3x FSWA DFS Writer of Year 🏆 ('20, '22-'23), 5x nominee.
RotoWire Sr. Golf Writer.
SiriusXM Fantasy.
MLB/ex-Wash Post.
Dad to a special 11-year-old boy
It took 4 long years, er, months, through sleet, snow and even pandemic, but I reached the promised land last night at the Post Pub in Washington DC. As good as the Len Hochberg burger was, seeing old
@washingtonpost
friends
@ahrensf
,
@jimbrady
&
@SoccerInsider
was far sweeter.
If Cameron Smith wanted to stop all the LIV questions he would flat-out say he's not going, just like Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka did.
Look at this nonsense. No wonder they're gonna play only 54 holes.
Phil Mickelson: age 51
Lee Westwood: 48
Ian Poulter: 46
Henrik Stenson: 45
Adam Scott: 41
#saudigolfleague
⛳️Looking forward to Masters week, when Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and every other LIV guy will say for the umpteenth time that golf needs to come together and not one reporter will then ask them why they left.
Things keep getting worse for LIV Golf.
CW Network stations in about 12 major U.S. cities won't show their tournaments.
Remember when LIV said they'd be on 100% of CW stations nationwide?
Yeah, Greg Norman says a lot of things.
Phil Mickelson had to stick around for the Champions Tour trophy presentation, the only golfer in the field to miss the 5 o'clock dinner special at Denny's.
Number of Camerons in the field at Riviera: 5
Cameron Champ
Camerons Davis
Cameron Smith
Cameron Tringale
Cameron Young
Number of Camerons to make the cut: 5
They should take bets on this
⛳ Next week's Valero Texas Open is LOADED. Early commits:
Rory McIlroy
Jordan Spieth
Ludvig Aberg
Max Homa
Collin Morikawa
Matt Fitzpatrick
Brian Harman
Hideki Matsuyama
Tom Kim
Tommy Fleetwood
Adam Scott
Rickie Fowler
Corey Conners
Eric Cole
Russell Henley
Nicolai Hojgaard
Cameron Tringale's departure for LIV Golf leaves big shoes to fill on the PGA Tour. Someone is gonna have to step up and finish 27th in all these tournaments now.
If you go to a LIV Golf event (or an Asian Tour event, apparently) and you don't know what to yell at Patrick Reed during his backswing, here is a one-stop shop of things that will really piss him off.
Good job, Tom Brady.
Telling Jeff Ross to not talk about Robert Kraft getting a massage has gotten millions of people talking about Robert Kraft getting a massage.
⛳ Decent field shaping up for next week's Cognizant Classic
Rory McIlroy
Rickie Fowler
Matt Fitzpatrick
Justin Rose
Shane Lowry
Chris Kirk
Gary Woodland
Min Woo Lee
Russell Henley
Sepp Straka
If they had this field the past few years, it might still be called the Honda Classic
Whoa. Next week's American Express tournament is flat-out loaded. This wasn't supposed to happen at non-elevated events.
Jon Rahm
Scottie Scheffler
Patrick Cantlay
Xander Schauffele
Will Zalatoris
Tony Finau
Tom Kim
Sam Burns
Sungjae Im
Sahith Theegala
Rickie Fowler
⛳ What a fall from grace for Zach Johnson in less than a year.
The PGA of America picked Johnson as Ryder Cup captain but didn't invite him to the PGA - but did invite the guy who whupped him, Luke Donald.
See, Zach, being told to F-off doesn't feel so good.
⛳ Phil Mickelson was right.
The PGA Tour was sitting on an ungodly sum of cash.
They had so much cash that it was gone in less than one season and they had to make a deal with the devil to survive.
Masters DFS Game Theory:
-91 in field, eliminate 13 amateurs/older champs. That's 78
-50+ties make cut, about 2/3 of field
-So, many $6000s will make cut
-7 of past 10 champs were top-12 OWGR
-Try to get 2 pricey guys in your lineup, don't fear the $6000s
-Find good scramblers
🚨
#NEW
: Cam Smith & Marc Leishman are heading to LIV GOLF according to fellow Australian golfer Cam Percy, who finished T8 at the Wyndham. “Unfortunately, yeah they’re gone”, Percy said the deals are already done. (Via RSN Radio Australia)
⛳️What the heck's going on at next week's Amex, a *lesser* event? Early commits show a flat-out loaded field:
Scottie Scheffler
Patrick Cantlay
Xander Schauffele
Justin Thomas
Rickie Fowler
Tony Finau
Tom Kim
Sam Burns
Min Woo Lee
Shane Lowry
Chris Kirk
Sungjae Im
Michael Block
⛳ Early commits for next week's Houston Open
Scottie Scheffler
Wyndham Clark
Will Zalatoris
Tony Finau
Sahith Theegala
Nick Dunlap
Billy Horschel
Gary Woodland
Si Woo Kim
Kevin Kisner
Kurt Kitayama
Ryan Fox 🦊
Austin Eckroat
Jake Knapp 😴
Akshay Bhatia
Golf fan No. 1: "How do you make yourself look like a bigger a-hole than Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, Sergio García AND Brooks Koepka combined?"
Golf fan No. 2: "I don't believe that's humanly possible."
Talor Gooch: Hold my beer.
⛳ Early commits for next week's 2-man Zurich Classic. Not too shabby.
Rory McIlroy-Shane Lowry
Patrick Cantlay-Xander Schauffele
Collin Morikawa-Kurt Kitayama
Will Zalatoris-Sahith Theegala
Brothers!
Matt & Alex Fitzpatrick
Nicolai & Rasmus Hojgaard
Parker & Pierceson Coody
Mr. President, with all due respect, you are wrong. The fires in So. Cal are urban interface fires and have NOTHING to do with forest management. Come to SoCal and learn the facts & help the victims. Scott Austin, Pres IAFF 809.
@IAFFNewsDesk
Half of golf rips
@kevinna915
over slow play. So for him to punch down against a lesser player was weak.
@GraysonMurray
has courageously gone public with his alcohol issues and is trying to save his golf career.
Let's see tough-guy Na say something to a better player.
Not a great week for LIV Golf. Six things went wrong:
1) Lost major court motion
2) Denied OWGR points (for now)
3,4,5,6) Four rounds by Tiger Woods. The worst news for LIV was also the best news for the PGA Tour: Tiger is back and fans can't wait to see him again
Golf is a sport that penalizes you if you nudge one blade of grass or grain of sand.
Yet they all but gave Billy Horschel a lawnmower on 18.
WTF? Just so effing extreme and tournament altering.
@Ourand_SBJ
When Howard Stern was going head to head with Don Imus in New York radio many years ago, Stern looked at Imus' ratings and said: "I could yell out the window and reach more people."
Brooks Koepka was a bully and coward for picking on the one teammate he would dare yell at. He's clearly not a team player. Ripping a guy publicly by staging an orchestrated attack with a reporter is not a team guy.
Also: Matthew Wolff Is ranked 25th in LIV. Chase Koepka is 47th
@LenHochberg
You clearly haven’t watched LeBron and his teammates over the course of his career.
Kobe killed guys too.
Brooks was direct and honest. Obviously he couldn’t trade or waive him, so he’s airing it out hoping to spark better play.
Number of Kevins who missed the Pebble Beach cut: 5
Kevin Chappell
Kevin Kisner
Kevin Stadler
Kevin Streelman
Kevin Tway
Number of Kevins who made the cut: 0
@JimMiller
@RealTomShales
A brutal but oh-so-clever takedown of a Kathie Lee Gifford Christmas special.
An all-time great lede:
"Give her enough tinsel and she'll hang herself. And she does."
⛳️Only four players in this PLAYERS field have managed to even finish in the top-25 the past two years:
Viktor Hovland (both top-10s)
Max Homa
Russell Henley
Adam Hadwin
Not Scottie Scheffler, not Rory McIlroy, no one else.
Golf Twitter has been pretty muted over Dustin Johnson being paired with Brooks Koepka. It's the first time since Koepka noted at the PGA Championship that Johnson had "only one" major. Since then, DJ has three wins, including the Masters, and two seconds.
There's an outcry! People are saying the PGA Tour is stealing from LIV Golf.
Remember when the Tour had no galleries during the pandemic? Well, LIV stole that and nobody said a word.
⛳ So lemme get this straight - Rory McIlroy can't say anything about Phil Mickelson because he has fewer majors?
That's the only criteria for being able to say something about another golfer?
Character & dignity don't matter? How about honor & integrity?
McIlroy > Mickelson
Danny Willett has been living off his five-year exemption for winning the 2016 Masters. That exemption ends this week. He needs to finish in the top-125 to keep his card. He's currently 127th.
⛳ Amazing-but-true golf factoid:
If Brooks Koepka wins the U.S. Open this week he'd incredibly tie Phil Mickelson all-time with six majors.
If that's not stunning enough, Koepka would have all six by age 33 - before Mickelson even won his first at age 34.
Brooks Koepka has always played great at TPC Scottsdale. Two-time winner. Some great memories. Should be a great week for him at the upcoming WM Phoenix Open.
⛳️Putting inside 10 feet is something I'm looking at very closely this week at the Valspar.
Last year, Taylor Moore went 64-for-64 inside 7 feet and won the tournament.
That also helps with another key consideration: bogey avoidance.
⛳ Just remember: A Brooks Koepka win today might validate him as the best golfer of his generation, but would NOT validate LIV Golf or offer "proof" LIV guys should be allowed on the PGA Tour.
No matter what happens today, LIV guys still voluntarily chose to leave.
⛳️Tip: Don't dismiss all guys in the $6000s
-70+ties make PGA cut
-156 in field, eliminate 20 club pros = 136
-Eliminate half-dozen or so older champs = 130
-Eliminate about 15-20 guys from lesser tours = 110
-70+ties out of 110 make cut (almost 2/3) = lotta $6000s make cut
⛳ The hardest hole on the entire PGA Tour last season was the 18th at Renaissance Club in the Scottish Open.
-Par-4, 483 yards
-Scoring average 4.617
-Only 6 birdies there all week
-40 double bogeys
And this last fact is surreal:
-More bogeys than pars (211-205)
1/2
-
@Daniel_Rapaport
I'm sorry if Matt Fitzpatrick is upset that fans aren't wedged in like sardines like at most U.S. Opens, unable to see the golfers, walk or find a place to sit.
⛳ Wow, two in a row and 3 of the past 4 is a bit overwhelming. But no less appreciated.
Thank you to the
@FSWA
, to
@RotoWire
and to everyone who reads my stuff.
It's just a short hop from Augusta to Hilton Head Island for this week's RBC Heritage. All the top golfers are there - except Patrick Cantlay, who's not there yet.
After all that, Phil Mickelson missed the cut in a weak Asian Tour field in Saudi Arabia.
His week, which began with one of those best-shape-of-my-life claims while looking Ike Benjamin Button, and saying he could win more majors, ends with an embarrassing Friday trunk-slam.
⛳ I'm gonna to Riviera in 3 months. Gonna have a great time as I do every year.
I can assure you that Jon Rahm or anyone else (but Tiger Woods) not being there won't change it one iota for me.
"Wow, the vibe is different this year - oh, I know! No Jon Rahm," said no one ever.
Proud Dad Moment:
First week of third grade, a boy was bullying a girl in my son's class. My son walked over and asked the girl if everything was okay. The boy walked away. The girl told her dad.
The Hochberg family has a new addition!
2020 has a baby brother. 2022 arrived yesterday at 4:03 pm - he's 8 1/2 ounces, 7 3/4 inches.
Writer and award are doing well.
Thank you to the
@FSWA
.
Thank you to
@RotoWire
.
Thank you for reading.