Back from assignment! Tuesday Shag Bag: Rory, Tiger return, Lean Lydia Ko, Golf Sixes explained..

Good Tuesday morning, and thanks for all the texts, emails, facebooks and concern about me being MIA here. Its great to be back from my recent assignment, where I have been appointed one of four Park Rangers at Thompson Park here in Toronto. I have been in training since last Thursday, so over the weekend I had no access to a computer.

It doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention, so here is my Tuesday shag bag.

1. I remember six years ago when a pig tailed little Korean- Kiwi wearing glasses and braces on her teeth came to Canada and won our national women's championship as an amateur. The sensation that was Lydia Ko went on to become world #1 with 14 world titles, hands down the best player on LPGA Tour, at times the best on any tour.

This weekend I was shocked to see her emerge as a 21 year old woman, lean and fit, all the baby fat gone as she secured her 15 title, the LPGA Mediheal Championship in chilly San Fran on a Lake Merced course she had previously won on in 2014, 2015 and she did it in style with the shot of the week, a towering 3 wood at the par 5 18th that nearly went in. The playoff eagle 3 topped Minjee Lee's birdie for her first win since July 2016.

As I noted earlier I could see her game was finally coming around this year after changing coaches and equipment and her swing. 43 tournaments in the wilderness, where apparently she was becoming a young woman !

2. Brooke Henderson T43, Alena Sharp T51, and they will be in Dallas this week along with Maude Aimee LeBlanc, Brittany Marchand, Lorie Kane and Anne Catherine Tanguay at the Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic

3. How about David Hearn and his Irish partner young Seamus Power posting a Sunday foursome score of -4 68 to get into the top 10 at the Zurich Classic, -16 total, six shots behind winners Scott Piercy and Billy Horschel. It was worth $73,000 each while the winners got $1.4m each.

4. The pros rank the Quail Hollow course in Charloote NC, as one off the best on the PGA Tour so after a little time off, Rory, Tiger and Rickie will return to a stellar field at the Wells Fargo Championship where Rory is installed as the 8-1 favourite. Adam Hadwin is 81-1 and he joins Corey Connors, Ben Silverman, Mac Hughes and Nick Taylor as the Canadian contingent.

Rory has won here in 2010 and 2015.

5. I noted Tony Romo missed out in his bid to qualify for this years US Open at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, NY, June 14-17. He's not alone as some 9,049 entrants have been received. By the way one of the qualifiers has been moved to Weston GC in Toronto's west end, from Beacon Hall up in Aurora due to winter damage that has plagued so many. Weston is as many will know is where Arnie started his winning ways back in 1955 at the Canadian Open, and there is a statue of him hugging the trophy there in remembrance.

It's been 10 years my friends since Tiger has won a major, and he will be playing.

6. I am interested in the European Tour's continuing trend towards making golf more fan friendly and this week they return from China to St Albans GC in Hemel Hempstead, England for the second year of the Golf Sixes.

16 teams of 2 will compete over six holes in a group stage, with teams split into four groups of four, before the top two teams from each group progress to the knockout stages - the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, a third/fourth place play-off match and the final - on Sunday May 6.

In the group stages, three points will be given for victory with one point awarded for a draw and the matches will be played in a greensomes match play format.

 

They have spiced things up with the six holes being themed, with the popular shot clock hole returning, with a penalty imposed if players take longer than 30 seconds per shot  as well as the long drive and closest to the pin holes. Amongst the 6 holes there is a  Fan Zone full of entertainment for all the family.

Group A
Denmark – Lucas Bjerregaard and Thorbjørn Olesen
Thailand – Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Thongchai Jaidee
USA – Daniel Im and David Lipsky
European Women – Carlota Ciganda and Mel Reid

Group B
Australia – Sam Brazel and Wade Ormsby
South Korea – Jeunghun Wang and Soomin Lee
Spain – Pablo Larrazábal and Adrian Otaegui
European Captains – Thomas Bjørn and Catriona Matthew

Group C
France – Alexander Levy and Romain Wattel
Italy – Edoardo Molinari and Renato Paratore
Scotland – Scott Jamieson and Richie Ramsay
Ireland – Paul Dunne and Gavin Moynihan

Group D
England – Eddie Pepperell and Matt Wallace
South Africa – George Coetzee and Haydn Porteous
Sweden – Alexander Björk and Joakim Lagergren
England Women – Georgia Hall and Charley Hull

Bryan Angus