Viktor Hovland’s mindset, Ryder Cup contenders and a startling response to a Brandel Chamblee interview — all on this week’s Monday Finish.
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Welcome again to the Monday Finish, the place we’re beginning the week the old school manner: at even par. Time to make some birdies! Let’s get to it.
FIRST OFF THE TEE
Shooting 28.
After taking pictures nine-under 61 in an exhilarating come-from-behind win at Sunday’s BMW Championship, Viktor Hovland accepted the trophy, posed for pictures after which headed to the interview room. That’s the place the Tour’s moderator listed off the feats he’d simply completed:
-61 within the closing spherical
-Low spherical by a winner this season on Tour
-Lowest closing spherical in FedEx Cup Playoffs historical past
-Lowest spherical of Hovland’s profession
-28 on the again 9 was the bottom 9 of Hovland’s profession
-Fifth win on Tour, second this season
That’s the place Hovland jumped in.
“That’s it?”
It was a terrific win for Hovland, an unforgettable closing spherical and the right accompaniment to his Memorial victory earlier this season. That double victory cements Hovland as a clutch performer on each stage; his wins are now not at beach-vacation locations just like the Hero World Challenge or Mayakoba however two main championship-style venues with demanding setups and deep fields. Hovland bought a reminder on Sunday of one thing quite simple: He’s actually good at hitting the ball at his goal.
“I’m a good driver of the ball, so I’m going to have a lot of opportunities from the fairway, and whenever I kind of feel the shot with my irons and can just aim left of the pin and swing as committed as I want to, I know it’s going to cut and I can almost feel how much it’s going to cut towards the pin. I just feel like if you put me in the fairway, I’m going to hit it somewhere close to the pin,” he mentioned. “When I do that and I get the putter rolling, I’m trusting my reads, I’ve got the speed dialed in, and it’s just one of those days that just everything seemed to flow and seemed to happen.”
It’s fairly easy, whenever you say it like that. That’s how eight 3s on the again 9 occur. That’s how seven birdies occur. That’s the way you make up 4 photographs in 9 holes on the No. 1 participant on the earth. What a win.
WINNERS
Who received the week?
I’m in Atlanta for this week’s Tour Championship, which suggests it’s time to get out into the blazing warmth and see what gamers are up to in preparation at East Lake. But first let’s buzz via a few of this week’s champs.
Viktor Hovland we’ve already coated; it’s value including that he earned $3.6 million and jumped to No. 2 within the FedEx Cup standings with the win. Nice haul.
Alexa Pano received the ladies’s half of the ISPS Handa World Invitational, a match in Northern Ireland co-sanctioned by the LPGA and Ladies European Tour and performed alongside a males’s occasion on the DP World Tour. Pano shot six-under 66 within the closing spherical at Galgorm Castle (epic title!) and birdied the third playoff gap to win. Pano is simply 19 however has been on golf followers’ radar for greater than half her life thanks to her 7-year-old self’s look in “The Short Game,” a Netflix documentary in regards to the wild world of junior golf. Safe to say issues have panned out (Pano-ed out?) fairly effectively since then. Oh yeah, and the win got here on her birthday, too. Not a nasty manner to have fun.
Daniel Brown received his first-ever DP World Tour title on the identical course in Northern Ireland; he ran away from the sphere on the weekend and received by 5. The 28-year-old has battled his manner via the European ranks in recent times and mentioned he nonetheless couldn’t fairly imagine it.
“I almost still feel like someone’s going to crop up and say there’s another day left or something,” he said. “Crazy.”
Ken Duke earned his first-ever Champions Tour victory on the Shaw Charity Classic and introduced the home down with a thunderous fist-pump:
And Chan Kim shot eight below within the closing spherical — and 6 below in his closing seven holes — at Metedeconk within the Magnit Championship. The longtime Japan Tour standout got here again to the U.S., performed his manner onto the Korn Ferry Tour and is now destined for a PGA Tour card subsequent 12 months.
“Call it a resurrection, I guess,” he mentioned.
And Andy Ogletree received on the International Series occasion in England, beating a LIV-heavy area by seven strokes and logging his third victory in his final eight OWGR-sanctioned begins. He’s now atop the Asian Tour’s order of advantage, making it seemingly he’ll earn a full-time spot on LIV subsequent season.
ALMOST-WINNERS
Not the perfect. But nonetheless good.
Scottie Scheffler and Matthew Fitzpatrick had been locked in a lifeless warmth atop the BMW leaderboard for a lot of the day; halfway via Sunday’s spherical the 2 of them had been 4 photographs forward of all people else. Then Hovland blew previous ’em like he was Michael Phelps they usually had been locals doing laps on the YMCA; they completed tied for second, two photographs again. For Scheffler the runner-up end was one more top-five near-miss. For Fitzpatrick it was by far his greatest outcome since profitable the RBC Heritage in April and clinched his spot at East Lake.
Oh, and Scheffler’s ball-striking stays (virtually actually) off the charts, whereas his placing can’t sustain:
Ryan O’Toole held a three-stroke lead after an eagle at No. 10 however negated that with a expensive double at No. 13. She completed one shot outdoors the three-women playoff. German Esther Henseleit and Englishwoman Gabriella Cowley joined Pano within the playoff however got here up brief of their respective quests for win No. 1.
Alex Fitzpatrick completed runner-up within the DP World Tour occasion, a worthy counterpart to his brother’s second-place outcome on the BMW. That bumped him inside the highest 100 within the DP World’s Order of Merit. And Eddie Pepperell completed third, his greatest end in fairly a while, to transfer to No. 103 within the Race to Dubai.
NOT-WINNERS
Not their week.
Hideki Matsuyama birdied 4 of his first seven holes at Olympia Fields. Whatever occurred subsequent wasn’t good; he doubled No. 9, shot three over par on the again and withdrew the following day, leaving him outdoors the Tour Championship and his well being future unsure.
Other professionals had been shut to massive weeks however couldn’t fairly get throughout the road; Chris Kirk entered the week at No. 29 within the FedEx Cup, performed his manner into the ultimate group on Saturday after which shot six over par on the weekend to end at No. 32.
And Sahith Theegala rallied with birdies at 15-16-17 to get himself in place to transfer up from his beginning spot of No. 31 — however then he bogeyed No. 18, falling right into a six-way tie for fifteenth that ended his season one spot shy of East Lake.
BRANDEL REACTION
Whoa.
Last week I revealed a prolonged interview with Brandel Chamblee, going deep first on his origin story after which pivoting to the state of the present golf panorama (i.e. LIV, the PGA Tour, the PIF deal, and so on.). I needed to discuss to Chamblee partially as a result of he has grow to be so polarizing, so I suppose I ought to have seen this coming — however I couldn’t imagine simply how fierce the response was. I perceive among the eye-rolling that occurs in his course however usually take into account him wonderful at making golf evaluation deep, significant and entertaining, which is hardly a straightforward gig. But it’s secure to say many others don’t really feel the identical manner. The vitriol on, as an example, this Instagram post was fairly wild.
But that’s not how all people felt by any means. By distinction, the parents who stuffed my e-mail inbox with their very own reactions to the interview had been at the very least 90% favorable on Chamblee — on the preparation he does, on how significantly he takes the job, on how entertaining he makes spherical recaps — and had been delighted on the likelihood to be taught extra about his background as a younger Texan using horses and leaping ramps in his yard.
My largest takeaway most likely appears extremely apparent: the place we devour one thing adjustments how we devour it. Shorter clips imply much less context. Scrolling via feeds means shallower engagement. Diving into an extended dialog appears to generate a wholly completely different response. That’s how Jeez, sufficient of this man turns into Huh. There’s far more to this man than I noticed. I didn’t go into the interview attempting to make you are feeling any sort of manner about Chamblee. But I realized extra about the way you do really feel about him.
The different lesson can also be apparent: the individuals who write emails and the individuals who depart impolite Instagram feedback aren’t precisely the identical group to start with…
(You can learn the entire Brandel Chamblee interview right here or hear to it on the Drop Zone podcast here.)
RYDER CUP DRAMA
Last three in, first 4 out.
Let’s sort out Team Europe subsequent week. We’ll stroll although the U.S. workforce’s looming resolution now. With six gamers now locked in and Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler all however locks, right here’s the place I feel U.S. captain Zach Johnson will flip subsequent. (This is excerpted from an extended Ryder Cup breakdown which you will discover right here.)
LAST 3 IN:
Collin Morikawa completed the 12 months No. 10 in qualifying factors. He has performed with Max Homa each on the Presidents Cup and on the Zurich Classic, so he’d slot right into a pure spot there. But regardless that he hasn’t contended a lot in latest months, Morikawa could also be enjoying higher than you may suppose; strokes gained numbers counsel he’s nonetheless acting at a top-10 degree whilst his World Ranking slides outdoors the highest 20. A T2 on the Rocket Mortgage was encouraging, as was a T13 final week in Memphis. It looks as if he’ll be in Rome.
Cameron Young was declared as “going to Rome” by assistant captain Fred Couples just a few weeks in the past, so perhaps it’s foolish to have him in questionable territory in any respect. Young is among the many greatest younger Americans and figures to be part of this workforce’s future, which incentivizes management to make him a part of its current, too. The excellent news is he completed T8 at The Open. The less-good-news is he’s had an uneven summer time, with three missed cuts and simply two top-20s because the Masters till a T15 at this week’s BMW. He received’t be in East Lake, leaving him in a barely weak spot as others make their case…
Justin Thomas looks as if the man most probably to find yourself with this closing spot if no person seizes it from him at East Lake. Why? Because composing a Ryder Cup roster is a wierd mixture of deciding who’s essentially the most deserving, leaning on gamers’ previous workforce performances and projecting ahead to who will present the perfect type in workforce match-play competitors a month-plus from now. Thomas isn’t “deserving” within the sense that he simply hasn’t been all that good this 12 months and missed the FedEx Cup Playoffs. But he’s additionally been the center and soul of latest U.S. groups and has the document to again that up. When the likes of Sergio Garcia or Ian Poulter had been in an equal place on previous European groups, they had been picked with out query. Because Thomas is in an analogous function as emotional chief for this U.S. workforce, he might get the nod, too. But there are different deserving gamers…
FIRST 4 OUT:
Sam Burns would love you to keep in mind that he received this 12 months’s Match Play in Austin. He would additionally such as you to keep in mind that the Ryder Cup … is match play! He’s No. 12 on the factors record, which is routinely within the dialog. He’s shut with Scottie Scheffler, and though the 2 didn’t play significantly effectively collectively at Quail Hollow final fall there’s little doubt the World No. 1 would love his buddy there. Burns has been in cheap type all summer time, he completed T15 on the BMW and could be a superbly acceptable choice.
Russell Henley shot 63 on Sunday on the BMW and is quietly enjoying among the steadiest golf on Tour; he completed T2 on the Wyndham and now has T6 and T8 finishes within the first two playoff occasions. He’s completed within the prime 20 in 11 of his final 14 begins relationship again to the Players Championship. In different phrases, Henley has performed effectively all through the meat of the season. Ryder Cup factors reward very excessive finishes over Henley’s much less flashy outcomes, but when he throws down a robust exhibiting at East Lake I’d count on the thrill to get buzzier…
Lucas Glover has the recent hand; he received at Wyndham after which received once more on the playoff opener in Memphis. A brand new lengthy putter has given him new life and he completed prime six in three consecutive lower-tier Tour occasions earlier than the back-to-back wins. The argument in opposition to Glover is that he was within the wilderness only a couple months in the past; he didn’t even qualify for a significant championship this 12 months. Another prime end on the Tour Championship, although, would make it robust for Zach Johnson not to select him.
Keegan Bradley is the top-ranked man (at No. 11) who seems to be on the skin wanting in. Yeah, he received the Travelers. And yeah, he thinks in regards to the Ryder Cup like, all day each day. That’s what’ll make it that rather more heartbreaking if he’s Unlucky No. 13. Bradley’s win at TPC River Highlands was among the many moments of the 12 months for the Tour, however he doesn’t have one other prime 20 since March. He may want to win the Tour Championship — or come shut — to reassert himself right here.
I’d like to add that Tony Finau doing one thing loopy in Atlanta like profitable the Tour Championship would additionally seemingly earn him the nod, however I feel he’s in that subsequent tier much less seemingly to be chosen. At least he has one closing likelihood to show himself, in contrast to others on the sidelines like Bryson DeChambeau or Sahith Theegala, whose hay is within the barn.
NEWS FROM SEATTLE
Monday Finish HQ.
It’s blackberry season, which suggests the least seemingly locations to decide berries — the facet of the freeway, say, the place they’ve tried to beat again the bushes — at the moment are positively overflowing with the great things.
WHAT’S NEXT
3 issues to watch this week.
1. $18 million
Are we destined for one more spherical of Rory vs. Scottie? Viktor vs. Scottie? Rahm vs. Scottie? The strain of all that money does one thing to these guys, whilst they accumulate increasingly more…
2. Ryder Cup hopefuls
I’ve stayed impartial this lengthy, however let me say the New Englander in me would love Keegan Bradley to contend this week and on the very least depart the Ryder Cup dialog on a excessive word.
3. Brandel Chamblee
In video type:
See you subsequent week!
