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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 super 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 minimize 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 green. After which he walked within the route of that drive, balancing the shell-shock of what had simply occurred with the willpower to make one thing nonetheless occur, to supply one thing that will ship the gang house blissful. The announcer, splendidly understated, provided the proper evaluation.
“One way or the other seems lonely, amidst all that help,” he stated.
I thought of 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. group as they chased redemption, trying to recapture the cup for the primary time in 4 tries. However principally that togetherness was occurring exterior the sphere of play. The followers, the households, the groups, the rooters. Contained in the ropes? In the event you had been the golfer in that place, there have been complete tournaments and even complete mini-economies leveraged on what you, the person, did down the stretch. Sixteen or seventeen holes of excellent 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 great thing about golf; there are others. There’s the fundamental great thing about Royal County Down, final linksland, arguably greatest on the planet, set dramatically on the assembly of land and sea and hill. There’s the strategic great thing about group match play, who to pair and the right way to play off one another. However principally the great thing about golf is the great 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 method 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 huge). The loneliness is the purpose.
Teddy Roosevelt‘s been quoted one million instances in sportswriting; one million and one received’t harm. In his iconic speech in regards to the Man within the Area, he described that man on this manner: “…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, no less than fails whereas daring significantly, 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 pleasure that comes with daring significantly — that’s golf stuff I like.
WINNERS
Who received the week?
The U.S. group 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 most important of his 5 profession DP World victories, climbing to No. 63 on the planet and guaranteeing he can be a 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 benefit, 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?
In the event you’re on the lookout for 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 minimize 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 perfect and worst from the Solheim Cup, briefly.
The perfect on the U.S. aspect? There have been a whole lot 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 group periods 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 group, too. Shoutout to Andrea Lee, too, who went 2-0-1.
The perfect on the Euro aspect? Charley Hull will get that title; she performed all 5 periods and beat Korda main off Sunday singles. Just one different participant — Madelene Sagstrom, who went 2-1-0 — had a profitable report, 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 shedding group; on this case Leona Maguire, who entered in middling kind however with a 7-2-1 Solheim report, was understandably gutted to play simply one of many 4 group periods and made that clear. She received her singles match to go 1-1 for the week.
The occasion’s greatest was its environment; the matches had been lined with enthusiastic followers and the complete factor felt huge. Its worst was its Friday morning logistics, a failure so important it was laborious to fathom how they occurred. Additionally, the no-realtime-scoreboard factor drives me nuts.
ONE DUMB GRAPHIC
Greatest golf bros.