Max Homa’s Presidents Cup fist-pump is a reminder: this week rocks.
Getty Photographs
Welcome again to the Monday End or, as they are saying in Canada, “Welcome again to the Monday End.” To the information…
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GOLF STUFF I LIKE
Dominance following dominance.
When, earlier this summer season, Lydia Ko gained Olympic Gold — including to her silver-bronze stash — she stored referencing the week as “too good to be true.” When she gained the AIG Girls’s Open simply two begins later she referenced that feeling once more: it was a “fairy story.” After which got here Sunday in Cincinnati, her subsequent begin since St. Andrews, when she fired a final-round 9-under 63 to win the Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship by 5. Yowza. The surreal summer season rolls on.
For a lot of the 2024 golf season, Nelly Korda‘s profitable streak (and, on the boys’s aspect, Scottie Scheffler’s) was the clear story. We hadn’t seen dominance like that in years and years. Ko’s final 4 begins (finishes: 1-9-1-1) could not equal Korda’s win complete, however at this level Ko’s 12 months is rather more than an necessary footnote; she rallied from a subpar stretch of golf, turned her season unforgettable and revitalized her profession. They share 2024 glory.
Most individuals didn’t see this coming. Ko positive didn’t. Whereas her 2022 was terrific — she earned three wins and completed the 12 months at World No. 1 in what she known as a “Cinderella story” return to the highest — her 2023 season was a actuality examine. It was irritating and disappointing. If we rewind a 12 months to its conclusion, Ko poured out her soul in an interview with Kay Cockerill.
“Loads of issues have gone by my thoughts. That is my tenth 12 months on Tour and also you begin considering like, Oh, possibly is it that point? You simply don’t know. I believe quite a lot of ideas do undergo,” she mentioned on the time. She added that after one notably brutal 82 she was speaking to Stacy Lewis’ dad and mom and burst into tears. Nonetheless, she ended the emotional interview on an up-note: “I believe on the finish of the day it’s a present and I’m grateful to have the ability to do that.” That was 2023 in overview.
So how you can sum up 2024? In brief, nothing about this run was assured, which implies additional cause to be grateful that her kind has returned. Ko is No. 3 on the planet and trending red-hot. And as a substitute of desirous about the tip of her profession she’s desirous about what’s left on her bucket record.
“I believe it’s at all times been the aim of mine to do the profession grand slam,” she mentioned. “I believed that may be so on the market. I really feel like I’ve already been a part of this fairytale, so why not?”
WINNERS
Who gained the week?
Billy Horschel gained the BMW Championship in dramatic style, ending birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle. Horschel fought his method right into a three-way playoff after which felled Rory McIlroy with a giant fowl on the second additional gap to win the big-time DP World occasion for a second time.
Lydia Ko gained for the third time this season and the twenty second time in her profession, including to a terrific second profession act.
Ripper GC, led by captain Cameron Smith, gained LIV’s workforce championship at Maridoe Golf Membership in Dallas, capturing 11 beneath par to beat the Iron Heads and 4 Aces (8 beneath every) and Legion XIII (6 beneath).
Paul Broadhurst gained the PURE Insurance coverage Championship at Pebble Seashore; the win was the second of the 59-year-old Englishman’s PGA Tour Champions season.
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NOT-WINNERS
Not this once more…
Rory McIlroy retains ending second on Sundays. In soccer ending second on Sunday means you didn’t beat your opponent. In golf it means you beat each opponent however one. However not all seconds are created equal. McIlroy’s high-profile runner-up end on the U.S. Open? You possibly can name {that a} choke, or a minimum of a self-inflicted loss, because of missed quick putts down the stretch. However final week’s Irish Open and this week’s BMW are more durable to categorize.
Suppose again to the Irish Open. There was good things down the stretch: birdie at 16, a large drive and towering 7-iron into the par-5 18th. There was crippling stuff too, although: bogey at 15, three-putt bogey at 17, heartbreaking miss at 18.
There was extra good than dangerous at Wentworth. Birdies at 12 and 14. Eagle at 17. Birdies on the 2 playoff holes. All unimaginable stuff. But when there’s one shot that McIlroy will rue it’s his method into 18 in regulation: he had a transparent have a look at the inexperienced however missed his goal to date left that it really stored him on dry land as a substitute of the hazard.
So, yeah. Principally good. Since back-to-back wins in Might, McIlroy has performed 12 occasions. He has 10 top-12 finishes, six top-fives, three runner-ups. Simply not fairly adequate.
“It’s golf and I’m taking part in nicely,” McIlroy mentioned. “These items occur. It’s simply the sport is testing me a bit of greater than it has has achieved up to now however that’s simply superb. All I can do is maintain displaying up and making an attempt to play the golf that I’ve been taking part in and shortly or later it’s going to finish up in a win.”
It was a outstanding sufficient end that even Billy Horschel — the man who gained! — clearly felt considerably conflicted about his personal triumph.
“I believe the world of him,” Horschel mentioned. “I believe he’s one of the best participant in our era. He’s achieved a lot for the sport. You see the help he has right here; you see the help he has all over the world. He has essentially the most crowds and supporters exterior of Tiger Woods. He’s nice I believe for the sport of golf. He does so many nice issues.
“Pay attention, I’m a fan of golf at coronary heart. I do play professionally on the PGA and DP World Tour however I’m a golf fan and I need to see nice golf and I need to see the highest gamers play nicely and win, and I do know he’s been shut rather a lot this 12 months. He has not been capable of get it achieved and you may really feel for somebody like that.”
SHORT HITTERS
5 shocking Presidents Cup data.
The undefeated: Max Homa has one of the best report in Presidents Cup historical past. Critically. Homa is 4-0-0; no person else within the occasion’s historical past has gained each match they’ve performed. Kirk Triplett is closest, with three wins and a tie in 4 matches in 2000.
The defeated: Solely 4 U.S. Presidents Cuppers have by no means gained a match, two of them are on this 12 months’s workforce and certainly one of them is presently one of the best participant on the planet. Mark Brooks went 0-3-0 in 1996, setting a report for futility. And Bryson DeChambeau went 0-1-1 in 2019, his lone look. However Scottie Scheffler (0-3-1) and Sam Burns (0-3-2) want to enhance on their 2022 performances.
The skilled: Adam Scott has performed 10 Presidents Cups and he’s performed 49 matches in these 10, which implies he’s solely sat one session ever. His eleventh Cup comes this week.
The duo: Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay are the 2 most “skilled” U.S. Presidents Cuppers with 9 matches every; they’re every 6-3-0. Tony Finau is the one different three-time Cupper on the squad; he’s 4.5-3.5 in eight matches.
The locals: Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith are two of three Canadians repping the Worldwide workforce this week however they’re desperately hoping for a greater displaying than 2022, once they every went 0-4-0 in debuts to neglect.
ONE DUMB GRAPHIC
American turnover.
ONE SWING THOUGHT
From Billy Horschel, on a clutch five-footer.
“My mindset on that putt [a five-footer for birdie on the first playoff hole] was going again to the placing inexperienced and being on the chalk line. If everybody has ever watched me on the placing inexperienced, I’ve spent numerous hours on a chalk line with two tees and simply rolling the ball between two tees. And I spent numerous hours doing placing drills that I’ve to make X quantity of putts, and if I don’t, then I’ve to redo the drill till it’s accomplished.
“And on that putt, I envisioned the chalk line beginning in the correct heart of the outlet, all I did was simply think about me rolling that ball on the chalk line and breaking a bit of bit to the left to go within the gap.”
ONE BIG QUESTION
Is that this the week the Worldwide Staff will get it achieved?
Look, it could be loopy. But it surely wouldn’t be that loopy. Sportsbooks have the Worldwide Staff at about +250 to win. The Washington Commanders are +285 to win on Monday Evening Soccer. If they will beat the Bengals, the Internationals can beat the U.S. aspect.
The U.S. gained by three factors at dwelling in 2013. By one level on the highway in 2015. By two factors on the highway in 2019. The final two dwelling Cups haven’t been shut, however this one in all probability shall be. Plus, we all know from the U.S. workforce’s latest Ryder Cup struggles that on the highway, nothing is assured.
Your pro-Worldwide argument would go one thing like this: Max Homa’s in poor kind, Keegan Bradley, Wyndham Clark and Sahith Theegala have had their ups and downs, Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns have been cursed by the Presidents Cup {golfing} gods, the Canadians are going to rise to the event of their dwelling nation and the French yells will convey again dangerous reminiscences of the 2018 Ryder Cup. Additionally, Tom Kim. And Si Woo Kim. So right here’s the query: Why not?
ONE THING TO WATCH
DP World Tour’s social media.
The DP World Tour captured a ton of cool behind-the-scenes content material at Wentworth, reminding the golf world the way it’s achieved. This was one cool instance: in the course of the Professional-Am, lately retired tennis participant (and new golf nut) Andy Murray speaking about advances in know-how in tennis and hitting on themes that sound practically an identical to the identical challenges and tradeoffs in golf.
NEWS FROM SEATTLE
A Nationwide Championship has come to city!
The Senior Girls’s Am has touched down at Broadmoor Golf Membership in Seattle, marking the USGA’s return to the Emerald Metropolis. I trekked out to look at a observe spherical on Thursday and immediately realized I’d offered these girls quick: There was severe athleticism on show as a number of of ’em bombed their method across the demanding format.
Should you’re in Seattle, go take a look at match play these subsequent couple days. You gained’t remorse it.
I’ll be in Montreal. Au revoir!
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Dylan Dethier welcomes your feedback at dylan_dethier@golf.com.
