In a timeless sport, Rory time may be running out at Augusta

AUGUSTA, Ga. — First a pro football reference. Dan Marino was only 23, in his second season of pro football, when the Miami Dolphins were defeated in Super Bowl XIX by the 49ers. Don’t despair, people told him, you’ll be there again.

He never returned.

Now a turn, at a figurative Amen Corner, of course, to another disappointed athlete. Rory McIlroy was only 22 and in his fifth year as a touring golfer when he blew an eight-shot lead in the 2012 Masters. Don’t despair was the advice. You’ll be there again.

He never has been.     

Twelve years later, McIlroy remains haunted by the failure. The tournament remains the only one of the four majors McIlroy hasn’t won, the piece keeping from gaining a career Grand. He’s made runs, but it’s incomparable to McIlroy, a successful career forever will lack the ultimate closure selection in other games, but age cannot be discounted.

Jack Nicklaus won the Masters at age 46, and Phil Mickelson won the PGA Round Championship at 50.

Still, as you grow older the people you have to beat keep getting younger. And more talented and prepared. Nick Dunlap is your appropriate example. At the start of January, he still was at the University of Alabama. He stunningly won the American Express tournament in the California desert and qualified for the Masters. Oh yes, he turned pro.     

McIlroy’s path was not that different. He left the amateur ranks, and in a relatively short period — the keyword is relatively — won the Open Championship, the U.S. Open-stomping famed Congressional Country Club and the PGA Championship. What’s next? The agony of Augusta, which included a drive so wild it ricocheted off one of those tidy, white-painted buildings known as cabins.

Yet if every following Masters brings memories, it also brings possibilities. Yes, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler are the betting choices, but Rory might be labeled the shoulda-coulda-oh-drat-all selection. Sometimes that sort of irreverence works as well as a long putt on those huge Augusta greens. 

McIlroy has done well heading into the Masters, which is no guarantee of anything, but sometimes those fickle golfing gods are sympathetic. Hey, Rory is idolized from Northern Ireland to Southern California.

“This is my 16th start in the Masters,” he said, “so I feel like I’ve done it quite a few different ways, and I guess just trying to bring a little bit of normalcy into what I sort of try to do week in, week out. I play 25 weeks a year, and there’s no point in doing anything different this week compared to other weeks, I guess.”

Actually, there is, winning the Masters.

Fifty-seven years of Masters cheers and tears

AUGUSTA, Ga. — A tradition unlike any other. Jim Nantz’s brief phrase about the annual first major golf championship has been parodied and mocked, but it lives on. For good reason.

Indeed there is nothing quite like the Masters, which has become a rite as much as a festival of spring, as an event, a competition which has elevated what once was a small southern city to a place of prominence in the world of sport.  

The name is pretentious and became an embarrassment to the great champion, Robert Tyre Jones, who helped create it as the Augusta Invitational.

But if the designation has changed, the location remains the same. Augusta National Golf Club.

It’s where at the second Masters, 1935, Gene Sarazen knocked his second shot into the cup on the par-5 15th, a double eagle — or if you prefer, albatross provided a bit of excitement languishing through the Great  Depression. It’s where Tiger Woods not only won the tournament but because of his ethnic background and jubilant success grabbed our attention for years.

Who knows now what man that will end up the winner in 2024. Maybe it will be Jon Rahm, who could become the first back-to-back winner since Tiger in 2001-2002. Maybe it will be Scottie Scheffer, who has a Masters of his own and currently tops the golf rankings.

True, a veteran experience in the mysteries of Augusta’s greens, invariably wins. But not always. Fuzzy Zoeller won his first Masters — only the second golfer to have done that.

This will be the 88th Masters. This will be my 57th Masters. I had made 54 straight until Covid stopped the streak. Yeah, I’ve eaten a lifetime supply of (ugh) pimento cheese sandwiches and purchased a ton of shirts with the Masters logo on the left front and a large number of Masters hats with the year embroidered on it. 

My first Masters, when I was a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, was 1967. The winner was Gay Brewer. Yes, I believed San Francisco’s Johnny Miller was going to win a couple of times — he was ahead at the 15th hole one year and said “I kept thinking how proud my Dad would be to see me in a Green Coat” — but he never could do it.

The memories include Roberto Divincenzo signing the incorrect score in 1968 that cost him a tie for first — “I am stupid,” the Argentinian sadly kept repeating — and of course, Greg Norman blowing the six-shot lead in 1996. There were cheers for so many. There were tears from Arnold Palmer after his last round and Ben Crenshaw after his second Masters victory, days after the death of his longtime tutor.

Hey, a tradition unlike any other and a fantastic run of golf.

Matsuyama’s 62, “The beauty of the game,” said Zalatoris

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif — The round was magnificent, the sort that gets one into the record books as well as the winner’s circle. 

Hideki Matsuyama came from six shots behind Sunday to capture the Genesis Invitational, with a 9-under par 62 at famed Riviera Country Club, and of all the observations arguably the best was provided by the man three shots back in second.

“This is the beauty of this game, you know,” said Will Zalatoris. “Kind of nice when you get beat by somebody who shoots 62 on Sunday. That’s usually going to win a tournament or make a lot of money. Hats off to Hideki, that is just stellar playing.”  

Stellar, dominating, overwhelming, record-setting and not the least triumphant. He finished with a 17 -under 267.  

Matsuyama finished at 17-under 267 and that 62 was the best closing round by a winner since Doug Tewell in 1986.It was one off the course record of 61 set by Ted Tryba in 1999. 

The 31-year-old Matsuyama now has more victories, nine, than any other golfer from Asia. One happens to be from a tournament where he earned not only plaudits and a paycheck but also a green jacket, the 2021 Masters.

As you know there’s no way to play defense in golf. You have no control over the other players and sometimes not even over yourself. On Sunday, the Genesis seemed to belong, in order, to Patrick Cantlay (who shot a one over 72 and tied for 4th), Luke List (who short 68 and tied for 2nd), then Will Zalatoris (who shot a 69 and tied for 2nd), Adam Hadwin (who shot a 65 and tied for 4th), Xander Schauffele (who shot 70 and tied for 4th), and finally Matsuyama.

“Yeah, you know, to win in this tournament was one of my goals ever since I became pro,” said Matsuyama through an interpreter. “After Tiger being the host, that goal became a lot bigger. A little disappointed that I wasn't able to take a picture with Tiger today.”

That’s because Woods, who is a co-host of the tournament, withdrew Friday because he had the flu.

“Reaching nine wins was one of my big goals, passing KJ Choi. After my eighth win, I've been struggling with my back injury. There were a lot of times where I felt, you know, I was never going to win again. I struggled reaching the top-10, but I'm really happy that I was able to win today.”

Which certainly Cantlay, who played Riviera maybe two dozen times when on the UCLA golf team. It would have been interesting to learn what happened to his game the final 36 holes, but there were no explanations. 

What we needed to know, apparently was on the card.

At the Genesis Cantlay, Tiger, and a caddie’s 600 mile round trip by car

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Two kids from southern California, separated by years and a notable degree of success, returning once more to a course and a tournament so much a part of their lives.

Riviera Country Club, where photos of movie stars line the clubhouse walls and a statue of the great Ben Hogan stands alongside the practice green. Day one of the Genesis Invitational, successor to the Los Angeles Open and as almost always the last event of PGA Tour’s West Coast swing. An almost perfect blending of history, memory and possibility, and where else but in the place nicknamed “La-la-La-Land.”

The No. 1 story on opening day, Thursday, was a matter of opinion and perhaps not so much a matter of news judgment as emotional linkage.  

Maybe it was the 7-under par 64 good for first place by Patrick Cantlay, who is from Long Beach and went to UCLA, virtually across famed Sunset Boulevard to Riviera.  

Maybe it was the 1-over-par 72 by 48-year-old Tiger Woods, who was playing competitively for the first time since withdrawing from last April’s Masters with an injury to his right ankle requiring fusion surgery.    

Maybe it was Alex Ritthamel, the caddy following last week’s WM Phoenix Open, drove the 600-mile round trip, LA to Arizona and back, to bring the clubs here. As Tiger, Griffin shot a 1-over 72, on Thursday.

You’ve heard the line from the pros, you can’t win a tournament in the first round, but you can lose it. Numerous golfers made sure this first round they weren’t going to lose it. In addition to Cantlay were most top golfers. Following Cantlay at 65 were Cam Davis, Luke List and Jason Day. At 66 were Jordan Spieth and Will Zalatoris.

“I thought it was a good round,” said Cantlay, who has a reputation for not smiling — California Cool— and making putts practically from everywhere. He has won 8 times, including the FedEx Cup.

“I think I am really comfortable at this place,” said Cantlay, and why not? He played it numerous times while on the UCLA team. And since then as a pro. Cantlay is opposed to rolling back the length of the ball, which the U.S. Golf Association wants to do because of increased yardage and reduced scores.

“I think it would be good for the game to keep it the way it is,” he said. “I think more people are excited about golf than ever, hearing some of the numbers. Hearing some of the numbers that there’s been more rounds played the year before than ever in this country. I think that’s fantastic and I know it is growing worldwide as well. That should be the emphasis.”

The emphasis for Tiger Woods is staying healthy and being able to play month after month. “I love the game,” he said again. 

On Thursday those who love to see Tiger play the game had their first chance in months.

“Definitely nervous,” Woods admitted about the comeback. “I care about how I play and certainly I was feeling the nerves starting out.”

“I got off to a good start birdieing the first and getting right back up on the next two holes and made a couple more birdies. It was one of those days, just never really got anything consistently going and hopefully (Friday) I can clean it up.”

Woods (yes) shanked his approach on 18. That was rare. Overall, so was the entire first round of Genesis.

Tiger back to place he started—and never won

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — He’s back to the place where it all began, back to where Tiger Woods played a Tour tournament for the first time, back to golf with a newly fused ankle and an old hope, to get a victory at Riviera Country Club.

So many rounds of golf, so much success, at St. Andrews and Pebble Beach, at Royal Liverpool and Augusta National. But never at Riviera, tucked in a canyon off the Pacific, where on Thursday the Genesis Invitational returns.

And so does Woods.

“A nice W would be nice, right?” Woods said Wednesday, a redundant aside that was as much a statement as a question. “I haven’t ever won this event. I’ve played in it since ’92.” (when he was a 16-year-old amateur).

And it’s extremely doubtful that at age 48, not competing in anything since the ankle repair last April, other than the father-and-son competition in December, he could win this Genesis.

Still, if there’s something we’ve learned, from the time he was five down to Steve Scott in the final and won the 1996 U.S. Amateur to his triumph in the 2019 Masters, it’s never wise to underestimate

He’s golf. Period. Especially to people only peripherally interested in the activity.

Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and the others fill our screens, and with those amazingly large payoffs, fill their bank accounts, yet they’re merely role players.

This is a true story. Last summer after the British Open, we were in Paris, at the Louvre. A guide asked about my line of work.

“Sportswriter,” I conceded.

“Do you know Tiger Woods? “ she asked.

Everybody knows Tiger Woods, of course. The people who run golf as well as those who play it, also know there’s no one as transcendent.

He’s the franchise and seemingly always will be.

The elements came together, and with the departures from competition of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Tom Watson, Tiger Woods burst onto the scene at the most critical of times. These days, as his career ebbs, Tiger is grateful for being able to walk and swing without pain.

“I'm just happy to see the man not limping as much,” Max Homa said. “It’s pretty amazing what he brings to an event with his presence on the golf course. ... You have less people watching you play golf, but there are more people watching golf.”

Woods, while not giving any hints he will retire — he hasn’t undergone the medical procedures just to sit around — has expanded his horizons.

Woods joined the Tour board and was involved in negotiations that led to Strategic Sports Group becoming a minority investor in a deal worth as much as $3 billion. 

“Ultimately we would like to have the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) be a part of our tour and a part of our product,” Woods said Wednesday at Riviera. “Financially, we don't right now.”

Ultimately, it would be great to see Tiger Woods win at Riviera. To end with a flourish at the place he started.

A big night (yes night) for Wyndham at Pebble Beach

So the PGA Tour moves on to Arizona where presumably the golfers won’t  have to worry about soggy socks and storm warnings, and play will go the full 72 holes and conclude before dark.

Unlike the past weekend’s AT&T Pebble “Why didn’t we stick to a game that can be held indoors” Pro-Am?

True, the weather has been a major factor in the event  that began in the 1930s as the Crosby, but this year it was extreme to a point well, or well, is terror an exaggeration? Yes, but if you were getting pummeled, things were dicey. 

The situation at that good, old, seaside Pebble was no worse off than the rest of California, where (man the lifeboats) lowlands were flooded, hillsides washed away and trees were hoisted aloft onto roads by winds gusting into the 40s. Considering all that, it may be remarkable the tournament event was held.

Wyndham Clark was the winner. Or if you choose, the survivor.

Clark won the U.S. Open in June at Los  Angeles Country Club,  which, apropos of nothing but pertinent to many things, shows the man can play.  He certainly played Saturday, shooting a course-record 12-under par 60 at historic Pebble.

That gave him a 199 for 54 holes, 17-under par and a one-stroke advantage. The chance the fourth round might have to be pushed from Sunday to Monday placed Clark in a good position. The decision not to hold it, left him in a great position.    

They’ve played abbreviated AT&T's numerous times in the past. Dustin Johnson won at three rounds, but the decisions to reduce the number of holes came just before tee off or maybe late afternoon following round three.

This one, Sunday, came just before 6 pm, cocktail hour if you will. Some of the journalists were eating, not drinking, at a restaurant pub when one looked up from his iPhone and shouted, “It’s over. They called it off.”

Meaning all the 30-year old Clark had to do was sign his card and happily respond to questions after a Tour staff member notified him.

“Everyone was celebrating and congratulating me,” Clark said. “I even said to myself, ‘This feels like I just won the tournament,’ and yet we had another round to play. Today, waking up and they cancel the day, you’re trying not to go too far in the future. I get a call that we’re going to cancel and you’re the winner. It’s pretty surreal right now.”

Surreal or not, Wyndham Clark has the trophy and will have his 1st place check of $3.6 million.

You can buy a lot of umbrellas for that.

Clark an inch from a 59 at Pebble

PEBBLE BEACH — On a day when the big concern at Pebble Beach was about the future, Wyndham Clark did something about the present.

Clark shot a 12-under par 60 Saturday in the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a course record.

And was within one inch, the distance his birdie putt at 17 halted short of the cup, of recording a magical 59.

“I hadn’t been in contention probably since my U.S. Open win,” conceded Clark. “To kind of have those nerves, and then obviously you’re chasing 59.” 

The U.S. Open was in June at Los Angeles. The ATT is in February on the  Monterey Peninsula where rain has been falling—it arrived again on  Saturday around 2:30 p.m. after play concluded—and according to forecasts will hit in apocalyptic proportions on Sunday.  

Which is the reason for the continual worry about what might happen. Will the course be flooded. Will competition need to be delayed? Will the tournament end on Monday? Or Tuesday (as last year and many years in the past)? Or not at all?   

PGA Tour officials will check the weather maps, the course conditions and decide early Sunday whether it’s go or no-go.

“We need to make every effort to play 72 holes,” said Gary Young of the Tour.

With 54 of those 72 completed, Wyndham—not unexpectedly after his 28-32-60, from two eagles, nine birdies and a bogey (on the par-3 12th)—is in front with a 17-under par 199.

Then comes Ludvig Aberg, 67-200, Matthieu Pavon, 66-201, Mark Hubbard, 65-202, and Thomas Detry, 69-202. 

Clark won twice in 2023, including the U.S Open at LACC, and then was chosen for America’s Ryder Cup team, which in early autumn was whipped by Europe. He hadn’t done much the start of 2024. Until Saturday.

Those 60s will get you on to any leader board.

“Probably what was going on internally,” said Clark, when asked what impressed him about his golf. “I started feeling the nerves at 10, and you know making that bogey putt at 12 was huge.”  

“But in my mind, I think in the past I would have kind of coasted and shot a nice 8-9 under. To keep the pedal down and to stay aggressive mentally was the impressive thing about myself. And then making all those putts was out of the ordinary, It was awesome.” 

The issue in golf, as in any sport, is to concentrate on the matter at hand.  Friday, Scottie Scheffler, confronted with a question about weather possibilities, said he was too busy thinking about how he might hit practice shots. In other words, what he could control, not about the havoc nature could create.

“As far as no round (Sunday),” said Clark, “I’ve definitely thought about it, with everyone saying how bad the weather is going to be. All right. Well, you definitely got to have the mentality that today’s the last day and go for broke.”  

He went, and almost broke 60.

At Pebble Beach, Detry is best in the world of golf

PEBBLE BEACH — The world of golf, indeed, is the world of golf, a place where it’s no less important to have a passport than a repeating swing and tournaments may need to distribute pronunciation guides along with yardage books.

Yes, there were three U.S. citizens scattered among the high finishers Thursday in the opening round of the UN — sorry, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Patrick Cantlay, Rickie Fowler and Colin Morikawa; all Californians.

But they were as much the exception as the sunshine that was present and accounted for until late afternoon showers returned to Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill courses still soggy from an overnight downpour.

In first with a 9-under par 63 at Spyglass was Thomas Detry of Belgium (and the U of Illinois). After decades of almost becoming secondary to the celebrity amateurs, under the revised format, the pros were very much dominant.

Maybe not as many laughs—as mentioned, the prime attraction was no longer entertainer Bill Murray, but the world’s No. 2 ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland.

He was in the lead for a while at Spyglass but after a penalized incorrect drop—the rule changed at the beginning of 2024, McIlroy shot a 69 at Spyglass.

Cantlay had  64 at Spyglass, which because it is on rolling hills and not alongside the Pacific, usually fares better in the rain. The low round at historic Pebble was by Matthieu Pavon of France, with a 65.

He won last weekend’s Farmers at Torrey Pines. Some 400 miles down the coast, where Detry had the lead with a hole to play in the 2nd round, but had golfer’s luck.  His beautiful pitch shot h to the 18th green rolled off and into a pond.

Here at Pebble Beach, this opening round was the foreign invasion, Emiliano Grillo of Argentina (66), Si Woo Kim of Korea (66), Ludvig Åberg of Sweden (68), and Justin Rose of England — the 2023 champion — also at 68.

“Good today,” said Detry. Then, more emphatically, “Perfect.”

 At least perfect enough to get in front with three rounds remaining.

He holed his approach on the 18th at Spyglass for birdied three which gave him the lead.

“I’m not going to lie,” said Detry of his failure to close the second round of the Farmers. “Last weekend was a bitter pill to swallow. I played some great golf, and I didn’t really have the finish that I wanted.”

In a tournament, only one person does, no matter which country he’s from.

The new AT&T: Rory McIlroy in place of Bill Murray

PEBBLE BEACH — The Pacific Ocean still is there, crashing against the edge of one of the world’s great golf courses.  And the threat of weather that so often has defined the tournament through the years remains on the horizon and in the forecast.

But so much—virtually everything else—has changed about the event that advanced from the Bing Crosby Pro-Am to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Basically, it’s gone from Bill Murray, who once tossed a large frozen fish on the 18th fairway to Rory McIlroy, who doesn’t throw out much more than compliments or criticism.

What in effect was a huge party of pars and laughs—chants from the gang at Pebble’s 15th tee—is now a good, old-fashioned competition among many golfers who conveniently avoided the AT&T because of the format and conditions.

Now, for this year’s event, which begins Thursday, as commercials have touted, AT&T has its finest field of pros ever, players such as Scottie Scheffler, No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings, and McIlroy, No. 2. 

Does that compensate for a lack of singers and comedians?

The first two days there will be numerous NFL quarterbacks, including Aaron Rodgers, who won the amateur title a year ago under the old format. But not many Hollywood types.

Will the revisions mean a lot? Who knows? They tell us the key to life is adapting. Fore!

NFL, NBA — and the return of Tiger Woods

This is what Tiger Woods means to golf: ESPN on Thursday afternoon felt compelled to interrupt its incessant reporting of the Dallas Cowboys to give us news of the Hero World Challenge.

It’s an unofficial PGA Tour tournament. It’s also where Woods is playing competitively for the first time since April. In the opening round he didn’t play particularly well, shooting a three-over-par 75 at the Albany Golf Course in the Bahamas, which was 18th in an elite field of 20.   

Yet what counted were not the strokes but the fact he was making them.  And making the sporting world aware. 

It’s late autumn. The NFL is in full stride. The NBA is holding some marketing device called the In-season tournament. Alabama is about to play Georgia. And golf was getting attention simply because of the one man involved once more.

Individual sports always needed individual stars. There are no home teams. But there are great players who become the lifeblood, overcoming national to get noticed, players such as Jack Nicklaus and Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Tiger Woods.  

It may not be correct to say Tiger is bigger than the game, but he’s invaluable. One minute we’re getting analysis of the Cowboys-Seahawks game, a minute later we’re hearing Tiger analyze his own game. 

It was not a satisfying overview, Woods told us how much he missed the sport. Not only connecting with a ball but also connecting with his contemporaries, sharing wisecracks and laughter, being “out there,” as golfers say.

Finally, Thursday, for the first time since he withdrew from the Masters with that aching foot, there he was if struggling. 

No pro golfer ever could be pleased with a double bogey and two bogeys on 15, 16 and 17, a finish that turned an acceptable round into a lousy one. However, Woods conceded he is not in shape. He played a lot of golf back home in Florida, but it’s hardly the same as golf on the Tour.

He said once more he was rusty.  How long does it take for a golfer his age, who has overcome numerous physical problems, for rust to be scraped and polished away?

“I would be thinking,” he said. “Should I do this or not? By then I’m pulling the trigger. I shouldn’t really pull the trigger. Hit a bad shot. I kept doing it time and again. It was a lack of commitment to what I was doing and feeling. I’ve got to do a better job.”

Tiger’s back; he missed golf, golf missed Tiger

For a great athlete, a sport is more than catching footballs or hitting baseballs. It’s a way of life, one from which he or she is embraced and has no wish to escape.

Tiger Woods reminded us when he spoke Tuesday about returning to golf after weeks away because of surgery on the right ankle that was damaged in that 2022 auto accident.

“I love competing,” said Woods. “I love playing, I miss being out here with the guys. I miss the camaraderie and the fraternity-like atmosphere out here and the overall banter.”

The fun at the office, as it were, the chance to talk and laugh, and no less, as anyone in virtually any line of work, to achieve a sense of self-satisfaction.

“But what drives me,” Woods emphasized,” is that I love to compete. There will come a point in time — I haven’t come around to it fully yet that I won’t be able to win again. When that day comes I’ll walk away.”

Right now he’s walking towards something, perhaps a renaissance. At the least towards the first tee.  

Woods, whose last previous competition was in April when he was forced to withdraw from the Masters because of the ankle, is playing in the fall event he’s long been involved with, now named the Hero World Challenge.

It’s an unofficial tournament, previously played at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks outside Los Angeles, but now is held in the Bahamas. 

Hero, in this case, refers not to Tiger, but to the sponsor of a motorcycle company in India.

If Woods understandably missed golf, then golf, understandably, missed Woods. There have been other fine players since Tiger burst onto the PGA Tour in 1996, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Rory McElroy, and lately Jon Rahm, but none had the magic combined with the game.   

Tiger brought in a new audience and filled grandstands and TV screens. People who didn’t know a divot from a dandelion knew Tiger.

In an earlier time, when baseball dominated our sports scene, Babe Ruth was America’s unique attraction, identifiable by just a first name. If Tiger isn’t another Babe, he is damn close.  

But Woods will be 48 in December, and even with his success, the 15 majors, the 82 total Tour wins, he knows the future can never match the past. The idea now is to be in the hunt and then with a key putt or two again be in the winner’s circle. 

“I’ve been playing a lot,” he said of his practice rounds, “but not with a scorecard and a pencil. My game feels rusty.”

As it should be. You’ve heard this before, but there’s a difference between going out on the course with your pals at the club in Florida and true competition.

“I’m excited to compete and play,” said Tiger. “I’m as curious as all of you are to see what happens. Because I haven’t done this for a while.”

Whatever happens is less important than it happens at all. Welcome back, Mr. Woods.

For U.S., a Cup of Ryder road woes

This was a while ago, and Davis Love III was in the process of returning to his South Carolina home from a tournament when a neighbor offered a greeting and a question.

”He asked me what the Ryder Cup was,” recalled Love, “And how did we lose it.”

The years pass, and if the event, the biennial golf competition between the United States and Europe, can easily be explained with four-ball, foursomes, and singles. The results of many recent matches are less so.

Even to the-called experts. Perhaps most of all to so-called experts.

America has had the best players, right? Other than, previously Seve Ballesteros and currently, say, Jon Rahm. But that’s only two.

So why does Europe keep thumping the Americans? Particularly when America is the visiting team, as it will be when the 44th Cup is held in the suburbs of Rome Friday through Sunday. America has lost the last six matches when passports are a requirement. They — we, if you choose — have been beaten in England, France, Wales, Spain, Scotland and Ireland. If not in that particular order. Of course, they’ve also been drubbed back in the U.S., although they have won the last two in America.

As a yardstick, it is how ineffective various groups of Americans have been. Consider the 2004 matches that were held in Detroit, the U.S. team included Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and was an embarrassment.

What’s wrong with America? Or right with Europe? Theories are as numerous as shots at the practice tee.

We’re told U.S. golfers are too individualistic to care about team play. We’re told the Euros come from more humble backgrounds and that winning the Cup means more to them — and their countries.

For sure they celebrate the success loudly and boisterously, the musical lyrics, “Ole, ole ole,” resounding from their team rooms and from their fans.

It isn’t the 49ers vs. the Cowboys or the Yankees against the Red Sox. It’s them against us — or more specifically against the U.S.

And fans are incorrigible. Yes, the Olympics involve more nations in more sports. But in the Ryder Cup, the fans are pinching in close.

“It’s one-sided,” Fred Couples, a former Ryder Cupper, told Golf Channel. “You can feel them breathing down the back of your necks. They‘re waiting for you to screw up.”

Lanny Wadkins played his college golf at Wake Forest, which despite numerous stars never won a team championship. “I guess we didn’t pass the ball around enough,” he said with more than a bit of sarcasm.

In the Ryder Cup, what the American team needs to pass is the test. It has to start quickly — the first-day leader is the inevitable champion — and start well.   

And finally, stop losing a Ryder Cup match in Europe.

At Fortinet, age is no problem for Kuchar

NAPA — No, as we’re told when unexpectedly some veteran pro shows up on a tournament leaderboard, the golf ball doesn’t know how old you are.

But we know how old Matt Kuchar is, 45, figuratively ancient in sport. On the other hand, the second-round leader of the Fortinet Championship, Sahith Theegala, is 27.

Theegala was born in 1997, the year Kuchar won the U.S. Amateur.

Now it’s 2023, and with only one scheduled round remaining in the Fortinet Championship, the first event of the season, Theegala, following a 5-under par 67, on Saturday, is in front at 17-under.

Cam Davis who is 28 (and won the 2022 British Open), Justin Thomas who is 30 (and won two PGA Championships), and S.H. Kim who is 25, are all tied for second two behind.

Next, another stroke back, is Kuchar, reveling in the moment. “I love playing,” said Kuchar. “I love having a chance to compete. Being out here at Silverado, a fantastic resort, a fantastic golf course; this is one that regardless of where it is on the schedule, I’m likely to find myself here.”

And so he is and we have found him here. Older golfers don’t retire. They just keep replacing their divots. No linebacker is going to knock them down. If they can stand up to what is on the scorecard, they seem very content.

Obviously, Kuchar is. He missed winning a major a couple of times, finishing in a tie for third in the 2012 Masters. He also made a great run in the 2017 British Open, stumbling when he got into a dispute about whether playing partner Jordan Spieth got a surprisingly favorable ruling after a tee shot into the rough.

Kuchar is perhaps best recalled as the man whose compensation for his caddie after Matt winning the 2018 Mayakoba Classic, was a cause for controversy.

The relatively low amount Kuchar paid, although agreed upon before the tournament, was so mocked on social media that Kuchar finally had to up the payment.

Kuchar has overcome what he said was a misunderstanding. Whether he can overcome a deficit of several strokes in the Fortinet is now the issue.

Theegala, starting his third year on tour after winning college honors at Pepperdine, is seeking his first win on Tour.

He began and closed Saturday with a lead, which is not unimpressive with people such as Davis and Thomas, major champions, chasing him.

“The big key for me is just try to keep it in the fairway, which I haven’t done a great job the last three days and I feel like I’m just scrambling my butt off a little bit, which feels like a good thing because I feel like if I’m in the fairway, it almost feels like a bonus.”

“My main thing that I’m kind of focusing on was just making progress and I felt like I made progress again throughout the year,” Theegala said. “Yeah, I think I learned just as much from not being in contention as being in contention.”

He is very much in contention at the Fortinet, as is Matt Kuchar.

For Theegala, strange question but great golf

NAPA — The question wasn’t what, say, Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy would’ve been asked. It also seemed to have Sahith Theegala, the third-year PGA Tour pro, as distressed as it did perplexed.

Here was Theegala Friday after moving into a share of the halfway lead in the season’s opening event, the Fortinet, and one reporter asks, “Why are you playing this week?”

Yes, you read that correctly. After a headshake, Theegala responded diplomatically.

“Yeah,” said Theegala, “I actually don’t think that’s a great question.”

Especially after a great round, an 8-under 64 at Silverado which put Theegala at 12-under for 36 holes and tied for the lead with S.H. Kim. 

Sheepishly, the reporter restructured his previous query and wondered: “Is it a decent question?”

Theegala, now accepting the repartee, said, “I’d put it in the lower tier.”

As opposed to the golfer who has been in the upper tier basically since his prep days in Southern California. An All-America at Pepperdine, Theegala has been competitive from the start as a pro and was a hot shot out of the playoffs in the Waste Management Phoenix Open in 2022, his rookie season.

But he’s yet to finish first, and failed to qualify for the most recent Tour Championship, giving him unwanted time off and probably the reason he was unable to laugh away the question of why he was entered in the Fortinet. 

He was entered because as a golfer he wants to play golf. He definitely played it Friday with an eagle, seven birdies, and only one bogey. 

“It was a really good round,” was his understatement.

As reminded, Silverado isn’t a course for major championships. It was created with 18 holes by Johnny Dawson in the 1950s, then expanded and improved to two 18s by Robert Trent Jones II in the 1960s. Still, it’s where there’s enough water and out-of-bounds holes to cause trouble if a golfer is botching shots.

Set amongst vineyards in the Napa Valley, Silverado can be rewarding if a golfer keeps the ball online and off the tee and Theegala did exactly that on Friday.

“I was off to a good start,” he said. “Birdied all the par-fives. I started on the back nine. You kind of ease into the round versus starting on a couple of hard holes out of the gate.”

“I really like the course, it’s just good vibes. I think I’ve said a lot in the last couple of years. If I could get my tee shots in play and get my tee shots under control, I feel good about the rest of my game and I did that today.”

With two rounds remaining, and people such as Kim, Justin Thomas, and back-to-back Fortinet winner Max Homa very much in the picture, the only question to be asked now of Theegala is whether he can win.

Away from golf, Herbert found himself — and maybe his game

NAPA — So you’re a broker or a butcher or whatever and feel you need a break, maybe a day on the links to refresh. But how do you escape if you earn your pay as a touring professional golfer?

If you’re Lucas Herbert, instead of throwing caution to the winds you figuratively throw your clubs in the closet, put away your pitching wedge, and pick up a guitar.

And in the process pick up your spirits.

“Yeah, golf’s been getting me down,” said Herbert. “I missed the cut in the (British) Open Championship and then I didn’t want to think about golf, talk about golf. It was a tough stretch. I had a lot going on, in my life and on the course.”

What went on Thursday at the Fortinet Championship at Silverado when both Herbert and the PGA Tour returned after their respective breaks, Herbert’s a couple of months and the Tour a couple of weeks, was exciting. Particularly for Herbert, the 27-year-old from Australia.

He took the first-round lead, a 9-under par 63, which was two shots lower than S.H Kim. Max Homa, the Cal guy who’s won the Fortinet the past two years, was at 70.

If some of those scores seem fanciful, well Silverado where there have been Tour events since the 1960s, while a fine country club layout, isn’t Augusta National or Royal Liverpool. The latter, also known as Hoylake, is where a frustrated Herbert played his last round prior to Thursday.

He actually was doing decently there in the first 16 holes. But on the remodeled par-3, the 17th, Herbert couldn’t get out of a bunker. He lost a ton of strokes, taking a triple-bogey, and his cool. Right then, his shoes in the sand, Herbert knew enough was enough.

“I went and spent some time around people where I wasn't the main focus of everyone's life for the day,” Herbert explained. “I was able to go and be a part of other people's lives, which is something we don't get to do as golfers. I feel like coming here this week I was ready to play again.”

His game reflected that idea. He had six birdies in succession, 12 through 17 which enabled him to shoot 33-30. He came in with 10 birdies and a bogey, that on the par-4 sixth.

Herbert said he wasn’t thinking about a score, just trying to build momentum, going for the pin, knocking in the putt, and recalling how enjoyable golf can be when everything is going well. Which it wasn’t in July.

“I didn’t think it was much when I came back, very low. The break was a chance for me to reset. I think I’d become a bitter and spiteful person. I didn’t like that version of myself, I look back at the Open Championship. I was wound up pretty tight and lashed out at people. I feel now I can be a better person.”

After a 9-under par return, he must believe he could similarly be a better golfer.

At Fortinet, Justin Thomas seeking what he had

NAPA — Such a simple game, golf. A ball sitting there on the tee or the fairway that you keep hitting in the right direction. Until inexplicably it goes in the wrong direction. 

Like the career of Justin Thomas.

It isn’t baseball, where a pitcher keeps you off balance. Or football where an opponent may knock you off balance. 

But golf certainly can throw you off balance. Even if you’ve twice finished first in the PGA Championship, one of the majors, as Thomas has.

Now as the PGA Tour has its annual restart with the Fortinet Championship at Silverado, Thomas is looking for a personal restart. He had, well, a very bad year.

For a while, he was 71st on the money list. He missed the cut in three of the four majors. He had to sweat out being chosen as a captain’s pick — “like trying to call an ex-girlfriend” — for the Ryder Cup (He was selected).

You’re trying to figure out yourself while at the same time, others are trying to figure you out. And maybe at the same time they are worried it could happen to them.

But at age 29, Thomas, the son and grandson of golf pros, appears to have conquered his demons, if not specifically the cures to what ails him.

When the great Ben Hogan was asked by other players how to improve he had a terse answer: “It’s in the dirt.”

Meaning, just hit practice shot after practice shot, until there were divots from the repetitive digging into the grass and get turf. Thomas plans to continue his digging, literally and as a byproduct, emotionally until he’s content with signs of progress.

”Anytime you’re going forward,” said Thomas, “or moving forward — I don’t want to say moving on — but grow and get better I’m excited. I definitely am hard on myself but I kind of reminded some of the stuff Max Homa said.”

Homa, who’s going for a third consecutive Fortinet title pointed out he and the other golfers knew well Thomas was far too superior to languish so far down in the Tour rankings, even briefly.

Thomas has been both defending and explaining himself on social media, the outlet of choice for the 20 and 30 somethings. He has split with former putting coach John Graham. 

“Everything, fundamentally or mechanically, or on the putting green was as good as it could get. Basically what I told (Graham) is you can’t go out and make the putts for me. That’s something only I can do.” 

Whether he accomplishes the task might be evident at the Fortinet. Silverado’s greens can be difficult. 

“I’ve been practicing getting the ball in the hole,” said Thomas. “I don’t care how it looked. All that mattered was getting the ball in the hole.”  

And along with that getting his game out of the hole. As we’ve been told forever, in golf “it ain’t how it’s how many.”

At the Open Harman takes his major step

HOYLAKE, England — The champion golfer of the year. That’s the historical and wonderful phrase used annually to introduce the winner of the Open Championship, a phrase both of exclusivity — as if no other event matters — and confirmation.

That’s the phrase Martin Slumbers, secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, called out for Brian Harman.

Not that anyone should be surprised after the last two days when he stormed into a lead any sporting realist would have agreed was insurmountable.

Ahead by — dare we say — a whopping 5 shots before a final round at Royal Liverpool that would offer constant (and occasionally heavy) rain but no drama even when briefly at the fifth hole the margin was reduced to three shots.

By the time the 151st Open came to the soggy end, Harman shooting a 1-under 70 for a 72-hole score of 13-under 271, was six shots clear from a group that changed as often as the leader didn’t. Second place at 277 was shared by Tom Kim, Sepp Straka, Jason Day and the man who shot 63 Saturday (and won the Masters in April) Jon Rahm. Predictions were that Rory McIlroy, who won the Open here in 2014 and took the Scottish Open a week ago, would come in first. However, he putted poorly and was sixth.

It is a media belief a major is not a major — especially from a television standpoint — without marquee players such as McIlroy in the mix. The 36-year-old Harman hadn’t won a Tour event since 2017. He did lead the 2017 U.S. Open, but he hardly could be called a star. In fact, the non-golf crowd, despite the spelling of their names, would confuse him with Butch Harmon, who worked with various pros including Tiger Woods.

No more. If Harman isn’t marquee, he’s at the top of the heap in his profession. Bobby Jones won the Open. Ben Hogan won the Open. Arnold Palmer won the Open. Jack Nicklaus won the Open. Now 5-foot-7 Brian Harman has won the Open.

In the second round Harman, contrary to the spirit of golf, was heckled by a few boisterous spectators who presumingly were trying to improve the chances of local favorite Tommy Fleetwood. Harman shrugged this off. He knows now. All Sunday the crowd was universally cheering.  

”I’ve always had a self-belief that I could do something like this,” said Harman. “It’s just when it takes so much time it’s hard not to let your mind falter, like maybe I’m not winning again. I’m 36 years old. The game is getting younger.  All these young guys coming out, hit it a mile, and they’re all ready to win. Like when is it going to be my turn again?”

He knows now. We all know. The man who wasn’t marquee is a major champion.

Harman has Open lead — and distance to go

HOYLAKE, England — The problem in any sport, particularly golf, where you have no control of your opponents, and often little control of yourself, is to make presumptions. 

It’s a game where a three-stroke lead can be snatched away even before you get to the first tee, a game where it’s as much a danger of planning too far as remembering the past.

At the halfway mark of this 2023 British Open, a somewhat famous guy named Brian Harman has what could be called a comfortable lead.

Harman in Friday’s second round shot a 6-under 65. That gave him a 36-hole score of 10-under 132, a record low for Opens at Royal Liverpool, where the last two champions were Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.

It also gave him a five-shot lead over local hero Tommy Fleetwood, who had a semi-disappointing 71. That’s even par, or as they choose to say in Britain, level par.

But as delighted — a word he used — by a round highlighted and enhanced by an eagle on the par-five finishing hole, he knows so many things can happen.

And in a career prior to his hot-shot days in high school and the University of Georgia, not infrequently had happened to him.

Harman, 36, does have four wins on tour, but he also has a lost loss after carrying a one-shot lead into the fourth round of the 2017 U.S. Open.

“I have a very active mind,’ said Harman, asked about getting ahead of myself. “It's hard for me — I've always struggled with trying to predict the future and trying to forecast what's going to happen. I've just tried to get really comfortable just not knowing.”

Despite the ignorance-is-bliss attitude, Harman has to know at this 151st edition of the oldest of all championships, major or minor, he’ll never be in a better position to take a trophy — or at the Open, the claret jug.

Still 36 holes — and bewildering possibilities like Jordan Spieth shanking a ball out of the high grass on Thursday — remain in the way.

As others from the States, Harman needed to adjust to links golf after struggling his first several appearances at the Open, when he missed the cut.

“Now I like links golf,” he said. “I like the challenges, the strategies.”

He also likes the way he played.

The Open: Rain and Rory?

HOYLAKE, England — The Open, two magic words. They stand alone, without the designation, “British,” but with decades of history and memories of bad weather and enthralling golf.

We’re at Royal Liverpool, across the River Mersey from the city where the Beatles started so many years ago. Recent generations probably don’t know Penny Lane from Abbey Road — but probably do know the past two winners here were Tiger Woods (2006) and Rory McIlroy (2014).

Tiger will be absent from the 2023 Open, which begins Thursday, but Rory is not only present and accounted for, but after a bang-bang ending to win last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, certainly is among the favorites.

Mcllroy won the 2014 Open at Royal Liverpool, a course also known as Hoylake, the town across the River Mersey where it is located. So yes, he knows the place, American pros and he knows open weather — which can be anything any minute. 

There was a steady rain Tuesday morning, but that didn’t keep any of the golfers from getting in their shots. There’s something captivating about these famous, talented pros standing in a bunker hitting practice shots during a downpour.

Good weather, which Hoylake had in 2006 when Tiger used a driver off the tee only once and never hit out of the sand.

American pros in particular seem to enjoy poor conditions here at least, if not in the States. It’s part of the appeal, sort of. Hey, who says we’re softies? 

During one Open at Royal St. Georges down on the English Channel, Phil Mickelson kept saying he wanted rain and wind if only to show that he, a southern Californian, was as tough as anyone anywhere. He never got the chance, but a few years later at Muirfield in Scotland, where the days ranged from nice to nasty, Mickelson got his Open win.

Basically, when you cross the Atlantic, you take on the whims and wildness of ol’ Ma Nature, who can turn a 300-yard hole into an unreachable par-5 or turn a seemingly easy hole into a disaster.

McIlroy, now 34, grew up playing in that stuff in Northern Ireland. He understands the days are not all sunny and bright, but he also understands how to win Opens. He has four of them, including in 2014 at Royal Liverpool.

That is part of the reason he’s a tournament pick, along with people such as Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler.

“I think regardless of whether I won or not,” said McIlroy, referring to the victory a few days ago. “I would have come in here confident with the way I've played overhand the last sort of month and a half.”

“My game feels like it's in good shape, but I think seeing the way I played last week and being able to control my ball in pretty difficult conditions… and I feel good about that coming into this week.”

OK, but keep that rain jacket handy.

Women’s Open: Great golf (Corpuz) on a great course (Pebble)

It was about the timing, and the place, as much as it was about the person. Great sporting achievements require great venues as much as they require a great performance.

Allisen Corpuz gave us and her sport all three.

Is there a more important event in women’s golf than the U.S. Open? Is there a more magnificent course on which to hold it than Pebble Beach?

Especially since in 77 previous years it never ever had been until this historic week at Pebble.

Corpuz, a 25-year-old from Hawaii who Sunday became the first American in seven years to take the Open, played as consistently as possible and as impressively as imagined. In winning her first pro victory of any kind, she closed with a 2-under par 69 and was the only person in the field to break par every day.

Her 72-hole total of 9-under 279 was three shots in front of England’s Charley Hull (66) and Korea’s Jiyai Shin ( 68). And worth a $2 million prize, the richest prize ever for an LPGA major champion.

“Just a totally awesome experience,” she said, and if the words sounded like those of a college kid, it was not that long ago Corpuz was in classes at USC. That is when she wasn’t on the practice tee.

Michelle Wie West, also from Hawaii, also went to Punahou High in Honolulu and, of course, also won a Women’s Open. Wie West announced before this Open that she was stepping away to raise her family and unfortunately, at age 37, missed the cut.

But the golfing gods, those astute individuals, were not about to leave the American women’s game without a new heroine.

Enter Allisen Corpuz, who while others said her goal was to win numerous, including a major, now they seemed taken back by her success.

One moment she was struggling to make birdies and save pars, the next moment they were handing her a trophy practically as tall as she is, 5-foot 9 inches.

There have been comparisons between the first US Open at Pebble in 1972, and this first Women’s Open at Pebble, which is understandable. But that was taken by Jack Nicklaus who at the time not only was he the most famous golfer on the globe but he also had won a few times at Pebble.

There were differences, certainly women’s golf not receiving the same attention as the men’s, but both were groundbreaking. And to coin a phrase the ground where the breaking occurred is in a forest guarded in part by the breakers of Carmel Bay.

There’s only one Pebble Beach and right now there’s only one woman who won a U.S. Open there.