But there was a reason he and his teammates were sat greenside — still clad in their red outfits — watching on as Koepka triumphed on the second extra hole.

Captain Garcia was smiling alongside Abraham Ancer, Eugenio Chacarra and Carlos Ortiz, awaiting their turn to take to the podium as LIV Golf Jeddah team winners.

The Fireballs cruised to victory, finishing the week at 34-under, three shots ahead of Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats and five ahead of Cleeks.

Garcia challenged for the individual title most of the day before finishing two strokes shy and in a three-way tie for third with Scott Vincent and Harold Varner III. Still, he found the top of the podium with his team for their second win of the season and third overall.

Heading into next week’s Team Championship, it is 4 Aces who topped the standings, followed by Crushers, Torque and RangeGoats, and that quartet receive a bye into the semi-finals.

The Fireballs were already eliminated from bye consideration, but with a second-place in Chicago and a win in Jeddah in their last two starts, they will enter the Team Championship with plenty of momentum.

“We’re obviously very excited,” said Garcia on the podium. “With all four of us playing solid in Chicago and here, it’s exciting. We know how much Miami means, so hopefully we’ll be able to keep that going and make it fun.”

Ancer added: “It’s definitely nice to feel the team is in form going to Miami,” while Chacarra said: “I think they said pretty much everything. We’re excited for the week. We’re playing great.”

On this form, the top four will be keen to avoid Garcia and the Spanish-speaking Armada for as long as possible in Miami.

Main image: Fireballs Abraham Ancer, Eugenio Chacarra, captain Sergio Garcia and Carlos Ortiz celebrate after their LIV Golf Jeddah victory. LIV Golf

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“It was a really nice round, obviously,” the Spaniard said of his Saturday showing that included eight birdies and a solitary bogey. “The course conditions were a little bit more favorable than yesterday. Yesterday was much windier. It was a lot trickier

The Team Championship takes place next week in Miami and Garcia is delighted his fellow teammates Eugenio Chacarra, Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz are all finding form.

“ I am very happy that we all played well,” he added. “The team obviously did well, too. We’re also second. Very proud of that. We’ve just got to go out there and have another good one tomorrow.

“Unfortunately, we can’t move up the standings even if we win. But we still want to have a great, solid week and finish the regular season the best way possible. We’ll go out there and give it our best and hopefully get the W.

“When we get to Miami, then we’ll figure out what we want to do. But yeah, very happy about the performance of everyone.

“Momentum is always good. It’s always important. It’s always positive. Obviously having a couple good weeks coming into Miami, it’s great.

“At the end of the day, you still have to go out there, you still have to play, you still have to perform. It’s not like you’re 1-up on the first hole because you’ve been playing well lately.

“Hopefully we’ll have a great day tomorrow again and get ready for Miami and see what we can do there.”

Following knee surgery at the end of last season, Garcia himself has also been gathering pace.

“Overall it’s been a work in process,” he said of his game. “I am working hard not only on the game but on the mental side and trying to be as positive as possible. I’m happy about that, but obviously I feel like I could definitely play better than I have for sure.

“I think physically I feel great. The knee doesn’t hurt. I’m able to not only play golf but work out here and there, play tennis and stuff. I’m able to do normal life, which is great.

“Do I feel like I’m on the top of my game? No, definitely not. I think that I can still get much better. I have been much better. But you work on it, you work hard on it, and you try to improve every single time you come out here. Some weeks are better than others, and you just try to enjoy them.”

Main image: LIV Golf

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But it’s never too early to talk about it — and Paul Azinger certainly gave golf fans something to talk about.

Before signing off on NBC for the week, the former Ryder Cupper who captained the US to victory in 2008 floated a potential electric captains match-up for 2025 at Bethpage Black: Tiger Woods v Sergio Garcia. As Azinger’s play-by-play partner, Dan Hicks, said: “Whoa.” Here was their on-air exhange:
HICKS: And now the speculation in earnest begins who are going to be the next two captains. I know as far as the United States is concerned, there’s a guy named Eldrick available.
AZINGER: Yeah, I think he might be the next captain. Bethpage Black would be a perfect match-up for he and Sergio Garcia actually. You never know, two years from now, where we’re going to be.
HICKS: Whoa. You might have just started something there, Zing.
AZINGER: That would be an all-timer.

Indeed, it would. Not that a Ryder Cup — especially one at raucous Bethpage Black — needs any extra juice.

Let’s just say, Woods and Garcia haven’t always had the friendliest of relationships, including being involved in a US Open battle at Bethpage in 2002. And that certainly hasn’t gotten any better the past couple years with Garcia leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf.

Which, of course, brings us to the fact that this scenario seems pretty unlikely right now. After all, Europe didn’t have any LIV players on this year’s roster (the US had one in Brooks Koepka), and Luke Donald was only made captain because Henrik Stenson was stripped of the title after going to LIV last year. Garcia reportedly made a last-ditch attempt to be part of the team but was denied.

However, with the PGA Tour in the process of partnering with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is LIV’s primary financial backer, who knows as Azinger said. Either way, it’s a ways off from happening. But it’s still fun to think — and talk — about. Thanks, Zinger.

Main image: Sam Greenwood

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But Jon Rahm, World No. 3 and arguably Europe’s emotional leader, isn’t quite ready to let them go. Rahm teamed with Poulter for one match in Paris in 2018 and went 3-0 with Garcia as a team in Whistling Straits two years ago. Beyond that experience, Rahm is a self-professed student of the history of the game, and perhaps it’s no surprise that in the run-up to this week, he has sought the advice of both men.

When asked about Garcia’s influence, Rahm revealed that he’d been in communication with his former teammate.

“I did talk to him and ask for advice,” he said. “He did show me a lot of what to do at Whistling and obviously in Paris, as well. But I did have a little bit of a chat with him, and with Poulter, as well. Not that it’s going to be easy to take on the role that those two had both on and off the golf course, but just to hear them talk about what they thought and what they felt is obviously invaluable information.”

His call with Poulter happened more than a week ago, but he’s been on the phone with Garcia as recently as Monday.

“There’s no such thing as a stupid question,” Rahm said. “Curiosity is going to get you somewhere.”

That philosophy forms the basis of his conversations with Poulter and Garcia — he’s smart enough to know that he still has plenty to learn from players like that.

In turn, he’s happy to act as a sounding board for Europe’s younger players.

“I always tell them it’s very easy to really be in your mind and your feelings because you don’t really know how to process a week like this, so ask as many questions as you can from anybody,” Rahm said on Tuesday. “At the same time, I understand that they’re here wanting to prove why they’re here and make their mark as rookies, but there’s always something to learn from some of the great players.”

Rahm admitted that in his first Ryder Cup, in Paris, he was so shy and overwhelmed that he didn’t ask a single question. He compared himself to this year’s most prominent rookie, Ludvig Aberg, who Rahm described as “quiet”.

“I was about as quiet as one can be,” he said of his debut in Paris. “I’m very shy and introverted by nature, so everything — the whole week seemed a little daunting at first. And you’re going into a locker room where people have been sharing for 15 to 20 years, so it’s very hard to — at least it was very hard for me to fit in right away like that. A lot easier the second time, though.”

Main image: Stacy Revere

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With that in mind, let’s take a tour through history and revisit the 15 best captain’s picks ever made, based partly on record and partly on circumstance. Keep in mind that although the Ryder Cup has been around since 1927, Europe didn’t start using captain’s picks until 1979 (and took a year off in 1983), while the US didn’t make its first captain’s picks until 1989.

15: Jose Maria Olazabal, 1987
Record: 3-2-0
3-2-0 is the worst record of any player on this list, but the reason Jose Maria makes the No. 15 spot is that Tony Jacklin had the wits to take him as a rookie, and then to pair him with Seve Ballesteros in a duo that never accomplished much … except to become, by far, the greatest twosome in Ryder Cup history. Here, they won their first three matches, with Olazabal sinking a bevy of clutch putts as Ballesteros guided him around the course. He lost his final two matches, but it was enough to give Europe their first win on American soil, and to launch the Spanish Armada that would give the Americans fits for years.

14: Sergio Garcia, 2021
3-1-0
In the “glory amid a stomping” department, we offer Garcia, who won all three pairs matches with Jon Rahm in the latest installment of the Spanish Armada at Whistling Straits. The end result of the event was an historic 19-11 drubbing by the Americans, but Garcia came through for Padraig Harrington and managed to defeat players such as Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth twice each.

Jose Maria Olazabal and Seve Ballesteros. David Cannon

13: Jose Maria Olazabal, 1991
3-1-1
Three Spanish players in a row? That’s right, we’re going right back to Olazabal. For Bernard Gallacher, it didn’t take a lot of brains to pick Olazabal, who was next in line on the points rankings and literally ranked second in the world, so this one is more about performance than surprise. In any case, he teamed with Seve yet again to win 3.5 points in four matches, and also dealt Paul Azinger two Friday losses that remain among the most memorable — not to say bitter — of his career. The post-script here, though, is that Azinger got his revenge with a win against Olazabal in Sunday singles, and the Americans squeaked out an important win at the “War by the Shore.”

12: Xander Schauffele, 2021
3-1-0
Let’s go right back to Whistling Straits, where Schauffele cemented the brilliance of his partnership with Patrick Cantlay by winning two foursomes matches — including a statement drubbing of Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter in the anchor match of the first session — and also won a fourball match with Dustin Johnson before getting a deserved rest on Saturday afternoon. He got beat by McIlroy on Sunday, but at that point, it didn’t matter. The lead was so massive that the Americans couldn’t lose, and Schauffele played an integral role in getting them there.

11: Ian Poulter, 2008
4-1-0
It’s so easy to forget that anything good happened for the Europeans at Valhalla, but one of the most sneakily significant lines on Poulter’s Ryder Cup résumé is that even in the face of an American annihilation, he was brilliant. After a narrow 1-down Friday loss, he proceeded to win four straight matches, teaming with Justin Rose twice, Graeme McDowell once, and then beating fellow captain’s pick Steve Stricker in singles. The Postman always delivers, even when the rest of his continent is shut down.

Dustin Johnson. Jim Watson

10: Dustin Johnson, 2012
3-0-0
In a lot of ways, this was really the perfect use of a captain’s pick by Davis Love III. He had a “role player” vision for DJ, and it worked to perfection. He teamed with Kuchar to win a match in both fourball sessions, including a win over the tough Rose/Kaymer win on Day 1, and then dusted Nicolas Colsaerts in singles — a rare bright spot in one of the worst days in Ryder Cup history. Love doesn’t get enough credit for how well he managed the team those first two days, and the way he used DJ is the shining example of a strategy gone right.

Jesper Parnevik. David Cannon

9: Jesper Parnevik, 1999
3-1-1
Everything I just wrote about DJ has a slight echo with Parnevik’s 1999 campaign, right down to the massive comeback by the other team on Sunday. Mark James tried a renegade strategy of benching a shocking number of players before Sunday singles, hoping to establish a big enough lead in pairs by avoiding his weakest players in order to safeguard against a Sunday collapse, and it almost worked. A key part of that plan was Parnevik, who teamed with Sergio Garcia four times in the first two days to earn 3.5 points. Among his victims were Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk, and if things had gone differently at Brookline on Sunday, he’d be remembered as one of the most important cogs in a brilliant plan by James.

8: Thomas Pieters, 2016
4-1-0
Speaking of valiant efforts in losing causes, it’s easy to forget how brilliant Pieters was at Hazeltine National, becoming just the second player after Ian Poulter (twice) to claim four wins. His first match with a struggling Lee Westwood was disastrous, but after that, he teamed with Rory McIlroy to beat anyone the Americans could throw at them, including the powerhouse Dustin Johnson/Brooks Koepka team on Saturday afternoon. He went on to beat JB Holmes in singles, but this was America’s Cup to win.

Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke. Jamie Squire

7: Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood, 2006
DC: 3-0-0/LW: 3-0-2
This was the height of European power in the Ryder Cup, and though they may not have strictly needed this famous Ryder Cup pairing to beat the Americans at The K Club, they nevertheless added to their collective legacy by winning two fourball matches together and then grabbing another win in singles. Westwood added two halves and, considering that they were the only two picks allotted to captain Ian Woosnam that year, it’s hard to imagine how it could have gone any better.

6: Luke Donald, 2010
3-1-0
Celtic Manor goes down as one of the strangest Ryder Cups in recent memory, due to weather more than anything else. Donald, a former World No. 1, got the nod from captain Colin Montgomerie, and as the format was changed to accommodate the many delays, he won two sessions on Saturday and beat Jim Furyk in an early singles match on Monday. This Cup ended with a one-point win for the Europeans, and with all the small margins making such a difference, Donald justified Montgomerie’s faith.

5: Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson, 2018
SG: 3-1-0/HS: 3-0
Somewhere, you can find an article I wrote back in 2018 questioning Thomas Bjorn’s captain’s picks, and his tactic of going with veteran leadership over players on better form. I refuse to link it, but it exists out there. Boy, was I wrong! Paul Casey and Ian Poulter performed admirably, but it was these two picks, Garcia and Stenson, who really lit it up. Stenson teamed with Justin Rose to reprise their fantastic Gleneagles pairing and win both fourball matches, then smashed Bubba Watson in singles, while Garcia teamed with Alex Noren and Rory McIlroy to win two pairs matches, then beat Rickie Fowler in a crucial singles match. Sorry, Thomas!

Hunter Mahan. Sam Greenwood

4: Hunter Mahan, 2008
2-0-3
Paul Azinger didn’t tell anyone he was doing it until after, but part of his revolutionary pod system in 2008 was that the pods of three players who qualified automatically would get to choose their own captain’s pick. That means that this pick actually came down to Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim and Justin Leonard, who chose Mahan as a group. In the end, Mahan played all five sessions — extremely rare for a captain’s pick — and came away with two wins and three halves. Session after session, he was setting the tone, and his 3.5 total points were crucial in spurring the Americans to a massive win.

3: Raymond Floyd, 1993
3-1-0
Context: This year’s American team will be trying to win in Europe for the first time in 30 years, and the last time they made it work was in 1993. Tom Watson was captain, and though American fans have bad memories of him operating on gut instinct many years later in Gleneagles, in ’93 he made the controversial choice to pick the 51-year-old Floyd — who had actually been a captain four years earlier! — as his final pick. This was the ultimate instinct pick, because Floyd had won just once in the last seven years, and never in ’93. But after getting blanked in one match Friday, he won twice with Payne Stewart on Saturday and beat Jose Maria Olazabal in what turned out to be the clinching match. All things considered, this wild pick couldn’t have turned out any better.

2: Sandy Lyle, 1987
3-1-0
The record may not be as spectacular as some, and he didn’t win his singles match, but it’s important to keep in mind here that in ’87, Europe were attempting the seemingly impossible task of winning for the first time on American soil. In the first session, Bernhard Langer teamed with Ken Brown, but lost, and Tony Jacklin needed a partner for his German star. He went to Lyle, who proceeded to win three straight pairs sessions with Langer and lead Europe to a 10.5 -5.5 lead. Even better for the Europeans, they beat the pairing of Lanny Wadkins and Larry Nelson twice on Saturday, a team that had been among America’s best historically. They needed every bit of that lead, too, because America trounced them in singles, almost erasing the entire deficit. But Lyle’s three wins with Langer helped Europe establish a cushion that was too much to overcome, and that’s how they made history.

Ian Poulter. Getty Images

1: Ian Poulter, 2012
4-0-0
Call me biased if you want, but the Medinah Ryder Cup was the first tournament I ever covered, and I will absolutely never forget Poulter’s brilliant one-man stand in fourball as Saturday afternoon became Saturday night (this video is Ryder Cup 101), which I’m still convinced infused the Europeans with the energy to stage the brilliant comeback on Sunday … a comeback in which Poulter played an integral role, beating Webb Simpson, 2-up, in the second match. All in all, he finished a perfect 4-0-0, and despite the fact that picking Poulter was painfully obvious for Jose Maria Olazabal, it still goes down as the greatest performance by a captain’s pick in the history of this event.

Main image: Golf Digest montage

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Morgan is tied with Fireballs captain Sergio Garcia, Stinger captain Louis Oosthuizen, Crushers’ Anirban Lahiri and Torque’s Sebastián Muñoz on a packed leaderboard in which 19 other players are within two shots of the lead. Among those pursuers are team captains Brooks Koepka (Smash), Dustin Johnson (4 Aces) and Bryson DeChambeau (Crushers), who each shot 68, and Joaquin Niemann (Torque), who shot 67.

While the four other co-leaders are assured of returning in 2024, the 23-year-old Morgan is one of four players currently in the Drop Zone who face relegation at the end of the season. He ranks 46th with just three points but a big result this week at Rich Harvest Farms could move him above the Drop Zone.

Non-captains ranked 45th or worse will be relegated but have a chance to play their way back in later this year at the promotion tournament.

“I know where I am and everyone keeps reminding me where I am, so it’s pretty hard to get away from it,” said Morgan, who posted the low round in the field on Sunday at the previous LIV Golf event in Bedminster last month. “So, there’s no point in me trying to act like it’s not there in my head. It’s obviously there.

“But I know if I play well enough, put myself in the position I think to make putts for birdie, then that’s really all you can do.”

The South African Stinger team, who have finished third in each of the last three tournaments, top the team leaderboard at 13-under, with Charl Schwartzel and Dean Burmester contributing 67s to support Oosthuizen’s score. A strong finish this week could wrap up one of the top four seeds that will receive a bye at the Team Championship in Miami.

“We’re playing well,” Oosthuizen said. “We help each other out to try and get into form, and especially now with Miami around the corner, we really want to give a good push to the end.”

The Crushers and Fireballs are one stroke back at 12-under, with the Rippers at 11-under. The top two teams in the season-long standings, No. 1 4 Aces and No. 2 Torque, share fifth place at 10-under.

The five-way individual tie is among the most after any LIV Golf first round. Soft conditions provided opportunities for low scores, a big difference from last year’s firm test won by Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith, who shot 69 on Friday.

“With the conditions, the course is quite gettable,” Garcia said. “I’m actually surprised there wasn’t a couple lower scores today. I could have shot one of those, obviously.

“It still is the kind of course that you still have to hit the ball well to score. It’s a good mix, but if you strike the ball nicely, it feels like you can make a lot of birdies.”

Morgan made seven birdies on Friday, tied for the most in the field. Similar success this weekend could lead to a significant moment in his young career.

“Playing good is motivating me more than getting out of that position,” Morgan said. “Winning the tournament is more motivating than getting out of the bottom four. That’s what I want to do.”

Said his captain Smith: “I’m very proud of him; he’s a great player. This is what he should be doing every day.”

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Sergio Garcia reportedly made a last-ditch effort to play in this month’s Ryder Cup, but his attempt was rejected.

According to an article from the Telegraph’s James Corrigan published on Sunday, Garcia, 43, offered to make good on paying his fine for moving to LIV Golf plus all other outstanding DP World Tour fines he owed, a total reportedly in the vicinity of £700,000, in hopes of becoming eligible to play for the European team that will compete in two weeks at Marco Simone outside of Rome. The story said that DP World Tour officials, however, turned down the plea from Garcia because he resigned his tour membership, which disqualified him from being eligible for the European team, and that he could not regain his membership in time for this year’s matches.

The Telegraph reached out to Garcia and Ryder Cup Europe, but said both parties were not available for comment.

In April, the DP World Tour won its legal battle against LIV Golf, with a UK arbitration panel upholding the former European Tour’s conflicting tournament release regulation and its ability to sanction members who breached it. A month later, the DP World Tour released a statement that 16 of the 17 players who left for LIV had paid fines levied against them, with the tour calling out the lone player who had not.

“Sergio Garcia has not paid his £100,000 fine, nor has he given any indication that he intends to,” read the statement. “We will therefore take appropriate action if he continues not to respect the Sport Resolutions panel’s decision.”

In that same May statement, the DP World Tour announced Garcia had resigned his tour membership. Despite the proposed partnership between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund that was announced in June, those who resigned their DP World Tour membership remain out of the upcoming biennial match between Europe and the United States. (American LIV players, however, are allowed to compete, as the PGA of America, not the PGA Tour, dictates player eligibility for the US team. Brooks Koepka is the lone LIV representative for the Americans.)

The Telegraph story did not mention the nature of the other outstanding fines that Garcia faced. The 16-time DP World Tour winner, however, was fined an undisclosed amount by the tour after failing to provide a reason for withdrawing from the BMW PGA Championship in 2022. The tournament was reduced to 54 holes in the wake of the death of Queen Elizabeth, with Friday play cancelled. Garcia withdrew after an opening-round 76 and was then seen Saturday on the sidelines of Texas-Alabama college football game 5,000 miles away.

The Ryder Cup has brought out the best in Garcia. He has played in 10 Ryder Cups for Team Europe and is the all-time leading scorer with 28½ career points. Garcia was also one of the few bright spots in Europe’s losing efforts in 2021, as he, along with Jon Rahm, were the only Europeans with winning records at Whistling Straits.

Following the DP World Tour’s announcement in May about Garcia’s unpaid fine, Garcia seemed resigned to his Ryder Cup fate.

“I talked to [Captain Luke Donald] two or three weeks ago,” Garcia said ahead of LIV Golf’s Washingto, DC, stop. “Obviously I had to make some decisions when it comes down to the DP World Tour, and I wanted to see where I stood in regards to the Ryder Cup. Luke is a good friend, but I wanted him to be sincere and tell me the truth, and he pretty much told me I had no chance.

“Obviously, that made my decision [to relinquish DP World Tour status] a little bit easier. It was sad because I felt like not only because of my history but the way I’ve been playing, that I probably could have a chance, but it didn’t sound like it, so that’s what it is.”

The Ryder Cup begins on September 29 in Rome. The Americans are the defending champs, but have not won on foreign soil in 30 years.

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The Spaniard may have a green jacket in the wardrobe thanks to his Masters triumph at Augusta National in 2017, but the 43-year-old, not for a lack of trying, has never won at the Home of Golf — Scotland (if you don’t count junior and team events).

Garcia sets out once again to change that this week as he tees it up at the St Andrews Bay Championship on the Asian Tour’s International Series — the sixth stop on the elevated circuit.

“It would be nice to win [in Scotland] obviously I have been close a few times. If you count the Ryder Cup, yes, I have won here,” said Garcia, ahead of the Asian tour’s first-ever event in Scotland. “It is something I would like to have the possibility of changing. We’ll give it our best shot.”

Garcia, 43, claimed the Amateur Championship in 1998 at Muirfield, and was part of the Spanish team, along with Miguel Ángel Jiménez and José María Olazábal, to win the Alfred Dunhill Cup the following year on The Old Course at St Andrews, but the closest he has come to triumphing indivually the Open Championship at Carnoustie in 2007 — when Ireland’s Padraig Harrington denied him victory after a four-hole playoff.

“It is very exciting. Winning is one of the reasons we are here,” he said. “I have always enjoyed playing in Scotland. I love the crowds here and it’s good to see. I didn’t have to come and play this week, but I wanted to, it really drove me to come here.”

England’s Paul Casey had earlier observed that it hadn’t occurred to him how unusual it is for the Asian Tour to be in Scotland as major Tour’s today hold events all over the world, and Garcia felt the same.

He said: “It is something you don’t really think about. We play in so many different places and so many different Tours and I think at the end of the day the game is a global game, so I think that is the way I look at it. The Asian Tour is playing in a lot of spots now. I see it as a positive and something nice and it just shows how global our game is.

“And I am sure there are other places they want to go, and they have to find what fits best for everyone. But it’s good to see and you never know maybe they will add one or two more here.”

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LIV Golf team Fireballs have landed a new sponsor on a multi-year deal. Mexico Infrastructure Partners (MIP), one of the biggest investment fund asset managements companies in Latin America, have signed up as official partner of the Spanish-speaking team on a two-year deal, beginning this week at LIV Golf Bedminster.

Firballs players — Spanish captain Sergio Garcia and his compatriot Eugenio Chacarra, plus Mexicans Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz — will wear MIP branding on their shirts for this weekend’s tournament in New Jersey.

“As industry leaders, we are always looking to align our mission with like-minded successful brands and organizations,” said Carlos Robles Gil, MIP Partner. “We are thrilled to have Sergio Garcia and his team as brand ambassadors as we all share a commitment to our communities and Latin America as a whole. LIV Golf and Fireballs are global brands, and we look forward to showcasing our partnership to new audiences across the world.”

Garcia added: “This partnership is particularly exciting for Fireballs as MIP share similar values to our team: adapting to their industry, focusing on bettering their consumers’ lives, all while maintaining a growth mindset. When evaluating new additions to the team of any kind, you’re always looking for those who support your values and we couldn’t be happier to partner with MIP and look forward to what the future holds.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story first ran ahead of the 2014 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, won by Rory McIlroy.

You remember the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool, right? The one where Tiger Woods hit one driver the entire week and cried more in one minute than he probably had in his entire life? But there was more to that memorable final round. We re-watched it and made some observations.

• Tiger Woods was AMAZING. We have to start with that. He was so good he had even Nick Faldo gushing with compliments:

“This has been a master class of tactitional golf. It’s really been fantastic to watch.”

Later, Faldo described Woods’ ball striking as “sheer perfection.” Woods didn’t hit a driver the final three days and still finished 18 under to win his third claret jug and 11th professional major.

• Paul Azinger also liked Woods’ conservative game plan. “Who knows, maybe Tiger Woods will change his strategy from now until the rest of time and rein it in a little bit.” Hmm. It didn’t exactly happen like that, but there were times with Woods applied prudence over aggression.

Stuart Franklin

• Of course, course conditions had something to do with Woods’ strategy. There are firm and fast golf courses and then there was Hoylake.

• Chris DiMarco played incredibly, duelling with Woods at a major for the second year in a row. He took Tiger to a playoff at the 2005 Masters, but losing by two to Tiger at the top of his game was just as impressive. We talk a lot about big names hurt by playing in the Tiger Woods era, but was anyone as singularly affected as DiMarco? Chris DiMarco, two-time major champion has a nice ring to it.

Warren Little

• On the other hand, Sergio Garcia, who was in the final pairing with Woods, played terribly. He shot a front-nine 39 (four over) to lose any chance of catching Tiger. It was the start of a series of unfortunate finishes at the Open for the Spaniard.

• When Woods was challenged, he played even better. DiMarco cut the lead to one, but Tiger made birdies on 14, 15, and 16. Game, set, match.

• Woods was relatively reserved in his reactions throughout the day. This is him holing a putt for eagle on No. 5. Ho-hum:

Andrew Redington

• To make up for his lack of celebrating, Tiger twirled his club on almost every shot. He gives his first really good one as he hits his approach shot on No. 2. Watch a compilation of his round here. You can count the non-perfect shots Woods hit on one hand:

• Speaking of fashion, Garcia looked preposterous dressed as a human banana.

Andrew Redington

• Not that Jim Furyk’s shirt was any better. Are those supposed to look like suspenders? Yeah, we’re making a similar face right now.

Stuart Franklin

• It looked weird seeing Adam Scott putting with a normal putter. We’ll spare you a picture because it wasn’t pretty.

• There was a delay on No. 18 due to protesters dumping purple paint on the green. Luckily, the tournament had all but been decided.

Ross Kinnaird

• And finally, there was the special moment of victory, where Woods—whose father, Earl, passed away two months before—shared an emotional embrace with caddie Steve Williams. It was all very moving, but you have to wonder: What do those two guys think when they see these images now?

STRINGER

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