Every Tuesday, SI Golf will rank nine newsmakers from the golf world. Sometimes, we'll cast a wide net. Tell us what you think on the SI Golf X account.
1. Rory McIlroy: The luck of the Irish. The five-time major winner holed a dramatic eagle on the 72nd hole to force a playoff at the Irish Open. Then, after three dramatic bonus holes, he won his first title since the Masters behind a raucous crowd. McIlroy said afterward that this one of the best years of his storied career. A Ryder Cup win in a few weeks—as McIlroy boldly predicted to the European Walker Cup team on video—would make it even sweeter.
2. Sergio Garcia: After being left off the European Ryder Cup team (as very much expected), he withdrew from the Irish Open, saying, “I didn’t want to go there and not be fully engaged in the tournament and stuff.” That caused some eyebrows to be raised, including McIlroy’s. So instead of teeing it up at the K Club, Garcia was at each of Carlos Alcaraz’s U.S. Open matches, and they even hit the links together one day. Moments after Alcaraz won the year’s final Grand Slam, he did his post-victory golf swing and the ESPN camera panned to Garcia.
3. Joakim Lagergren: It’s not easy to beat a career Grand Slam winner, but the 33-year-old Swede nearly did that Sunday in Ireland, eagling the 16th hole in the final round and also birdieing No. 18. A water ball on the third playoff hole essentially ended his victory hopes, which would have been his first on the DP World Tour since 2018; however, he still deserves some flowers for his performance. It’s not easy to take down Goliath.
4. Xander Schauffele: When the Procore Championship (this week’s opener for the PGA Tour fall season) field list was released, there was a notable omission: Schauffele. The two-time major champion, who hasn’t played since the BMW Championship, decided to be the lone U.S. Ryder Cupper (aside from LIV’s Bryson DeChambeau) not to play in Napa Valley. Will that affect him at Bethpage?
5. Alister MacKenzie: Cypress Point’s course designer, in 1928, had a big week because the beauty of last week’s Walker Cup venue was everywhere on social media, and rightfully so. There are few places like it on earth—and that’s not being hyperbolic.
6. Stewart Hagestad: The question is always the same: why didn’t he turn pro? He’ll be the first to admit that he couldn't quite keep up with the world’s best, missing five cuts with zero top 25s in eight major championship starts. So instead, the 34-year-old is one of the greatest amateur golfers ever, and perhaps the best U.S. Walker Cupper in history. He has played in the last five Walker Cups, with the Americans winning each one. And his long birdie putt to win his Sunday singles match at Cypress retained the cup for the U.S. A man with a desk job in place of a PGA Tour card, Hagestad will use more PTO to play in this week’s U.S. Mid-Am, which he has won three times. Next year, he’ll likely again be part of the U.S. team's quest to claim a sixth straight Walker Cup.
7. Mason Howell: The reigning U.S. Amateur champion delivered arguably the highlight of the Walker Cup, holing out a pitching wedge from the fairway on the 17th hole for a walk-off, 2-and-1 win in his foursomes match. Ironically, he was the lone member of the U.S. team ranked outside the top 50 in the World Amateur Ranking (No. 143), automatically earning a spot on the team by winning the Amateur. Now, the 18-year-old heads back to his senior year of high school as a Walker Cup champion.
8. Brooks Koepka: An under-the-radar storyline of the Irish Open was the five-time major winner shooting a second-round 80 to miss the cut by seven strokes. It has been a dreadful year for the LIV golfer. He missed the cut in three of the four majors (T12 at the U.S. Open) and had only two top 10s on LIV. It’s assumed the 35-year-old will bounce back, but nothing is guaranteed. Luckily for him, he’s in this week’s BMW PGA field and will make another DP World Tour start next month at St. Andrews.
9. Thomas Bjørn: McIlroy wasn’t the only one with a dramatic win over the weekend. Bjørn, who captained the victorious 2018 Ryder Cup team, won his first individual title on the PGA Tour Champions by holing a 35-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole at the Stifel Charity Classic.
Also considered: Bryson DeChambeau, Nathan Smith, Dean Robertson, Craig Kessler, Asterisk Talley, Anna Fang, Ángel Hidalgo, Luke Poulter, Sahith Theegala
Dropped out from last week: Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns, Cam Young, Miranda Wang, Matt Wallace, Luke Donald, Patrick Cantlay, Charlie Woods, Ernie Els
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Brooks Koepka's Miserable Season Drags On.