PGA Championship at Harding Park + Lydia Ko

Before we talk about the PGA Championship, which is about to enter its final round, we must pay tribute the Lydia Ko, a former #1, who has gone 44 tournaments without winning. Normally, we pull for the underdogs and as a former #1, Ko would not qualify as such, but with her multi-year slide into the abyss, she’s become someone we can root for.

At Harding Park, DJ has a 1 shot lead going into the final round, but there are 10+ players who are within striking distance of winning. While we are looking forward to a great final round, with lots of drama, we have to pull for Matthew Wolff for nothing more than his unique "forward press,” if that’s what you call it, and Joel Dahmen. When you look at Dahmen’s background and what he has had to overcome, it’s easy to root for him.

As an aside, it is noteworthy that Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas, who have traded places as respective #1’s the last few weeks, have struggled to keep it together at Harding Park. It shows you how even the best players in the world could do themselves a favor and don a KIT hat to brace themselves against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

The Hero World Challenge

The Hero World Challenge, underway in the Bahamas, features a select and limited field that typically features the Top 20 golfers in the world. This year’s event is headlined by Collin Morikawa, Koepka, McIlroy, and Justin Thomas. Given such a small and limited field of elite golfers it’s hard to find a true underdog.

Everyone competing has won this year at least once. They’re on top of the world and awash in cash. Everyday more money rains down on them. There are no bills, car payments, or mortgages that ever come due. Most of their time is spent inside country clubs. They walk through life in a bubble. Their only concern, if they have any, is how to maintain control of their adulterous tendencies, or how to cover up any current dalliances they may be engaged in.

Given this, it’s hard to identify a true “underdog” in this field. However, upon closer inspection we do see one candidate: Henrik Stenson. Stenson is 45 years old and is not too far away from his first colonoscopy. His teeth are starting to bother him, and it’s likely he has trouble ordering off a menu without reading glasses. He’s even got his own line of eyewear: https://henrikstensoneyewear.com/ He has not been playing well of late and is ranked well outside of the Top 20 in the world so we’re not even clear how he managed to get into this event.

So even though we like to find a more worthy Underdog to root for, this week it has to be Stenson, who going into Saturday finds himself squarely in last place.