This is, sadly, the conclusion of our Open Championship coverage for the year (although this will be a two-parter!). All of it was presented by Seed Golf, which is a business you should absolutely check out.
They make the best golf ball you’ve probably never heard of and are the rare (only?) golf ball manufacturer that is actively pro rollback (warms the heart!). Thanks to them for their support.
If you enjoy Normal Sport you should take a look at what they’re doing.
The Open is over. Major championship season is over. Congrats to Splash pool winner — and Normal Club member — Bob P., who took home $750 for the following lineup (taking Jackson Suber in that last slot is truly insane).
We gave away over $7,000 in fantasy prizes to Normal Club members this year. It was all free to enter for our members — membership is $82/year — and if you want to play next time around, you can join right here.
Also, congrats to Logan M. for winning our OMNI giveaway. We’ll be doing another one of these later this year for a four-night giveaway at one of OMNI’s awesome resorts.
Name drops today: Rick Gehman, Kevin Kisner, Butch Jones and Jordan Spieth.
Today’s newsletter is presented by Garmin.
I recently took my sons (ages 12 and 9) to play a five-hole short (tiny) course on a hot Saturday morning here in Dallas. I played a worst ball score with two balls (shout out to the Cat!), and the 12 year old played his own ball.
We went 15 holes and were tied. So we went extras, score for score on every hole, until we came to the 21st hole, where I scrambled for bogey, and he made par and went full Gary Woodland celebration on me.
I say all this not because you care about the worst ball game I played with my 12 year old recently, but to tell you about the gear Garmin outfitted him with while we were playing. Their lovely J1 watches are a facsimile — the kids version — of my Garmin S70.
And while it wasn’t necessarily needed from a down and distance perspective on the tiny course we were playing — other than to track their step counts, which they are obsessed with — they’re going to be using the GPS for distance to the pin this weekend when we play some mountain golf in Colorado. Specifically, this part will be nice .
With forward tee locations down the fairway on more than 43,000 golf courses, every hole is scaled to the golfer’s ability.
Garmin
There’s also a pace of play timer, which is much needed given that my 12 year old plays at a “I’m trying to qualify for the U.S. Junior Am” pace currently. Will report back on how much they enjoy them after our Colorado trip.
And now, onto the news.
Shout out to Lawrence D. for tipping us off to Fox's biscuits. It was meant to be.
1. On paper, the four major champions of 2026 was not a great list. A good one, maybe, but certainly not a great one.
Rory
Rai
Wyndham
Fox
Obviously Rory’s Masters win plays in any year of any era. I think you could also argue that Wyndham’s U.S. Open makes him that much more interesting as a player and historical golf figure. One-major guys are everywhere. Two-major guys with both of those majors being U.S. Opens? That’s a different stratosphere.
Since World War I ended, only 21 guys have won multiple U.S. Opens in their careers, and a lot of them are one-name players: Tiger, Hogan, Jack etc. Throw Wyndham on that list. You may not like it, but it’s at least pretty intriguing.
This leaves the PGA and the Open Championship. I thought what Soly said on Sunday evening on the NLU pod was smart. I’m paraphrasing, but basically It makes sense that Ryan Fox is an Open winner, but it still doesn’t make sense that Aaron Rai is a PGA Championship winner.
I concur. Although, you can argue (and I did argue) that that PGA Championship represented a hopefulness not really seen in other (especially individual) sports.
Regardless, Fox’s Open win does make more sense. It fits with what I know about him and what I believe to be true about The Open. Which is that you don’t have to be a Trackman god to win it. In fact, optimization might actively work against you because optimization presumes consistently positive outcomes following proper inputs. The Open delivers anything but consistently positive outcomes.
This event is perhaps a last bastion of art in a game that is becoming much more scientific (and thus more sterile?). The perception of this tournament is an ode to everything we used to believe about sports: That being a dog matters, that clutch is a real thing and that artists win the day.
Ryan Fox winning it reinforces these ideations, which I have to say is a fun outcome for those of us who are (maybe irrationally) clinging to all of those notions from a different era of both golf and sport. Ryan Fox winning The Open is a point in the ledger that art is not dead yet.
2. The votes have been tabulated for one of my favorite fake awards: Aggregate major champion of the year. Here are the final results on the 14 golfers who made the cut at all four majors.
T1. Scheffler (-20)
T1. Burns (-20)
3. Xander (-13)
T4. Cam Young (-11)
T4. Rory (-11)
6. Ludvig (-10)
7. Morikawa (-6)
8. Gotterup (E)
T9. Griffin (+3)
T9. JT (+3)
11. Hideki (+5)
12. Conners (+10)
13. Kitayama (+12)
14. Brennan (+18)
Some thoughts.
• One of these things is not like the other ones!
• Only one player on this list actually won a major. Golf is stupid in that it usually rewards a high level of consistency in the long run but often doesn’t in the short run.
• Total score of the other three majors winners: Rai (E in 14 rounds), Clark (+1 in 12 rounds) and Fox (+1 in 14 rounds).
• The name that really stands out on here to me is Gotterup. I said this after the Deere, but I haven’t really been a believer. I am now. He’s maybe not quite an artist but definitely part of the artist in training program. Stud player, hits the shots. Excited to see how it evolves for him next year.
• Which player on this list who hasn’t won a major would you be most surprised if he never wins one? Several contenders, but probably Ludvig, right?
Or maybe not.
• I do hope this is a stepping stone for Burns. It seems like it is, right (see below)?
But also, better players than Burns have had similar seasons to this and then never gone on to win a major (or in some cases, really sniffed one again).
• Scottie: Best major season of anyone on the planet. Everyone else on the planet: What’s wrong with this dude?
Expectations, baby. Difficult to manage. Impossible to fulfill.
• My guy, Rick Gehman, had some pretty awesome Scottie stats in his most recent newsletter. Here are Scottie’s raw SG totals by season at the majors since 2022.
2026: +40.9 (0 major wins)
2025: +56.2 (2)
2024: +43.0 (1)
2023: +44.8 (0)
2022: +38.6 (1)
Rick’s point is staggering.
You’re reading that right. Scheffler’ 2026 was his worst major championship season in the last four years. It was also the best of any player in the world.
Rick Gehman
That is truly crazy.
• Someone pointed this out on Twitter, but did you ever think one single time this year that Xander was going to win a major championship? He’s like American Corey Conners but also somehow has two majors.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members (all 1,056 of them) and includes thoughts on my Kisner brouhaha, Tommy’s dream week and why I’m buying Cam Young stock.
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• Access to 100 percent of our content this week.
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