Brooks Koepka's PGA win was, predictably, followed by his coach, Claude Harmon III, calling out the PGA Tour's campaign against LIV golfers. And Harmon's spot-on PGA Tour critiques were, just as predictably, attacked by the PGA Tour's favorite sycophants, such as Eamon Lynch and Brandell Chamblee.
I must admit that I've put some thought into the sociology of this tour-versus-tour friction, and I have serious observations and even more serious questions, which I will broach another time. Today, I just want to revisit some of Lynch's latest nonsense and put a spotlight on this loudest of PGA sycophants.
Being Lynch, Being Wrong, Being Proud of It
First, I want to disagree with something Claude Harmon said regarding Lynch. Harmon said, "I think Eamon is a fantastic writer." I'm old school in that I think Lynch is clever, but (as in most things) the most important thing about cleverness is not relying on it. Generally, the cleverest lines in a piece of writing should be tossed out, as they distract and are too busy being clever to improve the piece.
Second, regarding Eamon Lynch, my God, has he no shame? In 2022, he basically labeled Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau as broken-down has-beens. Don't take my word for it. I quoted Lynch directly in my July 4, 2022, entry "The Comedic Writings of Eamon Lynch." Anyway, my point is that I have not seen a reporter be more wrong than Lynch since Rachel Maddow proclaimed that being vaccinated meant that you couldn't get or transmit Covid-19. Yowza. Wrong on all fronts, in all ways. He (and Maddow) could not have been more incorrect.
Hard to respect someone who wrote in 2022 that Koepka, "is just an entertainer doomed to exhibitions against the washed-up veterans and no-name youngsters that he's long considered unfit to sniff his jockstrap." Putting aside the implication that Lynch has had insightful conversations with Koepka regarding jockstraps, Lynch has been proven to be the world's worst handicapper. As in, I'll say it again for emphasis, totally wrong. So how does Lynch keep a straight face in 2023 when he has no credibility? Who would give his yapping any credence (other than his PGA Tour taskmasters)? I have no idea.
2023
Well, at least Lynch has a short memory. Amnesia has its benefits when you're blatantly wrong, I suppose. He's recently decided that Koepka is not a has-been. In his May 25, 2023, propaganda for Golfweek, Lynch says that "Koepka is a formidable predator who chooses to swim in a shallow pond."
Yeah, Lynch decided to close his piece with that bit of cleverness, while ignoring Mickelson and Koepka's Masters results and also ignoring the huge and irrepressible fact that three LIV golfers cracked the top nine at the PGA.
Anybody who edits out key facts whenever it suits him so as to make his narrative case is not a "fantastic writer." He's a hired PR goon, playing sycophant to the usual one-tenth-of-one-percenters who, in this case, identify as PGA rather than LIV.
Bob Dietz
June 5, 2023
