The Loop
Ryder Cup snub has Russell Knox determined ‘to prove someone wrong’
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Russell Knox, 20th in the World Ranking and the sixth highest-ranked European was predictably disappointed that he was not one of Darren Clarke’s Ryder Cup captain’s picks. But he also was angered.
“I’ve never wanted to prove someone wrong so badly in my life," Knox said in this story by Derek Lawrenson in the Daily Mail. "It’s certainly motivated me to use it as a springboard to win the FedEx Cup over the next three weeks. I’m playing the best golf of my life right now."
Ryder Cup ‘hyperbole, hypocrisy is…[how] reality TV gets made’
“There’s no denying the golf aspects of the Ryder Cup make for fabulous fodder and terrific theater. Hands down, it is the best All-Star Game in sports. That said, the hyperbole and hypocrisy that surround this opulent ‘exhibition’ is the stuff from which reality television gets made,” Dan O’Neill of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes in this amusing look at the weeks ahead.
“For instance, there is much ado about Clarke not using one of his picks on Russell Knox, who is the 20th-ranked player in the world, higher ranked than all three of the players chosen. At the same time, there is speculation Knox could play for our side, given he has an American father and a U.S. passport. Or to put it in Colin Kaepernick terms, he could refuse to stand for both anthems.”
And the bottom line, “the secret formula, the chemistry that works best at a Ryder Cup? Here it is — 10 feet, proper line, proper pace, in the jar. That trumps the task forces, the rankings and the reputations every time.”
The smile that transformed Jutanugarn
Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, winless before, has won five LPGA events since the start of May. What changed?
“A few weeks later [after the ANA Inspiration, where she bogeyed the final three holes and finished fourth], during a practice round…[instructors Pia] Nilsson and [Lynn] Marriott were searching for the answer to an important question — and the big-hitting Ariya came up with a key discovery,” Mike Koreen of the Toronto Sun writes.
The instructors wanted her to be excited and happy before hitting each shot. So she decided to start smiling. Now she’s second in the Rolex Rankings and a threat to No. 1, Lydia Ko.