Paradise | Quick Airport Pint | ‘23 U.S. Open | Crowning Champs | Yanks vs Sox
Meduza is an Italian music-producing trio consisting of three members: Luca de Gregorio, Mattia Vitale, and Simone Giani. This is the 2nd song Dermot Kennedy song used for the thematic music concept of a Week to Week Notes post. With Kennedy performing in New York this week, I figured it was a bit apropos.
Whoops, same hum, different song though.
I enjoyed the hell out of the Rooster Cup and golf with the boys but it’s safe to say I can’t wait to be back in paradise. Is there still an orange smog or did we take it with us to Arizona? Don’t answer that, I’ve been sitting at the same Olive & Ivy restaurant at the Phoenix Airport since noon which is 3 PM ET, and starting to get a bit stir-crazy, might need to get an airport Guinness Pint to get fix me. Alright, enough rambling under Dermot Kennedy’s words…
Pint&Pen&Paper Week 24 (Vol III)
Four Peak’s Brewing Company (@fourpeaksbrew) 6/15 ‘23
Service & Staff: A+
Guinness: English Oatmeal Stout
Guinness Challenge: N/A
Song On In The Background: Paradise by Dermot Kennedy
Notes if you can’t read my sloppy scribble: Rather large glass. Sports bar in Phoenix Airport. I misspelled Phoenix earlier and typed Phoneix, hand up that’s on me gotta be better. The Four Peaks Brewing Company is based out of Arizona and the name comes from their famous 4 Peaks mountain. The lads and I got quite a few good looks at the beaut while golfing. US Open on the TV. Veronica is the bartender but she is quite busy with a bunch of fellow travelers. They don’t have Guinness at the airport but this is clearing my head a bit, hair of the dog style. I can’t wait to touchdown in the great state of New Jersey after making a pit stop at Charlotte. Hopefully, I can pass out on the flight or they have some movie selections. Saw Amsterdam and The Banshees of Inisherin on the way over here. Amsterdam I thought was a bit underwhelming but obvi Taylor Swift killed it. Banshees was brilliant.
The Four Peaks is a prominent landmark on the eastern skyline of Phoenix. The peaks are a part of the Mazatzal Mountains, which are located in the Four Peaks Wilderness in the Tonto National Forest. @NewYorkers you’ll be surprised to hear that in the winter, snow actually covers the top of the peaks. The Brewing Company was actually created before Arizona was a state, as they’ve been brewing since 1892. “Blind ambition, dumb luck, and undying thirst” is the company’s slogan, which yours truly firmly endorses. This bar at Sky Harbor was opened in ‘13. You can buy Four Peaks in 8 states and counting. If you can’t get a Guinness, their English Oatmeal Stout is a solid substitute, I’d give them a 9.2 score.
‘23 U.S. Open
Los Angeles, CA | Los Angeles Country Club | $17,500,000 Purse | PEAC/USA/NBC
The US Open was originally established in 1895 and was played on a 9-hole course called Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. A 21-year-old English bloke named Horace Rawlins won the first tournament taking home $150 in cash and a $50 gold medal as a trophy. The tournament has now manifested all the way to Los Angeles in the year ‘23. It is the first time that LA has ever held the US Open, as this event gets moved throughout the United States year to year. Matt Fitzpatrick was last year’s winner in ‘22 which was held at Brookline, Massachusetts. Only 4 golfers have ever won the US Open 4 times. Those were Ol’ Willie Anderson who did it in 1901, 1903–1905, Bobby Jones who did it in 1923, 1926, 1929–30, Ben Hogan who did it in 1948, 1950–51, & 1953, and Jack Nicklaus who did it in 1962, 1967, 1972, & 1980. Tiger Woods, unfortunately, is not playing in this year’s, he is the only active golfer who has won 3 times. The US Open is commonly known for being the most difficult tournament to win out of all the Majors due to the difficulty of the courses, being dubbed golf's ‘toughest test’ (guess they have never heard of The Rooster Cup) and this weekend it is the 3rd Major out of the 4.
Xander Schauffele
From 1895-’22, no golfer has ever shot a 62 at a US Open. X-Man and Slicky Rickie shot 62s in the span of three groups to make history. Schauffele had 8 birdies and did not shoot anything over par throughout Thursday.
Rickie Fowler
Rickie Fowler had a couple of blemishes with bogeys but made up for it with 10 birdies. He actually set the US Open record for the lowest US Open round before X-Man and this was the lowest score Fowler has ever shot in his career.
Dustin Johnson
Dustin Johnson made some news when he stated that LIV will continue as planned with its ‘24 schedule. This past week DJ became the highest-paid golfer in the world, overtaking Phil Mickelson and taking home a whopping $111 million so far in ‘23.
Rory McIlroy
Rory showed he was human when he whiffed on a chip shot at 18. I too, whiffed on a couple of shots this week at the Rooster Cup except nobody saw and no contact was made. It’s too bad Rory’s attempt counted. 🫤
Scottie Scheffler
Scottie doesn’t know what the hell happened on the 1st and 18th holes, where he bogeyed. Otherwise, he had a solid day, birdieing on 5 other occasions.
Shane Lowry
Shane Lowry got his day off to a fine start with a birdie after his nice approach shot on hole #1. Unfortunately, Lowry ended up bogeying holes #17 & #18 to finish his day 2 over par. Get this man a Guinness, it’ll sort him out.
JT Thomas
My guy, JT Thomas, had a rough day on the course but off of it, he plans on investing in Leeds United. He’ll team up with his fellow golfers in Fowler and Jordan Spieth.
Patrick Cantlay
Patrick Cantlay posted a video clip of him at the US Open (GIF’d above) where he was in slow motion. Some jokes just write themselves, that slow poke was one of the last to finish 18.
Los Angeles Country Club 18 Holes
Front 9
Back 9
Crowning the ‘23 NBA & NHL Champions
On behalf of Week to Week Notes, I would just like to congratulate both the Las Vegas Golden Knights and Denver Nuggets on their respective championships.
Nikola Jokic won the ‘23 Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP. After having a bit of a relatively subdued celebration right after winning the finals, The Joker made a few jokes and dropped a few F-bombs on stage. At 28 years old, Jokic has 2 regular season MVPs, 5 All-Star Game appearances, 5 All-NBA selections, a Western Conference Finals MVP Award, and now a championship while averaging 30.2 points, 14 rebounds, 7.2 assists, & 1.4 blocks. While it may be way too early to start talking about his legacy, winning the first NBA title is usually the hardest one and it would be no surprise if the Denver Nuggets now go on a few more championship runs. The NBA is pretty wide open with a ton of aging stars, so it is exciting that we could be witnessing the start of a new era of basketball after the Nuggets won their first NBA championship.
Mark Stone, the Golden Knights captain, was handed the Stanley Cup and in hockey tradition presented it to his home city. The raucous Las Vegas crowd drowned Stone with ovations. Stone is the first and only captain of the Vegas Knights which makes the team’s first-ever Stanley Cup Championship that much more special. The winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP was Jonathan Marchessault. The “Golden Misfit” forward was tied for 1st in NHL with 13 goals and 2nd in points with 25 this postseason. He and 5 of his original Golden Misfits teammates William Karlsson, Reilly Smith, Shea Theodore, William Carrier, and Brayden McNabb, were dubbed the name when they were drafted onto the Golden Knights when their previous teams didn’t protect them in the expansion team draft. Marchessault is the Knights’ all-time leader in a number of offensive categories, including goals (150), assists (198), points (348), power-play goals (34), power-play points (86), and game-winning goals (27). He is also their leader in playoff goals (34) and points (71) so the misfit winning the MVP seems like a fit.
Yanks vs Sox
The Yanks take a trip up to Boston this weekend in the rivalry’s first series at that dump with an eye-soar green wall. The Red Sox are in last place in the AL East with a 34-35 record as the Yanks take a 39-30 3rd place record up north.
Tanner Houck gave the Sox a quality start of 6 innings, 2 runs allowed ball last week against the Pinstripes. Domingo Germán has a 2.20 ERA in his last 7 starts. Germán has allowed one earned run or fewer in 5 of his last 7 starts and in 7 of his last 11 starts. Yanks better hit this guy.
Brayan Bello gave the Sox a quality start of 7 innings, 2 runs allowed ball last week against the fellas dressed in pinstripes. Since getting shelled by the Rays in May, Clarke Schmidt has pitched well. In his last 5 starts, Schmidt has pitched to a 2.33 ERA and has gone at least 5 innings in every one of them.
The former Yankee, James Paxton, takes the slab against his former teammates. Paxton has made 6 starts with the Sox since coming back from a Tommy John surgery where the injury took place in ‘21 in Seattle. The vet lefty signed with the Sox in ‘22 for $6 million for the ‘22 season and included a $4 million mutual option for ‘23. Thanks in part to the pandemic-shortened ‘20 season, Paxton had only made just 6 big-league starts since the end of the ‘19 season with the Yanks. Luis Severino has been terrible and needs to figure it out.