Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we won’t be satisfied until we encounter LeBron James on our morning commute. Seeing King James mingle with us common folk would be a treat. Plus, it would be great to use his 6-foot-8, 270-pound frame to help barrel into crowded subway cars. Speaking of surprising characters barreling past people, how about Kevin Sutherland ending Bernhard Langer’s reign of terror at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship? (And how about that transition to another one of the world’s most dominant athletes?)

The crowds acknowledged Langer’s hugely successful 2017 season as he approached the 18th green in the season finale. (Chris Condon/Getty Images)

I’d be lying if I said part of me didn’t feel like Langer got robbed, but as a New York Giants fan, I also realize that the best player or team doesn’t always win in the postseason (Suck it, 18-1 Patriots). And if you want any drama in the season finale, there has to be something on the line even if a player wins the first two playoff events like Langer did. This is how it works in EVERY sport. In any event, Kevin Sutherland is your 2017 Charles Schwab Cup champ and we’ll all live. Even Bernhard.

WE’RE BUYING

Patton Kizzire: Not only did Kizzire win his first PGA Tour title at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, but he did so by beating Rickie Fowler head-to-head during a 36-hole Sunday marathon. It was only a matter of time for the 2015 Web.com Tour Player of the Year, but it’s nice for him to not have to wait long for a maiden victory. Speaking of waiting for a long time. . .

Kevin Sutherland: Say what you will about the Charles Schwab Cup format, but Sutherland played great at the PGA Tour Champions season finale. And he couldn’t have picked a better time to get his first senior tour victory – and his first win anywhere since the 2002 WGC-Accenture Match Play. When people also complained that he didn’t deserve to win!

I believe that jacket belongs to Mr. Sutherland! pic.twitter.com/CfZcApI000

— Ryan Ballengee (@RyanBallengee) November 13, 2017

Poor guy. Well, not really. He’s laughing all the way to the bank this week.

Kevin Hall: The best story coming out of Web.com Tour Q School last week was this 34-year-old advancing to next month’s final stage. Deaf since he was two due to meningitis, the 2004 Big Ten individual champ while he was at Ohio State wrapped up at least conditional status on the developmental tour for next season.

Bernhard Langer’s 2017: Seven wins. Three majors. The 60-year-old Langer’s year was a remarkable achievement, even if he didn’t win a fourth consecutive Schwab Cup. Besides, it’s not like Langer gets stripped of those seven wins or all the money he made. And it’s not like he’s going to be denied winning every player of the year award. He just didn’t get to take home that final big trophy. Like the Patriots. Those two times. Against the Giants. Long live Eli The Great!

WE’RE SELLING

Rickie Fowler’s 2017: For as well as he played – statistically, Fowler was better than ever – picking up just one win has to be viewed as a disappointment. Yes, Fowler, who turns 29 next month, already moved past $30 million in on-course earnings and ascended to No. 7 in the Official World Golf Ranking, but he remains stuck on four PGA Tour titles in 197 career starts. For comparison, his 24-year-old buddy Justin Thomas won five times in 25 starts this past season.

Terrifying wildlife encounters: This faceoff between a King Cobra and a mongoose happened on the course before last week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge on the European Tour:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbPPsZVFooG/

All the golfers who were brave enough to stick around for the actual tournament are winners in my book.

Grayson Murray: Now in his second season on the PGA Tour, Murray is still causing controversy on Twitter. Murray’s target this time? The senior tour, including guys like Langer and Sutherland.

After a series of mostly nasty responses, Murray took the tweet down on Sunday night. To his credit, he eventually offered up this apology. On Tuesday:

https://twitter.com/GraysonMurray/status/930456016876998656

The “Golf Rod”: As in, I think this baby will sell, sell, sell. The “Golf Rod” is not an official name, but it’s what I’m calling this clever creation by European golf instructor Steve Waltman.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbO2dVMnbnq/

Personally, I wouldn’t buy the thing because fishing is more boring than Season 3 of The Affair, but I think other people would. Don’t be surprised if a similar gadget pops up on a future episode of Shark Tank.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour heads to Sea Island for the final official event of the fall, the RSM Classic. And the European Tour’s season finally wraps up with the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. According to the European Tour’s stats, Tommy Fleetwood has a 73-percent chance of winning the Race to Dubai. Justin Rose is next at 24 percent followed by Sergio “So you’re saying there’s a chance” Garcia at 3 percent.

Random tournament fact: It will be hotter in Dubai.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

— Kevin Sutherland feels bad about winning the Schwab Cup: 1.44 MILLION-to-1 odds

— The Patriots will win the Super Bowl again: 3-to-1 odds (They’re the favorites. Again. Sigh.)

— Even if the Patriots win, their fans will still be haunted by the “Helmet Catch”: LOCK

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

How about Rickie Fowler’s robed fan club at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba?

Rob Carr

That’s Zach Johnson, Jonathan Byrd and Cameron Tringale. This part of the “Sea Island Mafia” will remain pretty comfortable with this week’s home game.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

The European Tour struck gold again with this “Bad Coaching” video:

Great stuff, but it wasn’t really fair to include Padraig Harrington. No swing thought or practice method is too kooky for the three-time major champ.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (EMBARRASSING DIVISION)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took an incredible tumble into a bunker during his round with President Trump. And if not for a pesky TV station, he would have gotten away with it without anyone noticing:

この動画、消されまくってて、知らない方がいるってわかったので、もう一度。
転んだのは仕方ない。
でもね、貴重な外交の時間を、こんな使い方して、翌日の昼食会の挨拶で、
安倍「昨日はドナルドとゴルフを楽しみ、夕食はイヴァンカ夫人を交えて～」
メラニア夫人に失礼だろ。
滅茶苦茶だよ、安倍。 pic.twitter.com/RpiDToG30n

— umekichi (@umekichkun) November 8, 2017

Sorry, Shinzo.

THIS WEEK IN BELEN MOZO IN A BIKINI

Belen announced she is taking a one-week break from social media with this post.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbbwRk6jmUq/

OK then.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“It was never meant to be fair. It was meant to be playoffs. Everybody in the field was given a chance to win. Is it fair? No, it’s not, but that’s how it is right now.” — Bernhard Langer. Fair enough.

THIS WEEK IN DUSTIN JOHNSON-PAULINA GRETZKY BROOKS KOEPKA-JENA SIMS PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

Brooks and Jena’s off-season tour headed to Thailand:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbPJ5I1HR_o/

Where Jena met a particularly friendly primate:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbPLuB8g3lP/

Something tells us Brooks isn’t too worried.

THIS AND THAT

Arnold Palmer earned $40 million in the past year since he died, which places him at No. 2 on Forbes’ highest-paid dead celebrity list (Yes, this is a thing). Another King, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, was No. 1 for a fifth consecutive year at $75 million. . . . Branden Grace won the Nedbank Golf Challenge in his home country of South Africa. More importantly, he didn’t encounter any King Cobras or mongooses (mongeese?). . . . Free Drop Billy is the name of a 2018 Kentucky Derby horse, currently with 25-to-1 odds. He will clearly be a betting favorite, though, in golf circles. . . . The 2027 PGA Championship and 2020 Women’s PGA are headed to Aronimink, and the 2028 PGA Championship and 2032(!) Ryder Cup are headed to Olympic Club. Stay tuned for more big venue news next month when I reveal where the 2018 HGGA Championship (my annual golf trip) is heading. . . . And finally, check out this lame fortune cookie message I got recently:

Even this year’s New York Giants haven’t given up that much.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Who will play in the 2032 Ryder Cup?

Who will upset Bernhard Langer in the 2032 Schwab Cup?

Did that “Golf Rod” guy file for a patent yet?

The post Bernhard Langer gets robbed (sort of), Rickie Fowler’s fans get robed, Grayson Murray rips his elders & Brooks Koepka monkeys around appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Welcome to the Dew Sweeper, your one-stop shop to catch up on the weekend action from the golf world. From the professional tours, trending news, social media headlines and upcoming events, here’s every golf-related thing you need to know for the morning of Nov. 6.

Cantlay leaves Vegas a winner
Last year proved to be Patrick Cantlay’s long-awaited breakout campaign. In his second start of the new season, the former phenom showed no signs of a sophomore slump.

Cantlay, whose early career was derailed by injuries and personal tragedy, emerged victorious in a three-man playoff to win the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

“I had so many lows,” the 25-year-old told reporters afterwards. “To all the hard work that I did, it’s just so different from where I was that it’s hard to describe the feeling.”

Gusty conditions wreaked havoc down the closing stretch — Cantlay bogeyed the final two holes, while J.J. Spaun went from leading on the 17th tee to T-10 after a double-double finish — yet Cantlay’s 67 was good enough to earn a spot in sudden death against Alex Cejka and Whee Kim. After all three bogeyed the first playoff hole, they replayed TPC Summerlin’s 18th, where Cantlay hit a cut 4-iron from behind a tree to the back of the green. A two-putt par from the fringe was good enough for his first PGA Tour victory.

It was Cantlay’s eighth top 15 in 2017, impressive considering he’s made only 15 appearances. For a guy playing on a medical exemption just seven months ago, don’t be surprised if the young gun is on the American Ryder Cup roster next fall.

Richard Heathcote

Rose grabs second straight win
Following his near-miss at the Masters, Justin Rose fell into a summer-long swoon. The past two months, however, have been a different tale.

Riding the waves from his historic surge at the WGC-HSBC, Rose turned in a final-round 63 to capture the Turkish Airlines Open. It was the first time in the 37-year-old’s venerable career that he’s won back-to-back tournaments, a charge that’s changed Tommy Fleetwood’s seemingly inevitable Race to Dubai ordination into a contest.

“I like achieving new firsts,” Rose said. “But the Race to Dubai is still in Tommy’s hands. I just know I need to go and play well in Dubai. That’s been my mentality from the outset, and it’s not going to change. But it’s exciting to be within touching distance.”

Rose has a few obstacles in his path; he’ll be sitting out the Nedbank Golf Challenge, which will only further Fleetwood’s advantage. Still, with his sixth straight top-10 finish, you better believe Fleetwood will be looking over his shoulder when the gold medalist tees it up at the tour finale in two weeks.

Speaking of which…

Andrew Redington

Stenson’s no superhero
The reigning Euro Player of the Year may be sidelined from the circuit’s final two events. Henrik Stenson revealed on Sunday he’s battling a rib injury, one that worsened in the past week due to travel and play.

“It’s not been good and obviously I haven’t been able to do myself justice in terms of the golf,” the 2016 Open champ said after finishing T-35 in Turkey.

And the cause of the injury? Though he didn’t specify, Stenson made a not-so-veiled reference to the HSBC’s infamous pre-event photo op. This year’s shoot involved Stenson — along with Dustin Johnson and Haotong Li — “flying” in the air over Hideki Matsuyama.

“I’m not Superman even though certain people thought I was Superman,” Stenson remarked.

It’s not as bad as battling a chainsaw or getting pelted at a pro-am. Nevertheless, we’re guessing Stenson won’t be a part of next year’s pre-tourney showcase in Shanghai.

Trump plays with Matsuyama, Abe
Being the most powerful man in the world has its benefits, especially when it comes to filling out your foursome. Since winning the election, Donald Trump has played with Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Ernie Els and Peyton Manning. Add another superstar to the list: Hideki Matsuyama.

Teeing it up at Kasumigaseki C.C. — the course that’s set to host the 2020 Olympic tournament — Trump played with Matsuyama and Prime Minster Shinzo Abe on Sunday, as the president begins a 12-day tour of Asia.

Abe has been one of Trump’s closest foreign allies, with the two finding a bond through golf. Last November, Abe gifted Trump a gold Honma driver.

No word if Trump — who calls himself a great putter — gave the struggling Matsuyama any short-game advice.  

Playing golf with Prime Minister Abe and Hideki Matsuyama, two wonderful people! pic.twitter.com/vYLULe0o2K

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2017

Keyur Khamar

Woods weighs in on distance controversy
Tiger Woods has historically shied away from hot-button topics. Yet, speaking with UConn women’s basketball coach Gino Auriemma on a podcast, the 14-time major winner made some surprising comments about the distance increases seen at the sport’s top levels.

“We need to do something about the golf ball,” Woods said. “I just think it’s going too far because we’re having to build golf courses, if they want to have a championship venue, they’ve got to be 7,400-7,800 yards long. And if the game keeps progressing the way it is with technology, I think the 8,000-yard golf course is not too far away. And that’s pretty scary because we don’t have enough property to start designing these type of golf courses and it just makes it so much more complicated.”

Though few current players have spoken on the issue, perhaps it’s not the most shocking take from Woods. After all, the 41-year-old has spent the past few years delving into course design. Conversely, given many properties tried to “Tiger-proof” themselves during his peak, Woods siding with the distance outcry is somewhat remarkable.

Keep this in mind if Woods is outdriving half the field at the Hero World Challenge in a few weeks.

The post Cantlay cashes in, Stenson’s bizarre injury, Trump plays with Hideki and Tiger weighs in on distance issue: What you missed this weekend appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.