Today, on the back nine of Muirfield Village–the course that Jack built–Jon Rahm came from four strokes back of leader Tony Finau to birdie four consecutive holes and head for Jack’s (club) house with a four-stroke lead over Finau, now in second place, after 54 holes of the 72 holes of regulation being played in the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. Jack, of course, is legendary Jack Nicklaus, whose boyhood home of Columbus is right next door. Jack designed the course and was there to oversee that all matters went right, especially after what happened yesterday.
All didn’t go right yesterday for the Talk-of-The-Tour Bryson DeChambeau. He registered a double figures 10 on the 15th hole to knock him out of the remaining contest this weekend. The Mad-Scientist-Turned-Hulk couldn’t keep his long-flying pill in the park as he dunked it in the water and hit another out of the park, thus out-of-bounds. But The Deep Thinker didn’t believe it was, so he called for a second ruling. (That is unusual on the PGA Tour. I only did it once in my career, and I proved right.) Both officials agreed that the ball, which was lying against a metal fence, was OB. Bryson still complained that the PGA Tour was unfair to him. He had muttered, “They’re giving me a garbage ruling, as usual.” Uh oh! Not good, Bryson. That sounds like your former and wrong opinion about you not being a slow player.
I suspect that the Mad Scientist needs to return to his home laboratory and check the accuracy of his measuring instruments. It usually is not difficult to determine if a golf ball is in- or out-of-bounds. You merely set a string, like a carpenter’s plumb line, attached to the inside of two boundary markers so that the tight string hovers barely above the ball, and look down upon it to view the relationship of the string and ball. At least, in my old days, that was how it was done when it was a close call. But they may be able to do it with some sophisticated digital instrument now, such as a laser.
Rahm–who I have thought could become a superstar–said his 68 today, which was four under par, was one of the best rounds of golf he has ever played. Rahm is now pushing Rory McIlroy to overtake #1 pro golfer in the world. But Rahm has had his problems in squandering past 54-hole leads in PGA Tour tournaments. Sometimes, his temper got the best of him, which he said last year that he was trying to corral. But this guy is a strong horse who could break through and win this race by a mile tomorrow. Yet, I’m pulling slightly more for Tony, who is a member of the PGA Tour Bible Study. Nevertheless, both men are a credit to the greatest game on grass at the course that Jack built.
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