Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I’m calling this weekend 9. Think of it as a place to warm up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will have thoughts. We will have advice. We will have tweets. But only nine in all, though sometimes perhaps more and sometimes perhaps less. But who am I? The following paragraphs tell some of the story. It can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
“Golf is a game played by human beings. Therefore, it is a game of mistakes. Successful players know how to respond to mistakes.”
I’ve always liked that thought. It comes from Golf Is Not A Perfect Game, the well read book by Dr. Bob Rotellathe well-known sports psychologist. And over the past week, we’ve seen some of that played out — by three golfers, interestingly. A comeback has been seen in recent weeks. Another was played over several years. The third, even longer.
What was the war? It starts slowly. Two weeks ago in WC Phoenix OpenScheffler opened with a 73. Last week at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Scheffler opened with a 72. This week at The invitation of Genesismore of the same – Scheffler shot a 74 in the first round.
What followed: At Phoenix, Scheffler tied for third, and at Pebble Beach, he tied for fourth. On Friday, he shot a 68 in the second round.
How he answered: Scheffler said he remained calm. And calm is not panic. And panic is blowing things up.
“I think these are some of the weeks when you look back,” Scheffler said Sunday, “I’m very proud of sticking with it, not giving up even when I felt like things were going against me this week. I just kept fighting, kept trying to hit, kept trying to execute.”
He also added: “Sometimes it’s just scoring things. If we came here in the first round and I was watching Ted (caddie Ted Scott) about the 15th, 16th hole and I feel like I’m doing well and I’m 10 shots back. It’s a funny game. Sometimes things go your way and sometimes things don’t.”
Collin Morikawa’s two-year winless streak
What was the war? Morikawa won the Zozo Championship 2023. Then he asked for two more years.
What followed: Morikawa won last week at Pebble.
How he answered: Morikawa said that when he was young, he played golf. Then he grew up and went fishing, looking for new methods. Everything was in good spirits – he wanted to earn more. But one thought, he said, helped him win again: Just play golf, man.
“I think I’ve been trying to make golf so perfect by trying to hit these shots and trying to make these shots a certain way,” Morikawa said Sunday, “that maybe other people are doing it that you forget how to play the game of golf.
“I think I look back to when I was 10, 12, 15 years old, growing up in Chevy Chase, playing 10 holes, three-putting, like I played golf.
“And I’ve gotten so far away from that, that creativity that I think the last couple of days, I went golfing. I caught myself today even after freaking out at 5 — I was like, man, I love being in this position. Like I haven’t felt that in so long. And you think that in team events, you feel like I told myself like here and there, but I like to be so good as a person, but I like to be so good as a person.
“And I knew when I was able to convince — not convince myself, but I just talked to myself in my head that I was ready. If it went well or it didn’t go well, I was ready to go hit the shots, play golf and not worry about the wind, don’t worry about the rain, don’t worry, man, if I bogey and make 8 and make a lot of 10 and go on — Momentary things, but I think it all comes back to how I started the day morning saying to myself, yeah, let’s go out and win this thing.
Anthony Kim’s 12-year absence from golf
What was the war? Anthony Kim returned to golf in 2024 after a 12-year absence. His last win came in 2010.
What followed: On Sunday at the LIV Golf event in Adelaide, Kim won.
How he answered: I learned this from my interview this week with Matt Killen, Kim’s trainer. Like Scheffler, they didn’t deviate from who they once were. They just worked to find it again. Before an event in early January where Kim had to finish in the top three in order to play another season with LIV, Killen and Kim had this conversation:
“I don’t think any of us were like, ‘OK, I hope you play well.’ We were like, ‘Hey, you’ve got to go do this. How are you going to do it?’ And he said he will. And so then, going back, like what shots do you need, how are you going to manage it, what information do we decide is helpful, but it doesn’t take away from his ability to be an athlete.
“And what that means is you let the subconscious take over. You don’t even think about the positions or the complex thoughts of the swing when you have to open it. … You have to play golf.”
Another guide tip for your weekend
2. Let’s stick with the instructions. I thought of the video below (on the second slide), shot after Morikawa’s win, was good.
Another guide tip for your weekend
3. I thought of the video below it was good. It came from the “All Square” show on SiriusXM and features the top 100 GOLF teachers Adam Schriber.
A throwback to the week that was
4. Genesis 2024 was the last event Scheffler played with a blade putter – and since then he has won 14 PGA Tour events with a hammer putter, including three majors.
Why has it helped him so much?
“So going to the mallet where I don’t have to line up the ball,” Scheffler said, “and it gave me a better look at what I wanted to see, it just freed me up to where I didn’t have to — I’ve never been a guy who was very good at, like — I don’t know if lining things up is the right word, but for me less is usually more.”
A delivery for the weekend
5. If you’re looking for someone to watch this weekend, Njoroge Kibugu could be your player. The 22-year-old Kenyan will play in front of his home crowd at the DP World Tour’s Magical Kenya Open – and below are two videos showing how he made the cut:
Tony Johnstone’s shot description is also good. “Oh, it’s heaven. You little beauty.”
Five stories (!) that interest me
6. I thought of this story herewhich was seen for the first time BY My golf spy Brittany Olizarowiczit was interesting. Written by 11 authors for the European Journal of Sports Science, it looks at riding in a wheelchair versus walking.
7. I have thought of this story too herewritten by John Garlock e KTVOit was interesting. It explains why firefighters in northeast Missouri deliberately set fire to a golf course.
8. And I thought of this story herewritten by Maggie Kent of 6ABCit was interesting. It describes how a woman in Roxborough, Pa., said her house is being hit by golf balls, even though she doesn’t live near a golf course or driving range.
9. I thought of this story here it was also interesting. Written by Marc Fortier of NBC Bostonit describes how a New Hampshire man was convicted after fraudulently taking Covid relief funds and using them to buy a golf course.
10. Let’s make 10 articles! I have thought of this story too here it was interesting. Written by Golf business newsdescribes the life of Jeremy Chapman, who died recently – and was once called the ‘Tiger Woods of golf tipsters’.
What golf is on TV this weekend?
11. Let’s make 11 articles! Here’s a roundup of golf on TV this weekend:
;)
