It's hard to imagine that this week could have gone much better for the collective tours that make up professional golf. Between near-records and records being smashed, a trio of playoffs and some history being made, it would be difficult to top everything that happened this past week.
John Deere Classic
Perhaps most stunning, a teenager won on the PGA Tour for the first time in 82 years -- really, before the PGA Tour even existed. Jordan Spieth, who turns 20 on July 27, won the John Deere Classic on the fifth hole of a sudden-death playoff against defending champion Zach Johnson and Canadian David Hearn.
Spieth won the playoff playing even-par golf after needing to birdie five of the last six holes to get into the playoff at 19 under par.
Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open
Phil Mickelson managed to win in Europe for the first time in 20 years.
On the windiest of days at Castle Stuart -- almost surely to be a foil for Mickelson, oft flat in links-style conditions -- Mickelson had the round of the day. Then with the tournament in his hands, he three-jacked it (ha!) (really, it was a two-putt since his first putt was from the fringe) at the par-5 last hole to end up in a playoff with fellow Callaway Golf staffer Branden Grace.
Then Phil was Phil, and he stuck his third shot on the first playoff hole to a foot at that same par 5 to win the tournament.
The last time Mickelson won in Europe? It was in a Challenge Tour event in Paris in 1993.
Oh, and by the way, a Dane named J.B. Hansen (not J.B. Holmes) made a quadruple-bogey 9 and then nearly won the tournament. Golf.
U.S. Senior Open
In case you've missed it, Kenny Perry is playing some of the best golf on the planet right now.
Perry, after losing out at the 1996 PGA Championship and 2009 Masters, has enjoyed the taste of major victory in winning the last two majors on the Champions Tour. He won the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship at Fox Chapel a couple of weeks ago, then closed with 7-under 63 to win the U.S. Senior Open at Omaha Country Club in Nebraska.
The 13-under 267 total tied the record for the lowest in the 34-year history of the event.
Perry said the final round was the best of his life, but in the five round that closed his last two wins, Perry has three 63s and two 64s. Uh, that's good.
Manulife Financial LPGA Classic
Even though the LPGA Tour went north to Canada this week, the scoring went south. Way south.
Angela Stanford and Hee Young Park got into a playoff at Grey Silo G.C. in Waterloo, Ontario with a 26-under total of 258. That total ties the 72-hole scoring record on the tour, matching Karen Stupples' 22-under 258 effort at the 2004 Welch's/Fry's Championship.
Park won in the end, putting a cap on a week that saw a 61 and three 62s on the leaderboard.
Utah Championship
Chad Collins was 11 under par after 12 holes at the Web.com Tour's Utah Championship, looking at the first possible sub-59 round on a major U.S. tour. He made six consecutive pars instead to shoot 60.
In the final round of the Utah Championship, Will Wilcox shot 12-under 59, marking the fourth such round in Web.com Tour history. Still, his 21-under total wasn't good enough to get into the playoff Steve Alker won.
In total, the five players that won this week posted a total of 97 under par. Wow.
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