daniel chigunwe
Golf playoffs are funny. You’d think they’d be a statistical toss-up — you just shot the same score for 72 holes, after all — but then you see that Tiger Woods’ career playoff record is 11-1 and Phil Mickelson’s is 8-4 and you figure that the intimidation factor is probably worth something after all.
So it seemed on Sunday at the team-format Zurich Classic, when the duo of Martin Trainer and Chad Ramey teed off early and shot an incredible 11-birdie alternate-shot 63 to seize the clubhouse lead — only to wait around for three hours and watch as Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry caught them at 25 under par.
“I feel for Martin and Chad a little bit,” McIlroy said post-round. “To be sitting around and not really knowing — they might be in a playoff, they might not be, and then I’m sure they obviously had time to warm up and everything, but still, it’s different than us just coming straight back off the golf course and straight back into it.”
What he didn’t add was this: and play against us. Whatever the reason, the Trainer-Ramey duo that had just shot 63 did not show up to the par-5 18th for the playoff hole. Trainer’s drive sailed left. Ramey’s approach sailed way, way left.
Trainer chunked his pitch. Ramey pulled putter from the fairway and shorted that, too. Then Trainer wiped the six-foot par putt that would have extended the playoff.
Pressure golf is hard. One playoff hole was all they got.
But Team Traimey wasn’t the only duo to tee it up alongside McIlroy and Lowry on Sunday. The twosome of Ryan Brehm and Mark Hubbard did, too — and I loved Hubbard’s perspective on the experience.
“My brother texted me last night. He was like — obviously I want more in this game for myself — but he said, realistically you’re about to turn 35, who knows if you’ll ever get to play a Ryder Cup, so this is about the closest thing certainly that I’ve had so far in my career.
“I definitely took that to heart and tried to be really grateful for that opportunity today to kind of feel what that might feel like, playing against an all-Euro team and that crazy format. Alternate shot is just so stressful. Yeah, I just tried to be really grateful for every shot I got to hit today.”
Hubbard, typically self-deprecating, added that he wished he’d hit those shots a little better; he and Brehm finished at 24 under par, one shot outside the playoff.
Brehm felt a lift from the weekend, too. “It’s a big confidence boost for me because when you get paired with Rory McIlroy there’s a lot going on,” he said. “We can each draw a lot from that.”
As for the perspective of McIlroy’s own partner?“He’s getting old, but he can still move the needle a little bit,” Lowry said, referencing a standing ovation the duo had gotten while out to dinner Saturday night.
“Rory brings a crowd, and people love him. We’ve got a lot of love this week in New Orleans, and we’ve had just the best week.”
He’s no Tiger Woods; nobody is. But playing with Rory McIlroy still has an effect on people, whether he’s your teammate or he’s beating the hell out of you. Other players’ appreciation for those moments in the spotlight? That’s golf stuff I like.
WINNERS
Who won the week?
Hannah Green won the JM Eagle LA Championship for the second consecutive year thanks to a stretch on her back nine Sunday at Wilshire Country Club; she went birdie-birdie-par-eagle-birdie from 12-16 and went on to win by three.
With the win she becomes the fifth Aussie to win five or more events; she also gets meaningfully closer to securing her spot in this summer’s Olympics.
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry won the Zurich Classic, turning a “drunken lunch” decision to add the event into a meaningful victory.
“It’s amazing,” Lowry said. “You know, we both felt like we needed to come in here and have a very strong week because we wanted to get our summers going, and we’ve got a lot of big golf coming up soon.”
They leapt from 44 and 41 to 15 and 12 in the FedEx Cup, respectively. McIlroy also now has 25 PGA Tour wins, breaking a tie with Gary Player and Dustin Johnson and moving him into increasingly rarified air.
Brendan Steele won LIV’s event in Adelaide; he credited teammate Phil Mickelson for his clutch short-game play down the stretch.
“I lean on Phil pretty hard with everything, with how to hit shots around the green, how to approach things. He’s one of the best players ever, and if he can give me advice, I’m going to take it,” he said. “He’s a big reason I’m sitting up here.”
Yuto Katsuragawa won the ISPS Handa Championship in his home country of Japan, earning his first DP World Tour title and jumping from No. 434 to No. 179 in the world.
Tim Widing won the Veritex Bank Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour by four shots; it was his second consecutive victory and he moves to No. 118 in the world.
Sungjae Im won the Woori Financial Group Championship on the KPGA to move to No. 37 in the world. — golf.com
Bongani Ndlovu