Weekly Read Fore! Things: Canada's Celebration, One Path for LIV Players to Return to the PGA Tour
More Weekly Read: Why the PGA Tour Needed a Partner
Fore! Things
1. It doesn’t get much more dramatic than the way Nick Taylor won the RBC Canadian Open, draining a 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth extra hole to defeat Tommy Fleetwood.
2. Taylor had birdied the 17th and 18th holes to set the playoff number that Fleetwood later matched. It was the first win by a Canadian golfer at the tournament since Pat Fletcher in 1954. Mike Weir, who lost in a playoff at the Canadian Open to Vijay Singh in 2004, was watching greenside and joined the celebration.
3. Fleetwood is on the verge of being in the top 20 in the world but the Canadian Open was his 119th start on the PGA Tour without a win. He has six victories on the DP World Tour.
4. Rory McIlroy was attempting to become the first player since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic from 2009-11 to win a tournament three straight times. He was also looking to become the first player to win an event in consecutive tries on three different venues since Tiger Woods did it from 2005-07 at what was for the first two years the WGC-American Express Championship and the last year the WGC-CA Championship. It was played in San Francisco, Atlanta and Miami.
Fore! More Things
1. Sunday offered a final chance to make the U.S. Open field via the top 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking for those not otherwise exempt. Pablo Larrazabal and Adam Schenk were all but certain of staying in the top 60. Emiliano Grillo also made it after moving into the top 60 following his victory at the Charles Schwab Challenge. For any opening remaining spots, the USGA will go to alternates based on a ranking system from the various final qualifying spots.
2. Los Angeles Country Club is hosting the U.S. Open for the first time. It is just the seventh venue in the last 50 years to be a first-year site for the tournament, joining Atlanta Athletic Club (1976), Pinehurst No. 2 (1999) Bethpage Black (2002), Torrey Pines (2008), Chambers Bay (2015) and Erin Hills (2017).
3. There will be plenty of conjecture over this but how will LIV golfers who want to return to the PGA Tour get back? Here’s perhaps one simple way: non-members are allowed seven sponsor exemptions. They are not eligible for the FedEx Cup playoffs unless they win, therefore becoming a member. While players who have other exemption criteria would normally be able to circumvent this "non-member" designation, if there is a feeling that peace needs to be kept while exacting some sort of restrictions to come back, this is something to consider.
4. The first round of the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club begins in three days.