At Silverado, the Tour starts 'twenty-fore'

NAPA — It never ends, does it? So many games. So many tournaments. So many championships. So little time to turn off the TV set, to put down the sports pages, to look back instead of always looking forward.

Sunday they held the finals of the U.S. Tennis Open. Monday there was a women’s tournament in San Diego. And now once more after a break just long enough for the players to get their spikes replaced, golf has returned.

To Silverado Country Club in the Napa Valley, where the Fortinet Championship begins Thursday. It’s the first event on the 2024 PGA Tour schedule, but compared to golf the Gregorian calendar doesn’t have a chance.

No, the field doesn’t exactly match that of the Masters, but as you’ve heard virtually everybody can make birdies.  

Besides, this is a Ryder Cup year, the international competition in a short time in Rome. Two men entered here, Justin Thomas and back-to-back Silverado winner Max Homa are competing for the American team — while two others playing here, Zach Johnson and Stewart Cink, are coaches of the American team.

Golf and tennis, true, are a bit different than some of the other sports. Brad Gilbert is a tennis commentator for ESPN — and then doubles as a coach of Coco Gauff, who won the Tennis Open.

Zach Johnson will be out here at the Fortinet trying to outscore the guys he’ll then choose for the Ryder lineup.

Maybe if U.S. coach Steve Kerr had been allowed to get on the floor as well as behind the bench as a coach then U.S. team might have ended up better than fourth in the FIBA basketball tournament.

For sure, Steph Curry, who said he wants to play on the 2024 U.S. Olympic basketball team in Paris, can play golf. Not too long ago he teamed with Phil Mickelson to win the pro-am at Silverado.

The men and women in charge of US teams love competitors no matter the game or the event.

What Johnson and Cink, one of the assistant captains, hope to learn by mixing it up with Thomas and Johnson in something more than a practice round is whether the preparations are at a high level for the Cup.

The U.S. won two years ago in Wisconsin, which was huge, but it hasn’t won in Europe in 30 years.

Asked if there is a value in preparing like this, Johnson said “I don’t think it is ever bad to go compete. That’s what we are designed to do, that’s where we’re wired.”

“I’m not going to put a ton of merit into — I guess I’m just thinking about myself — on how I play. Granted, I’m not playing in two weeks, but for me, it’s just kind of a fun week to go see what I’m at and get ready for October, November.”

Right now it is September, and there is a new start. The long year is underway.