1. It may have been lost in a weekend of world wide golf but cheers to Peter Senior for becoming the oldest ever winner of the Australian Masters. Senior who is 56 and a Champions Tour player beat a bunch of youngsters half his age for his third Masters title. Let’s hear it for the old guys.
2. Rory McIlroy is about half Senior’s age and it was great to see him back in good form with his win in Dubai. After sitting out much of the season Rory was striking it solidly and putting well in his defense of this Race to Dubai title.
3. Another blast from the past found his game recently as Graeme McDowell finally was on top of the leaderboard for the first time in years. G-Mac’s win in Mexico and his third place at the RSM have made him relevant again. After winning the 2010 U.S. Open McDowell managed only one PGA win (2013) before he found his way back. He’s fun to watch and maybe the fact that 206 is a Ryder Cup year has motivated him.
4. Props to Kevin Kisner for breaking through for his first PGA Tour win at the RSM Classic. It continued the trend of first timers winning in what used to be the “Fall Series” as Kisner is the sixth first time winner since the start of the wrap-around season.
5. What can you say about Lydia Ko? She is simply phenomenal. Five wins this season for a total of ten LPGA career wins already and two back to back CME Group titles. She’s way ahead of Annika Sorenstam’s pace and LPGA great Nancy Lopez didn’t win her tenth tournament until she was 21. Ko can set all kinds of records if she stays healthy and motivated. It may be that the only thing that could stop her is herself.
6. Inbee Park’s Vare trophy gave her the required 27 points to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame which is quite different from the World Golf Hall of Fame. The problem is the LPGA’s bylaws also mandate a minimum of ten years on tour to be eligible. That’s ridiculous. If you make the numbers you get it no matter how long, or short it takes.
7. One LPGA player who isn’t going home happy is Stacy Lewis. The former number one finished 2015 without a win and that doesn’t sit well with one of the most competitive players in all of golf. She had 14 top tens including six seconds and three thirds but zero wins. That doesn’t cut it for Lewis. She’s probably back on the practice range already getting ready for next season.
8. Mike Whan continues to work wonders with his LPGA Tour. The ’16 schedule boasts two more events for a total of 34 which was Whan’s goal when he took over a dysfunctional tour. You can debate who is the best commissioner in sport but Whan’s effectiveness in rebuilding the LPGA is amazing.
9. We all love Miguel Angel Jimenez’s warm up session and it never fails to entertain. But take a look at this angle from the European Tour. It gives you a different view of the Coolest Guy in Golf’s warm up session.
10. So Davis Love III names Tiger Woods, along with four others as assistant captains for the 2016 Ryder Cup. There are so many questions, the most obvious of which is why? And why now? And what is Tiger thinking? I don’t get it. Love has plenty of time to name captains and doesn’t Tiger want to earn a playing spot on the team? This is so strange and requires a bit more discussion so there will be more on this later but I, like many in the golf world are shaking our heads at this one.
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