Did Keegan Bradley lose the HP Byron Nelson Championship, or did Sang-Moon Bae win it?

Arguments can be made for either side.

For Bae, whenever you shoot three rounds of 66 on the PGA Tour, it’s highly likely that you’ll emerge victorious when all is said and done.

But for Bradley, he torched the field after the first round with a 60 (that included two bogies) and looked set to capture the HP Byron Nelson for the second time.

He faltered on the weekend, and Bae took full advantage.

Bae, 26, has 11 worldwide tour wins to his credit (plus a mention in the Golf Boys second song, “2.Oh“) and is another young gun on the PGA Tour with a sweet swing.

But, is it fair to lump him in with the other mid-20s contemporaries like Bradley?

I would argue it isn’t.

Although Bae has trumped the rest of that group (Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, etc) in terms of worldwide wins, he has only had two full seasons on the PGA Tour.

Yes, he has a victory to his credit and a loss in a playoff, but he needs to start showing up in majors and World Golf Championships before he can be included in the conversation with some of the elite 20-somethings on Tour.

…

Across the pond, Graeme McDowell captured his second worldwide win of 2013, besting Thongchai Jaidee at the finals of the Volvo World Match Play Championship at the picturesque Tharacian Cliffs Beach and Golf Resort.

McDowell has to be the secondary favourite (behind Tiger Woods) for the U.S Open at Merion in a couple of weeks. It appears that the off-course distractions that knocked McDowell off his 2010-perch are finally cleared and he is concentrating on playing good golf again.

McDowell has already become one of the best players in the world, but could he be primed for another highly successful run?

Impossible to predict – that’s just golf – but McDowell is certainly playing well.

Good news for him, but perhaps bad news for his new restaurant Nona Blue Tavern – as he opens the bar for patrons whenever he wins.

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Canadian Notes – 

World-renown swing instructor Hank Haney was in the Greater Toronto Area this past weekend… Graham DeLaet finished T-10 at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, moving him up one spot in the International President’s Cup team standings… DeLaet, Adam Hadwin, and David Hearn are playing in a 36-hole Open Championship qualifier today in Dallas… More drama surrounding the municipal golf course ownership in Winnipeg this weekend… Mike Weir finished T-33 this past week, his best finish on the PGA Tour in two years… “Kids Golf Free” week announced by the NGCOA for July 8-14… Nick Taylor has won back-to-back Vancouver Golf Tour events…