Weekend Wrap

A quick warning thatyou might have to live without those random musings until Thursday.  Seems fair, as a balky back (not my own) denied me all but nine holes this weekend.

Girls Gone Wild - Team match play is da' bomb, as if we needed further evidence.  Throw in a pinch of bad blood, saute for two years, and look what we get:

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – It was a dizzying affair. Momentum shifted back and forth like fescue in a stiff Scottish breeze. Perhaps the closest contest from start to finish of

any Solheim Cup ended with a part-time player, full-time legend draining a 6-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to give Europe its first victory in six years. 

Everything down the stretch had to go Europe’s way. Bronte Law, an English lioness who sprinted out the tunnel and onto the first tee, walked in a birdie putt on the 16th hole and closed her match against alternate Ally McDonald on the 17th to leave the fate of the Cup in Suzann Pettersen’s hands. They are cut from the same mold, Law and Pettersen. High-octane players who feed off of moments like this, particularly in team competition.

Ron Sirak, a longtime advocate for the ladies' game, had this:

GLENEAGLES, Perthshire, Scotland – Rarely in sports does reality match expectation. More often than not, the happening falls short of the hype. But the 14½-13½ Solheim

Cup victory by Europe over the United States on Sunday at Gleneagles was better than advertised – almost better than imaginable.

You’d have to search far and wide to find a more dramatic finish anywhere in the history of sports. With the last shot of the day, Suzann Pettersen – a controversial captain’s pick – rolled in a 7-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to secure the victory. A miss and the U.S. would have won for the third consecutive time.

“Like the Ryder Cup, this has just grown so hugely,” said Catriona Matthew, the Scottish woman who captained Europe to victory in her homeland. “It came down to the last putt on the last hole. You can’t get more exciting than that.”

What's with those datelines?  The Gleneagles resort is located in the town of Auchterarder, which makes for a far more evocative deteline, no? 

It really could not have been more dramatic, with the Americans getting to 13 1/2 points and futilly searching for that last half point needed to fly home with the cup.  At first, two of the three remaining matches were all-square tied, but Pettersen and Bronte Law took care of business.  Law had some help, but Marina Alex gave Pettersen nothing, and when the Norwegian was forced to punch out on her second...

The Tour Confidential panel avoided deferred their Tiger question to give the ladies the stage, and led with this:

1. Tied 8-8 heading into Sunday singles at the Solheim Cup, Europe charged late and clinched its victory with a Suzann Pettersen birdie on the 18th hole, winning the Cup in dramatic come-from-behind fashion, 14.5-13.5. It was just the sixth win for Europe in 16 meetings and the first since 2013. What went wrong for the Americans, who were heavily favored heading into the matches?

Sean Zak: I can’t really look to anything besides that second-to-last match, when Bronte Law took over. It felt like that was an American point for much of the day, and then she

made some incredible birdies late — three of her last four holes — suffocating a point for the Euros. Momentum. 

Michael Bamberger: Road games are hard in these team competitions, and this was not a strong U.S. team, so it’s not a surprise. As second-guessing is a national sport in these affairs, I don’t know why you’d ever want to split up the Korda sisters. 

Jonathan Wall: Europe rose to the occasion. I don’t think there’s anything you can do in those situations. Sometimes it’s written in the stars. 

Dylan Dethier: Suzann Pettersen is what went wrong for the Americans! That putt on 18 isn’t something I’ll forget soon. There were moments the U.S. team would like to have back — Danielle Kang’s 18th hole, say, or Lexi Thompson’s unfortunate back spasms. But Europe showed it was made of tougher stuff and rallied together at the end.

And this, which is basically the same question:

2. One of the great traditions of Solheim and Ryder Cups is, of course, second-guessing the captains’ decisions. Anything Juli Inkster could’ve-should’ve done differently in skippering the U.S. side? 

Bamberger: Oh, now I see the second question! Please refer to the first answer. Also, you can’t go overseas too early, but there are many practical limitations at play in that. 

Zak: If Inkster thinks it was going to be smart to keep the Korda sisters separate, I 100 percent trust that. That being said, it was hard to see other obvious decisions for her in the pairings, so perhaps she should have just made that obvious one. Thankfully, she doesn’t care about our second-guessing. 

Wall: I like the idea of leaving a stronger player at the back in a competition when there’s a chance it’ll come down to the final few matches. No offense to Morgan Pressel, but I would’ve preferred a more in-form anchor. That’s nitpicking. Overall, I think Juli did one hell of a job on foreign soil. 

Dethier: I know Danielle Kang is a gamer, wanted to go out first in singles and I definitely appreciate Inkster sending her out in that position — but it was a bit of a vulnerable spot for a player who had faced an onslaught of tabloid aggression all week. She might have felt somewhat more comfortable with Americans on either side of her Sunday. (Note: This is rampant speculation, as she easily could have won her match and the storyline would be the opposite.)

There are two things that jump out at this observer, but in no way will this be completely fair.  A team event this close inevitably turns on the smallest of things, and that's by definition arbitrary.

1.  Danielle Kang's 18th hole, slow-motion train wreck.  I love Dylan's passive voice above, as if the tabloids at random picked their target.  I loved her talk of taking souls earlier in the week, but she simply didn't play up to her standards, and I knew with mathematical certainty that allowing Ciganda to win a Par-5 with a par would cost the Yanks the Cup.
2. Lexi - The alarmingly psychologically fragile beast has now added physical fragility to her brand.  I've been Googling for  a few minutes now and I cannot find an answer to the simple question of what would have happened if she couldn't go....  Is it the Steve Pate name in an envelope, or would it be a default?

Here's another curious aspect to it all... From an account of the warm-up:

"We were on the driving range, she went to bend over and tee up a shot, couldn’t even bend down," Benji Thompson said after the round. "It kind of affected her downswing. I think that’s why she hit a few of the right shots today, it came from just being somewhat in pain and couldn’t really fire through the ball.  

So, she can't bend over to tee her ball, and she gets out to a 2-up lead.  Then we hear that the back is loosening up, and she coughs up the match by hitting everything LEFT.  

I eagerly await his mailbag, but for now Alan Shipnuck is grading the participants:

Nelly Korda (3-0-1): A+

The 21-year-old rookie was a rockstar, lifting the Americans with her superb play and buoyant team spirit. It’s not an accident that Nelly was sent out second in singles, and

she put the crucial first point on the board for the U.S. while the other early starters stumbled. She will be a cornerstone for the next couple of decades. 

Jessica Korda (3-0-1): A+ 

She got her kid sis off to a good start by guiding her to a dominating Friday foursomes victory, and Jessica’s veteran leadership never stopped, including a singles win that pushed the U.S. ahead after a sluggish start. Her goofy dancing on the first tee on Saturday morning was symbolic of how Korda set the tone for the Americans who were joyous and loosey-goosey…until the last half hour of singles. 

Brittany Altomare (2-1-1): A 

The birdie machine made a stellar Solheim debut, notably leading a comeback in Friday foursomes to steal a momentum-shifting halve and then making the winning birdie in a taut Saturday four-ball match against Euro powerhouses Pettersen and van Dam. Her blowout win in the ninth singles match was a strong statement.

Altomare was a revelation to me, especially her putting.

 Though here he seems to be grading on a curve:

Lexi Thompson (0-2-2): D 

After three previous star turns at the Cup the U.S.’s most decorated player looked jumpy and jittery all week, especially on the greens. Tweaking her back on the range before her singles match added injury to insult. 

Danielle Kang (1-3-0): F 

Her press conference woofing added a big buzz to the Cup but, rather than embracing the heel turn, she seemed intimidated and overwhelmed by the inevitable blowback. Captain Inkster still showed a lot of confidence in her U.S. Open champ by sending her out first in singles but Kang wilted at the finish in a dispiriting loss.

Given that Lexi was supposed to be this team's leader, it's hard to see where she's let off the hook with a passing grade...

The Euro grades are about what you'd expect, but I'll leave you to peruse them at your leisure.

 Suzann ended the day with this:

Suzann Pettersen is taking the rest of her life off. Can we blame her? 

No. After all, what mountain do you climb after you’ve scaled Mount Everest. 

Pettersen’s ultimate peak came amid Scotland’s Ochil Hills, on the 18th hole at Gleneagles. She holed a seven-foot putt that gave Europe the sweetest of victories and decided she had no more mountains left to scale. 

“I don’t have any plans from tomorrow,” Pettersen said. “I’m closing it down. 

“This is a perfect closure,” she added. “The end for my professional career. It doesn’t get any better.”

That's what the kids call a mic drop. 

Though this from the TC panel seems...well, more hysterical than historical:

4. Suzann Pettersen sounded like she had made up her mind regarding her future following Sunday’s win. “I’m completely done,” she said, announcing her retirement from pro golf. Given Pettersen was less than an hour removed from draining one of the most important birdie putts of her life, was this the greatest golf retirement ever?

Bamberger: Absolutely! The only thing better would have been saying nothing and just walking away. 

Zak: No doubt the greatest. She absolutely purred that putt, just a few minutes after nearly holing out with a wedge from the fairway. Chances are you’ve done that on the 18th before signing your amateur scorecard. There is no greater feeling than playing perfect golf before ending your day, and she did it on one of the biggest stages in the world! Bravo. 

Wall: Of course! It’s nearly impossible to top what I’d consider to be the ultimate mic drop. The only thing that would’ve surpassed it is if Tiger had done something similar after his Masters win.

Geez, Mike, i especially expect more from you.   here's a clue, Google Jones, Bobby... Now, don't you feel silly?

Why I Leave Browser Tabs Open - This one from last week is still open, in which Alex Myers names eleven lads for which we should maintain visual contact, including this guy:

Joaquin Niemann 

Welcome back, young fella! Although not the youngest player on this list, Niemann, who turns 21 in November, is certainly the youngest with a full PGA Tour season under his size-28 belt (we don't know his actual belt size, but the kid is skinny). And it was a solid season at that. After getting off to a slow start to his official rookie campaign (Niemann earned his PGA Tour card through sponsor's exemptions the previous year), the native of Chile found his form once summer rolled around. Starting with back-to-back T-5s at the Travelers Championship and Rocket Mortgage Classic, he finished worse than T-31 only once over his final eight starts while racking up four top-15s.

Nah, he'll never amount to anything...  What?  Oh, that's awkward:

Who won: Joaquin Niemann (six-under 64, 21 under overall) 

How it happened: Niemann got off to somewhat of a slow start on Sunday, making the turn in one under, but he broke away from the pack on the back nine. He birdied the 10th, 12th and 13th, and even a bogey on 15 was followed with a birdie on 16. Suddenly he stood on the par-5 17th tee with a four-shot lead over Tom Hoge and Richy Werenski, but he didn’t falter — not even close. He finished birdie-birdie to beat runner-up Hoge by six. 

Why it matters: It’s the first PGA Tour victory for Niemann, who is still just 20 years old. He also becomes the first player from Chile to win on Tour. Sunday was his 44th pro start. Last year he played in 28 events and recorded four top 10s. He’s off to a good start in the new season.

How can he possibly have 44 starts before being able to buy a legal drink?  Personally, I never doubted the kid, but quite the good call from Alex.

POY POV -  Sometimes stories surprise your humble blogger, and Rory's Player of the Year award is one of those.  Who cares is the obvious reaction, but there's fun to be had.

Alex Miceli has this bit that we'll lede with, which I hadn't heard in all the back-and-forth on who's year you'd rather have had:

McIlroy voted for Koepka, because he disclosed his vote on Twitter, so we know that at least one player voted. That’s about all that we can determine, with that piece of information coming from the winner, not the PGA Tour.

No wonder he looked so surprised when Jack handed him the trophy?  Equally amusing is that Brooks likely couldn't be bothered voting, at least if the prior year was his template.

Josh Berhow contacted the Tour and was given a copy of the ballot sent to eligible voters, and it's pretty much what you'd expect:

You can see what they did there pretty easily....  Rory gets a double dip on the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup, but the Brooks' historic performance in the majors is unworthy of citation.  

Someone named Laura Neal did a phone interview with Josh, and beclowns herself, first explaining their ballot:

The ballot summarizes each candidate’s season with four boilerplate statistics: number of tournaments entered, wins, top-10 finishes and FedEx Cup rank. Notably absent are the players’ results in the majors, including any mention of Koepka’s historic 2019 run (he finished in the top-4 in all four majors, a feat that has been matched only by Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth). Neal explained that the Tour intentionally omits any records or historic achievements from the summaries so as to avoid any appearance of “editorializing or influencing the process.” (For this same reason the ballot did not call out, for example, that McIlroy became the first player in history to win the Players Championship and FedEx Cup.) This means it’s beholden upon the voters to be informed as to what the POY candidates achieved over the past season beyond the four basic statistics that are provided.

Yeah, that's the ticket... Here's a thought, how about listing everything?  Because, yanno,limiting data can be prejudicial as well....

But the funniest part is this from Ms. Neal:

“Feel free to debate whether the PGA Tour membership should have voted Rory or Brooks as Player of the Year,” Neal wrote in an email Friday. “What’s not up for debate is the Tour’s integrity — in this process or otherwise.”

Gee, thanks for your permission to discuss, though perhaps now would a good time to discuss DJ's jet-ski accident?  Yanno, that bit where you participated in a fraud on the public....  Hey, she was the one that added that "otherwise".

Oh, and on this limited matter:

In a phone interview with GOLF.com, Laura Neal, the Tour’s senior vice president of communications, did not say how many players voted in 2019 but she did say that in any given year 45 to 60 percent of players participate.

Really?  How about in this very specific year?  Really, where is that integrity I was just reading about?  Back to Alex Miceli for this rather crude comparison:

Case in point: In the 2018 Russian presidential election, Vladimir Putin won with a popular vote of 56,430,712, or 76.69 percent of ballots cast. The two other candidates’ vote counts were disclosed as well.

Yeah, and I'm pretty sure that he told us the vote tabulations were not up for debate... hack's gonna hack, but next thing they'll tell us that it's not about the money.

The Tiger Reveal - Tiger has been penning blog posts on his Presidents Cup gig for a while, but never did I consider that they might actually convey information.  First, we'll start at the bottom, where his electronic signature might have given away his thought process:

Hmmm....

I assume he wants to play, but it'll be awkward unless he shows us something in Japan.  Well, awkward for sure if they then lose.

But this unintentionally funny:

Funny because Viktor Hovland is not now nor has he ever been an American....

Tiger, perhaps if you read Golf Digest:

Viktor Hovland adds to a great day for Norwegian golf by tying a PGA Tour record with 17th straight round in the 60s

I reached out to the PGA Tour and got this in response from Laura Neal:

“Feel free to debate whether Viktor is American or Norwegain” Neal wrote in an email Friday. “What’s not up for debate is the Tour’s integrity — in this process or otherwise.”

Noted.