by Gary Williams | Jan 29, 2024 | The Card
18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf… Arnaud Massy, the 1907 Open Championship winner, getting major run on a Saturday night on CBS from Jim Nantz was all we ever needed. Massy was a Frenchman like Matthieu Pavon, the winner of the Farmers Insurance Open. Martin Trainer was born in France but when he won the Puerto Rico Open in 2019, he was representing the United States, but he changed his sporting nationality to French in October of 2022. This of course set off a social media shit storm as Pavon was being declared the first… Read more
by Gary Williams | Jan 22, 2024 | The Card
18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf… Rory’s 34th worldwide win in Dubai is additive on his resume but can be part of something much bigger when we look back on the year. He will turn 35 at the beginning of May and his greatest season was ten years ago with his summer blitz of two majors and a WGC. A career year of wins punctuated by a major win in 2024 is how historic players pass others at the top of the all-time food chain. A win in January is a nice start. Rory’s win… Read more
by Gary Williams | Jan 15, 2024 | The Card
18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf… Tommy Fleetwood is now a seven-time winner on the DP World Tour after his win Sunday at the Dubai Invitational. Add his runner-ups at two majors and Ryder Cup moments and he is unequivocally the most accomplished player yet to win on the PGA Tour. You’d expect him to pick one off this year but if he doesn’t, the hole in the resume will be morphing into a personal rubicon. Any second place in a tournament field of very good players is a solid result. However, the context under… Read more
by Gary Williams | Jan 8, 2024 | The Card
18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf… I’m totally OK with the additional players in the field for the Sentry. With the challenges that exist already to get all members starts, let alone getting the very best together as often as possible, a field of roughly 60 works. Kapalua has been, and remains, the very best place to start the new season. Superior optics and a golf course that produces angles, and height and flight on shots that are uncommon for most tour events. May it always be Maui to start. Mark Rolfing is a friend,… Read more
by Gary Williams | Dec 29, 2023 | The Card
18 observations, thoughts and predictions for the week in golf… Rose Zhang repeated as the NCAA individual champion, and with her U.S. Women’s Amateur and Augusta National Women’s Amateur titles on her list of accomplishments, she left amateur golf with a historic resume and then abruptly won her first start as a professional in the shadows of lower Manhattan. Poised and possessive of easy charm, Zhang is a delight and a massive new marketing chip for the LPGA. The public sector and retail golf platform continue to rise and inspire. If Bandon Dunes or Sand Valley hasn’t added an… Read more
by Gary Williams | Dec 17, 2023 | The Card
18 thoughts, observations and reflections on 18 special holes played in 2023 The opening hole at Chicago Golf Club is a glorious combination of all that the experience there offers. The tee is thrust in the heart of everything. Proximity to the open-air patio, practice putting green, 18th green and the cross walk to the driving range. The hole has big width off the tee and the approach to the first green provides a welcome to the greatest set of greens complexes in America. It’s a top 10 opener in golf. The 2nd hole at Somerset Hills is a beautiful… Read more
by Gary Williams | Dec 11, 2023 | The Card
18 thoughts, observations and predictions… The next player to leave for LIV should get an extra 10 million in the bonus if he says “I’m looking to shrink the game.” Enough of the lame “grow the game” talking point. Its professional sports, you took the best offer. Its OK. Beyond Tiger and Rory, who are non-starters to leave for LIV, Jon Rahm is the most valuable piece on the chess board. Global, provocative, insistent on always being in the hunt and will likely be on the doorstep of a career grand slam in the next couple years. He’s a massive… Read more
by Gary Williams | Dec 4, 2023 | The Card
18 thoughts, observations and predictions… The reported rollback of the golf ball universally will be debated for the years ahead. As I’ve stated from the outset of the Distance Insights report, I support bifurcation. I have concerns about sustainability in 50 years not five years. The two biggest stars in the men’s game, Tiger and Rory, support the rollback which is helpful for the governing bodies but they will need smart and sensible data and messaging in the years ahead to calm the masses. Every tour player screaming about the rollback are paid messengers for the manufacturers. It… Read more
by Gary Williams | Nov 20, 2023 | The Card
18 thoughts, observations and predictions… Ludvig Aberg has done more to legitimize PGA Tour U than any million-dollar ad campaign. Plus, he may have just influenced a few college players to pass on potential LIV dollars. I said MAY HAVE. Nicolai Hojgaard is younger than Aberg and with his win at the DP World Tour Championship has secured his place in the first couple Signature Events on the PGA Tour. Along with his brother Rasmus the three of them represent the potential for three real stars simultaneously from Scandinavian countries. Who needs speed skating? The European pivot to the… Read more
by Gary Williams | Nov 13, 2023 | The Card
18 thoughts, observations and predictions… When a successful tour player ventures into a broadcast booth it’s a sign that that player has likely pondered their own professional mortality. Camilo Villegas did that in August at the Wyndham Championship and three months later he won for the first time in nine years. One of the best stories in years on tour. After Villegas had polished off his fifth win, and over time he has struggled mightily as he and his wife lost their 22-month daughter, Mia, to brain cancer, Villegas started by expressing how much the game had given him,… Read more
