Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we’re truly sad the Olympics are over. And not just the golf, although, more on that later. No, I’m talking about gymnastics. And swimming. And track. And more track. As someone who used to cover the sport on the high school level, I’m well aware there’s a looooong list of events. But it makes it so much more enjoyable to watch knowing I don’t have to type out all the results later. And with only a regular TV while on vacation and being busy during the day, I actually watched the tape-delayed stuff at night without knowing most of what happened—and it was a delightful trip back in time. Anyway, shout-out to all the Olympic athletes. And to Mike Tirico. Now let’s talk some golf.

WE’RE BUYING

Lydia Ko: The LPGA legend completed the career cycle of Olympic medals by winning the gold medal in Paris after previously claiming silver and gold. And in addition, she got a bouquet of white roses for earning her spot into the LPGA Hall of Fame.

It’s been an amazing career for this former teen phenom who is easily the most decorated Olympic golfer now. And she’s still only 27, meaning there’s a good chance we’ll see her add to her medal collection in 2028. Long live Lydia the Great!

Scottie Scheffler: Since The Grind took a week off, we also have to give Scheffler his due for continuing his historic year with that spectacular final-round 62 at Le Golf National. Considering what happened down the stretch to guys like Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy, this certainly felt like a major. How amazing of a year is Scottie having? Well, he won $8 million the following week despite not playing. But he cared a heck of a lot more about winning that gold medal.

Not that we were surprised by Scottie’s tears. The guy is almost a Steve Stricker-level crier. Still, it was awesome to witness. Which leads me to our next point . . .

Olympic golf: Does anyone still think golf doesn’t belong in the Olympics? The men’s tournament provided the most compelling Sunday of the year and the women delivered as well. The tears of joy. The agony of defeat. It was amazing to watch. And the swimming GOATs, Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, even came out to Le Golf National to see for themselves.

Olympic golf . . . so hot right now. And it’s only going to get better in four years when they play the tournaments (and a mixed event!) at RIVIERA. Can’t wait!

Aaron Rai: The 29-year-old Brit may have been surprised to win given all that happened down the stretch, but this maiden victory was no fluke. Rai ranks fourth in strokes gained total on the PGA Tour, behind only Scottie, Xander and Rory. So, yeah, the guy has been balling all year. And this win was well-deserved for this double rain glove wearing, iron headcover wielding Brit. Although, he took off the gloves to hoist the Wyndham Championship trophy:

David Jensen

Those items are going to be flying off the shelves now! OK, probably not. And like Ko, Rai was a bit of a teen phenom himself. When he was 15, he broke a world record by making 207 consecutive 10 footers!

Crazy! No wonder he knocked in that 5-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole with such ease. Be right back, going to bang a few hundred 10-footers.

WE’RE SELLING

Max Greyserman’s Sunday finish: This 29-year-old didn’t win, but he produced arguably the wildest stretch of golf in PGA Tour history. A hole-out eagle. A quadruple bogey. A birdie. And a four–putt double bogey. All in a row. Insane.

Add it all up and he went from a -3000(!) favorite following the eagle to needing a sand save on 18 just to remain in solo second. That was tough to watch, but he handled it well. And to give him more credit, I suspect the darkness didn’t help him with that late four-putt. Anyway, you know what would have made Max feel better for finishing second? A silver medal. Maybe all golf tournaments should implement that.

Matt Kuchar’s Monday finish: Speaking of darkness, Kuchar—after hitting his tee shot into Rai’s group on 18—decided to pick up his ball and go home. And boy, did he get roasted on Golf Twitter for creating the most bizarre Monday finish in PGA Tour history.

I’m not going to kill Kuchar as much as seemingly everyone else. The difference between a bogey and a birdie was more than $100,000, not to mention the FedEx Cup points. Kuchar had no chance of making the playoffs, not to mention winning the tournament, but he should comfortably keep his PGA Tour card now. So there were legit reasons for him to want to have the best conditions possible. Heck, he’s 46 so his eyesight might be even worse than mine. But still, when you’ve made about $60 million in career earnings—and a certain infamous tipping incident still looms over your head—it might be time to read the room and let everyone go home for the week.

Matt Kuchar’s grip on being his family’s best golfer: Kuchar took a big L on Golf Twitter for his controversial decision, but he also suffered a first loss of a different kind ahead of the tournament. The nine-time PGA Tour winner revealed he lost to his 16-year-old son, Cameron, for the first time. Of course, there’s no shame in that because Cameron is a total stud.

Congrats to Cameron. And to Matt.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour moves to Memphis for the St. Jude Championship and the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, AKA that postseason everyone loves to hate on but secretly likes. At stake is an insane $25 million(!) for first place. Not to mention, the PGA Tour Player of the Year Award (if Xander goes nuts). Also on the schedule is the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine, where the guys will only be playing for good old-fashioned pride. Well, and for NIL money. Shhh, no one tell Bobby Jones.

Random tournament fact: Since TPC Southwind hosted the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, both tournaments have been decided by a playoff at 15 under, with Will Zalatoris edging Sepp Straka in 2022 and Lucas Glover topping Patrick Cantlay last year.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—This year’s St. Jude will be decided by a playoff at 15 under: 100-to-1 odds

—This year’s St. Jude will be more exciting than the Olympics: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds

—Matt Kuchar won’t be making many side bets against Cameron going forward: LOCK

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

What an amazing week for journeyman Scott Gutschewski, who got to tee it up with his two sons, Luke and Trevor, in a Korn Ferry Tour event:

Looks like the Gutschewski family doesn’t need to worry about taking a family Christmas photo this year. That’s going to be tough to top. By the way, nice job by the old man finishing T-21 and beating both young whippersnappers handily.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Here’s Aaron Flener piggybacking off a tremendous tweet by Tyrese Haliburton with a tremendous tweet of his own:

As the founder of the #CaddiesDontMatterAsMuchAsYouThink movement, I couldn’t be happier to see an actual PGA Tour caddie write that. Thanks for helping the movement, Aaron!

CLUB PRO GUY TWEET OF THE WEEK

The social media gold medalist is back!

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (ON-THE-COURSE DIVISION)

Another week, another walk-off shot to win a club championship gone viral. And this one might actually be more impressive than last week’s hole-in-one:

That took longer than Tiger’s chip on No. 16 at the 2005 Masters to drop! Amazing.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (OFF-THE-COURSE DIVISION)

Joel Dahmen’s caddie, Geno Bonnalie, got into the Olympic spirit—and nearly gave himself a heart attack.

Careful out there, Geno.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

The craziest story from the Olympics may have come before the Games started and involves a Norwegian golfer named Madelene Stavnar. Golf.com’s Sean Zak did a great job with the story of a then-17-year-old Stavnar creating a contract with her dad—whom she enjoys making golf bets with—that stated he had to get an Olympic ring tattoo if she ever qualified for the event.

And at 23 she did just that. And Thor paid up in the form of ink.

Pretty amazing.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION PATRIOTISM

Six days after Scottie Scheffler broke down on the podium, Lydia Ko did the same while listening to the New Zealand national anthem:

Great stuff.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION RESPECT

Aaron Rai waited around to make sure he got to talk to Max Greyserman after that wild back nine.

Also great stuff. Class, class, class.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I don’t expect we’ll be bringing you that coverage tomorrow.” —Jim Nantz delivered the perfect jab at Kuchar’s controversial decision.

That’s why he’s a broadcasting legend.

THIS AND THAT

Joe Highsmith set a PGA Tour record with his ridiculous THIRD hole-in-one of the season.

OK, now he’s just showing off … 17-year-old Rianne Malixi topped 15-year-old (!) Asterisk Talley in the U.S. Women’s Amateur to become just the second golfer to win both the Women’s Am and the U.S. Girls’ Junior in the same year. These girls are good. … Trump Turnberry will have the most expensive green fees on the planet in 2025, topping out at £1,000, which currently is $1,276.52. … And, finally, we finally got my youngest to make it through a full round of mini-golf and she loved it. She also loved making us get her golf ball out of the hole like a certain three-time major champ … 

We’ve got to work on that putting stroke, but she’s already got her on-course celebrations down.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Will either of my daughters ever beat me in golf?

Will either of my daughters ever play in the U.S. Girls’ Junior?

Do we really have to wait four years for the next Summer Olympics?

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com