Sweden’s Maja Stark held on to her 54-hole lead to prevail at last week’s US Women’s Open at Erin Hills. The chasing pack, including World Number 1 Nelly Korda, applied some pressure to the 25-year-old Swede but was unable to rattle Stark’s nerves.

Korda was just one shot behind early in the back nine. But Maja Stark birdied the 11th just as the chasing pack began to fall back with their troubles. That three-shot lead by the 12th hole was enough to take the pressure off Stark just a bit.

And with Korda making a mess of her last hole when she needed an eagle being three shots back, Stark could afford to bogey her previous two holes and still win by two.

Of course, for us here at home, the US Women’s Open was all about the Filipinas in the field. Unfortunately, none of our bets played well enough, with only Allisen Corpuz barely making the cut. Yuka, Dottie, and Rianne all missed the halfway cut.

The tournament started great for amateur Rianne Malixi though. She opened with a birdie on the par 5 10th of Erin Hills, her first hole, placing Malixi’s name among the early leaders on day one.

It was short-lived though, as the tough course took its toll and Rianne slipped and eventually finished well over par. Yuka played a little better, but couldn’t dig herself out on day two to make the weekend.

Scottie doing Scottie things

Scottie Scheffler still isn’t done reminding everyone why he is the best golfer in the world.

At Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament, Scheffler started the day with a one-shot lead and just kept pressing on to defend his title. He now joins Tiger Woods as the only golfer to win The Memorial in consecutive years.

Woods won it three straight times from 1999 to 2001, while Scheffler has now gone back-to-back.

While it wasn’t a walk in the park, steady play saw Scheffler prevail over his closest pursuer, Ben Griffin.

Griffin, who just won last week at the Charles Schwab, continued his stellar play into Memorial. It took the best golfer in the world to stop him from winning consecutive weeks.

Aside from Scottie’s win, another thing worth noting is tournament host Jack Nicklaus’ adoration of Scottie Scheffler.

Golf’s GOAT was all praises for Scheffler, and not a few times compared himself and his game to today’s top dog.

At the champion’s press conference, Nicklaus can be seen looking at Scottie like a proud father. He mentioned how Scheffler plays a fade like he does, and doesn’t get flustered in the heat of competition like he did. His admiration of Scheffler stopped short of anointing him the next Nicklaus.

Jack’s brutal honesty

What was a little unfortunate was how Nicklaus, in his praise of Scottie, kinda threw the chasing pack under the bus.

He told the press that Scottie played on a different level. That was alright and deserved. It’s true, Scheffler is on a different level. You have to be to get to world number one and stay there for as long as he has.

What didn’t sound too nice was when he said Ben Griffin, Sepp Straka, and Nick Taylor, those chasing Scheffler were not in his league.

It may be true, but hearing Nicklaus stop just short of saying Scottie has no real competition might be tough for other players to take.

Jack said if it were players like Xander Schauffele chasing, Scottie might have had to up his game, but that coming down the stretch at this year’s Memorial, he didn’t have to.

Nicklaus went on to say that in his prime, he would look at the chasing pack and know if he needed to take his play to another level or just cruise and wait for second-rate players to self-destruct.

Who are we to question the GOAT?

But hearing him say those things is a little harsh. It’s honest, sure. He spoke honestly and meant it as praise for Scheffler, but it’s the kind of remark that might have been better shared privately with Scottie or close friends—not broadcast to the world.

Disappointment with Rory

Jack Nicklaus has always been generous with praise. He showed the same admiration for Tiger and Rory, and now he’s full of praise for Scottie Scheffler.

On Rory winning the Masters, Nicklaus was genuinely happy for McIlroy and congratulated him on his achieving the career Grand Slam.

So Rory skipping Jack’s tournament, and without even personally sending apologies to Jack, didn’t sit well with the old man.

Nicklaus did well to hide his disappointment though, saying he understands Rory and his need to stick to his preparation for the US Open.

Jack even said he would probably do the same thing, prioritizing strategy and rest to prepare for a major. But still, you can sense that Nicklaus was hurt.

For someone who takes the time to send handwritten notes to every major winner, not receiving a call or even personal regrets for skipping your event likely feels like a big deal.

It was wrong of Rory and Jack’s praise of Scheffler has some extra bite because of what McIlroy did.

In the champion’s press conference, when Nicklaus was trying to think of players today who could pressure Scheffler, he mentioned Xander Schauffele.

It was noticeable that Jack avoided mentioning Rory, even though he is the main rival of Scottie Scheffler.

Nicklaus had to dig deep to think of a worthy adversary for Scottie without mentioning Rory’s name.

I guess we now know who the GOAT will be rooting for come the US Open.