PGA Tour 'Offseason' Is Over, Scottie Scheffler Lets Justin Thomas Know Texas Is Back, U.S. Ryder Cup Team Casually Shows Up In Italy, Rory McIlroy Gets Aquatic
And just like that, we have PGA Tour golf back in our lives. After a grueling 17-day 'offseason' the Tour returns this Thursday as the Fall Swing gets underway in California at the Fortinet Championship. Technically this week's tournament doesn't signal the start of the new season, but PGA Tour golf is back after a very brief hiatus.
As for the golf that actually took place this past week, the Irish Open leaderboard was littered with big-time names heading into Sunday with Rory McIlroy very much in contention over the weekend. Unfortunately for McIlroy, he became acquainted with the River Liffey not once, but four times on Sunday.
The U.S. Ryder Cup team took a quick trip to Rome to get a first glance at Marco Simone ahead of the event later this month. The biggest theme of the trip was the Americans being awesomely American, and uber-casual, as they visited one of the nicest cities and clubs in the world. You absolutely love to see it.
Justin Thomas, who was among the group to fly over to Italy, has certainly had better weekends as his Alabam Crimson Tide were embarrassed at home by Scottie Scheffler's Texas Longhorns.
Another week, another edition of Par Talk.
Rory McIlroy, Lover Of Water
Nobody knew what to expect out of Rory McIlroy at the Irish Open this past week. It marked his first start since the Tour Championship where he revealed he was dealing with a back issue. Ahead of Thursday's opening round in Ireland he admitted the back wasn't quite 100%, but when you're Rory McIlroy you don't need a completely perfect back to still contend in golf tournaments.
McIlroy began Sunday's final round two shots back and in the final group alongside Hurly Long (yes, that's his real name) and Jordan Smith. To say McIlroy had the star power of the final threesome would be an understatement, and he grabbed the opportunity by the horns by carding birdies on two of his first four holes.
Then, Mother Nature intervened with a 90-minute weather delay. He grabbed a share of the lead at 13-under, but then was introduced to the River Liffey down the stretch.
McIlroy flared his second shot into the drink on the Par 5 16th hole from 267. Finding the water from almost 270 yards out isn't shocking, but after taking his drop, McIlroy launched what was his fourth shot into the water with nothing more than a short iron in his hand. This was his fourth water ball of the afternoon and it led to a triple bogey eight.
BREAKING NEWS: RORY MCILROY BELIEVES THE EUROPEAN RYDER CUP TEAM IS GOOD
Two poor swings took McIlroy from within striking distance of winning the tournament to outside the Top 20. He ultimately finished 16th in the tournament, five back of winner Vincent Norrman of Sweden.
Scottie Scheffler's Weekend Was Better Than Justin Thomas'
Texas went into Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday and manhandled the Alabama Crimson Tide. This means that former Alabama star Justin Thomas had a horrible evening and Scottie Scheffler had a great one as his Longhorns put on a clinic. To make matters worse for JT, he had to watch his team get beat down with the World No. 1, and thankfully, Max Homa documented the moment.
Homa, who played golf at Cal so can't say much when it comes to football, snapped a classic photo of Scheffler enjoying the moment and Thomas realizing that his team's era as a college football big dog may just be slipping away.
What makes the photo that much better is that Scheffler, Thomas, and the U.S Ryder Cup team were in Italy watching the game. Homa took this photo at 10:18 PM ET, which is 4:18 AM in Rome. This had to make for one helluva long Sunday for JT.
U.S. Ryder Cup Team Being American As Possible In Rome
The American crew getting up before the sun in Rome to watch college football back in the States is as American, and as awesome, as it gets, but so too were the overall vibes of the U.S. team's quick trip across the pond.
The Americans jumped off the team bus and arrived at the uber-nice Marco Simone club rocking t-shirts, hoodies, and overpriced duffle bags their significant others 100% bought them weeks prior.
Wyndham Clark showed up wearing a camo t-shirt with camo gym shorts on. You just can't teach stuff like this.
By no means should anyone have expected the U.S. team to show up to some team-only practice rounds all buttoned up (they will be when they return in a couple of weeks) but you have to respect the casual approach that undoubtedly triggered a few European fans who saw the video of their arrival.
All in all, nine of the 12 team members made the trek to Italy this past week. Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, and Xander Schauffele were the three players that didn't make the trip.
The New-Look PGA Tour Fall Swing
For the last 10 years, the start of the Fall schedule marked the start of the newest PGA Tour season, but that isn't the case this time around. We all need to re-program our brains to look at the Fall swing as a season in and of itself.
Get this, after a decade of starting the next year's season before the calendar actually flipped, that won't be the case in 2024. The 2024 campaign will officially get underway at the 2024 Sentry Tournament of Champions in January.
Max Homa is looking to become a three-peat winner at the Fortinet Championship this week. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
The new-look Fall swing now has meaning, which also adds more marquee players into tournament fields. The FedEx Cup points from the recently-concluded season carry over into the Fall allowing players who missed out on the FedEx Cup Playoffs an opportunity to re-gain their spot inside the Top 125 and securing full status for the '24 season. Justin Thomas is one of those players on the outside looking in, although he won the PGA Championship in 2022, which gifted him a five-year Tour card.
The points players receive throughout the Fall swing will not carry over to the 2024 season, therefore it is very much its own miniature season so to speak. There are a total of seven events on the Fall slate with things wrapping up at the RSM Classic on November 19.
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