The Tour Grind
I was thinking when I turned into some of the action over the weekend how the Tour can really be a meat grinder, by that I mean how hard it is to stay out there and actually win or even harder…..win again.
With the lack of star power ( at least by a rankings standpoint ) and really only Rory as one of the "world's best" in the field, it kind of made you notice other guys ……guys like Keegan Bradley who even though he's been playing better lately and has some top ten finishes but no wins in 9 years, he's a major winner !!!!! he won the freakin PGA Championship around 12 years ago …where've ya been ??? Jason Day hasn’t won in years, another former Major winner who unfortunately hasn’t had the greatest luck in the health department …I see Nick Watney's name making a few cuts in the last year or so …great …where the fuck have you been since you won Doral 11 years ago ?? and little Rickie Fowler with the smooth putting stroke who won the Players making birdie on 17 like 3 straight times ….a star in the making, a top ten majors machine from 2016-2018 ….he's not qualified for any of the majors and now is out of any WGC event because of his ranking of 112….
I could go on and on but the point is that nothing comes easy though it may look that way for periods of time ..like Scottie Sheffler and then it’s the opposite for someone like Spieth who fell out of the top 50 as quick as he ascended to numero uno back in 2016 …..Rory's last major was in 2014 …he looked like a threat to get double digit major wins before 30 …..he's now 35 with a wife and a kid and still sitting on the 4 he had as a 27 year old……if you think about it , I'd say the most consistent guy on Tour has been DJ over the past 15 or so years….21 wins , has a streak or maybe just broke it but he won every year for like 11 years in a row ……another one is JT who has 14 wins and not yet 30 but the morals of story is the grinders….the guys that play 40 stops a year, yea they make a lot of money if they can make cuts but it's that elusive win. I'm sure Bradley will gladly cash his T2 check from the weekend but I'm guessing he's feeling like he let a W get away more than anything.
So the next time we have a tournament and you glance at the leaderboard with of course the sole intention of seeing how your guys are doing …take a peek at the Scott Piercys and Troy Merritts who will be filling out the fields at Greensboro, Houston and all those other stops in between majors and WGC events where JT and Rory and DJ and the rest of privileged ones jet in on the 12 seaters, I for one will be rooting for the Keegans to get back in the winner's circle.