No One Gives an Inch

Palmer Cup still tied after round three

Cal Smith

Haven, Wis. - After 36 holes, three different types of competition, a torrential downpour, and several extremely early mornings, I am no closer to picking who I think will win the Palmer Cup presented by Monster. Once someone takes a substantial lead where there is no way that I can be wrong, that decision will finally be made. There have been times at which it looked like one team might take a notable lead but someone always charges back or falls apart just to make sure that drama must ensue.

Apparently the guys were informed incorrectly about a thing or two. There can, in fact, be a winner. This is not a kindergarten game of hide-and-seek where everyone is a winner. One team is allowed to beat the other. It's in the rules. I've checked.

On to the action…The first match pitted Swedes Alex Norén and Kalle Edberg against Matt Every and Matthew Rosenfeld. The Europeans took this particular scuffle 3 and 1 after leading most of the match. Halfway through the match, Rosenfeld almost lost a ball after hooking a drive into the rough. Yesterday he lost one on No. 14 (though he still halved the hole). No worries Matthew, I lost six balls last time I hit the links. And my outing was to Putt-Putt, but that's another story. Rosenfeld's troubles aren't so much that he is having huge accuracy problems as the rough around The Irish is ridiculous. His lost ball was somewhere within 20 feet to the right of the green. It shouldn't even be named ‘rough' because it does more than make it rough on the players. It's no joke. Therefore, from here on out, I am calling it ‘the forest,' not ‘the rough.'

Michael Putnam and John Holmes went down to Europeans Scott Jamieson and David Skinns 3 and 1 for the Europeans second win of the day. In the third match, Rhys Davies and Steve Tiley took on Americans Spencer Levin and Ryan Blaum. If this story sounds familiar, that's because it is. Rhys and Spencer have now played each other in every round so far. Spencer's teams have now won both team rounds and the two halved the individual day. I wouldn't expect any less than a halved round from Golfstat's number two and three ranked golfers in the country from this past college season. They would be the top two if it wasn't for Ryan Moore, who just so happens to be one of the best amateur players on the planet.

The previously mentioned match also provided the (Un)official Shot of the Round. It comes to us from hole 13, a short par 3. Steve Tiley sent his tee shot into the forest behind the green so, being a foursome competition, Rhys Davies from an imposing forest-burm. Burms are all over The Irish and these things are not joking around. They're so big, an announcement was made to the volunteer marshals to watch spectators to make sure they don't get up on them in fear that one might fall off and get hurt, allowing all kinds of mass hysteria to ensue. Regardless, back to the award… Rhys chipped out of the forest directly toward the hole about 15 or 20 feet away. Right at the last second, the shot rimmed out, spinning about two inches to the left of the hole. Rhys was already mid-fist pump when this happened. He stopped….Looked at the ball….Looked at the sky…Looked back at the ball and then gave a big grin as his partner tapped in the par putt. Unfortunately for the Europeans, Ryan Blaum knocked down his 10-foot par putt so the hole was halved.