When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Fallon: "You're the greatest golfer right now in the world, I would say."
McIlroy: "So would I," with a smile.
Then Fallon asked if he was from Northern Ireland and it sounded like we were going to get into the "cultural identity" mess, but thankfully Fallon hit the turn signal and kept it light.
Quoting Melissa Reid extensively, James Corrigan files an emotional Telegraph piece on the eve of the Ricoh Women's Open Championship where the English golfer opens up about her completely understandable struggles with grief following her mum's tragic death in May and a tournament win in June.
The nadir came at last month’s Irish Open at Killeen Castle. It was too much to take. At the same venue the year before she had been a member of the Europe Solheim Cup team that beat America and her mother had played a full part in the celebrations.
The memories ganged up on Reid. “I was really, really struggling, she said. “I’ve always thought I’m good at blocking things out, but obviously not something like this. It was after eight holes when my caddie, Johnny, looked at me and said ‘do you want to go in’. I said ‘yeah’. And he said ‘come on let’s go, you don’t have to prove anything to anybody’.”
Reid tees off Thursday at 11:30 ET with Sandra Gal and Anne-Lise Caudal.
She is headed to LPGA Tour school this fall to try and earn her card.
Stephen Hennessey with the details of Arnold Palmer's ceremony today on Capitol Hill to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.
John Boehner summed up The King quite nicely:
"He didn't set out to change the game. But he did. Arnold Palmer democratized golf. And made us think that we too could go out and play, and made us believe we could do anything really. All we had to do was go out and try," said Speaker of the House John Boehner, one of a number of politicians who helped honor Palmer in a cermony in the Rotunda of the Capitol building.
"You've struck our hearts and our minds, and today your government and fellow citizens are striking the Golf Medal for you."
The braintrust at William Hill installed 15-year-old Lydia Ko at 25-1 for the Women's Open Championship, making her a joint 10th favorite.
Judging by the glowing praise from her colleagues as quoted in Alistair Tait's story, no one is counting her out.
“You can’t quite believe how good she is at 15,” said Scotland’s Catriona Matthew, the 2009 Women’s British Open champion. “Just the composure she showed on the last day. She actually went away from the field. It’s slightly embarrassing to be beaten by a 15-year-old. She’s obviously a fantastic player with huge potential.”
Believe it or not, Doug Ferguson has filed yet another rave review for the FedExCup and it includes a nice mention of all the fawning (well, rear-end-kissing) texts Tim Finchem received for the BMW Championship leaderboard (any follow-up texts today congratulating him on a 2.5 rating that would indeed edge out a poker championship on ESPN).
Thankfully, Randall Mell points out this year's ridiculous oddity and the overall awkward nature of the cup: Louis Oosthuizen can finish second this week and win the Reset Cup without winning any playoff tournaments.
Now, in an alternate universe where the bar is a bit higher than merely celebrating a gathering of stars no matter how silly the competition, we look for ways to actually make this competition appealing to a wider audience.
Gary Van Sickle's suggestion for an aggregate FedExCup continues to appeal despite one (not deadly) flaw: season-long points don't mean much besides getting you in the playoffs. However, the issue of trying to reward good play during the regular season could be remedied and that's not important right now. (It's easy to visualize a stroke-based system that rewards the top players and penalizes the bottom feeders.)
Seeing as how we are through three playoff stages with only the Tour Championship at East Lake next week, Jim McCabe updates us on the leaderboard for those who have played all three playoff events (Dufner and Garcia therefore are DQ'd).
Here are the top 10 (McCabe lists more and has more plus some other good playoff notes worth checking out):
• Rory McIlroy, 41 under
• Dustin Johnson, 36 under
• Tiger Woods, 34 under
• Louis Oosthuizen, 34 under
• Phil Mickelson, 31 under
• Lee Westwood, 31 under
• Brandt Snedeker, 25 under
• Ryan Moore, 24 under
• Adam Scott, 24 under
• Nick Watney, 19 under
How would this not be a more interesting race to follow at East Lake along with the Tour Championship itself? Two tournaments going at once and every fan can understand scores to par. And as Van Sickle has proposed, perhaps a five-stroke credit for winning a playoff event to, gulp, incentivize the boys.
More important, would this be fan friendly?
When the PGA Tour's dynamic video scoreboards take a break from showing ads or telling us who the host professional is, they could easily tell us where the tournament and FedExCup stand. Right? And wouldn't the entire affair have more credibility with fans if they could actually understand what is going on? Or is the fan that low on the list of the insulated world of the PGA Tour that they simply do not care about that aspect of the Reset Cup?
Ron Sirak puts Rory's "cultural identity" issue into perspective by comparing it to other athletics-meets-politics situations.
There are precious few athletes who have been able to link principle -- their private self -- with their profession their public self. Jackie Robinson was thrust into it when he was selected to integrate baseball in 1947. Muhammad Ali chose it when he opposed the war in Vietnam War in the 1960s and was blacklisted from professional boxing for nearly four years.
Michael Jordan -- who famously refused to back a Democrat for governor of North Carolina in 1990 by saying "Republicans buy shoes, too," -- and Tiger Woods have chosen to keep their personal opinions far removed from their public self.
Rory McIlroy and I grew up about 50 miles and 17 years apart, but the similarities between us really end with our Northern Irish provenance. He probably doesn't remember much at all of our country's violent conflict, whereas it was the defining event in my formative years. His inclination seems to be to accommodate differing faiths, mine is opposition to all. He loves Caroline Wozniacki, I think her brother is kind of cute. He can hit a towering 5-iron… well, you get the picture.
But perhaps there is one thing we both understand, though McIlroy can't ever say so publicly. The island of Ireland -- Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland -- has spent much of the past 200 years exporting three things: Guinness, its people and cheap nationalism. Guinness has ruined many an Irish sportsman, but it is the latter that causes most headaches for McIlroy.
ESPN put Chris Berman on a Monday night Chargers-Raiders game and the reviews were almost as brutal as his golf announcing, which we learned last week, we'll be enduring on the U.S. Open weekday coverage for the foreseeable future.
The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant wrote, "Holy moly, the Raiders are a disaster. They are not, however, as much of a disaster as Berman on the stick." Sirius XM Radio's Eddie Borsilli wrote, "There are no words for what's happening in this game. But I could do without Berman and his stupid comments. Go circle the wagons." The Louisville Courier-Journal's Tim Sullivan wrote, "First Chris Berman, then Stuart Scott, and me without a mute button. Oh, the price we pay to watch pro football." CBSSports.com's Will Brinson wrote, "Not often watching football feels like a chore. 1AM + Boomer + … this is one of those times."
Johnny Miller says he was once asked to coach Tiger by Tiger's "people" but Johnny turned the job down.
From the October Golf Magazine:
"Not many people know this, but when Tiger had been on Tour for two or three years, his people called and asked if I would give him lessons on short irons," Miller said. "Jack Nicklaus told him I was the best short iron play ever—a pretty great compliment."
Miller said he declined to offer because of his NBC announcing work and his desire to spend time with his children and grandchildren.
"I was tired," Miller said. "I didn't think I could give him the time he'd need, so I turned him down, which I don't think many people have done."
And now?
"He's the guy I'd like to help most," Miller said. "I've been watching him since he was in junior golf. I know all the swings he's had. I think I could help him get back to his natural swing, not the swing someone else wants him to make. I'm open to helping him."
Tiger, have your people call Johnny's people and let's make this made-for-TV goldmine a go!
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
