ORLANDO, Fla. — That Bernhard Langer, aged 66, has now received 5 PNC Championships ought to inform you one thing. This event has been round some time. That he (and his son, Jason) did it with online game scores of 60-59 ought to inform you one thing, too. This event is uncommon, quirky, and lighter than most all the pieces we’re used to.

Not one of the regular nuts and bolts matter on the PNC Championship, a scramble between two-player groups of a significant champion and a member of the family. So on a Sunday afternoon within the warmth of NFL playoff rivalry, you’d be forgiven for not tuning in to look at the Langers win one other outsized championship belt.

However in contrast to the NFL, the place one other rollicking, worthwhile season pushes ahead, golf kinda wants this proper now. Particularly this yr.

As we close to the proposed, Dec. 31 deadline for a deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi PIF — we’ve obtained two weeks of us! — the long run couldn’t be any murkier. Is Patrick Cantlay ravenous for management of the coverage board? Are there extra defections coming? Would that even do something for LIV’s sagging viewership? What concerning the ladies’s sport, and that theoretical merger between the LPGA and the Women European Tour? Everybody appears embroiled in one thing. 

However on the Ritz-Carlton, a principally primary course at a principally primary resort, in a metropolis many individuals go to to have primary holidays, now we have a event the opponents completely adore and a handbag measurement they wouldn’t even acknowledge. A event that locations them on an unfamiliar stage. That makes them tear up, with infinitely extra hugs than bogeys. A event so, uh, healthful, that it really introduced LIV Golf and the PGA Tour collectively, if solely within the slightest manner. 

That’s proper, Graeme McDowell, famous member of LIV franchise Smash GC, was on the PNC Sunday morning, contained in the ropes, simply watching. He had introduced his younger son, Wills, in fact, observing previous man Tiger Woods limp from the placing inexperienced to the chipping inexperienced, then chipping inexperienced to follow vary.

Finest I may inform, T-Dub and G-Mac didn’t alternate any phrases, however that couldn’t have been the purpose of this go to. McDowell needed to be contemplating his potential future involvement on this event, as a significant winner himself. That’s as soon as the trials of professional golf as we speak grow to be the bizarre historical past of professional golf tomorrow. 

Wills was extra keen on spending time along with his buddy, Will McGee, finest recognized ‘spherical these components as Annika’s Son. McGee is the youngest within the subject and, at simply 12 he’d haven’t any clue about this, however his ebullience was the perfect factor going at an occasion dragged down by wind and rain.

He hovered concerning the campus with the sort of pep Rory McIlroy has when main a event by three. Gentle on his toes, seemingly bouncing with every step, smiling on the chunked photographs on the vary, telling Tiger Woods all about his junior golf schedule, then sacking himself on the sofa for a day nap. Each 44- 48- or 68-year-old within the subject sees a little bit of their former, golf-giddy selves in him. They’re most likely envious, too. Will doesn’t must concern himself with mergers and acquisitions.

Will tugged in any respect of our heartstrings when he tugged on his mother’s hand as they walked up the 18th fairway Sunday afternoon, begging her to decelerate so they may actually benefit from the second. Mother teared up as she defined it afterward. Will did too! It could be essentially the most relatable factor in per week’s price of relatable issues. Seeing your mother and father cry is the quickest manner to take action your self. 

This event has at all times delivered a little bit of emotion, however the occasion has at all times felt a bit too necessary, for various causes. Lately it has served as our final likelihood on the calendar to ask Tiger Woods questions earlier than the brand new yr, and to gauge how he’ll look when he returns to PGA Tour motion. This yr was no completely different, besides there weren’t many questions on his type. Perhaps as a result of we kinda didn’t need to discuss it. He didn’t play very effectively this weekend. He’s nonetheless rusty. The climate was sloppy and his iron photographs weren’t particular. But one more reason to look away.

However no — what’s enjoyable about Woods on the PNC is what occurs between photographs. When he leans in near his caddying daughter, Sam, explaining the nuances of mis-hits with the motive force. When he and Stricker talk about placing method. Or when get claps again at his overconfident son.

You’ll by no means see Woods hand out extra hugs than you do on the PNC. Each to his children, but additionally to the remainder of the sector. Hugs for Annika, who he calls Anny; hugs for all 4 of the Strickers; hugs for Tom Lehman and John Daly and Justin Thomas’ grandma.

Woods the golfer is a bit caught between generations. At occasions, he misses these guys from the 2000s he used to beat up on, the lot of them now on the Champions Tour. And but, he longs most frequently for his mates on the trendy PGA Tour, whom he thinks he can nonetheless take care of. Greater than something, that Tour is begging Woods to remain younger, asking him to tug the Tour coverage board towards essentially the most sustainable way forward for the game. However that’s a job for tomorrow. The day after the PNC. One thing you’d by no means take into consideration as you watch Steve Stricker’s household roast him in the midst of a press convention.

It’s no marvel the first manner golf followers expertise the PNC is by way of social media, with footage of Daly being Daly main the best way till Justin Thomas’ canine Frankie slaps a moist kiss on Tiger simply off the sixteenth inexperienced. Our social media-inclined society calls these moments of levity timeline cleansers, used to fight the fixed unfold of data singed negativity. A 30-second video of puppies in a subject is cute, positive, however its different goal is simply bringing our minds again to stage.

Nicely, the PNC serves as one massive timeline cleanser. A scheduled cleanser earlier than Jan. 1, 2024. A professional golf information cycle cleanser earlier than who-knows-what. We’ll be again to the nuts and bolts right here quickly sufficient, however I received’t be upset if Christmas comes first. I think about your entire subject feels the identical manner. 

The creator welcomes your feedback, issues, and some other notes at sean.zak@golf.com.