Weekend Wrap

Spring showed up late this year, but we ate dinner outside for the first time, so maybe we're finally there...

The Full Nelson - The whiners rule, winners drool..... that's a way obscure reference to yesterday's winner on the big tour:

IRVING, Texas (AP) Sergio Garcia shot a 62 the first round he played at the Byron

Nelson and tied for third as a 19-year-old kid in 1999. He won there five years later, again with Lord Byron watching. 

With another win at the Nelson, Garcia matched Seve Ballesteros for the most PGA Tour victories by a Spanish-born player. 

Garcia made a par on the first playoff hole Sunday to beat Brooks Koepka for his ninth career PGA Tour victory. He then touched the likeness of Nelson that tops the championship trophy and wiped away tears while sharing a moment with Peggy Nelson, the late golfer's widow. 

''I just said thanks for everything, that it was great to see her again,'' Garcia said. ''It's been a very emotional week and obviously Peggy finished it off by making me cry, which I didn't think I was going to do.''

I've always had a soft spot for Sergio, and I'm not at all bitter about the seventeen Open Championships I picked him to win... Really, I've moved on.

He's just about the best pure ball-striker out there, but has a few demons in the attic like many of us.  He certainly striped it down the stretch and when asked to explain the concept of lag, I typically tell folks to watch Sergio...   Sergio at Troon?  Don't go there, wouldn't be prudent....

And because I'm in such a sunny, happy to be alive frame of mind, I'm not even going to bring up loogiegate.....

As for my use of the "W" word above, there was runner-up Brooks Koepka:

For most of the day at TPC Four Seasons Resort, it looked to be the coming out party for the 26-year-old Koepka, who held the 54-hole lead and outdueled Jordan Spieth over the weekend in his backyard with what Koepka termed his ‘C game.’ 

But Koepka coughed up a three-stroke lead on the back nine with a pair of bogeys at the 14th and 15th holes, and missed a 16-foot birdie putt for the win at the last. When he tugged his drive into the water off the 18th tee on the first playoff hole, he all but gift-wrapped the title to Garcia. 

“You can’t win a golf tournament when you’re swinging it and have no idea where it’s going,” Koepka said.

OK, I only caught the last four holes, but this big bopper was leading for most of the four days.  What I saw was a collar shrinking around his neck causing a couple of loose chips and putts. 

But our winner in this highly competitive category is the local boy for his compelling performance in the revival of What's Eating Jordan Grape?  Gary McCord had this on the CBS broadcast:

"You can tell right now that Jordan Spieth's worst enemy is Jordan Spieth"

Adam Shupak had this:

But Spieth failed to deliver, shooting a 4-over 74 and tumbled to a share of 18th place at 10-under 270, five strokes out of the playoff won by Sergio Garcia. 

“Kind of stinks, you know, given I had a chance here at a hometown event,” Spieth said.

A day earlier, the two-time major winner had scratched out a 67 despite feeling uncomfortable with his swing. He tried to smooth out the kinks on the range during a pre-round session with instructor Cameron McCormick, but it didn’t translate to a better ballstriking performance under the gun. 

How bad was his “off day?” Only two players in the 74-man field signed for a higher score on Sunday.

Shack tried to get his arms around it here:

Whether it's lingering fatigue from the bad scheduling start to his year, residual frustration from the Masters second place finish, or something else hanging over Spieth's head, his attitude is impacting his play and, I sense, fan perception of Spieth given how seemingly great his life would seem to be. (Many have noted the way he talked to Michael Greller at The Players as another sign of something slightly amiss.) 

Will Gray notes that Spieth telegraphed the so-so week and that contending at all was a positive. I would agree except that Spieth had us marveling last year at his ability to hold together his game even on the worst days. He does not have that gift yet in 2016, and my sense is that the gift did not simply disappear. It feels more like fatigue or something else weighing on him.

But didn't he just take a month off?

The strangest part is that he didn't seem any happier when he was signing for 64... The Tour Confidential gang doesn't know what to make of it any more than we do:

Bamberger: I don’t know. This is based on nothing, but I don't see him doing much of anything this year. I just don't. Follow-ups are hard and he never had an offseason.

Shipnuck: I think Spieth is like Rory was four days ago: his game is not quite there but it's pretty close, and he just needs a shot of confidence. Of course, another Sunday collapse only makes it harder to find that belief. This is looking more and more like a lost year for Spieth, and a lot of it can be blamed on absurd scheduling going back to last fall. But I will say it's fascinating to watch him scuffle and try to figure it out.

I'm with Mike in not expecting much in his encore season, or at least I was until he had a gaudy five-shot lead at the turn at Augusta...

But we have a "Doctor, Heal Thyself" moment as this hit my mailbox late last week:

So, Jordan, how does one get his A-game back?

Rors Roars Back - Quite the finish at the Irish yesterday:

Rory McIlroy tipped his head back to the skies and breathed a huge sigh of relief before

putting his hands together and applauding the roaring crowd which had ­assembled in vast numbers around the K Club’s 18th green. 

Afterwards he was to admit that, despite his four major wins, he had not felt pressure like it. No, never underestimate what winning a first Irish Open means to an Irishman. Yet to McIlroy this joy was multilayered. 

McIlroy is the promoter of the tournament, but on his last three ­attempts the galleries’ hero has missed the cut. There was much to prove, yet interestingly not just to his home country. The 27-year-old turned up in Co Kildare having finished in the top six on five occasions without lifting a title in 2016. Questions were being asked, with, among others, countryman Paul McGinley pointing to his concentration levels as he lost ground to Jason Day and Jordan Spieth at the top of the world rankings.

I'm sure that's true, but it's equally true that Rory need a win badly.... any win.

Rory closed it out with a 255-yard 3-wood to three feet, that you can see here. I can't find any video of the hailstorms that stopped play twice, but it was nasty...

Ariya Rising - With Jordan cranky, there's no time for this story:

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) Ariya Jutanugarn quickly has made winning a habit on the LPGA Tour. 

The 20-year-old shot a nearly mistake-free 4-under 67 on Sunday and won the Kingsmill Championship by one shot, her second consecutive victory. The bad news for the rest of the tour is that she said this one was much easier to finish off than her first two weeks ago.

That one, she said, allowed her to accomplish her goal for the season. Everything else, it seems, is gravy.

I didn't watch a minute of it, but I'm happy nonetheless.  Ariya is a former phenom that has battled a series of injuries, had control of the Dinah Shore, the ladies' first major.  She had a pretty clear Brooks Koepka moment, when she suddenly realized it was hers to win and she drop-kicked it to Lydia....

But as it was spinning out of control for her, she endeared herself to this observer by her reactions.  Most notably, after smother-hooking her tee shot on No. 18 into the water she put her head on her caddie's shoulder and said she was sorry, consoling her looper.  Ariya, I'll always root for you to do well just for that.... I mean, unless you're up against Lydia of course...

Feeling The Bern - Yanno, at some point you've won enough and.... What?  Oh, apparently it's not that Bernie....

Bernhard Langer birdied four of his his last six holes to cruise to a six-shot and sixth senior major title at the Regions Tradition in Brimingham, Ala. on Sunday. 

Langer shot a 5-under 67 to get to 17 under to seal his victory over Olin Browne at 11 under. 

The win is the 27th PGA Tour Champions victory for the 58-year-old German. The win also matches Gary Player and Tom Watson for the third-most major titles on the PGA Tour Champions, one behind Hale Irwin and two behind Jack Nicklaus.

I know, not even I can care about the round-bellies these days, but can anyone explain the bike to me?