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What clubs did Taylor Moore use to win Valspar Championship?

What clubs did Taylor Moore use to win Valspar Championship?

All final round Taylor Moore seemed like one of those Sunday sidebars. Nice final round, get a taste of contention and secure a solid check. Instead, Moore came up clutch while others did not, and he came away with a career-defining victory at the 2023 Valspar Championship.

Moore was so out of the picture that he wasn’t asked for any interviews by the tour during the week save for what would turn out to be his winner’s press conference.

 Still, during the final round he was hanging on the periphery while Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood and Adam Schenk took turns occupying or sharing the lead, Moore rolled in an 18-footer for birdie at the eighth then struck a 9-iron from 167 yards to two feet, leading to another birdie to get within one. An 8-iron off the tee at the par-3 15th led to another birdie to stay within one before a 26-footer dropped at 16 to knot Schenk.

Moore can thank his tee-to-green game for the win. Moore ranked third in strokes gained/off the tee, picking up 3.465 shots on the field. His driver is Ping’s G430 LST model—the low-spin version of the G430 family. Moore’s driver has a 45-inch Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue 60TX shaft, tipped a half-inch with a D3 swingweight. Into the greens Moore was just as effective, ranking fourth in SG/approach, besting the field by 5.383 shots while also ranking second in greens in regulation. Moore’s irons are Ping’s S55 along with a Ping i230 4-iron. All of Moore’s irons have True Temper’s Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts.

The clubs Taylor Moore used to win the 2023 Valspar Championship

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Driver: Ping G430 LST (Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue 60TX), 10.5 degrees

3-wood: Ping G430 Max, 15 degrees

7-wood: Ping G430 Max, 21 degrees

Irons (4): Ping i230(5-PW): Ping S55

Wedges: Ping Glide Pro Forged (50, 54, 60 degrees)

Putter: Ping PLD Oslo 4

 

Source: GolfDigest

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Monday Morning Leagues

Monday Morning Leagues

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Questions & Sign-Up: Contact the Club at 712-566-9441
Please Note: No league on May 15, May 29, June 12, July 3, July 31

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Scottie Scheffler wins TPC & Claims world #1 spot back

Scottie Scheffler wins TPC & Claims world #1 spot back

Scottie Scheffler’s game is made for Pete Dye’s House of Horrors.

One day after he shot 65 to seize control of the tournament, Scheffler withstood a windswept Sunday and shot 3-under 69 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass to win the Players Championship by five strokes over Tyrrell Hatton and returned to World No. 1.

“He an artist,” said Scheffler’s longtime instructor Randy Smith, “and when you give him this canvas he wants to paint on it.”

The reigning Masters champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year crafted a masterpiece after a sluggish start in which he didn’t make a birdie in his first seven holes, but once he did the floodgates opened and he reeled off five in a row to blow the tournament wide open.

Australian Min Woo Lee, whose sister Minjee is the reigning U.S. Women’s Open champion, grabbed a share of the lead with a birdie at the first and a bogey by Scheffler at the third, but it was short-lived. His third shot at the fourth hole spun off the green and into the water and he made triple bogey.

“It happened really quick,” Lee said. “It’s one of those things where it’s Sunday and you just make a couple bad decisions and it all kind of falls down.”

He was hanging around after rolling in a 28-foot birdie putt at the seventh to cut the deficit to two strokes, the same amount he trailed by at the start of the day. The Gold Man trophy was still up for grabs. But then Scheffler chipped in for birdie at the par-3 eighth and low-fived with caddie Ted Scott.

“I knew he was going to chip that in,” Smith said later. “When he gets up on the green, he’s sitting there looking at the break and the landing point and kind of smiling at Ted, there’s a good chance it’s going to go in.” 

Scheffler stood in the bunker left of the green but his ball was sitting pretty on the grass and when it disappeared in the hole, he pumped his right fist.

“He’s got great hands,” said Jordan Spieth.

Max Homa compared Scheffler’s short game wizardry to Spieth.

“It looks just kind of homegrown, which I always feel like works pretty well,” Homa said. “Obviously they have great mechanics, but it feels like they do it a different way, which means they typically own it a bit more. So I feel like he just knows what he’s going to do. He has this stabbing spinner. He’s got the really good kind of soft one out of the rough. I feel like he’s just very artistic in that way. I feel like he sees them going into the hole. I’ve played a lot more with Jordan, and you can just kind of see him painting that picture and making them, and they make a lot of them. So that would be my guess. But he’s obviously just really good at pretty much every aspect of golf.” 

It was Scheffler’s 11th hole-out of the season on the PGA Tour, which no less than Spieth, one of the game’s foremost wedge-game wizards, declared “pretty darn good,” considering the calendar says it’s only March. A day earlier Scheffler let it be known that his chip-in for eagle at the second hole won him a season-long bet with Scott.

“I think that Teddy made a very bad bet,” Spieth said. “I had it with Michael (Greller) and we’ve had it at 15 or 16 before. So I think Teddy will probably reevaluate considering we’re not even midway through March. So I don’t know if Scottie – it actually might be a good bet because it’s already over and he’ll make a new one and win the press.”

Scott equated the chip-in birdie to an interception in a football game.

“It shifted the momentum,” he said. “It just felt like good things were about to happen.”

Lee missed a 6-foot par putt at eight, made another seven at the par-5 11th and was out of the picture, tumbling to a share of sixth with a final-round 76.

“It’s funny how yesterday I felt like I had the best swing in the world, and then today I just felt like nothing could go right,” Lee said.

As Lee began to sputter so did Hideki Matsuyama (68), who made a final-round charge until a double bogey at 14 and finished fifth. Hatton was the only one to mount a charge and not run into trouble but he ran out of holes, tying the back-nine scoring record of 29 and signing for 65 and a 12-under total. That was good for second and a check for $2.725 million, with Viktor Hovland (68) and Tom Hoge (70) T-3 at 10 under. But just as Hatton climbed within a stroke of the lead, Scheffler went on the offensive and pulled away for good with his birdie binge to win $4.5 million, the richest prize on the Tour.

“I mean, he hits it long, he hits it high, he’s going to be able to play any golf course,” said Hoge, who set the course record on Saturday with a 62. “There’s no weaknesses.”

Scheffler poured in a 20-foot par putt at 18 and pumped his fist as he capped off his sixth win in his 27 starts over the last 13 months.

“You can’t limp in on this golf course,” he said. “You’ve got to hit the shots.”

He posted a 72-total of 17-under 271 and joined Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to hold both the Masters and Players titles at the same time.

Scheffler’s former college teammate at Texas Kramer Hickok has watched as Scheffler has blossomed into the best golfer on the planet and is none too surprised.

“The best way I can put it is he’s always been so confident,” Hickok said. “I think if you asked him, it’s no surprise that he’s No. 1 in the world.”

Hickock echoed Smith in describing Scheffler’s creativity as one of his super powers.

“Golf courses where he can be creative show off his best attributes because he’s such a great athlete,” Hickok said. “I don’t know if people know this but  Scottie’s unbelievable at everything he does. Pickle ball, basketball, he’s a freak athlete that has this mental capability that he can go into a tunnel vision and shoot low numbers.”

And what better place to show his gifts to the world than on the great canvas that is Dye’s TPC Sawgrass.

Source: GolfWeek USA

 

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Kurt Kitayama named Champion of API

Kurt Kitayama named Champion of API

Kurt Kitayama is a golfer with several nicknames.

Arnold Palmer, the golfer known simply as “The King,” would appreciate that Kitayama claimed his namesake event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday, grinding out a pair of weekend 72s at Bay Hill Club and Lodge to prevail over a stacked leaderboard for his first PGA Tour title.

“I’ve always dreamed of winning on the Tour and to finally do it, yeah, it’s pretty amazing,” Kitayama said after tapping in for par at 18 and overcoming a triple bogey earlier in the day. “It’s pretty unbelievable, really.”

Indeed, it is, considering that Kitayama, a 30-year-old from Chico, California, took a circuitous route to the winner’s circle, traveling all over the world, playing on tours in China, Asia, Japan, South Africa, and Australia.

“We call him Quadzilla or the Quadfather,” said Xander Schauffele, who plays frequently with Kitayama when they are both home in Las Vegas.
“He’s got really big legs. So I call him Quadz with a Z at the end.”

Asked to name the strength of Kitayama’s game, Schauffele said, “He hits it a mile. He hits it far, putts it well, he does everything good.”

That, however, was hardly the case when he showed up at UNLV in 2011, where they called Kitayama “The Project.”

“I don’t think he was very good at anything,” said J.C. Deacon, men’s golf coach at the University of Florida and Kitayama’s swing coach since 2017.

Back then, Deacon was an assistant at UNLV during Kitayama’s four years there and recalled that Kitayama could barely break 75 upon his arrival. But then-coach Dwayne Knight recognized his potential and loves his grit. “He just worked so hard,” Deacon continued. “You tell him something to do and he’d be out there for 10 hours doing it. He always outworked what you asked him to do.”

That tenacity and perseverance served Kitayama well when he struggled to earn status on the Korn Ferry Tour and instead went seeking a place to play wherever that happened to take him.

“Not finding success early here was, yeah, it’s disappointing, but it took me somewhere else to grow,” he said. “And it was growing more than just in golf, really. You get to experience the different cultures, travel. I mean, you find yourself in some interesting spots. Places that you probably wouldn’t ever go. So I think just as a person I was able to grow.”

Kitayama slowly established himself in the world of golf, winning twice on the DP World Tour in 2019. In the past two seasons, he’s finished second three times on the PGA Tour, finishing second to World No. 1 Jon Rahm at the Mexico Open, Schauffele, No. 6, at the Scottish Open and Rory McIlroy, who rose to No. 1 at the time, at the CJ Cup. On Sunday, the 54-hole leader buckled but refused to break. Fourteen players were within three shots of the lead coming down the stretch, including four major champions and there was a five-way tie at the top with just three holes to play.

 

Kitayama built a two-stroke lead with three birdies in his first seven holes, including rolling in a 46-footer at seven. But on the ninth hole, he tugged his tee shot left and it stopped out of bounds by six inches, leading to a triple bogey. It could’ve easily led to a free-fall into oblivion. Instead, on a day at Arnie’s Place where the greens became so baked that players complained of little friction, Kitayama never made another bogey.

Still, this was anyone’s race. Jordan Spieth charged first with four birdies in his first five holes as his trusty putter came alive. He took just 12 putts in his first 11 holes but down the stretch he couldn’t get them to drop. He made three bogeys in a four-hole span starting at 14 and signed for 70 and a tie for fourth.

“I wouldn’t have hit any of the putts differently. I hit my line on every single one of ’em. I misread all four by just barely,” Spieth said.

Rory McIlroy, who won this tournament in 2018, had an inauspicious start with two bogeys but rallied with birdies at Nos. 12 and 13 to take the lead at 9 under. However, he still thought he was one or two strokes behind the lead and tried an aggressive line at the par-3 14th and made the first of consecutive bogeys to slip back.

“As I was walking to the 14th green, I looked behind me at the scoreboard, and I was leading by one. And if I had of known that, I wouldn’t have tried to play the shot that I played on 14, which was unfortunate,” said McIlroy, who shot 70 and missed a 10-foot birdie putt that could have forced a playoff. “Game’s rounding into form for the bulk of the season. Even though I didn’t get the win, I’m still pretty happy with how everything went this week.”

Scottie Scheffler had a chance to regain World No. 1 and defend his second title of the season. One back, he had a wedge in his hand from the fairway at 18 but instead managed to make bogey to finish at 7-under and share fourth.

“I put up a good fight,” Scheffler said. “I didn’t have my best stuff today. I still gave myself a chance.”

So, too, did Englishman Tyrrell Hatton (72) – “I just didn’t have it today on the greens in the end when I kind of needed it most,” he said – and American Harris English (70), who tied for second with McIlroy and recorded his best finish since winning the 2021 Travelers Championship.

“I love playing in U.S. Opens and this is as close to a U.S. Open setup as we play on the PGA Tour,” English said.

The API’s first year as a designated event lived up to the hype and seemed destined to be headed to a wild five- or six-man playoff until Kitayama took care of business. He regrouped after the triple and made seven straight pars. But the last of the bunch was a three-putt from 56 feet at the par-5 16th. Tied for the lead, he stepped up at the 217-yard, par 3 and drilled a 6-iron like it was a Tuesday practice round.

“I just ripped it and it started leaking little right, but I hit it good enough to cover and it was perfect,” said Kitayama, who finished with a 72-hole aggregate of 9-under 279.

He poured in the 14-foot birdie putt and was tagged with his latest nickname, this time from NBC’s Paul Azinger, who described him as a junkyard dog feasting on a bone.

Kitayama had to grind out one more par at 18. As he walked off the tee after pulling his tee shot into the rough, he had the self awareness to realize he was walking too fast.

“I was like, slow down,” he recalled. “J.C. was on the putting green earlier and he said, ‘You know, just relax and just make sure to take some deep breaths and walk slow.’ So I thought of that and I was able to recognize it, luckily, and just kind of calm down.”

Kitayama earned his first Tour title in his 50th career start, banking $3.6 million and improving to No. 19 in the Official World Golf Ranking, the highest position of his career. What a long strange trip it had been to the winner’s circle.

“I think just finding those little successes around the world” he said, “and making it out here, putting myself in those, in contention, you start to really believe in yourself, that you belong out here.”

Source: GolfweekUSA

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A Win For Chris Kirk

A Win For Chris Kirk

Chris Kirk outduels Eric Cole in a playoff to win 2023 Honda Classic

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — The emotions came streaming out for Chris Kirk as the final putt in the final Honda Classic settled into the bottom of the cup.

Kirk, four years removed from taking a leave of absence from the PGA Tour to get his life back on track, was a winner again, outlasting Eric Cole on the first playoff hole Sunday at PGA National.

“I just have so much to thankful for,” Kirk said. “I’m so grateful for my sobriety. I’m so grateful for my family. I’m so grateful for everyone that’s supported me throughout the past three or four years especially.”

Kirk gave up the lead on 18 after his second shot hit a stone wall and splashed down just feet from the floating Honda Pilot Trailsport (both players finished 14 under). He then won it on 18, the first playoff hole, with a birdie.

The win was Kirk’s fifth on the PGA Tour, first since 2015 at Colonial. The 37-year-old takes home $1.512 million and will go down as the last winner of the Honda Classic. The tournament is seeking a new title sponsor with American Honda ending its sponsorship after 42 years.

Kirk took an indefinite leave from the sport in May 2019 to deal with alcohol abuse and depression. His life was in a downward spiral and he attempted to get it back on track on his own.

It was not working.

He returned after a seven-month break and struggled with his golf. But that was not important.

Kirk’s life was back in order.

After returning, he played in 11 events in the 2019-20 season and missed five cuts. He had one top 25 finish.

But his game slowly has been coming back to form since. From the start of the 2020-21 season to this week, he had 10 top-10 finishes, including a runnerup in the 2021 Sony Open in Hawaii.

Kirk’s last three starts entering Honda: third at the Sony Open in Hawaii, tied for third at the American Express, missed cut at the WM Phoenix Open.

“Coming down the stretch I felt good,” he said before admitting he made a “bad swing at the wrong time,” on the 72nd hole.

Talking about his past problems

Kirk has never backed away from talking about the darkest days of his life. He has said the reason never was to send a message to others. But when a professional athlete uses his platform to open up about something so personal, that can be powerful and impactful.

“I think more than the time, just how much my life has changed in that time, getting close to four years of sobriety, and that is the reason why I’m able to play,” he said. “It’s the reason why I have such a great relationship with my family. Everything that I have is because of that. I have to remember that first and foremost, and it’ll sink in eventually, but it certainly hasn’t right now.”

So when Kirk is on an emotional rollercoaster coming down the stretch of a PGA Tour event, he’s faces more pressure.

Kirk entered the final hole of regulation in control. He ceded that control when the ball narrowly missed dinging the final Honda to be floated of the 18th green.

But he found new life when Cole, seeking his first PGA Tour career win, sent a chip past the hole and into the opposite side fringe up against the rough.

Cole got his par, forcing a playoff after Kirk’s bogey.

Cole regained the advantage off the tee on the first playoff hole when Kirk’s drive landed in the rough and took an unfortunate bounce behind a palm tree. He punched out to 108 yards.

Cole’s adrenaline on playoff hole hurts his shot

Cole, meanwhile, was staring at a second shot 242 yards from the flag when his adrenaline got the best of him. He sent the ball past the stick and into a bunker.

Kirk’s approach shot bounced a few feet past the hole and it spun back to 16 inches from the cup. Needing to get up and down out of the bunker, Cole’s shot settled 11-feet from the hole.

His putt lipped out.

“I just fought really, really hard today,” Kirk said. “I didn’t play my absolute best, but I never gave up.”

Kirk was pleased to hear TV analyst Paul Azinger say he played like an “emotionless robot.”

“I loved that,” he said. “I absolutely loved it. I said today, I’m going to be an emotionless robot and I’m going to go stick to my guns and play aggressive and try to do the best I can.”

Tyler Duncan was solo third at 12 under. Monday qualifier Ryan Gerard was solo fourth at 10 under, earning a spot in the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open next week. The Arnold Palmer Invitational, a designated event, is also next week in Orlando.

 

Source: GolfweekUSA

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Is Tiger Woods done playing this season?

Is Tiger Woods done playing this season?

When will we see Tiger Woods play again?

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Where and when will Tiger Woods play next?

The only one who knows for sure is Tiger Woods and he’s holding his cards as close to the vest as ever.

After shooting 1-under 283 and finishing T-45 at the Genesis Invitational on Sunday, he basically repeated the same thing he’s said fo

 r the better part of a year and the same message he rolled out pre-tournament: he’s likely only going to be able to play the majors and sprinkle in a few select tournaments here and there.

“Here’s the deal: Like I told you guys last year, I’m not going to play any more than probably the majors and maybe a couple more. That’s it, that’s all my body will allow me to do,” Woods said. “My back the way it is, all the surgeries I had on my back, my leg the way it is, I just can’t. That’s just going to be my future. So my intent last year was to play in all four majors, I got three of the four. Hopefully this year I can get all four and maybe sprinkle in a few here and there. But that’s it for the rest of my career. I know that and I understand that. That’s just my reality.“

There was a telling exchange between CBS interviewer Amanda Renner and Tiger before they went live on the air. She suggested that if Tiger played well at the majors, he would qualify for the FedEx Cup in August. Tiger simply chuckled as if to say fat chance.

Woods is an eight-time winner at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, which has been raised to an elevated event with a $20 million and is being staged in two weeks, but that would seem to be a quick turnaround for Woods. He walked 72 holes and played 16 holes in the Wednesday pro-am and by the end of each day his limp was noticeable and seemed to be more pronounced by the day.

“It’s progress, headed in the right direction,” he said. “It certainly was a little bit more difficult than I probably let on. My team has been fantastic in getting my body recovered day to day and getting me ready to play each and every day.”

If Woods shows up to a Florida event, the best chance is the Players Championship, the Tour’s flagship event, where TPC Sawgrass is flat. It certainly would make Commissioner Jay Monahan happy to have his biggest draw in the field. Woods is a two-time winner of the event and it wouldn’t hurt to get some additional reps in before the Masters. He’d have three full weeks to recover and prep for the toughest walk of the year at Augusta National.

“That’s the hard part that I can’t simulate at home. Even if I played four days at home, it’s not the same as adrenaline, it’s not the same as the system being ramped up like that, the intensity, just the focus that it takes to play at this level,” he explained. “No matter how much — I’m very good at simulating that at home, but it’s just not the same as being out here and doing it.”

When Woods made his comeback from back surgery in 2018, he showed up at the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida, and nearly won the tournament. But it would seem odd for him to pass on the Players in favor of playing Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course, and it’s doubtful Woods is considering playing two weeks in a row.

There were many encouraging signs from Woods at Riviera and as long as he can make a quick recovery, there’s every reason to believe that he will chase his sixth Green Jackets and 16th career major at Augusta National. But beyond that, Woods said, “The body says no even though the mind says yes.”

Last year, Woods surprised many when he made his first start after his car accident in February 2021. His right ankle, leg and back continue to limit how much he can play. But having Tiger in the field adds an extra layer of intrigue. Here’s hoping Woods surprises even himself and the body is willing and able to make one more start before the Masters.

 

Source: Golfweekusa

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Justin Rose Wins Pebble, BUT will he continue on this winning track?

Justin Rose Wins Pebble, BUT will he continue on this winning track?

Justin Rose ends four-year drought with win at 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Justin Rose is starting to make an early case for the 2023 Ryder Cup.

The former World No. 1 ended a four-year winless drought Monday with his three-shot win at the 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am after a wild week of the weather delayed the PGA Tour’s annual stop on the Monterey Peninsula.

Rose completed his final-round front nine before play was called due to darkness Sunday night and began Monday morning with a two-shot lead at 15 under. The 42-year-old Englishman cruised to three birdies over his final nine to sign for a 6-under 66 and finish at 18 under for the tournament, three clear of Brendon Todd (65) and Brandon Wu (66), who finished T-2 at 15 under. Keith Mitchell (68) and Peter Malnati (69) finished T-4 at 14 under.

“I think overall, if I had to think about one thing it was just knowing I’m trending, just sometimes when you’re trending you kind of try a little too hard,” said Rose of the win, the 11th of his PGA Tour career. “I let my good golf come forward.”

A five-time member of Team Europe at the Ryder Cup, Rose has struggled to get in the mix over the last few years. Before Monday his last victory came at the 2019 Farmers Insurance Open, but Rose has been rounding back into form so far in the early goings of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season. The 2013 U.S. Open champion has finished inside the top 30 in five of six starts but did post a T-9 at the Cadence Bank Houston Open. With the European squad fractured due to key members joining LIV Golf, the re-emergence of Rose could be key come time for the matches this fall in Italy.

“One thing I have realized is obviously I haven’t been playing enough great golf,” he explained, “but when I do play half decent I do give myself chances to win.”

Source:golfweek

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This Players Success has gone unmatched & continues on for more!

This Players Success has gone unmatched & continues on for more!

Bernhard Langer hoping to continue making history at Chubb Classic

Bernhard Langer has already amazed the golfing world with an extended run of success unmatched on the PGA Tour Champions.

And he doesn’t plan on slowing down any time soon.

“I believe I have a few more wins in me,” Langer said.

With 44 career victories on the senior circuit, the 65-year-old needs just one to tie Hale Irwin’s mark. Considering Langer’s won at least two Champions tournaments in 10 consecutive seasons, it’s likely only a matter of time before the record changes hands.

It also wouldn’t be much of a stretch to circle next month’s Chubb Classic as a likely setting for Langer to make history. He’s won the Naples, Florida, event a record four times at three different courses, including last year’s wire-to-wire victory at Tiburon Golf Club’s Black Course, which also allowed Langer, then 64, to break his own mark for the oldest tour champion. He did so again in November after turning 65 when he captured the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton.

While the prospect of unseating Irwin atop the all-time victory list is “very much on the radar screen now,” Langer said he doesn’t feel any additional pressure being on the precipice of achieving that goal.

“I just try to be the best I can be and play the best golf every day that I can,” he said. “…Deep down, I think I know I can still win tournaments, even though there’s a lot of younger guys.”

Langer said when he first joined the Champions tour, he regularly finished among the top 10 in driving distance; last year he was 63rd. Now he tries to make up for that shortcoming with accuracy, putting, and course strategy, strengths that give him an advantage at a venue like Tiburón’s Black Course, which Langer said is one of the tightest on the Champions Tour.

“Tiburon is not a golf course necessarily for the big bombers that spray it around because if you hit it offline you’re going to be in the jungle and you’re going to take a penalty drop,” Langer said.

Langer opened the 2023 Champions season at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii. Tied for fourth place entering the final round, he ran into trouble on the 5th hole after hitting a shot into the water and finished tied for 10th.

“Top 10 is not bad but I’m always hoping for better,” he said.

Langer will play next at the Trophy Hassan II, set for Feb. 9-11 in Morocco, giving him one opportunity to tie Irwin’s record before the Chubb Classic.

A longtime resident of Boca Raton, Langer said playing at the Chubb feels like a home game for him, one that he can drive to and have family and friends on hand to support him.

“There you usually play on wonderful golf courses at a good time of the year and the field is always strong as well,” he said. “When you win there, you know you’ve beaten the best.”

As for the future, Langer said as long as he’s healthy, has fun playing, and can remain competitive, he’ll remain a full-time participant on the Champions tour.

“As long as those three things are there, I’m going to probably continue,” he said. “If one or two of those have gone missing, then it’s probably time to pack it up.”


 Source: GolfweekUSA

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Making arguments with another win!

Making arguments with another win!

Best in the world? Jon Rahm makes argument with another win at 2023 American Express

Is Jon Rahm the best golfer in the world?

The computers at the Official World Golf Ranking may say no, but it’s difficult to argue for anyone other than Rahm at the moment. With four wins in his last six worldwide starts, including a one-shot victory at The American Express on Sunday, Rahm seems to be moving from a great player to a dominant one.

Chased all day by rookie Davis Thompson and a flock of other players, Rahm managed to steady a shaky back nine with a birdie on the 16th hole to regain sole possession of the lead on the Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA West. Solid pars on the final two holes gave Rahm a 27-under winning score for his second win in The American Express in the last six years. It also was the Spanish star’s second victory on the PGA Tour in three weeks and his ninth overall PGA Tour title following his win at the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions.

“Body’s been feeling great. My swing’s been feeling really, really good. And it shows, right?” said Rahm, who is expected to move from fourth to third in the new world ranking on Monday. “Even when I’m saying I may not be as comfortable as I would like, I’m shooting 64s because everything is just firing when it needs to.” 

Rahm, who started the day tied with Thompson, shot 68 on Sunday to earn the $1,440,000 first-prize check from the $8 million purse. Rahm also moved to No. 1 in the year-long FedEx Cup points race, the first time he has ever led that race at any time during a year.

Rahm was so happy and comfortable with the win that he could even take a jab at himself.

“I’m just going to say that I’m glad I came back and won the putting contest this year. That’s all I can say,” Rahm laughed, a reference to a viral comment he made at the 2022 American Express that the event was nothing but a putting contest.

As low as Rahm’s scoring was with rounds of 64, 64, 65 and 68, he still finished one shot off the tournament scoring record for a 72-hole event that Patrick Reed set in 2014.

Thompson, the first- and second-round leader, fought his driver much of the day but was tied with Rahm on the back nine. A critical missed birdie putt on the 14th hole and an 8-foot Rahm par putt stopped Thompson from taking the lead outright. When Thompson parred the 16th after a poor drive into a bunker and Rahm birdied the hole, Thompson fell one shot behind.

“I had a great week. Competing against the best in the world is my dream, and I did that today and proved that I can hang with them. It was a lot of fun,” the 23-year-old Thompson said. “A lot of nerves and I hit a lot of quality golf shots under pressure, which was really cool.”

Rahm was impressed with the rookie who played college golf at the University of Georgia.

“First time in this situation, teeing off with the lead on Sunday in a PGA Tour event, I think he did a great job,” Rahm said. “He played good golf. It was just, I would say, two bad swings at the wrong time. And that was 5 and 16.

“One could say it was two holes where he was maybe trying to hit it a little bit hard, trying to get some extra distance,” he said. “One cost him at least one shot and the one on 16 cost him half a shot. And that was the difference at the end.”

Rahm and Thompson added some drama in the closing holes. Thompson’s 40-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole hit the pin and bounced a few inches away.

“I usually always leave the stick in from a long distance. I feel like it helps me with my speed,” Thompson said. “I’ll probably play the “what if” game in my head for a long time, unfortunately.”

Rahm then hit his drive into a fairway bunker on the par-4 18th, but when his next shot found the middle of the green, with Thompson already over the green, Rahm pumped his fist in victory.

Xander Schauffele had the round of the day among the leaders, a 10-under 62 that included a rare albatross on the par-5 fifth hole. Schauffele finished tied for third at 25-under with Chris Kirk, who like other chasers on the day made his move early but couldn’t seem to make a critical putt down the stretch in a round of 64.

A final-hole birdie for a 66 allowed Taylor Montgomery to finish alone in fifth at 24-under.

Rahm jumped to a quick lead Sunday with kick-in birdies on the first and second holes, but then made six straight pars, showcasing a wedge game he said was as good as he’s had in a tournament.

“The amount of tap-ins that I’ve had these four days is unlike anything I’ve ever had,” Rahm said. “If I had to put a MVP to something, it’s that 56 and that 52 degree wedges were key.”

Thompson made a birdie on the fourth hole but then started a day-long battle with his driver by hitting a lake on the par-5 fifth hole on the way to a bogey.

“I had a few tee shots off line. I mean, didn’t really give myself a chance to go for it on 5 and 16 due to poor tee shots. As well as I played the par-5s all week, I kind of didn’t really do that well today,” said Thompson, who had five eagles on par-5s in the first two rounds combined.

Rahm then started making par after par despite hitting good putts.

“I can tell you there’s a few, I mean, on 5, 7, 8, 10, 15, 17 and 18, all of those putts were good,” Rahm said. “All of them looked like they were dead center with two feet to go and just at the end they just missed.”

The par for Thompson on the 16th after a drive into a bunker hurt more because Rahm was short of the green in two, chipped up to 8 feet and then made the birdie putt that gave him the lead for good. The birdie on the 16th came moments after another big 8-foot putt, this one for par on the 14th hole. Rahm missed the green long and chipped onto the green, then watched Thompson miss a 10-foot birdie putt for the lead before making his own clutch putt for par.

For Schauffele, the third-place finish was important coming off a withdrawal from the Sentry Tournament of Champions two weeks ago with back pain.

“It’s a good week back. I’ve never had to withdraw from a tournament,” Schauffele said. “Bit scary for me and my team. Fortunately, I have a really good team that put me back into playing shape pretty quickly. So a lot to build on this week. Definitely looking forward to the next few events.”

Schauffele’s albatross on the fifth came on a 4-iron from 226 yards and sparked his rise up the leaderboard.

For Rahm, the win was the continuation of a great stretch of golf. But it isn’t where he hopes he can take his golf in the coming months or coming years.

“In my mind I feel like I can get a lot better,” Rahm said. “I feel like that’s the mentality I should have. Again, I work very hard to do what I do. I could find mistakes in every single round I’ve played. Very few times I would say I’ve played a flawless round.”


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LPGA season off to a rocky start — no locker room access, practice facilities restricted at TOC

LPGA season off to a rocky start — no locker room access, practice facilities restricted at TOC

ORLANDO, Florida – There’s no locker room for players here at the LPGA’s season-opener, an event designed to celebrate those who have hoisted trophies over the past two years. Don’t be surprised to see players at the Hilton Grand Vacation Tournament of Champions changing their shoes in the parking lot.

Lake Nona Golf and Country Club has a men’s locker room that would’ve been more than suitable for the 29 players in the field. LPGA players can use the bathrooms and showers in the women’s facility, but there’s no place for them to store anything while they’re on the course. That area is also not private.

Matilda Castren can’t imagine something like this playing out on the PGA Tour. Grant Waite, a former winner on the PGA Tour, was on the range at Lake Nona on Tuesday working with his student, Jodi Ewart Shadoff, and confirmed that he never played in a PGA Tour event that didn’t have access to a locker room.

Castren was as shocked about the locker room situation as she was about the player fact sheet that came out on Jan. 14, laying out restrictions for when players had access to practice facilities at Nona. In the memo, players were informed that they “may not use the practice facilities more than one hour prior to their practice tee times. Use of the practice facilities is not available unless playing a practice round.”

Castren inquired with an LPGA rules official about the situation on Monday and was told that it was non-negotiable with the tournament, but that the LPGA wouldn’t be strictly policing it.

“The guys would never agree to an hour of practice each day,” Castren said.

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Published By: Golf Week USA

Date Published: 1/17/2023

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Jon Rahm wins 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions after Collin Morikawa's historic collapse

Jon Rahm wins 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions after Collin Morikawa's historic collapse

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Like a raging bull, Jon Rahm charged from behind to steal the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Rahm made nine birdies and an eagle on Sunday to shoot 10-under 63 at Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course and rally from as many as nine strokes behind during the final round to edge 54-hole leader Collin Morikawa by two strokes.

A year ago, Rahm shot 33-under but was pipped by a stroke by Cameron Smith, his second runner-up finish at the TOC, and this time his birdie count was almost as plentiful as the pineapples that used to grow on the hillside layout. He signed for a 72-hole aggregate of 27-under 265.

“To come back this year and shoot a very low score again, I mean, I’m what, 60-under par in these last two tournaments?” he said. “It would have been tough to shoot that low twice and not win it. So I’m glad I had the chance and I’m glad I did it.”

The 28-year-old Spaniard took advantage of Morikawa’s series of back-nine blunders to earn his eighth PGA Tour win. Morikawa, a two-time major winner who was bidding for his first win since the 2021 British Open, tied the largest 54-hole collapse in PGA Tour history after he entered the final round with a six-shot advantage. It was a shocking turn of events as Morikawa played the first 67 holes bogey-free and tacked on three front-nine birdies on Sunday to extend his lead to as many as nine. But he bladed a bunker shot over the green at 14 that led to his first bogey of the tournament, chunked a pitch at 15 and added a third straight bogey at 16.

“The game felt so easy for so long and now no matter what he does it seem like it doesn’t work out,” said PGA Tour Radio’s Mark Wilson.

Morikawa joined a dubious list of nine players who have squandered a 54-hole six-shot lead in Tour history: the first to do so was Bobby Cruickshank at the 1928 Florida Open, while the most-recent was Scottie Scheffler at last year’s Tour Championship.

“Sadness,” Morikawa said of how felt after shooting a final-round 72. “I don’t know. It sucks. You work so hard and you give yourself these opportunities and just bad timing on bad shots and kind of added up really quickly.”

Rahm held a share of the first-round lead with Morikawa after carding a 64 but shot himself in the foot on Friday, shooting 71 and was mad enough with his putting performance that he kicked a trash can on his way to scoring. He was being left in the dust on Saturday, making just one birdie on the front nine when his caddie Adam Hayes stepped in and gave him a pep talk.

“He had hit a real poor shot for him on nine,” Hayes said. “I could tell he wasn’t that focused. I said to him whatever you do on the next 27 holes be uber committed and really clear on picking your start lines, picking your finish lines and be really committed to a number and that’s what he did. He hardly missed a shot after that.”

Rahm reeled off five birdies to shoot 67, but trailed by seven and figured, “we’re going to need a small miracle.”

Then he made a bogey at the first hole on Sunday. “I was going to need somewhat of a larger miracle,” he said.

The epic comeback began with a birdie at the second as Rahm’s putter heated up — he ranked first in Strokes Gained: putting for the week — and made five birdies in all on the front. Still, he trailed by six at the turn before what looked to be a walk in the park for Morikawa turned into a Stephen King horror movie. Rahm’s rally was aided by a 5-under stretch thanks to three consecutive birdies starting at No. 12 and an eagle at 15.

“You need a combination of both. Me having a really good day, which I did, and Collin not having his best,” Rahm said.

Counting his success on the DP World Tour, Rahm has registered three wins in his last four official starts, and the victory in Maui could be the launching pad to a big year.

“I feel like since August I’ve been the best player in the world,” Rahm said. “Earlier in the year clearly Scottie was that player, then Rory was that player, and I feel like right now it’s been me.”178


 

Article By: Golf Week

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Book Your Tee Time For The New Year!

Book Your Tee Time For The New Year!

Bring in the New Year with tons of eagles & birdies! Click the link below to book your tee time for the New Year!!

We can't wait to celebrate with you!! 🎊️⛳️

Click here to book!

 

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Max Homa 'came out of retirement' to rate golf swings on Twitter on Christmas, and it was hilarious

Max Homa 'came out of retirement' to rate golf swings on Twitter on Christmas, and it was hilarious

For golf fans, Max Homa is arguably the best follow-on Twitter.

He interacts with his fans often and is quite funny. He also opens up on his life, talking about his experiences as a husband, as a father and as a player on the PGA Tour.

On Christmas Day, he provided a treat to the golf world, coming “out of retirement” to rate his followers’ golf swings. He asked whether anyone wanted him to roast their swing on Christmas Day. Thousands of fans responded to the tweet, and Homa, a five-time winner on Tour, got to work.

Here’s a look at some of the best responses.(Click here)


 

Article By: Golfweek USA.Today

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Lynch: Greg Norman would rather run his mouth than run the numbers, and it’s easy to see why

Lynch: Greg Norman would rather run his mouth than run the numbers, and it’s easy to see why

With his carefully curated image of a man swaggering across the global stage disrupting industries, dictating terms and settling scores, Greg Norman exhibits a delusion common among courtiers who imagine themselves in the vein of those for whom they labor. But far from earning comparison to MBS, or even with Yasir al-Rumayyan, the Crown Prince’s bagman at Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Norman increasingly calls to mind another legendary figure from the region: Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf.

Al-Sahhaf is better remembered as “Comical Ali,” a derisive moniker he acquired while serving as Saddam Hussein’s spokesman during the Iraq War two decades ago. His every utterance defied ample evidence to the contrary, most memorably his insistence that American troops had been slaughtered outside Baghdad, even as U.S. tanks rolled through the very neighborhood in which he stood. The hapless shilling for middle eastern autocrats and a refusal to acknowledge reality seems eerily familiar today, although Norman lacks the levity provided by Al-Sahhaf’s obvious lunacy.

After a year during which it made a splash, LIV’s novelty value is diminished and the time is nearing when it will sink or swim. Thus Norman is grasping for positives with the same determination he did on many a Sunday night at major championships.

This week, he gamely presented the fact that Justin Thomas took a meeting with LIV—and didn’t immediately squat on the concept—as evidence of the league’s success, while omitting that the conversation took place some time ago and that Thomas has since been vocally loyal to the PGA Tour. The contortions continued when Norman said that Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy “have no idea what they’re talking about” and accused them of being childish for saying he had to be replaced as CEO, before adding that the door to LIV remains open for them, much as a drowning man’s arms are open to anyone who wishes to toss him a life vest.

Despite reports that he could be replaced by former TaylorMade CEO, Mark King, Norman insists his position is secure. “I have got the full support from my chairman. One hundred percent. One thousand percent. There has never been one thing to suggest otherwise. I’m totally confident,” he said, with the blithe assurance he often displayed on Saturdays. But security is scarce in LIV’s well-fed food chain, and Norman knows it.

At the league’s recent season finale in Miami, the chief operating officer, Atul Khosla, was wheeled out to talk about plans for a broadcast rights deal and corporate sponsorship of teams. This week, he was shown the door, leaving a business landscape largely unchanged from when Sean Bratches quit as chief commercial officer seven months ago: no TV deal, no traction with fans, no audience for live streams, no sign of mass player defections, no sponsor interest. Still, Norman’s perfunctory statement confirming Khosla’s departure took care to trumpet LIV’s “successful inaugural season.”

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Article By: Golfweek USA.Today

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LIV Golf planned for all-star board members such as Michael Jordan, Condoleezza Rice and top-level business executives

LIV Golf planned for all-star board members such as Michael Jordan, Condoleezza Rice and top-level business executives

LIV Golf doesn’t just want big names on the course.

According to a New York Times report, the Saudi Arabia-backed circuit “considered assembling an all-star board of business, sports, legal and political titans” including the likes of NBA legend Michael Jordan, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as well as business executives Ginni Rometty (former IBM chief executive), Randall Stephenson (former AT&T chairman) and Mark Parker (Nike executive chairman).

“I didn’t know I was on the list, and I have never been approached,” Stephenson said to the Times. A board member for the PGA Tour, Stephenson said he’d decline if LIV asked, noting that “it would be a quick conversation.”

A player handbook said a LIV board would include 10 members, but the Times reported nine of those identified as targets had never been approached.

The findings came from a larger Times article that analyzed hundreds of confidential documents from Project Wedge, a proposal conducted for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The PIF is governed by Yasir al-Rumayyan, who also serves as chairman of the Saudi Arabian Golf Federation, English Premier League team Newcastle United and Saudi Aramco, the state-owned petroleum company which serves as a sponsor for the Ladies European Tour.

With the PIF as its monetary backer, LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sports wash its human rights record. Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. Not to mention, members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.

Experts told the Times that Saudi Arabia’s $2 billion investment shows the Kingdom “has aspirations beyond the financial.”

“The margins might be thin, but that doesn’t really matter,” Simon Chadwick, a professor of sport and geopolitical economy at Skema Business School in Paris, said to the Times. “Because subsequently you’re establishing the legitimacy of Saudi Arabia — not just as an event host or a sporting powerhouse, but legitimate in the eyes of decision makers and governments around the world.”

McKinsey & Company, a longtime Saudi adviser dating back to the 1970s, analyzed the finances of a new golf league and deemed LIV to be “a high-risk high-reward endeavor.” The Times also reported a McKinsey document that detailed 12 top players targeted by LIV. Only four – Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson – have signed so far.

A day after Tiger Woods unloaded on LIV’s leadership and called for CEO Greg Norman to lose his job, LIV recently announced part of its schedule for 2023, where 12 teams and 48 individuals will compete for a total of $405 million in prize purses. Rosters for the new season, the first as the re-branded LIV Golf League, have yet to be finalized.


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Date Published: December 11, 2022

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Tiger Woods updates health status after Hero World Challenge withdrawal, eyes limited 2023 schedule

Tiger Woods updates health status after Hero World Challenge withdrawal, eyes limited 2023 schedule

Tiger Woods said on Tuesday he's hitting "whatever shot you want" right now, which is good news. The bad news, however, is that he's unable to play the Hero World Challenge this week because he can't walk to hit the next one.

On Monday, Woods withdrew from the event which he hosts alongside his foundation, and on Tuesday, he gave an update on the plantar fasciitis that will keep him sidelined for the four-day tournament in the Bahamas.

"Well, it was a tough decision just because I want to play. I like playing, I like competing, but unfortunately, I can hit the golf ball and hit whatever shot you want, I just can't walk," said Woods. "And so I've had a few setbacks during the year that I still was able to somehow play through, but this one I just can't. ... only time can heal this one and stay off my feet and get a lot of treatment done.

"As I was ramping up and had to walk more, the worse it got. So when you get plantar fasciitis ... the worst thing you can do is walk, and I was walking more and more and more, trying to get my legs ready for this event, and I just kept making it worse."

That has been a theme throughout the year. When he's played, Woods has actually hit the ball fairly well given how little he's competed over the last two years. The issues have more surrounded endurance and physical stamina than the golf swing.

Though he demurred on any long-term issues, he did concede that the foot injury -- which is on the same right leg that was mangled in a car crash nearly two years ago -- was related to all of his other leg injuries. However, he still plans to play The Match on Dec. 10 and the PNC Championship on Dec. 17-18. He'll be able to ride in a cart at both events. 

"I can hit golf balls. It's the walking that just hurts. So ... when you've got plantar fasciitis, the only thing you can do is rest and try to stretch that out as best as possible, but it's rest. How do you rest when you're hosting a tournament? You know, it's hard. So this will be a tough week. The [PNC Championship] will be a very easy week, Charlie will just hit all the shots and I'll just get the putts out of the hole, so pretty easy there. But other than that, in the match we're playing in, we're flying in carts."

When asked, Woods adamantly noted that he would never consider applying to ride in a cart for a sanctioned PGA Tour event. So what does this setback mean for 2023? Probably nothing. Woods was only planning on playing 4-6 events anyway (the four majors and "one or two more"), which he still believes he'll be able to do, cart or not. Read Full Article


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 Date Published: November 29, 2022

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Steven Alker continues amazing PGA Tour Champions run, wins 2022 Charles Schwab Cup

Steven Alker continues amazing PGA Tour Champions run, wins 2022 Charles Schwab Cup

To think it all started at a Monday qualifier 15 months ago.

Thirty-two events and $4,710,612 later, Steven Alker has reached new heights. On Sunday, he clinched his first PGA Tour Champions series title at Phoenix Country Club, punctuating his win with a big smile and a fist pump on the 18th green.

Alker shot a final-round 68 to finish solo third, which was a whopping eight shots back of tournament winner Padraig Harrington, but still good enough to clinch the series title for the first time. With a Harrington win, any finish inside the top five would have been good enough for Alker.

“Amazing. Honestly, just having friends and family and the support here this week has been amazing,” said Alker, who has lived in Arizona since 2002. “Playing with Padraig today, it was kind of difficult because ‘Do I chase him, do I protect?’ … I just tried to play my game as good as I could, but he played amazing and just glad to be champion.”

This moment is the culmination of a rapid-fire success rate for Alker since joining the senior circuit.

In 2021, 18 days after he turned 50 which made him eligible for the PGA Tour Champions, Alker flew to Seattle looking for an outside shot at getting into the Boeing Classic. He got in thanks a strong Monday qualifier score, a rout he had to take because he had no status on the tour.

He hasn’t played in a PGA Tour event since 2017 and he spent the majority of his pro career slogging through Korn Ferry Tour events. According to Harrington, Alker grinding on the Korn Ferry Tour into his late 40s is what most likely set the table for his amazing run now.

“The fact is he was always a nice player,” Harrington said Wednesday before the championship got started. “He’s probably as physically fit now as he was 20 years ago, so he hasn’t gone backwards. The players who tend to do nicely out here are the ones who are still trying to be competitive from 45 years of age to 50 years of age. Those are the ones. You can’t give the game up for five years or eight years or 10 years and hope to come out here and find it again, you know, unless you were a world-class player. You’ve got to keep being competitive and he did that. That’s why you’re seeing his good play now. He was still on the Korn Ferry Tour when he was 49 years of age. There’s not a lot of guys at 49 who could do that.”

Rounds of 67-73-67 in his first Champions event netted him a tie for seventh in the 2021 Boeing Classic, and that would be it for his Monday qualifying days as that top-10 finish earned him a spot in the field the next week at the Ally Challenge, where he finished solo third. From there, he kept getting into more Champions events because he kept stacking up top-10s.

In fact, he posted six straight top-10s and earned a spot in the 2021 Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs. In the second of the two playoff events last year, Alker found victory lane at the TimberTech Championship. A second-place finish at Phoenix Country Club the following week capped a whirlwind stretch and put $1,146,207 into his bank account.

The calendar change to 2022 didn’t slow him down. Alker won three times before June 1 and then won for a series-tying fourth time to open the Schwab playoffs.

By the time they got to Phoenix, Alker had a commanding lead in the points race. Even Harrington’s blistering weekend scores of 62 and 65 had no bearing on the steady Alker. He didn’t make a bogey until the 12th hole Sunday. He had another one on 13 but then birdied the 14th. A birdie on the 16th was his 21st of the week.

Alker’s third-place finish is worth $210,000, bringing his 2022 total $3,544,425 and career total to $4,710,632.

“Just a lot of hard yards. It’s just, you know, I’ve played everywhere, I’ve played everywhere and I think that kind of helped today in a way just playing the PGA Tour and Australasia and Asia and Korn Ferry,” he said. “I’ve played everywhere. It’s been an amazing journey and just to be here and to have this opportunity has been amazing.”

Now it’s time to celebrate, but how?

“I like red wine,” he said. “I don’t want to mix drinks tonight, won’t be a good idea, but we’ll have a couple. It will probably sink in a bit more tomorrow, but yeah, this is neat, it’s so cool.”

Alker will also collect $1 million in bonus money for winning the Schwab Cup series title, money that will be paid out as a lump sum deposit into a Schwab brokerage account.


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Date Published: November 13th, 2022

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Phil Mickelson among LIV golfers reacting to Rory McIlroy's comments on the PGA Tour, Ryder Cup ahead of finale in Miami

Phil Mickelson among LIV golfers reacting to Rory McIlroy's comments on the PGA Tour, Ryder Cup ahead of finale in Miami

Phil Mickelson didn’t want to “detract from what’s happening this week” at LIV Golf’s Team Championship in Miami at Trump National Doral, but a recent Rory McIlroy interview with the Guardian was too juicy to avoid.

At a press conference ahead of the upstart circuit’s season finale, Mickelson was complimentary of McIlroy, who said the “us versus them” dynamic between LIV Golf and players on the PGA and DP World tours has gotten out of control.

“You know, I think a lot of Rory. I really have the utmost respect for him, and I look at what he’s done in the game and how he’s played this year and his win last week and No. 1 in the world now, and I have a ton of respect for him,” said Mickelson. “We’ll have three months off after this event to talk about things like that and so forth, but this week something is happening that I don’t want to deflect focus on, which is we’ve never had a team event like this in professional golf.”

McIlroy also took exception to Mickelson’s recent comment that LIV Golf is trending upwards and the PGA Tour is trending downwards, calling that statement “propaganda.”

“But just — maybe I shouldn’t have said stuff like that, I don’t know,” responded Mickelson, “but if I’m just looking at LIV Golf and where we are today to where we were six, seven months ago and people are saying this is dead in the water, and we’re past that, and here we are today, a force in the game that’s not going away, that has players of this caliber that are moving professional golf throughout the world and the excitement level in the countries around the world of having some of the best players in the game of golf coming to their country and competing. It’s pretty remarkable how far LIV Golf has come in the last six, seven months. I don’t think anybody can disagree with that.”

The Greg Norman-led operation receives its financial backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, where no expense has been spared. Building a new golf series certainly isn’t easy, and LIV has done well to attract a few of golf’s biggest names like Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith. But the problems that come with building a startup become less challenging when you’ve got hundreds of millions of dollars to throw around. According to Sports Illustrated, LIV Golf’s first-year expenditure totaled upwards of $784 million, with another $1 billion committed for next year, when the series becomes a 14-event league.

As for excitement levels across the world, so far LIV has held seven events: Four in the United States, one in England, one in Thailand and one in Saudi Arabia.

McIlroy also said he felt “betrayal” in regards to LIV players putting their Ryder Cup futures in jeopardy, noting how Graeme McDowell had a chance to captain the Europeans in 2027 and the legacies of Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood are mainly based around the biennial bash against the Americans.

“A betrayal? We can still qualify for the team as far as I’m aware. Unless we’ve been told we can’t qualify, then I’m still ready to play as much as I possibly can and try to make that team,” said Poulter. “I mean, look, my commitment to the Ryder Cup I think goes before me. I don’t think that should ever come in question. I’ve always wanted to play Ryder Cups and have played with as much passion as anyone else that I’ve ever seen play a Ryder Cup.

“You know, I don’t know where that comment really has come from, to be honest.”


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Date Published: October 26, 2022

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Fred Couples has a case that he just played the best round in PGA Tour Champions history

Fred Couples has a case that he just played the best round in PGA Tour Champions history

There are any number of remarkable numbers that tell the story of the stunning round Fred Couples played on Sunday at the SAS Championship, but we’ll start with the most important: 60. The World Golf Hall of Famer had never shot a score that low in his 2,172 rounds on the PGA Tour or his 420 previous rounds on the PGA Tour Champions.

With a run of 12 birdies in his final 14 holes at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, N.C., Couples posted his career-best 18-hole score en route to a six-shot rout over Steven Alker, shooting a 20-under 196 for the week. And to think Couples made a double-bogey 6 on the first hole to start the tournament on Friday?

 

The victory was the 14th of Couples’ senior career, but his first since June 2017, a winless drought that totaled 1,939 days. And it came seemingly out of nowhere; in his seven previous PGA Tour Champions starts in 2022, Couples had had just one top-10 finish (T-2 at the Mitsubishi Electric). And in three previous starts in this tournament, he’d had just one top-10 (fifth in 2011).

 

Couples, who turned 63 earlier in the month and has spent a career making the game look easy, wrote down nothing higher than a 4 on his Sunday scorecard. Yet rather than any of his 2s or 3s, it was a 4 on the 10th hole that stood out to Couples. After making five straight birdies to finish his front nine and grab the lead, Couples found water off the tee on the 428-yard par 4. His third shot came up just short of the green, 30 feet from the hole, only for him to roll it in for the par save.

“Today was just an unreal day,” said Couples, who became the third oldest player ever to win on the Champions Tour behind Bernhard Langer and Scott Hoch. “The putt on 10, I knew was a huge boost.”

Given his score, it was no surprise Couples had it going with his putter. But he claimed it was his approach game that stood out. “I never hit it like that,” said Couples, whose previous best score was a 61 in the final round of the 2014 Shaw Charity Classic. “Yesterday, I didn’t feel well, and, today on the range … I'm really never hit it like that. Every shot, I hit and went on the golf and did really, really well.”

To call this the most remarkable round in PGA Tour Champions history isn’t overstating things. Kevin Sutherland shot a 59 back in 2014, but it was in the second round of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Classic, and he didn’t even win the tournament. Couples’ 60 was the lowest final-round score by a PGA Tour Champions’ winner in the tour’s 43-year history. He broke his age by three shots. He was trailing by three shots on the fifth tee only to claim the title by six.

 

“It’s easy to say because we’re standing here, but I think it’s the best round I’ve ever played,” Couples said. “I’ve shot 58 and 59 before, never in a tournament, but for a little bit of money and stuff, and you pay a lot of attention, but today I just was trying to stay two or three ahead of Jerry [Kelly] because I knew I could birdie at any given time.”

And he did it with a late replacement on his bag; Couples texted Griffin Flesch, son of fellow PGA Tour Champions player Steve Flesch, early in the week to see if he could help when his regular caddie, Mark Chaney, was at home with his mother. “I said just get to Raleigh on Tuesday and we'll have a good time, and we did.”

 

The disappointing part? While the three-event Charles Schwab Cup playoffs begin next week, Couples said this is his last start of 2022. He jumped to 34th in the rankings, easily qualifying for the post-season. But Couples knows his body can only handle so much golf, and despite the incredible day and week in North Carolina, he’s not going to push himself. However, the memory of Sunday will motivate him in 2023.

“My game can come and go. I’m done for the year. [But] my game on the Champions Tour is trending in the right direction.”

 

You could say that again.


 

Article By: Ryan Herrington

 Date Published: October 16th, 2022

 

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Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, Brooke Henderson among big names at Saudi-backed Aramco event at Trump Ferry Point

Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, Brooke Henderson among big names at Saudi-backed Aramco event at Trump Ferry Point

Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, Brooke Henderson among big names at Saudi-backed Aramco event at Trump Ferry Point

The stars will be out in New York this week as the Aramco Team Series heads to Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point. Nelly Korda, Jessica Korda, Lexi Thompson and Brooke Henderson headline the Ladies European Tour event on U.S. soil. The LPGA does not have a tournament this week and heads next to South Korea.

Charley Hull, who recently won on the LPGA in Texas, clinched last year’s Aramco event in New York at Glen Oaks Club. The Englishwoman is among the field of 78 that includes fellow past and current Solheim Cup players such as Leona Maguire, Carlota Ciganda, Anna Nordqvist, Madelene Sagstrom, Catriona Matthew and Dame Laura Davies.

Also in the field is Sweden’s Maja Stark, the LPGA rookie who earned her card via victory at the ISPS Handa World Invitational. Stark has won three times on the LET this season.

The Aramco Series carries points for World Rankings and the Race to Costa del Sol, a season-long race that determines the LET’s top golfer.

Golf Saudi backs six of events on the LET schedule. The tournaments, backed by the Public Investment Fund, remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.

Former World No. 1 Nelly Korda won the Aramco Team Series event at Sotogrande in Spain in August while big sister Jessica won the team portion. The series consists of five events, with the final being held next month in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In New York, the 54-hole individual stroke play event will take place alongside the 36-hole team event, with each tournament having a purse of $500,000.

Golf Channel will air the event live on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It will also be streamed on GolfChannel.com and the NBC Sports app.


Article By: Beth Ann Nichols

Date Published: October 11, 2022 

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