OUT OF BOUNDS
By Gary Van Sickle
Everything you wanted to know (and more) about golf in 2019
O
ne old Frank Sinatra song title tells you all you need to know about golf in 2018: It was a very good year.
Yes, 2018 had everything, including
a well-known fellow nicknamed for a ferocious jungle beast. That will be a tough act to follow. Can 2019 even come close? Here’s the view from my ol’ blue eyes. Three’s company: Brooks Koepka
won two majors and still feels like he gets no respect? He somehow reminds me of Marvel’s always-angry character The Hulk — “Hulk want food! ... Hulk not like tanks!” His back-to- back U.S. Open titles at Erin Hills and Shinnecock Hills were marvels, but Koepka probably won’t be the favorite at Pebble Beach, the 2019 Open host, either, because it’s supposedly a tract for straight shooters and cunning putters, not big hitters. So nobody’s won a third straight Open since Willie Anderson in 1905? That’s just the motivation that will push Koepka to pull off an historic three-peat. “Hulk not like losing!” Seven days in May: Spring was so
late arriving in Pittsburgh, where I live, that I didn’t take the snow tires off my car until mid-May. So what will a PGA Championship at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course look like when it moves to May, barely a month behind the Masters? Ski hats, ice scrapers and hand warmers may be required. That said, a flurry of excitement and prestige for the new date will make up for any actual, um, flurries. Of course, conditions could be warm and green but that’s up to Weather Channel, which controls our weather, as we all know. Early cold call on the winner: former PGA champion Justin Thomas, who’s stronger than a nor’easter. Back, back, back: Yes, a gent named Tiger Woods won for the 80th time
44 | AZ GOLF Insider | ANNUAL 2018
last fall and the scene at Atlanta’s Tour Championship was one for the ages. Many believed Woods was done making history, including Woods, who was at rock bottom with a debilitating back problem until a fusion procedure turned his life around. I correctly predicted Woods would play all four majors, an unlikely call a year ago. Now I see Tiger getting to 82 and beyond in ’19,
will be converted to head-start strokes at the Tour Championship. Call it handicapping for tour pros. I predict a wave of golf purist outrage in Atlanta before the event but resigned relief after the first run-through in August as viewers (and huffy media) discover how much easier life is without those danged points. The Tour Championship will be a better product with this new format. Will it be a significant championship? Whoa, I didn’t say that. All the Presidents men: I see
the International team upsetting the U.S. when the Presidents Cup goes to Melbourne later this year. I also see you yawning about it, if you even notice. It happens every year: I always
get this prediction correct — the Waste Management Phoenix Open will set another attendance record. The big comeback: Last year, I
Last year, I correctly forecast a big year for
Bubba Watson, who scored three wins and made the
Ryder Cup team. This year, it’s Jordan Spieth’s turn.
maybe even to major championship No. 15 if his back holds together and he retains some of his putting magic at age 43. Will it happen at the Masters? Nope — at the British Open when it returns to Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush for the first time since 1951. The rise of pointlessness: I’m glad
the FedEx Cup playoffs were downsized from four weeks to three. Even better, the finale won’t batter us with those mystical FedEx Cup points that TV couldn’t keep pace with and we couldn’t understand. Instead, the leaders’ points
correctly forecast a big year for Bubba Watson, who scored three wins and made the Ryder Cup team. This year, it’s Jordan Spieth’s turn. Spieth, winless in 2018, was slowed by mononucleosis at the end of ’17 that undercut his off-season preparation and long-term results. Congrats if you remember Spieth’s stirring final-round 64 and third-place finish at the Masters — that was the last time the three-time major champ was relevant. I see Spieth solving his driving accuracy issues and fixing his biggest problem, the putter. Spieth ranked 136th in strokes gained putting, 184th in putting from three feet — shocking numbers for a player considered one of the best putters of all time. It won’t take much to completely forget his dismal 2018. Winning the Masters for a second time will do it. Mark it down. n
Gary Van Sickle writes about golf from his office in Pittsburgh. He is a frequent visitor to the Arizona golf scene.
www.azgolf.org
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