Golf is the oddest of games and sports. After negotiating the elements (or lack of) in the air, for upwards of 600 yards, a player’s fate is left to the roll and tumble of the putting surface. Even when the putt is struck with true and proper contact, the vagaries of the green intercede to determine the ultimate outcome. Myles Creighton didn’t win in Canada this week, but he came close. His putt on 18, to ultimately force a playoff, looked to be a winner, until it wasn’t. Basketball and its round hoop bears the greatest similarity, when wonderful shots simply loop around and stay out. It’s agonizing and it’s simply part of the game.

Some events this week saw outcomes decided in the final moments, over the final putts. Others were long-ago decided in the instant that the final pairings reached the home hole. And in Wales, at Royal Porthcawl, it was the work of the meteorologists, to determine which force of nature impacted which element of each shot. Mother Nature is something that basketball doesn’t confront, at least not in the indoor game. It was a calm July weekend for some, and a fierce and feisty one for others. The shared element is that each event hailed a champion, and that’s where Tour Rundown comes in.

A heartbreaker for Myles Creighton on 18 ?

He’ll post a final round 64 and head to the clubhouse at 18-underpic.twitter.com/6OHgbgdIiz

— PGA TOUR Canada – Fortinet Cup (@PGATOURCanada) July 30, 2023

LPGA @ Evian Championship: Boutier wins major for country

Céline Boutier gave us our second, dominant performance in a major over the last eight days. Not long after Harman at Hoylake, we watched in admiration as the French professional took control at Evian on Friday and never looked sideways, much less backward. Her four rounds in the 60s were the class of the week, and her six-shot margin of victory was a performance for an era.

As Boutier navigated the Champions course at the eponymous resort, her work reminded us of a game of Wolf, where the others in the foursome take on the wolf. Golfers would rise up to challenge her each day, but it was never the same golfer twice. Boutier tied for low daily on Thursday alone, but was always within a stroke or three of each day’s best tally. Over the four days at Evian-Les-Bains, the winner amassed 19 birdies against five bogeys. Only on day two did she rise above par on more than one occasion. In contrast, the runner-up at minus-eight, Brooke Henderson, had two bogeys twice, and those were her best days.

Boutier won a team NCAA championship during her days at Duke University, and captured the Amateur Championship a year later, in 2015. As a professional, she had experienced occasional success with tour victories, but was always in search of a major championship. Evian 2023 closed that chapter for her, and turned a page toward the next one.

The winning moment featuring a champagne shower ? pic.twitter.com/LBWQixPVyU

— LPGA (@LPGA) July 30, 2023

R and A @ Senior Open Championship: Nae wind, nae golf in Wales, too

A tournament like this year’s playing at Royal Porthcawl, is the sort that might send a golfer’s swing and game into a tailspin. Days three and four were wretched weather affairs, described as gruesome and horrible by the commentators. Those were the descriptors that came from inside the booth. Imagine how the contestants felt, in the face of the fury. No score on Sunday was turned in below par. Those who teed off in the contending groups were fortunate to keep it under 80 strokes on the day. At the end of the sorting, Padraig Harrington and Alex Cejka found themselves tied at plus-five 289. Their scores on the day, respectively, were 75 and 76. It was that sort of day, the classic ones that North Sea Islanders identify with golf.

Those same announcers gushed over Harrington’s DNA for curmudgeonly weather. The Irishman wouldn’t falter in the wind, the rain, the tumult, but those around him might and would. They were almost spot on with their prediction. The other fellow who didn’t falter was Alex Cejka, The German played his closing stretch in plus-two, but all that did was allow Harrington to make birdie at 18 to force extra time. Both golfers returned to the tee of the par-five closer, and during the first go-round, each one made four. Harrington burned the edge for eagle, but out it stayed

During the second and final trip down the home hole, Harrington made his first par of the day, and it wasn’t enough. Cejka made a second-consecutive, overtime birdie to claim his third Senior title. Inconceivably, all three are major events. In 2021, Cejka won both the Tradition and the Senior PGA. He now has three of the five majors available to these tours.

Alex Cejka's winning moment in Wales ? pic.twitter.com/f41zrue1mH

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) July 30, 2023

PGA Tour @ 3M Open: Hodges in a walk

It was kind of a walk in the park for Lee Hodges on Sunday. Hodges and his tour buddy, J.T. Poston, set out to settle matters in the day’s final pairing. Hodges had a three-shot advantage over his mate. Thanks to eagles at six and twelve, the Alabama alumnus had the comfort of knowing that par would win the day and the week. With no need to risk things, Hodges played the watery closer in three cautious shots, leaving his 115-yard pitch about a foot from the hole for birdie. It was Poston who provided the fireworks waterworks at the 72nd hole. Proclaiming after that no one plays for second, Poston went for it all at the last and came up short in the fronting pond. His ocho at the last dropped him from 20-under par, into a three-way tie for second position. He thickened the bank accounts of Martin Laird and Kevin Streelman, to be sure, but only time will tell if the bold play will pay off in wins.

As for Hodges, you’d never know that he hadn’t won a PGA Tour event, prior to Sunday. The former Crimson Tide golfer played with the confidence and swagger of a fellow who had done it all before. True, there were those bogeys at 9, 15, and 17 on Sunday, but TWO EAGLES! Add in a trio of birdies, and it would have taken something around 60 to snatch this trophy away. Now he’s a tour winner, with all the rights and privileges that this distinction affords. Congratulations, Lee.

Another look at Lee Hodges' mic-drop moment from above ? https://t.co/dGPgB9afIM pic.twitter.com/OQlXbgJwxP

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 31, 2023

Korn Ferry Tour @ N5 Invitational: Crowe flies in Illinois

It was a week for story-tellers in Chicagoland. Not the 1930s sort, where gangsters and police officers confront each other over some matter. It was the type where Thursday brings a near-epic round of 60, with two eagles and a slew of birdies. The author of that round, Ryan McCormick, did not fade away, as often happens with first-round leaders. McCormick closed with three birdies over the final four holes on Sunday, but it was a bogey at 16, that snatched away his ticket to a playoff. He finished in solo third position, at 24-under par.

Patrick Fishburn played a stellar round of his own on Sunday. He signed for 64, and had a final-hole eagle of his own. That mighty bird was enough to elevate him over McCormick, to a tally of 259. Still, he might be forgiven for a quick glance at Sunday’s 11th hole, where bogey momentarily slowed his role. Playing partner Trace Crowe, the third-round leader, survived a horrific seven, a triple bogey, at the day’s second hole. He rebounded with seven birdies and carried a two-shot advantage to the final tee. His par at the last cost him those two shots, and he and Fishburn went off to settle matters in extra time.

The hole that had been so kind to Fishburn in regulation, was his undoing. After the pair matched birdies over the 73rd hole, Fishburn took two to get out of a greenside bunker, made bogey, and lost to Crowe’s par at the 74th hole. It was a big week for the state of Alabama. Crowe was the third winner from 22nd state, although his college days were spent at Auburn, and not Tuscaloosa.

Birdie from way downtown to stay alive!@TraceCrowe needed this birdie to force a second playoff hole against Patrick Fishburn.

?: https://t.co/cOtV5dBR0y | @NV5Invite | #BarstoolNV5 pic.twitter.com/jUznYUYM42

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) July 30, 2023

PGA Tour Canada @ Osprey Valley Open: Shore leave near Toronto

Davis Shore spent a season with Lee Hodges at the University of Alabama. It’s nothing more than coincidence, albeit a kind one, that he gained his first professional win on the same day that Hodges broke through on the big tour. Shore sat seven shots behind Blair Bursey on Thursday evening, but after consecutive rounds on 64 on Friday and Saturday, Shore had moved into the pole position, in anticipation of Sunday’s green flag. Five birdies and a clutch eagle at 14 had Shore on pace for another 64 and a comfortable win, until two events conspired to say otherwise.

The first was Shore’s own sloppiness. Bogey arrived on three separate occasions. The first one could be forgiven, as it happened early in the round. Immediately after the eagle, the leader added two more in three holes, and came to the 18th in need of a par to win. Why? The aforementioned Myles Creighton had mounted a day-four charge, with one eagle and five birdies of his own. Only that agonizing lip-out at the last, kept him from 63 and 265. With par as his guidepost, Shore breathed deeply and played the par-four closer in regulation numbers, to earn his first PGA Tour Canada chalice, and (with four events remaining) a chance at promotion to the Korn Ferry Tour.

A huge eagle for Davis Shore on 14 to restore a 3-shot lead with 4 holes left to play at the @OspreyOpen pic.twitter.com/XnTsdUViJo

— PGA TOUR Canada – Fortinet Cup (@PGATOURCanada) July 30, 2023