Weekend Wrap - Cups Runneth Over Edition

It's not like I actually watched any golf this weekend, despite there being two events worthy of attention.  I've taken to calling Labor Day Weekend a sports desert, but the week after might over-correct.  Take those two events (the Solheim Cup and the Irish Open from Doonbeg, just down the road from Lahinch), but bury them under the U.S. Open final matches and the first week of NFL games, and can we hear our game growing?

And, as I'll show below, the crazy scheduling will only get worse.... But Shack actually had some gripes about that electric Walker Cup, so stick with us.

Going Dutch - The shame is that the Solheim Cup is a pretty good event.  Not perfect, of course, it's still the Tour That Can't Shoot Straight.  As a matter of perspective, though, the relatively benign follies of the LPGA seem almost quaint compared to the viciousness of the WNBA.  At least nobody in the LPGA appears to be trying to physically hurt Nelly....So, we've got that going for us.

The Solheim Cup does require a certain suspension of belief, to wit, one has to understand that this event hasn't been able to accommodate the actual locus of power in the women's game.  But, setting that pesky detail aside, it's great fun watching the also-rans compete, mostly I think for two simple reasons.  First, team match play is just the bomb, at least when combined with a frisson of genuine ill-will between the teams.  Just the right kind of bad blood has developed over the years, thank you Annika and Suzanne....

From Geoff:

A second straight week of captivating team match play reinforced how much golf’s Olympics “grow the game” quest should have been built around miniaturized versions of the Solheim and Walker Cups. Your loss, IOC.

Because Europe’s thrilling 15-13 Solheim Cup win provided daily entertainment, drama, controversy, brilliant play, and another bit of American point-missing. Even better, it helped overshadow the slow-play-sullied Irish Open featuring a career-low sportsmanship moment from 11-stroke winner Shane Lowry.

NOTE TO READERS:  Remember my issues with embedding photos from Scotland?  They seem to be recurring, as that photo of the Euros would not embed in the usual manner, even with different file formats.  I was able to copy and paste it, but previews indicate it won't  center properly.  Grrrr!

The biggest controversy seemed to be about green speeds, where have we heard that before?

Stanford said it came down the Europeans making more putts on the slower greens and made became the second straight American captain of a professional Cup team to imply green speeds were a problem. “Apparently I didn’t get to know the superintendent as well as I should have,” Stanford said.

Nordqvist shot down the green speed claim. She pointed out that players saw the course in July during Europe’s record heat wave when the turf was lean. Rain has since slowed everything down at Bernardus. The 39-year-old Captain noted that they all play the same courses. “I’m not sure I believe a lot in setting up a way to fit Europe because these girls play the same golf courses week-in and week-out competing,” Nordqvist said.

But, lest we think this year's schedule, with three cups in 4 weeks is crazy, buckle in:

The 2028 Solheim Cup will be contested at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, September 8-10, 2028. That’s the same weekend as the Walker Cup in Bandon Dunes and a week after the Curtis Cup at Royal Dornoch. What a dreadful ask of fans to jam three of the four premier Cup events into a two-week window. This also dismantles an assertion I made to Fried Egg’s Andy Johnson last week suggesting that the organizations engage in more scheduling planning than we see publicly. Unreal.

You can see the ladies' profound strategery, picking a golf course that couldn't possible be confused with Bandon or Dornoch....  I can watch at two of the most spectacular places on the planet or, yanno, Louisville.  Perhaps the local police department will cooperate and let Nelly do a few hours in the hoosegow.

I'm probably glad I missed this bit of nonsense:

Add another to the “Already Bifurcated Game” files: when Team Europe’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen drove into the par-5 16th’s “penalty area,” partner Celine Boutier received relief from a Temporary Movable Obstruction relief because of a bridge in her way. So much for the penalty in the area. Boutier’s drop had to remain inside the hazard, but it was another example of professionals playing by a more generous set of rules and the general defanging of hazards in the elite game. No chance some mere mortal tries to pull that off in their weekly money game.

I'm assuming Geoff meant immovable, but line of sight relief from a hazard?  Geez, 

The Tour Confidential gang dealt a bit more with the actual competition:

Europe beat the U.S. to win the Solheim Cup on Sunday in the Netherlands, winning seven of 12 singles matches to break an 8-8 tie after team play and win (or retain) the Cup for the fourth time in the last five editions. What’s your diagnosis of the Americans’ loss?

Alan Bastable: It was, among other things, a reminder that the U.S. Solheim Cuppers have not

been playing well of late, period, with just two players notching LPGA wins this season. Those two players — world No. 1 Nelly Korda and No. 17 Lauren Coughlin — also happen to be the only Americans in the top 20 in the world. Rose Zhang needed a captain’s pick to make the squad; Andrea Lee came into the week off a couple of missed cuts; and Megan Khang, another of U.S. captain Angela Stanford’s picks, missed the cut in seven of her last nine starts. The Solheim Cup is not an event at which you can afford to come in searching for your game, and the Americans hit far too many loose shots. In fairness, the Europeans weren’t really in form heading into the event, either, but, as so often happens, they rode the home-team vibes and holed the putts they needed to hole. The blue wave early in singles also was a statement. Europe seemed more determined.

Josh Sens: That’s a spot-on diagnosis. It wouldn’t be a Solheim Cup without some second guessing, which we’ll get into below. Meantime, though, another constant in these team events is momentum, and the Europeans were impressive in riding that ebb and flow. After Jennifer Kupcho’s heroics late-day Saturday, the U.S. seemed prime to ride a wave into Sunday. But the wave came early from Europe instead.

Jessica Marksbury: It’s a bit of a cliche at this point, and something we seem to repeat at many international matches for both men and women, but Europe just played better on Sunday. On paper, the U.S. should have prevailed in singles. But golf is fickle, and match play even more so. It just didn’t go our way.

The U.S. is not exactly a women's golf powerhouse, and it showed in singles.

Who was your MVP for each side?

Bastable: For Europe, hard to separate the excellent play of Linn Grant and Maja Stark, considering they won three matches together, including both opening matches in the Saturday

sessions. But gotta give the nod to Grant who was a perfect 4-0, made all the more impressive when compared to her 0-4 clunker at the last Cup. Talk about a bounce back. For the U.S. side, easy: Alison Lee. Unreal week. After taking off 2025 for maternity leave, she came back in 2026 and not only earned her way onto the squad but proved to be the team’s best player. Four matches, four wins, including a singles comeback for the ages on Sunday; Lee was down 4 through 11 to Esther Hensleit and came back to win 1 up, with little Levi on the grounds, rooting on mom. Fabulous stuff.

Sens: Ball don’t lie, as the kids say. I can’t quibble with any of those picks.

Marksbury: No question, it’s the 4-0 ladies: Alison Lee for the U.S. (What a performance!) And Linn Grant for the Euros.

Allison Lee is a great story, especially given her old history with a certain non-conceded putt way back when.

Lastly:

Time to nitpick. What decision(s) from U.S. captain Angela Stanford are you second-guessing?

Bastable: The biggest question of the week was always going to be whether Angel Yin, who had been ill for much of the season and played only two competitive rounds (81-76 at the FM Championship) since June, was going to be ready for the pressure cooker that is the Solheim. Stanford could have swapped out Yin for the U.S. side’s alternate, Lilia Vu, but chose to ride with Yin. Yin said she was ready, but she didn’t look it, going 0-1-1 with at least a few untidy shots that showed her rust. Call me old-fashioned, but I also didn’t love the optics of the U.S. team cracking beers and celebrating on the bus Saturday evening. Can’t help but think that didn’t serve as fuel for the Euros.

Marksbury: The only thing I can think of is pure hindsight: I would have liked to see the U.S. singles a bit more front-loaded. I understand that you need some reserves in case it’s close at the end, but I would have put a still-recovering Yin a bit farther down in the lineup, not the third match out. Those early matches are important in terms of momentum, and the U.S. was not able to capitalize.

Sens: Yin was the big question mark coming in, and she remains the big question mark in the aftermath. Yes, she’d earned the spot, and she was keen to play, but little suggested that her game was Solheim Cup-ready. In retrospect, you can’t help thinking that Lilia Vu would have made more sense. I’m with Jessica as well, though. Among the what ifs is … what if Stanford had gone out early with the players who were in the best form.

Bastable: Regarding the Yin situation, it should be noted that Vu was a curious alternate choice. Sure, she’s a former world No. 1, but she has been woefully out of form, having missed the cut in each of her last 8 starts. You have to wonder if that wasn’t also weighing on Stanford’s decision-making. 

The Yin/Vu thing is best understood as a lack of depth to work with.  The way Vu had been playing, why not go with the lady that actually earned it.  Uncertain form being perhaps better than dreadful form, but it's the paucity of talent.

The Yin And The Yang of Shane - On the one hand, the guy won by eleven, so you'd think winning his home Open might have a fellow walking on air.  But even the seemingly affable ones seem to have anger issues.

Your humble blogger hates that an actual links event was held on a weekend where the major sporting events were stacked like cord wood, but it is what it is.  So, props to Shane Lowry for blowing the field out of the water, but see how you feel about this, as per an AI call and response:

The Incident and Reaction

• The Shot: Lowry hit an errant, hooked tee shot to the left on the par-4 18th hole at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg, sending the ball toward a crosswalk area where marshals and volunteers were standing.
• The Hot Mic: After shouting a warning, he was caught on camera and mic saying, "They deserved to get hit".
• The Backlash: Fans expressed anger online, calling the comment disrespectful to tournament volunteers and demanding an apology.

 And how did he rationalize his disregard for humankind:

Lowry's Response

Lowry later addressed the frustration that led to the comment, explaining that movement by people crossing the fairway while he was trying to play a difficult shot had annoyed him. He noted that marshals have a tough volunteer job, but felt they were sometimes in the way during a chaotic round. Despite the controversy, Lowry kept his focus and went on to win the tournament by an 11-shot margin.

Oh, the inhumanity!  yes, the people that fund those outsized purses are occasionally in the way.....  Apparently line of sight relief from hazards isn't enough to keep Shane from getting cranky in the midst of an 11-shot win.  Noted.

Walker Cup Afterglow - Interesting follow up thoughts from Geoff, some a bit more critical than one might have expected.

There's a lot of great stuff in his "Champions" post, that I'll just skim for you:

The Mid-Amateurs. Stuart Grehan and Stewart Hagestad carved out a special place in Walker Cup lore thanks to their golf and classy presence. The only thirty-somethings who are supposedly

playing as token nods to the mid-amateur game, led their teams. There’s a case that they were the respective team MVP’s between their play, leadership, and example-setting. As the lone Irishman expected to thrive in his home country, Grehan was expected to play well at Lahinch. Captain Dean Robertson slotted him first out and rode him like he had Ruby Walsh on Hurricane Fly. Grehan broke slowly in all four matches but never lost patience knowing Lahinch’s reputation as a closer’s course. He was part of or directly responsible for 2.5 points, 18 eagles, and two birdies despite hitting an adrenaline wall after Sunday morning’s USA sweep. But he regrouped and won a key early point in the afternoon. America’s old war horse, Hagestad, delivered his usual intensity in Walker Cup number six. Going 1-1 in two singles matches, he seemed more introspective and served as a calming presence for an inexperienced team. While he trailed most of Sunday and never led against Eliot Baker, the 35-year-old made three birdies, one eagle and without looking nearly as good as he did the day before, still got his match to the last hole. Baker prevailed with a huge birdie. Even after a tough loss, Hagestad shared this about the crowds on Sunday night while GB&I team could be heard celebrating in the tent next door:

“I spoke to someone this morning that drove in from 2 1/2 hours away. I was blown away at how courteous and how lovely and supportive and genuinely excited to be here and excited to watch great golf. It was a lot of just moments with parents and their kids.

“That’s what the event’s all about. That’s the definition of growing the game, and I have my own thoughts on that expression as a whole, but that is -- it was really, really great to see just the sincere appreciation for the sport, for the event. Everyone was wonderful. So credit to them.”

I've always considered the mid-Am thing to be profoundly silly, but I may be dead wrong.   Our guy has become legend, although that's a rookie error, leaving me no adjectives to describe what Stuart Grehan accomplished.  It was really great, and I keep thinking back to Mike Bamberger's silliness about Tiger being a Walker Cup captain, when he refused to Captain the Ryder Cup team, presumably because there were afternoon sessions.  That suggestions seems even more ridiculous a few days later, when you see how the captains bonded with and supported their young men.

Here's one of those trademarked effortless segues:

The Captains. Dean Robertson and Nathan Smith set a bar that will forever be tough for their predecessors to match. Besides doing smart lineup work and putting out teams that performed

brilliantly, the GB&I and USA squads did it with class. Both instilled just enough respect for the privilege of playing the Walker Cup without getting excessively preachy. Both generally kept a low profile during play, with Robertson choosing to go with one match each session and Smith popping up on par-3 tees and the 18th hole Sunday to support the last player with a chance to clinch the Cup. They’re nice fellows. They didn’t overthink anything. And they didn’t need to remind you of their past playing exploits. They get it.

His cutmakers column did have some concerns, beginning with this fave hole:

The Dell. No one wanted to say it, but the wee blind hole was a bit of a snoozefest in the first three sessions. But the Golf Gods dropped a dime and Sunday singles saw some of the weirdest shots of the week after a heavy headwind turned our valiant +5’s into 15’s. We had sketchy skulls, half shanks and a few balls hitting the face of the slope. But then there was Tyler Watts playing the niftiest run-up you’ll ever see. I’m sure it’s exactly what he envisioned.

 

I thought it was maddening when early in the singles the Yanks kept coming up two clubs short.  Those chips didn't work out quite as well.

This belongs in the prior Champions post, though demerits are warranted:

Live coverage. This was the first time that American viewers got extensive coverage of the matches beyond truncated windows or weird, low-budget highlight packages. And with Sky and YouTube live streaming, the world had access to the matches for the first time as well. Using a world feed hybrid of announcers from both sides of the Atlantic, the time devoted to all four sessions amounted a long overdue change, as were elements fans have come to expect like tracers, aerial perspectives and lead voices in Andrew Cotter and Steve Burkowski who come prepared. So it’s hard to complain. Except when the coverage inexplicably seemed to think the Walker Cup was over when it wasn’t. Analyst Notah Begay began lauding America’s depth as the difference in the 51st when there were still two matches on the course with the chance to flip the outcome. Dewey defeats Truman-level stuff. The production then disastrously decided to interview match winners like Ryder Cowan with crucial golf to show. The telecast missed Connor Graham and Miles Russell’s shots into the 18th hole but oddly was showing Tyler Watts’ in the group behind the match even though the contest ahead would determine if Watts vs. Hill would even matter. Analyst Paul McGinley, who was superb given his doctorate in match play and Irish golf, could be heard wondering what was going on with Graham’s shots into 18. You know, since the Scot had just birdied the 17th to get to 1DOWN and was suddenty in reach of a huge half-point to keep the thing going. The finishing coverage was one of the great debacles in golf TV history but thankfully did not mar what was otherwise a breakthrough week where the Walker Cup finally got the airtime it deserved.

Yeah, they're idiots, but our idiots.   I was expecting two-hour windows for singles only, and never expected to see Klondyke and Dell.  So, I'll take the nonsense in return for all-day coverage (especially from these kinds of venues).

Do you know about the goats?

Maggie and Nancy. The two goats at the opening ceremony worked as stand-ins for what’s left of Tommy Walsh’s original herd, reportedly sent on a one-week vacation to mow a pesky hillside on the Amalfi Coast. And we get that having the old weather-watching herds of yesteryear is not ideal, but given how much the goat has become synonymous with the place, the Golf Loving Goats Society Of The World thinks the effort should be made to maintain the tradition, no matter how many golfers they follow, hoping for just one smoked cheddar crisp.

 No, not a Tiger kind of GOAT, a real one.

Thank God for this:

All Square. You were officially replaced in 2019 and “Tied” was used last year at Cypress Point. The R&A sent a nice message by invoking the option to still use All Square and with the Rules of Golf meetings coming up in London, might we have a chat about fully restoring Hazard over Penalty Area, Through the Green over General Area and Casual Water over Temporary Water? And while we’re at it, how about limiting the tee at two inches and reinstating that driver COR model local rule idea. I hear the kids think retro restoration is all the rage!

 Now can we work "halve" back in.....the old-timey language is an asset, not a curse.

Here's some actual architectural thoughts from Geoff, and a funny bit as well:

Lines. My only strong memories of Lahinch from being there 39 years ago were of the Dell, the Klondyke green, the goats and the large expanses of turf. Both in front of the clubhouse area and among the lower holes by Liscannor Road, the course featured connected fairways that reinforced the “St Andrews of Ireland” moniker. Lahinch at its best is wild and should have an aesthetic to match. I know the walkways are nice off the tees and won’t be going away. But fewer mowing lines and more fairway cut would only highlight its best features while driving home the wild golf sensibility. Bring back the open field look of Nos. 1 and 18. And eliminating the large swatch of intermediate cut would not make the course any easier, but it would turn the focus to the landscape a bit more without competition from too many lines on a course that should be the ultimate expression of free, unmanipulated natural golf.

 I get it, but this follows logically:

Penalty Area Lines. We know the life preserver is mandated. But did we need to use as much paint as there is water in the hazard? Don’t get me wrong, hell of a paint job on the slope. Marvelous, really, keeping the balance, etc…but it does not need to be seen from outer space.

 It is pretty jarring, though comfort is found in it being the only water hazard on the course.

I don't know if Geoff has his usual third post on the event, typically the most amusing as he names names.

That's it for now.  Have a great week.

Weekend Wrap - Restored Faith Edition

As you've likely noticed, your humble bloggers has been short on blogging motivation recently, perhaps that phenomenon known in the trade as Blogger Burnout.  But, underneath the laziness is a profoundly diminished interest in the game as it's presented.  I mean, if you've seen Wyndham Clark improve his lie once, you're good for the long term....

The majors are still great and there are all those Cups, a ridiculous three in a four-week stretch.  But this weekend was quite the breath of fresh air, with the first (and perhaps best) of those Cups featured at one of my favorite places in golf, Lahinch.  The first thing you'll notice about Lahinch, or rather the first thing I noticed, is it's design credit, Old Tom Morris and Dr. Alister MacKenzie, two of the most storied names in our game, but names that rarely appear together (I did find two additional citations of course they both worked on, but neither obviously of this class.

I love that credit, but what I love most is that the Good Doctor knew what to leave alone, as per this AI slop:

Old Tom Morris laid out the original links in 1894 and created famous holes like the Klondyke and the Dell. Dr. Alister MacKenzie remodeled the course in 1927, though he left Morris's iconic 4th and 5th holes untouched.

Before we get into the dramatic Walker Cup, let me share this absurd photo I took of my TV screen.  This spectacular aerial came up as I was watching Sunday's action on tape, and I wanted to remind Theresa of these golf holes (from a 2007 trip).  Finding it later would have been a hassle, so I just grabbed a sort-of screenshot.

It's been photographed twice, so you'll have to trust me that it's dramatically flattened, those dunes being much more dramatic than they seem here (in fact, the largest dunes in links golf are found right here, on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Coast).  

The tee for the fourth hole, Klondyke, is on the water just under USA on the top left.  The hole plays directly inland (downwind) through that narrow corridor between the dunes.  It's quite a narrow fairway, though the dunes tend to kick near misses down.  Where it gets interesting is that perpendicular line of dunes, over which you play to that geeen at the bottom-middle, tucked right against Liscannor Road.  There's often a traffic cop at the top of that dune, because those shots to the green are played over the 18th hole walking path.  

Then the players turn back to the sea, facing a one-shotter unlike any other in golf.  It's called Dell, and Old Tom had them playing gutta perchas to that green nestled between two massive dunes, with a white stone placed on the fronting dune to indicate hole location.  Here's an image of the green that I grabbed:

Like the Road Hole, these are holes that couldn't be built today, but I just love that MacKenzie knew to leave it be.

I hope you watched some of it, because it was quite the thing.  It so happened that Sunday was my planned day of rest during the long holiday weekend, and that was fortunate for sure.  Golf Channel shocked me by expanding the TV window from the usual two hours per day to, well, all of it, and placed it on a weekend that has become a sports desert.

So, how did it go?

Is the Walker Cup golf’s greatest team event? It’s been making the case

They don't look like they're enjoying the event at all, so they?

The lede of that piece does dispel some of the myths:

Did you watch this Walker Cup at Lahinch, in Ireland? Maybe you were one of the 8,000 or so people on hand, watching up close. (Single-day tickets were about $50; kids were free.) Maybe you were watching on Golf Channel, with the American Curtis Cup star Emilia Migliaccio Doran and the former GB&I Walker Cup player Paul McGinley presiding. Poor McGinley, about the most refreshing voice in golf broadcasting today and an Irishman’s Irishman. He must be worn out. He was wearing his big heart on his green sleeve as he practically begged the home 10 to scratch out this half-point or that one.

In the end, his prayers were answered. In this 51st edition of the Walker Cup, the two-day event that unfolds with stunning speed, Great Britain and Ireland defeated a stacked American team, 13.5 to 12.5. Sunday afternoon, in the decisive singles play, GB&I won seven matches, halved two and lost one. GB&I won the event for the first time since 2015. It was amazing.

People will say that the GB&I golfers have more experience playing links golf. That might be true, but seven of the fellas play college golf in the U.S. In other words, they play a lot of their golf shots in the air, often hot, humid and still air, to soft and watered greens. People will say that the GB&I golfers have more experience playing alternate shot. Hmm. Nobody has much experience playing alternate shot.

I didn't actually look at the byline before posting that header, but I instinctively knew who it was form this bit, thoughts that you'd have heard from your favorite blogger:

This was golf at its best.

In case you’re groggy:

THIS WAS GOLF AT ITS BEST!

Men’s professional golf, for many years and decades, was one of the coolest things on the world’s sporting stage because the golfers really, really seemed as if this most difficult and cerebral game meant more to them than the money they earned (not discounting that as a motivation). In recent years, a small group of elite male pros have disabused us of that notion. For years and decades, the Ryder Cup, featuring the best American pros playing the best European pros, was the biggest TV show in golf — until the players, the captains, the broadcast partners and the media in general started emphasizing all the wrong things, and the heart of the matter — match-play golf — got trampled.

In its place: the rise and rise of Walker Cup golf.

I realize this next part will seem to be sacrilegious to many, many golf purists. But the Walker Cup — which will be played in even-numbered years going forward, with Bandon Dunes next in 2028 — is in a great spot to become the greatest team event in all of golf. Because the Walker Cup is all about the golfers, the golf they play, the courses where they play it.

Sure, though the Walker Cup has always been big.  It's just that the pictures Tour got small.... What Mike Bamberger is describing is that which has had your humble blogger rooting for the Euros at the last few Ryder Cups.

But, let me ask you, how can Mikey get the diagnosis so correct, yet be so off base on the treatment protocol?

This is the part some people will despise: In the name of competitive balance and some other things, the GB&I team could be expanded to include amateurs from Continental Europe, just as the GB&I Ryder Cup team became the European Ryder Cup team in 1979. The lovely and quaint custom by which Walker Cup captains are amateur golfers themselves could be lifted, too. This year’s GB&I captain, Dean Robertson, is a professional golfer, but he was never a household name as a touring pro, to say the least. The Americans have generally had lifelong amateurs as captains, including Bob Jones and Fred Ridley, as well as the late Jay Sigel, who later turned pro.

But can you imagine Tiger Woods as an American Walker Cup captain? Or Rory McIlroy as a European Walker Cup captain? With the event at Pine Valley or Bandon Dunes or Portrush or St. Andrews? With a few months of buildup on Golf Channel and in golf publications so we can get to know these players before they enter the fray?

How good could that all be?

As good as this 2026 Walker Cup at Lahinch.

Mike, if I understand you, the solution is to take the folks who ruined professional golf for you and turn them loose on the amateur game?  Ummm, put me down as a hard NO!

More importantly, can you imagine that Tiger Woods guy driving on Liscannar Road? 

As you can imagine, Geoff has a detail-rich post on the event, though his thoughts on the venue are unfortunately behind his paywall.  Here's some of recitation of the Sunday drama:

Just the way Captain Dean Robertson chalked it up in his backpack of tricks.

America, Foursomes specialists.

Great Britain & Ireland, Singles slayers.

In what instantly became GB&I’s greatest Walker Cup comeback and the most shocking turnaround in match history, the George Herbert Walker’s game-growing gift will remain on this

side of the Atlantic for the first time since 2015.

A devastating 4-0 morning Foursomes loss in what’s normally USA’s format nemesis left GB&I three points behind heading into Singles, where they’ve been 49 points worse since 2005.

With USA leading 9.5 to 6.5 at lunchtime, GB&I needed seven of ten points on offer to prevent the Americans from taking the Walker Cup home.

Geoff inadvertently ruined the suspense for me, although it was of course my own damn fault.  I checked my e-mail while watching the singles, never dreaming he'd have a post up that quickly.  Though, it provided a different slant on things.  I saw the outcome just as the Americans began their late push back, and listened to the commentators assuring us that the Yanks had a lock on matters....Admittedly, even knowing the end result, i was hard to see where the pints would come from on the scoreboard.

Robertson frontloaded his afternoon lineup in a desperate bid to put blue on the few boards around Lahinch.

Home country favorite Stuart Grehan opened slowly before closing strong just as he had in all of his matches.

“I was nearly asleep after [the morning session],” Grehan said. “I was so deflated. I have to say the lads came in -- in fairness, I think Tyler might have said, we're still in this. Once the tunes got going, I was like F it.”

Luke Poulter was next, holding off a resurgent Ethan Fang 3&1 in the second contest.

Jack Whaley, the U.S. Amateur champion, then smoked William Jennings in an 8&7 shocker given how well the impressive American played up to that point.

Tyler Weaver then knocked off Western Amateur champion and U.S. Amateur runner-up Jay Leng 4&3.

With GB&I’s Conner Graham trailing the steady American phenom Miles Russell and the final two matches featuring an injured Ben Bolton and struggling Sam Easterbrook, the focus turned to Eliot Baker leading a persistent Stewart Hagestad, Josh Hill up in his match against Tyler Watts, and Niall Sheils Donegan in the fifth match out against Kihei Akino.

Grehan was amazing, a Mid-Am holding off the best amateur player on the planet.  And it got crazy at the end, ultimately decided by a bunker shot on a par with Matt Fitzpatrik or Bryson:

With Hill in the front right bunker in two and Watts facing an 18-footer for birdie, both Captains

descended on their players. Nathan Smith, USA’s easy-going leader, typically shies away from intervening.

“I just didn’t want him to be out there on an island by himself,” Smith said. “I think that can be pretty engulfing when you feel like you’re out there by yourself and 10,000 people surround you.”

Robertson also approached Hill, who knew they were still in the match.

“Dean came up to me by the bunker, and I asked him, do I need a half point or a full point? He said a full point, so I was like, ‘all right, let’s step up and hit a golf shot, and I hit a golf shot.’”

Hill said he wouldn’t have played the shot any differently regardless of Robertson’s answer.

“I was walking through the crowd hoping that it was good, but it obviously wasn’t, but it was nice to hole the putt and have that winning moment.”

Have I mentioned that I've met Nathan Smith?

That's him shaking hands with Kent St. Charles, our old friend from Willow Ridge, in U.S. Open qualifying.  He was just the complete gentleman.

Shall we sample from the Tour Confidential gang?

Great Britain & Ireland won the 51st Walker Cup Sunday at Lahinch in Ireland, storming back to take seven of 10 points in Sunday singles to stun the Americans, win 13.5-12.5 and

claim their first victory in the event for the first time in the last six meetings. How in the world did they pull this off?

Zephyr Melton: Momentum is a hell of a thing. Winning the first four points of the singles session (in fairly dominant fashion) was huge for their self-belief. From there, they rode the momentum and energy from the home crowd to one heck of a victory.

Josh Schrock: Zeph nailed it. They grabbed “Uncle Mo,” thanks to big wins by Stuart Grehan, Jack Whaley, Luke Poulter and Tyler Weaver, got the home crowd into it and made the Americans press. Everything had to go their way, and it did. Sports!

Jack Hirsh: They flipped the script. In recent history, the Americans have dominated in singles while the GB&I team has been extremely successful in foursomes, the only team format the Walker Cup uses. This week, it was the opposite. On the strength of the foursomes sweep Sunday morning, the American team won the eight foursomes matches for the week for the first time since 2019. But GB&I were able to halve Saturday’s singles session and then pull ahead with the impressive 7-3 run Sunday afternoon.

Truly the Bizarro Walker Cup, with the U.S. sweeping foursomes and getting crushed in singles.  Love the chaos... Grehan was amazing in how he held off Preston Stout, the top-ranked amateur in the world.  I'd put it up there with Brian Barnes beating Nicklaus in two consecutive singles matches in the Ryder Cup.

GB&I held a 6.5-5.5 lead after Day 1, although the Americans won all four Sunday foursomes matches to take a 9.5-6.5 lead into singles. With the Americans winning the last five Walker Cups, did you think it was over heading into Sunday singles? What was the biggest turning point on Sunday?

Melton: It was hard not to think the Americans were on their way to yet another win. With a clean sweep in the morning, it looked as though the Walker Cup would be coming back to the States yet again. That is, to everyone except those in the GB&I team room. What a comeback from the lads.

Schrock: After the Sunday morning sweep, I thought it was over, especially with Preston Stout and Ethan Fang going out early. Even if they lost, Miles Russell, Tyler Watts and Ryder Cowan looked like an unbreakable firewall in the back. That was wrong.

Hirsh: Because of the past dominance in singles, it’s usually a safe bet

Heck, the Americans had it won with only a few matches left on the course Sunday afternoon.  They ended it as they began it Saturday morning, by losing the 18th hole time after time.  In those last two matches on the course, they needed only one halve on No. 18 to fly home with the hardware.

Hasn't this already been asked and answered?

And your 2026 Walker Cup MVP is…

Melton: Give me Stuart Grehan. He was matched up against top-ranked amateur Preston Stout in all four sessions, and came away with 2.5 points — including victories in both singles matches. That’s some heady stuff.

Schrock: It’s Grehan by a mile.

Hirsh: Can’t even debate this, Grehan. Only mid-am. Only Irishman. Goes toe-to-toe with the No. 1 amateur. This is the stuff amateur players dream of.

But, much as I agree, good luck with this:

The Walker Cup visited places like Cypress Point, St. Andrews and Seminole ahead of this year’s meeting at Lahinch, and in two years it’s heading to Bandon Dunes in Oregon. Does the Walker Cup have the best course collection of venues among all of golf’s premier events? And what could a certain organization that’s beginning to iron out details for a new, reinvented match-play postseason come 2028 learn from the Walker Cup?

Melton: Venues matter! I was at the 2021 Walker Cup at Seminole and it was one of my favorite events I’ve ever covered. When fans get a glimpse at some of golf’s most hallowed grounds, it only elevates the interest in the event. As far as the best collection of courses goes, the only event that can compete is the Curtis Cup, whose future venues include Royal Dornoch(!), NGLA(!!), Pine Valley(!!!), Cypress Point(!!!!) and Seminole(!!!!!). There are no events that can stack up with a list like that.

Schrock: Yes and the Walker Cup’s secret sauce is not caring about infrastructure or big crowds and going to small, historic venues that we don’t ever get to see and won’t host big PGA Tour events or majors. Best event in golf.

Hirsh: Agree with my colleagues here. It’s amazing how nobody seems to care what par is in a match play event. No one cared that the last two hosts are under 7,000 yards from the tips when it’s match play, despite the fact that the players on the teams are some of the longest in golf. Just take it to a great golf course and let the golf take care of itself. Nothing else. And as Zephyr brings up Royal Dornoch — a course notably shorter than 6800 yards — hosting the Curtis Cup, I would love to see it added to the Walker Cup rota, with the R&A only having selected one future venue.

The venues have been crazy great, a hug home run. 

However, a bit of cold water is called for.  The organization to whom the questioner is speaking is about to take a Prez Cup to dreary Medinah.   Draw your own conclusions...

There's always more to cover, but we have some issues here at the house that I need to jump on.  I'll wish you a great week and we'll catch up as life allows.

Weekend Wrap - Cream Rising Edition

It's not like I watched much of it....The Yankees were going medieval on the Red Sox and the U.S. Open was gearing up... yanno, actually meaningful sports events.  Ah, but I kid!

Shall we cover just a wee bit of golf before the more significant bit?

Scottie In Full - Despite all the rending of garments, the Texan still seems pretty good at the golf thing, no?

Shack has a mere single paragraph before his paywall, but it's enough to sense the electric vibe:

I’m not sure what to say about this snoozefest other than the format seemed even more mindless after the PGA Tour unveiled plans to have a new season-ending bang starting in 2028. While that one has some of the same issues as the current one—working really hard to keep everyone around as long as possible instead of saying sayonara as they do in every other sport—it can never be as unimaginative as the current “FedExCup” debacle.

It's quite the Zombie format, and it has them looking quite feeble, despite those manly poses in the Ray Bans assumed by Brian Rolapp.  They've abandoned their old, humiliating staggered start and are pointing us towards their Brave New World, but we have to pretend for another year after this.... We used to say that was so stupid only an intellectual could believe it...

The Tour Confidential panel plays it safe:

Scottie Scheffler came from three strokes back after 54 holes to win the season-ending Tour Championship on Sunday at East Lake, claim the $10 million first-place check and pick up

his third win of the season. Was this his best win of 2026? And did these last few weeks salvage his first major-less season in three years?

Sean Zak: No, the best win of his season was two weeks ago… when he won by eight. I maintain stunned by how quickly we moved on from an 8-shot victory. If ANY other golfer on earth did that, we’d pause and talk about it for an entire week. I do think, in a way, this helps his major-free season feel a lot better. He was so good all year, but the pro golf world cares about dubs. He needed a couple dubs.

Josh Schrock: Agree with Sean. I thought the domination in Memphis was his best win of the season, especially with the chatter surrounding all his near-misses. I don’t think it makes up for coming up short at the four tournaments that will define his legacy, but three wins sounds a lot better than one.

Josh Sens: Agreed about Memphis being the bigger win. As for the season, the man had three top 5s in the majors and finished inside the top 15 in all of them. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods both had multiple seasons without majors. Scheffler’s so-called “disappointing” season is a fiction perpetuated by social media chatter and assorted golf outlets trying to perpetuate a story that isn’t one.

Dylan Dethier: Memphis was more dominant, sure — but East Lake had a real door-slamming quality to it thanks to its position on the schedule. Schaffer “only” won three times this year, but he won his first start and his last. Picked up a few extra bucks, too.

The answer quite obviously has to be Memphis, where there were other players.  Don't stress yourself wondering why no one took a run at him, it's because there was no one there.  he only had to beat 29 guys...

Who won the FedEx Cup Playoffs without winning the FedEx Cup Playoffs?

Zak: Good Q. I think the answer is Ryan Gerard, who is a helluva player and has his eyes set on a late charge into the American Presidents Cup team. I’m not sure he did enough to make the squad, but he did a lot of it in the last month or two. Brandt Snedeker would be wise to give him a long look.

Schrock: Gerard played great golf and will play on the DP World Tour next week as he looks to stay fresh in case he gets the P-Cup call. I’ll go with Viktor Hovland, who had a chance to win the FedEx Cup despite still fighting his swing. He seems close to being back.

Sens: Good calls above. To add a third name to the list, how about the continued run of Matt Fitzpatrick’s brother, Alex. A player on no fan’s radar last year, now with good footing in the firmament. And another good finish this week.

Dethier: Wyndham Clark’s BMW victory added another layer of legitimacy to an elite season. Scheffler dominated Clark in every season-long statistical category — but if we’re just talking wins, there’s no beating a U.S. Open, a playoff dub and three in all.

Yasir?  Actually, I picture him as Jon Lovitz saying, I can't believe I lost to THIS!

Or, maybe Wyndham Clark, who had the good sense to be poorly enough that we wouldn't be focused on his aggressive lie-improvement program?

Is there anything else to say here?  What a snoozefest, though the Tour caught a bit of as break with Scottie reasserting his dominance.  A snoozefest with a plausibly worthy winner sure beats the other kind.

That Brave New World - About that new finals format, which admittedly has to be better, for the simple reason that it can't be worse:

The Tour announced its new postseason format that will go into place come 2028, and it includes one 90-player, 72-hole stroke-play event named the “Championship Series Finale,” with 32 players advancing to two weeks of match-play competition to name a “Tour Champion.” Do you like it? An improvement?

Zak: I think it’ll grade out as an 8 outta 10. Which is about three or four notches above where the current Tour playoffs sits. Anyone picking it apart is trying really hard to misunderstand commercial value, the share of golf attention across the governing bodies, and the desire among basically everyone for a serious match play event on the schedule. Now, the only real match play among individuals at the elite level of pro golf happens in August on the PGA Tour. That’s a huge win.

Schrock: Massive win. The PGA Tour’s postseason greatly needed a shakeup and I think having something that is easy for fans to understand and brings commercial appeal is much needed. Getting two weeks of match play at venues we don’t normally see will be a massive boost for golf’s postseason.

Sens: I think Sean is being a bit generous as to where the current playoffs sit. They’re a cash grab and a snooze. Always have been. The new format is a huge improvement and not just because the bar for getting better was so low. Match play is a great format. Can’t imagine a better change. Will it make the playoffs riveting? I’m skeptical. But it will make them miles better, for sure.

Dethier: The format change is fun — but I think the venue shift is, too. As is the potential reduction in outrageously sweaty golfers. We just spent August in Memphis, St. Louis and Atlanta, after all…

Can we agree to not credit them for venue improvement until the venues are more than just vaporware?  Granted, Memphis, East Lake and Bellerive do set an appetizingly low bar....

Shack's reference to keeping the alpha dogs around is a reference to the use of group play, as in this AI response:

The Group Stage Safety Net

•  Under the new structure starting in 2028, the top 32 qualified players at the PGA Tour season finale face a three-round group stage. [1, 2]
• Instead of a pure single-elimination knockout right away—which was the traditional risk in past match-play events—every golfer is guaranteed to play multiple matches. [1, 2]
• Critics say this design acts as a cushion for famous players. If a marquee name plays poorly or loses their very first match, they are not sent packing; they still have a statistical safety net to recover, advance, and keep marquee TV draws on-site for broadcast partners

It's an ironic shame, but not of such a magnitude that it will spoil things.  Given that they've finally reached the acceptance stage with a late-season shoot-out, it's just a slight unforced error that they couldn't give us the primal, win-or-go-home ferocity of single-elimination.

It's individual match-play, so my fear is that it will disappoint.  At best it will what I can an upside-down tournament, where the early days will be the more satisfying.  That's just the nature of match play.

Bad-Bad Golf - Is this a great story, or what?  I've been watching in horror as the folks chasing growth for growth's sake have abased themselves to the kids, seemingly without regard to the interests of the game's core constituents.  Shack goes on an epic rant about the Callaway face plant, and I think we should just let him get it out of his system:

There is grave danger in recklessly overanalyzing Good Good’s downfall.

And I would never, ever discourage anyone from taking it to extreme places.

Presuming this analysis inspires an overdue revisit of golf’s excessive post-pandemic obsession with youth pandering at the expense of golf’s better traditions.

The controversy and fallout became such an international story that it proved more compelling than early-week play in the Tour Championship. But that’s as much a product of an unimaginative playoff format designed to keep every player around to ensure corporate chalets get logoclads walking by them on the weekend Sunday. Television also needs meaningless par putts to show.

Imagine what might happen if they actually played the thing off? You know, like playoffs in every sport? Keep imagining because real cuts and real upsets are still something they’re trying to avoid starting in 2028 (but at least it’s match play and some shockers will occur).

I'm unclear as to whether Geoff is supporting or undermining his position.  Yes, the main golf products are so mind-numbingly repetitive that they leave voids in the market....

With zero on-course drama, the golf world focused on the companies and Tours cutting Good Good loose as innocent folks outside of golf wondered how such a thing could happen. Those of us in golf weren’t shocked. At least by the stupidity. It remains shocking that so many layers of people compensated to promote a brand didn’t see the problem or thought it was a funny parody. But for years we’ve watched brands and golf organizations lose touch with reality in a bizarre thirst to appeal to an imaginary 17-year-old who will buy thousands in gear, take expensive trips, and convince their doting dads to do the same. The fear of losing this tiny slice of the golf world to someone else in the coveted demo fueled an irrational tolerance of stupidity, coarse behavior, and “comedy” that wasn’t funny at all.

It’s even been part of the distance debate. “We’re growing the game, and now you want to take away distance from new golfers, blah, blah, blah. Oh, and we have a special on our new $200 kids beginner sets this week that Kai Trump loves more than we do.”

Yanno, Geoff, I could have gone the week without the gratuitous Trump-bashing....

A peculiar mix of needing to be adored by boys of a certain ilk and an acute desperation to make them customers led to Callaway taking a huge reputational hit thanks to a deal up for renewal (and probably facing absurd demands given Good Good’s success combined with the widespread Youth Derangement Syndrome vibes from all of Carlsbad). News of Callaway-Good Good renewal talks might also explain why Callaway was quick to cut ties. Though we’ll never know if Callaway would have tried harder to mop things up if they’d already inked an extension.

There has been plenty of toxic nonsense and rank stupidity from other “creators,” so it’s only stunning to anyone who has seen Good Good’s rise that they ended up the fall guys (and gals). I’m skeptical that this will extend beyond Good Good, but last week offered indications of collective golf world fatigue over the amount of money and importance given to commercial outfits just one stupid stunt away from cancellation. At times, it’s been grotesque to watch golf organizations and brands sell their soul in the name of tapping into the supposed game growers. Usually at the expense of common sense and class. Or, to see orgs tiptoe around solutions to sustainability problems in fear of the YouTuber’s wrath.

There is no point in shaming the brands and orgs that have chased crap “content” since they’re all deep in their introspective modes and still might pivot in better directions. But having been infected by Youth Derangement Syndrome—with no known cure other than bankruptcy—the “brands” should be reassessing whether otherwise (seemingly) sane adults can be entrusted with…anything.

But there is good news. We have plenty of good, good action this fall from Lahinch, Doonbeg, Wentworth, Medinah (maybe), and Kingston Heath. With a big side order of watching continued fallout from the Good Good saga.

Let’s hope the end goal of this mishegas will make the golf industry’s most insecure adults stop treating the sport like it’s some kind of embarrassment needing only the kind of validation that boys-will-be-boys behavior delivers.

It's the mindless chasing of the youngsters that wears me down.....  I've always assumed that a certain component of every generation will find their way to our game, but there's only four hundred years or so to support that premise.  It's when they feel they have to change the game to appeal to that demo that they lose me...

It's Bud Light level stupidity, although I've long thought that story misunderstood.  Commentators focus on the spokesperson hired, but the more dangerous were that woman brand manager talking about her brand's customers, and she made it clear how much she despised them.  Do we get the feeling that golf's governing organizations like and respect us?  Are you done laughing?

I think Good-Good will be a perfect brand partner with the revitalized LIV Golf, no?

The Road Ahead - Did you pick out that venue listing from Geoff?  There's fun to be had.....

Lahinch: This Saturday and Sunday, from a great venue on the Atlantic Coast of Ireland.  I'm struggling to get the TV windows, but it's likely morning coverage on Golf Channel.  Set your DVR, as I'll tempt you with some tasty photos.  As I've noted before, Lahinch started life as a crude Old Tom Morris design, updated by Dr. Alister Mackenzie before he decamped to the New World.  But the brilliance is that left two crazy golf holes undisturbed, the first called Klondyke:

It's a short Par-5 played over that dune in t he center of the phot, and over the 18th fairway as well.  When visitors are playing, there's a traffic cop on the top of the dune:

The next hole is called Dell:

It's a Par-3 that's nestled among the dunes, with most of the green not visible from the tee.  A white stone is placed on the fronting dune to indicate that day's pin location.  Unfortunately, given that these are early holes and the TV windows are not generous, I don't expect to see much action on these holes.

The following week we'll have the Solheim Cup, with the Irish Open at Doonbeg.  Add in the Prez Cup at dreary Medinah, and at least we have a few things of potential interest to watch.  

But do catch that Walker Cup, it's simply that good a venue.

Have a great week.

A Blogger's Existential Crisis

I've been battling Blogger's Burnout, a devastating condition deserving of its own Me4dicaid billing code.  Add in the run of technical issues, and it's been very frustrating.  Monday especially so, as I first attempted a notebook dump, then ad-libbed the start of a normal Weekend Wrap post that also ran into technical issues.

There are some fun stories for your humble blogger to dissect, from the LIV death rattles to Wyndham Clark, well it's whispering my name.  So, let's ty6ry again, shall we?

LIV, A Most Unfortunate Name - The gift that keeps on giving.  It's name was schadenfreudalicious form inception, as it locked them into their 54-hole format that was always problematic.  Now LIV is awkward for being an homonym of the word "live", yanno, a thing it's unlikely to continue doing.... 

The Tour Confidential folks have some thoughts, not that they run very deep:

1. LIV Golf ended its 2026 on Sunday with Michael La Sasso winning the season finale at LIV Indianapolis, which became the league’s final event of the season after its team championship in Michigan was canceled. There’s been much rumored and reported about

LIV’s future over the past couple of months, including this past week from reporters on-site. Based on the latest developments, what do you think is next for LIV Golf now? And do you think we’ll see it next year in some fashion?

Josh Sens: I’d wager that it exists in some ghostly form, or, to borrow a phrase from our colleague Sean Zak, that it stumbles on as a kind of zombie league, with moving parts but no real life at its center.

Nick Piastowski: Talks. Talks with players. Talks with those around the teams. Talks with those within the league. Talks with tournaments cities. Talks with the investor. Talks with other investors. There’s maybe a deadline for some. Maybe a soft deadline for others. Then LIV takes stock of who’s all in and who’s all out. My guess is it returns next year. But that prediction could change tomorrow. And maybe change back the next day.

Josh Berhow: I think it plays on next year, but the next couple of months will be really important to see which (star) players are there. I know there are contracts involved here and it’s not like some guys can just get up and leave, but we’re entering a weird period where it’s hard to predict anything right now. It’s difficult to rule anything out. The biggest thing is the league needs investors, but the investors need stars in the league. So, what are the stars — Bryson and Rahm — thinking right now? For what LIV has gotten wrong, it’s actually done a great job establishing itself in some international markets (like Australia) so it’ll be interesting to see how much that blueprint continues to develop.

I simply can't stop laughing over the outcome of what might be the last LIV-branded golf tournament ever.  There's only two players on LIV that affect the golf ecosystem (and, even there, not actually to any great extent), and one of those made a horrible final-hole bogey to make La Sasso a trivia-night answer.

As for the actual query, on what basis would anyone care?  Maybe the real question is whether there's any scenario in which the two guys are playing something called LIV next year?  I can't imagine anyone funding this hot mess, although I have to concede that I was skeptical of outside PE investment in the PGA Tour, as well.

2. What was the most interesting nugget or bit of information you learned from LIV Golf Indianapolis?

Sens: Just how much denial remains at the heart of the enterprise, at least in the way LIV reps discuss the league in public. Lots of talk of potential investors and player equity stakes and a rejiggered calendar, etc. Zero acknowledgement of the fact that they don’t have a compelling product — at least not a product with anywhere near the appeal to justify the crazy sums of money its players want and expect to be paid. This is a challenge across professional golf, but the PGA Tour has a better chance of addressing it because it has a product it can actually sell.

Piastowski: I was interested that LIV CEO Scott O’Neil said he hasn’t talked with PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp in recent months. I was also interested in that O’Neil says the LIV Goal is to “complete, not compete.”

Berhow: O’Neil was not happy with the DP World Tour. I think he felt somewhat betrayed there. The league is already in trouble and that was an important lifeline for his guys. It was like more walls just continuing to close in.

I'm sorry, Nick, what exactly would Rolapp discuss with O'Neil? I've little doubt that there's been Tour contact with reps for Bryson and Rahm, but Rolapp can merely ensure the adequacy of his popcorn supply, just like the rest of us.

The interaction with the Euros is more interesting, though it does amuse to think of certain guys, cough** Sergio**cough, expecting lifelines.....I'm sure a lot of tweets were deleted, but it's not like we're going to forget.

But now we get to the amusing part, so perhaps a good time to top up your coffee.  You, Dear Reader, have apparently been misinformed.  It's not that the Public Investment Fund has hit the wall over its funding of NEOM or discovered that sportswashing provides no benefit,  it's that the players have failed to meet the Saudi's exacting standards of decorum:

On LIV’s way out of minds and memories, backers at the PIF handed a beauty to the Financial Times to distract the world from horrendous decisions made primarily by Al-Rumayyan. It’s the type of fun anecdote that enough idiots will gobble up and, in the PIF’s mind, briefly forget that a sovereign wealth fund is supposed to be good with money. The PIF will be doing everything possible to make the business world forget they spent $6 billion with zero return on investment.

So they blame Sergio!

In case you didn't pick up on it, this is from Shack and we'll certainly hear him out.  It's a dilemma, though, because I've been trained to never trust content from LIV.  Although, to the extent they're blaming Sergio, I might have to keep an open mind....

The anecdote given to the FT would be believable if the PIF had not already been signaling a major overhaul of its spending on the ridiculous NEOM development or other professional sports.

We also knew early on that Al-Rumayyan’s LIV goals included gaining access to American money interests and their control of memberships to places like Augusta National. But as the Saudis are prone, His Excellency had a funny way of showing his affinity for the clubs he apparently craved memberships at. Wanting to see Masters Chairman Fred Ridley deposed is really not the way to get a Green Jacket (so I hear).

Al-Rumayyan’s attorney, Amanda Staley, even reportedly demanded such a membership of the PGA Tour in negotiations, further highlighting how little the PIF folks understood the basics of golf.

In last week’s FT story by Sujeet Indap and Samuel Agini, they reported that LIV was ultimately done in by Sergio Garcia’s embarrassing second tee tirade at the 2026 Masters.

“People familiar with the matter say Rumayyan’s embarrassment at the sequence of events helped lead to his decision to pull the plug on PIF’s financing of the rival tour, as the fund focuses more on its huge domestic commitments in the kingdom.”

I'll give you a second to finish laughing.  Of course you'll be thinking that no one could possibly be surprised at this guy acting the spoiled brat, though it might even be funnier than you recall.   I'll just share the last of Geoff's ranting (at least the last before the paywall):

It should be noted that the FT tracks PIF closely and has been the first to report on the wealth fund’s thinking about several huge stories. And the idea that Al-Rumayyan was embarrassed and saw his non-existent Green Jacket membership dreams vanishing might be true. But as reflected in the golf world’s reaction to the Garcia revelation, no one is buying that (A) the Augusta folks thought, “oh Sergio’s acting out in the final round of the Masters and he never did anything like that before he went to LIV, so it’s all Yasir’s fault, and (B) the PIF had $6 billion reasons to pull the plug.

And I can’t believe I’m defending Sergio.

There are so many chapters to the PIF-LIF fiasco already documented. The league’s demise will be studied and lamented now that the sovereign wealth fund is doing what Saudi Arabia does when it pulls the plug on one of its many failed projects: stiffing the little guy. Not paying bills to bit players will tarnish the PIF far more than some cranky manbrat breaking his driver and denting some tee box turf in Georgia.

Do you remember my blogging of the McKinsey feasibility study?   That you could spend $6 billion based upon such comically inept due diligence is quite the shock, but do we think they as much as did a Google search of the players they were about to sign?  I'm gonna go with "No", per this 2019 story:

Sergio Garcia was disqualified from the Saudi International because of “serious misconduct” on Saturday.

Garcia was accused by fellow players of purposefully hitting his clubs into the surface of the greens causing damage. Garcia posted a 1-over 71 in the third round, but was ultimately disqualified by the European Tour via Rule 1.2a.

Garcia issued a statement following his disqualification, saying, “I respect the decision of my disqualification. In frustration, I damaged a couple of greens, for which I apologize for, and I have informed my fellow players it will never happen again.”

According to The Scotsman, it wasn’t just “a couple” of greens which Garcia damaged, but five.

“It is believed that Garcia damaged five greens during his third circuit, with players in the four groups immediately behind him all complaining to rules officials about the state he’d left them,” the paper reported.

He didn't just damage greens, he damaged Saudi greens.  You'd think they'd remember a thing like that, no?

And this just in:

LIV Golf to lay off majority of staff

Does that include that Garcia fellow?

A Game For Gentlemen - Good news, kids, I have permission:

‘People can think what they want’: Wyndham Clark responds to rules ‘scrutiny’

Given Wyndham's multiple storylines, he might want to not be so free with his permission structure.   We can avoid any discussion of locker and tee marker abuse, and this bit is way bigger than just the one guy.

Here's how Golf.com describes it:

– Clark grabbed an iron from his bag, placed it behind his ball, then took a practice swing just to the left of the ball. Twice more, he placed his iron behind the ball and took practice swings,

before going back to his bag for a different iron. At the time, Clark was tied for the lead with Rory McIlroy.

– CBS cut away to Gary Woodland on the 15th hole.

– When it returned, Clark was placing an iron behind his ball. He then took another practice swing to the left of it before his caddie, David Pelekoudas, moved between Clark and the camera, though another practice swing could be seen. Clark then went back to his bag for a different iron. Three times, he placed that iron behind his ball and took practice swings. At about this point, CBS analysts said the following:

Trevor Immelman: “He’s taking a long look at this. This is like the third club that he’s placed down behind the ball there.”

Frank Nobilo: “So the lie might be better.”

From there, Clark placed his 9-iron behind the ball and hit, finished the hole with a par and went on to win by three. But Nobilo’s comment, along with several similar remarks on social media, is interesting. Did Clark improve his lie? 

I'm going to go with "Yes."  I have never understood what knowledge the placement of a club behind the ball is supposed to impart, but am conversant with elementary physics.   You simply cannot place the clubhead in the position seen in the photo above, without pushing down grass and improving the lie.  This is our hero:

On Tuesday, Clark was asked the following question:

Wyndham, your drive on 14 Sunday went into the right rough, and there was a lot of scrutiny on social media but also even the TV announcers. Curious about you changing clubs and tapping down the rough multiple times. Just curious what you were thinking there, and there was a similar situation possibly at the U.S. Open, and if you’ve been hearing about this at all.

“I didn’t really hear much about it,” Clark said. “I know the shot that you’re talking about. I think any player, when they’re trying to judge a lie, takes out different clubs to see what it feels like.

“I never fully put the club down behind it. I don’t think anything of it.”

I'll refer to the very same photo above.  Is there any place further "down" for that club to go?

You've been reading these pages for a long time, do you think Geoff might have some thoughts on this matter?  Again, rhetorical, but that's not important now:

I can offer two solid reasons to watch this week’s Tour Championship.

A) To fill the gap in your undying thirst to witness meaningful competition after Tuesday’s crushing one-week postponement of Big Break x Good Good presented by Golf Galaxy, caused by the retailer backing out of its sponsorship.

B) To say you witnessed golf history by seeing how many times Wyndham Clark breaks the Rules of Golf and gets away with it.

If you listened to Commissioner Brian Rolapp’s Tuesday Tour Championship press conference, you’d also assume the Rules of Golf matter to Rolapp and the board.

“Rules only matter if they’re enforced,” he said at East Lake. “So accountability and discipline are essential to any organization, and certainly for the integrity of the Tour and for the game, especially in a game that prides itself on rules and integrity.”

Yeah, is that the same organization that refuses to disclose disciplinary actions to protect the miscreants?  

Clark’s antics at this year’s U.S. Open included pressing behind his ball in dicey lies and automatically smoothing his line on the green whether damage was evident or not. Since he received no warning or penalty for those actions, no wonder he hasn’t changed since his dual-wielding wedge nonsense caused his ball to move en route to winning the 2023 U.S. Open.

Various social media accounts highlighted Clark’s 14th hole shenanigans during the BMW final round. He went on so long and mashed so blatantly that CBS broadcasters and Frank Nobilo and Trevor Immelman had to point out the absurdity of his actions.

Of course, they're reactions were rather muted as compared to this golden oldie:

That's a truncated version that doesn't have all of Kostis and McCord losing their minds....Back to Geoff:

Clark claims he was just “judging” the lie and that “by no means did I take a bad lie and make it really good.”

But if you made a bad lie slightly less terrible, that’s still a violation.

But here is the killer point to this observer.  Clark is an unsympathetic protagonist with all of his other issues, but it's not just Wyndham.  I've discussed this at length with all sorts of folks, including our golf  professional staff, and there's typically a slack-jawed facial response when I mention the name of a certain repeat offender.  Gratifyingly, Shack names the same party:

It’s easy to pick on Clark because this keeps happening, but he’s hardly alone in the mashing work around a ball or on the greens. Scottie Scheffler is largely responsible for most players now approaching the ball in any type of lie and repeatedly placing the club to test the lie. And when the lie is especially dicey, we now have multiple practitioners of the patent-pending, Jumbo Ozaki-approved, Dual-Wielding artistry. This is where the combatant alternates clubs to give the impression they are utterly flummoxed by the circumstances even after hitting nine million golf shots over their lifetimes. Therefore, they just have to see how a 7-iron sits behind the ball versus the 6-iron. And maybe repeat the test a few more times to be totally accountable to their Teams.

Shack has the video of the BMW incident, watch it if you can.  I'll just add this longer video that is more Clark-specific.  He is for sure one of the worst offenders, but it's far more widespread than just the one guy.

It's really a simple question for Mr. Rolapp.  Does the PGA Tour compete using the Rules of Golf?  If so, why aren't they enforced?  Without answers there, it feels like they run exhibition events.

DVR Alert - As dreadful as Ryder and Presidents Cup venues are, the Walker and Curtis Cup venues have been uniformly beautiful and interesting.  I know, who saw that coming?

I'll just use Geoff's reporting:

The R&A announced that tickets for the 51st Walker Cup at Lahinch have sold out in advance of

the match between Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America.

Attendance has been capped at 8,000 fans each day of matches. Over 1,700 young people will be attending through The R&A’s successful ‘Kids Go Free’ initiative (free entry for under-16s when accompanied by a paying adult).

This is the first time the match will be staged at Lahinch.

The R&A is advising fans without tickets not to travel to the venue. However, the Walker Cup Opening Ceremony will take place on the 1st tee at Lahinch at 5pm on Friday, September 4th and fans can attend free of charge.

The matches will be televised by Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland and Golf Channel in the US.

So, the real news is simply, Holy Bat Guano, Kids, they're taking a Walker Cup to Lahinch.  Crack the bubbly!

It's one of my favorite places in golf, both the links and the town, which combines the worship of our game with an appealing suffer dude vibe.   It will be on Labor Day weekend, specifically Saturday and Sunday, the 5th and 6th.

I may dig out some of my old photos, but do you know who designed Lahinch?  It may well be my favorite design credit in the world (excepting the Old Course, because it's hard to top the hand of God):

The Old Course at Lahinch Golf Club was originally designed by Old Tom Morris in 1894 and later redesigned by Dr. Alister MacKenzie in 1927

What I love first and foremost, is that those two iconic names simply don't belong together, as the dates will imply (as it could only happen before the Good Doctor headed to the New World).

What I love most is that the golf course Dr. Mackenzie found was quite rudimentary and needed his considerable efforts, which resulted in a first-class links indeed.  I'd have it in my Top Ten, the only issue being whether I'd be able to limit said list to a mere ten entries.

While turning Lahinch into a proper links, Dr. Mackenzie found two of the most unique and perplexing holes in golf, on a par with the Road Hole.  While making Lahinch his Own, the Good Doctor did us all a great service and drew a line in the sand, saying effectively that these two holes needed to be saved for posterity.  God Bless him fr that.

I'll talk about those holes and all things Lahinch before the Walker Cup kicks off.

I know that no one will be looking for this post, as my readers will rightfully feel that they've been abandoned.  It's not quite so, as there's been much of the spinning of the wheels, without any useable output.  Have a great weekend and I will expect to be here on Monday.