Presidents Cup: By The Numbers

• Branden Grace was Amazing Grace, indeed. With a 5-0 record on the week, Grace was channeling the Smiling Assassin’s (Shigeki Maruyama) performance in the 1998 Presidents Cup. Grace might follow in the footsteps of countrymen Goosen, Schwartzel and Oosthuizen when it comes to major victories in 2016.
• Bill Haas was the poster child for nepotism until Sunday afternoon, when he delivered on captain (and father) Jay Haas’ faith with a 2-up win over home slice Sang-Moon Bae in the 30th and final match of the competition. Oh, and that match won the whole shebang for the U.S. Team, by the way.
• Matt Kuchar may be King Pong, but other than his 2013 romp with Tiger Woods (3-1 in team matches), he is the guy opponents most want to face. He’s 4-5-2 in Ryder Cup matches and 4-7-2 in President’s Cup tilts.

Presidents Cup: The Tales

• We learned that the only golfers worse at foursomes (alternate shot) than U.S. Team members are the rest of the world. They lost 4-1 on Day 1, a deficit proven difficult to overcome for the International side.
• We learned that predicting Phil is like selecting a fantasy football defense… good luck. Phlaky Phil went 3-0-1 this week and no one saw that coming. Flip any one of those three wins and the Cup belongs to the rest of the world.
• We learned that temporary gods have temporary clay feet. Jason Day, the unstoppable Jason Day, was stopped four times this week, with only an oddball rules interpretation keeping him from an O-fer Week, as in 0-for-5. And that Spieth guy? The one with two major titles this year? Kind of a meh, 3-2 week. Not shameful by any stretch, but not the dominance we have come to expect from the Texan.

Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia

Jessica Korda had a skinny, two-stroke lead after 54 holes of the Sime Darby in Malaysia. Her biggest problem was the pursuer, Stacy Lewis. And Lydia Ko, another stroke back. And Shanshan Feng and Yani Tseng chasing. No matter the pursuers, however, one thing is certain: if you have the lead and you shoot the low round of the day, you keep the lead. That is precisely what the young Floridian did. Korda birdied half of her first 10 holes, then answered a bogey on No. 11 with two more red numbers down the stretch.

“I know I was weirdly calm today,” Korda said, even after Ko cut her lead to one. Bartender, one round of Weirdly Calm, on us.

British Masters-European Tour

Matthew Fitzpatrick, the 2013 U.S. Amateur champion, claimed his first professional victory at the British Masters. Fitzpatrick held off bearded Irishman Shane Lowry, the big ø (Søren Kjeldsen) and triple-Zed himself, Fabrizzio Zanotti, by two strokes. Fitzpatrick and Kiradech Aphibarnrat led after three rounds, but the amicable Aphi was unable to gather any momentum on Sunday, finishing +1 and T5. Fitzpatrick jumped to 12th spot on the Race to Dubai points list.

SAS Championship-Champions Tour

Tom Lehman was the last guy anyone predicted might win the SAS Championship on the Champions Tour. Bernhard Langer led after Round 1, then played an indifferent second round to fall behind. Surely he would rebound with another superlative round? He did, but 68 wasn’t good enough on this day. It wasn’t good enough for Joe Durant, either. Durant led after Round 2 and expected that 4-under would get him to the promised land. Uh-uh. That privilege belonged to Lehman, whose ridiculous birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie finish vaulted him from the sidewalk to the penthouse suite, and a one-stroke victory over Durant.