Lowry sets a record while his fellow Irishman falls a wee bit short. POTUS buzzes the links; was he looking for a ball? We try to improve your short game today, gods know you need it. Let’s get into it.
PGA Recap
Shane Lowry just won his home country's national championship by 11 shots. That’s the kind of margin of victory that makes you do a doubletake after looking at the leaderboard, and maybe a doubletake at the number of drinks you thought you had while kickin it on Sunday in your favorite recliner. Speaking of Sunday, how ‘bout dem Bears?! I digress. At the Amgen Irish Open at Trump International in Doonbeg, Ireland, Lowry set a course record with an 8-under 62 on Friday, built a four-shot cushion by Saturday, and then spent Sunday politely reminding everyone else in the field that they were playing for second place. Final margin: 11 strokes over Joaquin Niemann and Patrick Reed who tied for second, a record margin in the modern era of the tournament. His second Irish Open title, 17 years after his first, that one as an amateur. This was the kind of week that turns a national hero into an even bigger national hero.
Rory McIlroy was in the field too, playing in front of his own countrymen with a real chance to add to the storyline, but he couldn't find enough of whatever Lowry had going on. He admittedly struggled on the greens but to his credit, Rory was publicly gracious about the whole thing, saying he loved watching his buddy create that kind of buzz back home. Which is either genuine sportsmanship or the world's most polite way of saying "well, at least somebody Irish won it."
Eleven shots. In professional golf. On your home soil. Ireland's going to be talking about this one for a while. Pour me another Guiness barkeep, I got some celebrating to do.
Worm of the Week
Sometimes the golf gods don't just humble you. Sometimes they bring in the United States Executive branch to help.
Rory McIlroy was playing his home country's national championship, in front of adoring fans, trying to defend his title. Saturday's third round was already going sideways. He hit a wayward tee shot on the 3rd hole that sent him into the rough, and he was down on his hands and knees with fans and volunteers, hunting for a golf ball he would never find.
And that's the exact moment Air Force One chose to fly directly overhead.
Not before. Not after. Right then. The President of the United States, who happens to own the very course Rory was currently losing a golf ball on, was flying in to watch him play, and the timing lined up so perfectly it looked scripted. Every fan on the property looked up at the sky while Rory stayed hunched over in the weeds looking for his ball. He never found it. Double bogey. He'd make another double a few holes later, sign for a 74, and by the time the President's helicopter actually touched down to watch him finish on 18, Rory's title defense was all but finished.
There's something almost poetic about it. The whole country came out to watch their guy defend his crown, and instead they watched him lose a golf ball while a 747 buzzed the course on its way to watch him lose the tournament. You can't script that. I feel it’s been a while since I reminded you people, but I just love this game.
We just plain enjoy handing Rory the Worm of the Week trophy at this point. He has been so creative in his paths to earning it. Congrats once again to our Irish friend. Winston the Worm has never had a sitting head of state fly over his hole while he was struggling to find one of his balls. Let’s hope he never does.
Chili Dip Golf Tip
Most hackers have one method for chip shots. Hit and hope. This drill fixes that by training actual distance control, which is the real skill separating "good chipper" from "someone who occasionally gets lucky."
Here's the drill. Find a spot on the practice green (or a rough patch in your backyard) and set out three targets at different distances. Try 10, 20, and 30 feet from where you're chipping. Using the same club for all three, hit a chip to the 10-foot target first. Then the 20-foot target. Then the 30-foot target. That's one "rung" of the ladder.
The goal isn't perfection, it's variation. You're training your hands and body to produce three distinctly different swing lengths and speeds with the exact same motion. Most weekend warriors only ever practice one length of chip shot, then wonder why every real chip on the course either flies the green or comes up embarrassingly short.
Run the ladder up and back. 10, 20, 30, then 30, 20, 10. Do this five or six times. You'll start to feel the difference between a chip that travels 10 feet and one that travels 30 feet without needing to think about it, which is exactly the feel you want standing over a real shot with a group waiting behind you.
Bonus tip: do this with your most-used chipping club only. Distance control comes from swing length and tempo, not club selection, for shots inside 30 feet.
Today in Golf History
On this date in 1985, Team Europe beat the United States in the Ryder Cup for the very first time, 16½ to 11½ at The Belfry in England. That sentence doesn't sound like much until you know the context. Europe (and Great Britain before it) hadn't beaten the Americans since 1957. Twenty-eight straight years of getting steamrolled, decade after decade, captain after captain, with nothing to show for it but a nice trip across the pond every couple of years.
Then in 1985, everything flipped. A young European team, captained by Tony Jacklin, finally broke through, and the entire complexion of the event changed overnight. What had been a friendly, mostly one-sided exhibition became the tense, white-knuckle, supremely enjoyable, hostile rivalry we know today. Every Ryder Cup chant, every fist pump, every captain's pick controversy since 1985 traces back to that one week at The Belfry.
The Degen Den
Woof!! Bow wow! Whoa nelly, this dog won’t hunt! I mean this was the mother of all mushes for the master this week. Other than Patrick Reed who finished tied for second, we managed to knock the defending Irish open champ Mr. McIlroy down to a 41st finish and then scored 4, count ‘em, 4 missed cuts with the rest of the lineup. How do you like ‘dem rotten apples? That was good to place 2384th out of 2853. Yikes.
I mean I almost feel bad for what I done to these lads
Well far be it from Winston and me to not give it another shot this week at the Biltmore Championship in Asheville, NC. I mean there IS still 30 smackers in the account so what’s another 5 buck contest? Here goes, with no pomp and even less circumstance:
Lord help all ye who enter this lineup
Golf Joke of the Week
A wee bit of a Dad joke this week:
A young golfer at their first lesson asks, "Is the word spelled P-U-T or P-U-T-T?" The instructor replies, "P-U-T means to place a thing where you want it. P-U-T-T means merely a futile attempt to do the same thing."
Thank you so much for taking the time to share in my oft muffed muse. If you like to read, you should read my stuff. It’s like a warm and cozy open-handed slap to the face with your morning coffee. Who couldn’t use one of those before work? And if you enjoyed the bit about the Ryder Cup in this issue and would like to learn a little more about its origin story, check out the latest blog post here. Again, thanks for reading, your mother loves you for it.