Welcome back to SI Golf’s Fact or Fiction, where we are packing two shirts for every round in this searing heat.
Once again, we’re here to debate a series of statements for writers and editors to declare as “Fact” or “Fiction” along with a brief explanation. Responses may also (occasionally) be “Neutral” since there's a lot of gray area in golf.
Do you agree or disagree? Let us know on the SI Golf X account.
The final push for the FedEx Cup playoffs is this week at the Wyndham Championship, after which the top 70 will advance. That’s the right number to start the three-week postseason.
Bob Harig: FICTION. There are too many smaller-field events as it is. While it wouldn’t be a huge add, going to 78 players at least gives you a workable number for a no-cut event and provides a few more opportunities.
Jeff Ritter: FICTION. It’s a minor point, but I might lean toward giving more guys a chance at a Cinderella run—maybe start with top 80, then cut to 50 for BMW as they do today and then stick with 30 for the Tour Championship.
Max Schreiber: FACT: The 125 it used to be was too much. It was like the NBA, where the top 10 seeds make the playoffs without 7 through 10 having to compete in the play-in tournament. Seventy is good. Perhaps it could be 80, but the drama for the limited spots gives a boost to some of the typically weaker tournaments in July, such as the John Deere Classic and 3M Open.
John Schwarb: FACT. Between the symmetry of 70-50-30 at each event and a finale back to regular stroke play, this is as simple as it can get for casual fans. Whether they respond is another story, but let’s see this play out for a couple more years.
In England, Joaquin Niemann won for the fifth time in 11 LIV Golf starts this season. He’s having the fourth-best season in golf this year behind major champs Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and J.J. Spaun.
Bob Harig: FACT. But with an asterisk. It’s due more to a lack of anyone else stepping up in the rest of golf. Niemann’s run on LIV is impressive—and it would have been rewarded far better than people think if the league were getting OWGR points—but his major record remains abysmal and his lack of success there really weighs this down.
Jeff Ritter: FACT. Agree with Bob here. Even on the women’s side, Minjee Lee is the current money leader but has just one title at the Women’s PGA. It’s Niemann by default.
Max Schreiber: FICTION. To say he’s having the fourth-best season is blasphemy; though, I respect my colleagues who feel differently. Five wins are nothing to scoff at. But how many of the 53 other LIV players that Niemann is competing against would realistically be top players in the world if they still played on the PGA Tour? Twenty? Maybe that’s even being generous. The bottom line is, in all four majors this year, Niemann has just two rounds in the 60s, and they both came at the PGA Championship. Now, if this prompt instead had Bryson DeChambeau, who had three top-10s in this year’s majors, there’s a legitimate case to be made.
John Schwarb: NEUTRAL. The juxtaposition of Niemann’s major season and LIV season is tough. He won LIV Virginia at Robert Trent Jones GC, then missed the cut the next week at Oakmont. Wins are wins but anyone who piles them up in the 54-player events is going to be questioned when they show so little outside LIV.
Lottie Woad won in her LPGA debut at the Women’s Scottish Open, the first to do so since Rose Zhang. Zhang has won one more time since her breakthrough in June 2023, Woad will win more than once in the next two years.
Bob Harig: FACT. She won an LET event as amateur and contended in a major in the last month. Zhang was still going to school, which is admirable but undoubtedly has delayed her ascension. Woad has put that behind her and can concentrate on golf.
Jeff Ritter: FACT. Woad leaving Florida State early to chase the Tour full-time will be a differentiator. She has superstar potential.
Max Schreiber: FACT. Zhang is still trying to finish her degree while embarking on an LPGA career, and it’s been a lot to handle, even if she’s been able to manage. Woad seems to be all-in and doesn’t have the game or attitude that gets too high or low, which is good. However, don’t expect her to run away with several major victories every year. We thought the same with Michelle Wie, Lexi Thompson and Zhang. But in golf, almost everyone seemingly hits a wall at some point.
John Schwarb: FACT. It’s not really a fair comparison between someone finishing a Stanford degree and a young pro who’s all-in on the game. Immediate sky-high expectations are tough (like being the betting favorite in your first professional major!) but Woad looks like someone who will settle in quickly.
Scottie Scheffler is such a big Dallas Cowboys fan that he said he’d give up one of his major titles to see his team win the Super Bowl. He’ll complete the career Grand Slam before the Cowboys end their decades-long title drought.
Bob Harig: FACT. Even if it takes him as long as it took Rory McIlroy to complete the career Grand Slam, he will still do so ahead of a Cowboys title.
Jeff Ritter: FICTION. It seems like a foregone conclusion that Scottie will finish the Slam in the next year, or maybe two, but Rory McIlroy is a reminder that there are no guarantees with that final leg. I’m not exactly bullish on the Cowboys, but this feels like a more of a 60-40 bet toward Scheffler than a slam dunk for him.
Max Schreiber: FACT. Taking out my Giants fandom in this answer, Scheffler seems unstoppable and the Cowboys have Brian Schottenheimer, a first-time head coach, at the helm and Dak Prescott struggling to stay on the field year after year. I’ve seen Scottie win four majors, and I’ve never seen the Cowboys make an NFC Championship (thanks, R.W McQuarters in ‘08!), so rolling with Scottie here.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fact or Fiction: Scottie Scheffler Will Complete the Grand Slam Before His Cowboys Win a Super Bowl.
