Ranking the Most Scrutinized Golfers on the PGA Tour
When dealing with the most scrutinized players on the PGA Tour, it’s not a matter of game, per se, but about personality (and also game).
Most of the players on this list have aspects about their style of play that bring them under the criticism of fans and golf analysts alike. For some, it may have more to do with attire, while others sit under the fire of the magnifying glass for failing to rise to the occasion.
Some of it is unfair, while much it is justified. Come to think of it, it doesn’t take much to be a scrutinized golfer. If any one player colors outside the lines, they dutifully get ripped. You hear lines like this: “This is a gentlemen’s game,” which automatically excludes players who may have a personality.
In either case, read on for a ranking of some of the PGA Tour’s best players and why they fail to blend in, act nice and hence fall under the greatest scrutiny.
7. Phil Mickelson
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Phil Mickelson is a winner of 42 tournaments, and it makes you wonder if he would have won more, less or about the same because of his style of play.
At times he plays far too aggressive, launching drives off hospitality tents or landing shots on hotels. Mickelson doesn’t believe in the straight line from Point A to Point B, hence the sobriquet “Phil the Thrill.”
Take this recap from the 2013 Deutsche Bank Classic on his website:
"Ball below his feet in deep rough left on 12, par. Over the cart path right on 13, par. Out of the fairway long and left over the 14th green, then back over the right side, bogey. Big drive in the fairway on 15, two putts for par. Short left in the water on 16, double."
It’s these reasons his game has come under fire and intense scrutiny. He lives by the sword and dies by the sword, but that’s why Mickelson is—if nothing else—interesting.
6. Bubba Watson
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Big hittin’, big cussin’ Bubba Watson. Pull the cord on Watson’s action-figure doll and you never know what expletives will pour out.
During the 2014 PGA Championship when the rain fell heavy on Valhalla, Watson ripped his tee shot on No. 18 and it didn’t meet his Green Jacket standards.
He said, “It doesn’t matter what I do, man. It doesn’t matter. It’s f--king horses--t.”
Patrick Reed (more on him later) let loose an insensitive remark at himself using a gay slur to denigrate his own play. Reed approached Watson, someone who has dealt with his own verbal shortcomings, and Watson said in an AFP story (h/t BusinessInsider.com):
"I said, 'Well, we always learn something out of every situation.’ That's how you become a better man, and that's what I told him. And it's the same thing with me. I bet sometime before I pass away, unless I pass away tonight, I'm going to mess up again.
I said, tell everybody you're sorry and move on and hopefully everybody will forgive you over time.
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As for Watson, it’s the wholesome image he portrays that makes his Gatling-gun expletives seem in many ways hypocritical. But, as he had said, he’s a work in progress, as we all are, and scrutiny will wane as he focuses on what he considers his defects.
5. Sergio Garcia
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Sergio Garcia is one of those golfers who must deal with the “Best Player Without a Major” label. If he’s not No. 1 on that list, he’s awfully close.
The very essence of Garcia was on display at the 2013 Players. Tied for the lead with Tiger Woods with two holes to play, Woods played it safe (and won) and Garcia sent shot after shot into the drink (and lost).
How’s this for a finish? Quadruple bogey, double bogey.
It’s that kind of play that has always hindered the immensely talented Garcia.
If the golfing world wasn’t so hungry for a rival for Woods when Woods was coming to power, maybe Garcia would have found greater comfort in his game. Instead, he was thrust toward the burning sun of Woods at too young an age and crashed into the ocean.
Garcia hasn’t been able to close in the biggest events and until he does, his past chokes and gaffes will forever be what he’s known for.
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4. Rickie Fowler
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Rickie Fowler came onto the tour with his floppy hair and his straight-brimmed Puma hats the color of Day-Glo orange. What all that style does is intensify the heat.
Steve DeMeglio of USA Today wrote in 2014:
"While he's a hip and rich favorite with Generation Y, who also love the look and his adrenaline junkie ways where he gets his fix on a dirt bike or in an F-16, Fowler's direction, work ethic and character is fueled by the memory of his ancestry's detention in Japanese internment camps and the enduring example set by his parents.
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If Peter Parker’s uncle told him “With great power comes great responsibility,” then it is with golf that with great style must come great results, otherwise you’re an empty shell, Spiderman with no tingling spidey sense.
Fortunately for Fowler, he’s got the game and the hardware to back up the flare. In 2014, he finished in the top five in all four majors and in 2015 he went six under over the final six holes to get into a playoff at the Players Championship. He eventually won the Players—the unofficial fifth major—in a playoff over Garcia and Kevin Kisner.
So long as Folwer keeps that up, he can wear whatever he wants and nobody can scrutinize him. If he’s still wearing all that orange when he’s 30, we’ll reopen his case file. By then it’ll just look stupid, like men in their 40s wearing t-shirts and shorts below their knees.
Say No to the ’Glo.
3. Patrick Reed
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It’s a good time to talk about Reed, at-times insensitive and often antisocial, who led ESPN.com’s Ian O’Connor to write, "In the weeks after his arrival nearly five years ago, his teammates at Augusta State could hardly stand him, and his coach could not fathom a day when this transfer from the University of Georgia would be worth the trouble he was causing, times 10."
A former teammate of his in college, Darren Bahnsen, said in O’Connor’s story:
"If you ever challenged him at something, he answered it every single time. In one practice round I hit a drive down the middle, about 275 yards, and felt good about it. Patrick said, 'Man, that's a good drive,' and then he got down on two knees and hit his ball 10 yards past me. From his knees.
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It appears, at least at that time, he was grating to be around.
Despite Reed’s prowess in the Ryder Cup, he was exposed when sharing a final pairing with Jordan Spieth at the U.S. Open this year. Reed’s talent is undeniable, unquestionable. Humility goes a long way in this game, and Reed has yet to take that to heart.
When he does, he’ll be a winner of 20 tournaments and a couple majors in 15 years.
2. Dustin Johnson
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Dustin Johnson has come so close to winning the major his talents deserve. He hits the ball to the moon and has the ability to sink putts from the fringe to save par or to get him yet another eagle (one every 83.1 holes).
But three-putting his way out off a U.S. Open playoff at Chambers Bay and blading his way out of a PGA Championship in 2010 call into question his mental acuity on the golf course. Even during the 2015 Open Championship he failed to mark his ball during the typhoon-like wind and watched his ball skid off the putting surface.
Then there’s the alleged drug use and the excessive partying that forced him out of golf for six months at the end of 2014. No one knows for sure why he went away, but everyone has a hunch.
Rex Goddard of GolfChannel.com said the timing of Johnson’s suspension and the “context of [Johnson’s] statement will likely draw the most scrutiny.”
Johnson mentioned personal challenges and the need to commit "(t)he time and resources necessary to improve my mental health, physical well-being and emotional foundation, I am confident that I will be better equipped to fulfill my potential and become a consistent champion.”
He’s been a dominant force in 2015, winning a WGC event at Doral while consistently being the longest player on tour. He’s contended in every major but has not shown the ability to close the way a “consistent champion” should.
Johnson may never win a major golf tournament, but he’s got the ability and physical gifts to win eight. No matter what, because of these gifts, he’ll be under the microscope for as long as he plays and until he wins a major.
1. Tiger Woods
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Tiger Woods was the biggest disruptive force in sports since Jackie Robinson. After the 1997 Masters, Woods has been the most scrutinized athlete, let alone golfer, of our time.
The 2009 scandal that sent Woods off his axis and into the murky waters of divorce threw diesel on the already hot coals of his persona.
Since that time he’s been stuck on 14 majors. He’s undergone yet another swing change that has seen him flub chips, spray drives and miss more cuts in one season than we’ve ever seen (from him).
Take this headline from the Palm Beach Post leading up to the 2015 Masters: Tiger Woods’ practice round scrutinized like no other at Augusta.
Prior to that, Woods had withdrawn with back tightness at Torrey Pines. While being carted away, a camera with drone-like efficacy followed him to the trunk of his car.
Until the latest swing patterns take hold and we see Woods in contention in tournaments and, more importantly, at majors, he’ll forever be the most scrutinized name in golf in the present and long after he’s done with this wonderful game.
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