Women’s Open surprises, Bob Mac’s win with Dad

Check in each week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the most popular subjects within the sport, and be part of the dialog by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we focus on the U.S. Women’s Open, Robert MacIntyre’s familial victory, an fascinating Ryder Cup determination and extra.

Yuka Saso burst onto the scene with an sudden U.S. Women’s Open victory in 2021, however after a few winless seasons she picked up her second profession LPGA victory at this week’s U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club. Was this an sudden winner?

James Colgan, information and options editor (@jamescolgan26): I’m undecided I’d name a participant who completed 2nd and T3 on the KPMG and Evian final 12 months an ‘unexpected’ winner. Some gamers have a present for enjoying properly when the circumstances get robust. A 68 on Sunday — when solely 13 gamers in the whole discipline performed underneath par — would appear to be proof.

Zephyr Melton, assistant editor (@zephyrmelton): It’s not as if Saso disappeared the final couple of years — she simply didn’t win. As James famous above, she completed inside the highest 3 twice in majors final summer time. It was solely a matter of time earlier than she broke by way of and gained on the most important stage once more. I’d be stunned if that is the final time we see Saso hoist the trophy on main Sunday.

Josh Sens, senior author (@joshsens): I’d like to have a so-so 12 months like Saso had in 2023. Winning’s onerous. So many issues need to go proper (like, as an example, Nelly Korda lacking the reduce). And then it’s important to be prepared after they do. Saso was. Great mixture of energy and poise. I second Zephyr. I’d be stunned if she doesn’t repeat the feat earlier than lengthy.

Alan Bastable, government editor (@alan_bastable): Surprising: Nelly Korda lacking a reduce. Not shocking: A participant who already has confirmed she will win a U.S. Women’s Open doing it once more. And Yuka did it by dropping the hammer. Four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the again 9 as the opposite contenders have been struggling to make pars? That is severely stout stuff. Also cool: that Yuka has now gained U.S. Opens for 2 nations that by no means had one (Philippines in ’21 and Japan this 12 months).

One participant who didn’t make the weekend at Lancaster was 29-year-old Lexi Thompson, who stole the headlines earlier within the week when she introduced that after this season she’ll now not play a full-time LPGA schedule. Surprised? Not stunned? 

Colgan: The timing was sudden, however the information wasn’t. Lexi has lengthy appeared from afar to be considered one of golf’s most tortured gamers. No amount of cash or fame is sufficient to overcome plain disenchantment with the life of a professional golfer. Good on her for making a call for her happiness.

Melton: I’m not shocked by the information. Lexi has in the reduction of on her taking part in schedule significantly over the previous few years and hasn’t performed exceptionally properly when she has teed it up. And contemplating she turned professional at 15(!) she’s been taking part in professional golf for nearly half her life. That’s a very long time to be on the grind.I hope she will discover happiness within the subsequent stage of her journey.

Sens: Not stunned in any respect. It’s a giant world on the market, and Thompson had lengthy appeared prepared to interrupt from the small nook of it she’s been residing in. It’s no secret that the tunnel imaginative and prescient required to compete at that stage requires a ton of private sacrifice. She’s over it. For now, anyway. Good for her for recognizing that. Even higher, she’s younger sufficient that she will at all times return to it if she has a change of coronary heart.

Bastable: ​​OK, I’ll chunk. Color me stunned! Yes, Thompson has had a rollercoaster couple of years, however she discovered her type once more within the again half of 2023 and appeared to be reasserting her place among the many LPGA’s alphas. She even had a brand new ball deal for this 12 months! I didn’t see her pulling the plug. Then once more, I get it. She’s solely 29 however has been underneath the highlight at the very least since she performed in a USWO at 12 and, on a extra native stage, lengthy earlier than that. Sooner or later the grind will get to you.    

Even when she wasn’t taking part in properly, Thompson had lengthy been a fan favourite and somebody the ladies’s recreation was strongly marketed behind. How massive of a blow will her full-time absence be to the LPGA Tour? 

Colgan: Well, it’s clearly a substantial blow to the LPGA, however it primarily means the burden falls to the remainder of the sport’s stars. I used to be impressed with how Nelly Korda dealt with a disastrous week, and I assumed the timing was telling the place the eye will shift.

Melton: It will definitely be felt, however fortunately the Tour has Nelly’s starpower to market now. If somebody like Rose Zhang or Lilia Vu can rise as much as problem her, the LPGA can be simply wonderful.

Sens: James and Zephyr have stated it properly. I’d simply add that this hardly looks like an abrupt departure. More like a gradual phasing out, as she’d already been slicing again and never placing herself in competition in lots of massive occasions when she did. This will not be a sudden intestine punch.

Bastable: Big loss for certain. Not simply because she brings to the ladies’s recreation (and, final fall, the PGA Tour) a model of grip-it-and-rip-it golf that’s a lot enjoyable watch but in addition as a result of she understands the significance of her star energy (a number of gamers final week talked about Thompson’s dedication to waving the LPGA flag at pro-am events). I witnessed this myself just some weeks in the past on the Founders Cup pro-am pairings occasion in northern New Jersey. Lexi wasn’t simply there to verify a field. She was smiling, shaking palms and current. 

What occasion from the previous week was extra shocking? Nelly Korda recording a ten and lacking the reduce, or Charley Hull going viral (and gaining a ton of publicity and social media followers) for, properly, a cigarette?

Colgan: Nelly was the perfect participant on the planet, male or feminine, during the last six months. Her dumping three within the water on the third gap on the nationwide championship isn’t simply essentially the most shocking improvement of the week, it’s essentially the most shocking non-jail-related improvement in professional golf throughout this main season.

Melton: Gotta be Nelly. Seeing her make a ten was downright stunning. The solely factor extra stunning would’ve been waking as much as her mugshot, a la Scottie Scheffler.

Sens: Based on what we learn about social media by now, does something that occurs on it ever depend as shocking anymore? Nelly’s 10 all the way in which.

Bastable: Tough to match the 2, however I used to be fascinated by the response to the Hull video. Feel just like the virality of the second may simply have gone two methods for her: Gasp! A professional golfer tugging on a ciggy in entrance of younger followers! Or…Amazing! A professional golfer with vices and weaknesses identical to the remainder of us! Clearly the general public embraced Hull’s everywoman attraction, and the stability tipped towards praising her. Really fascinating to look at this sociology experiment play out in actual time. If the LPGA had a PIP rating, Hull is likely to be in ballot (pull?) place.       

Robert MacIntyre, with his dad caddying, shot a final-round 68 to win the RBC Canadian Open to say his first profession Tour victory. This comes simply weeks after the Scot talked about battling homesickness and getting snug with the PGA Tour’s extra business-like surroundings. Is this an vital aspect of the sport we frequently overlook in terms of non-Americans attempting to have success on Tour?

Colgan: I feel the educational curve on the PGA Tour is steep for anybody, significantly a correct Scottish son like Bob MacIntyre, and I’d say the identical for residing full-time in Orlando, Fla.

Melton: Life on the highway can get lonely! I’ve skilled it, and my journey schedule pales compared to Tour execs. I can’t think about having to reside out of a suitcase throughout the pond — not to mention making my homebase Orlando for my uncommon offweeks. 

Sens: Wait, James, are you suggesting that Orlando won’t actually be the Happiest Place on Earth? I’m canceling my Disney journey. Tour execs are individuals, too, so, in fact, these forms of changes matter. But I don’t assume we overlook them. We usually hear tales concerning the interaction between the non-public and the skilled, and the way what occurs off the course impacts what occurs on it, and the opposite approach round. Sometimes, we even hear about it in tabloid headlines. 

Bastable: Credit to Bobby Mac for baring his soul and giving us the PGA Championship’s most fascinating presser this facet of Scottie Scheffler’s post-arrest musings. The camaraderie the Europeans get pleasure from on the DP World Tour is in brief provide stateside, the place there’s way more of an every-player-for-himself mentality. MacIntyre clearly isn’t accustomed to the lone-wolf way of life, and it’s been carrying on him. Maybe a PGA Tour title will make him really feel a bit extra at residence.          

In a newly created position, former caddie and NBC Sports reporter John Wood was named “Team Manager” of the U.S. Ryder Cup staff (which nonetheless doesn’t have a captain for 2025). Could you see this being an vital position the Americans want, or a easy case of overthinking after final 12 months’s lopsided loss?

Colgan: I loooooooooove this determination. Whatever the reality was behind Patrick Cantlay’s Hatgate saga final fall, it nonetheless spoke volumes concerning the state of the American staff room that the allegation arose within the first place. John Wood lives and breathes the Ryder Cup, and giving him the latitude to handle team-building in lieu of a captain’s announcement is a no brainer.

Melton: First it was a process pressure, now it’s a “Team Manager.” Have the Americans thought of merely not getting their a**es kicked in foursomes each two years?

Sens: Seems like doing CPR on a lifeless man. Couldn’t damage. But I doubt it impacts the result.

Bastable: Getting John Wood again on the squad in any capability is a win. Smart. Funny. Musical. True renaissance man. Good for staff vibes.