22 years ago, Tiger Woods walked off the green and hugged his father after winning at Augusta. Sunday, he shared the same embrace, this time with his son, encapsulating the historic moment.
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SATURDAY MORNING FOUR-BALLS Match 1: Rory McIlroy / Sergio Garcia, Europe, def. Brooks Koepka / Tony Finau, USA, 2 and 1 Holes won: Europe 6, USA 4 Holes led: Europe 15 USA 0 Recap: The real Rory McIlroy turned up on Saturday morning and with the help of a solid Sergio Garcia the Europeans controlled this match until a brief late fightback from the U.S. A McIlroy birdie on the third hole kick-started the theme of the morning as the home side surged to 4-up through eight holes. The Americans tried to make a run at them late and reinvigorated feelings from their Friday comeback win when they claimed the 14th, 15th and 16th holes to pull within a hole. But two huge putts on the 17th green, the first a long par putt from McIlroy to free up his partners birdie attempt, the second Garcia’s long dagger to secure the win. McIlroy, who had zero birdies in the Four-ball session Friday, posted five of them Saturday. Quotes: “It was amazing. I think we played great all day. Obviously they started coming hard at us the last few holes, a couple little mistakes here and there, but we knew that we just had to keep giving ourselves chances and the way we’re playing … it was great for him to make that, gave me a little more freedom and great to roll it in.â€� – Sergio Garcia “Four up, five to play, you’re thinking win the 14th and get this thing over and done with, and then to be going up 17, it’s not what you want, but we tried to just make the best of the situation and Sergio was so clutch. It’s great. The fire and the passion that he has, it’s infectious, and it rubs off on me pretty well.â€� – Rory McIlroy Match 2: Paul Casey / Tyrrell Hatton, Europe, def. Dustin Johnson / Rickie Fowler, USA, 3 and 2 Holes won: Europe 5, USA 2 Holes led: Europe 14 USA 0 Recap: Paul Casey opened the match with scorching form with five birdies in the opening six holes helping set up a 2-up lead. By the turn the European duo was 3-up and while Johnson found some form on the back nine his three birdies on the back side were not enough to handle the home side. Combined Hatton and Casey were 9 under and just refused to let the Americans breathe. Quotes: “It’s been 10 years. Desperately wanted to be back on this team because I know how good it is. I mean, all these guys are amazing, and you know, once you’re a Ryder Cupper, you’re always a Ryder Cupper. I can’t tell you how good I feel – you just don’t want to make the team, you want to contribute.â€� – Paul Casey “It’s amazing. I’m at a loss for words. It’s such a special moment. Obviously to be here is an honor and then to win a point for the team is very special. Obviously playing alongside Paul, he’s a Ryder Cup legend. What a player he is. It was the Casey Express train the front nine. I was just trying to help out when I could.â€� – Tyrrell Hatton Match 3: Francesco Molinari / Tommy Fleetwood, Europe def. Tiger Woods / Patrick Reed, USA, 4 and 3 Holes won: Europe 6, USA 2 Holes led: Europe 13, USA 0 Recap: Europe’s hottest team continued to roll, beating Woods/Reed for the second time in Four-balls and moving to 3-0-0 for the week. The decisive stretch came early in the back nine when Molinari won three consecutive holes with birdies after Woods had squared the match with a birdie on the 10th hole. Molinari answered by knocking his tee shot at the par-3 11th to within 5 feet, then practically sprinted toward the green as the momentum turned. He continued to stripe his irons to gain control of the match. Woods was solid but had little help from Reed, who struggled off the tee. He nearly found the hospitality tents at the seventh and he hit into the gallery at the 11th. The only two holes the U.S. won during the match were from Woods’ birdies at the seventh (from 30 feet) and 10th (from 8 feet). With Woods and Reed both finding trouble at the 15th, Fleetwood closed out the match with a par. Quotes: “Today we were solid, and just started riding that wave again on the back nine when Fran started playing great, and I just kind of stood by his side and tried to hit decent golf shots and stay in the hole and let him go free.â€� – Tommy Fleetwood “We were ready this morning. I think any time we had to step it up today, we did, either one of us.â€� – Francesco Molinari
ERIN, Wis. — Remember last year, when Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson played a round for the ages, trading birdies and spectacular shots until Stenson finally came away with the Open Championship title? The U.S. Open won’t be like that. First off, barring a long rain delay on Thursday, Mickelson will be absent, attending his daughter’s high school graduation in California. And though Erin Hills, at first glance, may look like the sort of British links course that Mickelson and Stenson tore up last summer, Stenson will be the first to tell you it most certainly isn’t. “Golf at the U.S. Open has always been a bit harder than at the Open or any of the other ones,” Stenson said. So true. In the closing round at Royal Troon, Mickelson and Stenson combined for 14 birdies, an eagle and 19 pars, and Stenson won by three shots with a closing score of 20-under par. A few weeks later, at the PGA Championship, Jimmy Walker made a key birdie on No. 17 to outlast Jason Day, who, playing one hole ahead, kept pressure on Walker by making eagle on 18. Walker shot 14 under to win by one. And at this year’s first major, the Masters, Sergio Garcia beat Justin Rose in a playoff to close out a riveting day of golf. Garcia and Rose tied at 9 under in regulation. The last two U.S. Opens, meanwhile, have been most notable for Dustin Johnson’s three-putt on the 18th green at a baked-out Chambers Bay, then Johnson’s three-shot win last year at Oakmont despite a scoring/rules dust-up that left him playing the final seven holes without knowing the exact size of his lead. Over the last five years, the average winning score of the other three majors has been 12.2 shots below par. At the U.S. Open over the same period: 3.1 under. “The U.S. Open, you normally play on golf courses that are tricked up just to the limits, sometimes over the limits and sometimes just underneath,” Stenson said. Much has been made about the creation of Erin Hills, built on a 650-acre tract of Wisconsin farmland that was, according to USGA executive director Mike Davis, simply screaming to have a golf course built on it. It was developed specifically with the idea of hosting a U.S. Open. It’s huge, the longest U.S. Open course ever, at more than 7,741 yards (with room to make it even longer). Some fairways are almost wide enough to land a Boeing 767 airliner. “You could fit 2 fairways at Winged Foot into the No. 10 fairway here,” Davis said. But when the USGA gives, it almost always finds other places to take away. Already this week, some players were complaining about the depth and stickiness of the rough . That tall, hay-like grass lingering just outside those massive fairways? It’s fescue, but not all of it is the typically wispy stuff you see on the edges of Open Championship courses. The mist floating into the vegetation from the irrigation systems at Erin Hills has made some of it healthier than expected. Meanwhile, author Ron Whitten, who helped design the course, said among his proudest achievements are the bunkers, most of which don’t have flat lies and aren’t nearly as well-manicured or maintained as what these players face on a weekly basis. There are 138 of them covering what will be the first par-72 test at a U.S. Open since Pebble Beach in 1992. “I’m surprised more players aren’t complaining about the bunkers,” Whitten said. The USGA will look at the forecast and try to set up holes to dampen, not exacerbate, the effect of wind that can blow as hard as 30 mph. Davis said it blew that hard last Saturday, and conditions were so extreme that play likely would’ve been suspended had the tournament been going on because balls on the greens wouldn’t stay still. “We try to make the course exacting,” Davis said. “If it’s too exacting, we’ll be back here in the media center” to explain why. It wouldn’t be the U.S. Open without some chance of that happening. It’s why Stenson is easing into a week at this monster of a major course, where it’s expected to be humid with temperatures in the 80s most of the week. His hay fever is bugging him, too. He played 18 on Monday and will go only nine holes Tuesday and Wednesday. The key to the week for him, and anyone in the 156-player field: “Patience and pars.” “It’s certainly a tiring week,” Stenson said. “But it’s all worth it if you stand there with the trophy on Sunday.”
The Zurich Classic of New Orleans presents a moment to take a breath in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. The game does not include the team event, so there is no action this week. Segment 3 will resume with the inaugural Mexico Open at Vidanta. So to will the traditional Draws and Fades that are omitted below. RELATED: How Team Format Works | Play Pick ‘Em Live | The First Look However, PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live will turn over on Wednesday for Zurich. Bets for outrights, Top 10s, Top 20s and R1 Leader will be among the options as usual. Regarding Pick ‘Em Live for a moment, remember that no matter how many entries are submitted for any tournament, prize money does not change. So, while the Masters always draws the most attention – it had more than 10,000 entries – you battled against more bodies for a payday than last week’s RBC Heritage that hosted 4,816 entries … for the same payday! Pick ‘Em Preview for Zurich will publish as usual on Wednesday. Mike Glasscott and I always include tips and tricks that will help you contend. I also practice what I preach. In the first eight tournaments, I’ve logged a third (Honda), 10th (PLAYERS) and a 19th (Heritage). If you’re an owner in a season-long format, your patience now is rewarded. After this week’s 160-man Zurich in which all golfers through conditional status have gained entry, and extending through the 156-man Wyndham Championship, 10 of the 11 opens will host the maximum. The Mexico Open has reserved tee times for 132, but the entire Korn Ferry Tour graduate reshuffle (at least) is expected to qualify on merit. (Bryson Nimmer, Jeffrey Kang, Patrick Flavin and Turk Pettit emerged from the open qualifier for the tournament on April 18.) So, while a few guys deep in the overall pecking order will moonlight on the KFT when the PGA TOUR is engaging in invitationals in the coming months, you can expect a regular schedule from your charges for whom playing time had been sporadic. It’s also the time to strike for free agents if you already haven’t. POWER RANKINGS WILD CARD Bubba Watson & Harold Varner III (-125 for a Top 20) … There are a few teams not included in my Power Rankings or Sleepers that present a compelling narrative, nonetheless. This is one of them. Of course, HV3 nipped Watson with a cross-court heave that found the hoop at the buzzer for victory at the Saudi Invitational in early February, and he’s kept the pedal down in recent weeks, connecting five cuts made from a T6 at THE PLAYERS to a T18 at the Match Play to a T3 at the RBC Heritage where he was the 54-hole leader. However, he’s 0-for-4 in the team format at TPC Louisiana. On the flipside, Watson hasn’t missed a cut in all four tries. He’s recorded a pair of top 10s (2017, 2021) and he prevailed as an individual in 2011. The lefty’s form upon arrival this week hasn’t been as impressive as his partner’s, but by no means is playing poorly enough not to deserve this value. RETURNING TO COMPETITION Brandon Hagy & Cameron Percy (+450 for a Top 20) … Both are coming off health-related issues, so it’s a coincidence that they’ve joined forces. Hagy called it quits during his second round of the RBC Heritage due to a sore back. He’s just 7-for-18 on the season and 200th in the FedExCup. Meanwhile, Percy has been sidelined since a T4 at Corales, his second top 10 in his last three starts. He forfeited the top-10 exemption into Valero to have lens-replacement surgery on both eyes (link: https://twitter.com/cameronpercy1/status/1514589194689122311). In the thread of that tweet, the Aussie quipped that he hopes to “see the hole from outside 15 feet now,” but the irony is that, if he’d qualify for official rankings, the 47-year-old would lead the PGA TOUR in conversion percentage outside 25 feet. He’s holed four of 32 attempts from that range. Both of these guys are familiar with TPC Louisiana, and they’re a combined 5-for-5 in the team format. Odds sourced on Tuesday, April 19 at 3 p.m. ET. For live odds visit betmgm. NOTABLES WDs None. RECAP – RBC HERITAGE POWER RANKINGS Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Shane Lowry T3 2 Justin Thomas T35 3 Cameron Smith MC 4 Collin Morikawa T26 5 Joaquin Niemann T12 6 Matt Fitzpatrick MC 7 Dustin Johnson MC 8 Daniel Berger T21 9 Corey Conners T12 10 Sungjae Im T21 11 Webb Simpson T59 12 Patrick Cantlay P2 13 Matt Kuchar T3 14 Tyrrell Hatton T26 15 Chris Kirk MC Wild Card Jordan Spieth Win SLEEPERS Golfer (Bet) Result Nate Lashley (+550 for a Top 20) MC Alex Noren (+175 for a Top 20) T42 Mito Pereira (+250 for a Top 20) T26 Scott Stallings (+450 for a Top 20) MC Brendon Todd (+400 for a Top 20) T26 GOLFBET Bet: Daniel Berger (Top 5), Sungjae Im (Top 10) and Tyrrell Hatton (Top 20) at +10000 Result: Berger (T21), Im (T21), Hatton (T26) BIRTHDAYS AMONG ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE PGA TOUR April 19 … Matt Jones (42) April 20 … John Senden (51) April 21 … none April 22 … Eric Axley (48) April 23 … none April 24 … Jason Bohn (49); Lee Westwood (49); Jonas Blixt (38); Carlos Ortiz (31) April 25 … Nick Watney (41)
