Justin Rose wins the Zurich Classic

Did you see those teeth? Did you hear that roar? It’s great that Justin Rose reacts to a tour title in the same feral way he celebrates a major-championship victory.

On Sunday, Rose and his Tour mates went overtime, thanks to a rain-interrupted third round. Rose got to a tie for the lead after three rounds Sunday morning, then went out and made six birdies against no bogeys for 66 and a one-shot win over upstart Cameron Tringale.

Rose has taken a shine to the TPC of Louisiana course. After a T8 finish in 2014, Rose’s victory this week marks the sixth-consecutive season he has notched a victory on the PGA Tour.

[quote_box_center]“Typically my M.O. has been tough golf courses and traditional golf courses and golf courses where 10-under par is a good score,” Rose said. “So yeah, I would say that this is not in my wheelhouse … You know, you want to become a player that can win on every type of course, and I will take a lot of confidence from the fact that I was able to play a golf course that … you had to be very aggressive on and shoot low and keep shooting low.”[/quote_box_center]

Swinging Skirts owned By Lydia Ko

 

The LPGA has it over everybody these days. Three weeks in a row, the world’s best female golfers have given their fans a champion in extra holes. And every week, it seems, the top players show up in the mix.

In early April, Stacy Lewis lost in a playoff to Brittany Lincicome. Last week, Inbee Park was victimized by Sei Young Kim’s pyrotechnics. And San Francisco treated the faithful to yet another nail biter, as Morgan Pressel and Lydia Ko dueled for two additional holes before Ko earned her second tour victory of the season.

[quote_box_center]”I just tried to go with my game plan,” Ko said. “I knew that whoever was going to win in the playoff was going to make a birdie. You know, there is not that many places where you’re going to get a chance for a bogey or something .. We’re both hitting the ball good, so I knew that at the end it was somebody that was going to make a good putt and come off with a birdie. “[/quote_box_center]

New Format for Legends of Golf

Joe Durant and Billy Andrade captured the 2015 iteration of the Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri. Neither Durant nor Andrade has won an individual Champions Tour event to date, so the triumph by a stroke over Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam had to taste sweeter than sweet.

If Andrade and Durant weren’t enough to attract attention to the Bass Pro-sponsored event, the format sure did. A quick glance at the winning total showed rounds of 63-51-45! In 2015, the Legends of Golf played its final two rounds over the par-3 course at the resort, utilizing a modified, alternate-shot format. As professional tournament golf reinvents itself in the mid 2010s, unique formats and venues will certainly catch the non-golfer’s eye.

Paula Creamer cries “Women’s Masters,” but has wrong venue

I hope The Masters will consider a Women’s Masters soon. They do so much to grow the game. Fastest area of golf growth is women! #6Majors?

— Paula Creamer (@ThePCreamer) April 14, 2015

Paula Creamer tweeted a siren call to Augusta National, but Billy Payne put a prompt kibosh on the suggestion. Would the LPGA and its five majors add a sixth? Nope…#watereddown.

The most likely event to become a “Women’s Masters” is the ANA Inspiration (formerly the Kraft Nabisco Championship and the Dinah Shore), but it needs a world-class venue, which Mission Hills isn’t. What screams major in this way? Exclusivity and a name architect.

The ladies have already visited the course I have in mind, for the 2013 U.S. Open. Its name is Sebonack and it has everything Augusta National has, with the better views that eastern Long Island offers. The ladies don’t need to copy the gents; they need something unique. Sebonack would offer that and more.

Wu becomes first Chinese player to win a European Tour event in China

A week after Li Hao-tong nearly became the first homegrown Chinese pro to win an event in China on the European Tour, countryman Wu Ashun turned the trick at the Volvo China Open. The 29-year old Wu reached 9-under, then held his breath as David Howell made a charge that fell one shot shy of a playoff.

Howell made four birdies during the final round, but signed for an equal number of bogeys. None cost him more than the one he made on the tournament’s final hole. The aforementioned Li began Sunday in a tie with Wu, but could only manage a 74 in the fourth round, earning him a sixth-place finish.

Out of Bounds

Steve Elkington’s “joke”

On Friday evening, as Bruce Jenner was revealing his identification as a woman to Diana Sawyer and the world, Steve Elkington tweeted:

[quote_box_center]”[Jenner] was on wheaties box, now on fruitloop box.”[/quote_box_center]

When Golf.com called the remark “disparaging,” Elkington responded by calling for a pseudo-boycott of the magazine. Fortunately for the golf world, Elkington’s protest didn’t gain much traction.