Presidents Cup weirdness, Lydia’s fairy tale, Rory vs. Billy | Monday Finish

Welcome back to the Monday Finish or, as they say in Canada, “Welcome back to the Monday Finish.” To the news…

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GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Dominance following dominance.

When, earlier this summer, Lydia Ko won Olympic Gold — adding to her silver-bronze stash — she kept referencing the week as “too good to be true.” When she won the AIG Women’s Open just two starts later she referenced that feeling again: it was a “fairy tale.” And then came Sunday in Cincinnati, her next start since St. Andrews, when she fired a final-round 9-under 63 to win the Kroger Queen City Championship by five. Yowza. The surreal summer rolls on.

For much of the 2024 golf season, Nelly Korda‘s winning streak (and, on the men’s side, Scottie Scheffler’s) was the clear story. We hadn’t seen dominance like that in years and years. Ko’s last four starts (finishes: 1-9-1-1) may not equal Korda’s win total, but at this point Ko’s year is much more than an important footnote; she rallied from a subpar stretch of golf, turned her season unforgettable and revitalized her career. They share 2024 glory.

Most people didn’t see this coming. Ko sure didn’t. While her 2022 was terrific — she earned three wins and finished the year at World No. 1 in what she called a “Cinderella story” return to the top — her 2023 season was a reality check. It was frustrating and disappointing. If we rewind a year to its conclusion, Ko poured out her soul in an interview with Kay Cockerill.

“A lot of things have gone through my mind. This is my 10th year on Tour and you start thinking like, Oh, maybe is it that time? You just don’t know. I think a lot of thoughts do go through,” she said at the time. She added that after one particularly brutal 82 she was talking to Stacy Lewis’ parents and burst into tears. Still, she ended the emotional interview on an up-note: “I think at the end of the day it’s a gift and I’m grateful to be able to do this.” That was 2023 in review.

So how to sum up 2024? In short, nothing about this run was guaranteed, which means extra reason to be grateful that her form has returned. Ko is No. 3 in the world and trending red-hot. And instead of thinking about the end of her career she’s thinking about what’s left on her bucket list.

“I think it’s always been the goal of mine to do the career grand slam,” she said. “I thought that would be so out there. I feel like I’ve already been part of this fairytale, so why not?”

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Billy Horschel won the BMW Championship in dramatic fashion, finishing birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle. Horschel fought his way into a three-way playoff and then felled Rory McIlroy with a big bird on the second extra hole to win the big-time DP World event for a second time.

Lydia Ko won for the third time this season and the 22nd time in her career, adding to a terrific second career act.

Ripper GC, led by captain Cameron Smith, won LIV’s team championship at Maridoe Golf Club in Dallas, shooting 11 under par to beat the Iron Heads and 4 Aces (8 under each) and Legion XIII (6 under).

Paul Broadhurst won the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach; the win was the second of the 59-year-old Englishman’s PGA Tour Champions season.

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NOT-WINNERS

Not this again…

Rory McIlroy keeps finishing second on Sundays. In football finishing second on Sunday means you didn’t beat your opponent. In golf it means you beat every opponent but one. But not all seconds are created equal. McIlroy’s high-profile runner-up finish at the U.S. Open? You could call that a choke, or at least a self-inflicted loss, thanks to missed short putts down the stretch. But last week’s Irish Open and this week’s BMW are tougher to categorize.

Think back to the Irish Open. There was good stuff down the stretch: birdie at 16, a massive drive and towering 7-iron into the par-5 18th. There was crippling stuff too, though: bogey at 15, three-putt bogey at 17, heartbreaking miss at 18.

There was more good than bad at Wentworth. Birdies at 12 and 14. Eagle at 17. Birdies on the two playoff holes. All incredible stuff. But if there’s one shot that McIlroy will rue it’s his approach into 18 in regulation: he had a clear look at the green but missed his target so far left that it actually kept him on dry land instead of the hazard.

So, yeah. Mostly good. Since back-to-back wins in May, McIlroy has played 12 events. He has 10 top-12 finishes, six top-fives, three runner-ups. Just not quite good enough.

“It’s golf and I’m playing well,” McIlroy said. “These things happen. It’s just the game is testing me a little more than it has has done in the past but that’s just fine. All I can do is keep showing up and trying to play the golf that I’ve been playing and soon or later it’s going to end up in a win.”

It was a remarkable enough finish that even Billy Horschel — the guy who won! — clearly felt somewhat conflicted about his own triumph.

“I think the world of him,” Horschel said. “I think he’s the best player in our generation. He’s done so much for the game. You see the support he has here; you see the support he has around the world. He has the most crowds and supporters outside of Tiger Woods. He’s great I think for the game of golf. He does so many great things.

“Listen, I’m a fan of golf at heart. I do play professionally on the PGA and DP World Tour but I am a golf fan and I want to see great golf and I want to see the top players play well and win, and I know he’s been close a lot this year. He has not been able to get it done and you can feel for someone like that.”

SHORT HITTERS

Five surprising Presidents Cup records.

The undefeated: Max Homa has the best record in Presidents Cup history. Seriously. Homa is 4-0-0; nobody else in the event’s history has won every match they’ve played. Kirk Triplett is closest, with three wins and a tie in four matches in 2000.

The defeated: Only four U.S. Presidents Cuppers have never won a match, two of them are on this year’s team and one of them is currently the best player in the world. Mark Brooks went 0-3-0 in 1996, setting a record for futility. And Bryson DeChambeau went 0-1-1 in 2019, his lone appearance. But Scottie Scheffler (0-3-1) and Sam Burns (0-3-2) would like to improve on their 2022 performances.

The experienced: Adam Scott has played 10 Presidents Cups and he’s played 49 matches in those 10, which means he’s only sat one session ever. His 11th Cup comes this week.

The duo: Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay are the two most “experienced” U.S. Presidents Cuppers with nine matches each; they’re each 6-3-0. Tony Finau is the only other 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 International team this week but they’re desperately hoping for a better showing than 2022, when they each went 0-4-0 in debuts to forget.

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 back to the putting green and being on the chalk line. If everyone has ever watched me on the putting green, I’ve spent countless hours on a chalk line with two tees and just rolling the ball between two tees. And I spent countless hours doing putting drills that I have to make X amount of putts, and if I don’t, then I have to redo the drill until it’s completed.

“And on that putt, I envisioned the chalk line starting in the right center of the hole, all I did was just imagine me rolling that ball on the chalk line and breaking a little bit to the left to go in the hole.”

ONE BIG QUESTION

Is this the week the International Team gets it done?

Look, it would be crazy. But it wouldn’t be that crazy. Sportsbooks have the International Team at about +250 to win. The Washington Commanders are +285 to win on Monday Night Football. If they can beat the Bengals, the Internationals can beat the U.S. side.

The U.S. won by three points at home in 2013. By one point on the road in 2015. By two points on the road in 2019. The last two home Cups haven’t been close, but this one probably will be. Plus, we know from the U.S. team’s recent Ryder Cup struggles that on the road, nothing is guaranteed.

Your pro-International argument would go something like this: Max Homa’s in poor form, 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 occasion in their home country and the French yells will bring back bad memories of the 2018 Ryder Cup. Also, Tom Kim. And Si Woo Kim. So here’s the question: 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 at Wentworth, reminding the golf world how it’s done. This was one cool example: during the Pro-Am, recently retired tennis player (and new golf nut) Andy Murray talking about advances in technology in tennis and hitting on themes that sound nearly identical to the same challenges and tradeoffs in golf.

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

A National Championship has come to town!

The Senior Women’s Am has touched down at Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle, marking the USGA’s return to the Emerald City. I trekked out to watch a practice round on Thursday and instantly realized I’d sold these women short: There was serious athleticism on display as several of ’em bombed their way around the demanding layout.

If you’re in Seattle, go check out match play these next couple days. You won’t regret it.

I’ll be in Montreal. Au revoir!

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Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.