Chip Shots from The Memorial

Having spent a week at Jack’s beloved Muirfield Village in ’15 for The Presidents Cup I am convinced of two things: Muirfield is one hell of a golf course and it always rains in Columbus.

Bryson DeChambeau is known for his quirky style on the course. He plays clubs all the same length, he analyses each shot like a NASA scientist, he pushes the boundaries of the anchoring ban with his long putter jammed against his forearm and he wears his distinctive ‘Hogan” hat. All different but acceptable customs that make him a unique player on tour. But it his is agonizingly long, deliberate style that puts him in a category he rather not be in: slow player….a very slow player.

Between DeChambeau and the fidgety Patrick Cantlay, who makes Sergio’s “re-gripping” tick look like a blink of the eye, I wanted to stick a tee in my eye. They were put on the clock, oh big deal, like they would ever penalize a player for slow play and it made for an uneasy and disturbing telecast. Those poor guys in the truck for CBS trying to catch these two mooks as they are really ready to hit their shot.

The playoff with DeChambeau, Kyle Stanley and Byeong Hun An was anything but spectacular with the rough and the bunkers seeing more than their fair share of shots. In the end DeChambeau finally managed a birdie on eighteen to put and end to a never ending tournament.

Of course Tiger Woods gets most of the press all week and for awhile he looked like he could make some noise early as he was striping it. He was first in strokes gained-tee-to-green, strokes gained-approach and proximity to the hole. But Woods was let down by his putter. Once, it was the most feared weapon in the game, even more than his driver. But he finished with a -1.9 strokes gained putting for the week and rarely followed up his exquisite iron play with a similar putting game. He currently is ranked 93^rd in putting on tour. Ouch.

Speaking of putting woes, Jordan Spieth misses the cut due to a putting stroke that has all but disappeared. Right now he is 186^th on tour in strokes gained putting…out of 206 players. My god, this is a kid who sank everything from everywhere. It seems he has missed more three footer this season than in his entire career. That doesn’t bode well for him as he heads into those tough Shinnecock greens.