America has been in the air lately. The Olympics finished up with a bang and the Ryder Cup teams are finally rounding out, we’re all getting a healthy dose of USA in the golf world lately. Couple that with a controversy in the NFL involving recent demonstrations by Colin Kapernick during the national anthem and Lochte’s real story surfacing, all of a sudden America is on BLAST! While we won’t comment on Kapernick’s disrespectful demonstration, or Ryan Lochte being exposed as a complete moron (seriously, Ryan?! what were you thinking? Even Phelps lost it when Jimmy Fallon came out on the VMAs impersonating you.) we will talk about golf.
First, the Olympics. We won’t say much because we’re going to give a friend of the Azalea House a plug. However, we will say congratulations to all the medalists, and especially American Matt Kuchar, who brought home the bronze medal for the US. The addition of golf back for the first time in over 100 years was a success and we hope to see ALL the worlds top players on the PGA Tour competing in 2020.
At this point, I’ll “pass you off” to our good friend Andy Reistetter. Andy is a freelance writer who covers golf all over the world and attended the games in Rio. Visit Andy’s Golf Travel Diary or follow him on Facebook to get the on-the-scene reporting! (he’s actually still there…lol)
Now, let’s talk Ryder Cup. Sunday marked the final tournament of the year to secure one of the eight automatic bids onto Team USA. Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, Jimmy Walker and Brooks Koepka already had clinched spots. Patrick Reed won The Barclays to earn a spot, joining Snedeker and Z. Johnson to round out the top eight. But the story on Sunday was the complete shutdown of Rickie Fowler, who needed a birdie on 18 to clinch his spot, and instead scored bogey – pushing Z. Johnson into the 8th spot. There’s still an outside shot that Davis Love III will choose Rickie as a coach’s selection, but after his dismantlement on Sunday, that chance may have went out the window. We’ll see who DLIII chooses soon!
The European Team has already been set: Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Danny Willett, Sergio Garcia, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Chris Wood, Andy Sullivan, and Matt Fitzpatrick and according to a CBSSports.com article posted just a few hours ago, Westwood, Kaymer and Pieters will fill our the remaining spots on the roster.
That’s all for now, folks.