The ship, along with over 5,000 sailors, sailed from the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea last week, several days after a July 20 hostile incident between the China Coast Guard and Philippine Navy in which Chinese personnel aboard an inflatable boat struck a Philippine Navy service member with a wooden baton, injuring the individual.

Four days later, hostilities continued between the two nations when the China Coast Guard attacked Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels with water cannons in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal.

U.S. State Department officials have criticized the escalatory actions by China and reiterated U.S. support for its Pacific allies.

A spokesperson for the department called for China to “immediately cease its destabilizing conduct.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on July 23 during the ASEAN Foreign Ministerial Meetings in the Philippines that the U.S. was “not going to abandon [its] allies” after appearing to reference the July 20 incident between China and the Philippines.

The USS George Washington, meanwhile, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5, was accompanied by the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls, Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup and the embarked Carrier Air Wing 5 during its port call.

“While our ship represents the high-end capabilities of the U.S. Navy, our visit here to Vietnam supports a U.S.-Vietnam relationship that continues to grow stronger across an increasingly broad range of subjects, reflecting our shared interest in a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Capt. Nicholas DeLeo, commanding officer of the George Washington, said in a release.

Some things happened in the golf world while we were on our brief hiatus. Ryan Fox won The Open, Bryson DeChambeau stomped on some grass, Scottie Scheffler continues to be the best player on Earth but can’t buy a victory, and we’d be remiss to not mention Chris Gotterup winning the John Deere Classic and suddenly becoming the No. 7 player in the world.

As for this past weekend’s 3M Open, everyone was expecting a hangover of epic proportions as the event following The Open and final major championship of the year, but the golf gods smiled upon us with Jackson Koivun finding the winner’s circle in what was just his third start as a professional.

JACKSON KOIVUN HOLDS OFF SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER TO WIN FIRST PGA TOUR EVENT JUST 24 DAYS INTO PRO CAREER

All Koivun did for his maiden victory on Tour was fire a bogey-free 66 to win by three shots over the No. 1 player in the world, who was very much in hunting mode with his own final-round 63. Not bad for a 21-year-old who was playing college golf at Auburn a few months ago. We’ll dive into Koivun’s masterful week and other moments worth mentioning below. It’s great to be back.

This is Par Talk, a weekly read to get you caught up on all the happenings that took place in professional golf that you need to know. You can follow Mark on X @itismarkharris and email him at mark.harris@outkick.com.

Jackson Koivun wastes zero time meeting his expectations

Well, that escalated quickly.

You can name just about anything involving collegiate golf, and Jackson Koivun accomplished it during his three-year career at Auburn. The California kid won every award, won countless events, and became the No. 1 amateur in the world. He has carried the title of ‘the next big thing’ for years, but unlike many who have earned that expectation, he essentially immediately met it.

Despite earning his PGA Tour card through the Tour’s University program in 2025, he returned to Auburn and kept his amateur status all the way through the 2026 U.S. Open, where he finished T-23. He turned professional immediately after, and surprisingly missed the cut at the John Deere Classic in his professional debut.

Fast-forward just three weeks and two starts later, and Koivun is now a winner on the PGA Tour, and made things look way easier than they actually were. He missed just 11 greens and 12 fairways for the entire week, made all of three bogeys across 72 holes, and picked up over nine shots on the field with his approach play alone. Those aren’t supposed to be achievable numbers for a guy making his third start as a professional.

As for Sunday’s final round, well, it was about as good as they come given the situation. While Koivun did start the day with a three-shot lead, three-shot leads can vanish in a hurry when you’re a rookie and see the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Hideki Matsuyama, and Brian Harman surging up the leaderboard. Koivun didn’t blink, however, and the fact that he went bogey-free on that stage – one he’d never stepped foot on – is as impressive as it gets.

On the topic of expectations, they only increase for Koivun moving forward. Earning a spot in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, making the Presidents Cup team, and picking up more victories before the calendar flips to 2027 are all now, fairly or unfairly, very much on the table.

Lucas Glover lets his dogs out

Outside of Koivun earning his first win on Tour and Scheffler firing a final-round 63, the best moment from Sunday’s final round at the 3M involved former U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover taking off his shoes after making a putt in the middle of his round.

Glover made a 10-footer for birdie on the 10th hole, and instead of walking to the hole and picking up his ball, he walked to the fringe and slid off his golf shoes.

While everyone assumed that Glover’s actions were a protest of the AimPoint method that many players on Tour use these days to read putts, it turns out that he was being mindful of his spike marks on the greens, something he was reportedly told to do by an official during the round.

It would have been way, way cooler if he was protesting AimPoint, which not only adds time to rounds, but also foot traffic around the hole. Glover is an outspoken critic of AimPoint, so maybe his tossing off his shoes was a mixture of being mindful of his spikes and also a protest. That’s the way we’re going to choose to look at it, at least.

A father-son moment that nearly ended me

Paternity leave the second time around as a father looks much different than the first. During my time off, it’s been the three-and-a-half-year-old and me most of the time while momma is with baby girl. Luckily for me, my son is obsessed with golf, and we got to spend a ton of time on the course together during the break, but our twilight nine holes on Sunday evening stand above them all.

It was approximately 173 degrees where we live on Sunday, but the toddler was determined to hit the course. Aside from looking like we had both jumped into a pool by the second tee, it was our typical great time out there, and then we made it to the ninth green.

After hitting his first tee shot into a greenside bunker, the toddler wanted to re-tee. He found the green with ball No. 2, and while he was putting out and I was sweating gallons while raking the bunker after retrieving his golf ball, I turned around to see him grab his ball from the cup.

His next move was removing his hat and his sunglasses. I thought nothing of it and just assumed he was cooling off, knowing we were done with our round. He stood there for a few seconds just looking at me, almost expecting me to do something.

I didn’t know what that something was, so I asked him what was wrong. He responded by asking me if he could give me a hug.

I said of course, and as he latched onto my leg, both of us soaked in sweat, he said “That’s what players do.”

I admittedly haven’t gotten into the etiquette rules of golf with him at this point – after all, he’s only three – but he picked up that players give hugs and handshakes after they’re done playing by watching golf on TV with me.

I am one proud, blessed dad.

TEENAGE GOLFER MILES RUSSELL DELIVERS HIS DAD AN ALL-TIME FATHER’S DAY EXPERIENCE DURING US OPEN FINAL ROUND

Naturally, Vrabel came locked and loaded with a response … just not the kind you saw coming.

Frankly, it’s not the kind any of us saw coming, but I’ll admit, it was a solid plan.

The second-year coach showed up to his presser with a dog in hand. That’s right. A DOG. A tiny little dog. It was all part of the Patriots’ “Pawtriots” program, which is now in its second year. Basically, the team opens the first day of training camp by hosting a dog adoption event.

MIKE VRABEL UNTOUCHED BY DIANNA RUSSINI SCANDAL AT FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE OF PATRIOTS TRAINING CAMP

Naturally, this worked perfectly in Vrabel’s favor after one of the worst offseasons for a head coach that I can remember.

Take a look at THIS:

“Welcome everybody, it’s good to see you guys,” Vrabel said with a smirk to open the 2026 season. “If anyone’s looking to add to your roster at home, we’d love for you to be able to adopt these dogs.”

Amazing. What a move by Vrabel and the Patriots. It’s called zigging while others zag, and they nailed it.

Oh, you wanna hammer me with questions about my offseason of infidelity? Fine! You’re gonna do it while I’m holding an abandoned puppy. Fire away, media!

Of course, it worked! Like a charm, actually. Vrabel didn’t field one question about Dianna Russini, as OutKick’s Armando Salguero noted on Friday:

It was all football – which Vrabel deftly handles like Ted Williams did fastballs back in the day.

Vrabel was asked about the status of second-round draft pick Gabe Jacas, who remains unsigned. Reporters indeed concentrated six of their 20 or so questions to Vrabel on the Jacas topic.

How’s the contract negotiations?

How’s his health?

Football stuff.

That’s it. That’s all we got from Vrabel on Day 1 after an offseason that included a cheating scandal with an NFL insider that was so bad, it got her fired.

That was so bad, it sent Vrabel into rehab during the NFL Draft.

That was so bad, it got Russini’s own employer — the New York Times — to write a scathing hit-piece on her after the fact.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

But during Friday’s first presser in MONTHS, Vrabel came locked and loaded with a dog in the same way players and coaches do with their kids after a bad loss.

It’s a chess move I didn’t see coming, but one I, unfortunately, have to respect.

Welcome back, NFL. We’ve missed this sort of pettiness.