The Punter's De-Brief: Limp Liv Golf launch drowned out by history and respect

Steven Rawlings
13 June 2022
4 min read

Rory McIlroy after his successful defence

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It's been a glorious and historic weekend in the world of golf with heart-warming wins across the globe. Steve Rawlings looks back at all the action here...

"The pair were tied with two to play and Thomas hit a low of 2.01/1 but any thoughts of a protracted battle and maybe extra time were soon dashed."

The much-maligned Liv Golf Invitational Series kicked off in Hertfordshire last week but with preparations for this week's US Open (previewed here) still ongoing, it was an event I ignored entirely.

Matt Cooper looked at the event before the off though and one of his two each-way selections, 33/1 chance, Charl Schwartzel, won by a stroke, despite shooting a two-over par 72 in the third and final round on Saturday.

It's been an odd week, with all sorts of wild and wonderful takes on the new Series spouted but my overriding feeling as we went into the weekend was one of mild sadness.

Watching the defections continue to trickle in was downright dispiriting but thanks to Rory McIlroy, Linn Grant and Thongchai Jaidee, to name but three of the tremendous golfers to provide the entertainment yesterday, I've cheered up considerably.

I saw someone speculate on Twitter that the PGA Tour may have set-up St. Georges, the host venue for last week's Canadian Open, generously on Sunday, in the hope that the scoring would be good to showcase the PGA Tour at its best for the final round and if so, it worked.

Justin Rose, who eventually finished tied for fourth alongside Sam Burns, shot 60, despite bogeys at nine, 16 and 18 and on a day of much drama, there were also two 62s, three 64s and six 65s. Only two men had broken 66 on Saturday.

Rory McIlroy began the day tied for the lead with one of Dave Tindall's each-way picks, Tony Finau. Rory was trading at 2.727/4 and that looked a fair price given he'd converted 12 of his previous 24 54-hole lead or co-leads but on the negative side, Rory had never defended a title before.

Any nerves Rory may have had were settled very earlier on when he drained a 26-foot birdie putt at the first and it wasn't long before he went odds-on as he went on to shoot a five-under-par 29 on the front-nine.

Finau hung a around all day, and he always looked like placing for Dave but he never quite looked like winning and it was pre-event 11.521/2 chance, Justin Thomas, who pushed Rory the hardest.

McIlroy, a pre-event 11.010/1 shot, was matched at a low of just 1.141/7 after he'd birdied the 12th to get to eight-under for the day as he appeared to have taken control of the tournament, but he missed from inside four feet for par on 13 and he repeated the feat for birdie on the par five 15th.

Thomas clung onto Rory's coattails with birdies at 10, 11 and 14 and when Rory failed to get up-and-down for par from a greenside bunker on the par three 16th the pair were tied with two to play and Thomas hit a low of 2.01/1 but any thoughts of a protracted battle and maybe extra time were soon dashed.

Thomas finished with back-to-back bogeys and Rory back-to-back birdies and Finau ended up alone in second after this remarkable birdie putt on the 72nd hole.

Clutch at the last @TonyFinauGolf drained his birdie putt to secure a solo 2nd finish @RBCCanadianOpen pic.twitter.com/hP76CZ7Xph
-- PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 12, 2022

This was Rory's 21st PGA Tour victory, which is one more than Greg Norman, and something that didn't escape him. 'One more than somebody else' he cheekily quipped soon after the final putt was sunk.

Rory is the sixth man in history to defend the Canadian Open and he's also the fourth player to defend a title on the PGA Tour this season - following in Viktor Hovland, who won the World Wide Technology Championship for the second year running, Sam Burns, who defended the Valspar Championship and KH Lee, who last month claimed the Byron Nelson for the second straight year.

Over at the Scandinavian Mixed, bidding to become the first woman to win on the DP World Tour, 22-year-old Swede, Linn Grant, began the final round leading by two and trading at around 2.47/5 but it wasn't long before she put the event to bed, birdying five of the first six holes in round four.

Generally a 50.049/1 chance before the off, and matched at a high of 60.059/1, Linn drew upon two recent LET wins in South Africa and Belgium (last time out), and it was impossible not to be impressed by her win.

Australia's Jason Scrivener, a pre-tournament 40.039/1 shot, was matched at a low of 1.68/13 on Saturday and home hero, Henrik Stenson, was matched at 3.02/1 in-running but both were left trailing in Grant's wake on Sunday.

Linn's nine-stroke victory wasn't exciting, but it was still a joy to watch.

And if all that wasn't enough to make me feel better about the game, Thongchai Jaidee's respectful response to becoming the first Thai player to win on the Champions Tour was blissful too.

Thongchai Jaidee gets it!

Thanked every volunteer after winning @amfamchamp. pic.twitter.com/ec9QYCqA3n
-- PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) June 13, 2022

As already stated, I've previewed the US Open here, which I'll update later with details of my two additional picks - Sam Burns and Justin Rose - and I'll be back over the next couple of days with the Find Me a 100 Winner column and a look at all the side markets for Brookline.

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter