There’s plenty of ways a weekend can go wrong. House work. Garden work. Work work. There’s flat tyres, nasty colds, crippling hangovers. It’s a minefield out there — a veritable banana peel slip-n-slide for the exhausted put-upons of Earth who ask for nothing more than 48 hours of non-misery a week.

For many, that reprieve is found on the golf course, bonding with friends and connecting with Mother Nature. But even that can go horribly wrong, as this hapless Canadian Open qualifier found out Memorial Day Weekend, carding 16 double-bogeys (16!!) en route to a comically brutal 121.

Today in a Canadian Open Q (there is regional Q's) a guy fired a 121.
Lets guess how he made the par on 15. I'll start. I say made a 20-YARD putt, 10 yards of which was rough,
and it slammed the pin and went in. pic.twitter.com/A5SBpVmd4B

— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) May 30, 2023

Listen, we’re not here to kick someone while they’re down. The golf gods have already exacted their pound of flesh (and then some). But let’s not sugar coat it: This poor guy had no business being out there. This was a regional qualifier for a PGA Tour event, not some annual buddies’ scramble. Maybe they showed up to the wrong place on the wrong day. Tough to say, but at least they made a single par.

That won’t be enough to salvage the weekend, but it’s something.

The post Poor guy fires 121 (including 16 double-bogeys) in Canadian Open regional qualifier appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Equally fitting, too, that the win came at the Canadian Open, which was last played in 2019 and cancelled each of the last two years due to COVID. That week’s winner at Hamilton Golf and Country Club was McIlroy, who dusted Shane Lowry and Webb Simpson by seven strokes. His title ‘defence’ at St George’s this week wasn’t quite as dominant, margin wise, but it was just as scintillating to watch, and it’s now made the Northern Irishman a heroic figure in Canada.

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The chants of “Rory! Rory!” from the fans began early and often on Sunday, as McIlroy went out in 29, something he’d never done on the front nine of a PGA Tour event his career. He came home in 33 to cap off an eight-under 62, one shot shy of matching his final-round 61 that won him this same event in 2019.

It was hardly an easy walk, though, as McIlroy was paired with reigning PGA champion Justin Thomas and two-time PGA Tour winner Tony Finau. They each shot 64s, both pushing McIlroy to the brink and forcing him to have to remain aggressive to the very end. McIlroy did just that, finishing birdie-birdie after a 16th-hole bogey that tied him with Thomas for the lead at 17-under. A pair of late bogeys from Thomas saw him finish four back in solo third, while Finau was able to lock up second all to himself with a late birdie.

Also giving chase was Justin Rose, who needed a par on the final hole to shoot the 13th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history. A poor approach shot into the 72nd green led to a bogey, though, and the Englishman finished with a 10-under 60, tying him for fourth with Sam Burns.

For McIlroy, this marked his 21st PGA Tour victory, moving him into a tie for 31st on the all-time wins list, along with World Golf Hall of Famers Davis Love III and Lanny Wadkins. Judging by the gigantic smile on his face during his post-round interview, that type of historical accomplishment means something to McIlroy. Judging by how he framed it afterward, it meant a little extra something, too.

“This is a day I’ll remember for a long, long time,” said McIlroy while the raucous Canadian crowd continued to cheer in the background. “Twenty-first PGA Tour win, one more than someone else. That gave me a little extra incentive today. Happy to get it done.”

That “someone else?” Well, Greg Norman just so happens to have only 20 PGA Tour wins.

McIlroy, who now has three wins since the post-COVID restart, seems to be rekindling his pre-COVID form. Prior to the world shutting down, he had amassed six consecutive top-five finishes. After golf returned, he finished in the top five just once in his next 21 starts.

“I think after COVID and everything I needed a complete reset,” he said. “Sort of rededicated myself to the game a little bit, sort of realised what made me happy. And this [winning] makes me happy.”

Now, McIlroy will turn his attention to Brookline for the US Open, where he’ll look to end his nearly eight-year major drought and become just the 20th player to win five major championships.

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By Christopher Powers
Graeme McDowell couldn’t play a golf tournament in 2019 without being asked about not yet having qualified for this year’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush, a course he could walk as a youngster growing up in Northern Ireland. On Sunday at the RBC Canadian Open, the 39-year-old got so sick of the questions that he finally did something about it.

This week in Canada presented one of McDowell’s last chances to get into the field, with three spots up for grabs for the top-three finishers in the tournament at Hamilton Golf & Country Club who have not already qualified (and also still finished in the top 10). After opening with rounds of 65 and 67, McDowell was in contention, but a ho-hum even-par 70 on Saturday meant he needed to conjure up some final-round magic to punch his ticket to Portrush. Through 17 holes the 2010 U.S. Open winner was at two under, needing par to remain at 10 under for the tournament and inside the top 10.

With only one other player in the top 10 having not yet qualified (Canada’s Adam Hadwin), McDowell was in prime position. That was until he missed the fairway, then laid up with his second shot and hit his third to 30 feet. A miss and he would have thrown away one of his better opportunities this season to get into the Open. McDowell, who has made some incredibly clutch putts in his career, came up big again, burying a 30 footer with the Open on the line:

?I’m coming home, I’m coming home! Tell the world I’m coming home?

And with that putt, @Graeme_McDowell qualifies for #TheOpen. We’ll see you at Royal Portrush, GMac!pic.twitter.com/We85TJp6E5

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 9, 2019

You might recall, McDowell made the winning Ryder Cup putt in 2010 at Celtic Manor, and earlier that year tapped in a putt to win his first major at Pebble. This non-winning putt may be on par with the both of them, as it gets him in to the Open on his home course, a dream come true for G-Mac. And to think, he was OK with letting the dream die, at least according to these quotes from McDowell on Friday in Canada:

“I feel like I’ve had three or four months wrestling with the Portrush dilemma. Thinking of putting a statement out on Twitter and saying I appreciate everyone’s concern. The people that think I should get an invite and the people that think I shouldn’t, I hear them. But I’m pretty much come to terms with the fact that if I play well between now and Portrush I will play. If I don’t play well between now and Portrush, I won’t and I’ll deserve not to play.

“I’m OK with that. The R&A don’t have a precedent where they’ve invited guys before and that’s fine. At least I know my fate. I’m going out here trying to win the RBC Canadian Open this week. I could care less about Portrush. I would rather win this week and not play Portrush. That’s the bottom line. Yes, it will be a special week, but it’s not instant success.

“I could be there and miss a cut and think, Well, what was all the fuss about? It’s like, I would rather play well on this weekend and let Portrush take care of itself. I really don’t care.”

Not surprisingly, McDowell changed his tune on Sunday when talking to CBS’ Amanda Balionis.

“Obviously, the chase for the Open Championship at Portrush and getting my spot for that, it’s really been a journey since Bay Hill this year, the first tournament that had some sports [available] for the Open Championship. I got off to a good start there, and I kind of feel like I’ve been battling those emotions ever since. Coming into this week, with spots available, people have been reminding me all week, every hole out there it’s like ‘Hope you get to Portrush!’, ‘Hope you get in the Open!’ So there was no chance i was going to be able to shove that to the back of my mind.

“It was nice to be able to play decent enough to get it done today.”

It will be McDowell’s first Open Championship start since 2016, when he tied for 63rd at Royal Troon. He should have a home course advantage, as he’s played Portrush “between 300 and 500 times,” according to him. Next week he returns to Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open, where he won his first major in 2010.

The post Watch Graeme McDowell hole a must make 30-foot putt to qualify for Open Championship at Royal Portrush appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

I always come down on the side of the former. It was during those earlier years when we witnessed Tiger do things to a golf ball that we never could’ve imagined. It reframed everything we know about the game. He won tournaments from players who had no right losing, inspired an entire generation, and there’s perhaps a no better embodiment of that idea than Tiger’s legendary bunker shot into the 72nd hole of the Canadian Open.

And the really funny thing? It was actually quite lucky.

Tiger came to Glen Abbey GC’s reachable par 5 18th with a one-shot lead over Grant Waite when he lost his drive into a fairway bunker down the right side.

Waite found the left side of the green in two, so with a two-putt birdie to force a playoff on the table, Tiger pulled a six iron from 218 yards and aimed for the green.

The pin was tucked way to the right side of the green, sandwiched between a bunker long, water short and right, and a behind a tree that was impeding Tiger’s view.

Thanks to the on-course cameraman, who got an ideal down-the-line shot of Woods, we can see where Tiger was aiming. He wasn’t really thinking about the pin: His foot-line is tracking to the left side of the green.

And his club face looks like it’s aiming roughly parallel.

So, basically, Tiger is lining up to hit a left-to-right fade, starting at the left side of the green and leaking towards the middle.

It’s a smart play. Tiger was essentially guaranteed to win if he made a birdie, and he wouldn’t necessarily need to hole a putt to do it. Pretend the hole’s a par 4 and play for par, then it’s job done.

Except it almost went terribly, terribly wrong.

Look where his shot starts.

The ball’s tracking right. Way right — over the left side of that tree — and it’s still due to drift further right because of the spin he intended to putt on the shot. The announcer spotted trouble the second he hit it.

“Uh-oh,” he said, “That looks like it might’ve gone right,”

Throughout his career, Tiger’s predominant miss has been a block. You often see him block shots right during the heightened pressure on the first tee, and as he explained to the Golf Channel earlier in his career, it’s a lingering swing trait from his junior career: “That’s the product of being a junior golfer. All junior golfers fire the hips hard, get the club stuck on the inside so they can flip it and hit the ball a long way. Yea, you can hit the ball a long way, but it’s hard to control. And under the gun, lot’s of pressure on yourself, it’s hard to hit the ball a specific distance with the right shape.”

And that’s basically what happened here. Tiger made the same swing from the bunker as he did from the tee: He fired his hips too hard and tried to save it with his hands and body. He couldn’t time it correctly, so he lost both shots right.

For comparison’s sake, look at how Tiger’s swing on the 18th tee (on the right) compared with a swing of his at the same event earlier in the week, which he stripped down the middle.

In the left frame, he’s not desperately trying to turn everything over to catch up with his hips. His hands aren’t as deep and around his body, and his shoulders are more level. Everything’s more in-sync.

Anyway, the ball’s in the air, starting right. Warning signs are flashing, and even Tiger looks nervous. This isn’t going as planned.

But this is peak-level Tiger Woods we’re talking about.

The ball had so much velocity on it — it finished over the green — that it held its line enough to grab the very last bit of land right of the pin. And wait, the pin’s over there! The guts! The glory! What a shot!

A simple up-and-down later to match Waite’s birdie and the trophy was his. He had won by one. Golf is a game of misses, the old cliche goes, and there was probably no better miss than this.

The post A frame-by-frame breakdown of Tiger’s legendary Canadian Open bunker shot appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.