We’re farther away from World No. 1 than ever in this Monday Finish. Let’s talk about golf!
THINGS FOR GOLF I LOVE
It’s Nelly Korda, Scottie Scheffler, and something else.
Late Sunday night, Nelly Korda‘s coach Jamie Mulligan called me back. He was at the Houston airport, drinking a celebratory drink. He was dry from jumping into (the new) Poppie’s Pond, but he was still feeling good about having his dream come true. That’s what Korda’s win on Sunday stood for. It was her fifth straight win and the second major of her career. A fantasy.
She said, “To win that big trophy is everything I’ve ever wanted since I was a little girl.”
I sent Mulligan a message asking him an easy but impossible question: what’s the difference? He has worked with Korda for a number of years. A few years ago, Korda was a great player, but she wasn’t like this now. What’s different?
He took a break.
He said, “There isn’t really a difference.” “She just wants to be simple in her own bubble.” Still, it’s the same. More efficient and cleaner.”
He said that Korda’s shots at goal kept the lead from getting smaller. The short iron into the 17th hole, which is a par 3. The first and second shots into the last par-5. The way they asked for different things and how she gave them.
“Think of a ship,” Mulligan said next. “She’s thrown things off the ship.” Things she didn’t need. At the moment, the ship is making good progress.
The phrase “Mulligan’s Line” made me think of a different way someone had described a different player. Men’s No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was almost the winner at the RBC Heritage when play was stopped for the day on Sunday night. That was Max Homa on him.
Homa said, “Scottie is very smart, great at what he does, and a better person.” “I wish I could dislike him. In spite of that, what he does is not completely shocking. He does it over and over again. That’s really cool. I think he almost makes it sound like a good idea for us to do that. It looks like he plays golf every day at the driving range.
As of right now, there’s more to say about professional golf, especially about the two players, Korda and Scheffler, who are on historic runs.
There is more to say about the fact that Scheffler has won four of the five races and come in second place in the fifth. Korda has won five races in a row. By the way, this doesn’t happen very often on either the LPGA or the PGA Tour, but it’s happening on both right now.
When it comes to the professional game, there is a lot of negative talk going on. We focus too much on money, ratings, and that dreaded word “the product” and not enough on excellence. Of how they make their rivals look weak and normal. That’s what being great does. This weekend was even better than usual. That’s something to be proud of. We like that golf stuff.
THE OTHER WINNERS
Who else won this week?
The Masters moment for Max Homa
There was a good moment before the bad one.
For the first time ever in a major, Max Homa was in the running last week. The Masters was a big tournament, and Homa was in second place. He knew he had a chance to win, so he hit what is probably the tournament’s most famous shot, the tee shot at No. 12. The ball flew off the green, hit the worst place it could have, and bounced forward into the ivy, giving him a double bogey that would keep him from even making the cut.
That was a bad time.
How about the good one?
Homa said at the RBC this week, “Walking on Sunday from 11 tee to 12 green.” “Before Saturday, a good friend told me I needed to stop and enjoy what I do, because I’ve seen some bad parts of professional golf.” That’s why I made sure to smile over the weekend. Joe, Homa’s caddie, kept telling me that we were having the best time ever. Thank you, and then get back to work. “Every day I tried to walk up to the 12th tee with my eyes up and scan the crowd.” When I walked up to that tee, I got a standing applause, and I just tried to stare at it for as long as I could and enjoy it.
We also got it on Saturday. There’s something really cool about walking up to the 12th tee.
I guess your times are what you make them. Homa made a good choice.
Scheffler’s tavern trip
Scottie Scheffler said he was shocked by how much he wanted to win the Masters when he woke up on Sunday. He wished he didn’t feel that way. Who wants more stress? He won in the end, though.
He said to a group of reporters, who probably haven’t been through that particular sports feeling, “It’s kind of weird living through times in your life where you’ve dreamed about having moments like that and then all of a sudden they’re happening.” “So having some good friends over on Sunday to celebrate and enjoy the moment was really fun.” We’ve been through a lot together with those guys over the last eight to ten years, so it was really special to be able to celebrate something great with them this time.
This was the last thing he did before going home to Dallas to be with his wife Meredith, who was nine months pregnant. He said that the media’s focus on the fact that his first child was going to be born soon was too much. She instead led the charge into town. She took them.
Scheffler laughed and said, “I don’t know if I’d actually been to that place before.” He went to a bar around the corner, but “shockingly,” Scheffler said, it wasn’t open at 1:30 a.m. Monday.
I was on the plane home with my manager Blake, my coach Randy, and four good friends. I don’t remember who suggested it, but it seemed like a good idea. When Meredith picked us up at the airport, it still seemed like a good idea, and Meredith was down, so we went for about 20 minutes and then went home. Took some pictures, drank some alcohol, and then went home and to bed,” Scheffler told them.
I said, “That was more for Meredith, and then I thought, “Okay, it ends at 2:00.” Perhaps Meredith drank her last Heineken Zero, at which point we were ready to leave.
The chip on Wyndham Clark’s shoulder
If Monday ends the same way Sunday did, Wyndham Clark will finish second again this season, this time to Scottie Scheffler. Clark doesn’t seem like the type of player who cares much about extra points, but this one felt good. It came right after a bad missed cut at the Masters. It was a 65 in the last round. It happened on a golf course where he had heard people say he wasn’t good enough to play.
What Clark said, “I feel like I’ve worked so hard on my game to be able to play at any golf course. When you get to a place like Harbour Town, it’s not a bomber’s golf course, but I’d like to think my game is more refined than just hitting it far, wedge it close, and play the par-5s well.” “Yeah, so courses like this give me a little push to show that I can play any type of golf course and be really good at it. I can hit the ball straight and do other things like that.”
The mission was completed. But there is still room for growth.
Maja Stark, water-dodger
This quote from Chevron runner-up Maja Stark made me smile. She was happy that she hadn’t made a big deal out of herself.
She said, “I don’t think I’ve hit a ball into the water this week because there’s so much water.” “It was like the water was pulling my ball to it because I would say, ‘Oh no, don’t go there,’ but then I would mess up and go there.'”
Not this week, though. Stark stayed close to the lead on Sunday by starting the day steadily and hitting pars on all 12 holes. After that, she made birdies on three of the last six holes. It was not enough. But it was by far the young Swede’s best finish in a major. Stark and her countrywoman Linn Grant are both 24 years old, and Ludvig Åberg is also fresh off of a major runner-up win.
Something is right with the Swedes. Such as staying away from water.
That shot…
Jasmine Koo is a beginner who is 18 years old. She did great at the Chevron and finished in T13. One thing that would have kept her from being so far ahead, though, was this one-of-a-kind brand activation:
DO NOT-WINNERS
It’s not their week.
Tom Hoge and his pricey 9
It rained, blew, and got dark at Hilton Head, making it less than ideal for players to finish their last rounds. They were eager for a clean finish and to not have to go back on Monday morning. But No. 18 is a beast into the wind, and as the afternoon went on, the average score went through the roof.
Now come Tom Hoge.
The 18th tee was Hoge’s turn. He was 14 under par for the tournament and was trying to finish in the top five. What about instead? Hoge’s first tee shot went out of bounds. He also hit his final approach shot into the danger zone. Hoge soon had a four-footer for triple bogey in front of him. He missed it, tapped in for 9, and was so shocked that he walked around shaking hands with everyone.
When it comes to the FedEx Cup, Hoge is in the top twenty. He has a lot of money. Still, trying for 71 holes to finish in the top five at a Signature Event and then being kicked out on the 72nd hole and ending up tied for 18th place with 10 other golfers has to hurt. It’s going to cost him around $500,000.00. He will lose a lot of points for that. You get the point: that’s not how you want to waste your Sunday.
Nick Dunlap’s start in the pros
Nick Dunlap was going to become a pro, of course. He had played golf for Alabama, that’s true. He made golf history, though, when he won the American Express as an amateur. That got him into the PGA Tour’s Signature Events for the rest of the year.
How’s things been since then? Not very good. In his next race, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he came in last. He did not make the cut at the Genesis Invitational. He tied for 48th place at Bay Hill and didn’t make the cut at the Players Championship. After that, he missed the cut at the Masters as well. This week, he came in last at Hilton Head. He got a T11 finish at the Houston Open, but things aren’t going well with the Siggies.
Why bother? Not much, just the fact that it’s rough here. In the big game, there are different kinds of stress. Different rhythms. A golf game that looks good doesn’t always live up to its hype. I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of Dunlap in the years to come. Since that first wild win, things haven’t been easy.
Rory and the gang
Rory McIlroy is still the world’s number two player. But what that really means is that he’s in charge of a group of players that Scheffler easily beats. There is still hope. McIlroy didn’t finish in the top 30 at Hilton Head, and he talked about why he enjoys golf even though it’s discouraging and inspiring at the same time.
He said, “I think I’m enjoying the challenge more than anything else.” “Don’t think I’m quite at the top of my game. But I’m set on sort of getting on top of it. Yes, I like the task right now and I like trying to figure it out.
McIlroy specifically talked about how his club play felt weaker than that of his playing partner Ludvig Aberg on Thursday and Friday.
He said, “I hit the ball pretty well off the tee.” “And look, I can see that my iron play is getting a little better, but it’s still not there. Playing with someone like Ludvig, who is in complete control of his game right now, makes me realize that I need to take a little more control of my game. Once I do that, I’ll feel a little more confident in my swings.”Right now, it’s just a process, but I’m working on it.
Monday is over.
Monday Finishes on Tour, on the other hand, are better left alone. The PGA Tour knew bad weather was coming, so why didn’t they move up tee times? How did we get here? A mix of the chosen TV window and overly optimistic weather forecasts. This is what Gary Young, the Tour’s SVP of Rules and Competitions, said:
“The golf course was really dry.” We were sure that they could handle it. What really broke us down was the thunder and lightning, even though it held up pretty well in the rain. That wasn’t what we expected. Our meteorologist Stewart Williams thought that when we got here in the morning, the front would be to our south. This would put us on the cooler side of the front, which would make thunderstorms much less likely. “Unfortunately, when we got here this morning, the front had stalled to our north, which put us on the warmer side and let the temperatures rise, and of course, thunderstorms formed later in the day.”
They did, for sure. “Kelly Norda”
Oh, man.
NEWS FROM SEATTLE THIS MONDAY Finish the HQ.
Now that the NBA and NHL playoffs are over and the Kraken are out of the running, it’s time to join the excited people of Seattle in their one true goal: getting a basketball team back to town. Guys, the Sonics are coming. It will happen soon.
WHAT COMING UP?
This week, watch these three things.
1. The Irish go to Paris.
Rory McIlroy is the main event at the Zurich Classic. He and Shane Lowry should say they’re going to have a good time. For McIlroy, will his game work?
2. Adelaide, Part II
What exciting things will happen when LIV comes back to Australia?
People said that LIV Golf’s game in Adelaide was a huge success. What now?
3. Nelly shoots six
Yes, she is playing again this week at the JM Eagle LA Championship. No rest for tired people. People who win can’t rest.
See you next week!
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