The post At the Presidents Cup, plenty of little things don’t need any fixing appeared first on Golf.

The post At the Presidents Cup, plenty of little things don’t need any fixing appeared first on Golf.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As the U.S. team was putting the finishing touches on its Presidents Cup victory Sunday afternoon, the winning captain of the previous Cup was nowhere to be found.

Tiger Woods was in touch with the action by phone, of course, but the winning skipper from the 2019 edition was at a different golf tournament. His was at Mission Hills in Central Florida, where he caddied for his 13-year-old son Charlie in a junior qualifier. Sunday was a good day for the U.S. team, which won the final session 6.5-5.5 and the Cup 17.5-12.5. It was a good day for Charlie, too: he shot 68, the low round of his young career.

Woods’ absence from Charlotte was a fitting reminder just how long it’s been since the last Cup. That was pre-pandemic. Pre-LIV. In Tiger terms, it was pre-crash. In presidential terms it was pre-Biden. In golf terms it was pre-Tom Kim, though with a twist: His caddie this week, Joe Skovron, actually was at Royal Melbourne in 2019, but on Team USA, looping for Rickie Fowler. Priorities in all our lives have changed since then. Charlie wasn’t playing qualifiers in 2019, just as one example.

After a U.S. blowout in 2017, the 2019 edition was a revelation. Royal Melbourne was an unmatched venue. Woods, who served as playing captain, was the star of the show. And the U.S. needed a furious rally in Sunday singles just to edge the home team, 16-14. Still, by the time competitors arrived in Charlotte at the start of this week, the question was swirling again: Should the Presidents Cup be overhauled?

Team USA lent some legitimacy to those claims by jumping to an 8-2 lead on Friday. But none of the 40,000 sun-soaked spectators seemed concerned in the slightest; they were there to cheer on their country and get an up-close look at the world’s best golfers in match play, its most exciting format (side note: the alternate-shot version is particularly good).

When the final putt of Friday’s session, an 11-footer from Max Homa, hit the bottom of the cup, the celebration that followed served as a reminder just how much this mattered. The Internationals outpaced the Americans over the weekend, too, winning 10.5 of the 20 points up for grabs on Saturday and Sunday to remind us just how narrow the margins are. There was a moment on Sunday, too, where the away team led in just enough matches to make people start to wonder. Could they do it?! International captain Trevor Immelman took notice.

“When you consider that we were 8-2 down on Friday evening, this team is no joke, and I’m sick and tired of it being spoken of as a joke,” he said on Sunday evening, rejecting the idea that this format needs undoing. U.S. captain Davis Love III agreed. “There wasn’t any talk from either of our teams, Trevor’s or ours, about changing the format,” he said. “I understand the calls for revamping the Presidents Cup; Team USA’s 12-1-1 record speaks for itself. But there’s plenty that’s special about the tournament as it is, too.”

There are the electric team matches. Where else do you get players rooting for each other in the same group? You might get glimpses from watching Ryan Palmer and Jordan Spieth in the Zurich Classic, or John Daly and Little John in the PNC Championship, or any number of other partner-style events that pop up in the greater PGA Tour ecosystem. But you won’t see celebrations like these. Not Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth giving palm-numbing low-fives nor Si Woo Kim prancing around after Tom Kim after his big-time putt on the 18th green.

There’s the buy-in from everyone on the team. Where else would you get major champions on walkie-talkies, jabbering about made and missed putts? But that’s what they did, the captains and their assistants, Immelman and Weir and Love III and Couples and many more, living and dying with every five-footer, none of ’em worth a dime.

There are the players’ families, forced into time together, activities together, uniforms together. Life on Tour can be solitary for players, not to mention players’ families. This week helps with that. Friendships forge along rope lines, cheering for a common goal.

There are the players themselves. From watching you’d think they’re all best mates, and some of them are — cue the Spieth/Thomas hot dog photo — but most of them aren’t. Homa explained this on Friday night:

“I’m not super, super close with anybody on this team, but I have always respected and gotten along with everybody, and it’s been amazing to watch these 11 other guys who are incredibly good, incredibly acclaimed, so many accomplishments, cheering us on coming down the stretch.”

They’re closer now; how could they not be? Going into this week, most of these guys had never shared a golf cart. By week’s end they piled onto carts, four and five and six at a time, beers in hand come Sunday evening. That changes things.

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There’s the exposure for the International stars, too. Tom Kim is golf’s new superstar. Si Woo Kim reminded us he’s lovable and electric. Sebastian Munoz stared down World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler in Sunday singles as part of a 2-0-1 week. Cameron Davis provided an unforgettable finish to Saturday evening, finishing eagle-birdie-birdie alongside childhood hero Adam Scott. The golf world doesn’t always shine a light on its non-American stars, but this week it has no choice. Everybody benefits.

There are other little details you don’t get elsewhere, too: Partners reading each other’s putts. Players who are sitting out one session practicing on the course, all alone. Pros sharing state secrets with teammates during practice rounds, looking for an edge. The way the home crowd stays silent when an International putt drops, so you can hear every syllable of their celebration. The way spectators consolidate as matches end, figuring out which hole to chase to catch a glimpse of the day’s remaining action. Minutes after they’d clinched the Cup, Spieth, Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay convened on a cart.

“We’ve gotta go find Kiz,” Spieth said. So off they went, piling onto a cart, racing across the fairway to find Kevin Kisner, who was playing No. 17 in the last match of the day.

It wasn’t particularly surprising or impressive that the U.S. team took down the Internationals. The Americans are a dominant force. They were playing on a course that suited their games. And they were playing a decimated International side that was missing four or more of its top performers who’d left for LIV (I’m thinking here of Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Abraham Ancer and Louis Oosthuizen). But their performance was significant and historic. Spieth’s 5-0-0 MVP showing, for instance, puts him on a short list of performers. Nobody will get a chance to match that in a competition like this until Rome in September of next year.

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In golf, these team events mark the time. The competitions themselves are fun, no doubt. But their scarcity — once per year for American teams, once every other year for International and European teams — makes them rare enough to feel precious and momentous. The way the teams are constructed makes them important, too: because golf doesn’t have codified all-star games, this is as close as we get. If you make a Presidents Cup team, that changes your career resume forever. In assembling the 12 best Americans, captains are crystalizing who deserves to be in that talented company. Early in the week, Spieth explained how it felt as the Team USA charter flew from the Hero World Challenge to Australia for the 2019 competition: “It sucked.” Once you make one of these teams, you never want to miss another. And fans use these teams to compare players and teams and events across decades.

Maybe that sounds nerdy or nostalgic, but beyond sheer entertainment value, sports are effectively only important with context. I met a man with plenty as I stood with my colleague Nick behind the range ahead of Sunday singles. Sam Reeves was dressed in the red, white and blue of Team USA staffers. Reeves is one of those people who knows everybody in the world of golf; stories that involve Pebble Beach plus figures like Adam Scott or Jim Nantz or Tom Brady always end up including Reeves, too. Several U.S. players went out of their way to greet him as they began their prep. It was only after Googling that I discovered he’s well into his 80s — he’s much younger in appearance and spirit — and learned more about his background as a cotton merchant. In this setting, he was part of the team. Who better to put this week in context?

“Tom Kim is like Rory revisited,” Reeves said. He remembered the distinct feeling of watching Rory McIlroy swagger his way around Quail Hollow in 2010 en route to a final-round 62 and his first PGA Tour win. Kim fist-pumped and bellowed his way to two points on Saturday, capturing the hearts and minds of even the staunchest U.S. fans. McIlroy was 20 at the time. Kim is 20. Reeves said it again: “Rory revisited.”

Celebrations began before play ended at Quail Hollow. They continued through a rowdy media availability and deep into the night. At a certain point, players from the U.S. team room spilt into the Internationals’. More soon followed. By the wee hours of the morning they were all together, the black-and-yellow blended with the red, white and blue, revisiting the week. Tom Kim got a photo with Spieth, Thomas and Collin Morikawa. Hideki Matsuyama’s caddie Shota Hayafuji had every American sign his shirtless torso. By morning, they were hurting.

This event goes to Montreal in two years’ time. Right now it feels like every player here should be there, too, searching for validation, revenge, camaraderie, competition. But it doesn’t work that way. Not everybody will get that chance. There’s always turnover from year to year, whether due to new talent or nagging injury or pro golf’s evolving landscape or the inevitabilities of time. But all 24 players will be fighting to get back on their respective teams. That’s worth something.

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The post This week, LIV Golf’s leaders delivered a different message appeared first on Golf.

The post This week, LIV Golf’s leaders delivered a different message appeared first on Golf.

Since LIV Golf’s inception, the breakaway league has tried to walk a fine line. Act too aggressive and it would risk alienating potential players and fans. Act too timid and it wouldn’t create the disruption required for its success. So LIV tried to do a little bit of both, taking shots at the PGA Tour when given the chance (“surely you jest,” etc.) while maintaining the stance that they wanted to sit down with the Tour and work out some sort of compromise.

This week, that rhetoric changed. That means LIV’s public strategy is changing, too.

Greg Norman signaled the shift in an interview with The Australian. After a year of what he claims were attempts to find common ground with the Tour and with its commissioner, Jay Monahan, Norman said the dynamic has now flipped. He no longer wants a meeting.

“We have no interest in sitting down with them, to be honest with you, because our product is working,” Norman said.

As with all things LIV, how you see Norman’s latest media blitz depends on how you feel about the upstarts. You could argue that it’s easy for Norman to say he doesn’t want to meet with the Tour because they have made it clear they don’t want to meet with him. Oh, I can’t come to your party? I actually don’t want to!

But if you’re more receptive to the new league you could also argue that Norman and LIV have leapt over so many early hurdles that they’re taking a victory lap. Skeptics wondered if the circuit would be able to attract top talent and if it would be able to pull off events. While the PGA Tour has retained the large majority of its top-ranked pros, LIV’s promises of big-time paydays have won over a significant contingent from the top 100 in the world. Both the events and the accompanying broadcasts have gone off successfully, too, putting on a show for thousands of fans per day. And objections to the league’s Saudi funding have, over time, gotten increasingly buried in the daily churn of news. LIV’s launch hasn’t all been smooth, but given the tight time frame and lack of existing infrastructure, it has certainly been competent. Money helps with that, of course. Money will continue to be an asset.

As the fields have gotten stronger, LIV’s stars have showed out, too. Two of the league’s most precious signings, Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith, have won its two most recent events. Norman crowed about their success on Instagram on Sunday, suggesting they were the “real” World Nos. 1 and 2. Top stars showing top form is good for LIV.

That’s not to say LIV’s success is inevitable. Thus far, its broadcasts have only run on YouTube and its website, commercial-free. And despite a strong in-person showing, over the weekend LIV struggled to maintain the audience. One accounting of viewership numbers showed peaks of 50,000, 63,000 and 95,000 for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, significantly down from the Massachusetts event, which peaked at 75,000 viewers on Friday, 75,000 viewers on Saturday and 182,000 viewers on Sunday.

A dropoff was to be expected; it’s NFL season, after all, and the PGA Tour’s Napa event surely didn’t break ratings records. But given LIV’s lofty goals, they’ll eventually need to find an audience that closer resembles that of the Tour.

Re-enter Norman. He also made the claim that LIV is in discussions with four different networks. “All I can tell you is that the interest coming across our plate right now is enormous,” he said in an interview with ESPN 1000 Chicago. (DeChambeau put it even more simply: “It’s coming.”) A broadcast deal would represent a massive step towards legitimacy for LIV, promising more eyeballs and a more attractive product for potential investors or franchise owners. And while CBS, NBC and ESPN are each in business with the PGA Tour, FOX — which ditched its USGA deal in 2020 — has been rumored as a possible landing spot.

Is Norman telling the complete truth? It’s tough to say. It’s true that there’s no lack of interest in LIV. But translating that interest into actual deals could be more difficult than he is representing. Norman — and LIV’s equity-owning captains — know that once the first few big-time sponsors fall, a domino effect could result in several more. As a result, projecting strength is in LIV’s best interest. And so Norman is doing just that, doubling down on the confidence and bluster that LIV is built on. He has been the front-and-center showman; montages of him greeting fans populate his Instagram feed, he sky-dived into one event and got a mullet at another. And this week he’s taking that fight to Capitol Hill, where he plans to discuss the circuit’s model and plans with members of Congress.

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“Given the PGA Tour’s attempts to stifle our progress in reimagining the game, we think it’s imperative to educate members on LIV’s business model and counter the Tour’s anti-competitive efforts,” a LIV spokesperson told the Washington Post.

One effect of Norman spending more time in the spotlight, projecting strength and aggression, is that he provides cover for LIV golfers to choose their own approach to the controversial league.

LIV’s most famous pro, Phil Mickelson, took a slightly different tack. Ever since his comments on the circuit’s Saudi backers nearly sunk the league, Mickelson has been uncharacteristically cautious in his media appearances. Still, this week he offered a far more ambitious appraisal of professional golf’s future.

“The PGA Tour, for the last 20 or 30 years, have had all the best players in the world. That will never be the case again. LIV Golf is here to stay, and this type of divisive talk is doing nobody good,” he said. That last clause hinted at Mickelson’s moderating message. In contrast to Norman, Mickelson (who, it’s worth noting, is part of the lawsuit against the PGA Tour) hopes the two leagues can find compromise.

“The best solution is for us to come together,” he said. “I think that the world of professional golf has a need for the old, historical history of the game product that the PGA Tour provides, and I think that LIV provides a really cool, updated feel that is attracting a lot younger crowd, and that’s being proven in the people that are watching and the age of the people that are watching.

“I think both are needed for the game of golf. Both are good for the game of golf. The inclusion of LIV Golf in the ecosystem of the golf world is necessary. As soon as that happens and we all start working together, that’s going to be a really positive thing for everyone.”

Other pros have taken their shots. Talor Gooch called his team’s title a “win for the good guys,” a cheeky reference to Shane Lowry’s similar phrasing after winning the BMW Championship a week before. And Patrick Reed, who is suing Brandel Chamblee and Golf Channel for $750 million (yes, actually), struck out at “insulting” comments from Rory McIlroy and others in an interview with the Times.

But many pros like Smith, Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau have chosen to stay above the fray as much as possible. Smith was asked how many of McIlroy’s tears could fit in his Claret Jug (LIV’s press conferences are stocked with jokey questions like this) and said nothing in response. Johnson declined to critique the Tour for skipping Chicago on its yearly schedule, saying “It’s not up to me. I just go where the tournaments are.” And DeChambeau made it clear he doesn’t want the PGA Tour destroyed. “I would never want that to be my goal. I still look up to them and appreciate what they’ve done for the game in general,” he said.

The most compelling testimony of the week came from Anirban Lahiri and Joaquin Niemann, the best golfers from India and Chile, respectively. They said LIV has allowed their countrymen to see more of their golf on a big-time stage. After some initial blowback, Niemann said he feels Chileans have gotten on board with LIV.

“Everybody in Chile is loving it, and now they’re able to watch me more during the round instead of how they were used to before,” he said.

Of course, LIV’s recruits are heavily incentivized to paint a rosy picture of their new home. (Tour loyalists have plenty of incentive to talk up the existing infrastructure, too.) But this felt like the week they went all in on the message. LIV is playing offense now. Consider the gravity DeChambeau attaches to his LIV decision:

“Winning the U.S. Open, the U.S. Amateur, the NCAAs is something I’ll never forget, but I think my greatest accomplishment when I look back on it a decade, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, will potentially be LIV Golf and what they’re going to do for the game. That’s my belief,” he said.

He said something else telling, too: “It’s like poker; how long can you keep bluffing, right?”

But we don’t yet know who has the best hand.

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In Xander Schauffele’s mind, none of this is particularly simple.

The world of men’s professional golf has begun imitating the world at large. Pick a side. Dig in deep. Cover your ears. That’s how we get Shane Lowry winning “one for the good guys” as a Tour loyalist triumphing over LIV defectors. It’s how we get to Talor Gooch trumpeting that LIV’s atmosphere was like a Ryder Cup. We’re prone to simplicity, hyperbole, tribalism. So it goes.

As for Schauffele: How long you got? The No. 5 player in the world is thoughtful. He’s intentionally understated. He chooses his words carefully. And now that the job requirements of his profession have surpassed athletic excellence to include understanding of geopolitics and the legal system, whew, sometimes it’s easier to say relatively little instead. While his PGA Tour peers were gearing up for an awkward showdown at the BMW PGA Championship, Schauffele went off the grid. He and Maya, his wife, joined Patrick Cantlay in Napa for what turned out to be Cantlay’s engagement weekend. Then he laid relatively low, fulfilling a couple sponsor obligations in southern California (his original home) before packing up his car for a road trip to Las Vegas (his new home). That’s where I caught up with him, sitting in traffic, to recap an unforgettable PGA Tour season. And once he knows what he wants to say, Schauffele isn’t afraid to do so. He’s a straight shooter. You can listen to the entire chat on the Drop Zone podcast below (or here on Spotify).

We worked our way through his entire year, beginning at last fall’s Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, where he won three points and then worked his way through an assortment of High Noons and champagne before a memorable performance at Team USA’s winning press conference. We dived into his red-hot stretch of wins, too, and his relief at getting over the line on the PGA Tour after so many close calls. “I think subconsciously it definitely was [weighing on me] more than I wanted to admit,” Schauffele said. And then, as all golf conversations do these days, ours gravitated to LIV vs. the PGA Tour.

Of late, Schauffele has made it clear his interests are with the PGA Tour. But that’s not to say he was never curious about an alternative to the current setup. He went to the Saudi International, after all, where there was plenty of talk about the rival circuit. But he said there was nothing more to that decision than dollars and cents.

“I went to collect an appearance fee, I’m not going to sit here and lie about it,” he said. “Nothing really came of it except playing a tournament on a different continent and me collecting some cash.”

See? Straight shooter, once he gets around to it.

We talked about the Genesis Invitational, which was a particularly pivotal week for the LIV-PGA Tour dynamic. That was the week LIV seemed to be getting close to launch. It was also the week that Alan Shipnuck’s book excerpt was released, an excerpt that included biography subject Phil Mickelson opening up about his feelings on the Saudis. His “scary m—–f—–s” comment made headlines. Mickelson vanished. The Tour secured vocal commitments from top pros — Schauffele included. It was a strange chapter in the saga given Schauffele and Mickelson are friendly and were in the habit of playing sporadic practice rounds together at home. Schauffele wasn’t eager to condemn Mickelson; he offered praise for his general vision. But he didn’t let him entirely off the hook, either.

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“He said what he said, so in terms of feeling bad for him, it’s hard,” Schauffele said. But like some other players, he’s somewhat sympathetic to Mickelson’s claim that he thought his comments were off the record, calling it a pro’s “worst nightmare” when speaking to the media.

As for Mickelson’s larger goal? When it comes to leverage, Schauffele thinks he had a point.

“The main points he was trying to make, and what he really wanted in his vision, maybe we’re living it out now on the PGA Tour, and it’s unfortunate he isn’t a part of that, because this is pretty much what he so wanted,” he said. “But at the same time, he kind of knew it would take something drastic, and he had to pick which side of the fence he wanted to be on.”

Thus far they’ve found themselves on opposite sides of that fence.

Schauffele met with the LIV group. “I felt like it was stupid for me not to do that,” he said. He wasn’t sure how things would break from there. Wasn’t sure what the end result would be. Now, though, he thinks there has unquestionably been financial gain for all players involved.

“Everyone that’s gone over there has obviously gotten a lot of guaranteed money, and people that are on this side of the fence here are making more money because of the LIV tour and what they’ve presented,” he said.

Schauffele was also at the PGA Tour players’ meeting in Delaware that yielded a relatively unified front; he felt that was a turning point for the collective power of its players. He appreciated the commanding presence of Tiger Woods plus the newer leadership of Rory McIlroy and gave credit to Cantlay, too, who he called “a very good thinker.”

“One of the things I’m wary of is that we need to continue to stay together during this process because we are stronger together,” he said. “So yeah, absolutely, walking out of that room I think everybody felt a lot better than they did before they walked in.”

As for the flow of pros from one tour to the other? Schauffele is done being surprised when new pros leave. Loyalty to the establishment has proven flexible, to say the least.

“In terms of other guys going over there, I really couldn’t tell you,” he said. “I think everybody has a number or a reason, and they don’t seem too afraid to shell out. So I could imagine, if you tell me five or 10 more guys are going to go in the next year, I wouldn’t bet against you. I don’t know any more names personally, but the way things are going, based on our short historical analysis here, you wouldn’t bet against it, either.”

You can listen to the entire conversation with Schauffele in the player below or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The author (cautiously) welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

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The post Every LIV golfer who has left the PGA Tour, ranked by value | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Every LIV golfer who has left the PGA Tour, ranked by value | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

With Tuesday’s announcement that six more golfers have departed for LIV, it’s time to take stock of the distribution of talent in men’s professional golf.

If you’re the PGA Tour, you can hang your hat on the fact that 17 of the top 18 players in the world still compete on your tour. It’s natural for LIV’s defectors to dominate the news cycle, but it’s also worth remembering who didn’t go. Rookie of the Year Cameron Young, for one. Hideki Matsuyama, for another. Every player (except one) who sat in the secret Delaware meeting seems like they’ll be returning to the Tour next season. That’s important.

But you also can’t ignore the significant blows LIV has dealt over the last several months. By my count, 32 PGA Tour pros (plus Martin Kaymer, who doesn’t play much on Tour but seems like he should count, so I’m including him) have ditched for the Land of Shotgun Starts (and gold bricks), committing to the controversial Saudi-backed league before its first “real” season has even begun.

So which of them will the PGA Tour miss, and how much? Which players will prove most crucial to LIV’s chances of success? Who moves the needle? Using an arbitrary series of judgment calls, I ranked ’em all — No. 33 through No. 1 — to identify the LIV signees who felt (and feel) the most important. Here they are!

The Major Champs

Three guys with impressive pasts but less impressive presents.

33. Graeme McDowell

A former U.S. Open Champion and Ryder Cupper who peaked at No. 4 in the world but has slipped to No. 399.

32. Martin Kaymer

A two-time major champ, Players champ and Ryder Cupper who reached World No. 1?! That’s some clout. But he, like McDowell, has fallen outside the top 300 in the world and doesn’t add to LIV’s level of competition.

31. Charl Schwartzel

One of LIV’s stable of Masters champions and a four-time Presidents Cupper who still has game (T10 at Augusta this year) but isn’t necessarily selling tickets for either tour.

The Presidents Cup Contenders

30. Anirban Lahiri

29. Branden Grace

28. Matt Jones

None of these guys are spring chickens — Grace is the youngest at 34 — but they would have been serious contenders for this September’s Presidents Cup team had they not made the jump. Lahiri was an inspiring watch and a terrific quote throughout his week at the Players Championship (he ended up finishing second) and marks the first significant LIV signing of a Tour pro from Asia. Grace and Jones each won on Tour in 2021, which meant they sacrificed certain Tour status for certain money while also laying the groundwork for their countrymen to join them in forming South African and Aussie teams.

The Retirement Planners

27. Kevin Na

26. Charles Howell III

25. Pat Perez

These three American 40somethings [Correction: turns out Kevin Na is just 38! Apologies for the early aging!] are fairly well known on the PGA Tour. Perez is a cult favorite, Na was inside the top 30 as recently as this spring and Howell has been using the Tour as his personal ATM for more than two decades. But it’s fairly easy for the Tour to let them go, too, dismissing them as solid pros whose best years are behind them. As Perez put it: “It’s simple. I’m 46. I’ve been on the road since 1998 … It’s like winning the lottery for me. I couldn’t be more excited.”

The American 30somethings

While these guys aren’t on the brink of retirement, they also aren’t on the brink of superstardom.

24. Peter Uihlein

Okay, I admit it: Uihlein is probably way too high at No. 23, but I liked this tier.

23. Cameron Tringale

There’s something vaguely tragic about Tringale bouncing from the PGA Tour when he’s best-known as the pro who has won the most money without a victory. Arguably a self-own by LIV on that one.

22. Hudson Swafford

Credit where it’s due: Swafford won in 2022! But he also failed to record a finish higher than T30 in his next 12 starts. Maybe this was him selling high and maximizing value in the process.

21. Jason Kokrak

Kokrak was playing the best golf of his life in late 2021, winning the Houston Open and jumping to No. 20 in the world. His leap is significant for that reason; he had a secure future on Tour laid out ahead of him but chose LIV anyway. Kokrak already had a deal with GolfSaudi, though, and has said it’s a priority of his to make as much money as possible in as little time as possible, so this felt like a natural match.

The Fan Favorites

Likable and good at golf? We’re entering “value” territory.

20. Carlos Ortiz

The 31-year-old Mexican golfer hasn’t been on his best form of late. Still, he’s a Tour winner and a fan favorite as well as a mentor for younger Latin pros like Mito Pereira and (spoiler alert) Joaquin Niemann.

19. Harold Varner III

HV3 is among the most beloved figures on Tour. He’s funny, honest and connects with everybody. He’s also an inspiring story, a kid that grew up at a Gastonia muni and one of just a few Black golfers on the PGA Tour. I appreciated Varner’s Instagram statement because of its honesty: Whatever sum he was offered by LIV was too much to turn down.

18. Marc Leishman

Leishman is known as an affable Aussie with a warm smile and an excellent lawn. While the five-time Tour winner isn’t in the form that got him to No. 12 in the world a few years ago, he still has plenty in the tank and was also a key to securing someone significantly higher on the list…

17. Bubba Watson

Bubba defies categorization, as always, because he is debuting as a LIV captain rather than a player. Presumably he’ll be a competitor once he gets healthy for next season, but he has value even as a figurehead. Watson is a two-time Masters champ, after all, and still had enough clout that he cracked the top 10 in last year’s Player Impact Program standings.

16. Louis Oosthuizen

It’s tough to know how to grade Oosthuizen because he is somewhere between greatness and retirement. He nearly won multiple majors in 2021 and began this year ranked No. 10 in the world. If he didn’t join LIV, he also would have likely played sparingly. But his smooth swing has always been universally beloved.

Team Europe

15. Paul Casey

14. Lee Westwood

13. Ian Poulter

12. Sergio Garcia

This group is significant for three reasons. They’re household names. They’re Ryder Cup heroes. And they (minus Casey) were early LIV adopters, normalizing the league and taking the brunt of the heat before helping recruit others to follow in their footsteps. Their futures with the European Ryder Cup team are uncertain, to say the least — which is saying something, considering they’re among the team’s most legendary all-time players.

11. The Rising Star

Abraham Ancer

In addition to his status as a current top-20 player in the world, Ancer is arguably the greatest male golfer in Mexico’s history. That’s significant.

10. The Heel

Patrick Reed

During his time on the PGA Tour, Reed often flirted with controversy. But he was also a Masters champ, a Ryder Cup star and an incredibly creative golfer. Losing all of that is decidedly bad for the Tour — and besides, every sport needs polarizing figures. His latest $750 million lawsuit against Golf Channel and Brandel Chamblee wasn’t exactly an olive branch, though, so Reed’s relationships with the PGA Tour ecosystem may be slightly icy for now.

9. The Ryder Cup Captain

Henrik Stenson

As a refresher, Stenson was named the captain of Team Europe for the 2023 Ryder Cup. In doing so, he signed an agreement that would bar him from joining a league like LIV. Then he joined LIV. (And he won in his very first start.) It’s one thing to pull out before you could be considered for the Ryder Cup team or its captaincy. It’s another thing to gain leverage from your appointed position and then leave for LIV anyway. Stenson’s departure marked a rough day for the Ryder Cup.

8. The Domino

Talor Gooch

Based on resume or Q-Score, Gooch belongs lower on this list. But when the initial batch of players was released for LIV London, Gooch’s name was the outlier: He was the only Tour pro who was actually playing the best golf of his life. Gooch didn’t shy away from conflict in the weeks that followed, either. He joined a lawsuit against the Tour, sought to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, compared one LIV finish to a Ryder Cup and continued hitting out on social media. It’s tough to quantify the effect he had on those that followed, but he certainly showed that it could be done.

The Kids

7. Matthew Wolff

Wolff had a rollercoaster couple years on the PGA Tour. There was plenty of good: He won the 3M Open as a rookie in 2019 and then logged four runner-up finishes the following season, including at the 2020 U.S. Open. But there were plenty of tough times, too: Wolff battled loneliness, self-doubt and depression. Wolff was the first golfer signed by Gatorade since Tiger Woods. He was a key piece of Nike and TaylorMade’s golf portfolios. He struggled at the end of his Tour tenure, but there’s no question Wolff is the Tour’s loss and LIV’s gain.

News

6. Joaquin Niemann

There’s a reason Niemann — who is also just 23 years old — agonized over his LIV decision for weeks: He knew the effect it would have. The World No. 19 is among the best golfers in the world under the age of 25. He’s the best golfer from South America. He’s the defending champion at Tiger Woods’ tournament, the Genesis Invitational. There’s a reason Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott each joined him for practice rounds at the Tour Championship: they hoped to convince him to stay. Now he’ll miss the Presidents Cup and won’t play PGA Tour events for the foreseeable future. That’s a significant blow.

5. The Open Champ

Cameron Smith

Smith is an outlier on this list even more so than Niemann. He’s 29 years old and playing the best golf of his life. He’s a major champion now as well as a perennial contender at the Masters. He’s exempt for years to come. Even worse for the PGA Tour, he lives in Ponte Vedra Beach. He practice at TPC Sawgrass. He won the Players Championship! Smith earned millions on the PGA Tour this season. His departure signals LIV’s deep pockets but also its ability to expand globally: Smith has been focused on spending more of his time living in Australia, where LIV is expected to hold at least one event.

4. The Entertainer

Bryson DeChambeau

It feels like ancient history but in the 2020-21 PGA Tour season DeChambeau was likely golf’s greatest newsmaker. From the U.S. Open win to the continuation of his body transformation to his par-5 drive at Bay Hill to his beef with Brooks Koepka, we shouldn’t forget just how important DeChambeau was to the intrigue of the PGA Tour. He finished T8 at the Open Championship, showing signs his game is still there. But while we’ll see him at the next several major championships (he’s exempt off his 2020 U.S. Open win) it seems unlikely we’ll get Bryson back on the PGA Tour anytime soon.

3. The Alpha

Brooks Koepka

There’s a version of Koepka’s story where he’s injured and irrelevant, where his best days are behind him, where it makes sense that he’d take the money and run. But I think Koepka and the PGA Tour miss each other dearly. In a world where Koepka stays on Tour, it’s easy to imagine him setting the tone that the majors and the big-time Tour events are the gold standard and that everything else is irrelevant. Sure, Koepka has always championed the majors while poo-pooing regular Tour events. But there’s no denying his competitive chops nor his run of success. His voice would be significant.

2. The First To Go

Dustin Johnson

It’s hard to know what would have happened had Dustin Johnson not signed up for the first LIV event. Even his signing came down to the wire, which serves as a reminder just how thin LIV’s margins were between success and failure. But given he is the winningest PGA Tour player since Tiger Woods, Johnson’s departure signaled that it was on. LIV was for real.

1. The Kingpin

Phil Mickelson

While plenty of other players have weighed in on LIV’s future, there’s nobody who has come close to matching the significance of Phil Mickelson. He’s the architect. The mastermind. For better or worse, Phil Mickelson’s legacy is now intertwined with that of LIV. He is the league. And that means he’ll never be unseated from No. 1 on this list.

The author (cautiously) welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

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The post Tiger’s meeting, Tour pros play Pine Valley, Saudi’s other golf strategy | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Tiger’s meeting, Tour pros play Pine Valley, Saudi’s other golf strategy | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where we’re holding a players-only meeting — but you’re invited. Let’s get to it!

FIRST OFF THE TEE

Pine Valley, no warmup.

The purpose of the Monday Finish is vaguely this: I like to fill you in on a few things I thought were interesting from the past week in golf. But it’s also vitally important that I occasionally use this space to remind you that PGA Tour players are complete freaks.

Their freakishness isn’t as obvious from the outside as, say, the NFL, where you might see an offseason video of Aaron Donald squatting a midsized SUV, or something like that. The Tour doesn’t really have Aaron Donalds. The freakishness is in the relentlessness and the consistency. It’s in the details.

Enter Scottie Scheffler, who rolled up to Pine Valley with caddie Ted Scott on the Sunday before the BMW Championship. If you, like most of the field this week, have no idea where Delaware actually is (“All the same thing to me, honestly,” Jon Rahm said of the region), just know that it’s sorta close to Philadelphia. Pine Valley is in southern New Jersey, but it turns out that is sorta close to Philadelphia, too. Hence the Sunday tee time coming off a missed cut.

Pine Valley is the consensus No. 1-ranked golf course in the world. It’s also widely considered one of the toughest courses in the world. There are forced carries, sloping greens, punishing misses, endless waste areas and an unmatched brawniness to the place that’s difficult to understand given we never see much of the course. So it would be tough to roll in there and play your best.

But Scottie Scheffler is the No. 1 golfer in the world, so different rules apply. How’d his day go at Pine Valley?

“I think I shot 3-under, which was pretty good,” he said. “[Ted and I] flew straight in, went straight to the first tee. Had a sandwich in the clubhouse for like two minutes and then went straight to the first tee, so it was a little different than my usual warm-up routine for the round.”

He gave Scott seven shots, though I don’t know how the match ended up. Shooting three under without a warmup is a tall task regardless of strokes.

It wasn’t just Scheffler out there, either. Jordan Spieth was in the group behind him, playing with his caddie Michael Greller.

“Michael almost accidentally hit [Scottie] a few times,” Spieth said. He and Greller were accompanied by area legend Michael McDermott, a new Augusta National member who was rumored to serve as the heir to Jeff Knox, longtime club champion and frequent Masters marker. Their fourth was Spieth’s agent Jay Danzi.

“Why does Danzi always get to play?” one reporter asked. Spieth answered honestly.

“He’s itching for a membership there,” he said. He’s not the only one.

WHAT WE’RE SEEING

Another Saudi golf strategy is drawing far less attention.

It would have been a dream ending for any women’s golf tournament.

There was Jessica Korda, holding the final-round lead. And there was her younger sister Nelly, chasing her down with a ridiculous run of birdies. She birdied 7-8-9, then 12-13-14, then 16 for good measure. Jess couldn’t keep pace and Nelly came out on top on the back of a final-round 67. The victory was significant for the world No. 3: It was her first since last fall.

“I haven’t won this year, so it feels nice to get a win under my belt but I’m also very sad as it wasn’t the day Jess was expecting,” Nelly said. “I guess we were hoping for a bit more of a battle going down the stretch, but it’s golf and that sometimes happens.”

Had it happened within the more familiar confines of the LPGA Tour, perhaps you would have heard more about it. Instead this came at the Aramco Team Series, a Ladies European Tour event at the La Reserva Club de Sotogrande in Spain. What’s interesting — and complicating — about the new five-event team series is that it’s an LET event sponsored by Aramco and presented by the Public Investment Fund. Aramco is the Saudi Arabian national oil company and the Public Investment Fund is the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

The LET isn’t Aramco’s only foray into sports; their logo can be found at certain Formula 1 races, often front and center. (Look no further than the F1’s Aramco United States Grand Prix, which comes to Austin, Tex. in October.) But in the golf world, the PIF is better known as the source of funding for LIV, which has been decried due to Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. That’s not the only reason pros (and fans) have rejected LIV, but it’s a major talking point among its critics.

It’s interesting, then, to think of the Aramco Series as an alternate reality for the LIV-PGA Tour battle. If you go back a few years, the DP World Tour had the Saudi International and PGA Tour players received releases to go play there. Saudi money was tolerable at that level of exposure. But once LIV established itself as a full-on rival league, both the DP and PGA Tours rejected their members’ requests to play for LIV while also keeping status on their home tours. DP World Tour head Keith Pelley has talked about the possibility of Saudi money flowing in through the existing ecosystem, and Rory McIlroy has echoed those sentiments. But the idea of the PIF owning a league that would rival or outpace the existing tours was a different animal.

I’m curious, then, what would have happened if the PIF or Aramco had attempted some sort of Trojan-horse entry point into the PGA Tour. What if they’d sponsored some PGA Tour/DP World Tour big-money crossover event? It’s not as if the Tour’s sponsors all have squeaky-clean records, after all — it’s possible to imagine that a few years back the Aramco Championship could have gotten approved, given how their deep pockets could help the Tour.

News

LIV is distinctly different in several ways. If it succeeds, it will kneecap the PGA Tour and permanently change the landscape of professional golf. There is also a difference between a sponsor paying for naming rights to a tournament versus pros playing for that sponsor’s self-owned tour, particularly when that sponsor is the Saudi government.

I’m not here to tell you how to feel about all of this. We can save that for a future Monday Finish. But this weekend’s Korda duel, which featured two of the game’s best-known stars going head-to-head, reminded us that none of this is simple.

WHAT WE’RE HEARING

Tiger’s meeting seems to be working.

Based off conversations I have had plus intrepid reporting from No Laying Up and Fire Pit, Tiger Woods’ arrival in Delaware this week was significant. On Tuesday night Woods and what was believed to be 22 other pros met at the Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington, Delaware. The meeting was restricted to players only; it was just this small group plus a consultant who walked players through a series of proposals for the Tour’s future.

“I’ve heard Tiger is the new commissioner, right? That’s what everyone has been saying,” joked Patrick Cantlay ahead of the meeting. (He wound up having a good week.)

No Laying Up reported the following players in attendance, in order of their world ranking at the time: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Cameron Young, Joaquin Niemann, Max Homa, Shane Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton, Kevin Kisner, Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler and Woods.

It’s a hugely important group. Fourteen of the top 15 players in the world (Cameron Smith wasn’t there) plus a bunch of other heavyweights and, of course, Woods. McIlroy called him the clear alpha in the room. Thomas explained the importance of his presence:

“Yeah, that’s huge. I think if someone like him is passionate about it, no offense to all of us, but that’s really all that matters. If he’s not behind something, then one, it’s probably not a good idea in terms of the betterment of the game, but two, it’s just not going to work. He needs to be behind something.”

Xander Schauffele summarized the general good vibes coming out of it: “It was a really nice meeting. It was great. It was exciting. It was new. It was fresh. Coming up with other adjectives here, yeah, I am very hopeful with what’s to come, I should say.”

Let’s read between the lines here. Some of those pros — think Scott and Fowler — have openly mused about LIV’s perks, and several others on that list have been rumored to leave. But the word on the ground was that, following some back and forth, every player in attendance agreed on a proposal to bring to top Tour brass.

Some PGA Tour fans have been bracing for a mass exodus for LIV at the season’s end. What all of this means is that won’t be happening; there are only a few big-name pros who might make the leap and I think it’s distinctly possible that just one additional pro from the top 30 leaves ahead of the 2023 season.

Top PGA Tour players have rallied together in an attempt to take ownership over their league and find ways to increase entertainment value and profitability. There will be a longer offseason and a more obvious hierarchy on Tour, with a number of events (maybe 12-15) that feature the game’s top players up against each other, which means we’ll know when the *actual* marquee events are. This plan sounds like it’s working. At least, for now.

The court rulings are having an effect, too. The current reality is that LIV pros are almost certain to be barred from the PGA Tour until at least 2024, which has significant implications for world rankings and major championship eligibility. That spooked some pros who initially expected they’d be able to play both while the leagues legislated their differences.

This is also a good week for the Tour. This is when they hand out all their cash, after all. It should be the week they control the narrative. LIV will get its own volley in ahead of its next event, when it debuts new players and hands out buckets of its own cash.

And on and on it goes.

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

I went to San Francisco last weekend to see some family and flew out of a different airport: Paine Field in Everett, just north of the city. It was a 35-minute drive which is about eight minutes longer than it takes to get to SeaTac. But when I got there I was flabbergasted. We parked right out front. Checked in in about two minutes. Settled into a comfy chair in a brand-new terminal that felt more like the lobby of a trendy boutique hotel than it did like an airport.

What an experience! I’ve never flown private but this felt like it. I’m a longtime lover of small airports but had never experienced this level of luxury nor convenience. I’m already regretting typing this just because I don’t want the secret to get out. But shoutout to the good people at Paine Field, the good people at Alaska Airlines and shoutout to small airports everywhere.

WHAT’S NEXT

3 things to watch this week.

1. Who wins the FedEx Cup?

We’ve grown numb to big numbers, but it’s still eye-popping to remember that the winner of this week’s event scores $18 million. Eighteen million dollars! That’s a preposterous amount of money. And while second place still gets $6.5 mil, we could be looking at putts down the stretch that are worth eight figures. Yowza.

2. What will Jay say?

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan addresses the media on Tuesday. I expect there will be a number of questions on a number of topics. How forthcoming will he be on future schedule changes and on discussions he has had with Tour pros? Given the legal action underway, I’d expect Monahan to speak cautiously, but I’m eager to hear him nonetheless.

3. Who will drop the furthest?

The interesting thing about this week’s format is that you can fall all the way to the bottom of the standings. Jon Rahm pointed this out last week: if the Patriots make it to the Super Bowl and lose, they still finish second. If Cantlay (currently No. 2) plays terribly this week he could finish 30th.

The good news? He’d still win last-place money, which comes out to a cool $500,000.

We’ll see you next week!

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The post For PGA Tour vs. LIV, this was the week things got personal | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post For PGA Tour vs. LIV, this was the week things got personal | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

On Tuesday afternoon, a group of a couple dozen high-profile PGA Tour pros and agents gathered ’round a screen in the locker room at TPC Southwind. Rory McIlroy was there. Jon Rahm, too. Will Zalatoris. Each of them was hanging on the words of one Judge Beth Labson Freeman, who was ruling on an emergency temporary restraining order that would allow three LIV pros — Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford — to rejoin the playoffs. The assembled pros all agreed on one thing: The PGA Tour could use a win.

Until this week, the idea of LIV vs. the PGA Tour was somewhat abstract. It was real in the eyes of fans and media, of course. But the players had adopted a relatively united front; this wasn’t personal, it was business. They’d shared locker rooms for years, after all. Those ties take time to untangle. But a lawsuit can speed the undoing.

“I certainly have a little more respect for the guys that haven’t put their names to the suit. So yeah, I mean, it’s become a little more personal because of that,” said Rory McIlroy ahead of this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship.

That has become one line of demarcation. It’s one thing to leave for LIV. It’s another to try to have it both ways. The group behind Mickelson et al — specifically the three plaintiffs in the spotlight on Tuesday — wasn’t particularly popular at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Kevin Streelman told Golf Channel that he still considers himself friends with Gooch but wouldn’t be likely to share a meal with him if he wound up in the event.

“It was personal to me from the beginning, but I just — I would say it’s just getting more and more in-depth,” added Justin Thomas. “It’s kind of like I said from the start, those guys were given an opportunity to go play — so just go play. You can have your cake, but you don’t get to eat it, too. And they got their fair share of a large, large amount of cake and go eat it by all means. You don’t need to bring it onto our tour.”

McIlroy said he felt “a lot of nerves” as the judge arrived at the verdict. Zalatoris said the group was “pretty relieved” when it came down that the Gooch, Jones and Swafford wouldn’t be allowed to compete.

“Having 25 guys all around an iPad on Tuesday shows you how much we all care and how much we love this tour,” Zalatoris said on Saturday.

The steady drip of defections to LIV had meant that until this week, the breakaway league had seized the news-cycle momentum. Their regular pace gave the impression that players would just keep leaving indefinitely, and in some ways they were right; LIV’s gains have meant one loss after another to the establishment Tour. But on Wednesday, after the verdict came down, players acknowledged that it was nice to get a win.

Billy Horschel called it “just a small vindication at this point, because it’s not over.” But he was adamant that the victory represented a rift between LIV and the Tour that isn’t going away.

“I’ve said to some of the guys personally, I think they’ve been brainwashed,” Horschel told Golf Channel before his first round. “The way they feel so adamant that they’re going to be back on the PGA Tour. I’ve had some of them tell me, ‘I’ll see you on Tour again.’ I said, ‘No you won’t.'”

Every week has now become a measuring stick as the two tours compare products and clout, but this week meant something extra. The courtroom drama had elevated the stakes, but this stretch of golf is also a significant part of what the PGA Tour is working so hard to protect. FedEx is its mega-sponsor. This is the first event of the playoffs. The Tour’s best horses were all assembled for a big-time race. The tournament itself would be under extra scrutiny.

News

So it wasn’t great for the brand when Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth all missed the cut. Nor was it an obvious win when a relatively anonymous crop of pros led through 54 holes including J.J. Spaun, Sepp Straka and Trey Mullinax.

The biggest storylines through three-and-a-half rounds featured some mix of speculation, conspiracy and LIV. Cameron Smith’s no-comments when asked about his playing future in a Tuesday press conference led only to more questions. When Scheffler walked in front of him on a green during Thursday’s first round and Smith shot him a quizzical look, eager social media users jumped on it as a sign of the culture war. (It wasn’t; Smith and Scheffler laughed it off and almost staged another “incident” on Friday.) And Sunday morning Smith was retroactively handed a two-stroke penalty based off an improper drop he’d taken early in Saturday’s round. That, too, seemed more nefarious on the surface. (You can debate the tardiness of the call but not the validity of Smith’s violation.)

By week’s end, the PGA Tour did what it is set up to do: deliver an entertaining product en route to crowning a deserving champion. In this case, it found perhaps the most deserving champ of all. Will Zalatoris finished second place at last year’s Masters. He finished second place at this year’s Farmers. He lost the PGA in a playoff. He was one roll away from getting into another playoff at the U.S. Open. But he still hadn’t won a PGA Tour event. On the third playoff hole on Sunday, he filled the only remaining gap in his resume, pouring in a seven-foot putt and launching into a celebration that was part exuberance, part relief, all emotion as he shed tears beside the green.

“This is why we practice,” Zalatoris told the assembled media afterwards. “This tournament’s been here for 60 years. I was actually here earlier this week at Colonial Country Club and seeing Al Geiberger shoot 59, this tournament has some history to it. You know, every week that we’re out here there’s some story of history. I’ve wanted to chase history my entire career.”

Paul Azinger chose a pointed quote with which to sign off the broadcast.

“I can tell you, there is no amount of guaranteed money that can buy what he’s feeling right now,” he said.

It’s personal now. Everybody’s choosing sides.

WINNERS

Since we’re doing an abridged version of this week’s Monday Finish let’s keep it quick and run through a few golfers who deserve a shoutout.

There was Saki Baba, the 17-year-old who won the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Chambers Bay 11&9 in the 36-hole final, making 12 birdies in 27 holes to close out her opponent.

There was Chambers Bay itself, which showed tremendously in its biggest appearance since the 2015 U.S. Open.

There was Miguel Angel Jimenez, who said he would plan to celebrate his win at the Boeing Classic in style.

“Good cigar, of course. Good wine, good cigar — everything good, you know. The life is too short to have bad things.”

There was Maja Stark, who won the ISPS Handa by five shots thanks to a final-round 10-under 63 that set a course record at Galgorm Castle in Northern Ireland. The win earned her an invitation to join the LPGA Tour — one she’ll accept. The ISPS Handa was also a unique event because it was played concurrently with a men’s tournament on the DP World Tour. Shoutout also in order to Ewen Ferguson of Scotland, who won on the men’s side.

Tony Finau‘s winning streak came to a close but he logged a T5 finish alongside a group of big-timers including Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa and Matthew Fitzpatrick. Sepp Straka lost in a playoff but snapped a streak of horrendous play and seemed generally thrilled with how the week had gone. And Wyndham Clark survived a double on 14 and bogeys on 16 and 17 to barely sneak into next week’s field: His final-round two-over 72 left him in 70th place in the FedEx Cup standings, eligible for the BMW by a tenth of a point.

We’ll see you next week!

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The post Nick Faldo’s teary farewell, PGA Tour pros losing cards, how to make 8 | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

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Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where we have once again missed out on the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Let’s get to it!

FIRST OFF THE TEE

Making crooked numbers cool.

Ashleigh Buhai entered Sunday at the AIG Women’s British Open with a five-shot lead. It crumbled slowly, then quickly; first came the one-over 37 on the front nine, ceding ground to the competition. Then came a triple-bogey 7 on the par-4 15th, completely eliminating a three-shot lead. Our Sean Zak was there watching with her family as it happened. “I just want to cry,” said her aunt Mandy. Aunt Mandy, we get it!

Derailed trains don’t get back on the tracks. That’s how we understand struggling final-round leaders and it’s how we understand trains. But if we switch metaphors and modes of transportation, Buhai steadied the ship with a par at 16, nearly made birdie at 17 and made a solid two-putt par at 18 to force a playoff. Four holes later she made another unforced error, blocking her approach shot into the 18th green way right, where it settled awkwardly into the greenside bunker. But she responded with a delicious bunker shot that all but sealed it: As darkness fell over Muirfield, the 33-year-old was a major champion.

News

Tom Kim got his big number out of the way early when he began his Wyndham Championship with a quadruple-bogey 8. I understand the strategy; sometimes it’s nice to get a couple over par early on to calm the nerves. But I would have stopped with a simple double bogey. Quad seems like getting carried away.

You already know how it went from there. Kim birdied 3, 5 and 7 to turn in 1-over 36. Then he birdied four holes on the back nine to finish off an opening three-under 67. Friday he shot 64. Saturday he shot 68. But on Sunday he really got going, shooting eight-under 27 on the front nine. Let’s revisit that. On Sunday he shot eight-under 27 on the front nine. He made six birdies and an eagle. By the time he’d signed for a final-round 61 he was the winner by five shots over his nearest competitors, Sungjae Im and John Huh. If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, you’re exactly right: Kim could have made 12 on his first hole instead, just to make things exciting.

The lesson, as always: You’re not defined by your lowest moments, nor your worst holes. Instead you’re defined by your ability to make such a preposterous number of birdies on all the others that the quadruple bogeys are rendered effectively meaningless.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Tom Kim became a PGA Tour winner, became a PGA Tour member, became a FedEx Cup Playoff competitor and became the proud new owner of $1.31 million — all on Sunday afternoon! Oh, and he was born in 2002. The power of “I think I can….”

Ashleigh Buhai finished major championship season in style, and she deserves everything she gets after pulling off this shot more than an hour into the playoff, with a Monday Finish (shoutout to this column) looming if they’d had to play another playoff hole.

NOT-WINNERS

Four unlucky losers, in this case.

The Wyndham is significant because it marks the final opportunity for PGA Tour pros to improve their standing in the FedEx Cup, earning their cards or at least bettering their chances to keep significant status for next season. The basic breakdown goes like this: The top 125 keep their cards, Nos. 126-150 go to Korn Ferry Tour Finals plus keep conditional status (play in some PGA Tour events, when fields allow it) and Nos. 151-200 get a trip to Korn Ferry Finals. The focus understandably hovers around the No. 125-126 bubble, but there’s plenty of intrigue at No. 200, too.

Enter Sunday, when Kim torpedoed the front nine, setting himself up for a victory and a berth in the FedEx Cup playoffs. Because Kim wasn’t a PGA Tour member until now, his win thrust him into the standings for the first time.

That meant bad news for four interested onlookers. Any non-member who earns the equivalent of top-200 points also gets a berth in the Korn Ferry Finals, and four had earned an extremely precarious number: Chris Naegel, Rick Lamb, Anthony Quayle and Mattias Schmid each were between Nos. 199 (Jason Dufner, 58.757 points) and 200 (Jonas Blixt, 49.679 points) entering Sunday. But when Kim won, Dufner dropped a spot to No. 200, Blixt was out to No. 201 and those four were suddenly bounced alongside him.

Where this gets even thornier is that the FedEx Cup list has been adjusted to remove golfers who have left for LIV, but only those who have actually teed it up in a rival event. That means Bubba Watson, who has announced he’ll be joining LIV but is still returning from injury, remains on the list at No. 151, holding an extra spot he’s unlikely to use.

(Shoutout to guru Kevin Prise for getting this on our radar.)

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Nick Faldo’s farewell.

“I blew it!”

Thus began Nick Faldo’s final stretch of commentary on CBS on Sunday. Jim Nantz had just tossed it to him to close out the show, but Faldo found himself suddenly overcome with emotion.

“I was all ready,” he said, sobbing into his hands, attempting to collect himself. But then, suddenly, Faldo gathered his breathing and delivered a memory.

“I was in a boat in Ireland and they gave me a call and said ‘how’d you like to sit next to Jim Nantz?’ And I literally fell out of the boat, I really did. That was 2006, and here we are, 16 years later,” he said.

I found parts of CBS’s final half-hour rather awkward. It was difficult to balance the excitement of Kim’s maiden win with Faldo’s swan song. But the sum total reminded me of why we watch sports themselves. There was emotion, there was sentiment, there was unpredictability, there was pressure to perform in a final moment — and there was Faldo, trying to keep it together.

But he stuck the landing. He thanked those on set — “They put the pictures out, we do the rattling; we have an easy job” — and then managed one last golden line, referencing Nantz, Ian Baker-Finch and Frank Nobilo, who sat beside him. “I’m a single child and I’ve found, at 65, three brothers.”

The only real contract we as sports fans make with those that compete in and present us the games is that they care as much as we do. Faldo’s signoff resonated because he proved exactly that.

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

My local sushi place has a new policy, as of last week: they no longer serve fish. No fish! At a sushi place! I can’t stop thinking about this. Either they’ve decided to corner the plant-based sushi market, fish were too difficult and/or expensive to acquire or they decided to suddenly take a stand against the morality of eating fish. The latter would be the most interesting explanation but would also mark quite the 180-degree shift. I’ll see if I can get to the bottom of this.

WHAT’S NEXT

Three things to watch this week.

1. Lawsuit drama!

It’s Mickelson, et al vs. the PGA Tour and it’s coming to a Zoom courtroom near you! And I will gladly confess I have no idea how it will end.

2. FedEx Cup Playoffs!

Memphis in August, gang. It’s about to get hot.

3. Callum Shinkwin’s celebration.

You want emotional signoffs? We’ll give you emotional signoffs! Here’s Callum Shinkwin, DP World Tour winner.

We’ll see you next week!

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The post LIV gets political, world’s richest golfers, Tony Time again | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post LIV gets political, world’s richest golfers, Tony Time again | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where our new league, LUV Golf, is looking for funding. Reach out for details. Let’s get to the news!

FIRST OFF THE TEE

Golf has entered America’s Great Culture War.

If there is an enduring image from this week’s LIV Golf event at Trump Bedminster, it’s an assembled crowd of spectators chanting “Let’s Go Brandon” as former President Trump basked in their adulation, flanked by his son Eric, Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Fox News political commentator Tucker Carlson.

For the uninitiated, the chant had nothing to do with Branden Grace (although, to his credit, the South African is the unofficial leader of LIV’s money list, earning nearly $7 million through three events). Instead “Let’s Go Brandon” has become code for “F— Joe Biden,” and, well, you can read more about that backstory here.

That was hardly the only example of the weekend’s buzziest tournament turning into something of a political rally. LIV Commissioner Greg Norman egged on chants of “Four more years!” on at least one tee box. Trump was in constant contact with LIV players; he hosted 20 or so for dinner on Tuesday night, chatted them up at the pro-am party Wednesday, shook hands on the driving range, was a constant presence throughout the weekend and even greeted winner Henrik Stenson post-round.

News

It’s not just that it was a pro-Trump crowd. It was also, in part, an anti-PGA Tour crowd. Trump’s son Donald, Jr. underscored that sentiment when he tweeted a video of Stenson holing his winning putt.

“The greatest F/U in the history of Golf just happened,” he wrote. Stenson “liked” the tweet.

What a strange place we find ourselves! Nobody would have ever accused the PGA Tour, nor golf more broadly, of occupying any space in the left wing of America’s political spectrum. But Trump’s south Florida course was dropped by the PGA Tour in 2016 in the midst of a contentious presidential campaign. And in 2020, Trump’s New Jersey course was dropped by the PGA of America as PGA Championship host after the storming of the U.S. Capitol. Trump, who had always relished golf’s role in his life, felt scorned by its institutions. He had that in common with Norman, who had a decades-old bone to pick with the PGA Tour. The two were natural allies. Perhaps their union isn’t such a surprising development after all.

Getting Trump on board has brought additional attention to LIV, too. He’s popular with many professional golfers and with many of LIV’s early crop of defectors, including Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson, his pro-am playing partners on Thursday. And Trump’s endorsement of the breakaway circuit signaled to his followers that they, too, could turn on the PGA Tour. The way LIV has positioned itself even has some similarities to Trump’s own campaign. Traditionalists can’t believe its success. It’s been written off several times, only to survive. There’s no doubt LIV is still gaining momentum. And there’s an anti-establishment bent to the whole thing.

There are strange contradictions at play, of course. Here was the “America First” president hosting a Saudi-backed upstart tour that is threatening the future of the U.S.-based PGA Tour, drawing ethical ire for using the presidential seal in the process. Early LIVers who crowed about how they weren’t politicians were taking part in one of the more explicitly political sporting events in recent history. And while everybody likes talking about LIV, and those who have attended seem pleased with their experience, it’s still unproven how many people are or will be interested in watching it; YouTube viewership is averaging under 100,000 and declined from Portland to Bedminster, per one study. But the checks definitely keep clearing (more on that later) and the names will keep coming, too (more on that much later).

What’s the point? Golf is now a sport divided. Trump has aligned himself with the LIV tour. The “establishment” is aligned with the PGA Tour. To be clear, you don’t have to subscribe to one side of the divide or the other. You can like the PGA Tour and LIV. You can like President Trump and the PGA Tour. You can dislike President Trump and dislike LIV, too! I will leave all options available to you. But the battle lines seem to be hardening. And this was hardly a one-off — LIV’s team finale will go down at Trump Doral this October, just weeks before the U.S. votes in midterm elections.

Buckle up.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Tony Finau, again

Tony Finau won the Rocket Mortgage Classic, making it back-to-back PGA Tour wins after last week’s triumph at the 3M Open. Finau’s win almost counted double; he validated his showing in Minnesota as well as adding another trophy to his shelf. I can only imagine how relieved he felt returning home to celebrations in Utah on Sunday night, having doubled his career win total.

Do we expect more of Finau going forward? Sure. But a four-win career is already nothing to shake a stick at. And he doesn’t have to worry about accusations he can’t close after four back-nine birdies at the 3M and four more at the Rocket Mortgage. Plus there was this winner of a quote post-round:

Ayaka Furue, course record-holder

There’s winning and then there’s winning in style. Ayaka Furue did the latter at the Women’s Scottish Open, firing a course-record 10-under 62 in the final round to leapfrog the leaders and win her first LPGA title. Furue is just 22 years old and has already won seven times on the Japanese Tour. Now she has officially announced her game can travel, too — at least as far as Dundonald Links.

News

Sean Crocker, Corona drinker

Just a couple hours after Sean Crocker finished off his win at the Hero Open at the Fairmont St. Andrews, he ran into our own Sean Zak at the Dunvegan, the iconic pub just up the street from the Old Course. Crocker missed nine cuts in a row earlier this season. No doubt that only improved the taste of los cervezas on Sunday evening.

ALMOST-WINNERS

Patrick Cantlay had that look about him on Sunday in Detroit, making five birdies in his first eight holes and adding an eagle at No. 14 to get himself into contention in case Finau faltered. Finau didn’t falter, but still — after this ho-hum final-round 66 and a runner-up finish, it feels like we’re getting to Cantlay Szn.

Lydia Ko co-led heading to Sunday but couldn’t find a spark at the Women’s Scottish Open. She stalled out with a final-round 71 to finish T5, but now she’s on to more important matters at this week’s AIG Women’s Open.

Eddie Pepperell came on the Drop Zone podcast last week to talk about LIV but also to talk about where he’d lost track of his golf game. It appears just the process of talking about it was all the golf therapy he needed; Pepperell rallied for a T11 finish after our chat last week and then nearly won this week’s tournament, finishing solo second. His key to success? Eliminating practice rounds. (Yes, seriously.) We’ll gladly take all the credit, and you can listen to the rest of the interview below or on Apple Podcasts:

WHAT WE’RE SEEING

Golfers securing the bag.

Forbes released its list of the year’s 10 highest-earning golfers, measured from July 3, 2021 to July 3, 2022, providing a shocking reminder of just how much cash LIV has suddenly dropped into the professional golf ecosystem.

Phil Mickelson has had an interesting year. But per Forbes’ estimates, he’s come out ahead, at least financially. His $138 million windfall put him at No. 1 for an athlete in any sport and also helped him eclipse $1 billion in lifetime earnings.

While Mickelson was the only golfer to hit nine figures this season, Dustin Johnson ($97 mil) Bryson DeChambeau ($86 mil) and Brooks Koepka ($69 mil) are each LIV golfers who have experienced an influx in cash, too. So much so, in fact, that they’ve out-earned Tiger Woods, who sits in fifth place with $68 million in earnings, just $43,500 of which came on the golf course.

There are other non-LIVers on the list, including No. 6 Rory McIlroy ($43 mil) and No. 8 Jordan Spieth ($39 mil) but it’s jarring to see their names beside No. 7 Sergio Garcia ($42 mil) and No. 9 Patrick Reed ($37 mil) and something more than jarring to see No. 10 Charl Schwartzel ($34 mil) nipping at their heels.

You can see the complete list here.

WHAT’S NEXT

Three things to watch this week:

1. Tony Finau’s champion’s press conference

You already saw the quote from above. A bigger dose of Champion Finau should do you well.

2. Finau’s celebratory airport greeting

Your reminder that nobody on Tour can move like the champ:

3. The AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield

Get ready for what the locals will call a proper Open at a proper links course: historic Muirfield, which is welcoming the women for the first time. For a sneak preview, here are some snazzy visuals from the Fried Egg:

We’ll see you next week!

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The post Finau’s karma, Brooke’s win, Tiger’s Spanish surprise | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Finau’s karma, Brooke’s win, Tiger’s Spanish surprise | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where we’re trying to set up a big-money match against Charles Barkley. Let’s get to the week!

FIRST OFF THE TEE

Big Tone and the Seesaw of Luck.

Tony Finau entered the final round at the 3M Open in third place, five shots behind leader Scott Piercy. When Piercy birdied No. 2 and No. 6 to get five shots clear of the field, Finau seemed destined for another near-miss.

Finau is famous for these; going into Sunday he was the owner of just two PGA Tour victories but 10 runner-up finishes. And while he has always gotten grief for his final-round shortcomings, a review of his Sundays suggests he never actually collapses near the lead. He tends to play pretty well, just not well enough. And so he kept getting beaten.

What did this look like? At the 2020 Waste Management, he led by two with two holes to play. Then Webb Simpson birdied 17 and 18 to force a playoff — and then he birdied the first playoff hole, too. A year later, Finau began 2021 with a runner-up finish at the Farmers Insurance Open, then had another in his next start at the Saudi International, and then played the round of the day on Sunday at the Genesis Invitational, shooting 64 to force a playoff with Max Homa — which he lost. Was Finau’s second win ever going to happen?

But of course it was. When he went out and got a win at the 2021 Northern Trust, the discourse around Finau’s career suddenly changed. Surely now the floodgates would open. He was too talented not to keep winning.

Convenient storylines are often too convenient, though. It took some time for Win No. 3. Entering this week, Finau had logged just three top-10s in 2022: One T4 and, you guessed it, two second-place finishes.

So if there was anyone who deserved to be the beneficiary of a leader’s meltdown, it was Finau. Enter Piercy, who entered a major mid-round tailspin, making bogeys at 8, 9, 11 and 13 before going full implosion mode with a triple at No. 14. Finau had been five shots behind. By the time he got to No. 18, he was four shots ahead of the field — and five clear of Piercy.

“I never was near the lead,” he said. “I was near the top of the leaderboard, but I was never within four or five shots. All of a sudden I was the one leading the golf tournament.”

He took advantage of the four-shot cushion with a shaky tee shot into the water at No. 18. But a three-shot win was more than enough. Finau’s Sunday was the first step in taking back what he’s owed.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Brooke Henderson, national hero

This week’s undisputed champion: Brooke Henderson! The 24-year-old Canadian star gave away a two-shot lead with an early four-putt on Sunday at the Evian Championship. But then she bounced back with birdies at 14 and 15, setting up a walkoff birdie putt from just outside 10 feet at No. 18.

The win was her second major championship title and strengthened her grasp on the title of winningest Canadian golfer in history; Henderson has two wins this year, 12 in her LPGA career and now has another major trophy to go alongside hers from the 2016 KPMG.

Tony Finau, closer

How ’bout that back nine? It wasn’t just Piercy’s collapse that put Finau in the winner’s circle. It was birdie putts at 11, 14, 15 and 16 that added up to a final-round four-under 67, second-lowest round in the entire field.

“I mean, I made some really crucial putts when I really needed them,” he said. Sure did, Tone.

Richie Ramsay, emotional champion

If there’s one celebration worth watching from the weekend, it’s Scotland’s Richie Ramsay. The 39-year-old DP World Tour vet hadn’t won since 2015. Clearly he enjoyed this edition:

Karrie Webb, GOAT-beater

Over the years not many women have stared down an in-flow Annika Sorenstam and come out on top. But that’s what Aussie legend Karrie Webb did on Sunday, holding off Sorenstam by four strokes in the Senior LPGA Championship.

News

Darren Clarke, Open champ

In 2011, Darren Clarke won the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s. In 2022, he conquered the King’s Course at Gleneagles. It took a two-hour rain delay before Clarke claimed a one-shot victory over Padraig Harrington.

“As a kid I wanted to win the Open Championship,” he said post-round. “As a senior, this was always the one for me. This trophy will look good sitting beside the other one. I’m humbled and privileged to have my name on both alongside some legends of the game.”

OTHER WINNERS

Who else nearly won?

Sophia Schubert, almost-Cinderella

The 283rd-ranked player in the world, Sophia Schubert, nearly became a major champ but ultimately finishing one shot behind Henderson when her birdie putt at No. 18 went begging. She still felt like a winner, though, given her runner-up check for $586,262. That’s a nice supplement to her yearly earnings up to this point, which totaled $82,796.

“I want to cry tears of happiness,” she said.

James Hahn, playoff participant

The best round on Sunday at the 3M belong to James Hahn, who shot six-under 65. That was particularly consequential given his spot in the FedEx Cup; he entered the week at No. 133, outside the top 125 who make the playoffs. His T4 jumped him to No. 109, safely inside the bubble.

WHAT WE’RE HEARING

Tiger Woods’ return.

After missing the cut at the Open, Tiger Woods was opaque about his return to competitive golf. He acknowledged that to play his best golf he needs to play more — but the idea of actually playing more golf seemed, in that moment, completely overwhelming.

“I understand all that. I understand being more battle-hardened, but it’s hard just to walk and play 18 holes,” he said. “People have no idea what I have to go through and the hours of the work on the body, pre- and post-, each and every single day to do what I just did.

“That’s what people don’t understand. They don’t see. And then you think about playing more events on top of that — it’s hard enough just to do what I did.”

So what’s next for Woods? We got a couple hints this week. The first came via Lee Trevino, Woods’ playing partner on Monday of Open week. Here’s what he told Michael Breed on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio:

“You know, you’ve gotta take your hat off to this man,” he said. “If you watch him take a step, his ankle actually goes out. In other words, if he’s walking north his ankle will move east. And people don’t notice that, but I’m there watching this. And what happens to him, it’s no different, Michael, than a horse that’s a mile runner trying to go two miles. In other words, he’s okay the first few holes and then if fatigue starts setting in, he can’t push off the leg. … But for him to come back and play in those major championships, God bless him. God bless him. And he said he wasn’t gonna play again till the Father-Son. And he deserves that rest. He certainly does.”

The Father-Son refers to the PNC Championship, the family-oriented event in Orlando every December, where Woods and his son Charlie nearly triumphed last winter. That would mean a significant layoff; Woods would get the rest of July off plus August, September, October and November.

Woods’ caddie Joe LaCava provided some more specifics in an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show.

“I’m hoping that he’ll play, maybe in December at the Hero and the Father-Son, and then maybe the Genesis,” LaCava said. He added that he hoped Woods would play “three or four” tournaments before the 2023 Masters, a schedule that could include the Players Championship to help gear up for major season.

As for LaCava’s role in preparation?

“I won’t do much, I’ll do the same thing. I’ll say ‘Tiger, hey listen, if you’re starting to feel better in October or November, maybe I’ll come down for a couple of weeks [to Florida], we’ll hang out, don’t have to play every day, we don’t have to practice every day, I’ll be there and maybe give you a bit of motivation, we’ll do some playing practice here and there and get ready for the Hero and get ready for the following year of ’23 and get him ready in any respect that he needs.”

But if the preceding paragraphs give the impression of an infirmed Woods sitting around with his leg elevated, think again. That’s because Tiger and Charlie were photographed rolling into Son Quint, the newest course in Mallorca.

The fact that golf figures into the Woods family vacation — even if it comes cart included — seems like a good sign. Like many father-son combos before them, it’s likely Charlie helped drag his dad to the course, too.

WHAT’S NEXT

Three things to watch this week.

1. Eddie Pepperell, Drop Zone star guest

I got the chance to interview Eddie Pepperell, the self-aware veteran of the DP World Tour. He’s happy to speak out about just about anything and has been musing as of late on LIV’s future and what that means for the PGA and DP World tours. We also got into Pepperell’s search for his own game, his resistance to practice rounds, his dreams for the future and much more.

You can watch a snippet here or listen to the full interview on Spotify, Apple or in the embed below.

2. LIV comes to New Jersey.

We’ll enter a particularly strange chapter of the LIV era this week as golf and politics collide further at Trump Bedminster. What will the turnout be? Will people tune in to watch the livestream? And will there be further announcements coming? Former President Trump‘s role in the proceedings will be worth monitoring, too, as will updates from Charles Barkley, Gary McCord and more.

3. LPGA in the Linksland

This is a sweet swing on the LPGA, with pros heading from the Evian to this week’s stop at true links test Dundonald for the Scottish Open. Then it’s off to Muirfield for the AIG Women’s Open. If you’re opting out of the LPGA vs. PGA Tour battle, dive all in on the ladies Scottish Swing.

We’ll see you next week!

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The post Twilight Tiger, early St. Andrews arrivals, Open’s hottest pro | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Twilight Tiger, early St. Andrews arrivals, Open’s hottest pro | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where we just flew from Seattle to Edinburgh — and boy are our arms tired. Let’s get to it!

FIRST OFF THE TEE

Twilight at St. Andrews.

Time will tell what emerges as this Open Championship’s signature moment. But as far as enduring images go, it’s going to be tough to beat Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas walking the Old Course’s back nine in the fading light on Saturday night, chipping and putting their way around the most hallowed undulations in golf.

We’ve gotten used to seeing new sides of Woods in recent years, but this was our first look at the carefree-golf-until-it’s-so-dark-you-can’t-see Woods. This version has acknowledged this might be his last chance to be competitive at St. Andrews and is seizing each day accordingly. That’s how he and Thomas ended up on the 18th hole in the dark like two kids squeezing every minute out of a midsummer round.

Thomas posted a photo from the 18th green taken at 10:38 p.m. A day later he described the experience to Golf Channel‘s Ryan Lavner. “It was so sick, man,” Thomas said, explaining what we know to be true: this sort of outing wouldn’t happen anywhere else. “It was really cool.”

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Xander Schauffele’s momentum

Just how important was it for Xander Schauffele to notch a PGA Tour win at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago?

“Yeah, just to get over the hump, honestly, it was big. It was a team win and it was incredible to share that with them. We’ve shared other team wins together and it definitely was a kickstarter for me as you can tell.”

The reason we could tell is because Schauffele was saying those words from another winner’s press conference at the Genesis Scottish Open. In between the Travelers and the Scottish, Schauffele snuck in a win at the 36-hole JP McManus Pro-Am in Ireland. Three weeks, three countries, three trophies. Hell of a way to enter Open Championship week.

Carlota Ciganda, wire to wire

Spanish star Carlota Ciganda began Sunday’s final round at the Estrella Damm Ladies Open up four shots. By the time she double-bogeyed No. 9, that lead had turned into a one-shot deficit.

Not for long! Ciganda birdied No. 12, eagled No. 16 and birdied No. 17 on the way in, more than enough firepower to offset a couple bogeys as she posted a four-round total of 18 under par to win by two. The win was her sixth on the LET.

Trey Mullinax, first-timer

A victory at the Barbasol is sending Trey Mullinax to the Open Championship. It exempts him through the 2023-24 season on the PGA Tour. It marks his first career PGA Tour win. And it was a hell of an ending, too:

For more on Mullinax’s story — and his comeback from a freak Pro-Am injury — you can read it here.

Jerry Kelly’s birdies

One came at No. 16. Another came at No. 17. Together they sealed the deal for Jerry Kelly‘s second career Senior Players Championship, which he claimed at Firestone Country Club on Sunday after a final-round 68. He beat Steve Stricker by two.

Tony Romo, celebrity champ

Former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo emerged from a three-way playoff over Joe Pavelski and Mark Mulder at the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe to win the high-profile celebrity event. Romo birdied the first and second playoff holes to clinch his third title in the event, where he also won in 2018 and 2019, and would have earned $125,000 in the process but for his amateur status. His winnings went to tournament charities instead.

OTHER WINNERS

Good times for these guys, too.

Justin Thomas’ missed cut

I doubt Thomas had any intention of shooting 73-77 and missing the cut at the Genesis Scottish Open. But the aforementioned weekend at St. Andrews seemed like a pretty good consolation prize.

Final Open Championship qualifiers

Kurt Kitayama finished second at the Genesis Scottish Open. Brandon Wu and Jamie Donaldson finished T6. Under Open qualifying rules, the tournament’s top three finishers not already exempt made it through, provided they finished in the top 10.

Joohyung Kim, rising star

The world’s newest top-40 player was born in 2002. That would be 20-year-old Joohyung Kim, who turned pro at the ripe age of 15 and starred on the Korean and Asian tours. Sunday at the Renaissance Club he proved his game travels, firing a final-round 67 to finish solo third and earn the most world ranking points of his young career.

Patrick Cantlay, friend and rival

If Schauffele keeps winning every week, we’re guessing Patrick Cantlay might eventually stop being happy for him. But not yet. That’s largely because Cantlay’s playing well, too, with three top-fours and four top-15 finishes in his last six starts, including a T4 on Sunday. It’s fitting that the two are neighbors in the World Ranking now at Nos. 4 and 5.

NOT-WINNERS

Maybe next week?

The almost-qualifiers

Young Danish star Rasmus Hojgaard and young American star Alex Smalley were in position to snag one of those Open Championship qualifying spots until each found trouble at the brutish par-4 18th on Sunday. Both ultimately making 5s to finish a single shot behind Donaldson and Wu.

Jordan Spieth

To be clear, Spieth did exactly what he needed to do in the lead-up to the Open Championship. He worked his way into contention and did a bunch of magical Spieth things. But he didn’t quite get a dream ending to his tournament; he birdied No. 13 to get within a shot of the lead and then promptly made double bogey at the short par-3 14th. He slid to T10.

Greg Norman and the R&A

This week’s Open Championship celebrations won’t feature a certain 67-year-old two-time champion after Greg Norman was disinvited by the R&A.

Who wins here? Nobody! Had Norman chosen to appear, he would have been a sideshow. But not including him serves as a concrete reminder that professional golf’s rift has now affected its most storied and powerful institutions.

WHAT WE’RE SEEING

Pros showing up early.

Just how early do major championships start these days?! Our GOLF.com Scotland bureau spotted Justin Rose out for a round on the Old Course a couple weeks ago, which didn’t seem particularly crazy — scouting missions to major championship sites are plenty common. But Phil Mickelson showed up to St. Andrews last Thursday. Woods and Thomas each walked 18 on Saturday and Sunday. Several LIV defectors including Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau showed up early, too, making the most of their disbarment from the Genesis Scottish Open.

What do we make of this? Not much, except the obvious: This week means a lot. Whoever wins will own an Old Course Open and they’ll own the 150th Open title and they’ll own a hard-earned win against competition that has been here all week and more.

WHAT WE’RE HEARING

A firm, fast St. Andrews.

Without high winds or severe weather, plenty are wondering if St. Andrews will prove too simple a test for the modern game. One rebuttal: who cares? By all on-site accounts the course is running firm and fast, a combo that will demand both creativity and precision. Wherever the final score ends up with respect to par, the course looks perfect. We can expect that whoever wins will have negotiated a proper test the most effectively.

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

GOLF’s Seattle bureau is transferring to St. Andrews for the week, which is a delight. I’ve never been to Scotland. I’ve been to one Open Championship, at Portrush in 2019, and it was a smashing success with one exception: I got some horrific food poisoning Saturday night, which somewhat marred my enjoyment of Shane Lowry‘s Sunday triumph. I’m hoping to avoid that this time around.

WHAT’S NEXT

3 things to watch this week.

1. Tiger Woods’ gait.

We’ll get another reminder this week of Woods’ new normal, which means a mix of good and bad. If you’re a pessimist you’d say he hasn’t looked overly spry walking St. Andrews in his practice rounds thus far. But if you’re an optimist you’d point out he just walked 36 holes in less than 24 hours and was still swinging by the end. His approach to this week is already different than his approach to the Masters and the PGA — we’ll see how it works this time ’round.

2. PGA Tour-LIV dynamics

By and large, I expect pros from all tours will get along just fine and dandy. That’s the golf way. But there has been some tough talk on both sides by now, and some pretty clear lines drawn in the sand. So it will be interesting to see how the R&A handles groupings and how early-week chatter affects player dynamics. This is high-stakes stuff, after all.

3. Xander Schauffele, hot hand.

Entering the Masters, Scottie Scheffler’s form seemed too good to be true — but then he won. Could Schauffele do the same thing this week, banishing talk of his lack of majors in the process? Or did he peak one week early? There’s only one way to find out…

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