Steve Stricker’s win in the Ally Challenge – his ninth career win on the PGA Champions circuit – moved him to fifth in the updated Charles Schwab Cup order of merit, but last year’s Ryder Cup captain is looking forward to getting back to his sideline role as caddie for his daughter Bobbi as she chases her own professional dreams.
Stricker missed the recent Dick’s Sporting Goods Open (won by Pádraig Harrington) so that he could act as bagman for his daughter in the first stage of LPGA Tour qualifying and plans on missing out on next month’s Dominion Energy Classic in Virginia to loop at stage two of qualifying school (in Florida, October 18th-21st).
Although his own priority had been to advance as high in the order of merit as he could, Stricker explained of changed circumstances: “[My goal)]has always been to try and get up as close as I can to the Schwab Cup. Now my daughter’s going [to stage two of qualifying] that changes things because I am going to be looping and I’m going to be on the bag so I’m going to probably miss a couple of events. But I will keep playing as much as I can and hopefully keep playing well and get as close as I can.”
Bobbi was in also in action at the Ally Challenge, caddying for her uncle Mario Tiziani, brother of Stricker’s wife Nicki, whose family are steeped in golf.
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Harrington, who was fourth behind Stricker in the Ally, is currently second on the Charles Schwab Cup, which is headed by Steve Alker.
Leona Maguire looking for late order of merit boost as she returns to action
After a two-week break from tournament play, Leona Maguire returns to LPGA Tour duty at this week’s Dana Open in Sylvania, Ohio, as she gears up for a late-season push in her efforts to claim a second win of the season and to also improve her order of merit position.
The 27-year-old Cavan golfer – who achieved a breakthrough win in the LPGA Gainbridge Drive On championship earlier this season, one of five top-10s so far this year – is playing back-to-back weeks in Ohio, following the Dana Open with next week’s Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati.
Maguire has altered her itinerary for next month in adding the KPMG Irish Women’s Open on the LET on to her schedule, instead of the Walmart Arkansas on the LPGA.
The Irish Women’s Open at Dromoland Castle (September 22nd-25th) returns to the LET schedule after a 10-year absence and Maguire will be the headline act, after which she will again revert back to the LPGA Tour to take in the Asian Swing in late-October, early-November before coming to a close with the CME Group Tour Championship in Florida at the end of November. Maguire is currently 13th on the order of merit, which is headed by Australia’s Minjee Lee.
Word of Mouth
“I really fought hard. Rory just played a really good round of golf. He made some key putts there at the end, and he definitely deserved to win ... tip of the cap to Rory!” – world No 1 Scottie Scheffler, who closed with a 73 to McIlroy’s 66, to lose out to McIlroy in the Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup.
By the Numbers: 28,354,566
Rory McIlroy’s win in the Tour Championship brought his season’s winnings on the PGA Tour to $28,354,566 (comprising $18 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup, $8,654,566 for tournament prizemoney through the season and $1.7 million bonus for finishing sixth in the Comcast Business Tour Top 10). The Northern Irishman’s career tournament prizemoney now stands at $66,174,549 while his total including FedEx Cup bonus money (2016: $10 million; 2019: $15 million; 2022: $18 million) is over $109 million.
Twitter Twaddle
– Ted Scott, caddie to Scottie Scheffler.
On this day: August 30th, 1970
In what was the first $300,000 tournament on the PGA Tour, former US PGA champion Bobby Nichols got the bragging rights and the big pay-day after rounds of 68-70-69-69 for a 12-under-par total of 276 at Upper Montclair Country Club in New Jersey gave him a one-stroke winning margin over Labron Harris Jnr in the Dow Jones Open Invitational.
Harris, a former US amateur champion who boasted a master’s degree in mathematics, had shared the 54-hole lead with Nichols who used a second-hand putter he’d purchased for $5 to great effect in closing out the deal in the final round.
A photo of a Nichols celebrating appeared in the Charlotte Observer which prompted a letter to arrive some days later to the new champion from none other than the legendary Bobby Jones after the caption wrongly identified Jones rather than Nichols as the winner.
“I immediately opened it up and it said that an article in the Charlotte Observer showed a picture of me winning the tournament, hands in the air ... there was a nice note from Bobby Jones. It said, ‘Dear Bobby. Congratulations on your win. Sorry for the misidentification. But you have the check’.”
In the Bag: Rory McIlroy (Tour Championship)
Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus+ (9 degrees)
3-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 (15 degrees)
5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth Plus+ (19 degrees)
Irons: TaylorMade P730 RORS proto (3-PW)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG3 (54 and 58 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider X Hydro Blast
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
Know the Rules
Q
On playing an approach shot to the green, Player A’s ball takes a kick left. It is only on reaching the spot that the player realises the ball has gone into a hazard marked by white stakes. What are the player’s options?
A
White stakes are used to classify an area as out of bounds so Player A has no other option than to return to where he last played his shot at a penalty of stroke and distance (Rule 14.6). Out of bounds may be defined in a number of ways – white stakes, lines on the ground, walls, fencing, railings etc – but if your ball has gone beyond them, the first thing to remember is that there is no option within the rules to drop a ball under penalty at the point where your ball crossed the out of bounds line as you would with a water hazard. If you ball is out of bounds, you must play another ball from where you last played under penalty of stroke and distance.
