Greetings!
“It's a weird deal, it's a weird game.”
-Jordan Spieth
Round 2 had the juice that Round 1 lacked, and much of it was on account of the play (and quotes) from our favorite three-time major champion.
Let’s get right into it.
Name drops today: Vijay Singh, Michael Kim, Publix, Bones, Keegan and Gold Boy.
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by OGIO, whose bags I want to use to just carry around amusing Jordan Spieth quotes like the one above.
My current weapon of choice is their OGIO Venture backpack, which is my everyday pack that totes around all my Turtlebox rangers, Sap’s Original drinks and Holderness and Bourne gear.
Some of that is even true.
But really, it’s my favorite pack I’ve ever had, big enough to use as a (short) overnight bag and versatile enough to just take to the coffee shop to look up all my dumb little stats and strokes gained data.
OGIO’s promise is that if it’s something that carries stuff you really care about, they make a premium version of it. That is true, even if I probably shouldn’t care about Jordan Spieth quotes and SG ball striking numbers.
OK, now onto the news.
As a reminder, this week’s content is partially behind the paywall (though thankfully not behind the moat). You can read it all — as well as the rest of our major championship coverage — by becoming a Normal Club member right here.
1. Six notes on Players Championship leader, Ludvig Aberg.
• A 9.4 SG number in a single round is filthy, obscene stuff.
• Shades of JT’s 62 in R2 last year, which gained … 9.4 strokes.
• That he leads from the early-late wave — which was nearly 2 shots tougher — is wild.
• I’m glad they have him in the old Adidas logo. It’s a great look.
• Mrs. Normal doesn’t care what he’s in.
• His swing makes you wonder how he ever shoots over 66.
The pièce de résistance on Friday was this tee shot on 16. An easy 184 ball speed that went 354 on the Rory-in-the-2025-playoff line and led to his seventh of eight birdies/eagles on the day.
Art.
It’s now his tournament to lose. Which certainly doesn’t mean he’ll win it. After shooting 62 in R2 last year, JT finished 73-73 and was not even remotely a factor.
But this has been building a bit. After a MC at Torrey, Ludvig went T37-T20-T3 in his next three tournaments. He flushed it last week. He’s flushing it this week.
Off the tee: 1st
Approach play: 5th
Ball-striking: 1st
Tee to green: 1st
I’m sure there are guys who make it look easier than Ludvig does — Rory and Tommy come to mind. But I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who makes it look simpler or less complicated than he does. Watching Ludvig makes you think, “I mean, I think I could probably do that,” which is an incredible skill.
Making this complex thing look so basic and languid. Making the bottomless well of golf intricacy look like you’re simply dipping a ladle and taking a drink. It feels impossible that anyone could ever waste less effort being great at the game than Ludvig does.
The glazing disparity between a Friday 63 and 64.
2. Here is a Ludvig concern: Does he have a feel for the inflection points of a tournament. Sam pointed out on Friday that one of Ludvig’s strengths is that he never looks too high or too low. No matter what storms pound around him, he’s fortress.
It is true that this is a strength.
But it was also true for Rickie Fowler that this was a strength that sometimes got exposed late in events. Because there will come a time for every leader of the tournament where you have to truly go for the trophy. Throw down and announce nobody’s going to be better than you in this given week.
Outside of the 2015 Players, I never believed that Rickie really grasped that reality. I think Ludvig is wired differently than Rickie, but we also don’t have much proof of that yet, which is part of what makes this weekend so interesting.
I hope this weekend makes this Ludvig Rickie Transformer illustration make sense.
3. I asked on Thursday whose career folks would think most differently about if they went on to win the tournament this weekend. Ludvig has to be up there, right?
I didn’t list him for the reasons I was hesitant to list Tommy — because I already think incredibly highly of him and a win would be more validation than me rethinking his career — but you do have to win tournaments at some point.
And suddenly a 26-year-old Ludvig going into the Masters as one of the four favorites with an RSM, Torrey and a Players on his resume is a much different thing. Big weekend, big stakes for somebody who’s immensely fun to watch perform in that arena.
4. Also … amazingly normal sport that the gentleman sticking his finger into the side of a hill while Ludvig examined the grass and dirt is potentially affecting the legacies of like three different guys and determining the outcome of a $25 million sporting event.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members and includes thoughts on …
Scottie’s made cut streak.
Some insane Russ Henley numbies.
An incredible Jordan Spieth round quote.
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!
Few make the sport feel as fun and as thought provoking.
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.
Normal Sport is exploratory, sometimes emotional, always entertaining. It also has one of my favorite writers in the biz at its foundation.
It's a treasure trove of the important, the seemingly important, and — importantly! — the unimportant stuff. It's an asset in my inbox.
Kyle is a perfect curator of the necessary moments of levity that accent a sport that will drive most of us insane.
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!
Kyle approaches coverage of the game with both conviction and curiosity
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.
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.
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.
.svg){kind=spacer}
