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The biggest news in golf this week was the announcement on Wednesday of this year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team final selections.
The 12-man squad already had six automatic qualifiers to Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay, so it was up to captain Steve Stricker to select the last six spots available.
Five of Stricker’s captain’s picks were pretty straightforward as Daniel Berger, Harris English, Tony Finau, Xander Sc Chaudele and Jordan Spieth were already among the top 12 points at the end of this season.
The selection, however, which surprised many, was Stricker’s choice of newcomer Scottie Scheffler, who ended up bypassing former Ryder Cup hero Patrick Reed.
Reed has long been said to have had a strained relationship with other U.S. Ryder Cup players, but his career record of 7-3-2 in this international competition is one of the best in the business and certainly deserves it. great consideration.
In fact, Reed’s stellar performance in the 2016 Ryder Cup earned him the nickname “Captain America.”
In Scheffler, the American team receives a talented but unconfirmed young player with no Ryder Cup experience. In fact, Scheffler has yet to win a single event on the PGA Tour.
Defenders of Stricker’s choice will point to Reed’s recent bout with pneumonia, which slowed him down a bit, but in my opinion he should have been part of the squad anyway.
Reed might not have the best personality in the world, and he seems like someone who could definitely put you in your shoes, but I still think he would give the United States a better chance of winning.
We’ll see what happens when the Ryder Cup competition kicks off in a few weeks.
The joke is on you
One of the funniest golf stories I’ve heard in a long time happened during the Tour Championship last week.
At the start of the final round, PGA star Joaquin Niemann was out of action and preparing to play alone with the first tee time on Sunday.
On a whim, Niemann decided to play as fast as he could and was seen running between shots throughout the round in order to complete his 18 holes in record time.
After finishing the game in an hour and 53 minutes, Niemann was greeted in the goalscorer’s tent by PGA Tour official Andy Pazder, and according to a Golf Magazine account, the discussion did not start well.
“Listen, Joaquin, as a professional you disrespected the game and you disrespected the Tour Championship. This is not how professionals act ”, Pazder told an unsuspecting Niemann. “You’ve been here a long time and you should know it and here’s a $ 10,000 fine.”
Niemann apparently remained silent for several moments as he dealt with the warning and tried to remain calm.
Before he could speak, Pazder eventually smiled and told Niemann he was just joking. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when I first heard the story.
By the way, as he ran almost all 18 holes, Niemann was still able to shoot a cool 72.
Young hole in one shot
Congratulations on one of the youngest golfers to record a hole-in-one in our area.
While playing with his father, Greg, 9-year-old Dylan Johnston scored a 130-meter ace on a recent lap at Immergrun in Loretto. Congratulations, Dylan!
Additional tournaments
A generation ago, the Grand Tournoi d’Altoona always marked the end of competitive tournaments in our region.
Today, however, there are plenty of top notch competitions stretching through the end of October. Here are a few :
The Senior Central Counties Championship at the Iron Masters (September 19), the Iron Masters Senior Fall Classic (September 24), the Scotch Valley Two-Ball Invitational (September 25-26) and the Central Counties Pro-Am in Sinking Valley (Sep 25-26).
Until there
As in years past, this is the last week of weekly golf coverage this year. I am very grateful and grateful to The Mirror for the opportunity to contribute and for your readership.
Ken Love covers local golf for the Mirror. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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