When pundits and coaches collide: Tiger’s putting sparks war of words
Golf Channel chatterbox Brandel Chamblee and putting guru Phil Kenyon have had something of a disagreement over Tiger Woods. But it’s all a waste of time, writes Harvey Jamison
Ladies and Gentleman, it’s time for another social media showdown. They’re two titans of theory. In the red corner, it’s the ‘Anatomy of Greatness’ himself, Brandel Chamblee, and in the blue corner, he ‘putts’ the vision into putting, Phil Kenyon.
Ding, ding!
Knives sharpening, keyboards rattling and mouses clicking. There was another Twitter tremor in the world of golf on Tuesday.
Flashback to Sunday, and a simple statistics disagreement. Chamblee cemented his view that Tiger Woods’ putting issues were far from over, even considering his putter switch and Francesco Molinari, who has never been considered a world-class putter, deserved his eight-shot lead due to his incredible ball-striking over the former World No. 1.
Tiger is dead last inside 10 feet this week, missing thus far 13 putts from within that distance and is currently in 6th place. Molinari by contrast has missed just five putts inside ten feet all week. Eight shots separates the two. pic.twitter.com/F7xE68FOsU
— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) July 1, 2018
Fair to say? But it prompted Phil Kenyon, Molinari’s putting coach, to correctly point out that Tiger ranked 14th in Strokes Gained: Putting at the conclusion of Sunday’s round and Brandel was stretching the stats to fit his argument…
Currently 14th In Strokes Gained Putting at the time of this tweet. If you torture stats for long enough they will admit to anything ? https://t.co/jYxV565G3s
— Phil Kenyon (@SwashPutting) July 1, 2018
Chamblee jabbed back. “Or if you look at the facts, they will tell you what you can’t or don’t want to see.”
This is where the hilarity kicks in, one Italian stallion bringing TPC Potomac to its knees, and two men have a macho moment over statistics…
Molinari ranks 203rd in strokes gained putting this year, out of 206. It’s save to say, his putting is not the reason he’s playing so well. Meanwhile he’s striking it better than ever.
— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) July 1, 2018
Credit, where credit’s due as Molinari ranks 4th on the PGA Tour for Strokes Gained: Tee-to-green, having hit an astonishing 62 out of 72 fairways the whole week in Maryland, which Chamblee credited for his runaway win.
Molinari is slumped down at 203rd in Strokes Gained: Putting this year, whereas Tiger is just outside the top 50 but ranks 1st for putting inside three feet.
However, a champion last week, he made a huge leap and finished 23rd for his efforts on the greens. Brandel was more focused on his ball-striking, leading Kenyon to keep the fire burning.
Or you can dress them up to suit your narrative ? https://t.co/SWkz17rH20
— Phil Kenyon (@SwashPutting) July 1, 2018
Popcorn ready? Brandel goes for the fatal blow.
I look for the truth, as in what works. For ex. your top ranked players ‘17 putting stats:
Mcilroy141st
Stenson120th
Rose123rd
Kaymer108th
F Molinari106th
Oosthuzen22nd
Grace151st
Europe stats:
Fleetwood192nd
Noren171st
Willet250thPerhaps there’s a reason you don’t like stats.
— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) July 2, 2018
Ouch.
Now, I love a stat and Chamblee’s are correct. But that list holds four winners on both sides of the Atlantic this season, in case you are after the full picture.
Justin Rose, a winner at the Fort Worth Invitational last month, ranks 1oth for Strokes Gained: Putting in 2018, while Molinari has already won the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, before his first win on US soil.
Tommy Fleetwood, fresh off a final-round 63 at Shinnecock, won the Abu Dhabi Championship in January, and another Kenyon client Alex Noren just clinched his 10th European Tour victory in France.
In his only three European Tour events in 2018, Rory McIlroy has finished in the top five in all of them with two runner-up places. Branden Grace has four worldwide top 10s this season along with Louis Oosthuizen as well as the latter pipping the top-15 in the season’s early majors.
Wins and form vs. putting ability levels the playing field somewhere, but the last words belong to two more Kenyon clients: Lee Westwood and Eddie Pepperell.
Professional golfers tend not to suffer fools lightly. Instead of looking at stats look at the quality of players he has and how long he’s had them. This will give you a true representation of how good a teacher he is.
— Lee Westwood (@WestwoodLee) July 3, 2018
Punches traded and we’re all the more knowledgeable. But it may have been an argument over nothing.
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Tom Irwin
Tom is a lifetime golfer, now over 30 years playing the game. 2023 marks 10 years in golf publishing and he is still holding down a + handicap at Alwoodley in Leeds. He has played over 600 golf courses, and has been a member of at least four including his first love Louth, in Lincolnshire. Tom likes unbranded clothing, natural fibres, and pencil bags. Seacroft in Lincolnshire is where it starts and ends.
