Weekend Wrap

Considering that we're deep into the Silly Season, it was actually quite a weekend in the golf world:

Emoji Wins PGA Tour Event - We're on a roll as far as fun names are concerned, and we can add this one to our list:

So much for the adage that you need to walk before you run – especially on the PGA 

You'd be Smylie too if you'd just won your first PGA tourney.

Tour. Today, these young players get a card and want to contend – and win – instantly. 

For the second consecutive week, a 23-year-old proved fearless enough to pull it off. 

The latest twentysomething to haul off with a trophy? The aptly named Smylie Kaufman, a strapping LSU alum who fired a sizzling, 10-under 61 to win the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in only his fifth start on the PGA Tour. The difference-maker was a downhill 20-footer for birdie at the final hole that eased from left to right and tumbled into the hole for his back-nine 29.

I've found that 29's rarely hurt you in this game....as you can imagine, this was one of those where he posted his number and hat to wait 2 1/2 hours while the rest of the guys took their best shot, with a gaggle coming up one short.

One of the commentators noted that Smylie's brother is named Lucky (or perhaps it's Luckie) and lives in Las Vegas.  Thing is, I have no idea whether that was intended as a joke...  As they say, some stories are too good to fact check...

Kevin Na has continued to play the role of Susan Lucci, coming up one short yet again.  This time he was done in by a stubbed chip on the 17th hole that led to a birdie.  Here's how Na explained it:

Na, coming off playoff loss last week to Emiliano Grillo in the season-opening event in Napa, California, made a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-5 16th to tie for the lead, but bogeyed the par-3 17th after flubbing a chip, and missed a 15-foot birdie try on 18. 

''The lie was actually sitting up too high, like it was on a tee, and I just went under it,'' Na said about the chip. ''And with the Bermuda into the grain, I don't know what happened.''

If anything it looked like a tight lie, but a delicate chip on the 17th hole tied for the lead for a guy that desperately needs a win, the mind is gonna run amok, isn't it?  There was also a moment when Na double-clutched on a tee shot that had the Golf Channel announcers cuing up the Wabac machine for that notorious 2011 Players Championship highlight reel.  Praise the Lord it was just a one-off...

We also learned another curious name, that of Patton Kizzire, another Alabama boy (as is Smylie), who shot 63 yesterday to cash a big check.  But those Golf Channel guys picked a fight with Kizzie over this:

Kizzre, who parred the 18th hole when he needed a birdie to tie clubhouse leader Smylie Kaufman, said he “wasn’t watching the leaderboard. I was just trying to keep my head down and make birdies, ‘cause I knew there were going to be other guys making birdies out there and I was just trying to make more than anybody else.”

Here's what the experts had to say when they got Patton to the woodshed:

Gary Koch and Frank Nobilo of the Golf Channel then went off on this concept of players avoiding leaderboards. 

“I have a real issue with it,” Koch said. “There’s not another sport that you play where you don’t know how you stand with those you’re competing against. 

“I understand what some of these young guys are being taught by these sports psychologists, but I for the life of me can’t understand how you wouldn’t want to know how you stand playing the final hole of a golf tournament.” 

Nobilo noted that “great athletes want two things. They want the moment and they also want the ball.” 

Replied Koch, “I’d go as far as saying if you can’t handle the heat of knowing how you stand maybe you ought to be doing something else.”

And they get paid for this nonsense?   I agree that if you're in the final group you need to know where you stand, because the greatest sin would be to play aggressively when pars suffice.  But in this case Kizzire was out ahead of the leaders and couldn't know what he might need to win.  So he put it into Sport Mode, fired at pins and went as low as he could....  And that's wrong why?

Ko, Baby - I booked early passage on the Lydia Ko Bandwagon, though I was careful to reserve in the reasonable expectation car.  I do think she's a monster talent and quite the lovely young lady, I just realized that her length limitations would make it difficult for her to compete on the most difficult of courses.  

But how about this performance in Taiwan?

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) Lydia Ko ran away with the LPGA Taiwan Championship on

Sunday to regain the No. 1 spot in the world ranking. 

The 18-year-old New Zealander holed a 30-yard pitch for eagle on the par-5 12th and finished with a 7-under 65 in sunny, breezy conditions at Miramar for a nine-stroke victory. 

Ko took the top spot in the world from South Korea's Inbee Park with her fifth LPGA Tour victory of the season and the 10th of her career. Park skipped her title defense at Miramar to play in a Korea LPGA event, where she tied for second Sunday.

Wowser, nine shots!  And it certainly didn't take her long to get to double-digit wins, though it helps to start early.  And it turns out that she had more on her mind than just the usual business:

Ko dedicated the win to former New Zealand Golf President Patsy Hankins who passed away earlier this week and someone Ko considers a mentor in her junior days. 

“And I think I was really playing for Patsy this week,” said Ko. “I think just hearing that on Friday morning broke my heart. She was such a huge factor into my life in my junior golf. To hear that she had passed away was very hard to hear that before you’re entering a round. But kind of just played for her the last three days, and I’m so happy that I can bring this win to her and her family.”

 Shack has Lydia's tribute to Hankins, one of the R&A's first female members, here.

I did catch a funny, typically-Lydia moment from her presser that I'll share.  I'll be paraphrasing, but she must have been asked about her chip on the final hole, where her ball was buried so deep in the rough that she had to bend over to see it, and wa splaying to a very tight pin:

LYDIA: That was a difficult shot but fortunately I knew I had a couple of shots to play with. 

STERN LOOKING WOMAN SITTING NEXT TO LYDIA:  Ummm, Lydia, you were leading by nine. 

LYDIA (smile widening imperceptibly): Yes, that was nice.

The ladies have four remaining events and if Lydia is gonna start running away from field, well this could be fun.

Rose Arisen - Justin Rose won something or other on the Euro Tour, notable mostly for the name of the runner-up:

In what could be called a winless slump considering his exploits in recent years, Justin Rose had not won since April coming into this week. That streak is no more. 

The Englishman got an intense battle from Lucas Bjerregaard on Sunday at the UBS Hong Kong Open, but ultimately Rose prevailed. A final-round 68 pushed Rose to 17 under and one past the Dane for his eighth European Tour title.

Well, that and the ill-considered facial hair.  

Jason's Addiction -  RBC (a sponsor of Day)posts this long video on Jason Day's back story, well worth a viewing if you have time.

Most of us are familiar with the story by now, but it's done well.  The line that will jump out at you is "I'm addicted to the process of getting better", reason number 153 for eagerly anticipating the next few years of professional golf.  Unless, of course, you happen to be Tiger or Phil...

On Trump's Payroll - It turns out that if you're on The Donald's payroll you're contractually required to bluster like the boss, as per Martin Dempster:

The new ninth, a spectacular par-3 across a bay with the lighthouse as its backdrop, is 

Ebert with Darren Clarke at Turnberry.

one of the holes that has already been laid out along with the fourth and 11th. 

“I think the work at Turnberry so far has surpassed expectations,” said Ebert as he delivered an update on the project as another of the courses he is working on, Royal Portrush on the Antrim coast in Northern Ireland, was confirmed as the venue for the 2019 Open Championship. “They were high expectations anyway, but when you see it, it’s remarkable. 

“The aim is to get all the greens finished by the end of the year and, though there is still a fair bit of other work to be done, with an Open at Troon next summer, they are desperate for the course to be open on 1 June. We should be fine with that.”

I hear talk that it's the greatest golf course in the world, or perhaps second only to that new track in Aberdeenshire.  It's so hard to keep track...

It would be nice if we could wait until the golf course is, you know, open to opine on it, but apparently not under Trump rules.  It's interesting that they're pushing to get the powers-that-be on it next summer, as if they're not completely comfortable that the r&a IS COMING BACK.

Shack had this little note on the timing:

Dempster says the earliest Open date available for Turnberry is 2020, about the time President Trump's first term in office is wrapping up.

That's Gotta Hurt - Regular readers understand that a man of my advanced years will inevitably be burdened by significant technical limitations.  While I continue to search for the lucky teenager that will become the Unplayable Lies unpaid intern, I remain incapable of embedding Instagram video into the blog, which in the current instance may not be such a bad thing:

Admittedly not his best side.

The next time you shank a ball into the water or lip out for double bogey, just think back to this video and remember: It could be worse. 

Meet Jacques Kruyswijk, who was playing in the Vodacom Origins of Golf on the Sunshine Tour this week. 

His ball was up against a tree, and he took a big hack to get it out. However, the ball bounced off the trunk – hard – and came up to hit him in the … well, you know where. He immediately hits the ground, and you can’t help but feel for the poor guy. You can watch the video below, courtesy of the Sunshine Tour’s twitter account.

You can see the video by clicking through above, and it's kind of a funny delayed reaction...but still, it's gonna be a while before I uncross my legs.

Rahmbo, Thinking Big -  Jon Rahm plays for Arizona State and acquitted himself quite well at last year's Tour stop in Phoenix.  It turns out that Rahm has high expectations for his golf career:

Jon Rahm has simple aspirations. 

"My goal is to turn pro, win 19 majors and be considered the best golfer in history," the affable Sun Devils senior said. 

If you're going to dream, Sun Devils coach Tim Mickelson figures you might as well dream big.

Only nineteen?  Selfish guy can't spare a few moments to cure cancer....