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Issue No. 230 | July 17, 2025 | Read Online
I care more about if a bird craps on someone than who’s leading on Thursday.
Kyle Porter (July 11, 2025)
Jason did me dirty with the above quote. I was using hyperbole to try and to make a point during one of our creative meetings, and he slid it into the newsletter while I wasn’t looking!
But it’s also true.
We’ve been here with Haotong Li before! Get back to me after 54 holes. And for the record, this — which I grabbed at around 6 a.m. — is the most first-round-of-the-Open-looking leaderboard I’ve ever seen.
I would also like to say that there is nothing like the stateside delirium of an Open Championship. That time from about 9-11 a.m. when you’re not sure which Jordan you love most and you begin wondering whether Bryson should just WD and try to film a video of this kayaker trying to catch his drives instead of letting Justin Leonard beat him by 15.
I’m not sure The Open is the best major, but it’s definitely the purest, weirdest and most golf-y of the four. There’s just nothing quite like it, and there’s certainly nothing quite like drinking it in on a couple hours of sleep with nothing by caffeine and the tantalizing possibility of Rory getting in the house near the lead getting you through the last four hours.
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OK, now onto the news.
1. Waking up to Phil — clearly playing for Grant Horvat’s honor and the GBI (Great Barracuda Injustice of 2025) — leading the event at 2 under was not something I envisioned when I fell asleep last night.
Phil rounds under par at the last 10 majors: 1
Phil rounds under par at this major on Thursday: 1
His only other under par round since finishing T2 at the 2023 Masters (which is still unfathomable) came at the 2023 U.S. Open where he shot 69-74 to miss the cut by one.
Is he going to win this week? No.
Is he even going to contend this week? Probably not.
But even the minuscule chance of him winning and grabbing a microphone on Sunday to “get a few things off my chest” has me borderline giddy.
2. The normal sport meter remained relatively low for the Thursday of an Open, but we did get a great one from Tommy Fleetwood on the delicious fifth hole.
I’ll try to explain.
For the first time in a long time (ever?) the R&A announced this week that it would not have volunteer bunker rakers on the golf course. A big normal sport announcement if there ever was one.
So Tommy hit his drive right on No. 5 and found a bunker short of the green that had apparently not been raked. Twitter sleuths (Soly and Bacon) discovered that it seemed like “the culprit of the unraked bunker on 5 [was] Sebastian Cave's caddie.”
What a sentence.
Anyway, Fleetwood’s position didn’t look that bad, though afterward he clarified that the ball was “in somebody's hitting mark that hadn't really been raked great.”
The whole thing was so strange and led to a rare Tommy outburst.
That brings us to Thursday and Fleetwood’s second shot in the bunker. When he arrived to the ball he was, ah… not pleased. “For f—‘s sake, man,” the usually mild-mannered Fleetwood said, which was caught on the World feed broadcast. “F—!”
Golf.com
Tommy was asked if he wants to see the bunker rakers back.
I'm not going to get angry about anyone where you don't know what's happening, but it wasn't great, and yeah, bunker rakers would have been nice.
Tommy Fleetwood
This is tantamount to the NBA getting rid of ball boys and telling assistant coaches to mop up pools of sweat because “that’s how every other league does it.” Except one of them forgets in a WCF game, and Steph slips and falls on a 3-point attempt.
Also, Billy knew.
3. My Scottie thought after he shot a “probably shouldn’t have been a 68” 68 that included two filthy birdies on the last three holes: I don’t understand why Scottie hasn’t been better at this tournament.
It’s clearly been his worst of the four majors, as outlined by Data Golf.
But this makes no sense because the tournament also accentuates one of his greatest skills, which is creativity and artistry. He’s a thinker, sure, but he’s a thoughtful painter more than anything. You don’t swing like this if you’re trying to reverse engineer a mathematical plan to win major championships.
Called slippin’ & slidin’ by the Open broadcast.
The shot he hit into 17 was a great example. On the broadcast, they were talking about how he was trying to hit a low kind of knockdown-y shot so the wind wouldn’t take the spin off of it. He executed it perfectly and almost made it!
This is what I would have expected from Scottie throughout his career, but for whatever reason it hasn’t popped here yet. Still, he was 120th off the tee on Thursday and posted a 68. Elite scorer. Like Durant in playoff games, he gets his 34 or 35 no matter the circumstances or situation.
Remains a problem for the field.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members and includes …
A (literal) monk in the top 10.
Thoughts on why Rory is the new Spieth.
Justin Leonard, huh.
My new pick for the 153rd Open.
If you aren’t yet a Normal Club member, you can sign up right here.
If you are, keep reading!
Normal Sport is supported by exactly 959 crazed individuals. By becoming a member, you will receive the following …
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Few make the sport feel as fun and as thought provoking.
It's a treasure trove of the important, the seemingly important, and — importantly! — the unimportant stuff. It's an asset in my inbox.
Kyle approaches coverage of the game with both conviction and curiosity
Kyle is a perfect curator of the necessary moments of levity that accent a sport that will drive most of us insane.
Kyle is the best columnist in sports. That he has channeled those talents through strokes gained and Spieth memes is a blessing to golf.
Kyle sees golf in a way that no one else does—and we're all fortunate to get to share in that view through Normal Sport!
Kyle is one of the best in the golf world at finding and synthesizing the absurd, the thoughtful and the fun things that make being a golf fan worthwhile.
The way Kyle has been able to mold a silly Twitter joke (normal sport) into a must-read newsletter on the weekly happenings in our silly game gives a great look into why he's one of the smartest people in golf.
Normal Sport is exploratory, ometimes emotional, always entertaining. It also has one of my favorite writers in the biz at its foundation.
Kyle's content is a product of a sick sense of humour, a clear passion for golf and unquestionable dedication to hard work. That's not normal!
There’s been no one else in golf that has tickled my funny bone as often as Kyle Porter does. He’s been instrumental in ushering in a new era of golf coverage and it’s been a pleasure to be along for the ride in that.
I’ve always enjoyed your love for golf. So often I see favoritism showed to golfers in the social media world, but I enjoy reading you telling a situation how it is regardless of the person.
