The Sports Page -- August 23, 2020

Updates

Later, 2:59 p.m. CDT: not yet halfway through the last round, Dustin Johnson is running away from the field, and has set a record: five eagles in a single tournament.

Later, 2:19 p.m. CDT: for me, the race is over. Obviously NBC is trying to recoup all the money it lost during the pandemic but I've never seen so much advertising. I'm not sure if I'm watching a race or watching an infomercial. Be that as it may, I've quit watching the race. I'll catch the highlights later. I'm sticking to golf. 

Later, 1:19 p.m. CDT: it's now been an hour and twenty minutes since NBC coverage of the Indy 500 began. Am I missing something? How long is this going to take? Give me a break. Now, it's the song. Will we see any kneeling? I don't know. I'm back to the golf tournament. I guess we have now moved to CBS. What a pain keeping up with the network coverage changes.

Original Post

This is pretty cool. Yesterday I wrote:

PGA and the downfall of Tiger Woods: 

• observations:
• does not have the stamina
• if he has a "good" first two rounds, he runs out of steam the third day
• quickly loses the desire
• once he "falls behind," even if it's after the first hole, he psychologically gives up

So, how do those observations play out in the fourth and final round? Tiger Woods has now completed his 17th hole; by the time I finish this note, he will have completed the fourth round.

My observations are confirmed.

At this level of play, PGA golf is all "mental," as they say.

Tiger Woods slept on this overnight: if he did not play his best on the fourth day, it was very possible he would lose to his partner, Rory McIlroy, and worse, he (Tiger Woods) might even finish dead last. So, he went out there with mental attitude to blow it away.

And he did. In the front nine, Tiger did it: six of the nine holes, all birdies. One bogie, so -5 for the front nine. Very, very impressive. And all "mental."

But then, does he have the stamina to do the same on the back nine? Nope. Although no bogies in the back nine -- which truly surprised me -- but suggests his "mental" game stuck with him -- he did not have the physical stamina necessary to get even one birdie. Nine "pars" on the back nine. 

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LGPA

Sophia Popov: the first two rounds were very, very good, keeping her in the mix and on the leaderboard, but her last two rounds were stellar. Good for her. And great first name. LOL. She has a great story to tell. She was ranked 304th coming into this tournament and no special status. This certainly beats watching the #BLM championship playoffs. To my wife:

Five years ago Germany's Sophia Popov came close to dying due to health reasons, may have played golf intermittently, almost decided to quit playing altogether last year. In her entire professional golf career she had earned about $100,000 which would not pay for travel expenses, living expenses, or training. Today she won the huge LPGA tournament at Royal Troon, Scotland, earning $700,000 or thereabouts. Quite a story.

She makes her home in Arizona now. The Scottish weather was temperate today but it was so cold for her, she had to wear mittens throughout the last day of the tournament (taking them off when striking the ball).

First German woman to have won a major LPGA tournament.

First two rounds she played well enough to stay in the mix, on the leaderboard, but really, really played well the last two days. She obviously "wanted" to win this one.

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Indy 500 -- Later Today

Wow, the LGPA tournament in Scotland finished just in time (Royal Troon). 

For having "no" live sports due to the pandemic, it's amazing how crowded things have become all of a sudden. A most important PGA championship will be covered by the NBC Golf channel and the Indy 500 will be shown on NBC. And the LPGA tournament in Scotland finished just in time for NBC to move to the Indy 500 as scheduled. Had the Royal Troon championship gone into "overtime" one wonders what NBC would have done. 

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Perfect "Munchie"

A pickle.