Stray Shots: Musings on Zach Johnson's Captaincy, Shane Lowry's Bad Break and Bryson's Bulk

Welcome to Stray Shots, where we pontificate on a few news items from the world of golf.

1. Isn’t Zach Johnson a breath of fresh air? The two-time major champ and winner of 12 PGA Tour events, hailing from unheralded golf feeder Drake University, is going to be all gas and no brakes as Ryder Cup captain.

He will be totally inspirational, I think. Has there ever been a golfer whose persona is bang-on with his college mascot - in this case, the Bulldog? It’s a pretty short list of players in history who have done the most (success) with the least (physical abilities). Corey Pavin is on that list, but he won a single major (the 1995 U.S. Open). Zach is unable to hit the ball much farther than the infield, but look what he has accomplished.

And he led the field in par-5 scoring in his 2007 Masters win - it took him three blows to hit all of those par-5’s, purposely laying up on each of them.

The U.S. team is lucky to have this everyman as its leader. Hopefully Zach can impart some “want to” and hatred of losing to our crew, if any happens to be needed in Italy.

2. We segue from he who abhors excuses (Zach) to the sad tale of Shane Lowry at the Honda. The set-up, courtesy of GolfChannel.com:

“Fortunately for Straka, he had already teed off on the par-5 18th when the heavy rain started falling. That extra distance off the tee allowed him to give it a go with his second shot, which he landed safely on the green. He then two-putted for birdie.

Lowry, meanwhile, was on his way to the 18th tee box when the heavens opened. He hit a squirrelly shot to the left and had to lay up to 122 yards. He wasn’t able to get up and down from there to match Straka’s birdie.

“Yeah, it's hard to take, to be honest. Feel like I've got the tournament stolen from me today” said Lowry before adding that the rain came at the worst possible time for him.

“[T]he last hole was – that was as bad a break as I've ever got. You know, especially when you're standing on the tee and you see him over that left bunker [off the tee], which I would've been able to do if there was no rain, because I need a drive and a 4- or 5-iron. Probably would've given myself a better chance with a 4.”

Straka hit his tee shot 334 yards. Lowry hit his 241 yards.”.

Huh? So it was a trifle wet on his tee shot. Lowry is a big powerful fella, and is there a more experienced rain player in the world than the accomplished Irishman? The rain made him lay up? He was unable to get up and down to force a playoff? The tournament was stolen from him? Sorry, Shane - that is on you, not the golf gods. It’s an outdoor game and conditions seldom if ever are equal for all competitors through an entire round.

Is it too harsh to observe that with an attitude a little more like Johnson and a trifle less entitlement and maybe he could have effected a better outcome for himself?

3. Is it just me or has Bryson out-kicked his physical coverage in bulking up and pretty myopically focusing on speed training? Multiple injuries over the past couple years - wrist, hand, trunk, back, hip - and now it feels like it will be news if he actually plays in a tournament going forward.

Pushing boundaries in any sport or discipline is seldom a costless exercise. It sure appears we are seeing the current limits of the product of incredible bulking up multiplied by a quest for heretofore unknown ball speed.

I wish he would ratchet back and find a balance where he can compete physically on a regular basis. Golf is certainly more interesting when Bryson is in the mix, even if he has to fall back a few pounds and miles-per-hour off the tee in order to do so.