Golfpocalypse is a meandering collection of words about golf (professional and otherwise) that sometimes, but not always, has a point. Reach out with your questions or comments on absolutely anything at shane.spr8@gmail.com. We’ll publish the best emails here.
I’m going to start these weekly previews with something I call the “Rogue Golf Thought,” which is something golf-centric that has nothing to do with the actual tournament I’m previewing, and I’m going to end with the “Rogue Non-Golf Thought,” which not only has nothing to do with the actual tournament I’m previewing, but has nothing to do with golf at all. In between, the MEAT. This is now a sandwich. Sound good? Good. We’re back at Riviera, so let’s get after it.
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1. The Rogue Golf Thought: How to feel about Anthony Kim
There’s an interesting phenomenon in golf fan and media circles—and maybe sports circles generally—where there’s a kind of collective pressure to wipe any larger context from our brains the minute someone accomplishes something great on a golf course. If Josef Stalin came back to life and won the Masters—truly, a nightmare scenario for Augusta—there would be a contingent that yelled at you on X for bringing up Stalin’s political history at such a positive moment.
In smaller scope—I am not comparing any golfer to Stalin—this played out when Anthony Kim won LIV Golf Adelaide last weekend. Cards on the table, I consider this pretty impressive on an athletic and mental health level. I have it as one of the ten best comebacks in golf history, and I admire his resilience. However, I also reserve the right to not really care for Anthony Kim as a person, even though he won a golf tournament. To me, he’s still the grown man on social media who is hashing out his political grievances while typing sentences like “GR8 video @GovTimWalz. I know u have spoken of how tampons in men’s bathrooms R important 2 U so I wanna donate those.”
Nice burn, AK! Again, this kind of stuff will resonate with some people, and some people will roll their eyes but manage to put it aside to embrace what is a legitimately impressive story of rebuilding a life against some pretty steep odds. That’s great for them. But people like me who acknowledge that second part, while also thinking he still sucks as a dude? That’s allowed too! And I can tell you I’m not at all sorry for these priorities, no matter how much the sunny-eyed scolds on social media would like me to be.
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2. Scottie Watch: I love the “Third-Rate Thursday” Era
For two weeks in a row now, at TPC Scottsdale and Pebble Beach, we’ve seen Scottie stink up the joint on Thursday, then play like the greatest golfer who has ever lived the rest of the weekend to almost win. I pray that continues at Riviera, because it makes for some absolutely thrilling television. The Sunday 64 at the Phoenix Open and the 63 at Pebble that saw him charging up those leaderboards, bringing terror to all who around him, was just phenomenal, and proves that however much we want to pretend Scottie is “boring,” he actually brings a ton of excitement when it matters.
This is also, I think, some classically delivered false hope. The temptation is to compare it to Rory’s “Freaky Fridays” stretch circa 2014 when a chronic second-day letdown was costing him titles, but two tournaments is an anomaly, and I fully expect Scottie to come out Thursday, shoot a 65 and win by 19 shots.
As for his chances at Riviera, I weirdly couldn’t remember any prominent results, and a quick look at DataGolf shows why—in six tries, his best finish is T-7. He was T-10 last year, so it’s not like he’s been bad, but just a little ordinary by the outrageous standards he’s set. He’s shown that he can win on any kind course—the links win at Portrush was really the last thing he needed to prove—so this feels like a good time for him to start collecting wins at famous courses. I am very boldly going out on a limb and picking him to win.
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3. I wish you could smell Riviera through the television
Back in 2014, I was out on the PGA Tour for more than 30 weeks, and I saw a lot of beautiful places, but I can tell you that Riviera Country Club is the best smelling course I’ve ever visited. Why? The eucalyptus trees. They have this fresh, minty, bracing aroma that they should package and sell to people with hangovers. It’s a true olfactory delight, and like every year, I’m sad I will miss it while watching on my couch (which smells average, at the best of times). This is the one week where I would gladly wear some kind of helmet that piped in smells from the golf course, just to get my hit of that sweet, sweet eucalyptus.
Anyway, this is probably reason no. 34 to visit Riviera once in your life, but it is a reason.
4. My favorite Euro: Matt Fitzpatrick
My go-to heuristic for Fitzpatrick is that he’s most dangerous when you least expect him. Now, we should be expecting him, probably. He had a very solid 2025 full of top-ten finishes and capped by a win at the DPWT Championship, and he’s coming off two top-15 finishes at Phoenix and Pebble. But I still think he’s flying under the radar because it’s been so long since he’s won in America (the Brookline U.S. Open), and because Tommy and Rory are the Euro names on everyone’s lips. He’s also missed two straight cuts at Riviera, which is a course that typically favors bombers over accuracy, so I might be the only idiot backing him. But he’s been too elite for too long to keep going winless, and while I might be wise to wait for Hilton Head to commit, I want to be ahead of the game. I simply can’t resist the tweedy Englishman in L.A.
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5. The Jordan Spieth Sadness Watch
From an 8.5 last week, I am extremely pleased to inform you that we are down to a 7.2 after his T-29 finish at Pebble. He still gave us false hope and then let us down with a 69-72 weekend, but at this point, getting back on the Jordancoaster is an upgrade from the sheer hopeless abyss of mediocrity. “You mean he’s going to break our hearts more actively??” we say, our eyes glowing with possibility. “Sweet joyous day!”
He’s had an okay career at Riviera, with a T-4 finish in 2015 and a T-9 in 2018, but last time he was here he got DQ’ed for signing an incorrect scorecard. Anything could happen, even more so than usual with this man. Hell, I can eve see his sadness meter going down to a 6.5 next week!
6. Inject the tenth hole into my veins, please
Do you know how wild it is that there’s still a 315-yard par-4 out there that is somehow holding its own in the era of the 300-yard pitching wedge? Everything about this hole is spectacular, but best of all is the fact that it hasn’t been ruined by modern equipment. It’s almost magical, and I don’t mean that in the “gosh it’s so great!” way, but in the “this must be sorcery!” way. Looking at some old stats, from 2013 to 2021 it was averaging 3.94, which is still under par, but barely. Most are now eschewing strategy by going for the green every time, but the few guys who don’t, like Justin Thomas, are actually thriving. So as a fan, the two possibilities are: 1. A drivable par-4, which is fun under any circumstance, or 2. A complete mind**** that forces weird decisions. Yes and yes.
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While we’re here, I want to shout out the bunker in the middle of the sixth green at Riv. Every course on tour should have six to eight of these. Would it ruin pace of play? Yes, unfortunately. But that’s a small price to pay for the comedy of hitting a green and still being screwed.
7. Ranking the sponsor’s exemptions
Best – Max Homa. Local boy made good. Small-town LA dreamer comes of age.Scary – Tony Finau. As our own Chris Powers pointed out, great history at Riv.Class – Adam Scott. What a handsome man. I want the Justin Rose arc for him.Ehhh – Tom Kim. Have we all soured on him now? Still want him to get good for the Presidents Cup.
8. Golf Tweet of the Week
This one comes from KVV at The Fried Egg re: Scottie’s personality vs. Tiger’s, and it was thought-provoking in all the best ways:
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It’s so smart in so many ways, but the part everyone latched onto was the idea that Scottie has a more interesting personality than Tiger. For anyone with a brain, this is just obviously true. Just look at Scheffler’s now-famous press conference from Portrush last summer, and try to find anything Tiger ever said that is remotely as introspective or thoughtful. You can’t. And people knew it as early as 2003, as this great read from Chris Jones at Esquire shows. Tiger’s game was electric, and he looked electric and as KVV said his cultural impact was about 3,000 times greater than Scheffler’s, but he had nothing to say. The most interesting thing about him off the course were his vices. Scottie gives the opposite physical impression, and I don’t think he has a single vice, but I’ve long gone to the mat for his brain—he’s so much more interesting than anyone gives him credit for.
9. One normie pick, one weird pick
I already told you the normie pick is Scheffler, because great players eventually win on all the great courses and he’s stupid-hot right now, but for the weird pick, I’ll throw a curveball with a man we’ve already mentioned: Adam Scott. Could this be the year of the olds? Scott has more top-5s on this course than anyone except Dustin Johnson, and while that’s partly because he’s been playing there since roughly 1975, he’s also got two wins and two runner-ups, with the latest win coming in 2020. His form is … just okay … but sometimes you have to just vibe it out.
Another important consideration: They have eucalyptus in Australia, too.
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10. The Rogue Non-Golf Thought: The Popsicle Stick Conundrum
I am a sucker for those Outshine lemon fruit pops—they make a perfect low-calorie dessert for when you’re on a diet, just before you eat an entire bag of pretzels—so I’ve been dealing with more than my fair share of popsicle sticks lately. And what I’ve discovered about myself is that without really thinking about it, once the bar is gone I will chomp on the wooden stick at short intervals until I can bend it into a circle shape.
This seemed like a weird thing to do—I only noticed the habit when my wife pointed it out—so I put the question to a large group of friends. How do you treat a popsicle stick? Of the 28 respondents, 15 of them threw it away without any kind of extracurricular activity. Losers. A full seven of them did exactly what I do, which was heartening to hear. And six responded “other,” with answers like “chew the top until you can fan it out” and “chew the wet end until bending it in half” and “bit it between my teeth to make it bounce like a diving board.”
Humanity truly is a marvel.
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