Monday, June 15, 2026

Weekend Wrap - Bel Air/Shinny Week Edition

I did watch quite a bit of golf this weekend, but likely not what most folks were watching.... The header will give it away.

The Ladies of Bel Air - Team match play just rocks.  There aren't a wide range of options to use the format, but it makes the amateur game far more interesting than the professional counter-part, at least on certain weeks.


It couldn’t have been more appropriate that Farah O’Keefe was the one to secure the winning point for the U.S. to win the Curtis Cup at Bel-Air Country Club.

O’Keefe—the 21-year-old star and unquestioned leader—was told by captain Meghan Stasi in one of the famous Bel-Air tunnels that the U.S. would win the Curtis Cup. That was all O’Keefe needed to finish in style. She closed out the match and beat Charlotte Naughton, 2 and 1, securing the victory with a short putt on the 17th hole. Her teammates were celebrating at the 17th, and she joined them and jumped up and down with her teammates in a circle.

The Americans won the trophy back from GB&I, which won two years ago at Sunningdale. The U.S. has long dominated the event and a GB&I team hadn’t won on American soil in 40 years. That didn’t change Sunday with the Americans dominating in the 13-7 final tally.

Except that it wasn't a route, as Geoff explains:

The 44th Curtis Cup looked headed toward a down-to-the-wire finish until clutch back-nine play by the USA carried Captain Meghan Stasi’s team to a 13-7 win at Bel-Air Country Club.

While the final score will look like a dominant win, Sunday’s eight singles matches were all tight in a perfect reflection of the week’s intense matches in Southern California.

In fact, at times the board looked like a sea of (Carolina) blue during yesterday's singles.   And while it wasn't the craziest of Sundays, there were some crazy swings in individual matches, with two four-up leads squandered:

  • Patience Rhodes recorded the first point for GB&I after going four down through seven holes against USA’s Kelly Xu, who never fell more than one down over the back nine in a wild opening match. Rhodes had to make a long par-putt to retain her lead and the first point. Xu enjoyed an unusual day in team match play history. She received her diploma before Sunday’s singles matches. While Xu might have wished she could walk with her fellow Cardinal, they walked out on Sundar Puchai despite the Google CEO never mentioning AI. Xu may have lost but she’s the first Stanford grad to ever get her degree from a USGA President and on the Swinging Bridge. Not bad!
  • USA’s Jasmine Koo fell down four through 11 holes but miraculously birdied five of her next six holes before making par at the last to overtake Nellie Ong 1UP. The 20-year-old USC All-American from Cerritos, California recorded USA’s first and possibly most important point of the Singles to blunt the sea of powder blue on the board.

Mostly I just thought Bel-Air looked spectacular.  We've had quite the George C. Thomas tour the last few years, with Opens at Riviera and LACC, and that U.S. Women's Amateur at this very venue in 2023.

Geoff's notes on the venue are unfortunately limited by his paywall, here's as far as we can ride with him:

There might not be a venue more difficult logistically to hold an event played with crowds and the quirks that come with a team match play event. So it was especially delightful to see Bel-Air and the USGA pull off a special week in the hills above Los Angeles.

The remarkable golf course conditioning provided by Justin DiPeppo’s crew brought out the best attributes of the 2017 restoration project that returned an intelligent purpose to so many holes. Along with fun setup touches by the USGA’s team and surprisingly tough hole locations, Bel-Air showed how much better match play is when contested on something offering just enough of a say to spice things up.

The other fun bit of note was this:

As explained in Golfweek:

Xu missed walking this weekend with teammate Megha Ganne, who made her professional debut last week at the U.S. Women's Open, and former Cardinal Rose Zhang, who officially walked this weekend but graduated after the last quarter.

Those Cardinal girls have always been close.

Even better than this great week is what lies ahead:

Future Curtis Cups in the United States: National Golf Links of America, in Southampton, N.Y., in 2030. Pine Valley Golf Club, in 1934, followed by Bandon Dunes (2038) in Oregon, Cypress Point Club (2042), and Seminole Golf Club (2046).

The only cruelty are those latter dates.... At the time of that Seminole match, your humble blogger will be..... let's see, carry the one and.... Nah, let's not go there.

Buddy Trip - How much of the Canadian Open would you guess your humble blogger watched?  Whatever you guessed, you're high.  In fact, the only golf I watched from Canada this week was the conclusion of that playoff in the U.S. Open qualifier Monday night.  It featured Max Homa, William Mouw and Max McGreevy, though it didn't end well for that first Max.

That was of slight interest, perhaps.  I had been wondering how the USGA would react, given the changes at Jack's event.  The most important qualifying site was always Columbus, OH, the Monday after the Memorial.  Problem is, with the Tour focused on micro-fields, the guys that need to qualify no longer have tee times at Muirfield Village.  So, instead of Columbus the day after, they had all those guys play in Ontario the week of the RBC, which makes sense.

I'm just blogging this because Bud Cauley is a former phenom/good guy that's endured setbacks, and this will be a popular victory:

It took longer than Bud Cauley ever dreamed. But finally, after 239 starts and years of uncertainty, he's a PGA Tour winner

It’s not uncommon these days to see tears of joy from the winner of a PGA Tour event, but if
anyone deserved a good cry, it was Bud Cauley after his long-awaited victory Sunday in the RBC Canadian Open.

Battling back from the golfing wilderness is something plenty of players endure, but Cauley had to fight hard for a number of years just to get back to the wilderness. Cauley's two-stroke win over fast-closing Matt Fitzpatrick in Caledon, Ontario, was the culmination of rebuilding his game to the highest level after doctors finally rebuilt his body sufficiently to pursue the career he always dreamed of having.

Cauley, 36, won in his 239th career start on the PGA Tour and 15 years after he turned pro following three years as a first-team All-American at the University of Alabama. It also came almost eight years to the day he nearly died in a one-car crash in Dublin, Ohio, following the second round of the 2018 Memorial Tournament.

It was June 1 that year when Cauley went to a nearby pub with former NHL player James Wisniewski and two other Columbus area acquaintances. One of those men, a local surgeon named David Crawford, was driving and lost control of his car about a mile from Muirfield Village Golf Club. The car struck a driveway culvert, went airborne, hit a number of trees and came to rest in a ditch. Seated in the rear passenger seat, Cauley was most seriously injured because the car struck the tree on passenger side, crumpling the door. Cauley suffered a concussion, six broken ribs on his right side, a punctured lung and a broken left leg.

Miraculously, he returned to competitive golf in September, but after playing in the season-opening Safeway Open in 2020, he had to step away to address lingering soreness in his ribcage. Thus began an odyssey of surgeries and complications that sidelined him for 3 1/2 years, until the 2024 WM Phoenix Open.

It might be a second tier event, but it was won by a first-class survivor.

Perhaps the best part of the Bud Cauley story is the comparison and contrast with the one that will follow it.  A reminder of the fact that people that had everything couldn't be satisfied with it, but a guy like Cauley just gets on with things.  But the most important thing to the top players over the last few years is to make the climb harder for the Bud Cauleys of the world.

Bottom Story of the Day - This is quite ugly, though I'm really not sure how to react.  As I understand, the original reporting is by Joel Beall at Golf Digest, although that is behind their silly paywall.  Here's a summary thereof:

According to Golf Digest, a female employee at The Farms Golf Club accused Mickelson of making “nonconsensual and inappropriate physical contact” before a round of golf earlier this
spring. The publication stated that the employee reported the incident to supervisors, prompting a club investigation.

Golf Digest reported that officials located Mickelson during his round, confronted him regarding the complaint, and instructed him to leave the property before completing play.

The Farms Golf Club later issued a statement to Golf Digest confirming action had been taken.

“The Farms Golf Club is committed to maintaining a golf club environment that is safe, respectful and reflects the highest standards of conduct,” the club said.

The statement added: “Following a staff member report of member misconduct, the Club provided immediate and ongoing support to the staff member, conducted a thorough independent investigation of the incident and took decisive action. This individual is no longer a member of The Farms Golf Club.”

Golf Digest stated that multiple sources identified the individual as Mickelson. The publication also reported that a spokesperson for Mickelson later confirmed he had resigned from the club.

Phil Mickelson declined to comment directly on the allegations. However, a spokesperson previously told Golf Digest: “Any misunderstanding has been cleared up. Phil continues to attend to a family health matter and is uncertain when he will be able to return to professional golf.”

This is a Wow! because of it's location, the presumption being that this is how he behaves at home (this excerpt doesn't cover it, but The Farms is in Rancho Santa Fe) among those that know him best.  And this is how he behaves amid a family health crisis as well, one that most of us assume involves Amy.

That said, I'm always a bit queasy about such allegations against famous men, because.... well, you know the because.  And the club wasted no time, which makes it feel like it must have been expecially egregious.

Here's the inevitable pushback:

His attorney, Tom Clare, told Golf Digest that there is video evidence that will exonerate Mickelson of any wrongdoing. "There is a great deal of misinformation circulating and, while Phil’s full attention is devoted to a private family health matter, he has retained defamation counsel and is determined to hold accountable any publication or individual trafficking in speculation or false rumors." According to the Golf Digest reporting, The Farms Golf Club claims that there is no camera footage of the incident.

The incident occurred at The Farms Golf Club, in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Mickelson is no longer a member of the golf club and was removed from the golf course on the day of the incident. According to Golf Digest, a female employee accused Mickelson of, "nonconsensual and inappropriate physical contact" prior to a round. The incident was reported to supervisors and Mickelson was asked to leave the property in the middle of his round.

Anonymous sources were cited by Golf Digest about the unwanted contact with a female employee at the club. While not much has been divulged from the situation, a spokesperson for Mickelson did tell Golf Digest, “Any misunderstanding has been cleared up. Phil continues to attend to a family health matter and is uncertain when he will be able to return to professional golf.”

The Farms Golf Club also provided a statement to Golf Digest. The statement included the following about the situation. "Following a staff member report of member misconduct, the Club provided immediate and ongoing support to the staff member, conducted a thorough independent investigation of the incident and took decisive action. This individual is no longer a member of The Farms Golf Club."

I for one take great comfort from the fact that any misunderstanding has been cleared up..... Good to know.

That said, Phil seems to have stepped in it on his way tot he first tee.  While the club is citing a "thorough independent investigation", said "thorough independent investigation" seems to have been concluded before Phil made the turn....  It sounds like it was so awful that there is no benefit of the doubt?  And, yet, despite my contempt for the man, I can't bring myself to believe that he could be so reckless amongst his peeps.

And, to repeat myself, with Amy perhaps not well....  Of course, this happens as the circus heads to Shinnecock.  Last time there you'll be constantly reminded about Phil swiping at that moving ball.  That's Phil in a nutshell, but I'll just add this reminder, that after he had beclowned himself at Shinny, he put Amy in front of the microphones to take the heat.  So perhaps Amy being ill is just an inconvenience for the man....

Exit Strategy - Scot land is about eight weeks out, but it's never too early to start anticipating it.  I just happened across this delightful video of one of my favorite spots in the Auld Grey Toon:


The Himalayas are a hoot, but mostly I just like the fact that there's a Ladies Putting Club that's older than all golf clubs in the U.S.

I do hope we score on the Daily Ballot this year, but I also want to get up the St. Andrews on one of our Sundays, when the Old Course is a town park and dog walk.  

I will try to do some blogging as we glide towards Shinny.  No promises, but hopefully good faith intentions will suffice.  Have a great week.

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