Although the major championships are in the record books for 2021, this weekend is a very big week in the world of professional golf. On top of that, the two premiere tournaments being contested are held at iconic, old-style, traditional Donald Ross golf courses with loads of history.
The PGA Tour is at the Donald Ross designed East Lake Golf Course in Atlanta for the playing of the Tour Championship. The top 30 golfers on tour for the 2020-21 season are involved in a gigantic money grab with a total purse of $60 million as well as an eye-popping first-place prize of $15 million. While major championships are the gold standard of professional golf, they typically pay out a first-place prize in the neighborhood of $2 million. The winner’s purse from the folks at Fed Ex is more than seven times the amount for a major win. While I have contended that most golfers would prefer a green jacket or a claret jug in comparison to a win this weekend at East Lake, $15 million is nothing to scoff at. It will pay the bills.
The Fed Ex Cup playoff is a tough one to read because of the concocted points system that the PGA Tour employs. It used to be that the tour’s top guns were determined by the money list, and the current points system makes things hard to decipher. For instance, Chesson Hadley secured the 125th and final spot in the playoffs with a great final-nine score that included a hole-in-one. Yet he still had to rely on a Justin Rose three-putt to survive. Last weekend, a K.H. bogey on the final hole knocked him out of the Tour Championship at 31st place while Patrick Reed missed the first two playoff events with pneumonia but was still able to end up in 30th place. A lot of head scratching is involved in all this.
The Tour Championship, in an effort to avoid confusion for the players and the fans, begins with a staggered scoreboard start. For instance, the No.1-ranked golfer, Patrick Cantlay, starts at 10-under-par. Tony Finau begins the week at 8-under-par. Eleventh-ranked Collin Morikawa begins at 3-under-par while the last man in, Patrick Reed, will start the tournament at even par. When Rory McIlroy won the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional, he shot 16-under-par and beat runner-up Jason Day by eight strokes. Rory is currently locked into 16th place and will start at 2-under-par. If he were to catch fire and shoot 16-under-par for the 72-hole tournament, he would end up with an 18-under-par total. Should Patrick Cantlay finish eight strokes behind Rory, he too would find himself at 18-under-par. That would mean a playoff and we have seen how Cantlay putts in sudden-death playoffs. When all is said and done, it’s still a concocted system. It’s just not like team playoffs where the Milwaukee Bucks win it all and the Phoenix Suns don’t.
Meanwhile, the top American and European women professional golfers are in Toledo for the playing of the Solheim Cup Matches. Initially contested in 1990, the Solheim Cup was the brainchild of Karsten Solheim, the president and founder of Ping Golf. The Solheim is an exact replica of the men’s version of team play, the Ryder Cup. It is a team format contest with three days of match play. On Saturday and Sunday, the Solheim calls for four morning and four afternoon matches each day. Two-person teams from each side compete at alternate shot (foursomes) in the morning and then better ball (fourball) in the afternoon sessions. On Monday, all 12 golfers play against the other side in singles matches. Each match is worth one point and with 28 total points on the line, the winning team needs to secure 14½ points to win the Solheim Cup. In case of a 14-14 tie, the defending champs get to keep the cup.
Last time around was as close as it could get. Going into Sunday, the matches were tied at 8-8. The final match on the course featured Suzann Petterson of Team Europe and American Marina Alex. Their match went the distance, and as both women stood on the 18th green, the score was tied. The last putt of the day was an 8-footer for Petterson. Make it and she would get the necessary point for the Euros. Miss it and her match with Alex would end up tied as would the matches. As the defending champs, Team USA would keep the cup. No pressure, huh? As fate and drama would have it, Petterson poured in her winning putt to the utter joy of her European teammates. Team Europe won by the thinnest of margins.
Catriona Matthew of Scotland returns to captain the European squad. The American team is led by former San Jose State golfer Pat Hurst. Team Europe includes Emily Pedersen and Nanna Madsen of Denmark, Georgia Hall, Charley Hull and Mel Reid of England, reigning British Open champ Anna Nordqvist and Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden, Sophia Popov of Germany, Carlota Ciganda of Spain, Celine Boutier of France, Matilda Castren of Finland, and Leona Maguire of Ireland. The American team includes world No. 1 Nelly Korda, her sister Jessica Korda, Danielle Kang, Ally Ewing, Austin Ernst, Lexi Thompson, Megan Khang, Lizette Salas, Jennifer Kupcho, Brittany Altomare, Yealimi Noh, and Mina Hargae. If one were to go solely on the current world rankings, then Team USA should be a prohibitive favorite. Of course, golf isn’t played on paper. The Solheim Cup has been historically tight and one should expect nothing less this time around. Team USA currently holds a 10-6 lead in the Solheim.
The Solheim Cup is being contested at the Inverness Golf Club. Like East Lake, it too was designed by Donald Ross. It is the only American course to host the U.S. Open, the U.S. Amateur, the U.S. Senior, and the U.S. Junior. It also has a unique place in golf history. During the 1920 U.S. Open, it was the first American private golf club to allow golf professionals to enter its clubhouse. Its four U.S. Opens were won by Ted Ray in 1920, Billy Burke in 1931, Dick Mayer in 1957, and Hale Irwin in 1979. Craig Stadler won the 1973 U.S. Amateur at Inverness, and Greg Norman was victimized twice at the PGA Championship there. He lost the 1986 PGA to Bob Tway when Tway holed out from the sand to birdie the final hole. Seven years later Paul Azinger beat Norman in sudden death at the ’93 PGA.
This weekend at Inverness is all about women’s team golf. Just two weeks ago the American team of female amateur golfers made a furious final-day comeback to win the Curtis Cup in Wales over Great Britain and Ireland. Later this month the Ryder Cup will be contested at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin with an identical format to the Solheim Cup. While some millionaire male golfer will end up pocketing the $15 million paycheck this Sunday evening in Atlanta, the European women and the American women will be playing in Toledo for national honor and glory with zero dollars at stake. It will be team golf at its purest and finest.
