Xander Schauffele is a superstar ⭐️

Morrrrrning! Grab a coffee and get ready to tee off your week with the Breakfast Ball Buffet – your go-to newsletter for all things golf, served up with a side of simplicity and a pinch of satire. Here’s what’s on the grill this AM ↓

• Xander Schauffele is a superstar ⭐️

• Troon gave us carnage ⛈️

• Top 5 worst shots of the week 😂

• Some Tiger talk 🐅

Xander Schauffele is a superstar ⭐️

Xander fricken Schauffele just had one of the greatest major seasons any of us have witnessed in our lifetimes.

I don’t think it’s important to go through what he did between Thursday and Sunday to win The Open, because we all followed and that’s boring.

For years, golf fans everywhere ran with the “Xander can’t close” narrative. Well, that’s been put to sleep, and for good.

It was never in doubt that he had the physical talent to be a consistent top-3 player in the world. He’s a great driver of the golf ball, fabulous iron striker, and a rock solid wedge player.

But what sets Xander apart from Scottie, Rory and company is the fact that he’s an ELITE putter.

And no I’m not saying he’s better than Scottie and Rory. I’m just saying he has a hot putter at all times, and they almost never do.

Here’s an absolutely mental stat that I came across ↓

Well, the guy now has two majors AND an Olympic gold medal under his belt, and we’re only now seeing how good he can be. 

Xander Schauffele, the 2024 Champion Golfer of the Year. You can officially add him to the short list of golf’s superstars.

Troon gave us carnage ⛈️

It became evident pretty quickly that the Royal Troon X Mother Nature collab was going to absolutely murder the field this week at The Open.

By the end of the second round, 12 of the top 15 players in the world had either missed the cut, or were completely out of contention.

It makes sense, because the way the tee-time slots work at The Open is extremely unfavourable for the top players, as they always have to play in the peak difficult weather conditions.

That theory was proven on Saturday; Sam Burns and Thriston Lawrence were 11 shots back to start the day, played in the easy morning conditions, and shot 6-under.

They ended up 1 back going into Sunday after all the guys at the top had to deal with insane afternoon weather.

And when I say insane, I mean insane. Drivers/3-woods into 230 yard par 3’s and two par 4’s weren’t even reachable because of the wind.

Look what Scottie and DJ had to say about it ↓

But that’s the beauty of The Open. The insane weather adds a third factor that affects both the mental and physical sides tremendously.

You can’t play your usual game in those conditions, so it favours good timing and the real grinders.

Top 5 worst shots of the week 😂

Now that I explained how insanely difficult Troon played, I might as well show you guys some of the worst (but funniest) shots of the week.

Kicking it off with the allegedly unflappable world no. 1, Scottie Scheffler, duffing a tee shot less than 150 yards ↓

Up next, we have Rory McIlroy trying to hack his way out of the deep stuff… #oneofus ↓

Just a simple, straight-forward pitch… right? Apparently not for Collin Morikawa ↓

The rollercoaster — this one is just pure comedy ↓

And lastly, we have the Scottish Open champ, Bob MacIntyre, in the fescue… Did he even make contact?

Somehow all the putrid shots we got to watch the best players in the world hit all week makes me feel a little better about my game, even though it shouldn’t.

Only at The Open!

Some Tiger talk 🐅

We have, and will continue to find ways to hype ourselves up about Tiger anytime he plays. It may be irrational, but of course we’re still gonna do it.

However, the harsh reality continues to set in. In his last 9 major starts, TW has missed the cut 7 times, with both made cuts being near-last place finishes at the Masters.

But, he’s gonna continue to plug away at the majors, at least for the foreseeable future ↓

I have a theory here, and bear with me…

I think Phil winning the 2021 PGA Championship at 51 years old is feeding Tiger's misconception that he will somehow find the same thing Phil did.

The difference is that Phil had no restrictions on how much he could play, whereas Tiger can barely play the four majors without needing to rehab for weeks after at this point. It’s two entirely different situations.

And Tiger actually got that unexpected final major (painful to say) at the age of 43 at the 2019 Masters. 43 is pretty old to win one, especially when your body is as destroyed as Tiger’s.

Anyways, we won’t be seeing him in action until December, when he plays both the Hero World Challenge and the PNC Father-Son with Charlie.

Speaking of Charlie, Tiger flew straight from Scotland to Detroit to meet up with him for the US Junior Am ↓

Here’s some more footage from the practice round today 👀

Charlie tees off at 8:28 am EDT this morning — click here if you wanna follow his round.

Quick bites 🥓

Scottish golf fans are built different: some dude was floating in the ocean off the coast of Royal Troon in the cold, rainy and windy weather while holding a sign in support of Justin Rose 😂

Bobby Mac made a right-handed par: in one of the sickest par saves of the week, the lefty had to go righty and still managed to save par 😳

“FUCK YOU”: the king of hot mics, Tyrell Hatton, was back at it again at The Open 🤬

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