The walking ATM that is Scottie Scheffler added yet more greenbacks to his kitty with a win in the Procore Championship in Napa, California, which moved his earnings on the PGA Tour this year to the grand total of $27,659,550, some $9 million clear of Tommy Fleetwood in second.
Scheffler – who added the Procore to his schedule to fine-tune for next week’s Ryder Cup – collected his sixth win of the season, adding the trophy to those collected in winning the CJ Cup (Byron Nelson), the US PGA, the Memorial, The Open and the BMW Championship.
This latest success made Scheffler the fourth player since 1960 to win six or more times in consecutive seasons on the PGA Tour, joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
“I always focus as much as I can on my preparation going into tournaments, that’s what gives me confidence, and I feel like I’m as prepared as possible for the Ryder Cup,” said Scheffler of bringing that momentum with him from the west coast to New York.
Team Europe Fightmaster Cup captain Cian Arthurs. Photograph: Zac Goodwin/PA Team Europe out to reclaim Fightmaster Cup in Dublin
Cian Arthurs, a two-time one-armed world champion, will assume the role of playing captain for the Fightmaster Cup which takes place at his home club Roganstown – and also at Swords – this week, where he will lead Europe’s bid to regain the trophy against defending champions the United States.
This is the seventh edition of the biennial match named after Don Fightmaster, described by Time magazine as “an Arnold Palmer of the one-armed golf world”, with Europe looking to reverse the result from the 2023 match in Kentucky.
Arthurs is doing what Keegan Bradley opted not to do for next week’s Ryder Cup, operating as a playing captain of his 12-man team. However, he has two vice-captains, Terry Adams and Keith Dewhurst, at his disposal for the three-day event.
Arthurs is joined by Brendan Swan, Matthew Gamble, Stuart Griffin, Darren Masters, Rob Jenkins, Martin Mahoney, Steven Hutchinson, Simon Jackson, Robert Paul, Reinhard Schuhknecht and Jim Darragh on Team Europe.
Word of Mouth
“It wouldn’t be the first time miracles happened twice. Got to have faith. I think we’re playing good enough and we are in a good and strong enough team to face what we are going to face at Bethpage and hopefully end up with the Cup.” – Jon Rahm evoking the memories of the Miracle at Medinah in 2012 ahead of this latest Ryder Cup. No team has won a Ryder Cup away since that comeback win at Medinah.
By the Numbers: 1/6
Conor Purcell – yet again – is the lone Irish player in the field for a DP World Tour event at this week’s French Open. On the LET, however, there are six Irishwomen – Lauren Walsh, Anna Foster, Sara Byrne, Annabel Wilson, Canice Screen and Olivia Mehaffey – competing in the La Sella Open in Spain.
On this day: September 16th, 1990
José Maria Olazabal had been the nearly man of the Lancôme Trophy, having finished runner-up in the previous two editions only to finally find a way to close the deal in the 21st staging of the tournament at Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, Paris.
To do so, the Spaniard was required to play the role of pursuer in catching and passing the 54-hole leader Colin Montgomerie, who finished a stroke behind Olazabal.
Olazabal shot rounds of 68-66-70-65 for a total of 269, one clear of Monty with Eamonn Darcy finishing in tied-seventh.
In 1988 Olazabal had finished runner-up to Seve Ballesteros and in 1989 he finished second behind Eduardo Romero.
The win was Olazabal’s third of the season, having also claimed the Carroll’s Irish Open at Portmarnock on the European Tour and the Bridgestone Invitational on the PGA Tour, and maintained a quite remarkable head-to-head dominance over Montgomerie which went back to their amateur days when Ollie defeated Montgomerie in the 1984 Amateur Championship final at Formby.
Social Swing
2nd in Switzerland. Always fun to be in contention and tee it up in the final group! Didn’t quite get it going in the final round but really happy to finish strong with a birdie and an eagle in my last 3 holes to move back up into 2nd! Very grateful for the support. – Lauren Walsh on finishing tied-second behind Alice Hewson, who successfully defended the Swiss Ladies Open on the Ladies European Tour. Walsh’s runner-up finish moved her to 15th on the order of merit. Sarah Byrne’s fifth-placed finish moved her to 60th.
Always love playing at home! Thank you @BMWPGA & Wentworth for a great week. T5 finish for me. Congratulations Alex on the win! See you again next year BMW. – Bethpage-bound Tyrrell Hatton saluting Alex Norén, one of the Europe vice-captains, on the Swede’s win at the BMW PGA.
Put this one in the cellar because that was vintage. Scottie Scheffler comes from three shots back to win the Procore Championship in Napa! That’s World No 1’s SIXTH win this season, and he’s now won three out of his last five starts #SpiderTour #TeamTaylorMade – TaylorMade not getting bored at all with bigging up their man.
In the Bag: Charley Hull (Kroger Queen City Championship)
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS (8 degrees)
Rescue clubs: TaylorMade Qi35 (17 degrees and 19 degrees)
Irons: TaylorMade P770 (4), TaylorMade P7MB (5-pW)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG5 (48, 54 and 60 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade SOTO
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
Know the Rules
Q: In stroke play, a player removes an out of bounds stake which interferes with their swing. What is the ruling?
A: The player gets two penalty strokes unless they replace the stake to eliminate any improvement and restore the original conditions. In the Rules of Golf’s Definition of a Boundary Object, Rule 8.1a and Rule 8.1c states a boundary object cannot be moved to improve the conditions affecting the stroke. However, the player can avoid penalty by replacing the stake to eliminate any improvement and restore the original conditions.