Six years ago, ESPN assigned me a Lydia Ko profile. The assignment was originally how great she was and what historic a pace she was on. But by the time I finished with my reporting, it was clear to me that wasn’t the story. It was about a former prodigy who felt a little adrift. Lydia was a pleasant interview. We shared a meal at a fancy club on Long Island. But when the story came out, her team wasn’t thrilled with it. They did not appreciate David Leadbetter talking about her, and her parents, in the piece. I understood, but felt I had been fair.

Been thinking a bunch this morning about the burden of expectations that Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson struggled with, and how some of it aligns with the expectations on Nelly now to be "the face of the sport."

Being very good at golf never feels like enough.

https://twitter.com/GolfDigest/status/1795530709945266328

Lexi was (and still is) really good at golf. And we (golf fans) wanted her to win additional majors almost as much as she wanted it for herself. But she also was asked, constantly, to be something she never felt comfortable with, this charming global ambassador and face of LPGA.

A Friday thread from RIV:
Every so often, my friend @KylePorterCBS likes to throw out a thought exercise for Golf Twitter, asking us to consider how we view a certain players. Before the WM, he tossed out a seemingly benign question: Is Max Homa the 3rd best player in the world? Five years ago, the question would have seemed insane. In 2018, Home played five times on the PGA Tour, missed four cuts and finished 60th in the one tournament where he did make the weekend. He ranked 856th in the world.

A few thoughts on Tiger, Max and the scene from a fabulous Thursday at Riviera Country Club... If you ever get the chance to come to Riv for the Genesis, carve out time & stand behind the 1st tee to watch some of the best golfers in the world blast drives toward the skinny fairway below. It's the prettiest tee box in pro golf. The arc of the ball almost kisses the clouds.

Been thinking a lot this week about how we got here, where pro golf became fractured in a way that is more like boxing or soccer than sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. This is probably a thread meant more for non-golf or casual fans than die hards, but here goes... In 1974, a golfer named Deane Beman (who had a decent career plagued by injuries) became the 2nd PGA Tour commissioner in history. He was 36 years old. Beman basically shaped the entire future of the Tour (and pro golf in America) by converting it to a 501-c6 (non profit).

I walked a few holes with Tiger Woods today at Southern Hills, and I would like to try and describe what it sounds at impact from five feet away when he rips a 2-iron off the tee: A thread... It sounds like someone took a cast iron skillet and used it to smash a mosquito on a stone patio.

One thing I’ve been thinking about all morning in regards to Phil: What if he *had* shown up to the PGA?

I would bet the reaction would have been … pretty forgiving! Especially from a lot of fans.

So why did he decide to skip?

https://twitter.com/kvanvalkenburg/status/1526189748058038273

Because he didn’t want to face some uncomfortable questions from the media? That seems to be the sentiment among a lot of players.

But! Let’s be honest: A media press conference is not a sit down with 60Mins. It can’t be, by design.

So why skip?

Reading this, I’m reminded of the Good Will Hunting line: “One day you’re gonna wake up and realize you dropped $150,000 on an fcking education you could have got for $1.50 in late charges from the public library.” As someone who has a journalism degree and has also (briefly) taught journalism in college, I still believe in the value of a journalism education. But as an undergrad, not graduate student. And this part of the story reveals the big secret.

I think this story by Bob is a good doorway to an interesting issue: How much does an athlete have to own what appears on his own certified Twitter account?

https://twitter.com/bobharig/status/1436054553716215823

I don’t think anyone in the golf world believes Patrick runs his *own* Twitter. But, Patrick also believes he and his “team” are one entity. He’s said as much. So yes, it’s news that his Blue Check mark account is liking tweets calling Stricker a “coward.” Now, does it matter?

So, not going to dunk on this specific piece because Andy seems like a nice fellow and we can agree to disagree. But let’s unpack the case for Reed, and the case against. Because man, at some point, I feel like Reed defenders are not willing to accept that 2016 was forever ago.

https://twitter.com/ForTheWin/status/1435785086423666688

Let’s unpack some things without engaging in theoretical silliness about being “a warrior” who you “want in a street fight.”

Welcome to Masters week. I want to talk about Rory McIlroy and carrot cake. Golf Channel had a segment this week where they asked players the most Golf Media catnip subject on earth: "What would you serve at the Champion's Dinner if you were fortunate enough to win the Masters?" It's become the "Freebird" of golf questions, so clichéd yet ... still fun.

I've been thinking a lot lately about Jordan Spieth & the thin line between being buoyed by the magic of good fortune in golf versus getting mired in misery of bad breaks. The line is theoretical, obv. But it also may exist in the form of the tree branch hanging over 18 at ANGC. I used to joke with @KylePorterCBS and @BrendanPorath that if watching DJ was like watching a Ferrari, Spieth was like a circus performer riding a unicycle down a flight of stairs. It was an amazing feat of concentration and athleticism, and it *always* felt like disaster loomed.

I don't want to dunk on the Northwestern J-students, in part because I think we need journalists now more than ever and punching down in his profession is extremely shitty, but I do want to tell a story about why we call people who might not want to be contacted for stories. When I was a first-year reporter at the Baltimore Sun covering crime in the suburban bureau, a teenage girl from my coverage area committed suicide by jumping off a parking garage. My editor asked me to reach out to her family to see if they wanted to talk.

One week away, so I'm going to share some of my favorite Masters pics. Feel free to add yours to the thread. This, by Fred Vuich for SI, was taken as Tiger played 18 to complete the Tiger Slam in 2002 and is a work of art. Did anyone ever look better in black and white pics better than Arnie?