Monday, May 4, 2015

King Rory And Queen Bee Rule On Sunday

- Only Rory McIlroy could be the number one player in the world and be completely overlooked in a tournament. Entering this week, a lot of people were talking about Jordan Spieth and how far he can go, as well as some of the other players in the field and whether or not they are great for Match Play. In the end, though, talent will win out over anything else, and Rory McIlroy has more talent than anyone else in the world. The Age Of Jordan? I think Rory has a few things to say about that.

- The PGA Tour changed the format to try and add more intrigue to the Match Play. The result, however, was more of a detriment than it was helpful. Instead of one incredibly exciting day for the opening round, we were treated to three relatively boring days until someone moved on. Unfortunately for the Match Play, the tournament fell in the middle of the NBA playoffs, the Mayweather fight, and the Kentucky Derby, so it was going to be difficult to attract attention in the first place. Still, they need to do more tinkering to make this the excitement they expect it to be, because even with the World Number One playing all the way until the final match, it was hard to really keep my focus on this event the entire time.

- Is this tournament the beginning of Danny Willett as a world class player, or is he just good at this format? We will find out more next week when he plays in his first Players Championship, but he looked good this week, and he was not intimidated by Augusta National a few weeks ago. Between Willett and Tommy Fleetwood, I'm sure David Love III is not happy to see so many young Europeans excel this format.

- Earlier this season, I may have declared that the Lydia Ko Era on the LPGA Tour would last for a very long time. I still think Ko is the player to beat, but Inbee Park seems to be counter punching any time Ko makes a statement. One week after Ko defended her title at the Swinging Skirts, Queen Bee won the North Texas Shootout by three strokes, and honestly it didn't seem that close. While other players got within shouting distance, none of them played as solidly as Inbee did all week. If a few more putts would have dropped, Inbee would have won this tournament on Saturday. When Inbee plays well, she is scary good. The US Women's Open is going to be incredibly exciting.

- The Big Four is quickly turning into the Big Three. Hyo Joo Kim notched yet another top 25 finish with her T11 in Texas, but she doesn't seem to have the ability to finish like Inbee or Lydia have, and she has the tendency to struggle with her putter from time to time. Stacy Lewis finished in the top 10 for the 400th time in the past two seasons, but she hasn't been able to put four rounds together and is always forced to make a charge on Sunday. Lewis and Kim are both incredible players and the best of the next group, bur right now, Lydia and Inbee are sprinting away from them right now.

- What was the most impressive "comeback" performance of the week? Was it Maria McBride, formally Maria Hjorth, who won five times on the LPGA Tour and played on five Solheim Cup teams, but hasn't has a top 10 in years, or was it Juli Inkster, the Hall of Famer and Solheim Cup captain that turned the clock back and gave her Solheim Cup players an inspirational performance? Take your pick - they're both amazing stories. This is the second week this season that Inkster has played well, this a year after she thought she was going to step away from the game completely. There's still a lot of life left in the legend.

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