Tim Watson

One article. Every player in the field. Bookmark it for your Masters research and please it share if you enjoy. open.substack.com/pub/thatllplay…

@TinTheKid97 Nope!

@Thatll_Play Nope!

Rory just making stress free pars all day. Feels like he'll find a couple birdies and get this to -7.

Unbelievable round. Smalley had played his way completely off the Broadcast and finishes two shots clear. Gotta think he learned something with those early jitters today that will help him tomorrow.

Alex Smalley had his big nervy period to start this round and might get out of here with a lead. The way he's been hitting his irons lately, I don't hate his chances tomorrow. Reminder that he started today like this.

@GolfRamble @TronCarterNLU How many beers for Scottie to do worse than this?

These are Brian Campbell's rankings today (out of 62). Might be the worst round of golf ever played.

Lots of early 2010s type PGA winners up there right now. Nick Taylor somehow the one I hate the least.

@ToeTagginTambo Well played

This is why people love the PGA Championship

They tried to manufacture a difficult course with gimmick mini-golf pins, which just lead to an inordinate number of pars and a super bunched leaderboard. Rory did not play well enough the first two days to be co-leading Saturday. They made those first two rounds irrelevant.

@GolfloverUK You've missed the point on this one. Course wasn't properly separating good golf from bad golf.

Love hearing Rory talk on golf but he’s missed this one! I’m loving the fact it’s bunched. Loving the fact players are so close! I’d much rather have majors tight than a run away each time

Better. Still a couple guys, Rory included, that played far too shitty Thursday/Friday to warrant suddenly being in contention.

There's one platform that seems pot committed to defending this as a wonderful major venue and have been screaming at ghosts defending it. Still plenty of twitter voices, myself included, that feel it's not separating good golf from bad golf well enough. I feel like they're manufacturing a winning score with gimmick pins and have turned it into a lag putting contest.

You'd think I should know this but whose complaining about the golf course, all Ive seen is Rorys comments, have others joined in? Truth be told, all is see is ppl complaining about the complaining but Im unfirmiliar with source material, unless it's all just about Rory.

They made birdies unattainable. Par too easy and doubles aren't hard enough. The difference between good golf and mediocre golf is too thin, and thus we have 40+ guys within 5 shots of the lead. Rip driver. Hit it to 40 feet. Two putt. Repeat. Glorified lag putting contest.

@tomandmartys Rory would be the first one to say he doesn't deserve to be within 5 shots of the lead how he's played, and that's the problem people have with this course

Rory thinks what’s good for Rory is good for golf. So of course he’s gonna piss and moan because they aren’t setting up the course specifically for him. (Like Augusta did.)

@adplacksports The sacrificed golf to manufacture a winning score close to par. It's more interesting when there's some element of reward, but when they've eliminated birdie opportunities with pin placement they've just turned this into a lag putt contest

PGA Championship is in a pretty tough spot It already gets criticized for not having an identity compared to other majors, which i definitely think is fair, and I understand some players and fans don't love the setup, but isn't cool to see them take it right to the edge on the harder side for once? They'd get even more criticism if 15 under was leading right now, and what should differentiate majors from regular tests is the mental examination aspect of it. I love seeing players frustration, we rarely ever get to see it the other 40 weeks of the year on the PGA Tour. Players used to complain at US Opens all the time, and I understand why the USGA veers on the side of caution now, although I wish they would be more willing to make players more uncomfortable.. one week out of the year I think it's totally understandable and a good thing that the PGA heard the easiness chatter and pushed the boundary with some of these pins, and I actually would expect them to set it up easier tomorrow, but pretty ridiculous that the same people who would hate if its 15-under leading right now are also now complaining that it's now too hard/boring/"not separating great play enough." Analytically, there's zero guarantee/evidence that we'd see a higher slope if it was an easier setup. Its actually very possible that skill would separate less if we removed some approach penalty. Also, if the closest thing to the PGA's identity right now is that we are going to be guaranteed an exciting weekend, we have 43 players within 5 strokes of the lead, don't know what more you can ask for.

This. Every hole asks a very similar question. And it doesn't make for great television when the greatest challenge everyone whole is the lag putt.

Not a great sign for the setup when 43 guys are within 5 shots of the lead going into the weekend. Surely there aren't 40+ guys that have played good enough golf to be in contention at a Major.

Back to Texas. REAL ORIGINAL

@KVanValkenburg Tune in to watch the best golfers in the world in lag putting contest

Players when you test my ability to hit it far or hit towering iron shots: This is fair. Players when you text their ability to not three putt: This is a travesty.

Everything about this course is screaming Scottie Scheffler runaway.