Searching for answers
This oft-angry tour pro tried taping his mouth. Seriously. Did it work?
Ryan McCormick is like every golfer ever. The loop of negative thoughts start in the Korn Ferry Tour veteran’s head and won’t let him rest. It sounds like, though, that McCormick doesn’t keep that anxiety to himself, but rather lets it out loudly at times, possibly rattling his competitive playing partners.
After trying numerous things to quiet himself, McCormick is going for something about as bizarre and drastic as it gets—something we’ve never thought of or seen before. He’s taping his mouth. Yes, you read that right.
We have no idea what happened in the first round that led to this, but the experiment began on Friday in the KFT’s Club Car Championship in Savannah, Ga. McCormick used a large piece of tape, seemingly cut to the shape of his mouth, to keep himself from any outbursts. It turned out to be a good test, because he could only score an even-par 72 and, at one over for 36 holes, wasn’t going to come close to making the cut.
The 34-year-old New Jersey native was playing in his seventh event this season, and it’s been a bit of a rough start to 2025, with now two missed cuts and two withdrawals.
“Having a not-so-fun time this year on the golf course, pretty angry and mad, so I figured … I’ve tried a lot of things, and I just figured I’d just shut myself up,” McCormick told PGATour.com on Friday. “So I put tape over my mouth. At this point, I’ve tried about everything. I’ve read a lot of books, I’ve talked to people … just too angry on the golf course, so I have run out of ideas, and I thought about the tape thing a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately came down to that today.”
Did it help?
“Can’t say that it did or didn’t. It certainly makes you breathe. I felt like Bane, like Batman, muzzle myself. I mean, I’m not like proud, I don’t want to create an experience for my playing partners that’s not fair. And, you know, it’s not fair to me either or other people. Having a tough time, and that was my solution today.”
Of course, the tape prevented McCormick from speaking to his caddie. (Are you watching Jordan Spieth?) So how did they handle that?
“Mostly just writing down the numbers,” McCormick said. “I would just point and ask him for a read sometimes. It made things a lot simpler, I’ll tell you that.”
Honestly, since we’ve all been there, and the torture can be real, so we’re rooting for Ryan to find some peace—and silence.