Scottie Scheffler’s surprising first, Charley Hull’s shocking win and Tyrrell Hatton’s wild hangover tale

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we are still processing golf’s Red Zone-like WITCHING HOUR on Sunday. As the great Scott Hanson always says, this is the time of day “When wins become losses and losses become wins.” And that certainly was the case on both the LPGA Tour and PGA Tour. So let’s dive into seven hours minutes of commercial-free mostly ad-free football golf.

WE’RE BUYING

Scottie Scheffler: This is just getting ridiculous. Scottie is now winning events that he wasn’t even planning on playing at the beginning of the year. But U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley (smartly) had his guys compete at the Procore Championship for a team-bonding trip ahead of going to Bethpage Black, and Scheffler wound up winning his sixth PGA Tour title of the season.

Ho-hum. At this point, Scottie is becoming a bully who is just pigging out on trophies. I actually feel bad for the rest of the field in Napa. On the bright side, it should be more of a safe space for the rest of the tour for the rest of the fall season.

The only bad part of the week for Scheffler was an opening (gasp) 70, which snapped his amazing streak of sub-70 rounds at 21. But he got over that pretty quick. He also recorded a (surprising) career-first by earning his maiden victory in the state of California. Crazy that hadn’t happened yet with the historic run he’s been on. The state taxes will be eye-popping on that first-place check! Scheffler might prefer to stick to winning in places like Texas and Florida.

Charley Hull: With all her good golf the past few seasons—particularly in the majors—it’s crazy that Hull hadn’t won an LPGA event in nearly three years. But that drought is over after the Brit triumphed at the Kroger Championship. Even cooler? This might be her first career victory in which she didn’t have a celebratory cigarette.

Good for you, Charley.

Jackson Koivun: I was buying this guy last week after the Walker Cup and I put my money where my mouth was by betting on him at the Procore, where he was playing a tour event again as an amateur. Of course, he didn’t quite win—because I never quite win any outright golf bets—but what an impressive performance by the 20-year-old junior at Auburn. Another impressive performance, I should say.

Koivun has now finished T-11, T-6, T-5 and T-4 in his last four PGA Tour starts. Just an insane run made even more insane that he hasn’t collected one dollar of prize money from all that good golf. But that will be coming whenever he decides to leave college and turn pro (he already has a PGA Tour card waiting for him). He’s one of the biggest studs to come along in decades.

Alex Noren: If there’s a hotter golfer on the planet right now than Scottie Scheffler it’s Alex Noren, who won for a second tournament in a month on the DP World Tour, this time capturing the tour’s flagship event at the BMW PGA Championship. What a run for the 43-year-old Swede who missed seven months due to a gruesome hamstring tear before returning in May and quickly rounding back into top form.

It’s a good thing for Team USA that this guy is only a vice captain at Bethpage Black, because he just beat all of Team Europe. Luke Donald should have him bring his clubs just in case.

WE’RE SELLING

Ben Griffin’s three-putt: It shouldn’t have come down to this. Ben was balling and if Scottie wasn’t in the field, he would have already produced another PGA Tour title. But his fellow Ryder Cup teammate was there. And despite Griffin technically having a putt to win the tournament on the final hole, he walked away with a one-shot loss:

That’s rough—especially when you consider that Griffin had just missed long birdie putts on 16 and 17. The guy was rolling it as well as anyone, but pressure is a heckuva thing. Anyway, it’s still been an incredible breakout season for Ben. And maybe it’s better for Team USA that Scottie remains the undisputed lead dog heading into Bethpage Black.

Jeeno Thitikul’s FOUR-putt: A true WITCHING HOUR moment! The World No. 1 had a one-shot lead and was putting for eagle on the final hole. This looked like more of a lock than Broncos vs. Colts. Or Giants vs. Cowboys. Sigh. And yet Thitikul lost. In regulation. Pretty insane stuff. Have a look at the entire, crazy sequence that shows Hull two-putting for birdie to ultimately steal the tournament:

Again, this is the World No. 1. FOUR-putting. If there’s anything we learned from watching action from the gridiron and golf course on Sunday it’s that you have to avoid sloppy penalties. And that we should all be working on our lag putting more.

John Daly’s 19: Yep, a NINETEEN. The two-time major champ and “Happy Gilmore 2” co-star has done it again, this time on the PGA Tour Champions. Daly already holds two of the highest scores in PGA Tour history, including his infamous 18 at the 1998 Arnold Palmer Invitational, but he managed to one-up/down that at the Sanford International to set a new record on the senior circuit. Unfortunately, there’s no video of this meltdown, but the play-by-play in which he deposited seven golf balls into penalty areas is something else:

JD gonna JD.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour takes another break ahead of next week’s Ryder Cup. But the DP World Tour rolls on with the Open de France while the LPGA Tour has the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G. (Try saying that one 10 times fast.) And then there’s the final of the Golf Digest Match Play Championship. This year’s finalists are Drew Powell and Pat Andrews, and once again, storied Winged Foot will be the venue. Play well, guys.

Random tournament fact: I lost the first Golf Digest Match Play Championship final at Winged Foot in 2022 to Greg Snedeker, who has since knocked me out of the tournament on two other occasions. I feel the same about seeing Greg’s name in the draw as PGA Tour players feel about seeing Scottie Scheffler’s name on the leaderboard.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—Someone will make a 19 at the Ryder Cup: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds

—The Ryder Cup will be determined by a final-hole four-putt: 1,000-to-1 odds

—Drew and Pat will be just as nervous on the first tee: LOCK

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Sorry to toot my own horn, but it’s hilarious how bad that Phil hot take turned out to be.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Bennett Scheffler has learned to walk just by his dad winning golf tournaments. Remarkable.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (PRO DIVISION)

Usually I wouldn’t count a four-minute press-conference clip as a viral video, but when it could basically be the plot of another “Hangover” sequel that changes things. Do yourself a favor. Unless, you can’t stomach someone describing “getting sick” on themselves. Anyway, here's Tyrrell Hatton detailing the wild celebration after he made the Ryder Cup team.

Tyrrell is a real beauty. And we can only imagine the celebration if Team Europe wins next week.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (AMATEUR DIVISION)

One of the greatest golf fails ever:

We’re just glad no one got hurt. At least, we think no one got hurt.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

Good to see there was no love lost between Scottie and Ben—and their significant others:

Captain Keegan has said this is the “closest team” he’s ever seen. That certainly won’t hurt Team USA’s chances at Bethpage next week.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION ARTIFACTS

Credit to Golfweek’s Adam Schupak for finding this cool story about a special piece of memorabilia. One collector named Dustin Raymond owns a Masters scorecard that has been signed by all six winners of the career Grand Slam, completing his own Grand Slam by getting Rory McIlroy to sign it at Wentworth during the BMW PGA Championship.

Apparently, Rory was really impressed. But he also told Dustin, "I'm going to sign it extra high so Scottie has extra space underneath me." Smart move. It's just a matter of time before Scottie wins a U.S. Open to join the club.

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS

Another week, another Andy Murray EAGLE on a famous 18th hole. And this time, he did it in front of Billy Horschel:

Decent athlete, huh?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I kind of wish Scottie wasn’t here.” —Lanto Griffin, who finished third at the Procore Championship. I feel for you, Lanto. And I bet almost all the rest of the players in the field would say the same thing if they were being honest.

THIS AND THAT

The Masters announced Amazon Prime Video will complement the live tournament coverage provided by CBS Sports and ESPN. Just the latest reminder that this ain't your dad's Masters. … It was great having Brian Baumgartner, AKA Kevin Malone from "The Office," on this week's episode of The Loop podcast. Have a listen and please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

The two twin brothers behind a controversial tee-time broker scheme were arrested for evading taxes. Something tells me L.A.-area golfers won’t be shedding any tears for them. … Paul Mitzel lost his first-round match at the U.S. Mid-Amateur because his caddie rode a golf cart from the 19th to 20th hole. And now Paul can say he has arguably the toughest—and silliest—loss in sports history. … And, finally, I had the pleasure of playing in the Bottoms Up Invitational presented by Craig Melvin and Lindsay Czarniak at beautiful Shorehaven, where our scramble team’s highlight was Mike Van Raaphorst (center) winning the long drive contest:

It was also great learning about the amazing things being done by the Colorectal Cancer Alliance and Exact Sciences to fight this terrible disease. And an honor meeting the inspiring Liz Healy. Stay strong, Liz. And F cancer.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

How many golf balls has John Daly lost in his career?

How many golf balls have I lost in my life?

Does Team Europe need some party chaperones?