Shame on me. I should know better not to turn off a televised sports event before it is actually over and switch to a reality show.
Last week I watched almost all of the BMW Championship, starting from the first round. I had a particular interest in Daniel Berger (Titleist Pro V1), whom I predicted to win in my weekly blog.
For the most part, he was not in it, although he did make a charge on the final day shooting a three-under in the first nine holes, before gradually fading back to even par and finishing six-over par.
But heading into the final hole, Dustin Johnson (TaylorMade TP5x) needed a 43-foot putt to tie John Rahm (TaylorMade TP5). I figured there was no way Johnson, as well as he has been playing in recent weeks, could make the putt.
So my wife, Jane, and I went for a walk and prepared to watch 90 Day Fiancé. We do it every Sunday night and Monday night as well because this reality show has spun spinoffs.
Imagine my surprise when I went to sleep and found out the next day that Johnson converted his putt with a ball that started left and then moved to the middle halfway through and kept rolling all the way into the cup. Johnson, who is normally reserved, showed rare emotion raising a finger and then doing an underhand windmill celebration that we’ve seen so many times from Tiger Woods (Bridgestone Tour B XS).
Now take that surprise and raise it one level higher when I found out Rahm had made a 66-foot putt to birdie the first hole. His putt was even more dramatic because it took a dramatic 90-degree turn halfway through and kept going. Even before it landed in the cup, Rahm was already walking, though I’m not sure he thought it would go in. When he did, the fiery Spaniard, who is the exact opposite of Johnson in temperament, celebrated as if he had just won the Powerball Lottery. (As an aside, I’m sure the folks at TaylorMade are putting together some commercials about the miracle shots by Rahm and Johnson.)
Johnson needed a 33-foot putt to tie Rahm in the playoff and just came up short.
In an event in which Rahm was penalized one stroke in the third round for failing to mark his ball before picking it up, he needs a miraculous putt to win when, in fact, he wouldn’t have needed the playoff if hadn’t had that brain cramp.
You’ll recall a few weeks back that Rahm won the Memorial tournament in which he was penalized two strokes when his ball moved slightly just before he made an incredible chip shot for a birdie that was later ruled to be a bogey. He won by three strokes instead of five.
Rahm and Johnson have been making things interesting since the PGA Tour resumed after a 91-day layoff caused by the coronavirus. Johnson will start off with a two-stroke advantage at 10-under over Rahm in the final FedExCup playoff/Tour Championship this weekend at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. I’m not crazy about the format of the rules, which were implemented last year to reward the FedExCup points leaders, but so be it.
My personal favorite Xander Schauffele will begin at 3-under. If the Xand Man wins, I will immediately petition to have Metallica’s song Enter Sandman re-named Enter Xandman. By the way, is there a better heavy metal song than Enter Sandman?
This will go down as arguably the craziest PGA Tour season of all because of the shutdown caused by COVID-10 and the re-start 91 days later. Can you imagine how raucous the gallery would have been after Johnson made his birdie putt on the 18th hole and how it would have reacted manically when Rahm one-upped him? There was a smattering of people on the course, including some family members and volunteers, and they were entertained to some historical shots.
Watching the ebb and flow of golf is fascinating, but I’ve learned my lesson to put 90 Day Fiancé on hold while the PGA is still in play.
And don’t get me started on what I’ll do when it’s the final round of the U.S. Open and Masters this fall. Crazy, crazy, crazy.
