1. Going low too often?
It is a number that has been reached just eight times in the long history of the PGA Tour, making it more rare than a perfect game in baseball.
Justin Thomas became just the seventh player to break 60 when he shot 59 in the opening round of the Sony Open in Hawaii. Jim Furyk has done it twice, shooting the all-time low round of 58 last year at the Travelers Championship after posting 59 in 2013 at the BMW Championship.
But when other players over the weekend, such as Kevin Kisner -- who missed a 9-footer on the last hole for a 59 -- and Chez Reavie also flirted with the number, it was cause for pause.
Are we already growing weary of players shooting such scores?
Five of the eight sub-60 scores have been shot since 2010, with Paul Goydos and Stuart Appleby doing it that year; Furyk in 2013 and 2016 and now Thomas. Previous to that, the only sub-60s were by Al Geiberger in 1977, Chip Beck in 1991 and David Duval in 1999. Thomas joined Geiberger, Duval and Appleby as the only players to shoot 59 and win the tournament.
The score has never been shot on the European Tour and was accomplished just once on the LPGA Tour by Annika Sorenstam.
Despite the recent flurry of sub-60 scores, we're still talking about just five rounds in seven-plus years. Yes, there had been just three previous to that over three decades, but you can argue that improvements in technology as well as fitness might suggest that a scoring onslaught was inevitable. And yet, so far, just eight rounds have cracked that magic barrier.
2. A closer look
The venue for the Sony Open, Waialae Country Club, has been a frequent site of low rounds and PGA Tour scoring records over the years. So it makes sense that Thomas -- or anyone -- might have had a chance to go low. The wind was down, the fairways were firm and the course is not overly long. All of that sets up for great scoring.
But it is important to note that Thomas' round was three strokes better than the next best player, Hudson Swafford, who shot 62. And it still beat the scoring average for the day by more than 9 strokes.
Then again, if you believe there are too many of these low scores ...
In addition to Thomas' 59, there was a 60, two 61s, two 62s and four 63s during the week.
3. Phone problems
Thomas has had no issues with his golf clubs over the past two weeks, winning twice and claiming three victories in his past five starts. But he couldn't quite thank everyone who reached out with congratulations.
Thanks everybody so much for the messages. My phone decided to delete every message I've gotten so sorry for not responding! Amazing 2 weeks
— Justin Thomas (@JustinThomas34) January 16, 2017
4. Ryder Cup playing captain?
The idea seems ludicrous, and yet Furyk, when given the chance, did not dismiss the idea of being a playing captain for the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 2018. That hasn't happened since Arnold Palmer did it for the United States in 1963, when the event was completely different.
Furyk, who finished second at the U.S. Open and shot a 58 at the Travelers Championship last year, might have been on the 2016 team were it not for injury that kept him out at the beginning of the year. So the idea of him putting together a run of good play is not out of the question, even though he turns 48 next year.
He could have put an end to such talk but failed to do so, simply leaving the door open in case he plays well. And if he does? Let's face it, the job of captain is not so strenuous to think he couldn't do both. Yes, there is a lot going on behind the scenes, but many of the nuts and bolts duties would be passed off to someone else, such as Davis Love III, who was already named as an assistant and has been a captain twice.
And don't forget how influential Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods were at Hazeltine. Both players had significant say in the pairings. You think that won't be the case with Furyk?
Let's see how it plays out. We're still a year away from any meaningful points being earned. If Furyk is in the mix after the 2018 Masters, then perhaps it is time for him to make a decision and announce he's passing along some of the duties.
History says making it as a captain will be tough. Tom Kite (1997) and Tom Lehman (2006) had legitimate chances to make their own squads very late in the process, but didn't. There is lot going on for the captain in a Ryder Cup year and typically captains see their play cool off.
5. Europe makes changes
In the wake of its recent defeat at Hazeltine, the European Tour has made changes to its Ryder Cup selection process, giving captain Thomas Bjorn an extra at-large pick, not allowing players who compete in events against the newly-formed Rolex Series of eight tournaments to earn world ranking points toward qualification, and reducing the number of events from five to four (outside of the majors and WGCs) for European Tour membership -- still a requirement to be part of the team.
But perhaps the biggest change will be awarding more points in tournaments toward the conclusion of the qualifying process in 2018. It is still to be determined where that cutoff will be, but players will earn 1.5 times the number of points toward Ryder Cup qualification in those tournaments in an effort to try and get the most in-form players.
The 2016 team was missing players such as Alex Noren and Russell Knox, both of whom had success late in the process, but not enough to make the team.
6. Rory's ribs
How does one injure a rib swinging a golf club? Not even Rory McIlroy knows for sure, although he suggested in South Africa that he might have done so doing an extensive amount of equipment testing in the offseason.
And remember, McIlroy thought his pain was because of a back problem, diagnosed as a stress fracture after a Monday MRI.
"I've hit a lot of drivers,'' he said. "You put a lot of force on your body when you do that.''
This has already led to conjecture that McIlroy has spent too much time in the gym, that lifting heavy weights is a recipe for injury -- a storyline that he very much dislikes.
Whatever the case, McIlroy will miss this week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, a venue where he has fared well over the years without winning. His next scheduled start is in two weeks at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
7. Comeback story
Graeme Storm, who beat McIlroy in a playoff on Sunday, had seemingly lost his European Tour card last fall when he bogeyed the final hole at the Portugal Masters, thus falling out of the 111th spot on the money list -- by approximately $110.
But when Patrick Reed failed to meet the minimum number of tournaments required for European Tour membership, Storm moved up a spot and was thereby exempt. Fast-forward to Sunday as the Englishman outlasted McIlroy on the third extra hole of a sudden-death playoff. The victory almost certainly wouldn't have been possible otherwise.
In a related note, Reed was not stripped of his European Tour membership. Chief executive Keith Pelley granted him a reprieve because of the unrest in Turkey, which is what caused Reed to withdraw and miss the minimum number of required events.
Great playing @stormygraeme! What a great story after last year. Thanks to @TheBig_Easy and everyone in SA for making this week so special.
— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) January 15, 2017
8. Arnie's last PGA Tour victory
This week's CareerBuilder Challenge was formerly known as the Bob Hope Classic, played in the Palm Springs area dating to 1960, when the late Palmer won the tournament. It is also where Palmer won the last of his 62 PGA Tour titles, as pgatour.com noted. The 1973 victory came at the expense of Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller as Palmer shot a final-round 69 at Bermuda Dunes in what was then a five-day event.
9. Top QBs -- and golfers
For the last time until September, golf goes up against the NFL this weekend when the CareerBuilder Challenge final round is played on the day of the conference championship games on Sunday. (Hey, why not end the tournament on Saturday?) In those games will be four of the best quarterbacks in the game -- Atlanta's Matt Ryan, Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger and New England's Tom Brady. Elite quarterbacks, for sure. Their other link? According to Golf Digest, all four have handicaps of 8 or better.