FORT WORTH, Texas _ As the PGA Tour golfers walked down the fairway on the fourth hole at Colonial they could hear fans, chants, and cheers of "Black Lives Matter!" "No justice! No peace!" and "I can't breathe!"
Not exactly the type of cheers golfers are accustomed to hearing when they play the Horrible Horseshoe at Colonial Country Club.
It's 2020, where Normal remains under quarantine for an undetermined length of time.
However the 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge finishes, it will go down as the most memorable in the event's history. That includes a win by Jack Nicklaus, or the appearance by Annika Sorenstam.
At this point, don't be surprised if a Golden Retriever wins the plaid jacket.
For those of us who are inside the walls, and fences, at Colonial we are witnessing brilliant absurdity, which started with no fans but now includes a tragic lack of alcohol, to protesters, and now players asking members of the media to help them find their ball.
Forget the brilliance of the play from the likes of Justin Rose or Jordan Spieth. The circumstances remain the leader in the clubhouse at Colonial.
Friday afternoon at Colonial is typically the loudest, rowdiest, drunkest day of the event. While this tournament is seeing plenty of birdies, it has seen exactly no margaritas.
On this particular Friday afternoon at Colonial, things got rowdy for a short bit.
At 2 p.m., a small group of protesters arrived hoping to stand outside Colonial's front gates and create attention.
The police told them because the event was closed to the public, the protesters needed to find a different spot.
They did. Across the street, but within earshot of the fourth fairway and its green, and the No. 5 tee box.
This tournament is so quiet that even a group of 15 people protesting was easily heard. A few cars honked their horns as they passed the protesters, much to the delight of that crowd and irritation of the players and event organizers.
The peaceful protest lasted for about two hours, and only if you were standing in that spot could you hear them. In a word, awkward.
In any other year this scene would be out of place. In 2020, it belongs.
Because it's 2020, Jordan Spieth four-putted a hole on Friday, and is still one shot back of the leader.
Because it's 2020, Harold Varner III began his Friday with a triple bogey, but is in first place.
It only stands to reason that in our time of racial unrest, Varner III leads the PGA Tour's first event in 13 weeks. Varner III is African American.
The 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial will grow into a much larger story if he somehow wins a tournament that has a field that is borderline major caliber. Colonial has never been won by an African American player.
Whatever is not the norm is the norm for 2020.
On hole No. 9 at around 11 a.m., Rickie Fowler hit an approach shot that hit the trees. That's my kinda shot.
He and his friend Jordan Spieth were looking for it when Jordan looked at me and asked, "Has anyone seen Rickie's ball?"
The "gallery" for two of the world's best players, Spieth and Fowler, was about five people.
I was 8 feet from these two, and I just didn't have it in my heart to tell Mr. Fowler where his shot landed. So I told him the marshal down the way had a track on it.
The shot was in the water.
And a few hours later, there was one of Fort Worth's favorites, Phil Mickelson, blasting an approach on No. 3.
"Sit. Sit. Sit," he told the ball.
Even though Lefty's game is not what it once was, it's still odd to see one of the game's bigger names play in front of an audience of no one.
None of what we saw on Friday at Colonial is standard, but in 2020 Normal remains in quarantine.
