Normal Sport is presented by Seed Golf all week. The best golf ball you’ve probably never heard of. Check them out right here.
What an Open. They’re all great, but Sunday feels like it’s going to be an absolute sweepstakes to the finish, which we haven’t had in a while at this tournament (2022 and 2018 stand out as great sweepstakes weeks).
This week and this tournament to me are just the best version of the game in the world. All of it. The golf course, the narratives, the shots, the weather, the mental fortitude you have to display to win it, the walk up 18 and on and on we could go.
I’m already sad that it’s going to be over after one more round because of how wonderful the entire thing is. Even from afar, this golf tournament is about as comprehensive of a sporting experience as you can possibly have in a given week.
Championship Sunday awaits.
Name drops today: The Lad, Ryan Fox, Nick Faldo and Kevin Kisner.
Today’s newsletter is presented by Turtlebox.
Turtlebox now has four products so of course I am going to assign them each their major comp.
The Ranger — ready for anywhere, built for anything: The U.S. Open. Honestly kinda sounds like a slogan the U.S. Open would have.
The Cub (new!) — Packs light, hits heavy: The PGA Championship. Obviously the least of the four, but low-key has slapped over the last 10 years.
Original (Gen 3) — The standard in outdoor audio: The Masters. The standard against which everything else is measured. Easy choice.
Grande — For the biggest spaces and loudest moments: Gotta be the Open Championship. Definitely the biggest spaces and sometimes the loudest moments. Especially if The Lad goes out in 30 on Sunday.
That is your premium outdoor audio-men’s professional major championship golf minute. Thank you for stopping by.
And now, onto the news.
Birkdale Biscuits Round 3
1. Slammin’ Sammy Burns. What a day. What a 36 holes.
Besides the whole “my wife had a baby two weeks ago, and I haven’t done much so yeah sure I’ll go contend to win The Open” routine, what impresses me is how much he’s grinded to get to this position even as one of his close friends was becoming one of the 20 best golfers of all time.
What I mean by that is that I think if you were close friends with someone who suddenly skyrocketed into superstardom across 3-4 years, it would be extremely difficult not to become jealous or jaded or feel down on yourself.
Sure, part of you would be happy for your boy, but another part of you would feel angry that you weren’t getting to taste some of that success. Maybe I’m alone in that, but I think we all would feel at least a version of that.
Instead, Burns has doubled down on his own talent and will likely touch off his fourth top seven in the last six majors (if not win his first major championship). That’s big time.
2. One of my favorite narrative templates is “guy who nearly won the most recent major but then heartbreakingly loses goes on to light up the very next one that’s played.” Think Rory in 2011 going from 80 at the Masters to his 22-shot win at Congressional. Things of that nature.
Burns got his heart broken in two at Shinnecock, which had to feel devastating because — as has been pointed out many times this week — he didn’t think he was going to be able to play The Open. He was quite emotional after that near miss and so to bounce back here with possibly the week of his golf life is a microcosm of what I noted above about his doggedness in the face of professional struggle.
In short: I’ve become a monstrous Sam Burns fan over the last year or so. Gives a crap. Hits the shots. Nasty competitor. Enjoys the arena. Seems like a delightful hang outside of golf. Absolutely has multiple Turtleboxes.
I was thinking during the PGA this year about how he has to be the best player in the world that nobody ever picks to win a major championship. No matter what happens on Sunday, that will no longer be the case.
3. During the broadcast on Saturday morning, Dan Hicks set up the Bryson rules situation from Round 2 and threw an alley oop to Kisner, asking him for his take on the entire thing. Kiz made a joke about Bryson stomping around like a WWE wrestler and then proceeded to spend most of his time wondering where the rules official was during the entire situation.
This is fine. It’s a fine thing to consider. It should not be the central thesis to your analysis on THE story of this week. It should not be the thing you spend the majority of your (tiny amount of) time talking about.
I tweeted about this in a poorly-worded way (I should not have used the word “blaming”), and Kisner eventually responded to NLU (and maybe me?).
This is … exactly my point.
Kiz has been in the arena. Certainly he has been in or seen a situation like that. Tell me what you’re trying to accomplish as a player. Tell me why a player would be so mad at the R&A. Have a real take on it, not a joke and a side quest about the walking official.
I thought it was such an opportunity for really great analysis from someone who has a ton of experience (and a ton of major experience) that was completely whiffed. Honestly (and coincidentally), it reminded me a bit of Nick Faldo.
4. The part that I found to be the most odd, though, as a media member and viewer is that it felt like he was just thinking about this situation for the first time. Or at least just thinking about what he was going to say for the first time. Surely that’s not true, but it felt like he hadn’t obsessed over it like the rest of us had for the last 18 hours.
I, somewhat ironically, don’t have a super strong opinion about Kiz as an analyst yet, and I sympathize with a current player needing to have takes about his peers and colleagues. It’s extremely difficult to thread that needle.
My commentary is simply about this particular situation — which is the story of the tournament — that was such an opportunity to hit a home run with great analysis and how it felt like he took a backwards K on three consecutive pitches.
Also, I was thinking about how it would be cool if networks posted tweets or clips from other reputable media people with ideas or criticism and let broadcasters like Kiz respond on air. It would have been cool to see him respond to my critique in real time. This is unconventional and should not happen all the time and maybe not at majors, but would be pretty awesome to have a bit of tension out there and would give some juice to the broadcast.
Illustration intermission
[Jason here] I walked the full 18’s with Rory, Xander and Matty Fitz (R2) and Tommy and Rahmbo (R3). I didn't expect to, but Rory & Tommy playing well in front of home crowds? You gotta. Win, lose, or refuse to play, Tommy's 2026 Open will go down as an all-timer.
There were a few moments when I caught myself celebrating putts more than the guys were. I talked about my normal/non-normal experience of watching golf in today's Seed Thought video (not recommended if you struggle with motion sickness).
I won't bore you with “you just had to be there's”. Instead, here are some quick hits to add color to my sketchbook pages from Rounds 2 & 3.
Rory's bodyguard's backpack is gigantic. Like comically horizontally extruded. Like the kid in middle school who doesn't believe in using his locker. I asked him what's in it, and he said enough for 12 hours and a jacket. Mystery unsolved.
Marshall (on the drivable par 5th): Only one guy hit it in that bunker today.
Me: Who was it?
Marshall: Some guy who hits golf balls.
Funniest heckle: Someone keeps yelling Caaammmeraa Maaan, and it cracks me up every time.
Favorite Open Radio phrase (so far): He is rolling his egg!
I watched Ryan Fox on the range late Thursday night, here are my observations
His body is 85% forearms. They are some how bigger in person than they appear on TV.
I don't know how he hits it so far or so well with his swing, but I love it. Might be the forearms.
If you told someone who didn't know golf that the spitting image of Popeye blasting bullets at the 300 yard marker was the best player on the planet, they wouldn't be surprised. But he is not and golf remains insane. (After a 62 on Saturday this note feels prescient)
5. On the other hand! If you ever wanted to know the difference between Rory and Scottie, their answers on the Bryson escapades gave you everything you need to know. Both were asked about their opinion.
I’m paraphrasing both and will link to their videos.
Rory: It was a penalty. He’s performative and loves attention. I don’t like him.
Scottie: I have a lot to say but I’m not going to say it because I’m worried about winning.
Rory lives on The Juice. Thrives on it. Extroverted and honest and is fine with taking the shots. Scottie’s entire goal in interviews is to not say anything that anyone will ever ask him about ever again. The problem with this is that he’s also pretty honest and sometimes — when you talk that much — you’re not going to be able to help yourself.
Neither is right nor wrong, I just found the contrast to be interesting.
I wouldn’t call Rory’s comments super surprising, although I would have thought they would come on Sunday after the event or even at a later event. I did think it was telling that he believed it was so cut and dry. I have waffled a lot on all of it, and I know other people (even players behind the scenes) have, too. I find the whole Bryson episode to be so fascinating. Similarly, I find a lot of intrigue in the dynamic between Rory and Scottie’s personalities out in the public arena.
Scheffler Southport Airbnb
6. As for Bryson, I thought he was mostly terrific again on Saturday. I said this on Friday, but he’s grittier than he gets credit for. And while he’s probably not going to win, I thought his 69 in the face of the entire golf world staring right at him was pretty impressive.
Also quite performative at times!
He’s certainly a different cat. There is some goodness in that. A lot of sadness in it, too.
There was a moment on the broadcast where he was dapping up Ted Scott on the practice putting green after his round. He walked past Scottie and hit him on the butt with a glove he has in his hand. Scottie didn’t turn around. I’m sure Scottie probably said something to him in passing or whatever, but I found that tiny interaction to be emblematic of the Bryson Experience.
He just wants to be loved. By me, by you and by Scottie. This is no different than the rest of us. His desires are perhaps a bit outsized compared to others, but he — like everyone else on planet earth — is simply a broken person who desperately wants to be loved and adored. That’s in all of us. We just see it in him more often.
7. I loved, loved, loved this from Tommy on daydreaming about winning The Open.
I've done it most days since I was seven years old, and it still hasn't stopped. Yeah, that's what life's about, right? You daydream and you dream about the biggest things possible and then you try and make it a reality.
To be honest, I've been pretty close to it this week. Today was as close as you're going to get. I was within one of the lead at The Open playing on the back nine. It's been pretty close already, and then you've just got the ultimate at the end of it, which would be holding the Claret Jug.
Life is all about experiences, and I think I've had some of the best experiences of my life so far this week.
Tommy Fleetwood | 2026 Open
My gosh.
That's what life's about, right? You daydream and you dream about the biggest things possible and then you try and make it a reality.
He’s five back with an entire kingdom behind him on Sunday. I would love seeing Burns win and certainly don’t want to see him shoot 74. But Tommy going deep at Birkdale to bring it home at the place he grew up?
Let the lads dream.
8. I think Scheffler and Rahm (both at -4) are probably out of it, which must infuriate both of them given how well they’ve hit it. Scottie especially. He leaked at the end on Saturday, but he was flushing through the first 14-15 holes today just as he’s done all week.
Here are the tee-to-green leaders this week. Look at the putting rank for Rahm, Scheffler and Bryson (remember, only 78 guys made the cut).
Also, here is the amount of confidence I have when Scottie, Rahm or even Bryson (or Rory) is hitting a putt outside of, say, 6 feet ….
Surely, one of them makes a crazy run on Sunday. Surely!
9. On Friday, we saw a 28 on the front. The guy who shot it led at the end of the day.
On Saturday, we saw a 29 on the front. The guy who shot it was in second at the end of the day.
I’m convinced we’re going to get something in the 20s on the front on Sunday — because I think this course lends itself to chasing — and I think whoever shoots it is going to have a good shot at winning at the end of the day.
Dream scenario is that it’s Scottie, and Burns is trying to close him out but then there’s Tommy around the final turn to pip them both at the end.
Improbable? Yes.
But it feels like England is kinda owed one at this point.
Thank you for supporting Normal Sport. It allows us to do things like attend The Open at Birkdale this week, which is where Jason is dropping gems like the above illustrations and this normal Seed Thoughts video all week. Go on tomorrow, Tommy Lad.
Truly, it would be the stuff of dreams.
Normal Sport is presented by Seed Golf all week. The best golf ball you’ve probably never heard of. Check them out right here.
What an Open. They’re all great, but Sunday feels like it’s going to be an absolute sweepstakes to the finish, which we haven’t had in a while at this tournament (2022 and 2018 stand out as great sweepstakes weeks).
This week and this tournament to me are just the best version of the game in the world. All of it. The golf course, the narratives, the shots, the weather, the mental fortitude you have to display to win it, the walk up 18 and on and on we could go.
I’m already sad that it’s going to be over after one more round because of how wonderful the entire thing is. Even from afar, this golf tournament is about as comprehensive of a sporting experience as you can possibly have in a given week.
Championship Sunday awaits.
Name drops today: The Lad, Ryan Fox, Nick Faldo and Kevin Kisner.
Today’s newsletter is presented by Turtlebox.
Turtlebox now has four products so of course I am going to assign them each their major comp.
The Ranger — ready for anywhere, built for anything: The U.S. Open. Honestly kinda sounds like a slogan the U.S. Open would have.
The Cub (new!) — Packs light, hits heavy: The PGA Championship. Obviously the least of the four, but low-key has slapped over the last 10 years.
Original (Gen 3) — The standard in outdoor audio: The Masters. The standard against which everything else is measured. Easy choice.
Grande — For the biggest spaces and loudest moments: Gotta be the Open Championship. Definitely the biggest spaces and sometimes the loudest moments. Especially if The Lad goes out in 30 on Sunday.
That is your premium outdoor audio-men’s professional major championship golf minute. Thank you for stopping by.
And now, onto the news.
Birkdale Biscuits Round 3
1. Slammin’ Sammy Burns. What a day. What a 36 holes.
Besides the whole “my wife had a baby two weeks ago, and I haven’t done much so yeah sure I’ll go contend to win The Open” routine, what impresses me is how much he’s grinded to get to this position even as one of his close friends was becoming one of the 20 best golfers of all time.
What I mean by that is that I think if you were close friends with someone who suddenly skyrocketed into superstardom across 3-4 years, it would be extremely difficult not to become jealous or jaded or feel down on yourself.
Sure, part of you would be happy for your boy, but another part of you would feel angry that you weren’t getting to taste some of that success. Maybe I’m alone in that, but I think we all would feel at least a version of that.
Instead, Burns has doubled down on his own talent and will likely touch off his fourth top seven in the last six majors (if not win his first major championship). That’s big time.
2. One of my favorite narrative templates is “guy who nearly won the most recent major but then heartbreakingly loses goes on to light up the very next one that’s played.” Think Rory in 2011 going from 80 at the Masters to his 22-shot win at Congressional. Things of that nature.
Burns got his heart broken in two at Shinnecock, which had to feel devastating because — as has been pointed out many times this week — he didn’t think he was going to be able to play The Open. He was quite emotional after that near miss and so to bounce back here with possibly the week of his golf life is a microcosm of what I noted above about his doggedness in the face of professional struggle.
In short: I’ve become a monstrous Sam Burns fan over the last year or so. Gives a crap. Hits the shots. Nasty competitor. Enjoys the arena. Seems like a delightful hang outside of golf. Absolutely has multiple Turtleboxes.
I was thinking during the PGA this year about how he has to be the best player in the world that nobody ever picks to win a major championship. No matter what happens on Sunday, that will no longer be the case.
3. During the broadcast on Saturday morning, Dan Hicks set up the Bryson rules situation from Round 2 and threw an alley oop to Kisner, asking him for his take on the entire thing. Kiz made a joke about Bryson stomping around like a WWE wrestler and then proceeded to spend most of his time wondering where the rules official was during the entire situation.
This is fine. It’s a fine thing to consider. It should not be the central thesis to your analysis on THE story of this week. It should not be the thing you spend the majority of your (tiny amount of) time talking about.
I tweeted about this in a poorly-worded way (I should not have used the word “blaming”), and Kisner eventually responded to NLU (and maybe me?).
This is … exactly my point.
Kiz has been in the arena. Certainly he has been in or seen a situation like that. Tell me what you’re trying to accomplish as a player. Tell me why a player would be so mad at the R&A. Have a real take on it, not a joke and a side quest about the walking official.
I thought it was such an opportunity for really great analysis from someone who has a ton of experience (and a ton of major experience) that was completely whiffed. Honestly (and coincidentally), it reminded me a bit of Nick Faldo.
4. The part that I found to be the most odd, though, as a media member and viewer is that it felt like he was just thinking about this situation for the first time. Or at least just thinking about what he was going to say for the first time. Surely that’s not true, but it felt like he hadn’t obsessed over it like the rest of us had for the last 18 hours.
I, somewhat ironically, don’t have a super strong opinion about Kiz as an analyst yet, and I sympathize with a current player needing to have takes about his peers and colleagues. It’s extremely difficult to thread that needle.
My commentary is simply about this particular situation — which is the story of the tournament — that was such an opportunity to hit a home run with great analysis and how it felt like he took a backwards K on three consecutive pitches.
Also, I was thinking about how it would be cool if networks posted tweets or clips from other reputable media people with ideas or criticism and let broadcasters like Kiz respond on air. It would have been cool to see him respond to my critique in real time. This is unconventional and should not happen all the time and maybe not at majors, but would be pretty awesome to have a bit of tension out there and would give some juice to the broadcast.
Illustration intermission
[Jason here] I walked the full 18’s with Rory, Xander and Matty Fitz (R2) and Tommy and Rahmbo (R3). I didn't expect to, but Rory & Tommy playing well in front of home crowds? You gotta. Win, lose, or refuse to play, Tommy's 2026 Open will go down as an all-timer.
There were a few moments when I caught myself celebrating putts more than the guys were. I talked about my normal/non-normal experience of watching golf in today's Seed Thought video (not recommended if you struggle with motion sickness).
I won't bore you with “you just had to be there's”. Instead, here are some quick hits to add color to my sketchbook pages from Rounds 2 & 3.
Rory's bodyguard's backpack is gigantic. Like comically horizontally extruded. Like the kid in middle school who doesn't believe in using his locker. I asked him what's in it, and he said enough for 12 hours and a jacket. Mystery unsolved.
Marshall (on the drivable par 5th): Only one guy hit it in that bunker today.
Me: Who was it?
Marshall: Some guy who hits golf balls.
Funniest heckle: Someone keeps yelling Caaammmeraa Maaan, and it cracks me up every time.
Favorite Open Radio phrase (so far): He is rolling his egg!
I watched Ryan Fox on the range late Thursday night, here are my observations
His body is 85% forearms. They are some how bigger in person than they appear on TV.
I don't know how he hits it so far or so well with his swing, but I love it. Might be the forearms.
If you told someone who didn't know golf that the spitting image of Popeye blasting bullets at the 300 yard marker was the best player on the planet, they wouldn't be surprised. But he is not and golf remains insane. (After a 62 on Saturday this note feels prescient)
This post will continue below for Normal Club members (all 1,056 of them) and includes thoughts on The Lad getting it done, Rory’s Bryson take, Bryson himself, why Scottie should be winning and Tommy’s daydreams.
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