Fact or Fiction: There Are Too Many Easy Courses on the PGA Tour

The SI Golf staff debates a stunningly easy week at PGA National, redemption stories and whether Tiger Woods should play the Tour’s flagship event.

Moments after this drive at PGA National's Champions course, Jake Knapp had a 59 at a place no one believed that could happen. / Jeff Romance / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Welcome back to SI Golf’s Fact or Fiction, where one of these years we’ll overseed our front yard to impress the neighbors.

Once again, we’re here to debate a series of statements for writers and editors to declare as “Fact” or “Fiction” along with a brief explanation. Responses may also (occasionally) be “Neutral” since there's a lot of gray area in golf.

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know on the SI Golf X account.

Joe Highsmith won the Cognizant Classic at 19 under, one year after Austin Eckroat won at 17 under—the two lowest winning scores at PGA National in two decades. Players lamented the easier conditions and they’re right: it’s disappointing when the Tour’s traditionally tougher events turn into birdie-fests.

Bob Harig: FACT. While PGA National at times went too far with its course setup, the windy conditions and difficult rough made for an interesting tournament. It seems tournament organizers went too far the other way. Easy fix: don’t overseed.

Jeff Ritter: FACT. There aren’t that many events left on the calendar (including some majors!) that create pain and suffering throughout the field. I’ve said it many times: the best events are those where players can make big moves up the leaderboard and also crash spectacularly back down. 

John Schwarb: FACT. “These guys are good” and all, but some weeks on Tour are supposed to be a grind and the Honda was one of those that would make for a fun watch. Since it became the Cognizant, the grind has been substantially compromised. Make your own conclusions there. 

Jake Knapp’s 59 in Round 1 at PGA National was the eighth sub-60 round on the PGA Tour in the last eight years. LIV Golf has had two in its four-year history. The more often these happen, the less special they are.

Bob Harig: FACT. Especially when you consider that starting with Al Geiberger’s 59 in 1977, there were just three in a 20-plus year period. The new number is really 58, which has occurred just once on the PGA Tour.

Jeff Ritter: FACT. Can anyone name the 10th man to walk on the moon?

John Schwarb: NEUTRAL. The feat is more frequent in an era of fitter players, finely tuned equipment and overly receptive courses (see above) but it’s still a feat. The phrase “59 watch” still gets golf fans buzzing and I love the randomness of it. Len Barker threw a perfect game in baseball, Hayden Springer shot 59 on the PGA Tour. 

A former biker gang member that served five years in jail will play in this year’s British Open, thanks to a win last weekend at the New Zealand Open. This is the best redemption story in years in golf. 

Bob Harig: FICTION. It’s a wild story and now doubt it appears that he has turned things around. But there are some good possibilities within golf that don’t involve past crimes. Let’s see how much more success he has.

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. That’s quite a headline from New Zealand, but I prefer my redemption stories without the history of violent crime. Rory winning the U.S. Open this year is more of my kind of redemption. Angel Cabrera winning this year’s Masters? Eh …

John Schwarb: FICTION. Gary Woodland is the best redemption story going right now. We’ll hear a lot more about Ryan Peake in the run-up to Royal Portrush but my colleagues are right, the “redemption” part comes from self-inflicted silliness.

Tiger Woods has yet to play on the PGA Tour this season but teed it up this week at the Seminole Pro-Member and TGL. He should now play the Players Championship to get a tournament rep before the Masters and boost the Tour’s flagship event. (Editor’s note: Woods suggested Tuesday night that a Players appearance wasn’t likely, though the deadline to commit hasn’t passed yet.)

Bob Harig: FACT. He has said he plans to play more and it makes little sense if he’s trying to be competitive to just up at the Masters without some tournament reps. It’s also his last time being exempt for the Players, the Tour’s flagship tournament. Given his role with the Tour, you’d think he would want to be there if possible.

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. He’s earned the right to return to the Tour when he’s ready. Also, just checking: are we treating Woods as a serious Masters contender? Just trying to read the room here.

John Schwarb: FACT. This being Tiger’s last exempt year, as Bob noted, is significant and I find it hard to believe he wouldn’t take advantage of that. He would boost the event for sure, but then again he’d have an even bigger impact at the Valspar, which he could play and still have two weeks of rest before Augusta.