While the PGA Tour battles investigation, its players are in Golf Heaven

GULLANE, Scotland — There’s a fascinating juxtaposition going on with PGA Tour players this week. On the golf course in Scotland? Pure happiness. Anything golf-related from back home? Mostly angst. Such is the case when Tour’s stars travel to a place that calls itself “Golf Country” while representatives for the tour they play on travel to a Senate hearing in Washington. 

You can see it on the course, but let’s start in the press room. Press conferences are covering two topics at the moment: links golf and PGA Tour governance. On the latter, some of the best players seem to be speaking in unison.

“I understand the privacy of it,” Scottie Scheffler said, “but I just wish that definitely our player reps need to be more involved in the process.”

Jordan Spieth agrees. “It’s a member-run organization with a voluntary board that’s supposed to look out for the interests of the PGA Tour players on the board,” Spieth said. “I don’t believe that these decisions had to be made without involving — call it — players on the board and other board members.”

Can you spot the trend? Xander Schauffele watched Spieth’s presser from the back of the room, and a few minutes later he was at the dais talking similarly. “Right now, with this hearing and everything that’s going on,” Schauffele said, “these are just sort of steps in the process to getting — not what we want, but more transparency — and sort of getting a seat at the table. It’s a for-members organization and that’s what it should be.”

Top players want a seat at the table. They want to be heard. They weren’t involved with the Framework Agreement, but want a say in the Definitive Agreement. But in the meantime, their actual surroundings seems to turn those frowns upside down. Welcome to golf in the United Kingdom. 

It’s become ritualistic for those same top players to use this break between the U.S. Open and Open Championship as a quick reset of the golfing soul. To travel to Scotland and England and Ireland in advance of the final major of the year. Or simply, “to have a lot of fun in the middle of working,” Spieth said. They don’t normally get that. 

Spieth, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler journeyed through Lahinch last summer, in the center of Ireland, on their way to St. Andrews. This year, they popped through London and took a spin around Sunningdale’s Old Course, regarded by many as the best in all of England. 

Players seem to treat these next two weeks as a bit of an escape. They’ll play without hats on because that’s easier in the wind. Caddies are given permission by their pro to take the afternoon off and cross the property for a round at next-door neighbor Muirfield. Pros hear stories about the hellish time Phil Mickelson had on the 16th at North Berwick and they can’t help but try and conquer the original Biarritz green, too.

Gullane’s highest recommendations are being worked this week as pros amble through town and pop into the pub to watch Wimbledon on the telly. Dinner at the Bonnie Badger. Drinks at the Watchman. Dinner and drinks at The Old Clubhouse. That’s where Pete Cowen and Zac Blair found themselves Tuesday evening.

Around that time, as the sun was setting, Spieth and Thomas were looping all 18 holes at North Berwick, universally beloved as a fun, quirky test filled with scoring opportunities. “I’ve never played 27 holes on the Tuesday of a tournament week,” Spieth said. Until now, that is. The allure of North Berwick is too strong. Many players and their families shack up at The Marine hotel during this week, which lords over the 16th hole on the West Links. The temptation is just waiting there outside their windows. Spieth walked the course with his family a decade ago, during the 2013 Open at Muirfield. It was another hot, dry summer, and the course fascinated him. This week he played the first few holes with his coach, Cam McCormick, and McCormick’s son, but couldn’t bring himself to stop. So he and Thomas found themselves finishing the full round, to the delight of a couple dozen locals who trekked in to watch. Elsewhere on the course, Luke List was playing, too. Same for Sahith Theegala. He shot seven under on the final 10 holes. 

Much was made of Max Homa last July when he played all 18 holes at North Berwick during the Friday evening of the Genesis Scottish Open. He had played 18 at Renaissance Club that morning, shot 71, and figured he had one chance to game it at a course he had heard only good things about. So he jumped. If you ask Richie Ramsey, Scottish pro and member at Renaissance, he’s never surprised at the adoration for North Berwick, or any of the lovely links in this land.

“We sometimes take them for granted because they are on your doorstep,” Ramsey said Tuesday. “Like, I’m fortunate that I know a couple of guys at Muirfield that I can go and play there. That place is an amazing golf course. Like North Berwick is a brilliant walk and fantastic, sort of quirky source. You know, different shots, different lies, and it’s got that St Andrews feel. It’s very therapeutic for the soul.”

Therapeutic indeed.