Weekend Wrap

The weekend after a major championship is typically characterized by the B-team playing C-quality golf in front of friends and relatives.  But given the timing, it turned out to be a fairly interesting week of golf, and one that at every opportunity undermined my prior posts.  Not that I'm taking it personally...

The Big Wiesy - We'll let the tall one bat lead-off, as Michelle Wie shows signs of delivering on her prepubescent potential (how's that for alliteration?).  Starting the final round 4 shots behind leader Angela Stanford, Wie won a home game in dramatic fashion:

With six birdies in a final-round 67, Michelle Wie charged to the top of the leaderboard Saturday at the LPGA Lotte Championship and claimed her third win on the tour.

Wie – just two weeks removed from her runner-up finish in the season's first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship – birdied Nos. 1, 5 and 6 to quickly move to 12 under. Two holes later, third-round leader Angela Stanford bogeyed to create a tie atop the leaderboard.

Wie took the lead with a birdie at the 13th and needed another at the 14th to stay ahead of Stanford, who closed with 73, then pulled away down the stretch for a two-shot win at 14 under par.

I've long believed that the LPGA would be well-served in finishing their events on days not called Sunday, so I'll be interested in seeing if the ratings are encouraging.  Unfortunately this Saturday finish was on the bride's birthday, so I was unable to watch the proceedings.

We assume that Wie's resurgence is welcome news in LPGAland, as it's hard to imagine that there's another gal that can move the needle as much.  Shackelford reminds us of this Tim Rosaforte prescient piece from January om Michelle settling into her new life in Jupiter, Fl.  It does seem that she has found some peace and she remains a superior ball striker.  However, one big hurdle remains:

The Final Frontier: What to do about this?

I Wasn't Wrong, Just Early - Kooch delivers the goods, just waiting for the week after the Masters, in which he was your humble blogger's pick.  From the AP's game piece:

Kuchar was four shots behind Luke Donald at the start but made that up with seven birdies on

his first 10 holes. He had a birdie putt of less than eight feet at the par-3 17th, but three-putted for bogey to fall into a tie for first. 

Kuchar was in more trouble in a bunker at Harbour Town Golf Links' closing lighthouse hole. That's when he blasted out and watched the ball rattle in for birdie. Kuchar punched the air and raised his arms in celebration of what would be his seventh career PGA Tour win.

First, a couple of general comments about the event, which is one I've always liked.  Harbor Town is a delightful golf course, one that can still contain the players despite being less than 7,000 yards.  And the players love it, many play the week just because of the golf course, which has the added benefit of being seemingly immune to the Tour's typical setup blandness.  And it's the perfect event for the week after the Masters, as the event seem to know its place and isn't too big for its britches.

But how to explain the 17th-18th hole sequence?  Here's the 17th green meltdown, which by all rights shouls have been the death knell:

But then this... have to give Sir Nick a begrudging smidgen of credit for the semi-call.  You know, squirrel, nut...

But, the funniest moment had to be this:

I warned Mr. Reed about the golf gods several times, but he just wouldn't listen...

The Most Interesting Señor in Golf - Only The Most Interesting Man in Golf could make a Champions Tour event interesting:

Miguel Angel Jimenez quickly shifted his focus back to the Ryder Cup after winning his first Champions Tour event. 

Jimenez held off Bernhard Langer to win the Greater Gwinnett Championship on Sunday, becoming only the third player to lead from start to finish in his debut on the 50-and-over tour. 

Jimenez, coming off a fourth-place finish in the Masters, closed with a 67 to finish two strokes ahead of Langer. Jimenez finished the tournament with 32 consecutive holes without a bogey at TPC Sugarloaf.

Quite the couple of weeks for the Spaniard, and I wouldn't rule him out for Gleneagles. 

Ryder Cup Reshuffle - I was perhaps a week early in looking at the Ryder Cup standings, as both Lee Westwood (who won the Euro Tour event in Malaysia) and Luke Donald improved their positions this week.  Jimenez did not technically improve his position, though his play the last two weeks had to have helped hist standing in Captain McGinley's eyes.