Monday Scramble: Rules further divide Tour pros and the USGA

The Tour player-USGA relationship deteriorates, Keith Mitchell breaks through, Vijay Singh holds his own, Michelle Wie withdraws (again) and more in this week’s edition of Monday Scramble:

Two-plus months into this era of new, simplified rules, there remains as much confusion – and contention – as ever.

There’s been a communication breakdown between the governing bodies and the PGA Tour. The rules modernization was seven years in the making, and the Tour has had a seat at the table the entire way. That means either the Tour didn’t properly articulate the dissenting views of its players, or the governing bodies didn’t accept their feedback during that process or in the six-month comment period.

Where the USGA and R&A erred was not having a soft launch of the new rules, no trial run on the lesser tours to iron out some of the mistakes in the written language. And so they’re playing out in real time, in real tournaments with real repercussions, and already they’ve had to amend one of the rules because in practice it didn’t work as intended. It’s messy, it’s ugly, and it’s created some chaos.

Where do we go from here?

The USGA has vowed to “redouble” its efforts so Tour players can understand the “why” of the rules, but they seem unwilling to budge on some of the most-discussed changes, like leaving in the flagstick, dropping from knee height and not allowing a caddie to stand behind a player once he’s taken a stance.

If that’s the case, Tour players and caddies need to suck it up and learn the rules, but hard feelings will persist.

The relationship seems irreparably broken.

1. It’s the tweet that will live in Golf Twitter infamy:

After months of being blasted by Tour players over the new rules, the USGA – or at least, someone within the USGA – finally decided to push back ...

And it did so with the most tone-deaf and ridiculous tweet you can imagine, directed, apparently, at the wrong target.

Justin Thomas told reporters Sunday at the Honda Classic that “it was a little shocking” to see the USGA’s official Twitter account single him out and that it was a “little upsetting, because it was inaccurate.” Thomas said he hasn’t canceled any meetings and that he’s had multiple conversations this year with USGA representatives.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “It really hurt me.”

Desperately needing a better relationship with today’s players to remain relevant, the USGA instead continued to dig a deeper hole.

2. This week’s kerfuffle started because Adam Schenk was docked two shots for running afoul of the new caddie-alignment rule.

Schenk’s caddie set up behind his player, running through the options on a tricky bunker shot, and then moved out of his line of play. Schenk didn’t reset, because he was on the downslope of a bunker, and proceeded to hit the shot. So, yes, the way the rule is written, it was a penalty.

The point is that it shouldn’t have been.

The new rules were supposed to introduce more common sense, right? A Tour player does not need help lining up on a 20-yard bunker shot. It’s obvious that player and caddie were discussing the shot, with no intent to assist in the actual alignment of the shot.

It needs to be rewritten – again.

3. Only three players have been worse statistically on the greens this season than Keith Mitchell. His wedge play was putrid, too – 212^th out of 221 qualifiers. Those weaknesses were the biggest reason why the tantalizing Georgia product has remained on the fringes of Tour contention.

Mitchell has been working hard to improve in those areas, and it showed on the 72nd hole at the Honda Classic. After laying up on the reachable par 5 because he drove into a fairway bunker, Mitchell had 129 yards to the flag for his third shot. His perfectly struck wedge shot stayed underneath the hole on the rock-hard greens, and then he poured in the 15-footer for his breakthrough victory.

If Mitchell continues to fine-tune those aspects of his game, there’s a lot of Brooks Koepka in him.

4. Motivation can come from a variety of places.

Mitchell’s came from not wanting to once again feel the disappointment of coming close. It came from a friend who sent him a newspaper clipping with the headline: “Two relative unknowns share lead at Honda Classic.” It came from another friend who texted him: Nobody cares about you, so good luck.

And yet Mitchell made the Honda his first Tour win. It was just his second victory, anywhere, since 2010. The other? A mini-tour win in 2016, on something called the TP Tour.

5. It was an oddly fascinating final round.

Mitchell, Ryan Palmer, Lucas Glover and Vijay Singh are some of the shakiest putters you’ll ever find, and yet at one point they all were tied for the lead, trying to wiggle in enough putts down the stretch to hang at the top.

Palmer missed a 7-footer on the last to post 8 under.

Singh left several putts short and missed twice inside 7 feet.

And Glover’s two misses from inside 5 feet earlier in the week would have gotten him to 9 under – or enough for a playoff.

6. Listen closely to the end of the Honda telecast, and you can hear some groans when Mitchell rolls in his putt.

There’s a reason for that.

The South Florida fans wanted to see Rickie Fowler and Koepka duel in a playoff, and who could blame them?

Fowler, who already has a win this season, birdied three of his last four holes (including a dramatic 50-footer on No. 17) to post 8 under. Koepka didn’t miss a shot down the stretch and birdied two of the last three for a 66 to get in the house at the same number.

All signs point to Fowler finally being ready to make that major leap, while Koepka is about to get cooking. After his traditionally rough performances on poa annua, he’s back on Bermuda and getting his game in gear for The Players and the Masters.

7. Vijay Singh is still bringing the heat at age 56.

Trying to shatter the mark for the oldest winner in Tour history, Singh pushed the leaders until the end, or at least until he found the water with his tee shot on 17.

It was his first top-10 in a Tour event since 2016, but he showed that he still has the all-around game to warrant the occasional spot start with the kids.

He finished the week ranked fourth in strokes gained: tee to green at one of the most difficult non-major venues of the season. Stout.

8. Michelle Wie is back on the sidelines, after withdrawing from the HSBC Women’s Championship because of a hand injury. It’s the same hand that required surgery last fall, the latest in a string of setbacks for the LPGA’s star-crossed talent.

An MRI showed that there’s no new injury, just tendon inflammation, and she’ll be reevaluated later this month after letting the nerves settle down.

The hopes of an injury-free season will have to wait until 2020.

Adam Scott entered the Honda Classic with his best putting stats in 15 years ... and then over the first two rounds he used not only a different putter, but a different grip, too.

Huh?

Using an armlock putting style and leaving the pin in on every putt, Scott was 18^th in strokes gained: putting with a pair of top-7 finishes this season. But apparently he was unsatisfied.

Sure, there were areas of concern – he was 214^th on Tour from 4 to 8 feet – but rather than try something new, like taking out the pin on short range, Scott decided to blow it all up and start over, despite the encouraging overall results.

Perhaps not surprisingly, he missed the cut at the Honda – and ranked 58^th in putting.

This week’s award winners ...

Thanks, Tiger!: Sung-Hyun Park. The world No. 2 credited Woods – whom she met last month during a promotional shoot for TaylorMade – with her comeback victory at the HSBC. Park shot 64 to overtake top-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn and said afterward that meeting her idol gave her “good energy.”

Don’t Look Now, But ...: Michael Thompson. His tie for 16^th was his fifth consecutive top-20 on Tour. The one-time Honda winner is playing some of the best golf of his life.

Factory: Georgia golf. The Bulldogs now have have 10 PGA Tour winners under head coach Chris Haack, which is a cool stat for this totally unbiased Georgia alum.

Gritty: Kurt Kitayama. He won for the second time on the European Tour, this time at the Oman Open, despite starting his third round like this: Quad, bogey, bogey. Once the third round restarted, he rebounded with six birdies and an eagle the rest of the way for a Saturday 71 and eventual one-stroke victory.

Flair for the Dramatic: Andrew Paysee. The former Texas A&M standout jarred his 181-yard approach on the final hole to move into 10^th place at Q-School, securing guaranteed starts this season on PGA Tour Canada. Clutch.

Training for ... the Honda?: Brooks. Watching his workout video over the weekend, it’s unclear whether Koepka was preparing to take on PGA National or repping out 225 for the NFL Combine. Hey, he projects as a free-safety prospect, if he’s interested in that route.

Blown Fantasy Pick of the Week: Adam Scott. He’s had top-15s at PGA National every year since 2014, including a win in 2016, and his improved putting has led a hot start this season. So of course he missed the cut. Sigh.