Jacob Goldstein

Scotties on one of the best runs of all time, but do you think Bryson could have slowed him down or topped his run if he was on the PGA Tour? -@daily_msu Among many fallouts of Bryson's triumph at Pinehurst is the unavoidable reality that 4 of the last 8 major championships have been won by guys currently playing on LIV Golf. And it's not like it's been the same guy winning and winning and winning. It's four different guys: Bryson DeChambeau (30 years old), Brooks Koepka (34), Jon Rahm (29) and Cameron Smith (30). The Scottie-over-everything narrative was a lot cleaner when he'd only played one tournament in 2024 against the LIV guys and beaten them all, as was the case after the Masters. He's now played in three tournaments against Bryson DeChambeau and Bryson's finished with the lower score twice. We simply cannot say for certain that one of the guys named above—not to mention Joaquin Niemann or Tyrrell Hatton or whoever else—wouldn't have wrestled one of those six trophies away from Scottie. The flip side to this argument is you can only beat the players in front of you, and all the advanced statistics that do factor in LIV Golf say this is the best run of golf since Tiger's heyday. Both things are true; this is the best run we've seen since Tiger, and yet it cannot be discussed without at least acknowledging the reality that the best players in the world are not united on the same tour the way they were five years ago. This is why the Open Championship will be so crucial in deciding how history will view Scheffler's 2024. If he wins, it's immediately one of the best seasons in golf history and those signature event wins were a natural result of an all-time great player finding a level above everyone else. If he puts up another dud like he did at Pinehurst, those signature event wins lose a bit of significance, and the "but the LIV guys weren't there" argument grows loude—but also stronger because it'll be truer. The Open is another data point and yes, 4 starts is far from a complete data set, but imperfect comparisons are one of the many things that stink about this bifurcated era. That, and so much more in this week's Q&A Monday Rap: barstoolsports.com/blog/3517…