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Europe had never before swept an opening session in the Ryder Cup, but they did so emphatically on Friday at Marco Simone Country Club, with none of the four matches extending to the 18th hole. The rout was so complete that at no point in any of the matches was an American team ever winning.

“Amazing to sweep a session. I can’t remember the last time Europe has done that,” said Rory McIlroy, who, in the morning’s most-anticipated match, combined with Tommy Fleetwood to win, 2&1, over the previously formidable duo of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.

“We can’t get complacent at all,” McIlroy said. “This is an unbelievably long American team.”

A look at the Friday results:

Match 1

Jon Rahm-Tyrrell Hatton (Europe) beat Scottie Scheffler-Sam Burns (US), 4&3

How it happened: By putting out the fiery pair of Rahm and Hatton at the outset, captain Luke Donald asked for an inspiring start. That’s exactly what he got, with the Europeans winning the third hole and never trailing. So much for the friendly chemistry between World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Ryder Cup rookie Sam Burns. They weren’t close to good enough — embarrassing, actually — in making only one birdie, at the short sixth. Rahm was predictably stellar, nearly making an ace from 200 yards at the par-3 seventh, and then chipping in on No. 10. He raised his record to 2-2-1 in foursomes. Scheffler lost his first Ryder Cup fourball match after going 1-0-1 at Whistling Straits.

Quotable: “What Tyrrell and I did really well today is hit the shots that we needed. Any time we needed the right shot to change the momentum, we did. That’s the key in match play, right, just keep hitting the right shots at the right time.” —Rahm

“It was tough out there. They played really good. We just weren’t able to get the looks to have some putts to win holes and really flip the match. They took control and just played good.” —Scheffler

Match 2

Viktor Hovland-Ludvig Aberg (Europe) beat Max Homa-Brian Harman (US) 4&3

How it happened: The biggest interest here was the confidence Donald showed in immediately playing Aberg, the celebrated rookie who has yet to play in a major championship. He drew a perfect young cohort to pull him along in Hovland, and the World No. 4 showed him how it’s done by chipping in from about 40 feet on No. 1 to huge roars. After the Europeans won the second with a par to go 2-up, the Americans, both RC rookies, immediately rallied with two straight birdies to tie it. But they bogeyed the fifth, the Euros took the sixth with a birdie, and the match was never closer.

Quotable: “It was such a big difference compared to Whistling Straits. Normally I keep my head down and just play, but I’m trying to really get the crowds going and just use them because they want you to play well and they want to support you. So it was such a good start, and we’re going to keep it going.” —Hovland.

“Yeah, just got outplayed. They out-executed us.” —Harman

Match 3

Shane Lowry-Sepp Straka (Europe) beat Rickie Fowler-Collin Morikawa (US) 2&1

How it happened: It needs to be said: Fowler’s putting killed any chance the Americans had to make it competitive. Returning to the Ryder Cup for the first time in five years, Fowler missed numerous putts from 10 feet or closer, and his play will only raise more questions for captain Zach Johnson, who used Fowler despite him entering the match with a 1-2-2 record in foursomes. Lowry, a somewhat controversial captain’s pick, looked fired up from the beginning to work with the rookie Straka, and they won four holes with birdies, including the third and fourth en route to never trailing.

Quotable: “I came here with an open mind this week. I’ll do whatever the captain asks me. He wanted me to go out this morning with Sepp. It’s nice to go around with a rookie and bring him around the place. I think the last few days got the rookies ready for what today was going to be like. It was amazing.” —Lowry

“Very nervous. Yeah, couldn’t even really describe [the first tee]. The blood was flowing. Heartbeat was up. Thankfully, I made contact with the ball, so I think that’s a win.” —Straka

Match 4

Rory McIlroy-Tommy Fleetwood (Europe) beat Xander Schauffele-Patrick Cantlay (US) 2&1

How it happened: The anchor and premier match of the morning was also the most competitively played, though Schauffele and Cantlay, who paired so well two years ago in Wisconsin, were never square. They added to their challenge by making a double-bogey 6 at the eighth, though Europe made their own 6 at 9 to give them a hole back. The last stretch got interesting, with the US pulling to 1-down with a birdie at 14, only for the American to butcher 15 with a bogey. Again, Europe made a mistake with an errant approach at 16 to lose the hole, but McIlroy decided it when he striped his tee shot on the par-3 17th to a couple of feet. Indicative of the day on the greens, Schauffele left his must-make birdie putt woefully short.

Quotable: “I’m so proud of this man alongside me. He can play with anyone. I’m just so happy that he’s my partner this week and so happy to get a point on the board for Europe.” —McIlroy

“We’ve known we are going to play together for a while and just getting out there, felt like we actually played very, very good and felt like we were in control all the way.” —Fleetwood

“It was just the first go-around here. We’ll have to make some adjustments across the board. We’ll be fine. Not sweating it.”—Schauffele

The post Ryder Cup 2023: The good, the bad and the ugly from Europe’s historic Day 1 rout in foursomes appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“Fortunately, we only have to wait another year to go get this thing back,” Lewis said.

The LPGA moving the Solheim Cup to an even-year schedule starting next September means the 19th edition of the event is less than a year away, with Lewis and Suzann Pettersen back as captains of their respective teams. American players have been accumulating points since the start of this season at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and continue to earn them through to the end of the qualifying period, which has not yet been announced.

The 2024 system will use the same automatic qualifying categories as 2023, with seven players off a points list, the two highest ranked players on the Rolex Women’s World Rankings not already on the team and then three captain’s picks. Unsurprisingly, the two American major champions from this year, Lilia Vu (992) and Allisen Corpuz (866), are atop the points list. Nelly Korda (725), Megan Khang (667), Ally Ewing (591), Angel Yin (564) and Andrea Lee (394) round out the current top seven. That group, led by Khang’s 3.5-point performance at Finca Cortesin, combined to go 12-12-3 last week in Spain.

The closest chasers for the Nos. 8-10 spots are all fellow ’23 Solheim Cup players: Cheyenne Knight (386), Jennifer Kupcho (381) and Rose Zhang (322), respectively. Danielle Kang (295) remains in striking distance of a points position in 12th place, while Lexi Thompson (39) has work to make the 2024 on points even after having the second-most record of any American in Spain by going 3-1.

There is minimal movement in the two Rolex Women’s World Ranking spots, which makes sense given there have only been two tournaments between the end of the 2023 US team qualification period and the Solheim Cup. Thompson (No. 26) holds the first World Ranking spot, with Kupcho (29) taking the second one. Zhang (32) and Kang (34) are nearby.

Then Lewis will have her three captain’s picks, where she’ll no doubt apply the same analytics approach she took this year to choose Ewing, Yin and Knight to round out the team (the three picks went a combined 5-4-1). With Lewis’ system no longer just theoretical in determining who should partner with whom, the captain would likely be happy to have a similar group again.

“We now have some pairings actually going forward,” Lewis said. “There’s no trial-and-error again going into ’24.”

Main image: David Cannon

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Justin Thomas would be the first to tell you that he wasn’t good enough this past PGA Tour season. But, like any world-class player, he’d also be the first to tell you that he wasn’t nearly as far off as fans and media made it seem.

Sometimes, when that’s the case, all it takes is a good bounce or two to turn things around. That’s more or less what happened in Saturday’s third round of the Fortinet Championship, Thomas posting a bogey-free 65 — just his second round of 65 or lower since early February — and saying afterward that he felt he didn’t actually play that great.

“Honestly, I felt like I played better, quite a bit better yesterday than I did today,” said Thomas, referring to his second-round 67. “I definitely got a couple good breaks.”

Good breaks were hard to come by for Thomas during his prolonged slump, which could be nearing its end. At 15-under, he sits just two off the lead of Sahith Theegala and will tee off in Sunday’s penultimate pairing alongside SH Kim. Quite a different situation than the one he found himself in last month at the Wyndham Championship, where he fell to his knees on the 72nd hole after narrowly missing out on the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

“It’s just golf, anybody that’s been out here can tell you. It’s frustrating but wild at the same time,” Thomas said. “I’m putting myself in a lot better positions to have good things happen, but more than anything, mentally I truly believe that good things are going to happen, so that’s at least a good start.”

The shining example of Thomas’ positive thinking came at the par-5 15th hole on Silverado Resort’s North Course, a hole he parred each of the first two days despite a pair of good tee shots. On Saturday, he blocked one in the right rough, promptly turning to caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay and saying maybe the offline tee ball is what they needed to finally find a birdie on the hole.

Naturally, Thomas went on to make eagle instead, hitting his second into a greenside bunker and then holing out. Little did anyone watching at home know that he predicted it would happen on the walk up to the green, too.

“When I got there, I don’t know, I just liked the look of it,” he said. “And I told Bones walking in I think it’s about time we hole a bunker shot there. As soon as it landed, after that first bounce and it started rolling, I thought it was going to go in. So that was a pretty cool moment for us.”

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1703196825379799347?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1703196825379799347%7Ctwgr%5E709fbb464157f408a20ef7747c88ba57f84e5bb6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.golfdigest.com%2Fstory%2Fjustin-thomas-bunker-shot-bones-fortinet-championship

One final birdie at the par-5 18th, his fifth of the day, put Thomas firmly in striking distance for his first win since the 2022 PGA Championship. It would be a perfectly-fitting slump-ender just before he heads to Rome for the Ryder Cup. Win or lose, though, he’s just happy to be in the hunt again.

“It’s the best,” Thomas said of being in contention. “The crowd is amazing today, seemed like there was quite a lot of people out there. The finishing stretch obviously creates a lot of excitement. Yeah, this is why all of us play, so it’s nice to be a part of those roars a little bit.”

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The Links at Spanish Bay opened in 1987, and it quickly garnered notoriety. The layout, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr, Tom Watson and former USGA president Sandy Tatum on the site of a former sand mine, has remained mostly untouched until now.

Pebble Beach Resorts announced on Tuesday that The Links at Spanish Bay will undergo a renovation by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s team.

“The Links at Spanish Bay possesses nearly every raw element you’d want in a golf course, from expansive ocean views to rolling, sandy terrain,” Hanse said. “With these natural attributes already in place, our team will have a significant head start on delivering a final product that will be in the top echelon of ‘must play’ courses.”

When Spanish Bay opened, Pebble Beach Resorts dubbed the course as “America’s first links golf experience.” Ron Whitten wrote at the time that Spanish Bay wasn’t a totally authentic links — pointing to a handful of greens being elevated. Tatum took issue with Whitten’s assessment, but it’s safe to say Hanse and Wagner will aim to transform the course back to its roots, playing to the incredible sand-based topography overlooking 17-Mile Drive that the course sits on. Pebble Beach officials say there’s no timeline yet for when work might begin.

Hanse and Wagner have received recognition and praise in recent years for their restorations of numerous major championship venues, including Winged Foot, The Country Club, Los Angeles Country Club, Oakland Hills, Oakmont and Baltusrol, among many others. Yet it’s their 2018 redesign of Pinehurst No. 4 that may be most like their task at Spanish Bay. After many alterations by various architects, Pinehurst No. 4 struggled to find its own identity in the shadow of the famed No. 2 course until Hanse and Wagner re-energised the course with the sand-and-pine characteristics the region is known for.

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With the final group stumbling at The K Club on Saturday, Hurly Long took full advantage, posting a third-round 70 to reach 13-under and open up a one-shot lead over nearest challenger Jordan Smith. The German will tee it up on Sunday alongside crowd favourite Rory McIlroy.

“It’s exciting,” Long said. “Last year at The Belfry I was leading after two rounds, and there were ginormous crowds out there as well. So I can take something from that. I’ve got a good attitude. I know it’s going to be way more difficult tomorrow than it was even today but you can feed off that just as well. So I’m just looking forward to it either way.”

With huge crowds watching on, World No. 2 McIlroy shot a stunning 66 to climb to 11-under and sit just two shots off the lead with 18 holes to play.

“Last night I thought I was maybe a little bit too far behind and out of it but I played a really good round of golf today to get myself back in it and I’m excited to have another opportunity (to win the Irish Open) tomorrow,” he said.

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In the run-up to any team contest, a few sporting metaphors invariably spring to mind when it comes to the various decisions, behavior and carefully considered comments required of the two captains. “Jockeying for position” comes to mind. So does “shadow boxing.” And, from cricket, “playing a straight bat.”

Still, after all the preamble has been taken care of, a “show of hands” is inevitably required. In the context of this 49th edition of the Walker Cup matches between the United States and Great Britain & Ireland, on the eve of the event non-playing skippers Mike McCoy and Stuart Wilson were required to reveal who will represent their sides — and in what order — in the opening day foursomes and singles.

The foursomes typically involve most thought. Especially unfamiliar to the American players, the format of alternating shots is something of a dark art and one where things can sometimes go disastrously wrong. Perhaps the most difficult role in golf, for example, is playing second-fiddle to a partner who is playing markedly better than you are. Nowhere is there more pressure not to let the other down.

Still, even the most careful planning can go astray. Pairing two players in the hope that they will mesh was, for long enough, a decision made on gut instinct. Maybe the thinking went as far as teaming two pals together and avoiding a scenario where there might be a personality clash. But these days the rise of statistical analysis has turned that art form into more and more of a science, one that this weekend is complicated by the configuration of the holes on the Old Course at St Andrews.

“We’ve tried to look at this in a bit of depth, but with a par 3 on the front that’s even and a par 3 on the back that’s odd, and vice versa with the par 5s, it gets difficult,” agreed GB&I’s Wilson, who knows a thing or two about the most famous course in golf, having won the Amateur Championship here in 2003. “So, if a pair is playing regulation golf, everybody is going to be doing the same amount of putting. It’s the same coming in or going out. If you’re a strong wedge player, the same applies. Going out 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 are your holes, then on the back it is 10, 12, 14, 16, 18.

“We do a bit of matching with personalities too, but we’ve probably got 10 different personalities here,” he continued. “So, while we’ve looked at possible pairings and done a lot of the numbers and stats and things, I don’t think we could have done any better of a job than putting 10 balls in a hat and pulling them out. The team is that close-knit.”

As for McCoy, the American captain owned up to having included “a little bit of everything” — art and science — within his own decision-making process.

“We have certain players that have a quicker rhythm,” pointed out the Iowa native, a member of the losing American side at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2015. “We have players that have played together a lot and are very close friends. So they obviously know each other’s games well. They match up well. We have looked some at who are our better drivers and who are our better wedge players. We’ve put those types of combinations together.”

And, like Wilson, McCoy is well aware of the Old Course’s famous foibles when it comes to a layout containing 14 par 4s.

“We spent some time working on that, and it took a day or two for everybody to come to agreement what made the most sense,” continued McCoy. “We obviously tried some other combinations if we do have to break a couple teams up for Sunday. We’ve worked with some other combinations. But everybody knows whether they’re odd or even.”

Let the action begin:
Morning foursomes
Gordon Sargent-Dylan Menante (US) vs. Barclay Brown-Mark Power (GB&I)
Caleb Surratt-Ben James (US) vs. Callum Scott-Connor Graham (GB&I)
Preston Summerhays-David Ford (US) vs. Matthew McClean-John Gough (GB&I)
Nick Dunlap-Stewart Hagestad (US) vs. Alex Maguire-James Ashfield (GB&I)

Afternoon Singles
Surratt (US) vs. Brown (GB&I)
Nick Gabrelick (US) vs. Scott (GB&I)
Sargent (US) vs. Jack Bigham (GB&I)
Austin Greaser (US) vs. Liam Nolan (GB&I)
Ford (US) vs. Power (GB&I)
Summerhays (US) vs. McClean (GB&I)
Hagestad (US) vs. Maguire (GB&I)
Dunlap (US) vs. Gough (GB&I)

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You may have heard this before in a golf context. Walker Cups, like every other golf competition, are played on grass and not, as the tired old cliché has it, on paper. Which is perhaps just as well for the 10-man Great Britain & Ireland side that this weekend will attempt to wrest the trophy out of American hands over the Old Course at St Andrews.

Reading over, under and between the lines, the US team led by captain Mike McCoy are the overwhelming favourites to retain the trophy the visitors have owned since 2017. Certainly, history, current form and just about any statistic you care to mention is strongly on the side of the Americans in a series that currently stands at 38-9-1 in their favour.

Some examples:

• While amateur rankings are open to legitimate scrutiny, not the least in how the formula is skewed towards the American college system, the difference in World Amateur Golf Ranking between the two sides is vast. The USA team feature eight of the current top 10 players (and it would have been nine had No. 2 Michael Thorbjornsen not withdrawn through injury) with an average position of 8.2 for the 10 members of the team. In vivid and perhaps telling contrast, GB&I’s average ranking is 87.4, with John Gough most prominent at No. 14. Only two others, Barclay Brown and Calum Scott, are inside the top 50.
• Speaking of Scott and Gough, the pair do bring a bit of novelty value to the GB&I squad. Both have brothers who have played in a previous Walker Cup match (Conor Gough and Sandy Scott both played in 2019 at Royal Liverpool). The Goughs and the Scotts are the fifth and sixth sets of brothers to have played in the Walker Cup.
• Also on the novelty front: At age 16 years, 10 months and 9 days, Scotland’s Connor Graham becomes the youngest player on either team to compete in a Walker Cup.
• All told, 39 US Walker Cup players have gone on to win major championships, 93 to be exact (21 Masters, 32 US Opens, 20 PGA Championships and 20 Open Championships). As is always the case when Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods come up, the two most successful major champions account for a big chunk of the conversation — 33 combined. But still, even without the “big two”, 60 majors have been won by Americans as opposed to 13 won by GB&I players.
• To be fair, GB&I are competitive in at least one category. In the previous 48 Walker Cup matches 613 players have featured for the two sides (307 players for the USA and 306 for GB&I). After this year, those figures will increase to 630 overall, 316 for the USA and 314 for GB&I.
• And yes, there is at least a little hope of a home victory. St Andrews is the only Walker Cup venue that GB&I have won at on more than one occasion, in 1938 and 1971. Those were GB&I’s first two victories in the series. On the other hand, 1971 was the only victory registered by Euro representatives between ’38 and 1989. And of the eight previous Walker Cups at the Home of Golf, the USA team has won six.
• One last thing, a straw that may be grasped in desperation by the more superstitious members of the home team and support. There are four Irish players in this year’s GB&I team, the most since 2015 at Royal Lytham. And that was the last time the Americans relinquished their hold on the Walker Cup.

The post Seven facts about this year’s Walker Cup that might signal who wins at St Andrews appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Never let anyone tell you working at a golf course doesn’t have its hazards. Excessive UV exposure, dehydration, heat stroke. All par for the course, if you’ll excuse the expression. Then you have the native flora and fauna. Poison ivy, falling trees, ticks, snakes, mosquitoes and, as one unfortunate Arizona golf course worker discovered this weekend, bees.

On Saturday at Pebblebrook Golf Course, a maintenance worker had to be rescued by the local fire department after encountering a beehive while working on the course. According to the Arizona Fire and Medical Authority, as firefighters armed with bee hoods and turnouts approached, they initially thought the victim was covered in grass clippings. As they got closer they realised it was bees. Officials say he was stung 2,000 times.

After subduing the insects with foam, they were able to rescue the victim, said to be in his 50s, and transport him to a local hospital. As for the bees, a beekeeper was called in to control them and relocate the swarm. The AFMA says this was the sixh bee-related incident they’ve responded to so far in 2023.

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The AIG Women’s Open is back this week and the cream of the game will be out in force as they hunt the final major of 2023.

A truly international field will gather at Walton Heath, with 144 of the world’s finest players coming from far and wide to tee it up at the Surrey venue, which is hosting the championship for the first time since it was established in 1976.

Australia, China, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand and the USA are among the many regions that will bring a strong global flavour to the season’s final major.

In the last 10 years, the championship has produced winners from eight different countries, including South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai, who beat South Korea’s In Gee Chun in a memorable four-hole play-off at Muirfield 12 months ago.

“It’s very special to come here as the Champion,” she said. “Obviously, there is a little bit of hype coming into the week as well. It’s something I’ve got to manage but it’s all for a good reason. As defending champion, I just have to embrace it and enjoy the week. Anytime I go into any tournament now, the belief is there I can win if I’m playing well.

“The secret is staying in the moment and making sure don’t think about the outcome by getting ahead of yourself. My swing had been there for a long time but, working with my sports psychologist, it was learning to do something I can control and committing to it.”

Buhai, defending her title, will be among a number of former winners at Walton Heath, including Anna Nordqvist (Sweden), Hinako Shibuno (Japan), Georgia Hall (England), Jiyai Shin (Korea) and Ariya Jutanugarn (Thailand).

However there could just as easily be a new name on the trophy. This has been a season of first-time major winners, with Lilia Vu winning The Chevron Championship, Ruoning Yin the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Allisen Corpuz the US Women’s Open and Celine Boutier the recent Amundi Evian Championship.

That range of champions reflects the strength in depth of women’s golf internationally. Nelly Korda, Jin Young Ko and Lydia Ko, all riding high in the top-three of the Rolex Women’s World Rankings, will need to be at their best if they are to mount a challenge at the Women’s Open.

Also aiming to make an impact is Rose Zhang, arguably the brightest young star in the women’s game. On her professional debut in June, the 20-year-old won the Mizuho Americas Open. She has since secured top-10 finishes in each of her first three majors as a professional.

This will be Zhang’s third appearance in the Women’s Open, having narrowly missed the cut at Carnoustie in 2021. At Muirfield last year, the young American tied for 28th and won the Smyth Salver for finishing as the Championship’s leading amateur.

Atthaya Thitikul. ASLI

Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand, who also won the Smyth Salver during her amateur career in 2018 and 2019, will also be one to watch this year. The 20-year-old Thai star’s best performance in the Championship came last year where she finished tied seventh at Muirfield.

“I’m really excited to be here,” she said. “The AIG Women’s Open is the toughest major of the year because you have to play in the wind and almost every year we play on a links course, Walton Heath is a little different this year. The heather looks beautiful but I will be trying to escape it. I think it’s going to be a really challenging week.”

Sweden’s Linn Grant, who became the first woman to win on the DP World Tour and a subsequent role model for young girls, returns to the Women’s Open as an LPGA winner and is focused on more victories in her future.

“My game feels strong,” she said. “I feel like I’m playing really solid golf. I’m not 100% where I want to be in terms of my whole game, but I feel like this could be my week. I haven’t been out there yet, but I think I’m going to like the course. I love the look of it, it looks great. I hope it will suit me.”

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