The Ranking: Scams, Steve Stricker, Scottie Scheffler and Tiger at Southern Hills
These are the most important stories in the world … ever.
10. The Landings Yacht, Golf and Tennis Club of Fort Myers, Florida, lost $500,000 in an alleged fraud scheme. Scammers may have accessed the money via Paychex, the club’s payroll services company. Paychex denied the claim. Rice Chex could not be reached for comment …
9. The men’s and women’s Australian Opens will be played on the same courses at the same time for the same prize money this December in Melbourne. No, it will not be renamed the BOGO Australian Open …
8. Masters champ Scottie Scheffler wore his green jacket (and a solid Masters tie) to throw out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers’ home game against the Houston Astros. How about his pitch? “I made it there; I didn’t bounce it,” Scheffler said. How about his Rangers? They lost, 3-2. How about his jacket? No beer was spilled on it … as far as we know.
7. Masters champ Scottie Scheffler wore his green jacket (and a striped Masters tie) to drop the ceremonial first puck before the Dallas Stars played the Anaheim Ducks in the Stars’ final regular-season game. How about his puck drop? It hit the ice. (Well, you can’t exactly miss.) How about his Stars? They won, 4-2. How about his jacket? Nobody checked it into the boards … as far as we know. But c’mon, a better photo op would’ve been Scheffler driving the Zamboni. No green jacket has ever done that. (Is that right, Phil?) …
6. Bryson DeChambeau posted video of himself hitting a tee shot swinging with one arm as he recovers from wrist surgery. Later, he put up a photo of his hand, stitches removed, and the large scab across his palm and said doctors cleared him to begin chipping. The category is "More Than We Wanted To Know." There’s probably a Bryson Channel coming to your cable package one of these days but, hey, I’m not paying extra for that …
5. Chapter II of the Kevin Na-Grayson Murray feud took place on the range during the Mexico Open. The following moment of silence is the sound of us not caring. If only Scottie Scheffler had emceed the spat while wearing his green jacket (with a striped Masters tie) …
4. Tiger Woods walked 18 holes at Southern Hills in a practice round for this month’s PGA Championship in Tulsa. Woods, who won the 2007 PGA at Southern Hills, won’t decide whether he’ll play until the week of the tournament, just as he did at the Masters. But Woods flew in for a practice round so it sounds as if he’s already decided. Plus, I put a wager on him so now he kinda has to play …
3. Storybooks are made to be broken. Wait, that cliché sounds wrong. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker, playing his first event in six months after being sidelined by a serious mystery illness (that possibly may have been a reaction to a COVID-19 vaccination), was tied for the Insperity Invitational lead through 36 holes and trying to write a storybook ending. Steven Alker had other ideas, shot a closing 66 and won by four, his second PGA Tour Champions win in three starts. Stricker finished second, still pretty inspirational. In fact, it was a lot like the time Cinderella gallantly fought at the Alamo. What a Cinderella story that was …
2. Players will not be granted releases by the DP World Tour, the artist formerly known as the European Tour, to compete in the opener of the eight-event, $255-million LIV Tour, according to The Guardian, a daily British newspaper. DP World Tour players who take part in the first event, scheduled for June in London, may also face undetermined penalties, the newspaper said. Here’s your shorthand version of what’s going to happen: Money talks, especially when it’s big, stupid-big money …
1. Had the Torrey Pines Curse struck again? Tiger Woods didn’t win another major for 11 years after his 2008 U.S. Open victory in La Jolla, California. Then, Spain’s Jon Rahm hit a drought that lasted over 10 months since last summer’s U.S. Open at Torrey. Rahm is now No. 2 in the world, having lost the top spot to the Scottie Scheffler tornado, but finally ended his downturn by capturing the Mexico Open. Rahm did so as the overwhelming favorite, the only top-15 player in the field. Thus ends the Torrey Pines Curse (unless you count the fact that hosting two Opens means the City of San Diego can get away with charging non-residents $265 to play a municipal course on a weekend) …
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