Winner: Webb Simpson
Around the wider world of golf: Things were pretty quiet this week, due to the men's major. Kristie Smith won the Tate & Lyle Players Championship on the Symetra Tour; Thaworn Wiratchant won the Queen’s Cup on the men's Asian Tour; Darren Fichardt won the Saint-Omer Open on the European Tour; Carly Booth won the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open on the LET; and Hyun-Ju Shin won the Nichirei Ladies on the JLPGA. The Constructivist has the details on that last one.
Well, I guess the Olympic Club lived up to its reputation for giving us an unexpected winner... even if he was more unexpected than usual.
Webb was in my "likely range" of contenders -- players within 4 strokes of the lead starting the day. Still, Webb said that even though he thought he could win, he didn't think he would win. He was asked if, before the day started, he would have been happy with a runner-up, and he said yes since that would have represented a big step forward in his major tournament performances.
Now he's glad he didn't get that choice. Webb's 68-68 weekend was the best of the field and was fairly tame compared to most players. Beau Hossler, the 17-year-old amateur, led the Open for a hole or so; Lee Westwood lost a ball in the "Janzen Tree"; Jim Furyk snap-hooked a drive on the shortened 16th (I didn't know Jim knew how to hit a snap hook); and Padraig Harrington rediscovered how to play golf, just to name a few.
Although everybody will be talking about the "birdman" who interrupted the award ceremony (a dozen clips are already on YouTube; Webb's lighthearted "enjoy the jail cell, pal" remark was pretty funny), I thought the coolest video came courtesy of Webb's wife. Dowd, who's something like seven months' pregnant and was sitting in the building with Webb watching Graeme putt out, ran through just about every facial emotion you can imagine as she realized that Webb had won. Despite the speed of info on the Internet, it appears that her video hasn't reached the information highway yet.
That's 3 straight majors won by Americans -- Keegan Bradley at the PGA, Bubba Watson at the Masters, and now Webb. I'm not saying "the tide has turned," only that the "mix" really is a mix now as newer players enter the battle. (The next wave of Asians hasn't really started yet... but it's coming.) At any rate, it bodes well for the American Ryder Cup team later this year.
In the meantime, this week's Limerick Summary salutes the newest winner of our national championship. And given the impact that social media is having on our game -- for example, word is already spreading that Dowd said Webb might not play in the Open Championship next month because of the new baby's timing -- I couldn't help having a little fun with our new champ's name:
For news of this June's major dogfight,
You needn't check Google for insight.
The champ is quite well
At his new URL—
Just look for Olympic. That's Webb's site! The photo is from the U.S. Open page at majorschampionships.com.
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