Did you know that the air horn used to call golfers off the course is referred to as a “hooter” in the UK? That needs to be adopted in the United States immediately.

Min Woo shakin’ that ass

Unfortunately for England, it’s not coming home: Matthew Fitzpatrick did not win the Scottish Open.

Fitzy and Thomas Detry fell victim to a Sunday charge from rising star Min Woo Lee at the abrdn Scottish Open. The young Australian shot a final-round 64 to come from three shots back and catch Detry and Fitzpatrick in regulation. Lee birdied the first playoff hole, earning his second European Tour title. Results

We always joke that if you can just go out in 30 on your front nine, you can make a surprise charge up the leaderboard. Well, that’s exactly what Min Woo Lee did on Sunday. After pars on his opening two holes, Lee rattled off six birdies in a row and capped off the nine with a clutch par save.

In the playoff, knowing that Fitzpatrick and Detry had already hit their approaches well outside of birdie range, Lee could have played safely to the center of the green. Instead, he fired at the pin and left himself a 10-footer, which he made for the victory.

Those of you who have followed The Fried Egg for a while should be well versed in Min Woo lore. If you aren’t, get ready to hear more about this kid. Brother of LPGA star Minjee Lee, the 22-year-old has serious game. At 19, he led the European Tour in average driving distance. He has been inconsistent in other skill areas, but his iron play was stellar on Sunday.

The Scottish Open win gets Lee his first career major start this week at Royal St. George’s. Now inside the top 65 in the Official World Golf Ranking, he could be headed for big things.


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Has a nice ring to it

Sunday at the Marathon LPGA Classic was a rain-out, but the final round was all but a formality anyway. Nasa Hataoka, No. 11 in the Rolex Rankings and runner-up at this year’s U.S. Women’s Open, dominated the first three days of the tournament. With rounds of 61-69-64, she put herself six shots clear through 54 holes, and that lead ended up standing. Results

After barely falling short to Yuka Saso at Olympic Club in June and earning her fourth LPGA Tour win yesterday, Nasa Hataoka is an easy pick to contend at one of this year’s remaining women’s majors. But it may be an even bigger deal for her to capture an Olympic medal in her home country of Japan this August.

Missing out

For a variety of reasons, the list of players missing out on this week’s Open Championship grew over the weekend. Kevin Na and Matthew Wolff pulled out because of travel restrictions. Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama tested positive for Covid-19 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and while he is asymptomatic, he has continued to test positive and cannot travel to the UK. Bubba Watson is also unable to enter England after coming in direct contact with someone who tested positive for Covid. Watson said he has been vaccinated, but UK restrictions forbid him from competing. K.H. Lee (birth of child) and Danny Lee (no reason given) also withdrew.

All of this is a useful reminder that we’re still living through very strange times.

Quick Hooks

It took 10 years, but Lucas Glover broke his PGA Tour winning drought yesterday. Glover shot a final-round 64 to come from behind and win the John Deere Classic by two shots. Results

After opening with a 72 on Thursday, Jim Furyk rode his brand of precision golf to victory in the U.S. Senior Open at Omaha Country Club. The 2003 U.S. Open champion went 64-66-71 in his last three rounds to win by three shots. Results

Tag Ridings defeated Kevin Yu and David Skinns in a playoff to take the TPC Colorado Championship this weekend. This is Ridings’s second career Korn Ferry Tour victory and his first since 2002. Wait… 2002?!  Results

Kevin Yu bogeyed his 72nd hole to fall into the playoff at TPC Colorado, but on the bright side, he now has four top-25 finishes in four starts on the KFT. A graduate of the PGA Tour University program, Yu is yet another example of how competitive top collegiate players can be in the pro ranks.

The U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur kicks off at Columbia Country Club in Washington D.C. this week. Check out Julie Williams’s preview for Golfweek.

A man was arrested at the Scottish Open after walking onto the tee and grabbing a headcover and a 6-iron from Rory McIlroy’s golf bag. It was a bizarre incident, and we’re glad it ended peacefully. Video

The leader heading into the final round of the John Deere Classic, Sebastián Muñoz hit a dead shank on the opening hole on the 1st hole and never seemed to recover. He settled for a T-4, his second top five of the season.

The Latest from The Fried Egg

The Strange Beginnings of Royal St. George’s – To accompany his podcast with Bob Crosby, Garrett Morrison compiled some intriguing materials he found in researching the early history of this week’s Open Championship host.

The Fried Egg Podcast: The Battle over Royal St. George’s

When Royal St. George’s Golf Club, the host of the upcoming Open Championship, opened in the late 1880s, it looked a lot different than it does today. The earliest iteration of the course embodied the Victorian principles of its designer, Laidlaw Purves. Over the next few decades, those principles—and Royal St. George’s itself—came under fire from a new school of golf writers and architects. Historian Bob Crosby joins Garrett Morrison to discuss this debate and its far-reaching consequences. Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Shotgun Start: Split Screen Scottish, DQ via Merch Tent rumors, and Open WD train

This Monday episode wanders around for the first 10 minutes or so, discussing the abundance of golf and the apparent meager options for television coverage of it all. Andy and Brendan discuss the spicy local news column in Toledo lambasting the executives making the LPGA pay for tape delayed coverage. Then they lament the conclusion of the Scottish Open being polluted by early coverage and the commercial commitments at the Deere. There’s a bit on the U.S. Senior Open, and how that fought for air time and whether that format should be altered. Also, there’s rumors of a player being DQ’d for forgetting the time of day. There’s ample praise for Min Woo Lee, his trajectory, and the warmth of coffee golf on a links course this weekend. Lucas Glover’s longevity is also touted after his Deere win. They close with some news on the run of withdrawals from the Open Championship, for sundry reasons, and add some early thoughts and excitement over the last men’s major of the year. Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.