Monday, July 12, 2021

Weekend Wrap


Lots to cover in a limited time frame.... It's definitely been a little hectic at my end, but I've got a couple of hours to devote, so let's have at it.

Dateline: North Berwick, Scotland - Can't tell you how much I enjoyed the wild and wacky Scottish Open.  Yesterday's final round feature everything but the kitchen sink including, of al things, a weather delay.  They were in East Lothian, which is billed as Scotland's Golf Coast, and also known to have the best weather in the country.  Yeah, I know, best weather in Scotland is setting the bar awfully low....But, while it caused havoc with TV schedules and the like, it was weird beyond measure:

Just a typical day out on the links really. At various times during Sunday’s final round of the Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, the sun shone and heavy rain fell. A haar (sea mist) hung around for a bit over the adjacent Firth of Forth, the body of water that separates East Lothian and Fife. There was a 90-minute delay for lightning, too. But here’s the thing: The wind didn’t blow. Not even a little bit. And, as ever when it comes to golf in the game’s birthplace, that calmness was the most important and influential meteorological factor.

Just about everyone took advantage. Let loose by the benign conditions and a softer than expected course, 67 of the 77 golfers shot par or better on Sunday over the 7,293-yard, par-71 Tom Doak-designed lay-out. All in all, then, the day as a whole represented a more than benevolent welcome to summer in bonnie Caledonia for just about all concerned. Not everyone though. Those, like eventual runner-up Matt Fitzpatrick, who had ambitions of rushing down to London for the England-Italy soccer match were ultimately snookered by the electricity in the air.

Calling an haar a "sea mist" is underselling it a bit, as this 2019 post might remind.  But lightning?  That just doesn't happen over there, except when it does:

Speaking of which, back on the ground the climax to the $8 million Rolex Series event also produced its fair share of tension and sparks. Birdies were plentiful down the interrupted stretch. And at close of play, the blokes with the best score (18 under par) over 72 holes turned out to be Min Woo Lee (with a closing 64), Thomas Detry (67) and the aforementioned Fitzpatrick (67). Another trio—Ian Poulter (whose 63 was the best score of the day), Ryan Palmer (64) and, last week’s Irish Open winner Lucas Herbert (66)—finished one shot back. U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm (68) was alone in seventh place on 16 under, and lose his grip on World No. 1 by one place on the leader board.

To the playoff. At the end of a long day, it turned out to be a short-lived affair. Lee’s birdie from 10 feet on the 483-yard 18th settling things, most specifically the destination of the $1.3 million winner’s check, on the first extra hole.

Lee plays for Australia, despite the obvious Korean ancestry, and while that rang bells for your humble blogger, it turns out for good reason:

“This has been an awesome day,” said Lee, 22, a now two-time European Tour champion whose sister Minjee plays on the LPGA Tour is ranked 14th in the Rolex Women’s World Ranking (226 places higher than her brother when he arrived in Scotland). “Making six birdies in a row on the front-nine got me going. So everything happened really quickly. I could have holed a few more putts in regulation. The putt on 18 came up short by just a roll. That was painful. But I re-grouped. It’s just crazy to have won. I dreamt it last night and go so many messages from people back home who stayed up late to watch me. This one is for them.

“I’m not sure the shot I hit to the green in the playoff isn’t one of the best of my career,” he continued. “I hit a lot of good shots today. That was just one of them. But in that situation it was pretty good. Right off the bat I knew it was going to be pretty good. And yes, winning here is crazy. I’ve played well for the last few weeks though. My game was trending.”

I loved the whole week, as it scratched a two-year links itch.  Lee, along with Thomas Detry and Jack Senior, notched passes into Royal St. George's.  While the winner is unknown to most, there was a good mix of show ponies (Rhambo and JT), familiar talent (Fitzpatrick and Poults), as well as the aforementioned newbies.   That Englishman might be worthy of your thoughts heading into the Open, but is this good or bad?

Poulter surely had the second-biggest smile though. The 45-year-old Englishman left more than pleased with the boost to his bank balance, his World ranking and, inevitably, his chances of making a certain continental team.

“It’s always nice playing well,” said the already six-time Ryder Cup player, whose playing partner, Justin Thomas, nipped round in 65 to lose their “match” by two. “It’s always nice to be on home soil playing well. It’s always nice to pick up more valuable Ryder Cup points. And it’s always nice being here playing good golf.”

Yanno, I could maybe be OK with losing Ryder Cups, if we weren't losing them to Poults.

Now, there were two odd moments in East Lothian.  The first involving Rory McIlroy:

It's perhaps the best example of cinéma vérité I've seen in some time.... As noted, it plays out at an agonizingly slow pace, and the reaction of the players and caddies is far calmer than one might expect. This week's Tour Confidential panel had some thoughts:

In a bizarre incident during the first round of the Scottish Open, a fan stepped onto the first tee, grabbed Rory McIlroy’s headcover and an iron, and attempted to take a swing. On the heels of the streaker at the U.S. Open last month, where does this incident rank among wild fan interruptions?

Sens: No disrespect to streakers, but they are pretty much cliche at this point. This week’s incident was the strangest I’ve seen. And the most unsettling. It didn’t seem like something done on a dare or as a drunken lark. It was joyless and kinda creepy.

Dethier: Extremely creepy. It won’t be as memorable as the John Daly “19th Hole” streaker moment but it will certainly occupy a strange corner of my brain for a while to come.

Zak: I think we’ll always wonder what would have happened if the guy actually took a slash at that doggy headcover of McIlroy’s.

Bamberger: The less said about it, the better. But I was really impressed with how the players and caddies and security officials handled it. They didn’t let is escalate. I was standing on 18 in ‘85 at RSG when Peter Jacobsen tackled a streaker in full flight. They were both in full flight. I’m guessing Pete regrets it. Somebody could have ended his career right there.

I don't have much to add but, it just seems that having let him get that far, we might as well have gotten a look at the guy's swing...

The second involves Justin Thomas:

What I like is JT owning it and tweeting it out, which reminds me of Henrik Stenson doing the same when he shanked one a few years ago (and making the Tour look foolish when they made the social media sites take down the footage).  Now that link bills it as a club toss, which I think is not quite the case.  Ad I see it, he lets go of the club more than throwing.  Now, I might be biased here, because the same occasionally happens to me.... Actually, when I was in the depths of my slump earlier this season, it was more than an occasional thing...

Dateline: Quad Cities -  The only bits of the Quad City event that I watched were forced down my throat.  The 90 minute delat in North Berwick pushed the coverage of that event into the early Golf Channel coverage from Des Moine, and the handling thereof was maddening.  I get that there are contractual commitments to the PGA Tour, but they were split screening the interesting denouement of a significant Euro Tour event (one with many PGA Tour stalwarts in the mix) with the early round of a third-tier PGA Tour event.  At one point Golf Channel cut away from Scotland to show us one of the leaders in Des Moine.... which I might totally get, if not for the fact that said leading was warming up on the range.

It's modestly interesting (perhaps modest overstates the case a bit) because of this Lazarus moment:

So when Lucas Glover mounted a comeback Sunday to win his first PGA Tour event in more than a decade, there was only going to be one way to get it done — with a bunch of circles on his
scorecard.

Glover made five birdies on his final seven holes Sunday at TPC Deere Run, including four straight on holes 12 through 15 to vault himself to the top of a packed leaderboard and win by two. When asked later what his mindset was, it was unsurprisingly simple: “Make as many birdies as possible … That’s kind of what happened.”

Glover distanced himself on the closing stretch from a group that, at one point, saw nine players within one shot of the lead on the back nine. And at this course, at this tournament, it’s almost always best to have more holes to play. Glover had signed for a final round 64, but many birdie opportunities remained for those still out on the course. Being the clubhouse leader is always good, but it probably means the least at this tournament.

I have one other memory that seems timely.   The world is headed to Royal St. Georges, and Glover figures in my memory of that last visit there in 2011.  Most will recall that, in the final round, eventual winner Darren Clarke was paired with DJ, who gave himself a great chance until regressing to his mean and launching one OB.  My memory is of the third round, in which Clarke was paired with the aforementioned Lucas Glover, and I remember the two guys, whoc couldn't come from more disparate backgrounds (Ulster vs. the deep South) yucking it up all day as they walked the course.  I tend to love those vignettes, watching them compete, but at the same time respect and enjoy each other's company.  Of course, I recently had similar words to say about Angel Cabrera, and that insight didn't ages particularly well.

It also seems as though this year the Scottish drew an especially strong field (the announcers were calling it the strongest ever) and and the Deere drew almost no big names.  This might take me off Jay Monahan's Christmas card list, but isn't that the way it should be?  Back in 2015 I was decrying Spieth playing in Iowa the week before the Open with a single season slam in the balance, but even he seems to have gotten with the program...

Dateline: The Kentish Coast - Just a few bits in the remaining available time.  First, that TC panel had this on the week ahead:

The Open Championship, the year’s final men’s major, is upon us. It’s been two years since the last Open, where Shane Lowry hoisted the Claret Jug in 2019 at Royal Portrush. It’s also been 10 years since this year’s host, Royal St. George’s, hosted previously. Which of the many storylines ahead of the event intrigues you most?

Josh Sens: Rahm Watch, for starters. The top-ranked player in the world on a ridiculously torrid stretch. Back-to-back majors? He’s rightly favored. It will be fun to track him. As a subplot, having just watched the English national team lose in penalties at Wembley in the European Cup, I’m reminded that it’s been a good long haul since an English golfer has won the Claret Jug (Nick Faldo in 1992). This will be a home event. A number of English players enter in good form. Can one of them pull off on home soil what the soccer team couldn’t?

Dylan Dethier: Rahm Watch is the correct lead story. But I’m eager to see Rory McIlroy returning to the Open for the first time since his emotional missed cut at Portrush. He hasn’t looked particularly strong the last two weeks at the Irish and Scottish Opens, but two of McIlroy’s most recent four wins have come off MCs. Which version shows up this week?

It does seem that the Spaniard comes in as a stronger favorite than we've seen since Tiger waned.  I think that's probably equal parts his strong play, combined with the fact that none of the other top players seems especially on their games (argue among yourselves as to whether JT's  week in Scotland changes that perception).  I do like him better, though, for not having won this week.

Sean Zak: I’m intrigued by the grumblings from Tour players about quarantines and restrictions in place for them. Is it fair they’ll have to live a little less comfortably while the R&A invite 32,000 fans to the course to spectate? Probably not, but thems the rules this week. Deal with it, and go out and win the damn thing.

This to me might prove to be the story of the week, because I can't understand what they're trying to accomplish.  Take this story as a proxy:

Bubba Watson, who says he has received the Covid-19 vaccine, will be forced to miss this year’s Open Championship due to Covid protocols.

The two-time Masters champion announced Sunday morning on Twitter that he has been forced to withdraw from golf’s final major due “to having direct exposure who someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.” He will be replaced by Brendan Steele.

“I am disappointed to announce I will not compete at The Open Championship next week due to having direct exposure to someone who has tested positive for Covid-19,” Watson’s statement read. “I appreciate the R&A’s guidance and help navigating UK policy for such situations.”

According to tournament protocols, confirmed close contact with a person who tests positive for Covid-19 leads to immediate disqualification. Watson said he has been vaccinated and that he tested negative ahead of the tournament.

Do we have a single confirmed case of a Coved transmission on a golf course (or even outdoors)?  Do we think the vaccine actually protects folks?  None of this makes a lick of sense to me in isolation, and seems even more arbitrary and unnecessarily controlling when you factor in the presence of 32,000 spectators on site each day.

Michael Bamberger: Golf is inching its way back to these-are-the-good-old-days. It’s not there yet, nor is the world. This week gets us closer.

More so here than there, one can only conclude.

We've spent way too much time on Bryson's change of caddies, though this seems to me the more interesting aspect of planet Bryson:

British Open 2021: The Bryson Experiment faces links golf for first time in fascinating clash of new vs. old

There is, however, one frontier the Bryson Experiment has not yet encountered: links golf. Last year’s Open Championship fell victim to the pandemic, and DeChambeau has not played in the United Kingdom since 2019. Next Thursday’s first round of the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s will present our first look at a fascinating dichotomy: DeChambeau’s distinctly modern game against the sport’s ancient venues. And he will confront this very different test of golf without the man who carried his bag during each of his eight PGA Tour victories.

Interestingly, this occurs on the quirkiest of the rota courses, and you might be surprised to learn that he has some links cred:

Bryson 1.0 played his share of links golf. He featured prominently at the 2015 Walker Cup at Royal Lytham & St Annes, going 2-0-1 to emerge as one of the Americans’ only bright spots in a 19½-16½ loss to Great Britain & Ireland.

“He was, by a mile, the best player on the American team,” says John Huggan, who covered those matches for Golf Digest. “He was impressive playing links golf then. Obviously, that was a very different body, a very different game. But he certainly knows how to do it.”

I'm anxious to see what kind of trouble he can get himself into there...

Lastly, I think we can all agree that this guy needs to get out more:

31 things you may not remember about the 2011 British Open at Royal St. George's

Was there anything at all worth remembering about that Open?  This is maybe the best of the bunch, given its schadenfreudalicious foreshadowing of disaster:

6. To the first tee we go for the final pairing of Darren Clarke and Dustin Johnson, who had made his way into the final pairing at a major for the third time in the last six majors. The first two of those occasions ended in gut-wrenching fashion for DJ: 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, when DJ began the final round three shots clear of the pack and shot 82, and the 2010 PGA at Whistling Straits, aka BunkerGate. No way it could get any worse than those two, right?

Otherwise it was a truly forgettable Open.  Even perhaps more amusing was Shack's revist of the even more dreadful 2003 Open at RSG:

Ben Curtis’ 2003 Open win reaffirmed the bias that Royal St George’s leans goofy. But in watching it again, I came away with a better appreciation for that bizarre week:
  • Thomas Bjorn really, really blew it and should have won.
  • Tiger Woods had every opportunity to back into this one.
  • Curtis’ win remains one of the greatest Cinderella shockers in golf history.
  • The setup did not do the course justice.

 That's an Open that should be permanently sent down the memory hole.

That's it for today, kids, but we'll be back with more in the coming days. 

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