Golfpocalypse is a collection of words that runs prior to each week’s PGA Tour event, mostly about that event. Reach out with your hottest takes on absolutely anything at [email protected]. We’ll publish the best emails here.
I won’t lie to you: Life is tough for the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. It’s the week after a major, but it doesn’t have the calm, easy breezy Hilton Head vibe that works so well post-Masters. Instead, it’s in some soulless Dallas suburbs, and I apologise to anyone this will offend, but Dallas is about as miserable as it gets in the category of “American cities not named Orlando.” Nobody seems to like TPC Craig Ranch that much either. Also, it’s hot. Also, only one player from the OWGR top 20 is showing up. Also, it’s annoying that we have to use the words “CJ Cup” in the title of what used to be an iconic tournament. This belongs with the Cognizant in the class of tournaments where I wish I could be in the room when Brian Rolapp officially nixes it from the schedule, so I could cheer like when they dynamite an old building.
But.
BUT.
Scottie Scheffler is here. So is Jordan Spieth. So is Brooks Koepka. So is “Herr Excitement,” Matti Schmid.
Just kidding about Matti, but the three-headed dragon of Scheffler, Spieth and Koepka ain’t nothing, and it proves that the third leg of the Texas swing isn’t just all hat and no cattle. It’s all hat, and a little cattle. Let’s make the best of this thing, folks.
1. Is this where Scottie gets his mojo back?
You know how, when a three-point shooter has gone cold in basketball, but he gets fouled, the announcers always say that hitting a free throw might be all he needs to find his touch again? Is the Byron Nelson, where after him it’s crickets on the OWGR front until Si Woo Kim at No. 24, Scottie Scheffler’s version of seeing the ball go through the hoop? Should the other guys in the top 15 have drawn lots to force a few of them to sign up and at least give him something to think about so he doesn’t get a free trampoline bounce into the rest of the summer?
Now, look, I know golf doesn’t work this way. None of the rest of these guys is going to roll over and play dead, and a few people are going to have great weeks that are hard to match even for the world No. 1, but I also have an insane stat that might be more relevant.
2. The insane Scottie stat that proves he’s going to win by 30
Scheffler has played 10 events so far this year. Do you know how many players in the field this week have beaten him at any of those events?
Four.
Schmid at the PGA, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Rodgers and Ryo Hisatsune at The Players.
So if you took his head to head against everyone in the field, his record against them in stroke play events in 2026 is about a billion wins and four losses.
Also, the man shot 31 under here a year ago. I’m not saying you should bet your mortgage on a repeat, but you should at least bet your best mate’s mortgage.
3. One last Scottie thing: Don’t worry about his putting
This is coming from the man who wrote the “Scottie blew the PGA because he couldn’t putt” take, which I think is true, but which isn’t as foreboding as it may have seemed in 2023. Don’t forget, between winning at Quail Hollow and Portrush last year, he turned in a stinker of a putting week at Oakmont. The big thing to look at is SG: Putting, where he was 162nd in 2023, improved to 77th in 2024, and rose all the way to 22nd last year. This year, even after dropping 12 spots last week, he’s still 26th.
He’s also still working with Phil Kenyon, who is about as close to an unimpeachable guru as we’ve ever had in this sport. Anyone can look bad for a week, but I truly think his bounce back from the weird greens at Aronimink is going to be swift and sudden.
4. The Jordan Spieth Sadness Index (JSSI)
I upped it to a 9.8 before the Truist, when he semi stunk it up with a T-52 finish, but after a sneaky T-18 at the PGA, which included the unleashing of a functionally insane shot that dropped the jaws of everyone in golf, including his fellow players, combined with a weak field this week and a tournament in his home state where he has a runner up finish in the past, we’re dropping this baby to a 4.9.
We’ve come achingly close to a top 10 a couple times in 2026, with two T-11s and two T-12s, and I think this is going to be the week where he doesn’t just crack that grass ceiling, but gets inside the top five. And I, for one, believe we should get George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” banner out of the basement for when it happens.
5. This is where Brooks tells us if we should take him seriously in 2026
I am firmly in the “Brooks will be great again” camp, just because I think someone that tough, accomplished and apparently healthy can’t fail to make another run at it eventually. But the more pressing question is whether he can make any noise this year.
He’s been solid enough to inspire hope. Actually, he’s been pretty Spieth-like when you look at his finishes. But he’s mostly settled outside the top 10 at best and hasn’t quite shown that extra gear. Like Spieth and Scottie, he has a chance to do something special against a weaker field this week and give us a taste of whether he can turn it on for Shinnecock and Birkdale.
The good news is that his ball-striking is near-elite: eighth in SG: Tee to Green. The bad news is his putting stinks, ranking 141st. He’s profiling like a poor man’s 2023 Scottie, and his PGA performance was perfectly on brand. He gained strokes tee-to-green and lost them on the putting green. Kenyon this man ASAP!
6. Do we need to say anything more about TPC Craig Ranch?
I liked reading this discussion from 2024 at The Fried Egg, especially Brendan Porath’s succinct, hilarious summary: “This is a bad golf course, actively hurting, how much, who knows, maybe not a lot, and certainly not helping the stature of a languid event already set adrift by the PGA Tour.”
I guess other than “boring,” the thing that sticks out is that the three par fives all played incredibly easy last year, a half stroke or more under par. It’s going to be a birdie fest, and it should neutralise bombers, but we probably need a really close finish between prominent players or an apocalyptic dose of wind before we describe it as “fun.”
7. Ranking the sponsor’s exemptions
Fine
Yongun Bae. The CJ folks are getting their Korean guy in. Sure.
Young and Southern
Mason Howell, William Sides, Preston Stout. The Byron Nelson loves getting the young guns into the field. They did it with both Scheffler and Spieth back in the day, so I say okay, have at it.
Speaking of sponsors’ exemptions, has anyone ever tried calling up someone like Rory McIlroy, saying, “Congratulations, Rory, you’ve received a sponsor’s exemption to the CJ Cup Byron Nelson!” and tried to trick him into coming? Might be worth a shot.
8. One normie pick, one weird pick
You ready for this? The Danes are finally going to win. That’s right, the first ever Danish PGA Tour win is coming, probably from Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, but maybe from Rasmus Hojgaard.
I spent a little time with a Danish writer at the PGA last week, and it just feels like Danish vibes are in the air. My only worry is that their cold Nordic blood won’t stand up to the heat, and they’ll be found half melted, drinking from a poisoned oasis.
My normie pick is Mr. Scottie Scheffler. I am an unapologetic renegade.
9. Rogue Golf Thought: I can’t get over Aaron Rai’s pressure play
In the aftermath of Rai winning the PGA, it feels like a lot of the focus was on his general human niceness and the moving, now very well-trodden, iron covers story, but I’m not sure we made enough of how he closed that tournament.
It was like watching Michael Jordan at his sociopathic peak, red hot and out for blood. Look at these stats that Digest’s Jamie Kennedy compiled:
Error.
I mean, even at the world’s easiest course, this would be wildly impressive. But this was not the world’s easiest course, and the best players in the world were stuck in neutral all day. Rory, Scottie, Rahm. None of them could do anything but run in place, and here’s Aaron Rai lighting it up and shutting it down.
This has to be the greatest example of “seizing your only moment” I’ve ever seen. I guess I agree with everyone who says he’ll never win another major. The data certainly supports it. But even if he never does another thing in his life, he’s a badass forever.
10. Rogue Non Golf Thought: Screw you, I will not arrive 30 minutes early for a doctor’s appointment
Tuesday morning, I logged into my medical chart thing before an 11 am appointment, and on the screen, in big letters, it said, “ARRIVE BY 10:30.”
You had to look lower, in a smaller and lighter font, to see the words “appointment begins at 11:00.”
Big Medicine was trying desperately to get me there 30 minutes early, but I saw right through them and arrived promptly at 10:55.
Here’s what I will do, medical establishment: I will fill out all the questionnaires online, and I will pay my co-pay online ahead of time. This is an act of self-interest because it keeps me from having to deal with a human being once I arrive.
However, in my long history of being a man who goes to the doctor, I have never once been seen early because I arrived early. Arriving early is a big scam to make sure I’m not late, and I won’t play their game because I really don’t care if I’m late.
You and I both know I’m going to spend 45 minutes in a series of rooms, reading a series of poster charts about depression, BMI and Ebola before I ever get seen by a doctor. You better believe I’m not voluntarily adding 30 minutes on top of that.
Call me a hero if you must, but I reject your time tricks in the name of laziness.
