Each week, GolfChannel.com takes a look back at the week in golf. Here’s what’s weighing on our writers’ minds.
On Cameron Champ’s win and what it means for his future …
Less important than whom Cameron Champ beat at the Sanderson Farms was how he did it: With a 343-yard driving average. With only 36 percent accuracy off the tee. With imaginative shot-making and clutch putting.
That’s how Champ won in his seventh Tour start as a pro on Sunday, and it mattered little that it was an opposite-field event against a weak field on a nothing course in late October, when the world’s best players were either collecting checks in China or crashing on their couches.
This felt like a preview of what’s to come, and it’s exciting to envision the possibilities. A highly-touted junior prospect, Champ was a disappointment in 3 1/2 years at Texas A&M, winning only once. Clearly, his game seems more tailor-made for the pro game – he was sixth on the Web.com money list – but high-level Tour golf will expose a player’s weaknesses.
There is so much we’ve yet to discover about Champ, other than his eye-popping power. It’ll be fun to see how he stacks up in 2019. – Ryan Lavner
On the emergence of the Korda sisters …
Watch out for the Korda sisters. Jessica, 25, and Nelly, 20, look poised to help secure the future of American women’s golf.
Earlier this year, Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn became the first pair of sisters to rank among the top 10 in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings. After watching Nelly win the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship in such nerveless, efficient fashion Sunday, it’s easy to imagine the Kordas becoming a top-10 fixture. “We push each other, in a healthy way,” Nelly said. Jessica won four times before her sister arrived on tour, but she’s a better player since Nelly arrived. She won her fifth title in Thailand earlier this year – looking like a more well-rounded player with a vastly improved short game.
Like the Jutanugarns, these two may prove to have the best kind of sibling rivalry, one that’s good for both of them. – Randall Mell
On Justin Rose continuing his incredible season …
There is no doubt that Brooks Koepka was the best player on the PGA Tour, and the planet, this year, but Justin Rose was a close second.
Rose failed to defend his title last week at the WGC-HSBC Champions, although he gets another chance this week at the Turkish Airlines Open, but he did finish third to collect his 14th top-5 finish since the start of last year’s playoffs. In fact, in his 30 starts in that time frame he’s finished in the top 10 an astounding 23 times.
The Englishman also moved to second in the Official World Golf Ranking, setting up an interesting few weeks between he and Koepka for the top spot in golf. – Rex Hoggard
Source: Internet
