A phenom’s incredible comeback. And a 7-foot-5 Tiger Woods? | Weekend 9

Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I’m calling this the Weekend 9. Think of it as a spot to warm you up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We’ll have thoughts. We’ll have tips. We’ll have tweets. But just nine in all, though sometimes maybe more and sometimes maybe less. As for who I am? The paragraphs below tell some of the story. I can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

We don’t know the outcome. 

We don’t know what’s going to happen. 

Sports are the realist reality shows we have. 

I like that thought. It came last week from Rory McIlroy, after being asked to opine on sports viewing following the happenings at the Ryder Cup. 

And the quote’s apropos in sharing the story of a tie for 10th at an event in western Australia. 

A year ago, anyone watching Jeffrey Guan expected such finishes. Or better. And on the highest levels. The Australian was one of the next big things. Twice, he won the Australian Junior Amateur. In 2022, he won the Junior Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Last year, on a sponsor’s exemption, he played at the PGA Tour’s Procore Championship. Soon after that event, he returned home. 

And in a pro-am in September of 2024, the left side of his face was struck by a ball. He underwent procedures. 

He lost vision in his left eye. 

But he kept hope. And his swing. 

And there Guan was, in late August, playing. He missed the cut in that first tournament back. But then, at that event in western Australia, the CKB WA PGA Championship held earlier this month, Guan finished 10th. And a few days later, on an Instagram post, he wrote this:

A year ago, I wouldn’t have believed I’d play golf again, let alone compete on tour. The journey back has been anything but easy. Mentally, it’s been one of the toughest battles I’ve ever faced. At that point, I wasn’t just injured or out of form. I was mentally and emotionally drained, unsure if I’d ever find my way back. Golf has always been a huge part of my life, but when things fell apart, I felt like I lost a piece of who I was. The pressure, the setbacks, the self doubt … it all built up. There were days I couldn’t even look at my clubs. Days where just getting out of bed felt like a win. I questioned everything. My ability, my worth, whether I was done for good.

But this week finishing in the top 10 has proved myself wrong. Here I am. Back. And so truly, incredibly grateful.

To those who stood by me when I couldn’t see a way forward, thank you. Your support, patience and belief in me carried me through the hardest days. I truly wouldn’t be here without you.

Feeling nothing but joy, gratitude and excitement to be back doing what I love.

Back with a fresh perspective and real love for the game again.

Damn. 

The realist reality show. 

Let’s see if we can find eight more items for the Weekend 9. 

One takeaway from the week that was 

2. Is Keegan Bradley the best choice to be the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain?

Or should the Americans look at anyone else — for Bradley’s benefit?

I think you can answer yes to both questions, after hearing his comments this week at the Travelers Championship media day, which was his first appearance since the U.S. team he captained last month at the Ryder Cup lost to Team Europe. Among Bradley thoughts, as captured by the Associated Press’ Jimmy Golen:

–“Since the Ryder Cup to now has been one of the toughest times in my life.”

–“This effing event has been so brutal to me. I don’t know if I want to play. No, I do. It’s such a weird thing to love something so much that just doesn’t give you anything.”

–“I’ll forever wonder and wish that I had a chance to play there. The first practice day, I was out on the tee, and I was watching the guys walk down the fairway all together, and I said: ‘I wish I was playing. That’s what it’s all about. I’m missing out.’ By the second or third day, I was like, ‘It’s a good thing I’m not playing,’ because I was so physically exhausted. … Good thing I didn’t do it, because it would have been bad. I just didn’t think I could do both jobs.”

No one, you can argue, is more passionate about the event than Bradley. And you need that in a captain. But maybe the poor man’s suffered enough. 

Still, a win would make for a helluva story. 

One takeaway for the weekend 

3. Wednesday, GOLF’s Dylan Dethier wonderfully broke down the news that the Sentry, the PGA Tour’s season-opening event, would be canceled for next year, and he noted that there’s a possibility the event won’t return to Hawaii as the Tour looks into the way it does its business under new CEO Brian Rolapp. 

If you’re a pro golf consumer, you should like that your product is being audited from top to bottom. 

And sports economists will maybe one day write books on the effects LIV Golf has had.

A thought for your weekend  

4. The post below did make me at least think. 

A high school that interests me 

5. A high school in Georgia may get its own three-hole golf course. Rob DiRienzo of Fox 5 Atlanta reported the story, and you can read it here. 

A Michael Jordan video that interests me 

6. Tuesday, during NBC’s coverage of the NBA, Michael Jordan revealed that he was coaxed into shooting a free throw at the house he was staying at for a recent Ryder Cup, and he admitted he was nervous, as he hadn’t touched a ball in a while — but didn’t want to let down those watching. 

But is there video of the moment?

There is. It started to circulate Thursday, and you can watch it below. 

Let’s start with what happened between the ropes.

I can only assume when you wrote this that you were giddy at the success of a routine Presidents Cup pummeling of the Internationals. Or maybe at Keegan Bradley proclaiming: “We are going to Bethpage to kick their f***ing ass.” Instead, the U.S. team was comprehensively dismantled in their own backyard for the first four sessions, although great credit to the U.S. for their Sunday fightback.

Each time the Ryder Cup rolls around, one thing never fails to surprise me. It’s the unerring confidence with which Americans predict a U.S. victory — or, in your case, overwhelming victory. This is despite the record now showing that Europe has triumphed in 11 of the past 15 editions — including five of the past 10 stateside.

I grant you that futurology can be tricky when it comes to predicting sports results — so let’s look at your prediction of the event’s vibe.

I wasn’t there and you were — but where do you even start with this horror show. Perhaps the emcee kicking off Saturday morning by encouraging 5,000 spectators (including children) to chant: “F** you, Rory”? Or what about other obscene remarks, often made mid-swing? Or what about a squadron of state troopers being called in to police the McIlroy-Lowry fourball match on Saturday? This was nothing less than a significant minority reveling in an unrelenting campaign of hatred and cruelty.  

And you foresaw … a carnival atmosphere? 

I mean, given the depravity of what transpired, that must be one of the most erroneous predictions in the history of golf.

Yet even here in the UK, people knew Bethpage was a car crash waiting to happen. Your ‘carnival atmosphere’ was presumably predicated on a U.S. landslide — but did you think that would make the crowd nicey-nicey to Europe? 

Now I don’t want to be holier than thou about this. I’m well aware European crowds aren’t perfect. There is a depressing trend over here over unpleasant comments being made toward players. But it barely registers compared to what went down at Bethpage. And even when it comes to the Ryder Cup, the European banter is at least born from creativity and humour, such as the “hats off to your bank account” chant at Patrick Cantlay in 2023.

Of course, Keegan Bradley desperately tried to invent some alternative facts about “violence” in Rome. The only violence I saw was Rory being restrained from Bones!

From a personal perspective, my lasting impression from Bethpage should have been celebration at a European triumph. But you know what? It wasn’t. As the TV director cut to the thousands of U.S. fans departing while matches were still out on the course, my thought wasn’t about the golf. It was about how a number of these fans had been happy to dish out non-stop filth to the European players and their wives — yet when faced with their own adversity (namely a European win), these ‘supporters’ showed their true colors by fleeing for the exits and scuttling back home at the earliest opportunity. They were the real losers – not Team USA.

And, ultimately, it felt like there was an even bigger loser — the spirit of golf. Knocked down and kicked into the gutter.

Some carnival.

Let’s hope for better things at Adare Manor in 2027!

A fall golf thought  

12. Let’s do a dozen items! Doesn’t the Weekend 9 usually publish on Fridays? It does. But this Friday, I’m heading out on a fall golf trip. Should be a good one. Golf. Golf sodas. Repeat. 

I hope you’re going to do (or have already done) the same.