The Friday Cut: Zhang, Fowler, Garcia, Aberg and the Battle of Britain
Rose Zhang of the United States plays her shot from the ninth tee during the second round of the 78th U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links on July 07, 2023 in Pebble Beach, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Welcome to ‘The Friday Cut’, your weekly round-up of the top stories across the professional tours.
While many of us are gearing up for the Open Championship in just a few weeks time, it would be foolish to wish away a single day of this blockbuster summer of golf. In a week filled with majors, momentous wins and a battle on british soil, here are the headlines that have made the cut.
History being made at the US Women’s Open
The Women’s major championships this year have been incredible, and following Ruoning Yin’s win at Baltusrol a few weeks ago, I cannot wait for the best players in the world to descend on Pebble Beach. This is a historic week for women’s golf, with an increased purse on offer at the US Women’s Open ($11m) and the joint highest payout for a winner in the women’s professional game ($2m).
Despite a number of high profile names being in attendance this week, including defending champion Minjee Lee and and 2014 champion Michelle Wie West, it’s future star Rose Zhang that appears to be stealing the headlines. After winning her debut LPGA Tour event recently, and coming close in her first major appearance as a professional, she now arrives at Pebble Beach as one of the market leaders to win the event. Her meteoric rise to the top of the women’s professional game shows no sign of stopping, and while it may be too early to talk of a first major win, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her contending on Sunday once again.
Rickie Fowler finally wins again on the PGA Tour
After a long-anticipated return to form, and 1610 days since his last win, Rickie Fowler has finally broken his losing streak to claim his sixth PGA Tour title at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. In a low scoring affair, Fowler held off the challenge of Morikawa and Hadwin to record the win in a three-man play-off. After rolling in his birdie putt on the first play-off hole, Fowler appeared visually relieved to have finally cut the curse, and in doing so ascended to 23rd in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Of course, along with the exemptions and monetary benefits of winning a PGA Tour event, Fowler will perhaps be most excited about a return to the Masters in 2024 and an opportunity to kick on and re-establish himself at the elite level of world golf. Anyone got a spare orange cap for Hoylake? Asking for a friend.
Sergio Garcia misses out on the Open Championship for first time in 26 years
Since 1997, Sergio Garcia has been a permanent fixture of the Open Championship and provided some iconic moments. After failing to qualify this year, the two time runner-up will miss the opportunity to improve on his runner-up finish at Royal Liverpool in 2014 and win his first Open Championship title.
The Ryder Cup record points scorer needed to go through the qualification system for this year’s final major, and made it to final qualifying at West Lancs Golf Club. Teeing it up on the same course as former US Open Champion Graeme McDowell, and a host of other top names from the professional game, Garcia fell just short by three shots in tied sixth place. As the future of LIV Golf, it’s relationship with the other professional tours, and of course the impact that has on the rankings of LIV-associated players is still unclear - we can only hope to see Sergio reclaim his Open Championship place at Royal Troon in 2024. Vamos, Sergio.
Battle of Britain - DP World Tour vs LIV Golf
While the narrative suggests that the tension between the professional golf tours has eased in recent times, I can’t help but think the schedule is testing the water of fan’s allegiances. Last week’s British Masters, contested at The Belfry, was well-attended and provided a relatively strong field. Move forwards a week, and the LIV Golf bus rolls into town with the LIV-London event at the Centurion Club.
The LIV-London field, without question, is stronger than that of the British Masters - but the iconic DP World Tour event more than holds its own with its history and tradition. The sceptic in me might say this is a case of ‘anything you can do, I can do better’, but the optimist in me sees this only as a good thing for British golf. Two big events, at two fantastic venues, with plenty of top talent on show. I will reserve judgement until Sunday, but with a $3.4 million disparity in prize money for the winners of the two events, I think I can predict which will be the more extravagant.
Coming up this weekend…
With the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach taking centre stage, we are in for a real treat of a weekend. Minjee Lee will surely put on a strong defence of the title, and following an impressive win at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Ruoning Yin will be looking to make it back-to-back major victories this week. Keep an eye on Leona Maguire, as a recent LPGA Tour winner and contender at the PGA Championship, as she could go very close based on recent form.
The PGA Tour heads to the John Deere Classic, and with a slightly weaker field it appears to be a great chance for many to grab their first PGA Tour win. One player that will surely be in contention again, after a blistering first few weeks to his professional career, is Ludvig Aberg. As an outside shout for a European Ryder Cup place, he will be looking to improve on three top-25 finishes in five events so far this year on the PGA Tour.
The DP World Tour heads to Denmark for the Made in Himmerland, with home favourites including twins Rasmus and Nicolai Hojgaard aiming to add what would be a special win to their collections. And finally, with LIV heading to London, the British crowds will be treated to some of the biggest names in the game, including PGA Champion Brooks Koepka and Former US Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau.
