Golf's Midseason Awards: Biggest Studs, Coolest Aces, Tiger Shots, a Blockhead and Best 'Strategery'
Two major championships down, two to go. We are thus at a symbolic midway point of the major championship golf, even if slightly past the halfway mark of the PGA Tour’s last carryover schedule, which makes for a vast golf season.
So what better time for the Half-Vast Mid-Season Awards 2.0? (Well, never might be a better time but the editor insisted …)
Studliest Performer
How does this sound for half a season—four wins including a major championship, one second, one third, one fourth? That’s a pretty good career on the PGA Tour but Jon Rahm has done it all in just over half a season, highlighted by his masterful Masters performance, pardon the masterful redundancy. (Next up: Writing award!)
Studliest Performer 1-A
It seems as if former Masters champ Scottie Scheffler is in contention every time he tees it up. So far, he’s got two wins, including the Players Championship; two seconds, including the PGA; two thirds; three fourths and a fifth. He and Rahm are taking turns at the No. 1 world ranking and SI Golf World Ranking like they're middle-school hallway drinking fountains outside the girls’ bathroom. Currently, Scheffler is on top. You thought LIV Golf had all the money in the world? Scheffler has won $16.3 million this season, which equates to the annual salaries of 245 school teachers, based on the National Center for Education Statistics estimated 2022 average of $66,397. Class dismissed.
The Comeback-iest Player
You’ve got to hand it to Brooks Koepka. But don’t hand him your leg if it gets splayed sideways and your foot gets turned out. That happened to him, he tried to pop it back into place and shattered his kneecap. Recovering from that injury was more than a two-year process, hindered by attempts to keep playing. That injury was a key factor in him jumping ship for LIV Golf’s kajillions. Well, Koepka led much of the Masters, eventually tying for second, and slammed the door like the old Major Brooks at the PGA in capturing his fifth major title. If Koepka was considerably softer and fuzzier than his brazen badass image, he’d be the feel-good story of the year.
The King for a Day Award
Five years later, after suffering through his mother’s long, losing battle against cancer and working through his own back injuries that led to swing issues, former world No. 1 Jason Day ended a victory drought with a wire-to-wire win at the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship. “To be on the other side of it, finally winning again—no better feeling, really,” Day said.
The Mandatory Tiger Mention Trophy
Never mind that Sir Tiger (yes, he is hereby knighted) Woods played only six rounds of golf in two tournaments this year, one of which may have been his final Masters. (Final? Sorry, that was just a cheap trick to get your attention.) Let’s remember Tiger’s season for two shots. At Riviera in the third round of the Genesis Invitational, he played a low fade from the right rough on the opening hole (his 10th), spun it across the green and narrowly missed holing it for double eagle. Mass hysteria would’ve ensued, along with human sacrifice and cats and dogs living together. (As explained in 1984’s “Ghostbusters.”)
At the Masters, his long pitch from below the 8th green’s upslope stopped mere inches from being an eagle. He tied for 45th at Riviera and made the Masters cut on the number but withdrew before the third round because of a painful ankle.
Biggest Blockhead
Being a Blockhead (a fan of California club pro Michael Block) was never more thrilling. Blockie, as he is known, scraped around three PGA Championship rounds at even par, then holed a 7-iron shot on the fly for an ace at the 15th hole while paired with Rory McIlroy in the final round. Block was more than the PGA’s feel-good story, he was its most captivating story (sorry about that, Brooks). An incredible up-and-down to save par got Block exempt into next year’s PGA, national attention, an invite to Colonial (where he played but was clearly emotionally and physically drained), a $288,000 check and a 3,000-spot jump in the world rankings. And now … back to giving lessons and selling sweaters.
Most Amazing Shot of the Year
Only a total blockhead couldn’t figure this one out. See above…
Sawgrassiest Shots
March saw the first Players Championship with multiple aces at the famed 17th hole. Hayden Buckley, playing in the second group to reach 17 the first day, spun his shot off the backboard and into the cup near the front of the green. Buckley earned bonus points for best celebration, running a few steps and then tossing his cap. In related Bummer News, he went on to miss the cut.
Aaron Rai finished 3-1-3 and became the first to play the last three holes in 4 under par thanks to his third-round hole-in-one at 17. Celebration highlight: His caddie nearly knocked him over by jumping on him.
Alex Smalley aced 17 in the final round, which enabled him to play 16 and 17 in even par—he’d just doubled the 16th before his ace. After the last few playings, the Players’ promotion to major championship status is no longer off the table.
Hottest Twitter Pillow Fight
The latest is LIV Golf rebellion leader Phil Mickelson versus Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee. The latter has been an outspoken critic of LIV Golf, incessantly harping on the Saudis’ human rights atrocities. Mickelson’s take: “His (Chamblee’s) network covers Russia and China Olympics. His PGA Tour funds an entire tour in China.” Chamblee challenged Phil to come to Golf Channel to “discuss the merits of playing for MF’ers, as he called them, and the Billy Walters’ book that comes out Aug. 22 … but my guess he’s too soft to come on and debate.” Mickelson’s rebuttal: “He can rip me and countless others but as soon as someone shows his ignorance, he can’t handle it. He’s softer now than he was as a player.” Both men tweeted screen-shots of being blocked by the other on Twitter after those missives. Catfight!
Best Mongolian Reversal
After an opening 78 at The Players, Tom Hoge booked a flight back back home to Dallas. First, he rallied with 68 to make the cut. Then he scorched the Stadium Course with a record 10-under-par 62 in the third round after Friday’s rain softened the course and led to the lowest scoring average in tournament history, 69.57. Still, 62 was impressive. Hoge’s only complaint was that food in player dining was too healthy and had too many vegetables. “I’m pretty hungry,” he said after his 62. “I’m ready for a cheeseburger or something.” How about we throw some bacon in that bun, too?
Best Old-Timers Day
When Phil Mickelson said he was playing better than he was scoring after two rounds at the Masters, he wasn’t kidding although, let’s be honest, most of us weren’t buying it. Mickelson proved it Sunday, starting 10 shots back, by firing a 65 and tying for second, becoming the oldest player (at age 52) with a top-5 finish in the event. Impressively, Mickelson put himself in position to catch a fourth green jacket if Jon Rahm had faltered at all and let it slip off his shoulders. But Rahm was titanium tough. After his 11th runner-up finish in a major, Mickelson said, “This doesn’t feel like a fluke.” Fun fact: Phil’s odds of winning the U.S. Open are around 130-1.
Bad-assiest Bunker
The fairway bunker at Oak Hill’s 16th hole looks like any other mild-mannered hazard. But it turns out, it’s the Clark Kent of bunkers. When trouble arises, it turns into Super Bunker. Corey Conners's PGA Championship run crumbled when he drove his shot there, inexplicably, under the lip and made double bogey in the third round. Viktor Hovland, neck-and-neck with Brooks Koepka for the lead Sunday, found the same bunker, buried his 9-iron shot under the lip and made double bogey, handing the title to Koepka. Report from the Surgeon General: This bunker may be harmful to your score.
The Emperor’s Clothes Hanger Award
No one was hotter at the end of last season than Northern Ireland’s beloved Rory McIlroy. He ran the table, winning the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai and the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup. He successfully defended his CJ Cup title and added a Hero Dubai Desert Classic win in January. Since then, some close calls at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (2nd) and Dell Technologies Match Play (3rd) but not much big-game hunting. He missed cuts at The Players and the Masters and was 7th (not as close as it sounds) at the PGA Championship. At the Memorial, he was tied for the lead going into Sunday, shot 75 and finished T7. A pretty good season but not as good as McIlroy expected. Distractions included LIV, big money, PGA Tour Policy Board and Elevated Events. His self-assessment at the PGA Championship could apply to his 2023: “Just not at my best.” Not yet …
Best Former Nickname
The media learned a lot more about Kurt Kitayama when he outplayed the field en route to winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. In high school, he was a star basketball player with such muscular legs that he was dubbed, “Quadzilla.” Which is way catchier than Legolopolis, Thighmaster or Calf Boy.
Most Stunning Encore
When we last left Oak Hill in 2013 after Jason Dufner wrestled the PGA Championship to the ground, it lacked some luster. A brilliant renovation that featured removal of a few thousand trees and restoring four original Donald Ross holes turned this old classic into a new classic. Some players griped that the course was too difficult during the first three rounds, a sure sign of a true major, but with softer greens on Sunday it turned into a magnificent birdie-fest. The bad news: The U.S. Open is booked through 2525 (a slight exaggeration) and the PGA Championship doesn’t have an opening until 2032. Oak Hill might have just moved to the head of the class, at least until we see what Gil Hanse is doing to Oakmont.
Most Outstanding Winner’s Prize
In addition to the usual gigantic prize money, the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial awarded its champion, Emiliano Grillo, a fully restored, modernized and customized 1973 Ford Bronco complete with tartan-plaid seats that match the winner’s traditional sport-coat. It’s pretty cool considering the vehicle is old enough to be eligible for PGA Tour Champions.
The Presidential Award for Best ‘Strategery’
It was eight years between wins for Chris Kirk, who defeated Eric Cole in a playoff to win the final Honda Classic. The key to winning? Kirk, who last won at Colonial in 2015, skipped the $20 million Genesis Invitational and its $3.6 million first-place prize to play the Honda, which paid its champ $1.5 million. Kirk made the move because his track record at Riviera wasn’t good and the field at Honda was, ahem, considerably weaker.
The Quotemaster Cup
Rory McIlroy, at the Masters: “It’s hard not to root for the underdog. But that underdog is Tiger Woods.”