Clockwise from high left: Charley Hull, Nelly Korda, Rory McIlroy, Rose Zhang, Stacy Lewis and Jon Rahm.
Getty Pictures
Welcome to the Monday End, the place we’re nonetheless ready for golf’s “offseason” to hit. Possibly subsequent week? To the information…
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GOLF STUFF I LIKE
The loneliness of the world.
As Rory McIlroy walked up the 18th fairway at Royal County Down on Sunday afternoon, 1000’s lined the outlet, Irish lads and lasses, shouting encouragement, filling within the fairway behind him, hoping to elevate him to a miracle end. McIlroy had simply suffered large misfortune when his chief competitors, Rasmus Højgaard, had holed a bunker shot at No. 17 for an extremely unlikely birdie. McIlroy then introduced additional ache on himself, three-putting from 25 ft at No. 17 simply minutes later. His two-shot lead from an hour earlier than was abruptly gone, now reworked to a two-shot deficit with one gap to play. The spherical wasn’t but over however already you may really feel echoes of McIlroy’s high-profile near-misses passed by. His three-putt at 17 echoed his three-putt at No. 16 on the U.S. Open earlier this summer season. The throngs of Northern Irish followers urging him alongside echoed the cries of those that’d tried to hold him in useless to a missed reduce at Royal Portrush a half-decade in the past.
McIlroy’s solely remaining hope was to eagle the par-5 18th to pressure a playoff, and so he pummeled the longest drive of the day, some 345 yards down the golf green. After which he walked within the course of that drive, balancing the shell-shock of what had simply occurred with the dedication to make one thing nonetheless occur, to provide one thing that might ship the group house completely satisfied. The announcer, splendidly understated, provided the right evaluation.
“In some way appears to be like lonely, amidst all that assist,” he stated.
I considered that line the remainder of {the golfing} day. This week’s Irish Open and Solheim Cup felt notably convivial, like occasions for {the golfing} collective, greatest skilled collectively. In County Down, simply 30 miles from McIlroy’s Northern Irish hometown, followers rallied round their native {golfing} hero at their native {golfing} paradise as he chased what he stated could be “up there with one of many largest” wins of his life. In Virginia, simply 30 miles from the nation’s capital, crowds rallied round their U.S. staff as they chased redemption, trying to recapture the cup for the primary time in 4 tries. However principally that togetherness was occurring exterior the sector of play. The followers, the households, the groups, the rooters. Contained in the ropes? Should you had been the golfer in that place, there have been whole tournaments and even whole mini-economies leveraged on what you, the person, did down the stretch. Sixteen or seventeen holes of fine swings solely elevates the strain on the ultimate few. It was lonely as ever. And that’s partly why it was particular.
This loneliness isn’t the solely fantastic thing about golf; there are others. There’s the fundamental fantastic thing about Royal County Down, final linksland, arguably greatest on the earth, set dramatically on the assembly of land and sea and hill. There’s the strategic fantastic thing about staff match play, who to pair and the right way to play off one another. However principally the fantastic thing about golf is the fantastic thing about particular person competitors underneath the gun, of stepping contained in the ropes and leaving your self susceptible to the euphoria of a heroic win (assume Lilia Vu‘s putt on 17 and her strategy on 18, or Hojgaard’s hole-out at 17 and birdie at 18) or the devastation of a heartbreaking loss (assume McIlroy’s eagle putt, hanging out extensive). The loneliness is the purpose.
Teddy Roosevelt‘s been quoted 1,000,000 instances in sportswriting; 1,000,000 and one received’t harm. In his iconic speech in regards to the Man within the Enviornment, he described that man on this method: “…who at the very best is aware of in the long run the triumph of excessive achievement, and who on the worst, if he fails, a minimum of fails whereas daring enormously, in order that his place shall by no means be with these chilly and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.“
The triumph of excessive achievement and, even in failure, the delight that comes with daring enormously — that’s golf stuff I like.
WINNERS
Who received the week?
The U.S. staff received the Solheim Cup 15.5-12.5, triumphing for the primary time in 4 cups and 7 years.
Rasmus Hojgaard received the Irish Open, the largest of his 5 profession DP World victories, climbing to No. 63 on the earth and guaranteeing he can be part of his brother Nicolai on the PGA Tour subsequent season.
Patton Kizzire received the Procore Championship, the primary occasion of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Fall, incomes his first victory in six years and precious PGA Tour standing within the course of.
Jon Rahm received LIV’s Chicago occasion in addition to LIV’s season-long order of advantage, ending off a formidable debut season with top-10s in each occasion that he completed (a dozen top-10s plus one WD).
Steve Stricker received the Sanford Worldwide for the third consecutive season, hitting the flagstick on the fourth playoff gap to arrange a profitable birdie.
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NOT-WINNERS
Who didn’t win?
Should you’re in search of remaining kind pre-Presidents Cup, right here’s how the six opponents in motion at this week’s Procore fared:
Mackenzie Hughes completed T4, together with a second-place exhibiting in strokes gained from tee to inexperienced; that’s encouraging.
Corey Conners was T7 simply behind his countryman; he was second within the discipline off the tee and gained strokes placing, each encouraging indicators forward of subsequent week.
Min Woo Lee, the third and remaining Worldwide teamer, completed T32, let down by a chilly putter on the weekend.
For the Individuals, Sahith Theegala completed T7, his second sturdy match in a row, and gained strokes in each class.
The excellent news stopped there. Max Homa missed the reduce by a shot; he wanted birdie on the par-5 18th to make the weekend and made bogey as a substitute. Wyndham Clark completed three photographs behind Homa.
SHORT HITTERS
The most effective and worst from the Solheim Cup, briefly.
The most effective on the U.S. aspect? There have been a variety of contenders. Rose Zhang was 4-0-0 and smashed statistical data for probably the most dominant exhibiting. Lauren Coughlin continued the fairytale season of her life and dealt with the strain of her house Cup, going 3-0-1. And regardless that she misplaced her singles session Nelly Korda performed three staff classes of almost flawless golf and regarded extra relaxed than we’ve seen her on the course. That was because of Megan Khang, who went 3-0-0 and was the fiery emotional heart of the staff, too. Shoutout to Andrea Lee, too, who went 2-0-1.
The most effective on the Euro aspect? Charley Hull will get that title; she performed all 5 classes and beat Korda main off Sunday singles. Just one different participant — Madelene Sagstrom, who went 2-1-0 — had a profitable file, although Celine Boutier, Anna Nordqvist and Georgia Corridor every went 2-2-0.
The worst on the U.S. aspect? It was a disappointing week for Ally Ewing, who went 0-4-0 and has now sadly misplaced seven consecutive Solheim Cup matches. And Lexi Thompson‘s good Solheim Cup end slid by when she misplaced her singles match at No. 18, capping off a 1-3-0 week. All good in victory, although.
The worst on the European aspect got here from Linn Grant, who was a stunning 0-4-0 after going 3-2-0 in her debut final 12 months. Carlota Ciganda additionally couldn’t fairly get going and slipped to 1-3-0 on the week. However even worse than that was the strife and second-guessing that comes with any dropping staff; on this case Leona Maguire, who entered in middling kind however with a 7-2-1 Solheim file, was understandably gutted to play simply one of many 4 staff classes and made that clear. She received her singles match to go 1-1 for the week.
The occasion’s greatest was its ambiance; the matches had been lined with enthusiastic followers and your entire factor felt large. Its worst was its Friday morning logistics, a failure so important it was onerous to fathom how they occurred. Additionally, the no-realtime-scoreboard factor drives me nuts.
ONE DUMB GRAPHIC
Finest golf bros.
ONE SWING THOUGHT
You’ve gotta get it there. Kinda.
Each time I watch certainly one of these staff match-play competitions I get irrationally pissed off watching the very best gamers on the earth hitting must-make putts and completely hammering them by way of the break and like, 5 ft previous the cup. In match play it’s straightforward to get obsessive about the concept you “should get it there,” which is true, however in case you take that to the acute you run into two issues:
1. You’re placing in a different way than you normally do, so that you’ll mess up the break.
2. You make the outlet successfully smaller by hitting the ball too onerous; the outlet is largest at dying velocity.
It will upset me once more subsequent week on the Presidents Cup, I’m certain.
ONE BIG QUESTION
How a lot do LIV guys make?
For as soon as we even have a solution right here, too. After Jon Rahm claimed the season-long $18 million bonus on Sunday, Joaquin Niemann obtained $8 mil for second and Sergio Garcia earned $4 mil for third, LIV launched its participant year-to-date earnings together with season-end payouts. Right here’s how that high 10 appears to be like:
1. Jon Rahm, $34.75 million
2. Joaquin Niemann, $24.38 mil
3. Sergio Garcia, $17.09 mil
4. Tyrrell Hatton $11.63 mil
5. Brooks Koepka $11.57 mil
6. Dean Burmester $8.37 mil
7. Cameron Smith $8.08 mil
8. Louis Oosthuizen $8.06 mil
9. Abraham Ancer $7.44 mil
10. Carlos Ortiz $7.39 mil
How does that evaluate to the PGA Tour? You’ve most likely learn by now that Scottie Scheffler earned greater than $62 mil, so his historic season has him properly out in entrance. However No. 2 Xander Schauffele made $23.2, proper in keeping with Niemann’s second-place earnings. And the Tour palms out extra money to extra guys; fortieth on the LIV record is Danny Lee at $2.36 mil whereas Cam Davis remodeled $4 mil in the identical spot on the PGA Tour’s record. The LIV guys make a ton of cash, they accomplish that in fewer occasions and lots of obtained beefy signing bonuses. But it surely seems the PGA Tour is giving out some big-time money, too.
One large query to go away you with, then: How a lot did Rahm really get for going?
ONE THING TO WATCH
Royal County Down.
I really like Eire, so maybe I’m biased — or maybe I simply have correct judgment. The Irish Open guidelines. And Royal County Down guidelines. What a scene at 18.
NEWS FROM SEATTLE
Monday End HQ.
Summer time formally involves an in depth at week’s finish, however one factor that’s already noticeable this time of 12 months is simply how a lot darker it will get each day. After the Solstice in mid-June, in the future to the following we solely lose a number of seconds of sunshine. This time of 12 months, although, we’re dropping three minutes each day. It accelerates. That provides up quick; proper now we’re dropping like 20 minutes each week. Which means you may actually begin to really feel it as we get slingshotted round this nook of the calendar and 9 p.m. sunsets are an more and more distant reminiscence.
Bundle up, gang. Fall golf is on the doorstep.
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Dylan Dethier welcomes your feedback at dylan_dethier@golf.com.
