Weekend Wrap - All Lydia Edition

Not ALL Lydia, but attention must be paid...

Not Over The Hill, Yet -  Touted as the second coming after prematurely and freakishly ascending to the number one ranking, Lydia has had what can only be characterized as a disappointing summer.  Until yesterday, that is:

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) -- Lydia Ko became the youngest major champion in LPGA Tour history at the Evian Championship on Sunday. 

The South Korean-born New Zealander closed with an 8-under 63 for a six-stroke victory over Lexi Thompson at the final major of the season.

Ko is 18 years, 4 months and 20 days old. She eclipsed the previous record set by American Morgan Pressel, who was 18 years, 10 months and nine days old when she won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship. 

Ko, who was runner-up in Evian two years ago, enjoyed a remarkable day on the shores of Lake Geneva, staying bogey-free and hitting eight birdies in her final round for the best score of the tournament this year. She finished with a 16-under total of 268.

Regular readers of this blog have benefited from tempered expectations for the young lass, as she's still just a wee tot.  As I remarked yesterday before hearing the results, there's a reason her golf bag features eight headcovers ( I may be exaggerating here, but you'll take my point)....

But if you put Lydia on a golf course of modest proportions she simply rocks.  The Evian-les-Bains course, listed at 6,453 yards on the card, but seemed to be set up far shorter than that for most of the week, obviously qualifies, based upon the torching it endured...

Randall Mell calls our Lydia the ultimate prodigy:

If there were a Grand Slam of record-setting youthful triumphs, Ko would have completed it Sunday by winning the Evian Championship in France. 

And she would have done so with an exclamation point. 

Yes, Evian Golf Resort might not be St. Andrews or Oakmont, but this was her masterpiece, regardless of the canvas. Ko’s bogey-free 63 was ridiculously good under final-round pressure. She was seven shots better than anyone else in contention, seven shots better than anyone else among the final 18 players off the first tee on Sunday.

See it's a perfectly fine tribute to Lydia, but I can't let the absence of editorial control pass without comment.  Oakmont is a noted brutish golf course, and it's tie to the number 63 is well-established... But St. Andrews is so wrong as an analogy, as it's easily torched in calm conditions....Randall, may I suggest Carnoustie as the old-world reference?  Yanno, there's a reason they call it Carnasty....

But Randall hits the right notes as well:

She was seven shots better than anyone else in contention, seven shots better than anyone else among the final 18 players off the first tee on Sunday. 

Though Ko started two shots behind at day’s start, she won by six. She hit every green in regulation but one.

“It’s kind of hard to beat somebody who shoots 63,” said Lexi Thompson, who shot 70 and still got lapped finishing second. “She played amazing. She deserves it. She ball-struck the heck out of this golf course and putted really well. You can't get much better than that.”

Perhaps more amazing is this bit from John Strege's ode:

She had eight birdies in a bogey-free round of 63, the lowest score of the week, to win by six, her fourth victory of the year, equaling the number won by Inbee Park. 

A finer point is that she was three back of Thompson with 11 to play, was tied with her with seven to play, and won by a landslide when the pressure was the greatest.

More from Strege:

Par 5s are supposed to be the dominion of the game’s bombers. Ko played them in nine-under par at the Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France. Thompson, who ranks fourth in driving distance, played them in five-under. 

Even playing longer irons into greens, Ko leads the LPGA in greens in regulation, and on Sunday, she missed only one of 18. Over four rounds, she hit 86 percent of the greens in regulation.

Surprisingly, Strege notes that Ko spots Lexi Thompson eighteen yards off the tee, to which I can only say, "Only eighteen?"  Seems low, no?

But we do need to put a damper on that youngest ever talk....yes, Morgan Pressel lost her one claim to fame, but there was one that did it younger:

Ko sets the new mark as youngest woman to win a major at 18 years, 4 months and 20 days old. Really, though, Ko’s feat feels even more historic than that. Yeah, sure, Young Tom Morris was 17 when he won the Open Championship in 1868, but he was among just a dozen players in the field.

Plus Young Tom had his Daddy with him...Not so comparable we can all agree.  And Young Tom didn't have to deal with all that Best Player To never Win a Major thing....in fact, it wasn't until 1960 that he had, you know, won a major...

Walker Walkaway -  It seems to have been a weekend for blowouts:

Britain and Ireland regained the Walker Cup with the team's highest points total on

Sunday, beating the United States 16.5 to 9.5 at Royal Lytham and St Annes. 

Leading 7-5 after the first day of the biennial amateur event, Britain and Ireland again won the morning foursomes 3-1 to lead 10-6. That left the hosts needing just 3.5 points from the 10 afternoon singles, and Britain and Ireland clinched victory with six matches still out on the course on England's north west coast.

Shack has been carrying the torch for this event all week, and here's a taste:

Here's the good news: rock bottom for the Walker Cup and Team USA has been hit! And almost no one saw the carnage!

Buried over on ESPN3 was the BBC coverage for American viewers (where Peter Alliss and friends entertained) on the first Sunday of NFL action. So for the five people who could get the WatchESPN app to work, it was a blowout for the ages.

But he was just warming up:

Now, the bad news for Team USA. 

After a thrilling win in 2013 at the National Golf Links, the big win by GB&I leaves the American team and the ultra-secretive USGA-designed selection process in shambles. After all, asRyan Lavner noted, the USA only leads 6-5 in the series since 1995 despite having about a 250,000,000 million popularion advantage.

While Great Britain & Ireland is getting better and might have won this match even more handily had they included Sam Horsfield, Team USA was in charity mode again this year, adding two mid-am's in a career celebration that, while admirable, makes you wonder if an effort is being made in Far Hills to win the event or just reaffirm to lifelong amateurs that they too, are people worthy of inclusion even if the numbers say otherwise

And Geoff doesn't even add this comment from the coach:

"We fought hard and lost with grace and dignity, that's what sport is all about," said United States captain John 'Spider' Miller.

I don't want to be lumped into the anti-grace and dignity camp, but that's not all sport is about....

Shack has harsh words for everyone from the USGA to Ralph Lauren, and holds the threat of yet another task force over our heads, but there's not much of a choir to whom to preach.  Not only has the golf calendar gotten far too crowded for attention to be paid to this event, but the professional tours have conspired to rob these events of any marque names.

About the only hope is that USGA and R&A can continue to identify inspired venues, of which Lytham was notably not.  But LACC in 2017 is such a venue, and the recent track record has been reasonably good.  

A Tiger-Sighting - Sam Weinman brings word that Tiger has committed to play in the Frys.com Open, with this header and lede:

Tiger Woods commits to Frys.com Open, because what else is he going to do?

Tiger Woods has committed to play in the Frys.com Open next month, which makes sense considering he's not exactly wearing himself out right now.

And he was in Chicago for some reason and couldn't resist a selfie with an actual professional golfer:

Again, where are the editors?  Tiger is playing the Frys for one and only one reason, HE HAS TO.  Five years ago he and a small group of players got Tour permission to play in the Turkish Airlines Open and grab large appearance fees.  The quid pro quo for that is that they must play in the competing event in the next five years, and that bill has just come due.... Further good news:  Rory was one of the others....

Tough Gets - Golf Digest runs a cute slideshow of the fourteen toughest gets in golf, though the top three I think anyone could guess.  The fact that I've only played three of these is truly a national disgrace, but at least I bagged one of the top three.

But Whisper Rock?  It's no doubt a great club and is well known for the number of tour pros in its membership ranks, but it has such a large membership that it's hard for me to see it as that tough a get.  

More importantly, what's missing?  Friars Head jumps to mind, but I'll accept other nominees....