All hail our Norwegian king
VIKTOR-Y IS OURS
Nothing like jumping on a bandwagon right as the victories start rolling in, huh? Love Viktor.
Viktor's Tour Championship win capped an absolutely stellar year for the 25-year-old Norwegian, not to mention a $18M purse. And in true 25-year-old fashion, he celebrated with some luxurious Chipotle guac and the iconic twenty-something phrase, "That'll be dinner."
For a season without Tiger, I have to say that it was an absolute pleasure to watch.
The elevated events gave the schedule some really nice tentpoles to orient myself around.
The LIV guys playing in the majors allowed for some mystery and variety as we got brief glimpses at some still world class players like Brooks, Cam Smith, DJ etc.
And the overall flow of the FedEx Cup race provided some compelling storylines to follow in the final weeks like JT nearrrrrrrrrly sneaking in.
Assuming the PGA can somehow maintain this general structure, the TGL is somewhat watchable, and the LIV rivalry is maintained in some form; golf has plenty of juice left to squeeze!
And now, for the video we were actually waiting for...
Openly taunting Xander on air.
Iconic.
Cup-A-Palooza: Part 1
MEET YOUR WALKER CUP TEAM
Macro-note for golfers, unless you have the hair of a Neal Shipley... going no hat is always going to look wonky. Pop that hat right back on there, we won't mind the shadows on your face for interviews.
Moving on, our Cup-A-Palooza coverage this week begins with the Walker Cup which takes place this weekend at St. Andrews. It features top amateurs from the US v. Great Britain and Ireland.
The US team is absolutely loaded, with 8 of the top 10 ranked amateurs in the world including #1 ranked Gordon Sargent—who AVERAGES nearly 330 yards off the tee... cool—as well as recently crowned US Amateur Champion Nick Dunlap and 32-year-old amateur staple Steward Hagestad (seen above).
Click through above for a little feature on the crew—and for those who still have PTSD from when I used to make this entire damn newsletter hyperlinks, I'll highlight some of my favorite takeaways below.
TAKEAWAY #1)
Ya hate to say it, but it's low key goober central. I say this, rock in hand, sitting on the porch of my glass house. But you know the kind of athletes who's entire personality is... well... the sport they compete in? Yeah, that's about 90% of this team.
Need proof?
In response to the most important thing in his bag besides golf clubs, Caleb Surratt said "Probably the golf balls... because I wouldn't have anything to hit." Dude, ya gotta give the poor comms team at USGA something more than that!
TAKEAWAY #2)
Stewart Hagestad is a vibe. He's the guy from the screenshot above and he's all sorts of quirk. He boasts a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of Legally Blonde, he's 32 years old on a team of basically college kids so there's got to be a good story there as to why he's maintained his amateur status, and he has re-branded his superstitions as "routines"—despite needing exactly 5 tees in his pocket.
Hate to break it you Stew, but while you may not be superstitious, you're definitely still a little "stitious". (Shout out Michael Scott.)
TAKEAWAY #3)
Austin Greaser REALLY loves clipping his nails out on the course. We'll just leave that one there.
TAKEAWAY #4)
Gordon Sargent is the MAD magazine kid—and you can't convince me otherwise.
Cup-A-Palooza: Part Two
SOL-HMM? ROSTERS ANNOUNCED
This week, Captain Stacy Lewis announced her full Solheim Cup roster. The Solheim Cup being the women's version of the Ryder Cup, to be held Sept. 22-24 at Finca Cortesin in Andalucia, Spain.
My Sol-Hmm? comment is not actually about the roster itself—as it's pretty stacked with talent including Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang, and rookie phenom Rose Zhang. The only real outlier is Lexi Thompson who has had a pretty cruddy year but has also played in like a million of these things so she's occupying the veteran locker room role anyways.
My questions are around the announcement video from the LPGA... which was a WAYYY TOO LONG for social media cut of 12 different celebrity/celebrity-adjacent/who??? shouting out each player.
Yes, ex-Real World/Road Rules competitor and current WWE personality The Miz was a member of the illustrious group tapped to announce the field. The Miz was joined by sports radio personality Mike Golic, hockey player T.J. Oshie, and ABC News Dr. Jen Ashton.
If you're like me and find yourself saying, who?? Then you see my point.
I've loved watching the evolution the NBA's support of the WNBA as an array of all-stars sit courtside to cheer on their counterparts. But the fact that only Max Homa made the list of PGA pros who contributed was kind of a downer. Let's show this team some love!!
Cup-A-Palooza: Part 3
READY FOR BATTLE
ZJ dropped the list!
We've got the Ryder Cup roster and not really many surprises. Sam Burns seems to be one of the biggest potential shockers but at the same time, are Cam Young or Keegan really THAT big of a difference maker? And been hearing that Sam is basically going to be Scottie's designated putter, making that team nearly unstoppable.
And knowing that team vibes are such a key part of the Ryder Cup, JT was a gimme.
"You just don't leave J.T. at home." - Zach
The Ryder Cup is scheduled for the end of September, but now that the Tour season is over—my expectations are sky high. It's been over 30 years since Americans have won in Europe, it's time to end that stat.
My one regret is announcing prior to Europe... like, if I'm Europe, don't you try to scheme against our roster now? Maybe it's TOO Moneyball but I'm always down for holding cards close to vest in competition.
This week in Breakfast Balls click bait...
GIANNIS IS GOING TO LOS ANGELES!
Okay, so he isn't going to the Los Angeles Lakers... but Giannis and his fellow Antetokounmpo brothers are the newest co-owners of the Los Angeles Golf Club. The LA-based team for Tiger and Rory's new golf league, the TGL . They're joining an already loaded ownership group including the entire Williams family.
It further shows the kind of pull this new TGL venture is getting with cultural difference makers. And if big names keep hopping on board, this launch will be massive. Like Messi going to Miami level massive.
(FWIW - it is VERY curious that Giannis is LA-based though. I mean... rumors have been started on much smaller of stories.)
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