Winners and losers from the Women’s U.S. Open and the Travelers Championship

This past weekend saw a lot of great storylines and we are here to give you the good and the bad of it. Here are our winners and losers from the past week in golf.

Winners

Michelle Wie — A first major win for Wie was highlighted by an incredible bounce-back birdie on the 17th hole at Pinehurst on Sunday evening. Wie had just made a double-bogey on the 16th and it looked like it might be another disappointing finish, but this is a different player than years past, and that birdie putt on the 17th was as clutch as they come. Her win is huge not only for Wie but for the LPGA, and while I wrote earlier this year about the reasons to root for Wie at these majors, I think this win was inevitable considering how she has played in 2014 and I wouldn’t be surprised if she picks up another by the end of the year.

Kevin Streelman — Normally when you have 10 one-putts in a row it means you’re not hitting it that great, but Streelman’s incredible finish at the Travelers Championship was astonishing to watch. Streelman birdied his final seven holes on Sunday to win by just one shot, and the highlights are too good not to show.

Stephanie Meadow — The 22-year-old from Northern Ireland (seriously, what are they feeding their young golfers over there?!) made her professional debut at Pinehurst, and while she didn’t win, she did leave with a pretty nice paycheck and an impressive debut as a pro. Meadow finished third alone behind Michelle Wie and Stacy Lewis (if you’re going to get beat by two players, those are the two you’d pick), and showed that while she’s still very young, there is plenty of potential for Meadow in the coming weeks on the LPGA Tour.

Stacy Lewis — If you’re the No. 1 player in the world you’re expected to win major championships, and while she wasn’t able to do that, her final round 66 put some pressure on Wie as she was coming down the stretch. Lewis has now finished in the top-six in the last three major championships, and will be looking to add a second straight British Open win next month at Royal Birkdale.

Pinehurst #2 — It was a great test for every man in the world not named Martin Kaymer a week ago, and it held up great for the women the week after. With the best golfers in the world for both tours playing the same course for a major, only four were able to break par for the week, but it was never unfair, which is exactly the recipe the USGA is hoping for.

Losers

Cristie Kerr, Jessica Korda, Anna Nordqvist, Suzann Pettersen, Morgan Pressel and Natalie Gulbis — The best usually rise to the top on tough golf courses, so it was pretty surprising to see this many big names miss the cut on Friday at the U.S. Open.

Hunter Mahan — A second-straight missed cut for Mahan means it has nearly been four months since Mahan carded a top-10 on tour.

Ben Crane — For three rounds at the Travelers Championship it looked like Crane would follow up his St. Jude win with another great showing, but a Sunday 79 was the worst score of anyone playing, and it dropped him 46 spots on the leaderboard to a 74th place finish. His back nine included three bogeys, a double-bogey and a triple-bogey, which was pretty much the exact opposite of what the winner did to close out his tournament.

Fans at the Air Capital Classic — Taking a shot at a golf tournament for having members on the driving range is probably not the smartest thing in the world, but it sure doesn’t deserve this. Tom Gillis sent out a tweet with a photo of a female member of Crestview Country Club disregarding the Web.com event going on and practicing anyway, and the fans took it to Gillis. On the 17th hole on Saturday, fans booed Gillis as he walked up to the green, as he prepared to putt and even as he was putting, just an unacceptable situation for a golfer who was had all the right in the world to say what he did considering the Web.com Tour is the second biggest tour in the United States and shouldn’t have to battle with members of golf courses the one week they are there for the tournament.

Devil Ball Golf – Golf – Yahoo Sports