Are we underrating Scottie's season?

He's just played his last event of 2025 and completed one of the GREATEST seasons in golf history.

Don't believe, here's the numbers 🧵 Quick background...

In March, I created a ranking of the best 50 players of the last 50 years, rated by their BEST season.

• Was Tiger's 2000 the best ever?
• Where does Rory's 2014 rank?
• What about Vijay in 2004?

(You can read it on @GolfDigest)

This is Adare Manor 🇮🇪

The "Augusta of Ireland", that will host the Ryder Cup in two years time.

Here's everything you to know about the course 🧵 Whilst the manor itself dates back to the mid-1800s, it was bought by Irish businessman JP McManus in 2014 for around $35m.

McManus made his money from currency trading, investments, and horse racing and is a keen golf fan.

His net worth is estimated to be $2.5 billion.

This is Bethpage Black.

How will it fit the Ryder Cup?

I dived deep into the data and found one QUIRK that the captains will 100% be aware, but fans won't.

Let me explain 🧵 When it comes to Ryder Cups, the majority of the narratives going into the events focus on foursomes.

Who will play?
Who will pair with who?
What holes will they tee off on?

It's, arguably, the most important part of a Ryder Cup for each captain.

Ok... I think I've fixed the Tour Championship.

(Yes, it's a match play format)

Let me explain 🧵 As we know, the @TourChamp starting strokes are gone for 2025 but despite early rumors of a match play format... this year will be a standard 72-hole tournament to decide the FedEx Cup champion.

I think most fans (at least believe they) want match play.

So here's the idea....

"Over 290 yards"?

I'm not going to say fake news but are you sure?

Let's take a look at far that opening tee shot ACTUALLY went 🧵

https://twitter.com/Brick_Suit/status/1950271603654479928

Firstly, let's establish the tee they were playing off.

It's easy.

There's clearly one tee in front of them. There's a total of five tees on every hole, so they were playing from the green tees.

Links golf hits differently.

Official photographers have taken more than 20,000 photos at @TheOpen so far this week.

I scanned through them all to pick the 25 best.

Enjoy 🧵 It's hard to truly explain or show the scale of the sand dunes on links courses, especially in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

📷 Alex Pantling

Shot of the year?

Diving into data to show just how incredible JJ Spaun's walk-off putt at the US Open was.

Here's the numbers 🧵 Arriving at the 72nd hole, JJ Spaun led the US Open by one shot.

A birdie on 17 gave him the solo lead for the first time since the 4th hole Saturday.

He striped a tee shot, 308 yards, right down the middle of the fairway....

How much has Oakmont changed?

I rewatched the 1994 US Open and compared the visuals from then to this year.

Here's the evidence 🧵 The first tee

Just how good was Johnny Miller's 63 at Oakmont?

(𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘳, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦)

Let's dive into the data 🧵 In the final round of the 1973 US Open at Oakmont, Johnny Miller shot 63.

Having shot 76 on Saturday, Miller started the day 6 shots back of the lead.

He won by a shot.

It is considered (arguably) the greatest round in golf history. But do modern analytics agree?

The origin of the Masters Champions Dinner.

It's not what you think.

And it has a strange ending.

Let me explain 🧵 Like many of Augusta's traditions, the Champions Dinner evolved. It was not part of the original tournaments.

In fact, The Masters started in 1934 and the first Champions Dinner didn't take place until 1952.

Rory McIlroy is attempting to do something this week that hasn't been done in 90 years.

In fact, it happened 90 years ago today.

And it took a miracle then.

Here's the story 🧵 Rory arrives at Augusta in search of completing the career grand slam.

He is trying to become just the 6th player to win each of the 4 modern men's majors.

PGA Champ: 2012 and 2014
US Open: 2011
The Open: 2014
Masters: ?

The 15 things a Masters champion gets.

I was curious exactly what comes with winning at Augusta. So I researched it and came up a list of everything that comes with a Masters victory in 2025.

Any you didn't know? 🧵 1. The Green Jacket

A tradition started in 1949, inspired by members of Royal Liverpool, the colour is "Pantone 342 C" or Augusta Green. Every champion gets a jacket, with an engraved gold nameplate inside, that they can take home for a year but then remains on-site at Augusta.

The week golf changed 👇

It was truly INSANE where Tiger Woods hit the ball during the 1997 Masters.

I went back through all the footage I could to find screenshots and distances.

Enjoy 🧵 Round 1.

151 yards into the 15th hole. Pitching wedge.

This is not a joke...

This golfer (Dale Whitnell) just made TWO holes-in-one in the SAME round.

I took a look at just how rare that is 🧵 Firstly, let's address the elephant in the room... those glasses.

He wasn't wearing them today but he did wear them during competition in Qatar earlier this month.

He did it because of allergies, here is explaining it...

One of the sports' strangest sponsorship deals.

The story of how the @NFL sponsored golfer Payne Stewart.

And a picture thread of Payne wearing an outfit of every current team 🧵 The year is 1989.

Payne Stewart is 32, 5th in the OWGR and 4 months on from his first major win at the PGA Championship.

News breaks that Stewart, a notoriously flamboyant dresser, signed a clothing deal with... the @NFL?!

(Note, Stewart wore this outfit at the 1987 Masters)

Who are golf's five-tool players?

Baseball has them, but does golf?

I decided to investigate.

The answer was surprising 🧵👇 Wait, what is a five-tool player?

In baseball, players and prospects are often rated by five areas of the game. If they possess all five, they are considered a "five-tool player".

1⃣ Hit for power
2⃣ Hit for average
3⃣ Speed
4⃣ Throwing
5⃣ Fielding

So what are golf's tools...

20 years ago, Arnold Palmer hit one of the coolest shots in the history of professional golf.

Coolest... not greatest.

Let's break it down 🧵 The year was 2004.

Arnie was 74 and over 30 years removed from his last @PGATour win, 40 years from his last major victory.

He was retiring and chose to end his non-major career at his own event, the @APinv (he would play the Masters as his final event a month later).

Why Royal County Down is considered one of the great courses in the world.

A thread of photos.

Enjoy 🧵 The first tee setting, in the shadow of the Mountains of Mourne.

Every major has one shot that defines the winner.

It's not always obvious.

Let's take a closer look at the most important and underrated shot Xander Schauffele hit in the 2024 Open Championship 🧵 Having started the day in a 6-way tie for 2nd, one shot back, Xander started the back nine one shot behind Triston Lawrence.

Despite shooting a bogey-free front nine 34, he still hadn't gained on the lead.

You probably remember the Mickelson-Stenson showdown at Troon in 2016.

But here's 14 reasons it was possibly the greatest battle in major history 🧵 Henrik Stenson won The Open, becoming the first Scandinavian man to win a major 🇸🇪

He shot 264 for the week, the lowest total ever in a major championship.

(This was the 441st major championship)

When Rory McIlroy stood on the 71st tee at the 2023 Scottish Open, his probability of winning outright was less than 0.2%.

Here’s what happened... 🧵🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Having started the day with a one-shot lead, McIlroy found himself one behind Bob McIntyre with three holes to play.

MacIntyre had just hit the shot of his life and birdied 18.

It was just the second birdie all day on the 485-yard closing hole.