Strong field post-U.S. Open
week in Germany. He pulled out of the U.S. Open on Friday this year, but that was because of his score. He missed the cut.
Also on tap is the American Family Insurance Classic, hosted by Steve Stricker, who this year finally gets to play because he’s 50. so pumped by making that par putt to win because he thought for sure that would lock up a spot on Europe’s Ryder Cup team. Turns out, European captain Darren Clarke overlooked him.
Knox is no less proud of his achievement. And the Scot has a sense of humour on the dry side.
Chris Berman of ESPN usually helps to present the trophy, though he missed out on the honour last year. So when Boomer ran into Knox at the Deutsche Bank Championship, he came over to apologize for not being there and praise Knox for winning a trophy that had some of the biggest names in golf on it.
Sam Snead. Arnold Palmer. Billy Casper. Lee Trevino. Curtis Strange. “Ken Duke,” Knox interjected. “I love Ken Duke,” Knox said later. “We play a lot of practice rounds together.”
A victory by Lewis or Lydia Ko would be historic, and not just because both are facing victory droughts. While it’s been three full years for Lewis, Ko is the defending champion and is coming up on the one-year anniversary of her last LPGA Tour victory.
She has given up the No. 1 ranking to Ariya Jutanugarn, who isn’t playing this week.
The history at stake is the parity on the LPGA Tour. There have been 15 tournaments this year. There have been 15 winners. Only eight of this year’s winners are at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, so the streak ends if one of them win — Brittany Lincicome, Amy Yang, Inbee Park, Anna Nordqvist, Mirim Lee, So Yeon Ryu, Haru Nomura and Sei Young Kim.
The last time an LPGA season started with 15 different winners was in 1991. Jane Geddes ended the streak at the Atlantic City Classic.
The BMW International Open has the only major champions from the last two years in its field. That would be Stenson and Sergio Garcia. Stenson credits his victory in Germany last year for helping him win at Royal Troon. Garcia is making his first start in Europe since winning the Masters .
Remember when Steve Stricker said at the start of 2013 that he was going to cut back on his schedule and become a part-time player? Plans change when the children get older (Bobbi Maria just finished her freshman year at Wisconsin) and tournaments become family outings.
Stricker, coming off a tie for 16th at the U.S. Open, plays a second straight week in Wisconsin as the tournament host. This is his 13th tournament of the year (fifth on the PGA Tour Champions), and it’s still not even July.