Does golf really need another Silly Season event?
The debut of the highly watchable Optum Golf Channel Games Wednesday night indicated that . . . yes, it just might.
If you missed the action from Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla., two teams of four pros — one captained by world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and the other by world No. 2 Rory McIlroy — competed in five skills challenges: timed drives, which were set up as head-to-head duels in which the players bombed tee shots into a scoring grid; timed short-game shots, in which the players hit a series of chips before hustling to a golf cart for a short commute to a green for a timed putting contest; a 14-club challenge, in which the players battled in a closest-to-the-pin competition with every club in the bag; a frenetic team relay, in which each team collectively played a hole, alternating shots among teammates; and, finally, a captain’s challenge, which pitted only McIlroy and Scheffler in a test of their short-game acumen.
The event opened with the least compelling of the formats: the long-drive contest — we already know these guys can bomb it! — which was saved only by the youthful, wide-eyed energy of Luke Clanton (Team Scheffler), who proved to be the surprise star of the evening (his intentionally bladed 170-yard gap wedge to 15 feet awed his peers). As the event progressed, it became far more interesting with the players sweating nervy flop shots over a “Big Break”-inspired wall; rushing 5-foot putts (and missing them); and coming together for team relays that had all the joy of a year-end elementary-school field-day event, albeit starring wildly skilled elementary schoolers.
This is what golf fans have been clamoring for: not another sleepy fourball exhibition in the desert or a reboot of a money-match format that worked a generation ago. No, golf-watchers instead have been aching for golf’s answer to MLB’s Home Run Derby, a you-don’t-see-this-every-week competition through which the most talented players in the world can showcase those talents in new and exciting ways. And also . . . uncomfortable ways. Really, that was the key. Put the guys on the clock. Make them work as teams. Take clubs out of their bags. Tease out their skills in ways we’ve never seen before.
“We tried something new,” McIlroy said afterward. “And sometimes when you do try something new, it doesn’t work out. But I think this one really did tonight. I think the biggest thing is all the players were into it, and I think that hopefully came across on TV.”
The night deserved a memorable ending, and it got it. At the culmination of the captain’s challenge, Scheffler and McIlroy were deadlocked. The playoff: a captain-vs.-captain do-or-die chip from 47 yards. McIlroy played first, coolly hitting his attempt to 6 or so feet. Scheffler followed with a nifty chip of his own to … yup, 6 or so feet.
The early indication was that McIlroy’s ball was marginally closer, but it was too close to call. Out came tape-measure-wielding PGA Tour rules official Ken Tackett. After measuring the distance of each ball from the cup, Tackett first declared McIlroy the winner.
But when members of Team Scheffler called for a re-measure, the tale of the tape told a different story. As Tackett was, for a second time, sizing up Scheffler’s ball, McIlroy’s teammate, Shane Lowry, peered down at the tape measure and could see the ruling was going to be reversed. Resigned to his team’s fate, Lowry picked up Scheffler’s ball and tossed it in a greenside pond.
An unexpected end to what was an unexpectedly successful night.
This article originated on Golf.com
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