Park and DeChambeau First-Time Winners on the Big Stage

Last updated on: July 17, 2017 at 1:10 pm by Kermit Zarley

Park and DeChambeau First-Time Winners on the Big Stage 2017-07-17T13:10:44-07:00 Kermit Zarley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Yesterday, Sung Hyun Park, a 23-year old female professional golfer from South Korea, won the U.S. Women’s Open golf tournament by two strokes with a 67, 5 under par, for an 11 under par 277 total for the 72 holes of regulation play. She defeated 17-year old amateur sensation Hye-Jim Choi, also from South Korea.

Park is in her first year on the LPGA Tour, and this was her first victory there. She had already won ten tournaments on the women’s pro golf tour in South Korea. She is very long off the tee, straight, and known for playing aggressively.

Park redeemed herself from her collapse in the same tournament last year. On the 72nd hole, she had knocked her second shot into the water to make a double bogie and miss a playoff with two other competitors. This time, she was all cool, birdying the 15th hole and playing safe golf all the way to the clubhouse.

Not so for the teen phenom Choi. Tied with Park, Choi double-bogied the 16th hole and thereby missed her chance to become the first amateur to win the U.S. Women’s Open since Catherine Lacoste of France did so in 1967, the only time it has ever been done. For consolation, Choi’s score of 279 was the lowest ever in this event for an amateur. On the other hand, if Choi had been a professional, she would have pocketed some pretty nice change–$540,000. Park banked $900,000.

South Koreans have been taking over the world of professional golf. It’s happening especially on golf’s biggest stage–the Ladies Professional Golfers Association (LPGA) here in the U.S. No American finished in the top ten. I’m wondering if that is a first.

The venue for these women this past week was Trump National Golf Club located in Bedminster, New Jersey. Owner and U.S. president, Donald Trump, showed up as a spectator on the weekend. It had been controversial for the world’s greatest women’s professional golf tournament to be staged at a Trump facility due to his sexual reputation that became politicized in last year’s presidential election campaign. There were some protestors at the event, yet security guards did not restrain them.

In men’s pro golf out in the Midwest, yesterday, unorthodox swinger Bryson DeChambeau, also 23-years old, won the John Deere Classic at Quad Cities, Iowa, for his first win on the PGA Tour. He rallied with four birdies on his final six holes to shoot a 6-under par 65 and win by one stroke with an 18-under par total of 266. (Amazing how these young people are just taking over the sports world.)

DeChambeau plays golf with extremely upright clubs. They enable him to address the ball standing tall with an imaginary straight line running through his arms and club shaft when viewed from behind where he aims. To my knowledge, there has never been a PGA Tour player who has done that to nearly the degree Bryson does. He has taken some pretty heavy ridicule about it. But right now, he’s laughing at all his critics on his way to the bank to make a hefty deposit of one million dollars.

DeChambeau’s stance reminds me a little of Ben Hogan’s. That’s some pretty good company to keep. If my old colleagues read this, they probably would say, “What are you smokin’, Zarley?” Hogan was by far the greatest ball striker ever. He stood “tall at the ball” while only 5′, 8″ tall and with long arms. Yet Hogan had his clubs set at four degree flat–the opposite of DeChambeau’s clubs. So, what is the similarity?

Both players held there hands very high at address, so that the imaginary line went through club shaft and arms without any break, thus an angle. Look at most players on the PGA Tour and you will see that most of them address the ball with an angel formed between the club shaft and arms. To do this, they bend over quite a bit. That bending over is what gives golfers a bad back.

I now predict that DeChambeau will never get a golfers’ back. Another thing: except for Moe Norman, nobody ever hit more practice balls than Ben Hogan; yet I never knew him to ever have a bad back. Listen up you players on the PGA Tour. Copy Bryson DeChambeau a little if you want to save your back and thereby extend your career. It looks strange, but it’s working right now for him.

Previous Post

July 15, 2017

Indulgences and Purgatory in Martin Luther's 95 Theses

Next Post

July 20, 2017 Did Jesus’ Disciples See “the Son of Man Coming in his Kingdom”?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Angels Billy Graham Blog Description Book Reviews Christian Living Christianity Christology Church History Current Events Deity of Christ? Disarmament Eschatology Evangelicalism Ezekiel 38-39 Film Reviews God Golf Gospel Harmonization Health History Holy Spirit Incarnation? Interview Islam Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Jesus Last Empire Literary Announcements Major Championship Winners Masters Monotheism My Books New Testament Old Testament Politics Primitive Weapons Ryder Cup Science Society of Biblical Literature The Bible The Restitution of Jesus Christ Trinitarianism Trinity? Uncategorized Unconditional Love? War on Terrorism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which parable teaches its listener to "Love your neighbor as yourself"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Good Samaritan The Talents The Mustard Seed The Lost Sheep

Books by This Author Books by Kermit Zarley Blog

See All Titles »