Weekend Wrap - Meltdownapalooza Edition

It's been quite the week here recovering from our lightning strike.  Service was switched over yesterday and replacement TVs should arrive today.  

I did watch a bunch of the golf on Sunday, even some of the golf from Memphis.....

Megha-Winner - Meltdown No. 1 (actually, there were two) happened Saturday afternoon on the coast of Oregon:

Megha Ganne was fortunate to make the U.S. Women’s Amateur final at Bandon Dunes.

“I won't say exactly what I was thinking, but you can imagine,” said Ganne, who was three down through 10 holes against Australian Ella Scaysbrook, who had never trailed in any of her five matches and had not even reached the 16th tee since stroke play.

“I reminded myself that I have literally won so many matches from 2 down, 3 down, 4 down,” Ganne said of the semifinal. “Matches start on the back nine no matter what the score [says]. [I] reminded myself of that and how many times I've done it. Today is no different.”

Except that it was the semis of the Women's Amateur and it didn't look like Ella Scaysbrook would ever miss a shot, until someone flipped a switch and she suddenly missed all of them.

Megha, a Jersey girl, has always been hard to evaluate, bursting on the scene young but outshined at Stanford by those other more famous girls:

The Stanford senior first made it on the USGA scene by reaching the 2019 semifinals as a 15-year-old where she lost in 19 holes to then-Stanford senior Albane Valenzuela. Ganne would contend two years later in the U.S. Women’s Open at Olympic Club, but it was the best trophy in golf that she most wanted to win. And Ganne did so late Sunday on a gloriously firm, fast, and breezy Bandon Dunes links by beating Missouri’s Brook Biermann 4&3 to capture the elaborately designed Robert Cox Trophy.

Don't remember that 2019 Amateur, but I do remember her in that final group on Sunday at Olympic.  But these two girls go back even further:

The 22-year-old Ganne was competing in her seventh U.S. Women’s Amateur and drew a worthy opponent in Biermann, a recent Michigan State grad. Each of the women qualified for the 2018 Drive, Chip & Putt national finals at Augusta National Golf Club in the Girls’ 14-15 division and Golf Channel found an image of the two in line together entering the competition’s long drive portion. Ganne, who competed in four DCP finals, finished fourth and Biermann fifth that year.

Not sure why Geoff would tease but not embed that older photo, which I'm unable to find with a Google image search.

Bandon Dunes was a spectacular venue, including providing those great evening viewing windows.  Geoff helpfully informs that the USGA isn't finished with the resort:

The next USGA competition to be staged at Bandon Dunes will be the 2028 Walker Cup Matches. The U.S. Women’s Amateur, along with the U.S. Amateur, will be conducted at the resort in consecutive weeks in 2032.

Let's hope they expand the coverage windows by then....  A great event, and the men are already under way at Olympic.

Say It Ain't So, Tommy-Lad -  I got home around 4:00 p.m. on Sunday and turned on the golf, catching the leaders early on their back nines.  Fleetwood immediately caught my eye with some steely play, which made me stick around because, well, Tommy on the lead can be interesting.

The ending will have the man's fans despondent:

Ageless Rose makes late charge in Memphis, tops Spaun in playoff; Fleetwood comes up short again

Justin Rose has still got it. Still has his nerves. Still has his swing. Still has sufficient power and

level of fitness. Still knows how to shake off adversity. Still has the ability to perform in the clutch.

He still knows how to win.

At age 45, Rose became the oldest winner on the PGA Tour in five years on Sunday in Memphis when he defeated reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff in the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Trailing fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood by three strokes with five holes remaining in regulation, Rose reeled off four straight birdies to surge past his European Ryder Cup teammate and join Spaun at 16-under 264 at TPC Southwind. Then Rose birdied the last two holes of the playoff, the first to stay alive after Spaun buried a long birdie of his own, and the second, from 11 feet, for the title, his second in the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the 12th of his PGA Tour career.

After all his near misses, this isn't exactly a great surprise, but we always find ourselves rooting for the old guys....I wonder why that is.

Everyone likes JR, but the headlines are all about that guy that just can't get it done.  This from this week's Tour Confidential panel:

Tommy Fleetwood held the 54-hole lead at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, but a 17th-hole bogey and final-round one-under 69 on Sunday kept him a shot out of a playoff (in which Justin Rose beat J.J. Spaun on the third playoff hole for the title). Fleetwood has won seven times on the DP World Tour but is still famously winless in 162 PGA Tour starts. Is this sample size officially big enough to explain what’s holding him back?

Hirsh: No! I don’t think we know what’s holding him back yet. It could be a lot of different things, but what’s abundantly clear is he keeps putting himself in these positions. And with a game and easily repeatable golf swing like him, it’s only a matter of time before he converts.

Colgan: Yes! And the answer is simple: It’s in his head. I spent a while reporting on the phenomenon of “choking under pressure” — or performing less than your best when it matters most — and I learned that golfers are uniquely attuned to struggle under the limelight. It’s because of how our prefrontal cortex handles stress, and how the “repetition compulsion” of the golf swing fades while under duress. The good news: Practice helps — and Tommy is getting lots of practice.

Marksbury: As Fleetwood said in his post-round interview, it’s really hard to win on Tour. And it’s not like his final round was a complete blow-up — an ill-timed bogey on 17, sure, but that happens. To even have a chance to win, you have to put yourself in position for a potential letdown. Tommy’s definitely getting lots of practice. He’ll get there eventually!

 Bonus question: What's more easily repeatable, Tommy's swing or his meltdowns with the lead?

Unfortunately, Jess Marksbury is grading on a curve, because just when he seemed to have things under command, a series of really loose shots ensued.  That said, there's a really good reason that people keeping hoping for the best for him:

A note about Fleetwood in a year dominated by male players acting like three-year-olds who just had their banky sucked out of a window: the PGA Tour’s most famous winless golfer spoke to both NBC and the on-site press before signing autographs for the many fans who were on his side Sunday. Fleetwood kept a smile throughout. We’re lucky to have him.

“All these experiences and these close calls, like I say, there's no point in making or allowing them to have a negative effect on what happens next,” he said. “What would be the point? It was a great week. I did a ton of good stuff, and as disappointed as I am, I have to try to find the strength to make it all a positive experience and hopefully next time go again, put myself in that position again and we just go again.”

Any chance Rory and Collin were taking notes?

It's such a small thing, but I respect him all the more because he could have ducked the hard questions, but instead showed us his human side.  I think the over-under for my allegiance switch at Bethpage is.....wait for it, 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning.  Earlier if Patrick shows up hatless again....

Shack sums up the Ryder Cup ebb and flow:

On the plus side for Captain Keegan Bradley:

• J.J. Spaun (2nd) may be playing all five sessions if he continues to swing the club like he did in Memphis. Spaun has clinched a top-six spot and looks like a machine under pressure.

• Cameron Young will move up the points list to 14th after a final round 64 and fifth-place finish. It’s hard to imagine how he’s bypassed as a pick

• Ben Griffin registered his ninth top 10 of the year and remains ninth in points.

• Andrew Novak’s T6 finish will keep him in the top 12 points earners with longshot hopes of a Captain’s pick.

• Patrick Cantlay demonstrated signs of life with a 70-67-66-68, T9 finish ahead of the BMW at Caves Valley where he was victorious six years ago.

• Fellow T22 finishers Xander Schauffele and Colin Morikawa each posted a 65 in otherwise ordinary weeks by their high standards. But Morikawa made it through the week without incident using his fifth luggage handler of 2025. Baby steps!

 Missing from Captain Bradley's list of positives is anything favorable about Playuer Bradley.

On the flip side:

On the plus side for European Captain Luke Donald:

• The performance of Rose (Win) and Fleetwood (T3). Not that either man’s place on the team was in doubt, but Rose made four birdies in his last five holes and another two birdies in three playoff holes. It’s absurdly impressive stuff from a guy whose should be starting to scout out the Boeing Classic venue at this point in his career.

• Viktor Hovland (T32) posted rounds of 68-67-67 after opening with 74. Nothing great. But nothing to worry about. Unless he fires another coach.

• Ludvig Aberg (T9) recorded his second top 10 since missing the U.S. Open cut.

• Jon Rahm nearly won the LIV Chicago event.

• Sergio Garcia faded down the stretch and just got that much easier to bypass with the final Captain’s pick.

That last one is just a crushing blow....  but at least leaves my options open to switch sides.

Here's a quick snapshot of team standings:

TEAM USA RYDER CUP RANKINGS

1. Scheffler 2. Schauffele 3. Spaun 4. Henley 5. DeChambeau 6. English 7. Thomas 8. Morikawa 9. Griffin 10. Bradley 11. McNealy 12. Novak 13. Harman 14. Young 15. Cantlay

 TEAM EUROPE RYDER CUP RANKINGS 

1. McIlroy 2. Rose 3. Fleetwood 4. MacIntyre 5. Hatton 6. Straka 7. Lowry 8. R. Hojgaard 9. Aberg 10. Hovland 11. Wallace 12. Fitzpatrick 13. Detry 14. Rai 15. J. Smith

There was this silly bit from the TC panel:

The six auto-qualifying spots for the U.S. Ryder Cup team will be set following next week’s BMW Championship, and with a $20 million purse offered at the BMW, there’s still time for some players just outside that cutoff to make a major move and secure their spot. Which player on the bubble most needs a big week to jump into the top six so they don’t have to worry about receiving a captain’s pick?

Jack Hirsch: I don’t think there’s any other answer than the defending champion this week, Keegan Bradley. Also known as the team captain. Keegan is 10th on the U.S. points list, and he seems to have softened his stance that he wouldn’t pick himself. I don’t know the math, but I would assume only another win would get him into the top-6. Otherwise, it will be very interesting to watch what he decides regarding picking himself or even relinquishing the captaincy.

James Colgan: Keegan is a good answer, but I’m leaning towards Chris Gotterup. He’s been a hard charger in the last few weeks — along with Cameron Young — but a T54 finish in Memphis wasn’t enough to finish the job. He needs another strong performance.

Jessica Marksbury: Agree with my colleagues on Keegan and Chris, and will also add Andrew Novak to the list. Novak was ranked 13th on the Ryder Cup points list heading into the FedEx St. Jude, and frankly, was not a name I would have considered for the team. But a T6 finish in Memphis should help his cause, and backing it up with another strong performance next week could end up being a major difference-maker.

Chris Gotterup the two-week wonder?  Sheesh!

Dylan Dethier had this extended analysis in his Monday Finish column:

Team USA taking shape.

Let’s tier out the Americans.

Tier 1: ALREADY LOCKS BEFORE MEMPHIS (3)

Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele

Tier 2: JUST NEEDED PROOF OF LIFE; NOW THEY’RE IN (5)

J.J. Spaun (second place), Patrick Cantlay (T9), Russell Henley (T17), Collin Morikawa (T22), Justin Thomas (T28)

Tier 3: FINISHED T48 IN MEMPHIS BUT STILL HAS TO BE IN (1)

Harris English

Tier 4: ONE MORE SIGN OF LIFE IN THE NEXT COUPLE WEEKS COULDN’T HURT (1)

Keegan Bradley

Tier 5: TRENDING UP (2)

Cameron Young, Ben Griffin

Tier 6: ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN (5)

Mav McNealy, Sam Burns, Andrew Novak, Chris Gotterup, Jordan Spieth

DARK, DARK HORSES

Akshay Bhatia, Brian Harman, Kurt Kitayama, and just for fun, Jackson Koivun

Tier 8: OFFICIALLY OUT

Wyndham Clark, Daniel Berger, Jake Knapp, Patrick Reed

SO IF YOU HAD TO PICK TODAY…

Scottie Scheffler

J.J. Spaun

Xander Schauffele

Russell Henley

Bryson DeChambeau

Harris English

–

Justin Thomas

Collin Morikawa

Patrick Cantlay

Cameron Young

Ben Griffin

Keegan Bradley

Ultimately all that chatter amounts to this: You’re skipping past Nos. 11, 12 and 13 on the below list and taking a hot hand (Young) and a proven killer (Cantlay). Up for debate is whether Bradley would like to sacrifice himself in the process…

I think it more likely than not that Bradley leaves himself off the team, unless something special happens this week.   Not that any of the replacements will blow your socks off....

The European team is even more locked down, a virtual mirror image of that 2023 squad:

Team Europe's Likely Ryder Cup Roster

Rory McIlroy
Jon Rahm
Sepp Straka
Tyrrell Hatton
Ludvig Aberg
Viktor Hovland
Tommy Fleetwood
Robert MacIntyre
Shane Lowry
Matt Fitzpatrick
Justin Rose
12th pick???

What have those guys ever done?  

Harry Hall is getting surprising support for that last spot, although I'd bet on a Hojgaard twin to be named later (which logically would be the one that wasn't on the 2023 team).

That will have to do you for today, and I'm unclear as to the blogging schedule for the remainder of the week.  Check back early and often just to be safe.

Thursday Threads - Rebuilding Edition

Humpty Dumpty will be put back together, though at this juncture it's still a work in process.

The big work will happen early next week, for now we have TV on some old TVs we had lying around.  I'm using the disruption to make a service provider change that's long overdue, so we'll be hopefully building back better, as the kids say.

Monday morning is the service switchover, so I'll keep my options open as to whether there will be time to blog.  I'll try not to keep you hanging on an event as important as Memphis in August.....errr, you do know I'm pulling your leg, right?

Bandon Daze - In case you've been in a bubble, the U.S. Women's Amateur is being contested at Bandon Dunes, and yesterday's round of 64 provided great viewing.  Problem is, try to find a game story or any other coverage, so we'll do the best we can:

Co-medalists, including defending champ, fall in Round of 64 at U.S. Women's Amateur

Arianna Lau didn't know how close Rianne Malixi hit her approach shot on the par-5 18th hole, she just knew it was close.

Roughly 10 feet, to be exact, is how close the defending U.S. Women's Amateur champion hit her 3 wood for an eagle look. Lau knew she had to respond, and she did.

Hitting 3 wood herself, Lau smoked her shot to the front left part of the green and watched it roll to about 13 feet from the pin, just outside Malixi's ball. Then, the 64 seed, who advanced to earn the final spot in match play after a 3-hour, 3-minute playoff Wednesday morning, buried the putt, and Malixi couldn't match.

Lau knocked out the defending champion 1 up on Wednesday afternoon under a blanket of clouds at Bandon Dunes on the Oregon coast. She had a 1-up lead on the 17th hole and missed a 3 footer for par for Malixi to tie the match, but she stepped up and hit one of the best shots of her life to knock out the top seed and defending champion on the 18th hole.

That's Lau's reaction in the photo above, and she was hardly the only big name to fall:

Malixi wasn't the only co-medalist to fall Thursday. Asterisk Talley, who lost to Malixi in the championship match last year at Southern Hills, is also heading home.

The No. 2 seed fell to Australia's Ella Scaysbrook 6 and 4, ending an insane run that started last

week with her victory at the Junior PGA Championship in Indiana. Scaysbrook was 2 up after three holes and held that lead until the 11th, where she won four straight holes to knock off one of the best juniors in the world.

Scaysbrook, who is playing in her first USGA event, said she took the underdog mentality in her match, understanding how talented her opponent was. She proved she's worthy of her flowers, too.

"Proud of myself, yeah," she said. "It's pretty big. Yeah, it was very good. Good match."

Both co-medalists have lost in the Round of 64 for the first time in 10 years. Meanwhile, world No. 1 Kiara Romero took her opening match, 4 and 3. The top seed left, Eila Galitsky, a rising sophomore at South Carolina, won her match, 4 and 3.

A few "names" left as per that last 'graph, though none of the names are especially familiar.  But it's match play at a spectacular venue, making for far more interesting viewing than anything that might happen in Memphis.

TV coverage is frustratingly limited, including a complete blackout of this morning's round of 32.  They are back on tonight at 6:00 p.m. EDT with the round of 16.  Worth a watch, if only for the venue.

This additional item informs of some interesting further developments at the resort:

The 125th U.S. Women’s Amateur is under way, the ninth different USGA amateur event held at Bandon Dunes since 2006, including the 2020 U.S. Amateur and 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur.

There are 11 more future USGA amateur events scheduled for Bandon Dunes, dating all the way out to 2045. By then, the trailblazer of modern destination golf in America will likely look vastly different than it does now, but its core will remain unscathed.

Vastly?  Not sure where that comes from, as everything seems quite incremental:

Things are changing, however, as Bandon's profile as the best public golf resort in the country solidifies and demand to play it increases.

Bandon Dunes will host the 2026 PGA Professional Championship, the national championship for PGA of America golf professionals, from which the top 20 players earn a spot in that year’s PGA Championship. The 72 holes will be played across Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes, both of which are ranked within the top 10 public courses in America.

“We’re excited to host that championship and bring a level of pro golf here,” Simonds says. “We’ve never sat down and had a conversation of if we want to have a [PGA] Tour event or host a major before. We’re focused on making it the best experience for our guests week in and week out.”

I think they've gotten it pretty correct in limiting themselves to amateur events, but the big news here is that Pacific Dunes, the most telegenic of their five courses, will get a moment in the sun.  Their courses weren't designed to withstand the PGA Tour, and they'd do well to remember that, not even addressing the town of Bandon's inability to handle the PGA Tour's traveling circus.

Memphis In August - That sound you hear is Hoagy Carmichael spinning in his grave, not that I expect many to pick up on that reference.  How bad are the FedEx Playoffs?  Well, for the first time I can recall since 2007, the first playoff event is being defined by a discussion of that guy that didn't show up.

Here's the Golf Digest take, via Joel Beall:

Rory McIlroy didn't create a problem for the PGA Tour, he exposed one

 How does the PGA Tour sell that the FedEx Cup matters when the actions of one of its biggest stars essentially say the opposite?

That is the legitimate worry surrounding Rory McIlroy's absence this week as the tour's three-event postseason series begins with the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. But the outrage that has followed reveals little about McIlroy's commitment and is missing the point. The problem isn't the player—it's the product.

McIlroy's decision was hardly spontaneous. He telegraphed this move throughout the year, specifically citing last year at TPC Southwind—where he finished second to last yet dropped only two spots in the playoff standings—as proof that his participation carries minimal competitive consequence in the current structure. This strategic absence is not new; McIlroy did the same in 2015 and 2018, and follows an established playbook. Tiger Woods skipped the inaugural FedEx Cup event in 2007 and went on to claim the tour’s “ultimate prize.” That year, Phil Mickelson, leading the standings after winning the second tournament, passed on the third playoff event in Chicago despite literally playing in a corporate outing miles away.

Yet the McIlroy’s absence sparked reactions this week after player director Peter Malnati told Golfweek he was "very concerned" alluded to possible future measures to prevent players from skipping playoff events—social media quickly ready to label any measure the “Rory Rule.”

Beall captures the zeitgeist with this:

The timing couldn't be more perfect for manufactured drama. August represents the dead zone of the sports calendar, when fans and media desperately grasp for storylines worth dissecting. What should have been a footnote about schedule management has metastasized into a capital-T Thing, with pundits debating what this reveals about McIlroy's character, the tour's authority, and the postseason's legitimacy. Meanwhile, the actual guys competing in Memphis have been reduced to background noise in their own tournament.

Yes, Rory's character has been much discussed over the last few months, and quite the dichotomy has developed between his words and his actions.  But more than anything, perhaps we can reframe our perception of Rory (and Tiger, as well) as we see how they do what they damn well please, undermining years of lectures we've endured.

The irony would be delicious if it weren't so damning. For two decades, the PGA Tour has desperately tried to create buzz around its postseason, only to do so through controversy rather than competition.

That's Joel lowering the bar, but fails to lower it sufficiently for the Tour to actually clear it.....

To be fair, Malnati's concern cuts deeper than optics. McIlroy's absence—and the potential for other stars to follow such a path—undoubtedly creates a cascade of disappointed stakeholders: TV networks that paid premium rates expecting McIlroy and corporate partners who tied their investment to star power. Officials with FedEx, pumping nine figures into the playoffs bearing their name, will watch their marquee event in their corporate hometown proceed without arguably the tour's most marketable player, representing the kind of sponsor relations failure that keeps executives awake. Forcing players to compete in all three Playoff events perhaps solves that. But this crisis illuminates the playoffs' vulnerability—its dependence on individual star power rather than intrinsic competitive value. When one player's absence threatens your entire narrative, the foundation was already shaky.

McIlroy deserves some criticism here. He advocated for signature events in 2022, promising star commitment, then skipped several of those too. His post-Masters year has included multiple PR missteps. But given the personal and professional turbulence he's navigated recently, this strategic absence warrants understanding and grace rather than condemnation.

Wow, Joel, that last 'graph feels quite mad and unsupported to this observer, and that grace you're after seems, unearned.  In that linked piece, Beall unsuccessfully attempts to link Rory's off-putting behavior to Scottie Scheffler's pre-Portrush comments about golf not defining his life:

But Scheffler's words resonate louder than ever because of Rory McIlroy's current plight.

The past three months were not what anyone envisioned for McIlroy. The Ulsterman had finally been liberated from the exhausting quest to prove he could reclaim his former greatness. The

career Grand Slam was complete, lifting a burden whose true weight only he could measure. Instead, McIlroy's post-Masters victory lap became a disorienting spiral—marked by media confrontations and behavior that seemed jarringly out of character. When he finally acknowledged his frustration with press coverage, insisting on his right to act as he pleased, it felt like watching someone burn down the very foundation of their public identity. For a player whose enormous popularity rests largely on the perception that he serves as golf's moral north star, it appeared to be not merely incompatible with who we think he is but almost willfully self-destructive.

Much has been dissected about McIlroy's recent months—waves of criticism, indignation, disappointment, and concern washing over a sport struggling to understand what is up with Rory. This is emphatically not the player, the person, that golf has proudly positioned as its standard-bearer. Yet perhaps insufficient attention has been paid to the direct line connecting his green jacket triumph to the chaos that followed. As McIlroy himself has acknowledged, this pursuit had consumed him for so long that he never contemplated what would happen after. What was meant to be his ultimate destination instead stripped away his navigational compass. For all the grace McIlroy has extended to the game throughout his career, the golf world may have failed to offer him the same patience as he grappled with fundamental questions: What comes next, what truly matters, and why any of it should matter at all?

If I understand Joel correctly, Rory deserves grace and is allowed to be a hypocritical asshat because, well here it gets a little hard to follow, he wasn't ready to succeed?  Boy, that bar is so low as to be subterranean....

To me it's pretty simple.  Rory used his status in the game to push for these elevated events, sorry, money grabs, because we the fans needed to know when he was playing.  Yet he feels entitled to skip four of these events in 2025, confirming that he was playing us all along.  

Yet, you likely don't me to understand that Joel's arguments for "grace" means he wants to avoid a troubling question, to wit, did we misjudge Rory all along?  I see a man who can't be bothered to show up or do the things necessary to promote an event (speaking to the media being the most obvious), so I take him to be just another in an endless series of touring professionals who are entirely self-absorbed....  He does what he wants to do, not what needs doing by his own definition.  Noted.

TC Silliness - Looking mostly for low-impact blogging at this juncture, and you'll be amused that this is how the lead this week's Tour Confidential panel:

With the FedEx Cup Playoffs finally here, it means there are only three events left to

influence the race for Player of the Year between the two obvious front-runners: Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. McIlroy has won three times, which includes the Players and Masters, the latter completing the career Grand Slam. Scheffler has won four times, highlighted by his PGA and Open Championship major titles. Who should win?

Josh Schrock: Who should win is Scottie. Even Rory admitted at the Open that he won three times while Scheffler wasn’t at full flight due to a hand injury. But winning the Players and the Masters, especially in the fashion he did to win the career Grand Slam, might make the voters give it to Rory.

Josh Sens: The career Grand Slam was an epic achievement for McIlroy, emphasis on career. We are choosing the better season. Scheffler has not only won more often this year. He’s won more majors. Case closed.

James Colgan: Golly, I’d love if we chose POTY by accolades alone, but this is a toughie because of the way the Tour structures its ballots and the two different stretches of dominant play we saw this season. Scottie is clearly the best player in the world, with clearly the best resume, but I wouldn’t be shocked if Rory won it in a “Lifetime Achievement” fashion.

Given the discussion above, Rory winning POY would tell us all we need to know about this clown show....which also reminds us why actual PGA Tour golf has become so unwatchable.

And would you ever believe they could milk this subject further?

Is there anything that could happen in the playoffs that would flip your decision?

Schrock: Zero. The meaningful golf was wrapped. Apologies to the sponsors and partners.

Sens: No. Unless we are voting on the guy who most increased his net worth.

Colgan: No, but if McIlroy wins the Tour Championship, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Tour’s players (aka, the POTY voters) disagreed.

The better question might be as to what might happen in the playoffs that we'd even care about, but I'm also a hard no.

Given that these guys are typically Tour sycophants (access, and all), those answers should be devastating to the Tour, putting the lie to their season coda.  But everyone is too invested in the current system, so we'll all continue to live the Big Lie.

That's it for today.  I'll be back as time and events permit.  Have a great weekend.

Weekend Wrap - Lightning Round Edition

OK, I'm not going to keep you long, but boy do I have a story for you...

At about 3:30-4:00 Thursday afternoon predicted thunderstorms arrived.  The bride and I were cleaning up after an event at the club, when a bolt of lightning struck with a volume that I'm guessing equates to the Nagasaki explosion, immediately taking down our power and everything else.  The direct strike was on the utility pole across the street, which we were later told was aflame.

Power was restored at about 10:00, though Internet and Tv took another couple of days, including a tech visit from Optimum.  But what became clear only Friday morning was that many of our electronic devices got fried, including two TVs (one quite pricey), my computer monitor and all four cable boxes.  My desktop PC might well have survived, it does show a light when I turn it on, but I haven't gotten to testing it yet because of the absence of a functioning monitor.

We have Internet and TV back, although the later only in a couple of rooms using old TVs.  I have my AV guy coming this afternoon, and much to do before he gets here.  So, while I'll wrap the weekend, I'll do so in a cursory manner.  Given that it's August, will anyone even notice?

Cam, Finally - It took a while and it wasn't exactly a Major (or even major in any sense), but still:

Cameron Young’s dominant Wyndham Championship win had everyone asking 1 question

What took so long?  First some blather that exactly no one will believe:

“I’ve been waiting for it for a while,” Young told CBS’ Amanda Balionis after the win. “I never thought I’d really be that emotional about it. But it’s the end of my fourth season. I’ve had my chances, never quite like this, and I wasn’t going to let it get away from me today.”

“It’s not like a burden that I hadn’t won, it’s just something that I hadn’t done and I’d like to,” Young said. “At times it hurts to have played some really good golf and not had that happen, but in all those cases, there were really no times that I had it in my hands and lost. So it’s different I think than having a burden. It wasn’t really like that. It was more just, you know, when is it going to be my time here, because it just felt like a lot of those tournaments weren’t.

“Not a burden in the traditional sense. Today was a different situation than I’ve ever been in. You know, it was our goal today to come out and see how many I could win by if I stuck to our plan.”

Too big a lead against too weak a field, but shall we get back to that burning question?

Young’s plan delivered a rout in Greensboro that was an example of how the man from Scarborough, New York, can overpower a course when he’s firing on all cylinders. The combination of Young’s dominant display, his skillset and his history in the state of New York had everyone turning their attention from a Wyndham Championship win to another event looming in the distance.

What about the Ryder Cup?

With the win in Greensboro, Young, who won the New York State Open at Bethpage Black in 2017, joins a crowded list of fringe candidates for Team USA, including the likes of Jordan Spieth, Sam Burns and captain Keegan Bradley.

And were those guys even in the field?  I'm too lazy to bother checking, but this win doesn't change my own opinion of Cam, which is of a talented player, but one very mistake-prone and not exactly the best putter out there.  I haven't looked at updated standings, but he remains to this observer, at best, in the mix.

Shall we see what the Tour Confidential panel thinks?  Again, that was rhetorical....

Cameron Young cruised at the Wyndham Championship, winning by six to claim the first PGA Tour victory of his career. Before Sunday, Young’s seven career runner-up finishes were the most by any winless player on Tour since 1983. In 2023, Young was ninth in the Ryder Cup standings yet still wasn’t picked. Was this win enough to secure a spot for 2025?

Schrock: The win was good enough to actually get him in the conversation. He has the length and now has a consistent enough putter to be a weapon at Bethpage, a course where he won the New York State Open. But winning the Wyndham isn’t going to be what puts him on the team. If he makes it, it just means Keegan Bradley was already leaning that way due to his skillset and the New York connection. The way I see it, there are three spots for: Young, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Mav McNealy, Ben Griffin, Brian Harman, and Bradley. I can see the argument for taking Young, but winning in Greensboro shouldn’t be the determining factor.

Sens: Statistically, you could probably argue this either way. This win moves him to 16th in the Ryder Cup standings. But if I were captain, I’d pick him, in part because he has putted so well all year and makes birdies in bunches, which is great for match play. He’s also a New Yorker (who won the state open at Bethpage Black). Give the home crowd even more reason to get riled up.

Colgan: It shouldn’t be. Young has top-five in the world game when it’s all there, and it WAS all there at the Wyndham, but winning one of the weakest events on Tour by field strength shouldn’t be a Ryder Cup roster-changer.

I think these are reasonable takes, and I agree that Cam wasn't in said conversation before this win, so it at least might get him fitted for the swag.  The NY/State Open stuff seems profoundly silly, I suspect Keegs himself would fire up the crowd a whole bunch more than the kid from Westchester.

It might be worth circling back to Schrock's assessment of that gaggle fighting over the last three spots.  Not saying I agree, but I'm pretty sure that Cam isn't in my top three of those names listed, especially when you consider there's no way Cantlay isn't being picked, and could we extend that to Burns, Bradley and Harman?  You see the issues...

I didn't watch a second of it, but am I wrong to think that no one else did as well?

There was a lot to track on Sunday at the Wyndham, with players moving into or barely missing the top 70 (and advancing to the playoffs). Which player’s triumph (or close call) stood out to you most?

Schrock: Davis Thompson three-putting the 18th hole to drop out of the top 70 and finish at 71 was brutal. Gary Woodland also slipped from projected 70th entering the day to 72 with a tough final round. Two gut punches late in the day at Sedgefield.

Sens: Schrock took the words out of my keyboard with the Thompson three-putt. Painful.

Colgan: Mark Hubbard will get the headlines, but I’m impressed by Ben Griffin, who did not NEED to be in the field, but who wound up moving one slot higher in the FedEx Cup standings with a T11. I’ll be interested to see how that helps him over the coming weeks.

Excuse me, but didn't Griffin need to be there for the same reason as Cam?  I just don't think anything that happens to David Thompson (or even Gary Woodland, at this point) is actually exciting, so they can hype it all they want, but I suspect Nielsen will struggle to discern a viewership.

Porthcawling - The more significant event was the ladies playing the final golf major of the year, at a wonderful linksy venue.  Despite your fatigue, this was only the ladies' fifth major of the year, though it can sometimes seem that they occur on a weekly basis.  Geoff has some thoughts:

You’d never know it by her determined gait, repeating swing, and unflappable demeanor: Miyu Yamashita worked overtime to win the second 2025 major by a Japanese woman.

Sunday at the sensational Royal Porthcawl saw more wind than the AIG Women’s Open field had

seen all week, but nothing close to what forecasters said had the potential to derail Yamashita’s prospects. She had fought all parts of her game during Saturday’s 74 and faced several challenges to the lead. But a final-day 70 turned out to be good enough for a two-stroke win over Charley Hull and countrywoman Minami Katsuto.

“To win such a historic tournament in front of all these amazing fans is such an incredible feeling,” Yamashita said. “To have my family around me to have so much support from everyone here is just amazing. To be part of such a moment in history is something very, very special.”

After only missing five fairways in the first two rounds, Yamashita started spraying the ball during Saturday’s third round. Then her normally trusty putter disappeared to produce a whopping 34 putts. But late evening range session with her father and coach—on her 24th birthday!—did the trick. In Sunday’s tougher conditions, Yamashita hit nine fairways, 14 greens and totaled 30 putts to post the 11-under-par, 277 winning total.

This was her first major win in just 14 previous tries, with her best previous work being a T2 and T6 in the KPMG Women’s PGA.

Yamashita looked unflustered even when she briefly lost solo possession of the lead after playing partner A Lim Kim birdied the second and tied the final pairing at nine-under.

Yamashita responded with three birdies in her next seven holes.

Given our AV issues, I only got to see a couple of hours of the final round, in which Royal Porthcawl looked far more linksy than Crail had firsthand.

To some extent this just highlights the struggle of the ladies game, a great event but a leaderboard with mostly unfamiliar names.  Charlie Hull inserted herself on Sunday, so at least we've heard of her, not that she's actually won anything important.

It's the last major of the season and that TC panel finally gets around to this event, but....  We know their core business is Tiger sycophancy, so maybe we should be happy this wasn't a Tiger-centric question:

Japan’s Miyu Yamashita outlasted Charley Hull and Minami Katsu to win the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl, claiming the first major title of her career. Further down the leaderboard, tied for 36th, was Nelly Korda, who one year ago won seven times in 16 starts. Now, with the LPGA major season complete, she is winless in 13 starts. What gives? And which season was more likely the outlier, last year or this year?

Schrock: I think the answer probably lies in the middle. Both are outliers. Korda is a phenomenal player who got blistering hot last year and ripped off seven wins. She has played good golf this year, but just a tick below her normal level, and has nothing to show for it. It’s a disappointing year for Nelly but it’s more disappointing for women’s golf that needs her, or someone, to carry the LPGA to new heights. Nelly’s year reminded me a lot of the stretch Rory had from the time golf picked up during the pandemic through the middle of 2021 when he finally won at Wells Fargo. The golf has been solid to good but not up to her standards and it appears worse given how good she can be at full flight.

Sens: There’s definitely a sense of some existential struggle. Not long ago, she took time off, citing burnout. As everybody knows, the mental and the physical are so hard to disentangle. Scottie Scheffler made that clear in his now-famous pre-Open Championship press conference, which veered as close to philosophical as a press conference gets. I would guess that Korda would benefit from adopting a Scheffler mindset. Who wouldn’t?

Colgan: I am haunted by a piece of Korda analysis from last April delivered by none other than Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley. I’m paraphrasing, but the thrust was: she’s a great player, but she’s not a transformative star for women’s golf. I don’t think there is some greater disappointment afoot here for Korda, I merely think she’s a great player who might not be a transformative star. The women’s game could badly use one of those.

The ladies should be allowed to celebrate their final major and one might expect a major golf publication to have thoughts on it, but they can only see women's golf in the form of just the one lady.  Kind of demeaning to the girls, no?

Udder Stuff -  I'm just going to riff on the TC panel's lede item, only because of the obvious lameness:

With the FedEx Cup Playoffs finally here, it means there are only three events left to influence the race for Player of the Year between the two obvious front-runners: Rory

McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. McIlroy has won three times, which includes the Players and Masters, the latter completing the career Grand Slam. Scheffler has won four times, highlighted by his PGA and Open Championship major titles. Who should win?

Josh Schrock: Who should win is Scottie. Even Rory admitted at the Open that he won three times while Scheffler wasn’t at full flight due to a hand injury. But winning the Players and the Masters, especially in the fashion he did to win the career Grand Slam, might make the voters give it to Rory.

Josh Sens: The career Grand Slam was an epic achievement for McIlroy, emphasis on career. We are choosing the better season. Scheffler has not only won more often this year. He’s won more majors. Case closed.

James Colgan: Golly, I’d love if we chose POTY by accolades alone, but this is a toughie because of the way the Tour structures its ballots and the two different stretches of dominant play we saw this season. Scottie is clearly the best player in the world, with clearly the best resume, but I wouldn’t be shocked if Rory won it in a “Lifetime Achievement” fashion.

Isn't this question three weeks early?  They seem to imply that nothing that happens in the Playoffs will affect their answers....  Kind of a diss to the Tour, no?

The other point to make is that Rory won his events before Scottie found his form, whereas Scottie won his after Rory had lost his mind.  I certainly know who the better player is...

Then, with this, they admit that they're just wasting our time:

Is there anything that could happen in the playoffs that would flip your decision?

Schrock: Zero. The meaningful golf was wrapped. Apologies to the sponsors and partners.

Sens: No. Unless we are voting on the guy who most increased his net worth.

Colgan: No, but if McIlroy wins the Tour Championship, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Tour’s players (aka, the POTY voters) disagreed.

This is shockingly (and I have to believe, unintentionally) honest, as they are admitting out loud that the playoffs aren't meaningful golf.  I mean, of course they're right, I just expect things like that to be said in plain English.

I like the apology to the sponsors, though they probably know how effed they are.....

I'm going to leave you here and dive into my home issues.  I'll probably see you later in the week, but need to focus on other issues right now.  Have a great week. 

Tuesday Tastings - Ryder Cup Update

People's reactions can be funny.  I was on the phone with fellow golf nut, whose view of the forthcoming Ryder Cup is that the Euro team is top-to-bottom nails, and that the home squad is at risk of being mauled.

Which to me is more than a little odd, as I would say that this header captures to changing tone in the golfing press:

Ryder Cup stock report: Are the Americans trending after the Open?

Trending, schmending, all I know is that the Americans are the home team, and my bigger concern is that we may wait a long time to see our next road victory.

Here's that case for the home team:

Oh, how the tables turn.

In mid-April, when Rory McIlroy won the Masters, the U.S. Ryder Cup nightmare appeared to be in full swing. Through the first stanza of the major calendar, the Euros had grabbed the season by the horns, with McIlroy’s three wins fullbacking victories by Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland — and arriving in the foreground of Jon Rahm’s continued strong LIV play. The Americans, meanwhile, were struggling just to tee it up. Scottie Scheffler was grinding his way back from surprise hand surgery in January, providing his first glimpse at life as a mere golfing mortal. Xander Schauffele was grinding his way back from an intercostal muscle strain that would linger for much of 2025. And Jordan Spieth was recovering from wrist surgery that appeared to have been preempted by a career low point.

Three months later, the concerns of the American internet cognoscenti appear to have quieted … for the moment. The U.S. roster is suddenly flush with form and health, and the Americans are riding victories in the final three majors of the year. Scheffler in specific has re-emerged as a force, entering the home stretch before the Ryder Cup fresh off completing the third leg of the grand slam in a blowout at Royal Portrush.

 

Yes, BUT!  Scottie is only one of twelve and, in case you've been in a coma, the history to top-ranked players in this event is, well, where is Tiger when we need him?

So, whose right?  Let's begin with the current U.S. standings (after the 3M):

1. Scheffler

2. Schauffele 

3. Spaun 

4. Henley 

5. DeChambeau 

6. English 

7. Thomas 

8. Morikawa 

9. Griffin 

10. Bradley 

11. McNealy 

12. Harman 

13. Novak 

14. Cantlay 

15. Burns

Are you blown away?  The first question that I always ask myself in such circumstances is, who is missing from this list?   Let me offer up some suggestions there:

Wyndham Clark (16)

Lucas Glover (17)

Daniel Berger (18)

Cameron Young (19)

Chris Gotterup (20)

Jordan Spieth (27)

This feature from Pravda (OK, actually The Athletic, since our favorite left-wing Commie rag doesn't do sports) reads their tea leaves and comes up with this prospective roster:

We know Bryson will be there, and we can be pretty clear that he'll be the only LIVster on the U.S. team.  It may well depend on how Jt and other play, but I've suspected that Bryson will fall out of the automatic pick, not that that changes much.

First, folks won't be over the moon about some of those dark greens, so let's see what they have to say about them:

J.J. Spaun: This is not purely somebody on a team because he won the U.S. Open. He’s been runner-up at the Players and the Cognizant this year. He’s No. 20 in the world on DataGolf, playing solid golf all year. Even if he might ultimately only be the 12th-best player on the U.S. team, you’re very happy to have him.

Russell Henley: I felt confident Henley would be on this team 10 months ago, as he thrived at the Presidents Cup and positioned himself as the perfect Scheffler pairing. Now, it’s so much more. Henley won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and has finished top 10 at four of his last six majors. He can be both a good four-ball partner, as the steady rock finding fairways while his partner gets aggressive, and he’s a great alternate shot teammate who is world-class with his irons and won’t ever put his partner in bad position off the tee. Plus, he’s a fantastic putter. It’s no longer just a nice story. He’s simply one of the best players in the world.

I agree that Henley is sneaky good, though I'm a little surprised that (but too lazy to fact check) that his iron play gets such raves.  I would guess we'll see him in fourballs on Friday and Saturday.

Same goes for this guy:

Harris English: When English won at Torrey Pines, he still wasn’t anywhere near this list. Nor was he after a T12 Augusta. Or even really when he finished runner-up at the PGA Championship. Credit where it’s due. English is fully back. Now at 35, three years removed from back surgery that stunted his career, the 2021 Ryder Cup winning player is simply killing it. Two major runner-ups and three top 20s. And the U.S. will take all the good putting it can get. Even if he gets surpassed for automatic qualifying, he’ll be on the team.

It's just that kind of team, once you get past the first two.  There's no arguing against the guys, they've clearly earned it, but they're not names that will strike fear into black European hearts.  That said, we sent a lot of those guys into Ryder Cups over the years, only to see them play like one of Jerry's kids...

But what do we think of those projected picks?  OK, I guess we should start with the captain.  No doubt he's a tenacious guy who has thrown himself heart and soul into the endeavor, but it needs to be noted that his own actual playing record doesn't support that perception.  To be fair (Ed:, why start now?), that was more than a decade ago, but still....

Since we're on Keegs, let's interject this from the Tour Confidential panel:

The Telegraph reported that U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley requested a rule change to this year’s “captain’s agreement” which would permit an appointed vice captain

to advise players if a playing-captain was in competition. European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has reportedly agreed to the change, which might be a stepping stone for Bradley potentially playing and captaining at Bethpage Black. Although with all of the logistics and planning that comes with being a captain, is it possible a playing-captain could backfire on the U.S. and go in Europe’s favor?

Alan Bastable: Hard to fathom a scenario in which Bradley does not play. There are not 12 better Americans in the game right now — let alone 12 better Americans who bring the fire and intensity that Bradley does to the course — so the U.S. captain has little choice but to put himself on his own team. That doesn’t mean he needs to play four or five matches; it could mean playing just a couple. He should send himself out in the first match on Friday and get the place rocking. Could it backfire? It could. But I think there’s way more potential upside in him playing than there is exclusively focusing his efforts on speeches and uniform selections.

Sean Zak: It could absolutely backfire. Team Europe definitely wants Bradley pulling double duty. They want streams to get crossed and information to have to come from multiple sources instead of one. All that said, it has to happen at this point. Bradley has invested too much to pull back on his captain’s duties. And he’s too good to pull back on his playing ability. So Team USA pushes forward. I would like to think they have enough cooks in the kitchen to devise a solid strategy for this unique situation.

Josh Berhow: It’s not an ideal situation for the U.S. team but Bradley is one of the 12 best Americans and has to play. Plus, you know he wants to. He’s the exact type of player you want making birdies and hyping up the crowd and bringing the energy at a Ryder Cup. Pulling double duty is not a great situation but I also think it’s a little overblown. Yes, the other stuff matters, but let’s not complicate it — it mostly comes down to playing better golf than the other squad. I talked to Gary Woodland, a vice captain, at the 3M Open a few days ago and he said he’s extremely impressed with how Keegan is managing Ryder Cup duties and playing this well right now. It’s going to get busier for Bradley of course but… maybe he can handle it? Although I am curious if it was ever seriously discussed to completely offload duties to another vice captain and have Keegan just play and take a rain check on his captaincy.

A rain check?  That's the scenario where someone swoops in at the last moment and garbs the glory.... Gee, can't imagine who they contemplate doing that?

The over-under for my rooting interest is Saturday morning, to wit, the time at which the U.S. will have been such asshats that I'll start rooting for the visitors.  Letting Tiger swoop in, after being too busy to help out, would move that dramatic switch in affection to, checking notes, NOW!

Interestingly, Google (and it's AI enhancements) don't seem to know which format will be played in the morning on Friday and Saturday.  I picture Keegan as a perfect foursomes player, the old adage being that you want your best putters in fourballs and your best ball-strikers in the more difficult alternate shot.  If Bradley is going to play, the only real issue I see is in selecting the next session's line-ups, which is largely planned and not affected by the ongoing play.

Ironically, Bradley himself was involved in the most famous incident of a captain changing his plans at the behest of a player, and that didn't work out so well.

Back to those picks, and this on the most notorious of all potential participants:

Patrick Cantlay: Stock DOWN

It was a down year at the majors for Cantlay, who missed three cuts and generally struggled to get it into gear when the lights were brightest. He enters Ryder Cup season ranked 23rd in the world, 19 spots lower than when he arrived at Rome in 2023 as an American match-play killer.

He’s still likely to make the roster (his aforementioned match play record is unimpeachable, and he’s played sneaky-well on the PGA Tour this year), but Cantlay didn’t do much to help himself during the big ones. He’s opened up a window of uncertainty.

Really?  But he's such a team builder.....  Not like he holds himself above all his fellow players....

I'd love for this to be real, it offers the chance that I could actually root for the Yanks, but who are we kidding?  There is a zero probability of this beautiful penis staying home:

Patrick Cantlay: What are we doing here? Suddenly, there’s a strong conversation that Cantlay shouldn’t be a lock. People, he’s a lock. After decades of hearing Americans bemoan the Europeans having all these form-agnostic killers like Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood who win no matter what, now the U.S. has the best cup player of the 2020s and is nitpicking him? My goodness.

Also, he’s not even having a bad year! A poor major run, absolutely. But if we’re going off overall statistical golf, he’s been the ninth-best American. He’s played in 10 signature events this year and been top 20 in eight of them! If anything, last year was the real down year for Cantlay, and he still was the absolute star of the Presidents Cup. Stop this madness.

He may not be having as bad a year as I'd wish upon him, but he was pretty dreadful in the bigge4st event, so I'll just use that to cheer myself up.  But what do we think about this guy?

Collin Morikawa: Stock DOWN

It’s been a weird year for Morikawa, whose public relations battles outside the ropes have been overshadowed by his struggles inside of them, including multiple caddie changes and the extension of a lengthy winless streak.

The good news is that his golf still tops out as clearly one of the 10 best players alive, the bad news is that his consistency hasn’t. He’s the player on the U.S. side with the most to gain from a strong showing at Bethpage, assuming he’s picked for the team (and we’re assuming he will be, even after a seven-over finish at the Open).

He certainly doesn't look like a happy warrior at this point, though a pairing of Collin "I don't Owe Anybody Anything" Morikawa with Patrick "I'll Wear a Hat when I Get Paid For It" Cantlay seems a natural, no?  The over-under for guys in the American team room that your humble blogger hates is, maybe, 4.5.

Collin Morikawa: You are more than welcome to worry about his play the last three months. It’s been a steep dropoff. But Morikawa is still one of the five best iron players on Earth and a guy with four Ryder Cup match wins and a 4-1 record last year at the Presidents Cup. Don’t be silly.

 Gee, didn't realize I needed permission to worry about a guy that looks miserable out there....

The other positive to note about Collin is that, if he's playing like he should, he projects as a top-notch foursomes player, and we always need those.  It's just that it seems right now to be a big if...

But let me be completely candid with you.  While I can make a strong case against those two miscreants, that case is laughably suspect.  Because one can't talk about leaving a guy off in isolation, it's always a binary choice between two guys.

Say you're inclined to leave Morikawa at home.  You look at the points list and the next guy up is Wyndham Clark, and suddenly one has to worry about the lockers at Bethpage.....  

Subject to play through the BMW, I expect that Ben Griffin will be on the outside looking in, and I'm a little surprised that Brian Harman, currently in that 12th spot, isn't shown more love.  He's not the strongest player out there, but he can putt and is a bulldog, literally.

But let me share the biggest issue involved.  The FedEx Cup will finish on Sunday, August 24th at East Lake.  The first day of the Ryder Cup is Friday, September 26th.  Anyone remember the road to Rome?  Their guys played at Wentworth, our guys didn't play anywhere.....  Will any of the Americans play competitive golf in that month?  Because, yanno....

Before moving on to the other guys, let's go back to the TC gang:

Speaking of the Ryder Cup, time is running out for auto-qualifying and bubble players to make their case for captain’s picks. Which big-name player has the most to prove to Bradley to earn a spot?

Berhow: Jordan Spieth is ranked 26th but I still think has a good shot of making this team. As for Wyndham Clark, at 16th, it might be tougher. He’s had a very average year and made more headlines for some unfortunate moments, although we’ll see if this late surge is going to be enough. He tied for 11th at the Scottish Open, tied for 4th at the Open Championship and just had another good finish at the 3M Open Sunday, tying for 12th. Is it enough? We’ll see. If Russell Henley and Harris English lock up auto-qualifying spots it will make the captain’s picks even more interesting. Although a lesser-known name I’m really curious about? Chris Gotterup.

Bastable: Yeah, Gotterup (who is now 22nd on points list) is an interesting one. It takes so much for a relative “outsider” to crack the squad, but, man, he has looked good of late. Feels like he has the mettle to withstand Ryder Cup pressure. Also I don’t see Capt. Keegs falling into the trap of picking guys just because they’ve been there in the past. To me, among the bigger names, Patrick Cantlay is the biggest question mark. He hasn’t had a bad season, but it hasn’t been particularly memorable, either — and his MC at the Open Championship had to give Bradley pause.

Zak: Jordan Spieth has a LOT to prove. People forget that Spieth (along with Justin Thomas) was a part of the Ryder Cup committee put together to lead Team USA into the future. It was a small committee! Mainly because it was believed that Thomas and Spieth would be on teams for years and years and years. Well, JT snuck his way onto the 2023 team and it would take some serious sneaking for Spieth to do that this time. A really good playoffs is what he would need, but do we really see that happening?

He's in the twenties for a good reason, he hasn't played well enough top justify a pick.  I think at this point it might take a "w", though multiple high finishes might get it done.  He'll win a tie with the other options, he's just nowhere near that result at present.

I'm as intrigued about Gotterup as anyone, but feels like a future option more than a current one.  But to a large extent, the cake is baked.

Care to look at the Euros in brief?

1. McIlroy 

2. MacIntyre 

3. Fleetwood

4. Hatton 

5. Lowry 

6. Straka

7. R. Hojgaard 

8. Rose 

9. Aberg 

10. Hovland 

11. Wallace 

12. Detry 

13. Fitzpatrick 

14. J. Smith 

15. Rai

Not the world-beaters the fiend above sees, though surely some formidable talent up top.  There's at least one mega-name missing, so this projected roster seems entirely plausible:

Lots of chatter about Sergio, but I don't see room for that guy.  

I don't see to many spots for argument here, as any off the current automatic qualifiers that might drop out are blindingly obvious captain's picks.  They're not leaving Jon Rahm at home for Sergio, or quite frankly for anyone else.

The guys just beyond 12th place are a sorry lot, no disrespect to Detry or Wallace, they just don't move the needle, and the odd-man-out Hojgaard  just didn't play well enough.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the list from The Athletic will, in fact, be the Euros twelve man roster.

So, looking at those two rosters, who wins?  I think it's easy, the home team wins, because there hasn't been a close on since 2012.  I don't see it this year, though I'll be rooting for it.

It's a busy week, so not sure when I'll next see you.  But at least I gave you something to mull over in my absence.

Weekend Wrap - Haste Ye Back Edition

We are home from Scotland, facing the inevitable fact that our summer of golf has already peaked....  The good news is that it'll be so hot for the next few days that I wouldn't play without a gun to my head.  At least until Wednesday....

Hit The Deck Running - Hard to see her making a living out there, no?

Phenom Lottie Woad wins first LPGA event in her pro debut at Women's Scottish Open

It all depends upon your definition of "debut"....

Majestic. Sublime. Extraordinary. Flawless. The television announcers were running out of adjectives for the phenom Lottie Woad.

KPMG Performance Insights gave Woad a 40 percent chance of winning heading into the final round of the ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open. Heady stuff for a 21-year-old making her professional debut.

Woad's magical July run continued at Dundonald Links, where the newly-minted pro became only the fourth player in LPGA history to win in her first start as an LPGA member, joining former world No. 1 Jin Young Ko (2018) and Beverly Hanson (1951).

A Sunday 4-under 68 put Woad at 21 under for the tournament, capping off a maiden LPGA victory in her native U.K., with a three-stroke win over Hyo Joo Kim. Woad becomes the 20th different LPGA winner in a season in which no player has won twice. She heads next to the AIG Women's British Open in Wales, where she finished tied for 10th last year at St. Andrews.

A bit of as head-scratcher, no?  We're using terms like "debut" and "maiden". but what is this "July run" then?  Well, there's a technicality involved:

Woad, of course, recently became the first player to graduate from the tour's new LEAP program, earning her card for the rest of 2025 and 2026. Immediately after winning the Irish Open on the LET, she missed out on a playoff at the Amundi Evian Championship by one shot. Woad turned pro last week, forgoing her final season at Florida State. She also accepted membership on the LET, which makes her eligible for the 2026 Solheim Cup.

In her last three professional starts, Woad is 55 under par with a 67.4 scoring average. She notched only three bogeys for the week in Scotland.

So, shew damn near won a major, she just didn't take the check that week.... So it's a funny kind of debut, given her success against that best women professionals in two successive high profile events.

The Tour Confidential panel took note

Former top-ranked amateur (and newly turned professional) Lottie Woad won the Women’s Scottish Open to become the third LPGA Tour member to win in their LPGA Tour debut. What impressed you most about the 21-year-old’s victory? And how much could the LPGA benefit from another up-and-coming young player challenging the stars?

Bastable: Whatever happened to easing into your pro career? Like so many other elite young players these days, Woad arrived in the game’s highest ranks ready to win — and then did just that. So, yeah, I’d say I’m most impressed by how undaunted she looks. Even when Hyo Joo Kim applied some pressure, catching Woad in the middle of the final round, Woad showed no signs of cracking. Instead, she birdied 13 and 14 and never looked back. How about this stat: In Woad’s last three pro starts, her scoring average is 67.4. If she’s not the favorite at the Women’s Open next week, she’ll be right up there.

Zak: The LPGA could always benefit from an up-and-comer. Particularly one as certain-for-stardom as Lottie. She’s got a fun name, she just beat Nelly, she’ll be comfy on the links next week for the AIG Women’s Open. Could she somehow pull off the links double?

Berhow: She didn’t make a bogey on Saturday and made just one on Sunday. That’s the weekend recipe for winning big tournaments. But if you rewatch her press conferences from the week, none of this looked too big for her. She was ready for the moment, knew her game was good and trusted it. She’s going to be a problem for the U.S. Solheim Cup squad, that’s for sure.

The LPGA, better known as the tour that can't shoot straight, needs identifiable players for their fan base to watch develop.  The last women to win her LPGA debut was Rose Zhang, and could there be a better proxy for what can go wrong for the ladies?  And dare I mention Leona Maguire?

But the ladies are headed to Royal Porthcawl, where the bride and I had quite a memorable day a few years back.  So, I may have to dig out that old post, which included quite the lesson about the origins of the Stableford.

This week's TC includes no attention to events in Minneapolis, which I'll take as permission to ignore it as well.  

Portrush Outtakes - We shan't dwell too long, but Geoff did post his usual point-missers post, leading with this still curious move by the R&A:

Eliminating The Rakers. Little traditions mean more to The Open than any other championship.

Or, it’s at least a first-place tie with The Masters. The yellow scoreboards. Teeing off from the first tee (only). Where the announcer sounds like he’s been goosed midway through a player’s name. And until this year, the practice of a certified BIGGA greenkeeper following along with each group to rake bunkers ended after a decades-long run. The practice helped keep play moving just a bit faster because Open courses—I can’t believe I’m having to explain this—feature pot bunkers in fairways where the golfer usually blasts out only a short distance. The player is then quick to their ball. The rakers used to come in while the caddie moved on with their player. Not this year. The tradition was also a nice nod to the hardest-working and earliest risers in golf. None of the excuses for jettisoning this tradition passed the smell test. The mob scene inside the ropes remained just that. Play did not get faster. Caddies did not get paid better because they were back to raking. The whole thing is silly.

Tough week for loopers in general, then combine this added work with the failure to increase purses....

Geoff did two posts on this off subject that I blogged only in passing, but it remains hard to understand:

Boundary Lines. You didn’t think they’d get better, did you? By the tournament days, the painted lines had faded due to foot traffic on the 18th, only highlighting the graffiti-like silliness of it all.

Since the club seems to be in love with something so beneath a place of its stature, here’s another angle to consider: Portrush’s first and 18th holes are as good as any opener and closer on the rota. Starts and finishes are often the least interesting design pieces on links. Not here. The first and last holes need no assistance from white stakes and paint. It’s like they’re wearing band-aids on non-existent wounds. Meanwhile, we get the safety issues out by the cliffs behind the fifth green. But the club also has one of the best short par-4s in golf it is junked up by the sheer volume of stakes vandalizing up the skyline green effect.

Which coincided with our return to the Crail Golfing Society, which is similarly over-invested in white stakes.  Things your humble blogger just doesn't understand....

Geoff, have you been to the Tom Morris Golf Shop along the 18th fairway at the Old Course?  Yanno, the hole that's named Tom Morris?  Because if you have, this can't come as a surprise:

Signage on Tees. They aren’t going away. We get it. But given the effort put into freshening up grandstands and other Open branding to give off a more sophisticated aura, the garrish onslaught

of commercialization gives the impression that two different organizations are responsible for signage. The worst part? On several tees, these billboards eliminate key spectating opportunities to watch players in The Open where many tees are placed atop dunes and fans are below the players. At some point, something’s gotta give: either prioritize corporate partnerships or ticket sales. Trying to do both is failing the people who paid to see golf shots.

We all get attached to our own issues, but needlessly squandering their tie to Old Tom and his actual workshop seems the more significant crime against humanity, at least to this observer.

Geoff takes some parting shots at something I didn't experience, having consumed the Sky Sports coverage:

NBC. Americans watching the telecast came away with the sense that Portrush was a lifeless affair. That certainly wasn’t the feeling on the ground and the reaction can be attributed to the network relying solely on the world feed without supplementing its shows with extra microphones, cameras, and course graphics that elevate a modern broadcast. It’s a particularly sad situations since NBC won The Open rights (starting in 2016) by selling the R&A on its then gold standard combination of coverage, marketing reach and love of the game. Then the network got off to a wonderful start in 2016 and dreams of NBC’s “Breakfast At Wimbledon” success seemed within reach. Then Arnold Palmer died and the Comcast slashing began, first to Golf Channel and now the network. With NBC having the Olympics, Super Bowl and year one of its overpriced NBA package net year, do not expect things to get better. Trusted voices like Mike Tirico and Terry Gannon will be key cogs in the NBA coverage. The future is also uncertain for the linear cable channel spinoff effort called Versant, which the Open broadcasts tackily pointed each day was now stitched on Rory McIlroy’s golf bag as part of his long-running GolfNow ambassadorship. What “value add” for the viewers. The whole thing is a shame for the American fans of the Open and the R&A, who took less money believing NBC could be trusted to care.

Kevin Kisner. Lead analyst duties call for hot takes and there will be misfires. But his comments on the Wyndham Clark situation—suggesting anything not kept private in a locker room is a violation of the precious players’ privilege of doing what? Damage? Forgetting to tip? Passing gas that forces an evacuation? Or whatever it is Kisner thinks is kosher behind closed doors. He point-missed on the notion of a player’s responsibility to be a good guest at a great place. Sadly, he’s delivering just the kind of forgettable, d-bro friendly, player-apologist nonsense that makes for awful television and seems to be what player-run TOURs demand. The good news? Kisner’s a Ryder Cup Vice Captain and won’t be able to offer vapid takes during September’s matches. Since Kisner blamed the USGA for somehow being to blame for leaking a photo of the locker damage induced by Clark, maybe “Kiz” should stay in the locker room and out of the announce booth.

I found Kiz an odd choice for the NBC analyst chair.  The combination of his southern drawl and his tendency to force his humor into the events led me to believe that he wouldn't age well in the roles, and I also thought, don't you already have Smylie Kauffman filling that role?

Of course, this comes from a man who was just subjected once again to the wit and wisdom of Sir Mumbles, so you might expect a higher tolerance for pain.

Geoff does at least get one hysterical bit in before diving behind his paywall:

 

I assume Jordan Spieth is in active discussions to immediately switch from Titleist to TaylorMade....  Alas, it's probably too late for Stewart Cink.

A Quick Look Back - The TC panel sdpent a bit of time on the Ryder Cup, a subject deserving more attention than I'm currently prepared to invest.  I'll just copy-and-paste this and hold back the other bits for later this hot and steamy week:

Last week, we put a bow on the men’s major season, but there’s still plenty to unpack there. What was the most memorable moment of the major season?

Bastable: Kind of cliched, but I’ll remember this year for the emotional victory walk Rory took from Augusta National’s 18th green to scoring. That outpouring of joy — and relief — was something to behold. The moment from that scene most burned in my memory bank is when McIlroy fell into Shane Lowry’s arms and Lowry bear-hugged his old pal a foot off the ground. For honorable mention, shoutout to the five-way sudden-death playoff at the Chevron, won by Mao Saigio. What a wild way for a major to be decided — just wish it had extended longer than one hole!

Zak: Who cares if it’s a cliche if it’s the truth! I’ll pivot slightly off Alan’s answer and say simply the seconds after the putt dropped for McIlroy, when he dropped to his knees. I find it funny when athletes collapse to the floor of their sporting arena — think of all the tennis stars who crumble when their opponent hits a ball out on match point — but given how up and down the day had been, it felt like perhaps McIlroy was running purely on adrenaline and nothing else. There was no more energy to sustain him when it finally went in. Every part of his body seemed to touch the green in that moment, like a focused, crying, giddy yogi. Won’t ever forget it. Also won’t ever forget J.J. Spaun’s 64-footer.

Berhow: Scottie Scheffler wins two majors and you guys don’t even type his name once. Sad! But yeah, fair, I get it. McIlroy collapsing, weeping, celebrating and then walking to scoring was one of the most memorable moments of my 10 years at this job, right up there with Tiger winning the Masters in 2019 and Spieth’s Sunday surge at Royal Birkdale in 2017. There’s so much more that goes into McIlroy’s moment that helps make it special — it secured the career Grand Slam, gave him his first green jacket and changed a narrative. McIlroy’s more recent memorable major moments (Pinehurst 2024; St. Andrews 2023) were memorable for the wrong reasons. He didn’t let that happen again (although it was close).

Hard to argue with that in one sense, though I think it may look different in the rear view mirror.  The emotional release of Rory getting it done touched people greatly.  I can't tell you how many people insisted on calling it the greatest Masters ever, whereas I thought it some thing even more compelling, but not a great Masters (hope that makes some sort of sense).

My problem is that, while the world is conferring immortality on Rory, I can't credit him too greatly with those early majors.  Does anyone remember how soft Congressional was?  Or even Kiawah?  It's about as unimpressive a list of venues as can be found, and Scottie's 2025 was quite the progress towards his own career slam, one that I expect will dwarf Rory's achievement.

There we have it for today.  We'll get to Ryder Cup stuff down the road, though I'll be evasive as to my intended blogging schedule.  Have a great week, but stay cool.