Weekend Wrap

There is much to discuss, but precious little time with which to accomplish said goal... Family obligations today, and golf outing tomorrow and Wednesday will necessarily curtail blogging.  

The Jordan Rules - I was accused on the range yesterday of selling young Mr. Jordan short, though of course his performance in Quad Cities was never my concern:

SILVIS, Ill. (AP) -- Jordan Spieth beat Tom Gillis on the second hole of a playoff to win the John Deere Classic on Sunday for his fourth victory of the season.\ 

The 46-year-old Gillis, who was attempting to become the oldest first-time winner on the PGA Tour in 20 years, sent an approach into the water. Spieth made par for his second win at TPC Deere Run in three years.

That two hole playoff means that the charter will land at least a half-hour later, further cutting into his prep time.  So Maybe they won't have the most complicated golf course in the world "architected" until Wednesday morning.... Is the kid good?  I'm gonna go with yes on this one.  Do I like him for honoring his commitment?  Yes, but....

Funniest part of the day?  An explosion going off as Zach Johnson was putting...

The Ladies' Open -  I'm gonna make this quick...the U.S. Women's Open was won by a South Korean golfer of whom you've never heard, holding off another South Korean golfer of whom you might have heard, but only because she led after 36 and 54 holes.  Sorry that took so long...

LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) -- South Korea's In Gee Chun birdied four of the last seven holes to rally for a one-stroke victory at the U.S. Women's Open on Sunday. 

The 20-year old Chun shot a 4-under 66 in the final round and finished at 8 under, becoming the first player to win her U.S. Open debut since Birdie Kim in 2005. 

Third-round leader Amy Yang struggled in the middle of her round and then pulled within one by going eagle-birdie at Nos. 16 and 17. But she bogeyed the 18th and fell a stroke short.

She played beautifully for most of the day, though the nerves got her on the 18th tee.  We'll be in Scotland for the Amateur, so I'll deal with the disappointment of not having Greg Norman and Joe Buck to kick around anymore...But a small bit of credit to them, in that they appear to be listening to their critics.  They took a ton of heat for not having a camera on Jordan Spieth as DJ was self-immolating on the 18th green at Chambers Bay.  They made sure to have a camera in In Gee Chun in a similar circumstance, the amusingly ironic bit being that she was almost expressionless.

I Was Just Early - I picked Rickie Fowler to win the Open....OK, it was several Opens ago and perhaps I should have been more specific:

GULLANE, Scotland (AP) -- Rickie Fowler had a season full of near misses last year

. He's finding the winner's circle much easier to locate in 2015. 

Two months after winning The Player Championship to end a three-year title drought, Fowler produced another nerveless display down the stretch to capture the Scottish Open on Sunday for his first victory on European soil. 

The American birdied three of the last four holes over the Gullane links for a 2-under 68 in his final round to overhaul compatriot Matt Kuchar and win by one shot. Fowler took the outright lead for the first time this week with his last shot of the tournament, a tap-in putt from inside two feet after a stunning approach with a 57-degree wedge from 109 yards.

That's twice he's won this year by finding a gear the other guys don't have....Best moment was when the news was delivered to Matt Kuchar, who exclaimed, "Little Rickie!"....

Rickie and Jordan both head in to St. Andrews off wins.  Things that don't suck....

The Old - I don't have the time to do this one justice, but crusty John Huggan took a tour of the Old with Peter Dawson and discussed each of the recent changes.  

I'll Dawson kudos for making himself available for such an outing and I've yet to read the whole thing myself.  I may circle back later in the week and talk about the specific changes, the Road bunker perhaps being the most curious.  But of course this is all a reaction to the time players spend in the gym, so see what you think of this rather obtuse comment:

“All of the changes are the result of much observation at the Open and the Dunhill Links Championship – and a few hundred Sunday morning dog walks of course. And yes, shortening the ball would be the equivalent of lengthening the course. But we, unfortunately, don’t have the luxury of being a single-issue organisation.”

But you are a single-issue organization, that issue being, you know, golf.  And your abdication has had rather profound effects on the game, but do enjoy your dog-walks.

Very quickly, Tiger was shocked after his first practice round:

"I was shocked," Woods said. "I had seen photos of it a month ago. It was bone dry. It

looked like it was going to be one of those dust bowls again; hard, fast, like the years I've played St. Andrews. It's changed. They got big rain and a lot of sun. It's totally changed. 

"I'm going to have to do a little bit of feel around the greens, my putting. I wasn't expecting the firmness to be that soft. We made ball marks on the greens. I don't ever remember making ball marks around this place."

Shackelford has arrived in the Auld Grey Toon and tells us not to panic:

The Old Course was getting some final touch-ups Sunday evening prior to The Open in the form of mowing, rolling and bunker prep. In a nutshell: the condition is perfect. As soft as Tiger made it out to be? No way. The ground had a nice firmness and the greens decent enough firmness and speed to not be confused with the TPC Deere Run, or even Gullane, last week's Scottish Open host.

What the spitting rain is doing today or the forecasted weather later in the week remains to be seen. Either way, it must be remembered that with such impeccable turf conditions the scoring will be excellent. Records may fall. The sun will still rise in the east.

Geoff has a numbe rof interesting observations, including this about that Road bunker:

Less refreshing is the Road bunker, which has taken on a volcano shape designed to discourage the left hand shot used by many greats as sort of a back door way to 4's at the Road. The artificiality will offend the senses and on a place of so many random contours feels man made as a feature despite quality shaping work endeavoring to make the change feel natural.

 Here's a look at it:

And yes, they are rolling the green surrounds....something you'd never see anywhere else.

I'll be back when I can.