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Welcome back to Finish Monday, where we recommend frying up some cod and pouring Guinness for the perfect read. Let’s go to her!
First off the tee
Rory’s moment.
like Rory McIlroy He walked to the seventeenth tee at the Genesis Scottish Open, one shot Robert McIntyre Leading the club, his mind went back a decade.
He said he found his mind wandering at the 2013 Australian Open. As he walked to that 17 tee was the comeback of one local legend Adam Scott. then?
“I drilled a great putt on 17 in order to stay one behind on the last play, then he made a bogey and I made birdie and managed to cut him with a shot,” he recalled.
Now here he is, 10 years later, playing a different national championship, with a nod to a different local legend. DataGolf gave it 4 percent an opportunity of winning, given that he was playing two of the toughest holes on the course. But then McIlroy shaved a five-iron in Grade 3 from 17 to five feet. He made the slam dunk. And then hit a breathtaking flying iron in the wind down to 10 feet by 18.
McIlroy said afterwards: “The two iron shots I hit, 5 irons in the 17th and then 2 irons in the last there, are two of the best iron shots I can remember, especially under the circumstances”.
As if to emphasize the impression of McIlroy’s 18th hole, Playing Partners Tommy Fleetwood And Tom Kim They worked their way to double bogey, effectively icing McElroy as he mused the 10-footer. What was he thinking while he was waiting?
“I was just trying to take in the scene,” he said. “Everyone around the green—you know, I could do that to try and fulfill my childhood dreams, I guess. So to be in the green in that environment, and whenever I tried to smell the roses along the way, that’s what I was trying to do. I was just trying Capturing the scene and doing anything so I wouldn’t think about the slam dunk I was going to try to hit.”
Then I entered.
The winners
Who won the week?
by winning, McIlroy He became the first player in history to win The Open Championship, Irish Open, and Scottish Open. He’s also ensured he’ll be the betting favorite this week at Hoylake – although that unwanted pressure or useful confidence is still TBD.
Lynn Grant She was victorious at the Dana Open, marking her first career LPGA win in fashion. Leading by six heading into the final round, she shot a 68 and won three, putting up the point by hitting the green at number 5 in the 18th while the group ahead of her still lay. The two-stroke jumper was a suitable way to finish.
Nelly Korda She won the Ladies European Tour at the Aramco Series event held in Centurion outside London. The win was important for Korda, who has progressed after each Tour, winning for the first time in any Tour in 2023 and now has 13 world wins. He was also important because of what he represented to the larger world of golf. Korda chose to play the LET event instead of the LPGA’s Dana Open. The series is sponsored by Aramco (Saudi Arabia’s national oil company) and the Public Investment Fund (Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund) and was played at Centurion (which just hosted a LIV event). It’s another reminder that while the world of men’s professional golf is working its way through the PIF-Tour negotiations, the LET and LPGA Tours are already deep. Could we see Aramco and the Public Investment Fund sponsoring similar events by men in 2024 or 2025?
And Vincent Norman He won the Barbasol Championship, Kentucky’s PGA Tour counterpart event. He bogeyed the 18th hole in regulation but his first playoff par was enough to put him down Nathan nobody. While Grant’s win was the latest in a continuing wave of Swedish women’s golf success, Norman’s win is the first on the PGA Tour since 2017.
Then there Steve Currywhich deserves a shout out just because, well…
Almost winners
Ooh boy.
Robert McIntyre He played an impressive 17 holes before hitting the 18th tee – and then followed that up with one of the shots of the year. He made a birdie putt, finished with an impressive innings of 64, then was drowned out by the roar of the home crowd on his way off the field.
“I’ll never forget it. I had to take the 18th minute. I mean — that’s why I play this sport,” he said. “That’s why I’m in the Scottish Open, and if not, the Scottish Open is up there with the event I want to play for the rest of my life. It’s one I’ve been dreaming of winning since I watched it at home, and today I thought I’d land once I fly 18.” Generic, I thought, that might be the thing.
“But it won’t be just now, for many years to come.”
Scotty Scheffler, Ben Ann And David Lingmerth T3 finished. For Scheffler, it was his fifth (!) Fifth (!) In a row. Lingmerth has already scored five 11th-place finishes or better since the start of the season but has not made the cut in his last seven starts. Lingmerth, Ann W Nicholas Hoggard (T6) He made his way to The Open Championship where the three lowest scorers didn’t actually qualify.
Alice’s body She wasted no time in propping up her win at the US Women’s Open – she shot the lower final round of the day on Sunday at the Dana Open and finished as a sole runner-up.
“Yeah, I felt like my game was in a really good place. Just didn’t put four solid rounds together until, obviously, last week and this week,” she said, still an underrated champion.
Non-winners
Not everyone can!
Disappointing discounts were lost to Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Jordan Spieth, Sungjae M, Justin Rose, Adam Scott And, well, whoever missed the cut is probably disappointed. Additional preparation open to them! If there is any consolation, Colin Morikawa He finished T71 at the 2021 Scottish Open and then won the following week. Plus Cameron Young And Victor Hofland MC was last year and then placed second and fourth in the World Open, respectively. And Guy Monahan is back in action this week after a tough week last week. Clearly, his players are ready to demand some answers.
what we read
Senate documents.
What did we learn from the Senate hearing and the appearance of two of the tour’s representatives? If, like me, you don’t watch a lot of Senate hearings, you learned more about how these work, too. It certainly seems like a mixed bag. From a golf perspective, we’ve mostly learned how the beginnings of the PGA Tour-PIF deal came to be, from the involvement of Yasir Al-Rumayyan to Jimmy Dunn to Rory McIlroy to Guy Monahan and more. I wrote about it here if you want more; Otherwise, I will keep this space clear of hearing aids.
Training corner
short term shift.
in mid-June, Robert McIntyre He shook his team by regaining the lost joy.
“I didn’t enjoy playing golf. Everyone probably saw that.” Scotsman. Look at his past. replace it Mike Thompsonhis enclosure for nearly three years, with Greg Milnethe caddy that helped him earn 2019 Rookie of the Year honors on the DP World Tour.
“We were new to touring and just thought ‘hook it up and enjoy the world’. That’s what we’ve done and that’s what we’re trying to get back at.”
He also replaced it Simon Shankswho was his swing coach for a year, with Coach David Burnswith whom he had worked before then.
But only the first change stuck.
Changing the case was the right connection, MacIntyre says, referring to it as “permanent.” As for his coach?
“I changed coaches there for two and a half weeks, and then I thought in my head, ‘This isn’t the time or place to do it now,'” he said.
McIntyre made the difficult phone call to reunite Shanks. It didn’t take long for it to have a positive effect; He argued Made in Himmerland and ended up on T4. this week?
He said after Sunday ’64 “I’m really proud of myself. Me, Greg and the whole team are behind me. I’ve put a lot of work in the last five or six weeks with all the changes going on in my squad; the confidence to come back to Shanks when I really need him.”
This was a poor admission. The act of returning to Shanks was a poor admission on its own.
“I’m happy and smiling, Greg [Milne] He did a great job of making me happy and smiling. And you know what? We can play good golf from there.”
So far, so good.
In other training news, we turn to Butch Harmon the last pupil. Turning Ricky Fowler into a winner was one thing. Transformation Steve Curry Making an ace, draining an eagle, and a highlight reel champion is another thing entirely.
(my colleague Claire Rogers That was all.)
News from Seattle
Monday finish HQ.
I arrived at the SeaTac with a 50+ pound golf travel bag (equipment, clothes, extra clubs for my friends, etc.) desperately hoping for some leeway from the good folks at Air Canada. The gentleman who checked me in saw I was going to Manchester and asked if I was tracking the Scottish Open. In short, he didn’t put the bag on the scale, I just rolled it to the huge drop off and now, golf gods will, it will be there when I get to baggage claim.
What then
5 things to watch this week.
1. Scotty at the World Open
Scotty Scheffler He finished in the top five in seven consecutive starts. He’s finished in the top 12 – get this – 19 events in a row. He finished T10-T2-3 in this year’s majors. He has a significant lead in the Official World Golf Ranking. Actually you will feel mistake If he finished the year without majoring. But this is the game…
2. Brooks at the Open
Brooks Koepka Finished T2 in Masters. He won the PGA. He finished T17 at the US Open. In other words, Major Brooks is back, he’s among the most compelling golfers every time we do one of these and we’d be foolish to count him. As for his open resume? He had two straight top-six finishes before the injured version of himself missed the cut last year.
3. Rory at The Open
The tragic subtext of Rory McIlroyHis career right now is such that whatever he’s accomplishing — FedEx Cup championships, Players Championships, the PGA Tour, flying another iron perfectly — only increases the demand for him to win another major. This does not mean that they are meaningless on their own. It’s just another major that would amplify everything he’s accomplished in the nine years since last. McIlroy won the last major championship played at Hoylake. What do you think about that too?
4. John Rahm in The Open
At any time we forgot Jon Rahm In the past few years, it hasn’t taken him long to remind us of his presence. We’re now six takes away from Rahm’s Masters win, and he hit us with some misdirection on his final start, a cut lost in the Travellers. But he still has six wins in his last 19 matches. Will the other one be too shocking?
5. Cam Smith at The Open
our open champion, Cameron Smith, He finished T9 in the PGA Championship. He finished fourth at the US Open. He just won at LIV London. If he’s been driving relatively well at Hoylake, there’s every reason to believe he’ll be in the mix.
Last thing to watch: this site! I will be on the property starting late Monday morning. We’ll have comprehensive (borderline comprehensive?) coverage of the event all week.