Puttering Around: Valspar Championship Recap

 VITAMIX AWARD: SAM BURNS

Last week, I wrote about the wonderful picture that Sam Burns played a role in, when he posed in a duo picture for the Zurich Classic with Billy Horschel. I laughed and laughed at such a hilarious photo. I typed paragraphs about the beauty of this image. I considered it a gag that would last a week, before I moved on to the other humorous happenings of the golf world. Now, we may remember that album cover as the beginning of something special. We might look back on that cover like sports historians recall the day Wally Pipp passed the baton to the Iron Horse, or when an Argentinian lad named Lionel Messi signed a contract with FC Barcelona on a paper napkin. Soon after posing for the Most Legendary Photo In The History Of Golf For The Few Months I’ve Been Following It, Burns headed east, from Zurich to the Valspar, from New Orleans to Tampa. Going from the city of Brees to the home of Brady, Sam Burns Not III But Seems Like A Guy Who Should Be A “The Third” cranked it up another notch from the T4 at TPC Louisiana. Burns rode the momentum of the greatest picture of all-time into all facets of his game this week. Watching him play this weekend was almost frustrating, as somebody who enjoys an up-and-down roller coaster ride, with a mix of spectacular shots and shanks. Burns was too perfect for me to create stimulating content about him. He prompted the first award named after a blender in Casey At Da Bat history due to his ability to fuse the different sections of his skillset. The driver (16th in strokes gained off the tee, 12th in driving distance, 14th in driving accuracy) was strong. The irons (14th in strokes gained on the approach) were fine-tuned. The putter (3rd in strokes gained on the green, second in putts per green in regulation) was flawless. In the end, my only request to Sam Burns is to be less great at golf, so I can make small, generic critiques on his game to make myself look smarter (Example for those looking to get in the industry of picking nonspecific nits: His launch angle is off by a degree, the face of his putter head isn’t quite right, he’s not reading the greens well, etc.), instead of this performance, which was utter perfection in all slants of the game. In all seriousness, treasure this breakout performance by Sam Burns for his first career PGA Tour win. It may have merely been a 3 stroke win, but it was one of the best all-around 72 holes of 2021. 

BERMUDA TRINGALE AWARD: CAMERON TRINGALE

DISCLAIMER: Only read if you’re not good at figuring out jokes. If you are good at figuring out jokes, and could not figure out this, you are not good at figuring out jokes. Or you just don’t follow golf and didn’t get the reference. I apologize (obligatory passive-aggressive “to all I offended”) if so. If you are good at figuring out jokes, and figured out this joke, congratulations! Stroll down to your local dentist’s office and extract a sticker, bouncy ball, or child’s tooth as a reward for your intellect. They should OK this, as Casey At Da Bat is proud to partner with Every Single Dentist In The World Inc.

The Bermuda Triangle is a place where planes have mysteriously disappeared, with no explanation as to how or why. Tringale sounds and looks like triangle. Cameron Tringale finds ways of getting on PGA Tour leaderboards, yet mysteriously disappears, with no explanation as to how or why, when it’s winning time. He did it again this week, with a T3 that per Justin Ray of The 15th Club, pushed him into the Mike Conley (finally an All-Star! Yay!)  territory, with the most earnings in PGA Tour history without a win. As if the Bermuda Tringale nickname wasn’t obvious enough, this week’s Valspar Championship was played on… drumroll please… *patter, patter, patter* BERMUDA grass… GASP! With the new program where players can put anything on their caddie’s back (by which I mean a name, we haven’t encountered any pros attempt to torture their caddie by placing an anvil on their shoulders), we’re only a couple weeks away from the Bermuda Tringale being on hipster beard caddie Carl Smith’s vest.

Also, Cam Tringale has twice been disqualified from the PGA Championship for signing an incorrect scorecard. That had no relevance, but in researching him, I thought that was WILD.

SI WOO KIM (OTHER THAN SI WOO KIM) AWARD: JUSTIN THOMAS

We can all remember Augusta in April, when Si Woo Kim had a brief tantrum in which he smashed the shaft of his putter. Fortunately, since his temper broke late in a Friday round, he only had to putt a few holes with the wood. This week, Justin Thomas ran into a similar predicament, except over four long days. On the greens, he appeared to be using his signature Phantom X 5.5, but the results disagreed. Thomas wasn’t just spectacular tee-to-green. He was almost perfect, achieving the rare feat of leading the field in strokes gained both off the tee and on the approach. He was far better than anybody else in 2 of the 3 main sectors of golf, and tied for 13th, 10 strokes behind the champion Sam Burns. Where could such a train wreck occur? Of course, the putting surface, where he placed third-worst of anyone who made the cut. It wasn’t quite as awful as Keith Mitchell, who lost over 12 strokes on the green, but for a top player, with aspirations of adding a second major to his trophy case in 2021, this was not encouraging. 

 MVP AWARD: JIM NANTZ

Last week, I lapped up every second of a thrilling duo Zurich Classic event. The playoff between the Australians and South Africans was riveting. TPC Louisiana was a super fun golf course, and its location in the great city of New Orleans didn’t hurt either. The broadcast team felt very solid. Yet, a missing piece still seemed to exist, despite a lively tournament. This week, with Jim Nantz’s return after load managing the best ball/alternate shot tourney, I realized the absent aspect. For most of each golf tournament, Nantz’s best ability is his skill at making you forget he’s even there, letting the conversation between experts flow, before jumping in at the right times. One example this week? On Saturday afternoon, he lets Trevor Immelman and Dottie Pepper break down Keegan Bradley’s putt, before they swing over to Bradley’s New England Patriots fandom, and their selection of Mac Jones. It would’ve been easy for Nantz, after watching hundreds of PGA events, to put his two cents in on the putt, or as a football broadcaster, to share his thoughts on the Alabama QB. Instead, he waits, letting the conversation flow naturally, before adding a constructive comment, to keep the discussion rolling, about Immelman’s addiction to picking tight ends in their fantasy football draft. I love watching Nantz at every event from the Super Bowl to the Final Four, but his ability to step back at the right times and let experienced analysts talk, especially on the CBS PGA coverage, might be what impresses me most. Not only does Nantz know how to tone it down during the lulls, he is superb at cranking it up at the biggest moments, for calls iconic like his exclamation of Tiger Woods’ “return to glory” at the 2019 Masters. Last week’s Zurich was heavy in entertainment due to the drama of the playoff, but having Jim Nantz on the call ratchets it up another notch, only enhancing Sam Burns’ emotional moment as he closed out his first career PGA Tour win. In the end, this was an approx. 350 word paragraph that expressed either my satisfaction with Nantz’s broadcasting ability or my desire to suck up to him and check out his unbelievable backyard replica of the Par 3 7th at Pebble Beach. Probably both

OOOOOOOOOOOSTHUIZEN AWARD: LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN

Louis Oosthuizen is the Greatest Putter On Earth. Since I first saw the Oostmaster General, I knew he was the GOAT of the greens. Finally, the data backs it up. Per the PGA Tour’s strokes gained putting database, over the 2020-21 season, Louis Oosthuizen is not the 57th best putter on tour. He isn’t the 56th best putter on tour. He isn’t… (30 minutes of typing later) the second best putter on tour. Lodewicus Theodorus Oosthuizen is the single best putter that occupies the Milky Way. (No offense to the Omnipotent Oosthuizen, but I hear there are some fantastic players with the flatstick down in the Andromeda galaxy) Not to mention, Oostie grabbed a T8 at the Valspar, but that pales in comparison to being the best EVER (it doesn’t say anything about ever in the stat, but I’m so happy for the Omniscient Oosthuizen, I’m at full hyperbole) at the most important plane (full disclosure, I would’ve labelled any facet that the Oosthonorable was best at “the most important,” be it putting ability, scrambling, distance off the tee with a lob wedge, or taking selfies with fans)  of the game.

LOVE OF THE GAME AWARD: MICHAEL VISACKI

I enjoy the top echelons of the PGA Tour as much as anyone. Any minute with Bryson DeChambeau swinging a driver, Collin Morikawa whipping out an iron, or Tiger Woods at his peak doing anything on a golf course, is the greatest contemporary golf on all seven continents (although the scrambling ability of the fish in the Mediterranean is unparalleled). Let’s be real, we all love tuning in for the premier putters and best ball-strikers. The superheroes of the tour lure fans in. Yet, as stories like that of Michael Visacki remind us, a big part of the charm isn’t only the mutants who can drive the ball to Neptune and back, or sink a putt from off the green and into a moon crater, but also the relatable players in golf, who embody the underdog mentality we look for and love when watching sports. For every Dustin Johnson, there exists dozens of players trying to carve out a spot for themselves at the top rungs of a difficult, punishing game. Alas, most of those mini-tour players salute their biggest achievements in the dark. Michael Visacki, extremely far from a household name, qualified for a PGA Tour event this week. Through an emotional video, we got to be there with him, as he dialed his father, and let it sink in that he would realize a lifelong dream and play on golf’s biggest stage. After years of build-up and desire, Visacki would get his chance to tee off at the Valspar Championship. At the end of the day, that is what this Tour is all about when we take a step back. It’s not paying boatloads of cash for TV appearances, like the Super Golf League/Premier Golf League (cool name though) wants to be. It is a bunch of people playing the game they fell in love with. Sure, right now they might be focused on the next paycheck from a sponsor, or placing well at an upcoming event. Rest assured though, as Michael Visacki reminded us, every player isn’t here because they saw the high payout for events. Make no mistake, each and every person to swing a club on the PGA Tour is here because there is nothing they want more badly in life, no bigger dream, than to play golf for a living.

MOMENT OF THE TOURNAMENT: SATURDAY FREE-FOR ALL

On Saturday afternoon, the leaders walked into a reptile receptacle. On this beautiful Tampa day at Innisbrook, they knocked on the front door of the serpent shack. After 2 ⅚ days of magnificent golf, Max Homa, Sam Burns, and Keegan Bradley entered the Snake Pit, looking to pull away from the competition and attain what would be a life-changing win. For Homa, it would mean going from outside of the Top 100 in the Official World Golf Rankings at the beginning of 2021, with one win and one made cut at a major, to the top of the golf world, as the first PGA Tour player to achieve two victories in this Year of the Ox. Keegan Bradley had climbed the mountain before, with a win in his major debut at the 2011 PGA Championship months after his 25th birthday, but wanted to get back to that peak, with a win that would be his second since August 2012. Finally, there was Sam Burns, who celebrated his 15th birthday weeks before Keegan’s aforementioned win at the PGA Championship in Atlanta, and was looking to have a win under his belt before blowing out the candles on his 25th B-day. Some might say that these guys needed a big win. All three entered the Snake Pit looking to set themselves up for Sunday success, which could come simply by making par on all three. This was the only 3 hole stretch on the course where each hole averaged 0.07 strokes above par. Zero eagles were scored here all week. Burns and Homa bogeyed the 16th, and made 3 on the Par 3 17th. Bradley remained even through the first two. 18 was where the magic arrived, with Burns and Bradley both finding the bunker, and needing 2 shots to make par. Neither could. On the other hand, Homa found the fringe, and sank an immaculate birdie putt from off the green. When the sand from the bunker settled, Homa trailed by just a stroke after losing by 4 heading into the weekend. Those are the periods that golf is all about. Sometimes, it’s the dramatic finishes. Other times, like at the 2021 Valspar Championship where Sam Burns pulled away over the final 18, it’s not the Sundays that are most significant. It’s the moments where 3 guys are vying for a career-changing win. It’s the moments when there’s still a day of golf to play, but these athletes must execute three back-breaking holes to get the chance for that elusive victory. It’s the moments that remind you why we love this sport - because of the fight one must show for four long days to get so much as a single win.