Let’s start with the obvious disclaimers. This is golf in late January. Extrapolating too much about the season to come is probably sure to burn you. We’re months away from even Augusta, and we’ll have injuries, form dips, surges, runs, slumps, yips, and maybe even falls down the stairs between now and then. If the Ryder Cup in Paris next fall feels like a lifetime away, it’s probably because it is for a majority of players worldwide.
Three European stars not named Rory McIlroy dominated the weekend in golf. So let’s talk Ryder Cup
Three worldwide events. Three wins for likely Euro Ryder Cuppers. Might be time to temper some expectations for the American side at Le Golf National this fall.
So maybe it’s not responsible to look ahead, to project the Ryder Cup’s fate based upon events in Singapore, or Abu Dhabi, or Palm Springs. But if you spent your weekend watching golf, it’s hard not to look ahead after a Sunday that saw likely Euro team members go 3-for-3 in the weekend’s biggest events.
It started in the wee hours Sunday morning for US-based viewers, with Sergio Garcia routing the field in his first start of 2018 in the Singapore Open. Sure, sure — the Asian Tour event was the softest of the three fields this week. But if we’re measuring strength of victory over strength of schedule, Sergio’s win passes the eye test. He closed Sunday with 27 bogey-free holes to win by five over Satoshi Kodaira and Shaun Norris in his first start since announcing his equipment switch to Callaway.
It’s not quite The Masters or even the Dubai Desert Classic where he’ll defend his title next week. But routing any field of professional players in your first start of the year with brand new equipment? Damn impressive. Go ahead and make your bets for Carnoustie now.
A bit later, Tommy Fleetwood turned in a majestic defense of his 2017 title in Abu Dhabi with a brilliant back nine rally that would’ve had American golf fans completely captivated if it didn’t happen in the predawn hours here in the States.
Amid windy conditions with Rory McIlroy in position to win heading to the back nine, Fleetwood threw down a 30 on the inward nine to take his second title in as many years at the event. A defining performance from one of the game’s best ballstrikers — the type that makes one look at the quality names just behind the 27-year-old Englishman and go, “Hmm, we might have ourselves a star in the making here.”
Before the sun came up in the States, there were two wildly impressive wins for likely Euro team members at Le Golf National in the fall. One was by the reigning Masters champion who seems to be playing maybe the best golf of his long career. One was by the reigning Euro Tour champion who seems to be blooming into the superstar his amateur pedigree predicted he might be one day.
Somehow, neither would end the day as Thomas Bjorn’s biggest bright spot from the weekend.
That’s a title reserved for Jon Rahm, who’s no longer the future or the Next Big Thing. He’s the now-thing. The 23-year-old Spaniard took home his fourth worldwide win since the start of 2017, capturing the CareerBuilder Challenge in Palm Springs. Rahm held off a sneaky-good Andrew Landry in a four-hole playoff while you were probably watching NFL football.
The former Bob Hope Classic ain’t what it once was, and Rahm’s win didn’t feature a beatdown like his countryman Sergio provided in Singapore, nor did it feature a how-did-he-do-that type theatric rally like Fleetwood supplied in Abu Dhabi. Still, Rahm’s win might be bigger because of what it means.
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At 23 years old and just a year removed from his first full season on Tour, Rahm is the second-ranked player in the world. Not Jordan Spieth, with three majors in tow. Not Justin Thomas after a five-win 2017 season. It’s Rahm. And he’ll be another Alpha Dog — another A-Player type who can go head to head with top American players.
It seemed to be canon among American golf fans and media types that a new era of U.S. dominance was here to stay after the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine. Such an opinion was somewhat justified! Tom Watson has been shot out of an airlock into deep space, the Task Force seemed to figure some things out, and a younger American team blitzed the Euros in Minnesota.
That confidence was validated by the red-assing given to the internationals at literal toxic waste dump Liberty National last fall. It’s a fine and reasonable take to be high on the future of the American team golf right now. I’m not here to talk you out of that!
But take a moment to consider what the rosters might look like if we moved up the Cup to next week and made the trip to Paris early — and what some of those players have done in recent weeks and months.
There’s a youth movement in Europe, too. A 23-year-old Rahm is one of the best players in the world, 27-year-old Fleetwood’s emerging as a global star, and 26-year-old Tyrrell Hatton closed 2017 on a tear that included two wins. There’s a host of others — Thomas Pieters, Paul Dunne, Tom Detry — who could all have big seasons this year.
But it’s not just the young guns for the Europeans, either. Justin Rose won three events in seven weeks to close 2017. Sergio’s playing arguably the best golf of his career and now owns four wins in the last 52 weeks including a major title. Paul Casey’s regained some of his early-career mojo and seems to contend every week. Oh, and that McIlroy guy. He finally looked healthy — and capable of the type of dominance we know him for — in Abu Dhabi.
Again, it’s not even February.
But right now, it’s a hell of a start for the Europeans in 2018.
Maybe, if you want, that’s enough just to temper some of your expectations when we head to Paris in the fall.
Weekend Results
What’s on the menu this week
[ahem]
El Gato Grande returns to a real, actual PGA Tour event this week at Torrey Pines. It’s probably gonna go badly this week, so temper your expectations for the Farmers Insurance Open.
We’re off to Dubai on the Euro Tour, and Sergio returns to defend his title at the place where Tiger’s body melted down to hell. Here’s me on that week from last year. Another Sergio win, and I’m mortgaging the home I don’t own to throw megabucks on the early moneyline for him to win at Carnoustie. This will be a recurring theme throughout the season, and I’m sorry.
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