Although 70 players qualified for the FedEx St Jude Classic in Memphis – the first of the PGA Tour’s playoff events – there will only be 69 in the field, with Masters champion Rory McIlroy opting to skip the event.
McIlroy, instead, will resume tournament action at next week’s BMW Championship at Caves Valley outside Washington DC before teeing up in the Tour Championship in Atlanta the following week where, in a change of format, all 30 players to reach that finale will start on the same score rather than the weighted starts of recent years.
While McIlroy is a high-profile absentee from the St Jude Classic, all the other players who qualified are competing, including Shane Lowry – currently 19th on the FedEx Cup standings – who is playing for the first time since The Open in Portrush.
On the DP World Tour, Conor Purcell is the only Irish player in the field for the Nexo Championship which will be held at Trump International Aberdeen in Scotland.
Leona Maguire, meanwhile, is not defending her PIF London championship at the Centurion Club outside London this week where four Irish players – Sara Byrne, Lauren Walsh, Anna Foster and Annabel Wilson – are competing in the LET event. Maguire’s next tournament outing is scheduled to be the Canadian Open on the LPGA Tour in a fortnight’s time.
Cameron Young finally breaks through on PGA Tour
Perhaps the wait was worth it for Cameron Young, whose breakthrough win in the Wyndham Championship was a milestone 1,000th first-time winner on the PGA Tour.
Young’s win propelled him to 15th on the US Ryder Cup standings in his late bid to make Keegan Bradley’s team for the match against Europe in Bethpage next month and up to 21st in the updated world standings.
A late decision to switch to a new Titleist prototype ball – one he had tried in practice – was, Young admitted, a factor in finally discovering the art of winning.
“It’s just a tiny bit different. But I think it definitely contributed to some of the good play this week,” said Young of the ProV1x prototype which helped reduce spin.
In his fourth season on the PGA Tour, Young had registered seven runners-up finishes.
Word of Mouth
“At the end of the day, it’s just a game. That’s what I think about, and I enjoyed it out there, and I just love that adrenaline feeling. It’s so good. It’s like a massive hit.” – Charley Hull on getting a buzz even though coming up short in her quest for a breakthrough Major title. Hull’s runner-up finish in the AIG Women’s Open was her fourth second-place finish and 10th top-10 in her Major career.
By the Numbers: 14
There are 14 Irish players competing in this week’s Irish Challenge at Killeen Castle in Dunsany, Co Meath, on the Hotelplanner Tour: Max Kennedy, Jonny Caldwell, Liam Nolan, Alex Maguire, Mark Power, Robert Moran, Jack Madden, John Murphy, Ronan Mullarney, Paul McBride, JR Galbraith, Daniel Mulligan, Liam Grehan and Dermot McElroy. The 72-hole tournament starts on Thursday.
Irish golfer Des Smyth. Photograph: Tom Honan/Inpho On this day: August 4th, 1979
Des Smyth had ditched a prospective career as an accountant to chase his dreams to play on the European Tour and, five years into life on tour, the Meath man finally secured his breakthrough victory when winning the Sun Alliance Matchplay Championship at Fulford in England.
It was his first of eight career wins on the European Tour – which saw him win across four decades, winning in the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s and Noughties – and he did it in style, defeating future world number one Nick Price of Zimbabwe with an eagle-three on the 18th hole.
All square playing the last, Smyth recalled his breakthrough moment: “Par five, the last. Both of us down the fairway. Both of us on the green. He was on 25 feet. I was just inside him. He missed and I holed. And I won, one up.”
The prize for Smyth’s success was a winning cheque for £6,660, but the win also had the effect of getting him on to the European Ryder Cup team at The Greenbrier the following month.
Smyth’s win was a first for him, but a last one for the tournament itself which was won in its inaugural year in 1903 by James Braid and had various title sponsors – among them News of the World, Long John Scotch Whisky, Benson & Hedges and Sun Alliance – until it finished as part of the European Tour in 1979.
Social Swing
Week two of the new job was pretty fun too! Happy with an 8th place finish this week @AIGWomensOpen (-4) Thank you to all the fans that came out! Time for some rest before @LPGA – Lottie Woad has eased nicely into life as a professional. The 21-year-old English golfer won €255,554 for winning on her pro debut in the Scottish Open and added a further €215,574 for her tied-eighth in the AIG Women’s Open.
New World #1 in Women’s Golf coming through! @jeeno_atthaya is going to need a new signature move – Callaway Golf on their player Jeeno Atthaya taking over the Rolex number one spot from Nelly Korda, who had been world number one for 17 straight months.
76 is pretty rough … Let’s hope I got rid of all my bad shots before the playoffs! – American Michael Kim on a poor final round 76 at the Wyndham Championship where he finished tied-62nd but still qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs (at 36th in the standings).
Know the Rules
Q: A player discovers they forgot to take an extra putter out of their bag before playing their tee shot on the second hole, meaning they have 15 clubs in their bag. The player takes one of the putters out of play by turning it upside down in their bag. What is the ruling in stroke play?
A: As the player became aware that they had more than 14 clubs in their bag between holes, the penalty is applied at the end of the hole just completed, so the player gets two penalty strokes on the first hole (Rule 4.1b(1)).
In the Bag: Miyu Yamashita (AIG Women’s Open)
Driver: Srixon ZXi (9.0˚)
Fairway Woods: Srixon ZX Mk II (15.0˚ and 18.0˚)
Hybrids: Srixon ZX Mk II (22˚ and 25˚)
Irons: Srixon ZXi5 (6), ZXi7 (7-PW)
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ (48˚), RTZ Tour Rack 52˚ and 58˚)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X Black L-Neck
Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV Arrow
