Under the shade of a tree beside the third green at Whirlwind’s Cattail course, my 6-year-old son, Miles, studied the tightly mown grass. Not the way LPGA players were, trying to climb the Ford Championship leaderboard 30 yards away. He was inspecting, pulling, digging – little-boy landscaping – and I had to remind him that sound travels on a calm desert day.
On Sunday, you could hear everything: shots from distant holes, quiet conversations, roars that rolled across the property. I hadn’t planned on bringing Miles to watch Hyo Joo Kim fend off a charging Nelly Korda, but childcare fell through – and he’d become fascinated with the idea that he might interview golfers.
Kim and Korda had played together for five straight rounds, dating back to the final round of the Fortinet Founders Cup. They pushed each other through a week of historically low scoring, and by Sunday it was a two-horse race. Kim held a four-shot lead after bookend 61s with a 69 in between. Others momentarily stole the spotlight – Lydia Ko’s opening 60, for one – but the two golfers playing better than anyone in the women’s game would play together in the final pairing on Sunday.
Miles was already asking to be carried after two holes in the nearly 100-degree heat. We stopped at the second green to watch Anna Nordqvist putt from 15 yards off the surface. The green was firm; approaches on the par-5 were bounding over. It was a popular viewing spot – and Miles stood directly behind Nordqvist, a dangerous place for a six-year-old at a pro tournament – but he stayed “still as a statue.” No one made birdie from there.
“That girl isn’t much older than you,” I said as Asterisk Talley, 17, played her third shot. “If you practice, you could be that good someday.”
Miles watched closely. He was the first to clap when her birdie putt slid by (still learning the finer points of fandom).
Talley was heading next to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. That tells you everything: she was using an LPGA event as a warm-up.
Her playing partner Lindy Duncan would have had some sage advice for her. Duncan is 35 and was featured in the LPGA’s Drive On series this week. Hopefully, Talley will never make a quadruple bogey on the final hole of Q School to miss her LPGA card by one, but if she does, Duncan demonstrated there’s a way back to the top of the leaderboard. She also showed us how to hit a perfect short-sided pitch. Easy birdie.
We moved to the third green when a roar erupted from the second. It sounded like eagle. It was Korda.
Miles missed it. He was busy spraying the grass and himself with a handheld water fan.
“I’m building a Lego Waffle House,” he said to an older fan next to us. The man was uninterested. Miles pressed on. “It’s a real place, you know. We have a Waffle House near our house. Now we have one in our house,” he continued. The man nodded politely as he tried to stay cool.
“I’ve been here all week and only seen six or seven birdies,” a volunteer said nearby.
The third is a 160-yard par-3 with water guarding the left side of the green. The Sunday pin sat five paces from the edge. Miss left, you’re wet. Most players bailed right.
Korda, dressed in black, hit first – 35 feet short-right. Kim left herself 55 feet. As they walked under umbrellas, the crowd swelled around the green. Kim cozied her lag to tap-in range.
By then, Miles was laying on my backpack with his eyes closed. He didn’t see Korda’s par.
The crowd moved on with the leaders. We headed back toward the clubhouse. At scoring, Miles colored in the number 18 on a tournament flag. Players signed autographs, but he was more excited to show off his work than collect signatures.
Back in the media center, Korda had made another birdie. Kim was about to double the eighth. The lead was down to one.
Miles drank a soda and as the sugar kicked in, held court – telling a kind, patient editor stories from a recent road trip.
On the course, Kim responded. A dart on the par-3 10th. Korda made bogey. Kim matched her birdie on 12 and kept giving herself chances coming in.
By the time Miles and I returned home, the back nine had lost its tension. Korda eagled 17 and birdied 18 – a crowd-pleasing finish – but came up two short of Kim, who finished at 28-under. For the second straight week, Korda shot lower than Kim in the final round. For the second straight week, Kim took the trophy.
That night, Miles lay in bed, exhausted. His noise machine hummed softly. His eyes were heavy. He pulled me close.
“Daddy, can we go back to the golf course tomorrow?”
Success.
