Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we are not going to overreact to Week 1 of the NFL. That would just be silly. Come on. That being said, though . . . are the New York Giants going to win the Super Bowl?! What a performance! They are so back! And thanks to the Knicks, I now think all my teams are going to win. In the meantime, there\u2019s also one team\/continent in golf that just keeps winning. Let\u2019s get to that and more. Hut, hut, hike!<\/p>\n
Team Europe: And just like that, Europe is in possession of the Ryder Cup, Walker Cup and Solheim Cup for the first time since 2004. The latest Europe triumph came in the Netherlands at the Solheim Cup, where Anna Nordqvist\u2019s squad beat the Americans 15-13 thanks to a spirited Sunday singles session.<\/p>\n
The craziest part is Charley Hull and Lottie Woad, arguably Europe\u2019s two biggest stars, each went 1-3-1 during the week. And Celine Boutier went 0-4. But Linn Grant\u2019s 4-0 week led the way and Hull and Woad came through in Sunday singles along with Solheim Cup sparkplug Carlota Ciganda, who after delivered an all-time cold quote:<\/p>\n
Wow. At least the U.S. still holds the Celebrity Ryder Cup (Thanks in part to Giants legend Eli Manning). For now.<\/p>\n
Shane Lowry: No one dominated more than this Irishman, who won his native Open by an insane 11 shots. That\u2019s a touchdown, a two-point conversion and a field goal for those keeping score at home. Light work for Jaxson Dart, but an incredible margin of victory for a golfer.<\/p>\n
Crazy enough, Lowry hadn”t had a top-20 finish since March, but he looked like the best player on the planet for four days at Doonbeg. Also crazy enough, but it was the first time he’s won this event since he was an amateur 17 years ago. Luckily for him, he was able to keep the first-place prize this time. And the victory had other\u2014and much more major\u2014economic ramifications as well. More on that in a bit!<\/p>\n
Walk-off holes-in-one: Look, any hole-in-one is great. Not to brag, but I know from experience. However, Finn Koelle managed to get his ace while doing it in a college tournament, the Sahalee Players Championship. On the final hole.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a walk-off hole-in-one. My ace also went viral (NBD) and came at a golf course that hosted a major, but it wasn\u2019t in competition and it wasn\u2019t from 214 yards and it wasn\u2019t to WIN a freaking tournament. Amazing stuff, Finn.<\/p>\n
Team USA: It\u2019s been a rough go for Americans in international golf competitions and this time it was the women\u2019s turn. First, props to Alison Lee, the \u201cTeam Mom\u201d for going 4-0 including a historic singles comeback. And there were other bright spots like Lindy Duncan stepping up out of seemingly nowhere to go 3-1, and World No. 1 Nelly Korda playing like a World No. 1 and going 2-1-1. But, obviously, it wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n
And, I\u2019m sorry, but Angel Yin, who has been battling a stomach issue for months, shouldn\u2019t have played. Captain Angela Stanford even had a backup on site, but stuck with Yin, who got a halve in her one team match, but got dusted in singles. Stanford also didn\u2019t come across great with her comments after about how slow the greens were (\u201cApparently, I didn’t get to know the superintendent as well as I should have.\u201d) and how her stats team let her down. Talk about driving the (team) bus over someone. But that wasn\u2019t her biggest strategic error . . .<\/p>\n
Premature celebratory beers: Even in the moment, this was pretty wild to see. And I\u2019ve read it was more of a treat for the team\u2019s hard-working caddies, but still, the optics of a captain bringing a basket of beers onto the team bus when the event is tied going into the final day (cue Kobe Bryant saying, \u201cJob\u2019s not finished\u201d!) were not good. And provided the ultimate bulletin-board material to Team Europe. I get that everyone was excited after Jennifer Kupcho\u2019s miracle 90-foot putt that helped swing the matches back in your favor, but doing this\u2014and having it shared on social media was a tough look:<\/p>\n
And boy, did Europe pounce on it. After winning the following day, the Europeans chanted, \u201cThey drink on Saturday, we drink on Sunday!\u201d on their team bus:<\/p>\n
Just an all-time \u201cscoreboard\u201d moment. And an all-time (deserved) dagger.<\/p>\n
Imposters: You see this every once in a while when someone enters a tournament they have no right playing in, whether it\u2019s someone losing a fantasy bet or just a golf writer looking to write a story. But this situation from the Toledo Open that was spotted by Monday Q Info\u2019s Ryan French takes that to another level:<\/p>\n
First of all, amazing job by Vishnu to still shoot 69 despite what was going on around him. But to the dude who shot 123, that\u2019s embarrassing. Not the 123 (although, yes, that\u2019s also embarrassing), but the fact that you took a spot in the event.<\/p>\n
The PGA Tour returns for the Fall Season, AKA that season that doesn\u2019t officially count as part of this season, but still really counts for a lot of people trying to play next season. And this part of the schedule begins with a new event, the Biltmore Championship in Asheville. The PGA Tour Champions heads to Pebble for the PURE Insurance Championship and the Korn Ferry Tour Finals continue with the Nationwide Children\u2019s Hospital Championship. Busy, busy, busy!<\/p>\n
Random tournament fact: The inaugural Biltmore Championship is being played at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove (great name!) in Asheville. And . . . that\u2019s about all I\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n
RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK<\/p>\n
\u2014Someone will win the Biltmore Championship by 11 shots: 1 MILLION-to-1-odds<\/p>\n
\u2014Jackson Koivun will win the Biltmore Championship: 13-to-1 odds (Actual odds, favorite!)<\/p>\n
\u2014Team USA is suddenly feeling more pressure to win the Presidents Cup: LOCK<\/p>\n
TWEET OF THE WEEK (AGREE DIVISION)<\/p>\n
TWEET OF THE WEEK (DISAGREE DIVISION)<\/p>\n
The Europeans have long leaned on the Ryder Cup to boost their career resumes, but this is a bit much!<\/p>\n
Giving Lowry credit for two Ryder Cup wins to say he has 10 career victories? If anything, it\u2019s kind of crazy he\u2019s only been on two winning Ryder Cup teams considering Europe\u2019s recent dominance!<\/p>\n
VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (OFF-COURSE DIVISION)<\/p>\n
This one really made the rounds last week:<\/p>\n
And if the lady involved is embarrassed and doesn\u2019t act like this again, then Golf Twitter has improved the world.<\/p>\n
VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (OFF-RANGE DIVISION)<\/p>\n
VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (ON-COURSE DIVISION)<\/p>\n
“Holy pure.” What a reaction. The only way that could have been better is if Michael Block did it. Speaking of . . .<\/p>\n
VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (MICHAEL BLOCK DIVISION)<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t the best week for our favorite senior golfer as his great run of play finally ended with a Sunday 77. However, he still provided this fantastic interview in which he talks about how he still has to deal with payroll for his first day job and that he sold the 7-iron he made his famous ace with at the 2023 PGA Championship in order to buy a pretty sweet car:<\/p>\n
With an amazing license plate:<\/p>\n
Well done, Michael. Although, if he keeps banking like he has been on his recent PGA Tour Champions heater, he might wish he\u2019d held onto that club.<\/p>\n
THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS<\/p>\n
Ludvig Aberg was asked to grade the swings of some celebrity golfers and he did a nice job:<\/p>\n
And now LeBron has some bulletin board material. If he’s still as competitive as Europe’s Solheim Cup squad, he’ll be breaking 80 before you know it.<\/p>\n
THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION<\/p>\n
Min Woo Lee gave a sweet shout-out to his dog, Aussie:<\/p>\n
More like Awwsie, am I right?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe also said he’s taking the tariffs off Irish whiskey, when Irish distillers better be sending me a check soon. Must be worth a few quid to them.\u201d \u2014Shane Lowry on President Trump handing him the trophy and then announcing he was going to lift the tariff on Irish whiskey. This has to be the first time in golf history that a tournament winner also directly changed a country\u2019s foreign trade policy. We are truly living in the weirdest time.<\/p>\n
Congrats to Alvaro Ortiz for winning his second Korn Ferry Tour title by four shots to earn his first PGA Tour card for next season after a decade as a pro. He also got this cool trophy:<\/p>\n
Can you actually play that thing? . . . Congrats to Zach Johnson on winning for a fifth time on the PGA Tour Champions this year and in clutch fashion with a walk-off birdie to beat Ben Crane. He and Stewart Cink are locked in one heckuva POY battle. . . . The PGA Tour finalized how golfers will qualify for the Championship Series and Challenger Series beginning in 2028. Hopefully, these will last longer than the Big Ten\u2019s Leaders and Legends divisions. . . . And, finally, a bit belated, but I can\u2019t believe my girls are in third and first grades:<\/p>\n
To all my fellow golf dads (and moms) out there, let\u2019s have a great school year.<\/p>\n
RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER<\/p>\n
Who will win the Super Bowl this year?<\/p>\n
When will Tiger Woods make his senior tour debut?<\/p>\n
What TV ratings would a Tiger-Blockie pairing pull?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we are not going to overreact to Week 1 of…","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_volume":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121],"tags":[4525,1990,1117,22,40,3979,84,416,417],"class_list":["post-12435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-shane-lowry","tag-an-all-time-solheim-cup-dagger-an-extra-consequential-shane-lowry-win-and-the-coldest-quote-of-the-year","tag-loop","tag-lpga","tag-pga-tour","tag-shane-lowry","tag-solheim-cup","tag-story","tag-the-grind","tag-thegrindweekly2026","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@fogolf\/117276495336951337","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}