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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 saved referencing the week as “too good to be true.” When she gained the AIG Ladies’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 successful streak (and, on the lads’s facet, 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 far more than an essential 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 referred to 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.
“Numerous issues have gone by my thoughts. That is my tenth 12 months on Tour and also you begin pondering like, Oh, perhaps is it that point? You simply don’t know. I feel plenty of ideas do undergo,” she stated on the time. She added that after one notably brutal 82 she was speaking to Stacy Lewis’ mother and father and burst into tears. Nonetheless, she ended the emotional interview on an up-note: “I feel 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 evaluate.
So the way to sum up 2024? In brief, nothing about this run was assured, which implies further purpose to be grateful that her type has returned. Ko is No. 3 on this planet and trending red-hot. And as an alternative of desirous about the top of her profession she’s desirous about what’s left on her bucket listing.
“I feel it’s all the time been the aim of mine to do the profession grand slam,” she stated. “I assumed that will 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 trend, ending birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle. Horschel fought his approach right into a three-way playoff after which felled Rory McIlroy with an enormous chook on the second further gap to win the big-time DP World occasion for a second time.