a long par-5, and the new 8th is a dogleg left par-4 that heads back in the opposite direction. The second shot will be played back towards the Giant’s Causeway and the cliffs you see in the distance. The pictures probably don’t quite do justice to how appealing these holes are to look at in person.

The new holes are far from the only changes being put in play. Several greens have been redone, a tunnel has been installed to be used by players to improve the flow of traffic, and many other logistically minded adjustments are apparent across the property. Despite all of the work being done, on this day in late April, the course appeared to have taken great shape according to everyone in our foursome.

I’m not gonna do a hole by hole for all of these, but will point out some of what I found to be the best and most significant holes. The routing was slightly altered for us, as we essentially swapped the order of the 7th and 9th holes, swung through the exceptionally quaint halfway house, and made our way to the back nine. Remember that in the future, all of these hole numbers are going to be bumped up by two.

The 13th is a great par-4 back out towards the water called “Skerries”, for the view of the Skerries Islands in the distance.

Then you come back with a beast of a par-3 called Calamity. At over 200 yards and huge forced carry, this is one of the most intimidating shots on the course for an amateur, and will play as a great test down the final stretch as the 16th hole at the 2019 Open Championship. The picture below doesn’t do justice for how appealing yet challenging this hole looks like from the tee.

The 15th is a fun par-4, and very driveable at 360 yards due to the severe downslope leading down to the green. Myself and Keith were able to pipe a few drives down the hill and onto the putting surface for some easy 3’s. The 16th, which will of course be the finale in 2019, is a great dogleg right par-4 that will be a stern test as a finishing hole.

We traversed on to the finishing two holes, a long par-5 and a medium length par-4 as Jamie and David continued their Duel in the Sun. As Jamie stood over an 8 foot par putt on 18, we both knew what it was for without having to even mention it aloud. I let out an audible “YES!” as it lipped in for an incredibly impressive one-under par 71, edging Ulster Jeff Knox by a single stroke (by my count). Playing off the same handicap, he blew the doors off me by a clean 13 shots in one of the more impressive rounds of golf I’ve seen. We played it at about 6,700 yards, with a strong wind, on a course he had never seen before, and he shot 71? Unreal. Tremendous amount of pop.

Aided by nearly perfect sunshine, the luxury of time, and the guidance of a distinguished member of the club, Royal Portrush was a transformative experience. Members are typically not permitted to take more than one guest out on a Saturday, and David specially arranged with the club to have us out. As was typical in almost all experiences I’ve had in the UK, the club did not have an aura of stuffiness in the least, and the experience was was much richer for it.

At the recommendation of nearly everyone that had ever been to Portrush, we hit up Harbour Bar for dinner. Nearly the entire town was there apparently on the same recommendation, as the wait for dinner was a solid 1:45. Not to worry. We put our names in, headed upstairs to (an also very crowded) bar, ordered a few pints of the black and some appetizers, found a booth, and cheers’d to another epic day. The time flew by, our table was ready, we went to town on some delicious food, and tried to keep our eyes open.

After dining, we went over to the smaller downstairs bar for a nightcap, and Jamie immediately earned the respect of the famed bartender Willie by ordering a Bushmill’s 12 year. We took up residence at Darren Clarke’s normal booth, and were even bought a round of drinks by Willie himself.

It was very busy, and we enjoyed lively conversation with those seated near us (they thought I was Canadian?). The atmosphere was jolly, and we could not have had a better first 36 hours in the country.

If you can’t tell with the 2,000 words, and the plethora of photos within this post, this was a really special day. I’m thoroughly excited to revisit the area for the Irish Open this year, and hopefully get back out to take another crack at Royal Portrush. This is a really special place, and it’s going to be awesome watching the pros take it on in 2019.

Royal Portrush

A quick trip, but an amazing one nonetheless. I met up with Jamie Kennedy of the European Tour, along with his buddy Keith Paterson in Belfast for a bit more than 48 hours of world class golf in Northern Ireland. First up was Royal County Down, followed by Royal Portrush, and capped off with Portstewart.

I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time in my life lusting over top 100 course lists, pictures of those courses, and dreaming of setting foot on them one day. As a kid, I browsed Links magazine and couldn’t even picture a world where I would get to walk the fairways of some of these places. I moved abroad in October of 2014 to travel around Europe for a scheduled 18 month period, and the plan was to actually get away from golf for awhile and start experiencing another continent with more of a cultural experience focus rather than a golf one. I ended up almost spending double the amount of time here than I planned, and because my travels were so heavily focused on other things, it took awhile for me to realize how much incredible golf I’ve been missing out on.

Royal County Down has always been near the very top of my list, as it would be with any self respecting player of any kind. I’ve never seen a top ten list without RCD on it, and I’ve even seen it ranked as the #1 course in the world (Golf Digest, 2016). Any course with this much of a pedigree is going to carry some rather large expectations with it, and unsurprisingly, Royal County Down lived up to the hype.

One of the many incredible benefits of living in Europe is the close proximity of so many other countries. Never in my life did I imagine that I could work a half day from home, hop a flight, and catch an afternoon tee time in another country, and 

 get 18 holes in. This meant rockin’ the white pants straight onto the EasyJet flight, and throwing the clubs into a moving rental car as we frantically tried to make our 3:06 tee time. As the drive was a bit over an hour from Belfast International Airport, and it was already after 2:00, we knew we weren’t going to make it.

We rolled up into the parking lot and were immediately greeted with smiles and warm welcomes. We had called ahead that we were running late, and we were assured it was no issue. Shoes changed quickly, and we were on the tee trying to frantically stretch out in just a few minutes.

The first thing that catches your eye is the orgasmic shadow cut down the center of the fairway. The turf was pristine, and the despite the overcast skies, the colors of the layout most certainly did not lack pop. Are we really here?

Looking back at the first from the second tee

Despite the fact that you can play here 12 months a year, we were here a bit before the peak season really begins. After one hole, we were in absolute awe of how smooth the putting surfaces were, only to be informed by our caddie Stephen that they “hadn’t quite taken shape yet.” What!? One of the major drawbacks of links golf for me is that usually the sand based green surfaces roll rather impure. I don’t have the type of putting stroke that can survive choppy greens, and I end up missing every 8 footer I look at.

Looking back at the second tee with the water, mountain, and clubhouse views

I did not have the luxury of this excuse on this day. Royal County Down has, without any shred of doubt, the best putting surfaces of any links course I’ve ever set foot on. They were fast, but inherently fair. They rolled true, and with enough slope to challenge you, but not to make a mockery of you. This didn’t stop me from efforting somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 putts throughout the day (counting all the ones from off the green), but the fault lied entirely on the man yielding the blade.

The main drawback of playing this early in the year was that the tee boxes were moved up pretty significantly. This took decision making (and driver) out of our hands on a lot of holes. My game is nowhere close enough to demand to play from the tips, and the course provided plenty of other challenges that tripped me up, but I do feel like we missed out a bit on a key element of decision making on a really special course. While I really enjoy taking irons off the tee when fairways are running out, it’s less intriguing when you’re inherently forced to not take driver.

The 4th is one of the signature holes, as from the back tee you get the best view of the entire layout. The tee sits highly elevated, and you can see to the Irish Sea, the mountains, a church, and the clubhouse. From back there, it’s long (221 yards), but again we were moved up significantly, so we did not get the full experience.

The second par three on the front is the 7th, or as Stephen described it, “the shortest par four in the world…. 142 yards of hell.”

Challenge accepted! We stepped up, put three balls within 15 feet, and played it one under. Before we even made it to the 8th tee, Jamie busted out a flask of whiskey and we toasted to the darts we had just thrown, and playfully rubbed it in Stephen’s face that we had just dominated the 142 yards of hell.

We made our way to the world famous 9th hole, a long par four with a separated fairway and a blind landing area well below the teeing area. Seeing the ball against the Mourne Mountains in the background was thrilling, and we piped drives that made it into the second fairway, leaving short pitches into the green. The church steeple in the Newcastle skyline served as a backdrop for our approaches, and the front nine ended in style.

The 10th is a cool par three, and the 11th through 13th work their way away from the clubhouse with a pair of par fours, and a par five mixed in. All really good holes, but again, holes I would have likely appreciated much more playing from further back. At this point, I should also mention that I played from the middle of every fairway (with the exception of two holes) and still shot 83. Even with 9-irons and wedges into these greens, once you add in the unpredictable bounces and the blustering winds, there’s so much that goes into actually getting the ball in the hole.

The 15th is a really good hole, with a fairway that runs out around 300 yards from the back tees. I couldn’t stomach hitting another 3-iron, so I pulled out driver from the forward tees and ran through the fairway, and found the ball way above my feet about 150 yards out. With a helping wind, I opted for a 7-iron punch shot rather than launching a stock 9-iron, and hit my best shot of the day, curving the ball in from the right and stopping it about 8 feet from the hole. Don’t ask about the putt.

Then came the 16th, and perhaps the most exciting hole of the day. Playing just about 290 yards for us, it was a green light special. After making an illegal adjustment to my driver and swapping in a Sub Zero driver head with my lighter shaft, I found a little something with the driver, and sent a heat seeking missile just left of the green.

It took me three to get down from there. Not my day around the greens. This is part of the reason why I want another shot at RCD so badly, because I would likely play the course so differently than I did on this day. The turf around the greens was a bit too firm to get comfortable standing over a 60 degree wedge, and when pulling out putter from off the green, I could not match the speed of the fairway with the green speed. Even around the greens, the wind played games with the ball, and I don’t remember knocking a single lag putt dead. Not good.

The 17th has a tiny natural pond that sits directly in the middle of the fairway, again limiting your options from the forward tees. It was not my favorite hole, but the 18th is a strong finishing par five back towards the city and towards the clubhouse. And then that was it! I couldn’t believe how fast the round went, and that it was over after being in the country for less than six hours.

With our cell phones on silent and our hats removed, we ordered the obligatory pints of Guinness, and sat in the quiet clubhouse reflecting on the opportunity we were just granted. We scanned the pictures in the clubhouse of past events, signed the guestbook, and looked out on the course that I had seen so many pictures of in magazines as a kid. The trip was off to a phenomenal start, and would only get better.

Royal County Down

I had grand visions of generating a lot of content this past week at the Memorial Tournament, but just could not justify sitting inside the media center with the sun beaming down on Muirfield Village for (almost) seven straight days. Growing up in Dublin, Memorial week was always the biggest highlight of the year, and this tournament is responsible for turning me into the golf nut that I am today. I’ve been coming to this tournament for about 25 years now, and somehow I appreciate it more and more every year. For years, it served as a family reunion, as relatives would drive in from all over the south and the midwest to meet up and go watch some golf. In college, Big Randy and Tron would come through, stay at the house, play some golf, and we’d go out strollin’ the grounds with beers in tow and try to con our way into hospitality houses.

Muirfield Village is a very special place. As a kid growing up in the area, everyone knew it as the crown jewel of central Ohio. What I didn’t know was how well regarded this place was among the players, and listening to them talk about it now, I appreciate it even more. The conditioning is second to none, the holes are the proper mix of challenge and fun, and the vantage points are fantastic. The course was designed specifically for this tournament, and you can’t get a much better experience as a fan at a tournament than at Jack’s place.

The winner is inconsequential to the experience, and to be able to watch world class golf up close and personal practically on demand is a luxury that’s never lost on me. I can’t get enough of it. This is not going to be much of a recap of the actual tournament itself. You can get that in a lot of other places. I don’t get to go to a lot of tournaments in person, so I’d rather write about the in tournament experience than break the whole thing down shot by shot. A lot has happened over the past week. Some of it is shareable, and some of it isn’t, but here’s my recap.

I got the incredible opportunity to sit down with Jason Dufner for about 50 minutes at his hotel on Tuesday evening for my first ever in person podcast with a player. I hate doing interviews via Skype, and loved the chance to actually speak face-to-face with a major champion about anything and everything related to golf. If you haven’t gotten a chance to listen, I highly suggest you do. I can’t recall getting feedback this strong on a podcast, as I really do think people got to see a side of Duf that they didn’t know existed. It was great to see him ball out this week, and to throw that big fist pump when the putt dropped on the 72nd hole. It was pretty fascinating to hear him talk about how Muirfield as a bit big for him, and took away his accuracy advantage a bit.

A big shoutout to Duf and his team for taking the time to sit down, open up, and give people an insight into the real person. This is definitely something that he does not typically do, and I’m thrilled that he picked us to open up to. Any other players up for a pre-US Open podcast? Just throwing that out there. The bump is real.

Here is the link. Again, I strongly recommend this one.

As was well documented on Twitter and Instagram, I got the opportunity to tote the bag for Justin Thomas for the Pro-Am on Wednesday. Predictably, it was a blast and shoutout to JT for buying into the idea and embracing it. His regular caddie, Jimmy Johnson, walked with us and did all of the hard stuff. I just carried the bag, and honestly I’m not sure I could have handled much more than that. Jimmy stepped off the yardages, raked the bunkers (my biggest fear on the planet), charted the actual tournament pin positions, helped choose the clubs, identified the wind, and basically anything else that required any skill at all. I still managed to put the clubs in the wrong slots, feel uncomfortable no matter where I was standing, and fumbled to get the headcover off the putter in time for a smooth transition as he tapped down the divot following a smooth 8-iron onto the surface.

The atmosphere was extremely light hearted. JT was missing greens on purpose to get some practice with chipping. The main focus was around the greens, both chipping and putting from tough spots, while the ams cleaned up their double bogies. I noticed throughout the week with JT and with other pros how soft their hands were through impact on chips. It seemed like a minor swing thought, but I took it to the course on Saturday morning, missed 15 greens, and somehow managed to get it up and down 13 times. I completely transformed my chipping just watching these guys hit shots. (That ball striking though…. NOT good.)

Another big takeaway I had was how little JT and Jimmy seemed to care about the wind. He always wanted to know what direction it was going, but for guys at that level, the wind just doesn’t seem to have the same effect on the ball that it may have on one of your shots or one of mine. Figure out what it’s doing, make a decision, commit to it, and execute the shot. I’m not sure if there’s a lesson there considering we don’t hit it nearly like they do, but it’s something I’ll think about next time I start thinking too hard about the wind.

He abused me every opportunity he got, and finally called me in to read a 15 foot birdie putt on 13. I called it a cup and a half outside right. He said it’s a cup. He went with his line, made it, turned to me, and told me to just let him do his job, and to go pick up the bag.

That's was a lot of fun, thanks for the walk today 

I had a blast chatting with Jimmy, a guy who has been in professional golf for 40 years (including 17 years playing the Sunshine Tour in South Africa). That guy has seen a lot of things over the years on the bag with Nick Price, Steve Stricker, and others, and I did all I could to get the stories out over those 4.5 hours. Justin’s dad is his is swing coach, and he also walked all 18 holes with us, and also had a lot of fun roasting me every chance he got. At one point, he hid Justin’s putter from me, and asked if I left it on the previous green. I’m the most gullible person on the planet, but somehow managed not to fall for it.

I planned to play some golf on Wednesday evening, but when that fell through, I went out for a few holes with ZB as the sunset. On a day that I got to carry the bag for a top ten player in the world, this may have been the best part. Long shadows, a deserted golf course, and perfect sunshine made for the perfect evening. Zac’s passion for the game is well documented, and it was fascinating to walk five holes with him, to pick his brain about golf course architecture, his practice routines. It was well over 12 hours since we had set out that morning for the Pro-Am, but I couldn’t get enough. All 30,000+ steps were worth it.

The highlight story, as mentioned on twitter, was his Jack Nicklaus story. All 5’6″ of ZB is chillin’ in the hot tub in the locker room, and Jack Nicklaus strolls through. Nicklaus does a bit of a double take, pokes his head in, and asks ZB:

“What’s goin on in here? Your parents around?”

He 100% thought ZB was a player’s kid, and that he was left unattended in the player’s locker room. I was crying. Pinehurst chimed in with a phenomenal response to the story, then ZB shared an even better one:

Pinehurst… where a guy working at the US Open thought I was a "big time fan" walking around with "clubs and everything" ?



— Zac Blair (@z_blair) 

I went out to follow Jon Rahm on Thursday, and I gotta admit, I was a little disappointed. What I saw at TPC Sawgrass was thrilling and captivating from a ball striking and bravado perspective, despite a less than spectacular finish. I noted on twitter (which might suck by the way) that I was less impressed this time around, as he got visibly frustrated at the crowd over very minor incidents. He told someone on 15 (under his breath, but audible enough to several patrons) to “Shut the f*ck up, you f*cking lard.” This was after a chip that was not to his liking, and a huge full frustration swing, clipping a bunch of grass blades that landed onto the putting surface. After a poor tee shot on 16, he slammed his iron on top of a grate, with the sound of the contact reverberating through the crowd. On 17, he hit it to 5 feet, and after striking his birdie putt, someone yelled “YES SIR!” before it reached the cup. The putt lipped it out, he turned and just stared the guy down for what felt like an eternity. I’ve never even met the guy, and he’s bitching at me (towards me? it was weird, still not sure who he’s talking to) between 17 and 18 that the guy who yelled that jinxed his putt. Jinxed! Dude, you missed a five foot putt. The guy didn’t yell before you hit it, it was after.

He’s young, and I’m not overly worried. It was just an observation that stuck out to me that was way outside of the realm of what was to be expected from a tour pro. It’s OK to get mad, but the anger towards the crowd felt incredibly misplaced. It did not help that he was paired with Rickie, who attracts the worst of the worst when it comes to annoying golf fans. But Rahm’s going to be in featured group pairings for the rest of his career, and he’s going to have to handle it better than he did on Thursday.

The tour certainly has enough robots, and no one is asking Rahm to be that, but he’s going to need to pull back on the reins a bit.

: This story has been updated since the original post after further discussion with the source of the information. See further explanation at the end.)

On Friday afternoon, Grayson Murray hit his second shot into a bunker on 18 (his 9th of the day). His first attempt to get out of the trap did not succeed, and with his ball still in the bunker, he slammed the sand in disgust, clearly grounding his club in the hazard. (

: I initially had this detail wrong, and the error is mine alone. In hearing what happened, I thought Murray slammed the club in the sand. After reaching out again to an eyewitness of the event, its clear I misunderstood the severity and what was at issue was that Murray did touch the sand, though apparently not in anger according to those present. With his club, he showed his caddie the lack of sand by dragging the sand with his club.)

After the round, his playing partner called him on the violation, and Murray tried his best to explain it away (the details of this explanation were initially not clear to me, but see update below). At least one of his playing partners notified an official, and at that point, removed himself from the conversation. It’s also unclear what happened between the rules official and Murray, but at the end of the day, Murray did not accept a clear penalty called on him by his playing partner.

: Per discussion with the source of the information, Murray claimed that when his club made contact with the sand, he was preparing the bunker for whoever was going to rake it, thus “making an effort to take care of the golf course.”)

This is just another story in a long line of stories about this dude, but one of the most significant ones I’ve heard involving an on-course incident. The players take the rules very seriously, and I can promise you that this story is spreading quickly through the locker room. It was followed up another instance, where Murray got in a fan’s face, arms spread out wide, and yelled “Really!? REALLY!?” (

: Important to note here that there was a lake between Grayson and the fan, and he was not in a fan’s face as initially mentioned.)

The witness to the story said that the incident was “scary.” Not good.

: Considering the sensitive nature around the rules of golf, I should have reached out to Grayson’s team for comment before posting . To clarify, everything updated above was based on information clarified with the source. Additionally, Grayson’s manager provided a statement, which you will see in its entirety below:

Dear NLU,



My name is Kevin Canning and I am manager of Grayson Murray.



I would like to comment on the “article” you ran this morning recapping the Memorial Tournament via No Laying Up.



First, in regards to your erroneous claim “he (Grayson) slammed the sand in disgust, clearly grounding his club in the hazard.” According to multiple eyewitnesses, which included the playing partner who brought up the possible infraction, caddies in the group and a spectator, Grayson never slammed his club in the sand in disgust. As part of his normal post-shot routine from a bunker, Grayson will repair the area in which he just played from, many players do this. In the rules of golf this is considered “caring for the course” and is not an infraction. Neither of Grayson’s playing partners told the Rules Official, who handled the matter after the round in the 9th Hole Scoring area, said Grayson “slammed the sand in disgust”. To repeat, repairing the area you just played from, even if your ball remains in the bunker, is NOT a violation of the rules, again it is deemed “caring for the course.” When Grayson was asked by the Rules Official if he did repair the area after hitting his shot, he stated he did not remember but since it is something he does after every bunker shot, he more than likely did repair the area. Both the playing partner that mentioned the issue and the Rules Official handling the situation did not feel Grayson’s actions warranted a penalty. Grayson actually thanked his playing partners for mentioning the possible infraction because he did not want to sign an incorrect scorecard if he was deemed to have committed a rules infraction. To be fair, one of his playing partners did not see the incident and did not offer his opinion during the post-round discussion.



Second, in response to “his playing partner called him on the violation, and Murray tried his best to explain it away”. Again, not factual. The playing partner mentioned it because he didn’t know the rule and wanted to make sure if it was or was not a violation. He did this not only to protect the field but to protect Grayson from signing an incorrect scorecard. This is a pretty standard response to any rules situation that occurs during a round. Grayson did not try his “best to explain it away”, in fact he told the Rules Official that he always does maintenance on the area he hits a bunker shot from as part of his normal post-shot routine. Again, cleaning up the area you hit a shot from is not a violation even if your ball remains in the bunker. It is considered “caring for the course.”



Third, it is not a fair statement to say “Murray did not accept a clear penalty called on him by his playing partner.” Grayson explained his side of the story, the player who mentioned was satisfied with the explanation and the Rules Official deemed that no penalty was going to be given.



In response to your story about a fan altercation. Again, this is not in line with the facts. The facts are this (also according to eyewitnesses I have spoken to) while Grayson was over a 5 foot birdie putt on the 14th green on Friday, a patron in the crowd on the side of the 14th green answered his cell phone. The cell phone was not on silent, it loudly rang and the patron engaged in a phone conversation without leaving the area he was watching from, which was about 30 feet away from where Grayson was attempting to putt. Grayson stepped away from his putt and said “Come on man, really?” He did not get “directly in a fan’s face” at this point or any other point during the round. Josh Gregory, Grayson’s instructor, was standing next to the patron who answered his phone and had a discussion with the patron about the situation. Mr. Gregory and told the patron that if you are going on have your phone on the course it needs to be on silent and you cannot have a conversation 30 feet away from a player who is putting. I don’t know whom described the incident as “scary” but there was clearly nothing that Grayson did that was out of line, confrontational or “scary”. Grayson did not ask the patron to be removed, which would’ve been an acceptable response to a violation of PGA TOUR protocol about cell phone usage on the course.



I hope in the future you will reach out to myself or Grayson prior to running a tournament recap in which you provide commentary on two incidents in which he was directly involved. Especially when the topics you covered, and the way in which you described them, can have a VERY deleterious impact on a player’s reputation and how he will be perceived by the golfing public and his fellow competitors on the PGA TOUR. Thank you for the opportunity to make this statement.



Kindest Regards,



Kevin Canning

I’m standing on the 15th tee on Saturday as I’m following Kyle Stanley and Phil, and there’s a backup as usual. In the group ahead, Russell Knox pulls one left, and displays the full #TourSauce logo with a wayward point to the left. I was looking down at the time, so Bones turns to me to get my attention and explains that I just missed the perfect point. Phil starts asking some questions, class was in session. Bones practically got out a blackboard and some chalk and outlined a full #TourSauce 101 syllabus to an intrigued Phil. Thankfully Matt Presley was there to witness it.

Phil asks what's going on, Bones explains tour sauce to him and he chuckles as Soly's whole life comes together right before his eyes



— Matt Presley (@theprez4) 

Those who have followed us for awhile know that Kyle Stanley’s traj was my initial man-crush way back in the pre-NLU era, even before he burst onto the scene at Torrey and in Phoenix. Unfortunately he had trouble maintaining the success that came so quickly to him, and after a couple of dark years, it’s awesome to see him have some really nice finishes in some big time events (T4 at the Players, T6 this week). His ball striking is still something to behold, and as I’ve said for years, when he putts it just average, he’s in some kind of contention. If you get a chance at a tournament, go follow him for 9 holes. The crowds won’t be insane, you’ll be able to get great viewpoints, and you’ll be really impressed with the lines he takes and how aggressively he fires at pins. Don’t be surprised at all if the putter gets hot one week, and he ends up winning one this year.

-I watched a fan look at Kevin Kisner’s caddie’s calves for the first time, his jaw drop, and then watched him frantically get the attention of the rest of his group to make sure they saw it. It was like watching a group of boys become men.

-Golf fans just yell out things that they associate a certain player with it. “Hey JT, Snapchat!” “Hey Rickie, where’s the orange!?” “Spring Break Crew!” It’s awful. If I was a tour pro, I would legitimately need some kind of therapy or advice for how to deal with such inane commentary on every single hole. Cheering and support is obviously part of the fan experience, but I don’t think people realize how dumb they sound, and how tiresome that stuff would get to a guy walking between the ropes every week.

-You hear players thank the volunteers often, but tournament operations really is something that I’ve grown a special appreciation for over the years. Working in the business world for a while will teach you that no step in the process is effortless. There’s people responsible for getting the ropes up, the scoreboards, the range balls separated out by brand, the marshalls, the media dining, the snack tents, the water coolers, communications, etc. It’s all one big crazy logistical nightmare, and the Memorial has always handled these things so effortlessly that it seems way easier than it actually is.

-I got the chance to play The Golf Club on Friday morning. It was an out of this world experience, and maybe one of my top five golf experiences ever. More to come on this in the future hopefully.

Memorial Tournament Recap

We’re into the meat of the PGA Tour schedule, with consecutive tournaments at legendary PGA Tour locations. Only two weeks removed from The Players and with just two events between us and the second major of the year, this is when things stop getting polite and start getting real.

This week, the Tour heads just outside of Columbus to Dublin, Ohio for the Memorial. Played since 1976 at the Jack Nicklaus masterwork Muirfield Village Golf Club, the Memorial has become a staple on the PGA Tour and one of the best events of the season, major or otherwise.

It’s also the de facto home event of No Laying Up, as three of the four horsemen met each other while attending nearby Miami University. After many years of tournament attendance, NLU podcast impresario Chris Solomon even managed to finagle a Pro-Am caddie job, though his boss seems hell-bent on making this as tough as possible.

 – I'm offering up my caddie services for the 

 Pro-Am contingent on full veto rights on drivers off the deck



— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) 

Whatever you say… be prepared for me to blame anything and everything bad that happens solely on you 

You can see a snippet of how that round went down on the 

Like last weeks’ tournament at Colonial, the Memorial is an invitational, which means a smaller, more diverse field; more chances for interesting storylines to emerge; and (hopefully) more comprehensive and in-depth TV coverage. Let’s take a look at the history of Jack Nicklaus’s pride and joy.

Before I go any further, I have to give tons of love to the PGA Tour and their

 incredible deep dive into Jack Nicklaus, Columbus, and the Memorial

. It’s a detailed overview of Jack’s life and his connection to the city of Columbus, and covers everything: his upbringing and tutelage under Jack Grout, his years dominating the PGA Tour, his design career, his planning and hosting of the Memorial, and the myriad ways in which Jack and his wife Barbara have improved the lives of people in and around Columbus and Dublin, Ohio. It’s pretty remarkable. And it also does the job of this piece, so I’ll be brief.

Basically, Jack wanted to bring the Tour to his hometown, a Rust Belt relic that was quickly becoming the forgotten city in sports-crazy Ohio. With nothing but Buckeye football, Columbus was a one-trick pony. During Masters Week 1966, at the tender age of 26, Nicklaus announced his intent to create a professional event near Columbus that mirrored The Masters in its salute to the history and tradition of the game of golf. Fresh off a health scare with his daughter Nan, when she had to be kept in intensive care at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and nearly died after swallowing a blue crayon, Jack and Barbara decided to align their new tournament with the hospital.

In the intervening ten years, Nicklaus found a piece of land in Dublin, Ohio, about 20 miles from downtown Columbus. Pete Dye, who Jack had worked with in designing Harbour Town and who consulted on Muirfield Village, called the Dublin site “the best inland site I’ve ever seen.” With broad valleys ideal for spectator golf, two creeks meandering through the property, and excellent drainage, Nicklaus had found an ideal spot to build his dream course.

After some financial hardships, Muirfield Village was completed in 1974 and named in honor of Scotland’s famed Muirfield, where Jack had played his first Walker Cup. Two years later, the Tour made its inaugural stop here, and has been returning ever since.

The Memorial distinguishes itself from just another run-of-the-mill Tour stop in several ways.

As its name suggests, the tournament pays homage to the great people in golf from years past. Every year, the Memorial’s Captain’s Club (a crew of independent golf literati who don’t actually run the event but “advise Nicklaus on the conduct of the tournament,” whatever that means) gets together and decides on several honorees to feature that year. In 2017, the Memorial will honor Greg Norman, Tony Lema, Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward. Previous winners range from Johnny Miller (2016) and Arnold Palmer (1993) to James Braid (1995) and Glenna Collette Vare (1982). Interestingly, in the 41 iterations of the Memorial, Charles Blair MacDonald is the only honoree to be recognized more for his course architecture than his playing career. Though Jack has become a prolific and well-regarded course designer, it’s clear he still values those who can tame golf courses over those who can lay them out.

The Memorial’s invitational status brings an air of acceptance to the event, as well as a ray of hope for some players lacking status. Winning in Dublin brings a fat stack of cash (to the tune of over $1.5M), along with a 3-year PGA Tour exemption. I’d be interested to see what a player would rather do: win $1.5M in one event, or get three years of full status on the Tour. I’m guessing it’s the latter.

The Memorial reserves spots for a variety of golfers who wouldn’t qualify into a traditional tournament. These include four entries for the money list leaders from each of the four International Federation of PGA Tours (Euro Tour, Japan Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, Sunshine Tour) and a whopping 14 sponsors exemptions (two for Web.com Tour grads, six for PGA Tour members who didn’t otherwise qualify, and six unrestricted).

To give those terms some flesh and blood context, here are the sponsor’s exemptions for this year’s event:

That list is stacked with intrigue. Grayson “Twitter Fingers” Murray. K-Pop and the Goose looking to dust off some early 2000s vibes. Paddy! Hunter “Witness Protection” Mahan! Hot Carl! What a group.

Over the years, the Memorial and Muirfield Village have given central Ohio an enormous boost, both financially and culturally. The tournament has raised $27 million for charities across central Ohio, generates an estimated $37 million every year for the local economy, and has given over $16 million to Nationwide Children’s Hospital since its inception.

The event and the course have also essentially given birth to the city of Dublin. Look at 

 and you’d be hard-pressed to imagine this area as a barren woodland just forty years ago.

One more fun bit of trivia: Muirfield Village is the only course to have hosted a Ryder Cup, President’s Cup, and Solheim Cup.

Jack has won his own event twice, tied with Tom Watson, Greg Norman, and Hale Irwin for third most Memorial wins all time. Kenny Perry comes second with three wins, and of course, Tiger takes the cake with five. In the past few years, the event has prioritized accuracy over length, with the last four titles belonging to Willie (Dirt) McGirt, David Lingmerth, Hideki Matsuyama, and Matt Kuchar.

The Memorial has come down to a playoff the last three years, and each has been won by a player chasing his inaugural Tour victory. In a battle of two longtime pros looking for their first win, Willie (Dirt) McGirt took down Jon Curran in 2016. It was the 165th Tour start for the 37-year-old McGirt, and gave him the kind of job security that had eluded him for years. The previous year, Lingmerth bested Justin Rose, and before that, Matsuyama beat Kevin Na.

After making the cut in 2015, Tiger Woods mashed the eject button harder than I used to in middle school when I got caught playing Backyard Baseball on the family computer instead of doing homework. Watch at your own risk.

Friday nights in Columbus may have gotten a bit wild for Tiger in the recent past–his back-nine 44 on Saturday at the 2013 Memorial (when he was the defending champion) was the worst 9-hole score of his career to that point.

In happier news, Tiger’s back-nine birdie barrage on Sunday in 2012 brought him his 73rd PGA Tour win, tying him with Jack Nicklaus for second all time.

In 2001, Tiger Woods (expect anything different) did something that no one had done in 21 years, and won a PGA Tour event three years running. His threepeat spanned two millennia and included a righteous fist-pump in ’01, visible at 3:10 above.

Left short-sided in a steep greenside bunker on the 72nd hole in 1993, Paul Azinger took out his beach shovel and scooped a miraculous effort that just cleared the lip and trundled down the slope and into the hole for a closing birdie, and a one-shot win. Highlights start at 2:04 above.

In 1991, a young Kenny Perry (with a dreadfully well-matched shirt stripe and pant situation) got his first PGA Tour victory with a playoff W over reigning U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin. Highlights start at 1:20 above.

In 1977, Jack Nicklaus took the title in his second spin at the Memorial, but bad weather forced the tournament to a Monday finish. Nicklaus held on for the win, one that he called the most rewarding victory he’d had to that point in his career. Seven years later, he held on in a playoff over Andy Bean to become the event’s first two-time winner. It would be his second to last PGA Tour win, with the last one coming two years later in Augusta.

No Laying Up

Writing

Opinion: Should the USGA return to Erin Hills?

U.S. Open: Three stories to (probably not) watch

2017 US Open Preview

Royal Portrush

Royal County Down

Memorial Tournament Recap

Jack Nicklaus and the Memorial: 40 Years of History

Hogan's Alley: Colonial's Tradition-Rich History

#EpicScotland Giveaway

Tron's Players Diary: Thursday

England Golf Trip, Part V: Wallasey

England Golf Trip, Part IV: Royal Liverpool

England Golf Trip, Part III: Royal Birkdale

England Golf Trip, Part II: West Lancashire

Sergio Garcia's Ball Striking Carries Him To The History Books

Masters Mailbag

McIlroy Cabin and Mickelson Grove: Naming Augusta National's Famous Locations

England Golf Trip, Part I: The Belfry