PGA Championship at Harding Park + Lydia Ko

Before we talk about the PGA Championship, which is about to enter its final round, we must pay tribute the Lydia Ko, a former #1, who has gone 44 tournaments without winning. Normally, we pull for the underdogs and as a former #1, Ko would not qualify as such, but with her multi-year slide into the abyss, she’s become someone we can root for.

At Harding Park, DJ has a 1 shot lead going into the final round, but there are 10+ players who are within striking distance of winning. While we are looking forward to a great final round, with lots of drama, we have to pull for Matthew Wolff for nothing more than his unique "forward press,” if that’s what you call it, and Joel Dahmen. When you look at Dahmen’s background and what he has had to overcome, it’s easy to root for him.

As an aside, it is noteworthy that Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas, who have traded places as respective #1’s the last few weeks, have struggled to keep it together at Harding Park. It shows you how even the best players in the world could do themselves a favor and don a KIT hat to brace themselves against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

The Hero World Challenge

The Hero World Challenge, underway in the Bahamas, features a select and limited field that typically features the Top 20 golfers in the world. This year’s event is headlined by Collin Morikawa, Koepka, McIlroy, and Justin Thomas. Given such a small and limited field of elite golfers it’s hard to find a true underdog.

Everyone competing has won this year at least once. They’re on top of the world and awash in cash. Everyday more money rains down on them. There are no bills, car payments, or mortgages that ever come due. Most of their time is spent inside country clubs. They walk through life in a bubble. Their only concern, if they have any, is how to maintain control of their adulterous tendencies, or how to cover up any current dalliances they may be engaged in.

Given this, it’s hard to identify a true “underdog” in this field. However, upon closer inspection we do see one candidate: Henrik Stenson. Stenson is 45 years old and is not too far away from his first colonoscopy. His teeth are starting to bother him, and it’s likely he has trouble ordering off a menu without reading glasses. He’s even got his own line of eyewear: https://henrikstensoneyewear.com/ He has not been playing well of late and is ranked well outside of the Top 20 in the world so we’re not even clear how he managed to get into this event.

So even though we like to find a more worthy Underdog to root for, this week it has to be Stenson, who going into Saturday finds himself squarely in last place.

Lee Westwood & The Players Championship

Justin Thomas played a great couple of closing rounds to win The Players, setting a record in the process for strokes below par for the final rounds. But Thomas is no golf underdog so we’re not going to focus on him.

Instead, we’re going to use this space to applaud Lee Westwood, who has spent most of his career as a favorite, but at 47 years of age, is now squarely in the “Underdog” camp. After nearly winning at Bay Hill the week prior, Westwood went toe-to-toe with Thomas and the 240 lb cyborg, DeChambeau, and almost pulled off a stunner. Had Thomas’ tee shot on 18 found the water, Westwood may well have won the tournament.

What makes his near win all the more remarkable is not just the 20 year age difference, but what it means in terms of preparation for the final round. We have a feeling Thomas pops out of bed, pops a dip between his tongue and lip, to go along with a black coffee, while DeChambeau has a 12 egg omelet and six protein shakes. Westwood’s day, however, likely began - before getting out of his oxygen-rich hyperbaric chamber - with a series of neck and ankle rolls, followed by tea, fresh fruit, and bran flakes.

Let’s see how long Westwood can keep his re-birth going.

Hinako Shibuno, Doug Barron, and Justin Thomas

Last week, Hinako Shibuno, a 20 year old rookie from Japan, won the British Women’s Open by 1 stroke over Lizette Salas, when Salas missed a 5 foot putt on 18. It’s a cruel game. Shibuno kept it together and Salas didn’t. A shout out to Morgan Pressel for finishing 4th - her first top 4 major finish since 2010.

For many reasons, including a failed drug test, Doug Barron had been consigned to the golf wilderness for the past 7 years. Playing in mini-tour events until he turned 50, he managed to Monday qualify at this week’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Champions Tour event. A few days later, he was victorious, finishing 2 strokes ahead of Fred Couples. A lot of very good amateur golfers practice, stay fit, and bide their time until they turn 50 and can try and qualify for the Champions (senior) tour and feast on a bunch of 60 year olds. But actually making it happen is no small feat. The Champions Tour only allows a single Monday qualifier into its tournaments. Barron was good enough to seize the opportunity and make it count.

It reminds us of a round of golf played at a Poolesville, MD muni course 4-5 years ago. We happened to be paired with a coal miner from Pennsylvania named, Phil. In his mid-fifties, Phil’s game was so impressive that we asked him on the 4th or 5th hole what his low score was. “61, and I’ve done it 9 times.” He explained that he had once tried to qualify for the Champions Tour and shot a 65 at Nemacolin during a Monday qualifier, only to miss out by 1 stroke. This seems like a missed opportunity for the Champions Tour. Turning 50 really begins to level the playing field. The tour should celebrate, and provide more opportunities for underdogs like Phil to challenge the golf establishment. It would be good for business.

Lastly, we finish up with Justin Thomas and his record setting performance at Medinah this week. One of the top dogs for the past few years, a wrist injury set him back for much of this year. He didn’t allow a poor warm up session on the range on Thursday, which he deemed the “worst of my professional career” to affect him. Went out and shot 65-69-61-68 to win and put him in position to begin next week’s BMW Championship at East Lake with a two stroke advantage.

Hat tip to Patrick Cantlay. Went out and dropped 9 birdies to challenge Thomas and put himself into a position to win in Atlanta.