Stray Shots: The Boys (and party) are back
JT & Rickie fare well in Japan; Phoenix won't teetotal; Pro Cup pits sports-league teams
By Peter Kaufman
Joel Dahmen and Harry Higgs got into the Phoenix party spirit (Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
We at Stray Shots don’t have a crystal ball, though it sometimes sure seems that way. It was but two weeks ago that we identified an end-of-season story line of real interest. To wit: how will fare in 2025 the Troika Bro-skis of Messrs. Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler, all of whom have fallen on relatively tough times.
Wonder no more.
1. Rising sons? While someone named Nico Echavarria won the Zozo Championship last weekend in Japan, our focus is not on the now 102nd-ranked player in the world (and that after he won the tournament). No, the interesting take from the Zozo is:
Thomas closing with a 66 to finish one shot back and T2;
Fellow Bro-ski Fowler manufacturing a second 64 for solo fourth place, three back.
Thomas’ gaudy metrics told the tale in Japan. He was 10th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee; third in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green; and first in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green. When you are driving well and have the touch around — although not necessarily on — the greens, that’s a pretty fair recipe for success that week.
Not dissimilarly, Fowler was first in Strokes Gained: Total; second in Strokes Gained Tee to Green; and third in Strokes Gained: Around the Green.
A cautionary note: Strokes Gained: Putting had Thomas 66th and Fowler 25th last week. Hopefully they both will purchase some Celebrity Greens from Mark O’Meara this winter and come back stronger with the flat stick.
Thomas is now back up to 24th in the OWGR and Fowler 73rd — far cries from their respective historic highs of No. 1 and 4, respectively. No, the Zozo does not have the field of the Players, but there were some really good players in 78-man field. That Thomas and Fowler were able to produce such fine and very-close-to-winning golf certainly augurs well for their 2025 seasons.
It’s super exciting to see them both on form and in the top five last week, especially given their long victory droughts (Thomas at 29 months since the 2022 PGA Championship and Fowler at 15 months the 2023 Rocket Mortgage).
Fowler, whose maternal grandfather is Japanese, kept an amazing streak alive of 16 straight years of at least one top-10 finish on the PGA Tour. That begs the question: is Rickie really that old? Yup, he is 35.
2. Waste Management, indeed. At first blush, the headline “WM Phoenix Open rule changes” struck fear into our hearts. Who doesn’t like a good party now and again? And no golfers party as well as the crazies at the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale during the Phoenix Open.
So anything that might decrease access to adult beverages in that 20,000 person amphitheater — or reduce the ability to yell, scream, misbehave, insult or cheer players and caddies, or strip down to your skivvies (or less) — well that gets our attention, and not in a good way.