It will take a special type of belief to look at the congested PGA Championship leaderboard and think your name will be the one above the rest. So the question is, what do these players believe?
Shane Lowry came within inches of putting his name alone in golf’s record book in round three at Valhalla. He happily settled for sharing a piece of history – and playing his way into serious contention for a second career major.
Despite the fact that this was just a practice round, Rose decided to take off his shoes and socks, roll up his pants, and attempt a heroic recovery shot.
The squad named The Bay Club and representing the San Francisco Bay Area will feature reigning US Open champion Wyndham Clark, PGA Tour rookie and world No.6 Ludvig Aberg, 2019 Open Championship winner Shane Lowry and Australia’s Min Woo Lee.
Lowry and McIlroy celebrated, as only Irishmen can, and both were thrilled that what they discussed some six months ago had come to fruition. Then, proof that the party took a dramatic turn showed up on X/Twitter an hour later.
Tournament favourites Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry delivered on the first hole of a playoff, giving both a ‘much-needed’ victory at this point in the PGA Tour season.
Few could argue that McIlroy, in what are likely to be the peak years of his already storied career, gave plenty to the PGA Tour cause since joining the board in 2021. With some justification, he is clearly proud of the contribution he has made.
The banter, indeed, was fierce at times. And all off-the-record. Anything else would be an invasion of privacy and unethical. But it was fun to listen to.
If you watched even just a single second of this year’s Ryder Cup, you heard about Patrick Cantlay’s hat. Or should we say the absence of a hat? There were rumours circulating about why the American wouldn’t don his Team USA cap and reports of a “fractured” locker room due to the decision.
Luke Donald forced players to play for $100 matches on the first hole during practice rounds, and three-hole money matches between themselves to help them get into an aggressive mindset early.