Welcome back to SI Golf’s Fact or Fiction, where we’re thrilled to be almost done with February.

Once again, we’re here to debate a series of statements for writers and editors to declare as “Fact” or “Fiction” along with a brief explanation. Responses may also (occasionally) be “Neutral” since there's a lot of gray area in golf.

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know on the SI Golf X account.

The PGA Tour’s Florida Swing begins this week, and the month-long stay in the Sunshine State includes the star-filled Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship in back-to-back weeks. That’s the best two-week stretch on the Tour calendar.

Bob Harig: FICTION. This is arguable, which is why I prefer to suggest that there are other candidates. Certainly the Pebble Beach-Phoenix double is pretty good. So is the former Wells Fargo-PGA Championship back-to-back as well as the U.S. Open-Travelers. It’s also hard to beat the Scottish Open-British Open double.

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. Bob found it right at the end there—the Scottish-British combo is a palette-cleanse from U.S. parkland golf and the culmination of the major season. It never disappoints.

John Schwarb: FICTION. Bob noted mine, the Pebble Beach-Phoenix stretch. While I’m frozen in Indiana, Pebble Beach (even on its cold and windy days) looks great on TV and I’m a sucker for the mass of humanity at TPC Scottsdale—the Indy 500 of golf tournaments. 

An LPGA player’s use of AimPoint 1 foot from the hole drew outrage last week, while Lucas Glover said the routine should be banned. The PGA Tour has banned green-reading books for tournaments and all major tours should do the same with this putting routine.

Bob Harig: FICTION. As unwieldy as AimPoint can look, this again falls under simply doing it in the proper amount of time. A player can get his work done while others are lining up their putts. Enforce the playing-time allotments and they can do whatever they want.

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. The tours should do a better job enforcing slow play. AimPoint looks goofy, especially on short putts, but if it’s done in the allotted time, it’s all good.

John Schwarb: FACT. I know this opens a huge can of worms in terms of enforcement and telling players how to play but we have a full dossier of AimPoint imagery, from multiple players doing it at the same time on a green to now A Lim Kim on a tap-in, and it all looks awful. Perhaps the rule could be that you are allowed to straddle your putting line once, and doing more than that receives a time warning or penalty—because a full AimPoint routine is undoubtedly slow.

Brian Campbell won the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld and the spoils include a trip to Augusta National, as players winning a full-points PGA Tour event get a spot in the Masters. But the Mexico Open had just two top-30 players in the field—the Masters should revisit that exemption given some of these star-deprived events. 

Bob Harig: FICTION. This has been discussed for the fall events as well and while there is certainly an argument the story line is exactly what Augusta National wants. The Masters loves that these guys who might not otherwise have a chance to get there have this as a possible reward. It would be a shame if it were taken away.

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. It’s a great incentive for the players in those off-event fields, and it gives the events a little added juice. If the Masters is good with it, let’s keep the exemptions in there. 

John Schwarb: NEUTRAL. I love Brian Campbell’s story but the gap between signature and certain non-signature events in the regular season seems to be widening, and not all non-signature events are equal. I wonder if the greencoats are taking notice.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fact or Fiction: The Florida Swing Includes the PGA Tour’s Best Two-Week Stretch.