Monday, August 25, 2014

Two Year Winless Droughts End

- Now that Hunter Mahan has turned his game around and won his first event since 2012, perhaps we will finally see Mahan win his first major title. Mahan has been a borderline great player who goes in streaks, and now that he is on the other end of a bad streak, who knows what we will see from him. I think it is a safe bet that we will see Hunter Mahan in Scotland at the end of the season, and hopefully give a much needed boost to the American team.

- With this win, Mahan will continue his streak of playing in every FedEx Cup event since it's inception, as he is now a lock to make it to East Lake.

- Another 54 hole lead, another weekend without a trophy for Jim Furyk. This is starting to get old.

- Late career Stuart Appleby has been very interesting to watch. For a majority of the last couple of seasons, Appleby has not been a part of the conversation. Prior to this week, Appleby only had two top tens this season, and while he was making cuts, he never really had a run at a tournament. Every once and a while, though, much like this week, Appleby will make a charge and remind people of the great player he was and still has the ability to be. I hope we see Appleby win again on Tour, as he is one of my favorite players.

- Good for Cameron Tringale for finishing second a week after having to forfeit his winnings for a rules infraction at the PGA Championship. Perhaps calling the infraction on himself cleared his mind and relaxed him.

- Let me get this straight - Ernie Els can finish in the top 10 at the PGA Championship, then barely make the cut and finish towards the bottom at the Wyndham Championship, and turn around and get another top 10 at the Barclays? I don't understand you at all, Big Easy.

- It was becoming a common thing on this site to discuss So Yeon Ryu and her inability to close the deal in tournaments where she had the chance to lead. It became such a common trend that I swore not to write about her again until she wins again. Well, a month later, Ryu went wire to wire in Canada to pick up her first victory on the LPGA Tour. The reason I knocked her so often on this site was that I always thought Ryu was much better than her results. She's always had the skill level to not have more than two victories on Tour, and her notching top 10s and runner up finishes was proof of that. While it got a little close down the stretch, Ryu's incredibly solid play all week long shows the kind of player she can be. Ryu admitted on Instagram that she's waited a long time for this win, and perhaps with that mental hurdle gone, Ryu can start raking in trophies.

- Na Yeon Choi's runner up finish is only her third top ten of the season. I don't know how great players can suddenly stop playing well, but NYC looked like she was on track to become the number one player in the world until a fall from form the last two seasons has dropped her all the way to 15th in the rankings. Perhaps this is a return for form for the former US Women's Open champion, or perhaps it was just a good week in a friendly environment. Either way, it was great to see NYC back towards the top of the leaderboard.

- Koreans go 1-2-3 on the leaderboard for the first time in 2014, which just so happens to be three tournaments after the International Crown. In fact, since the International Crown, Koreans have won every event on Tour, with two runner up finishes and eight top 10s for various Korean players. I don't know if the International Crown was the kick in the pants for the Korean players, or if they were just tired of hearing about the rise of the American players and the lack of success of Koreans on Tour this year, but they're back, and right before the international portion of the schedule.

- With Inbee Park's third place finish, coupled with Stacy Lewis's disappointing week, the gap between the two players has now shrunk to an incredibly small margin. Considering how dominating Lewis looked this seasons, and how Inbee struggled for part of 2014, it's astonishing that this has become a battle once again.

- Perhaps giving up your LPGA membership can benefit you after all. Former world number one JiYai Shin has won twice this season in Asia after forfeiting her LPGA membership, and now Momoko Ueda wins her first JLPGA event since 2011 after leaving the LPGA prior to the start of this season. While I enjoyed watching both players, I'd rather see them excel on a level even though I can't watch them than see them struggle in the US. Hopefully Momoko plays in the Mizuno Classic, an event she has won twice, towards the end of the season.

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