• “If Lashley had started picturing himself with the trophy or hugging his sister or with the check for $1.314 million or teeing it up at the Masters next April, he surely would have started spraying shots all over the place. It happens to everyone at some point.”

• “…Lashley was in the very unusual position of actually being able to let down a little on the 18th hole with that massive lead. As Jim Nantz pointed out during the CBS broadcast, “he needs a 9 here to win.” That was with Lashley’s tee shot already in the fairway. One swing and two putts later, he had joined the club of players who go from nonexempt to “having a job for the next two years,” as the players like to call the exemption that comes with a victory.”

• “That success conferred Westmoreland options. Instead of a 12-year service commitment, he had the chance to take a five-year term, allowing him the opportunity to make a run at professional golf while he was still in his athletic prime. It was a path already taken by fellow servicemen Billy Hurley III (an economics teacher and electronic division officer for the Navy) and Tom Whitney (a nuclear missile operator from Air Force) in their pursuit of the PGA Tour.”

• “To see what those guys did and how they did it was inspirational,” Westmoreland says. “It gave me the confidence that, as tough as this would be, I could ultimately achieve my goal.”

Full piece.

• No. 12…”Monday’s shotgun start meant our group of four began the morning at the par-4 12th, where – surprise, surprise – water runs along the entire right side of the fairway. It’s a scramble format in which the best shot amongst the group is used. A few years back, when I played in one of these events as part of ACC Football media day, not one of my shots was used by the group. Not even a putt.”

• “So I was nervous stepping into the tee box. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

• “My first tee shot couldn’t have gone more than 200 yards, but stayed dry. I chunked the ensuing approach shot, though, creating a divot the size of my shoe.”

• No. 13…”My tee shot veers way right into a mass of long, brown fescue. This will become a theme. I briefly wade into the mud to try to find my ball, but quickly realize this is actually a graveyard for golf balls.”

Full piece.

• “Paul McGinley: In the South of Ireland, we’ve always played Lahinch historically. So we’re all very familiar with it and we’ve all won around there. The irony is, the only guy of all the Irish guys on tour, other than [Shane] Lowry, that hasn’t won there is Rory. All the rest of us have won around Lahinch. So we’re all very familiar with it growing up. And the second thing is, everybody seems to love Lahinch.  The fact that the 18th and the golf course goes right up to town with the town nestling around it and you’ve got the ocean framing the other side. So when I was asked to host by Rory you know when I take over the hosting role, I went away and I thought okay, now where are we going to go what venue are we going to? Knowing that The Open was going to be at Portrush and knowing that the commercial market as well as the spectator market was going to be very much gravitated towards golf and anyone from Dublin, the top half of the country was going to gravitate towards the Open Championship.”

• “So we started looking around at potential venues and I thought, “you know what, the one outstanding one here is Lahinch.” It haven’t been held before and I think that’s a golf course certainly worthy of hosting. We could make it a par 70, instead of 72, and then the other box that we ticked is of course the people of Lahinch. And there’s three people there that I’ve known very well for a long period of time, Padraig Slattery former captain who was very successful in the PR world, John Gleeson who is a retired oil trader and very successful, and Paddy Keane who is the director of golf there.”

• “I’ve known these guys personnel for a number of years and I thought wow, the personnel combined with the golf course, combined with the opening of the new commercial market is a package that I believe would work best. Then it was a question of presenting that to the European Tour and the sponsors, Dubai Duty Free, and I became convinced that this is the right place.”

Full piece.

• “The parents of Immesberger sued Woods, his girlfriend Erica Herman, and the restaurant in May but dropped Woods from the suit in June.”

• “…According to a series of answers provided by Herman and The Woods through their attorneys to Immesberger’s team on Monday in Palm Beach County, Fla., Nicholas Immesberger had a Delta-9-THC level of 13.3 ng/mL at the time of his death, which was more than five times the reporting limit.”