A send-off and celebration
Monahans embody Winchester event
If he sensed there was something wrong with the picture as he came around the corner at the dogleg-left 18th, it took Jay Monahan only a few moments to realize how right it all was.
With a 7:30 finish on a sultry July evening, this round of golf should have ended with but a lone spectator watching, the irrepressible "Grannie Annie," who is quick to tell you she taught all these Monahan boys how to play golf, Joe "The Pro" included.
But chances are, in the 86 years that have afforded her the chance to see it all, Ann Monahan hasn't witnessed anything like the scene behind Winchester Country Club's closing hole last Thursday. She was there out of an unyielding love of her son, Joe "The Pro" Monahan, her grandsons, and the country's oldest father-son tournament, a Winchester CC summer highlight that serves as testimony to the priceless spirit this game transmits.
As for the dozens of people who secured positions behind the final green to watch Joe and his oldest son, Jay, complete their round, well, they were pulled there by a genuine love, too - for a brother, for a nephew, for a cousin, for a loyal friend, for a passionate co-worker.
Jay had three weeks earlier announced plans to leave his post as executive vice president with the Fenway Sports Group and take over as executive director of the PGA Tour's flagship tournament, The Players. Since it requires a move to Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., there was no question there'd be a send-off party, but therein sat the challenge to nail down Jay's time.
What it took was a brainstorm of an idea from Brendan and Justin Monahan. The Monahans, like virtually every other Winchester CC member, plan their summers around this father-son tournament so they knew they would have a captive audience July 31.
That was Jay's assigned day to play alongside Joe in a tournament that is so wildly popular that it requires three days to complete. That means Joe plays one day with Justin, his youngest son, and one with Brendan, the middle of his three boys.
But before you think that maybe the event was invented for them, think again. This year was the 90th edition of a tournament that is rich in flavor, even steeper in tradition.
With nine wins - four with Jay, four with Brendan, one with Justin - Joe has a proud history, one that goes back to the days when he played with his father. This year, Joe and Justin went out Tuesday and shot a 2-under-par 69 in the selected-drive, alternate-shot format. The next day, Joe and Brendan came in with a 70. Jay knew what he had to do Thursday; he just had no idea what his brothers were doing.
They invited guests to arrive by 7 p.m. at Joe's home adjacent to Winchester CC, figuring they would walk to the 18th green and be there when the final foursome finished. Brendan walked a few holes early and sent text messages to Justin at the house - Joe and Jay were 3 under and Justin winced. OK, there was brotherly love here, but so, too, was there a competitive spirit involved. That's why, as the group gathered at the 18th green and a warm twilight enveloped Winchester CC, things got even more interesting, because word had filtered in - Joe and Jay had made a bogey and they were now tied with Joe and Justin.
Walking down the 18th fairway, Jay looked up and noticed the crowd up by the green and maybe he got a sense of what was happening. But, still, there was golf to be played, so after his father used his son's drive and hit a superb cut shot from the right rough and left the ball just short of the final green, Jay, now playing to a gallery, stood over a deft wedge shot that he handled beautifully, his pitch leaving his father just 2 feet to save par.
That is when the reality of the unique situation hit home. If Joe missed the putt, he would lose (with Jay), yet win (with Justin). The crowd had come to surprise Jay, but the surprise was the compelling nature of the golf.
"A classic Monahan moment, but it's what this club is all about," said a member of the Winchester CC staff, confirming that Joe had also finished third (with Brendan).
Then, in a fashion that says a lot about the way he has played brilliant golf for decades, Joe drained the putt to save par and cap off a 69 that left his team tied - with one of his other teams.
The hugs and embraces were warm and personal, just as they had been a little more than a year ago at the funeral of the family's most passionate golfer, wife and mother Joanne. Oh, how she would have loved this moment, not just because Jay and Justin had matched each other's score, or that husband Joe had come through in grand style all three days, but also because her husband's brother and Jay's godfather, Uncle Tom, had played with his son alongside Joe and Jay and slam-dunked a hole-in-one at the 149-yard 14th hole.
How perfectly it had all played out. Then, to make it sweeter, the send-off party for Jay made its way from the 18th green to the Monahan home. As true as it was that golf had been so much a part of the evening, it was a family's unwavering love that made it all possible.
No doubt Joanne would have approved of every bit of it and laughed heartily at the dilemma that now exists. Joe (with Jay) must play against himself (with Justin) in a playoff to determine the final result of a tournament that is built around golf, but is really about much more.
LPGA's best a world apart
When the final scores had been counted, the top five names on the Women's British Open leaderboard were Ji-Yai Shin, Yani Tseng, Eun-Hee Ji, Yuri Fudoh, and Ai Miyazato. They combined for 74 under par, 22 vowels, and four translators, aspects that reinforce the notion that the power of women's golf rests with the Asian players.
The flip side is, American women hardly distinguished themselves in the 2008 majors as only two recorded top-five finishes and one of them, Stacy Lewis (T-3 at the US Women's Open), isn't even an LPGA Tour member. The other was Laura Diaz, who was fifth at the
If you look for answers as to where those top-five players separated themselves from the Women's British Open field, look no further than the par 5s at Sunningdale Golf Club.
Shin played them in 13 under, Tseng in 14 under, while combined the top five names were 58 under at the first, second, 10th, and 14th holes, all listed as par 5s, though hardly did they play like it. Shin, Fudoh, and Miyazato all went for an eagle and three birdies at the 10th, while Tseng did likewise at the first.
All of which makes you wonder about Annika Sorenstam, who played the par 5s in a mere 6 under, which included a 1-over score at the first. You rarely hear LPGA Tour observers marvel at her power anymore, like in 2003 when she averaged 275.4 yards per drive to rank second, or 2004 (268.2, ranked third) or 2005 (263, T-4). Instead, Sorenstam ranks 54th with a 251.7 average and it's clear that part of her game is no longer one of her weapons.
First New England, now the Nation
Unless something unforeseen changes with his schedule, Jim Renner of Plainville won't be playing in the Maine Open Tuesday and thus won't be in position to share a bit of New England golf history with the great Bill Ezinicki.
In the summer of 1960, Ezinicki won four state opens - Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine - and so far as we can determine, that has never been duplicated. Renner, 23, would have had a chance to match it, thanks to victories in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, but the Maine tournament has never been on his schedule. He's got other plans.
"I'm going to try Monday qualifiers for the next two Nationwide Tour events," said Renner, whose brilliant summer also includes a win in the Cape Cod Open.
That means he'll be playing Monday in an attempt to get into the
Though Renner has not yet made it into a Nationwide Tour tournament, he qualified for the PODS Championship on the PGA Tour in early March, only to miss the cut.
"I'd really like to get into those two Nationwide Tour events," said Renner, who also has plans to play in the New England Open Sept. 10-12, then possibly rejoin the Hooters Tour to lead into his bid at the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.
As for his win last week in Rhode Island, it didn't come as easily as one might have thought, considering he had a large lead through 36 holes. But two golfers who started the third and final round well back - Kirk Hanefeld (down 11) and Troy Pare (seven back) - played brilliantly to make it interesting. Hanefeld shot 63 and Pare 67 and both finished at 5-under 202, though they wound up three strokes behind Renner, whose 71 backed up a superb 62-66 start.
Etc.
Return of Shark weeks
From England to Scotland to the Rocky Mountains, it was quite a stretch for Greg Norman. When he closed with a 70 -280 to finish fourth Sunday in the US Senior Open at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, it meant that, for the first time since 1995, Norman had recorded three top-10 finishes in three weeks (T-5 British Senior Open; T-3 British Open). That summer Norman regained the top spot in the world rankings from Nick Price with a four-week stretch in which he won the Memorial, finished joint fourth at the Kemper Open, was second at the US Open, and won the Greater Hartford Open. Norman had a chance to extend his great play this week, but turned down a spot in the PGA Championship, indicating that he'd return to his life as a CEO and businessman.
Fit of pique
Give Kenny Perry high marks for honesty. After explaining for perhaps the 274,587th time that he didn't care that people criticized him for skipping both the US Open and British Open - "In 22 years nobody cared where I played golf. Now, all of a sudden, everybody is worried about it." - he was asked if he owed his three victories this year to the fitness trailers that are mainstays on the PGA Tour. Perry, who turns 48 Sunday, shook his head. "I never worked out a day in my life."
Get into the groove
Fairway news: The US Golf Association announces that regulations that will restrict the "U" groove will go into effect in 2010, but the "V" groove will comply with the new measurements.
Clubhouse view: No word on what that means to the "W" groove when it arrives.
Extra effort at Amateur
It was a swing of emotions for Jaclyn Sweeney of Andover at the 108th US Women's Amateur in Eugene, Ore., late Tuesday. When she bogeyed her final hole of stroke play to shoot 74 and finish 36 holes at 8-over 152, there was the very real chance she'd miss the cut. But as the scores became complete, the picture was better, though still not without anxiety: Sweeney, who attends the Leadbetter Academy in Bradenton, Fla., would be involved in a 10-way playoff for the final four spots. As fate would have it, Sweeney advanced with a birdie at the first hole, the par-4 10th, but that meant she drew another Massachusetts golfer, Alison Walshe of Westford, in Round 1 of match play. Walshe, who finished joint sixth (68-75 -143), survived a tough match with Sweeney yesterday, finally grabbing a lead on the 14th hole before winning, 2 and 1. The Round of 32 will be played this morning with the winners playing again in the afternoon. Also moving into match play was Natalie Sheary (71-78 -149, T-34) of West Hartford, Conn., and Wake Forest, although she was bounced yesterday by Nikki Koller of Lewisburg, Ky., 5 and 4.
Preparing for the playoffs
Only a limited number of tickets remains for the sixth annual
Opposite end of spectrum
One thing is for sure about these opposite-field events on the PGA Tour, they sure attract blasts from the past. With nearly every notable name in Ohio for the Bridgestone Invitational, the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open field included two-time PGA Tour winner Rick Fehr, who at the age of 45 is involved in golf instruction in the Phoenix area. He's also seven years removed from his last serious fling on the PGA Tour, but when he shot 70-71 he made the cut for the first time since Tucson in 2001. Alas, Fehr faded with efforts of 80-81 to finish dead last of the 71 players who made the cut to earn $5,940, which proves that the exorbitant increase in purses hasn't filtered down to those in the basement. Fehr received $5,400 for finishing 80th when he last made the cut seven years ago.
Searching for positives
David Leadbetter apparently wasn't on board with Michelle Wie's decision to play in last week's PGA Tour stop. The heralded instructor was quoted as saying, "There's far too much negative energy surrounding Michelle right now. This is the wrong decision." Asked for her comment after opening with a 73, Wie shrugged. "I think a decision is a decision, whether it's a wrong decision or a right decision." It's hard to argue with that.
A friend of the game
It's the 50th anniversary of the PGA Championship switching over to stroke play and the man who won that 1958 tournament, Dow Finsterwald, has been making the rounds at Oakland Hills CC in Bloomfield Township, Mich. While Finsterwald enjoyed talking about his only major title, it's another aspect of his life that goes well back that he cherishes, too. That is, his friendship with Arnold Palmer, which remains very strong to this day. "I just talked with him yesterday and he's doing fine," said Finsterwald, who revealed that his friend recently went in for a checkup and got a clean bill of health. "That's good news for all of us." As much as Finsterwald admired Palmer's golf game, there was something else that rates more impressive. "I don't think in all the years I've known him I've ever seen him be rude to anybody or be short in any form," Finsterwald said. "Golf was very fortunate to have him come along at the time he did."
Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com. 