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Rory wipes iPhones, creates more legal questions

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Rory’s plan to return to golf at the Master’s with a clear mind is very unlikely.

His legal battle against his former management company Horizon Sports Management is going to take a while with yet another setback in the discovery process. According to an IrishTimes report, Horizon’s attorneys are alleging that Rory McIlroy and his father Gerry violated a court order when they intentionally wiped the memory of a reported eight or more cell phones and electronic devices that may have contained relevant information concerning the case. Believing that they can still access the information, Horizon’s legal team is seeking the court’s permission to “forensically inspect” the phones used by both Rory and his father going back three years.

This case is reportedly scheduled to begin in January, since months of pre-trial negotiations have failed. If it does go to court, a resolution by April before the Masters allowing Rory to sleep easy while he attempts to complete the Grand Slam is just not going to happen. The amount of money at stake is enormous and regardless of what decision is initially made, it will be argued to death in appeals court. Any trial lawyer can tell you that the appeals process takes longer than Kevin Na’s pre-shot routine.

The facts of the case are light but here is what we know so far. Rory was unhappy with the advice he was receiving from his then manager Andrew “Chubby” Chander in 2011. Rory, needing to make a change, reached out to Horizon Sports Management for new representation, since his good friend Graeme McDowell was also represented by them. According to the allegations stated by Rory’s team, Horizon’s founder Conor Ridge apparently told Rory that his deal with Horizon would be the same as their deal with McDowell. Rory signed with Horizon in December of 2011 when he was 22 years old.  Horizon and Rory entered into another deal two years later right around the time he signed a $100+ million deal with Nike. Horizon is undoubtedly  entitled to a piece of that.

Apparently in 2013, Rory somehow learned that his Horizon deal was not the same as McDowell’s and that Rory had paid Horizon close to $7 million more in fees than what McDowell’s contract required. Rory then split with Horizon and almost immediately started his own company, Rory McIlory Inc., before filing this lawsuit.

The purpose of this court battle is to get Rory out of the remainder of his two contracts, claiming that because he was 22, “inexperienced” and did not consult his own lawyer, the contracts with “markedly inferior terms” should be void due to Horizon’s undue influence over Rory.

According to the Irish Times, Horizon’s legal team stated that Rory’s claims are baseless and that Rory was never told that he would get “the same deal” as McDowell. Horizon is countersuing Rory for millions in unpaid fees for off-course endorsements, as well as damages for the continued breach of the two contracts.

Lets take a look at both side’s argument based on what we know. Keep in mind that I have not been able to read the complaints filed in the Dublin court.

Rory’s attempt to get out of his contract with Horizon is based on the legal doctrine of undue influence in contract law. Unfortunately, there is no statutory basis giving us a clear-cut definition of what amounts to undue influence. Also, Rory’s case was filed in a Dublin court, which may have a slightly different process than a U.S. court. However, Ireland follows many of the same legal doctrines as the U.S. and their contract laws appear to be pretty similar.

Undue influence basically states that a contract is voidable because one party took advantage of another party in order to convince that party to sign an unfair contract. Unlike certain circumstances where a contract is automatically deemed void regardless if brought to court (i.e. one party is under the age of 18), a voidable contract means that a contract CAN BE deemed void only where the circumstances require.

There are two types of undue influence. Actual undue influence, or duress, where an agreement is made only after one party actually uses some sort of influence over the other party to make he/she agree against their will. This is typically done by force or threat of force or some type of bullying like badgering the person to sign. It’s pretty unlikely that Rory could be taunted or threatened into signing, and there are no facts leaning to anything of the sort so far, so we can probably rule that out.

The second type is the strongest argument Rory can make because it puts almost all of the burden of proof on the defense. Wrongdoing is assumed based on the relationship between the parties. These relationships are those where one party is in a position of power and is being trusted to act in the other’s best interest, i.e.: parent/child, doctor/patient, attorney/client.

Rory will most likely argued that he believed that Horizon would be representing him the same way they are representing McDowell and because he was only 22 and did not think to get himself a lawyer because he was “inexperienced,” and that Horizon knew that Rory was trusting Horizon to act in his best interest.

The court will first look to see if the relationship creates the presumption that undue influence occurred. It is hard to determine if a judge is likely to find this. Those relationships typically involve a pre-existing relationship where trust has already been established through a long-time, working relationship.  Rory never worked with Horizon before, thus had no history of a trusting relationship to point to. This may lead the court against the presumption, and Rory will be required to show evidence that Horizon acted in bad faith.

If the court does find that such relationship existed, however, Rory’s job is done and it will be presumed that Horizon did use their position over Rory to get him to sign a much more expensive contract. The burden of proof will switch to Horizon to rebut the presumption and show that that it did not use any position over Rory to make him agree to something without his knowledge. Horizon will most likely argue that that it did not pressure him to sign anything, did not lie or mislead him about the terms of the contract and did not prevent Rory from allowing a lawyer to review the terms of the contract.  This can be difficult to show, especially if correspondences between the Horizon and Rory were deleted.

It will essentially be a he said/they said — which will most likely cause issues in determining the credibility of witnesses and cause a judge/jury confusion in making a decision.

Regardless of the law and how a Dublin court decides, a few things do not sit well. Unless more facts come out that show behavior in bad faith by Horizon, Rory is basically saying that he shouldn’t have to pay his management company, who helped him land Nike, because he thought he was only going to have to pay what McDowell was going to have to pay. And he should not have to pay Horizon only because he thought Ridge told him he would get the same contract as McDowell, but did not exercise any type of due diligence to assure that it would be reflected in the contract because he was an inexperienced 22-year-old.

My opinion would change, of course, if facts surface that Rory was actually shown a copy of McDowell’s contract and promised the same thing, if McDowell (a Horizon shareholder) personally played any part in getting Rory to agree to a different arrangement, or if Horizon did deplorable things to try to take advantage of an inexperienced kid. The truth remains to be seen, but with the facts available today it looks as though Rory didn’t do his homework.

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Evan is an attorney licensed to practice law in Michigan. He's also a dedicated golfer with an obsession for the latest golf equipment, and frequently gets caught in public examining his swing in any reflective surface.

42 Comments

42 Comments

  1. marcel

    Dec 16, 2014 at 12:25 am

    Horizon has any money coming from other sources apart of milking Rory since GMac is shareholder. pity they leach on young guy.

  2. Rod

    Dec 13, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    It goes to show that Horizon are all about the $ and you would hope that if they wanted to stay in the golf industry, they would want this to get sorted sooner rather than later.
    They might get their pay day from Rory, but I think they will damage their reputation. You should be able to have an honest relationship with your management team.
    It was interesting to see how Oakley were very verbal about getting compensation from Rory due to him ending the contract but they seemed to calm down. Perhaps they have more to loose re product sales.
    If Horizon just quote the small print, it bypasses what they are all about which is managing relationships.
    I hope Rory can get it sorted out and it’s only money. Rory needs to keep focused on his main skill which is winning golf tournaments and perhaps delegate all the commercial and legal issue to someone he can trust.

  3. Regis

    Dec 12, 2014 at 7:45 pm

    My guess is this is a case in Equity. Kind of like an annulment. Rory is basically asking the court to declare the contract void ab initio, meaning asking the court to declare the contract never was entered into because of the “over reaching”. Tough sell. As to the phones. Keep in mind that Rory bolted Horizon for a management group that he formed with friends and family. Those phones could contain records of non-horizon people, like his dad pertaining to setting up the new group. When did he start the concept of forming his own group and with whom? What were the conversations? Goes to his argument that he was unsophisticated. Finally there is a principle in most US courts called spoliation. Means if you delete or destroy records, the trier of fact may consider it a presumption that those deleted records were detrimental to your position

  4. Steve

    Dec 12, 2014 at 4:33 pm

    Is Rory serious? I was 22 and didn’t know any better, really. 22 old enough to vote, old enough to drink, old enough to die in war, but to dumb to know. Arrogance is no excuse, this why there are contracts. If they pulled the wool over his eyes that is to bad on him for signing. It is common place in the music industry to screw over young talent on the first contract. Talk to Springsteen, billy Joel, or any young and dumb musician that signed on the hood of a car. He is going to have eat it and buy himself out of the contract. Write it off to being stupid

    • luke

      Dec 12, 2014 at 8:31 pm

      too* calling someone stupid and using incorrect grammar

      • Knobbywood

        Dec 14, 2014 at 5:12 am

        Incorrect sir

      • bradford

        Dec 15, 2014 at 7:14 am

        “too* calling someone stupid and using incorrect grammar”

        …um wut?

  5. Justin

    Dec 12, 2014 at 2:00 pm

    Any legal binding document would have been an sent via email and probably still have been available if the phone was wiped. I would bet my next check that Rory wipes his phones like we all do when we get rid of them for a number of reasons, delete personal info, phone numbers, texts, most importantly inappropriate Pictures and Video’s since celebrities and athletes tend to end up on the web nude lately. He is 22yrs old, Rich, Famous and dates models I can only imagine the digital media on his phones and how much people would pay to get it. The question of how many phones he had is irrelevant, if you have that type of money it would be easier to have the provider send you a new phone & # then cancel the old one. Can you see Rory in the parking lot at Augusta talking to AT&T trying to change his number, me either…

  6. tom

    Dec 11, 2014 at 1:57 pm

    Can’t see the “only 22 and did not think to get himself a lawyer because he was inexperienced” stance holding up. He was still an adult. He should have known better.

    • Ben

      Dec 12, 2014 at 9:56 am

      Totally agree. Sounds like a costly mistake… Learn from it and move on.

  7. golfing

    Dec 11, 2014 at 12:59 pm

    Horizon means it will suck you till you can see!

    This company already did destroy 2 years of the kid majors years.

    What a bunch of money sucking people.

    From the signing of the contract at a party, to the Oakley and Nike mess
    and so on, this is not a player needs in is head, good job destroying
    a star!

  8. Mat

    Dec 11, 2014 at 12:04 pm

    Just out of curiosity… can’t he argue that a verbal agreement of equity is as enforceable as the construct of the later written contract? I think this misses the point; you have “undue influence” if you were lied to, correct?

    If someone says, “you’re getting the same deal”, and then you find out it’s not at all the same deal, can’t you then argue that the subsequent signed contract was in fact misleading? One party was “in power”, and it was the one who knew both Rory’s and Graeme’s contract terms. That “power” led them to make a deal that they knew was inequitable.

    Dressing this stuff up through “he was young” or “inexperienced” doesn’t mean that the same conclusion would have come about. They could have held said “power” even if RoryCo had retained counsel. In the end, it’ll be interesting to see how this comes out. But if the narratives have a modicum of truth in that the verbal deal was “the same terms”, and the paper says otherwise, I think RoryCo will end up prevailing. The verbal contract from the agent/agency is going to be enforceable unless something else comes up.

    • Thomas

      Dec 11, 2014 at 1:31 pm

      Disclaimer: this is not legal advice. It will depend on what the law in their jurisdiction says. Here in the US, though, a court will typically look first to the written contract. Contracts often have clauses that say any negotiations or representations leading up this contract are not admissible. In other words, if a term did not make it into the writing, it is neither admissible nor enforceable. That rule is in place to prevent exactly this situation: “they told me something different than what I actually signed.” If that rule does not exist, contracts are not worth the paper they are written on. Everyone could simply make that type of claim to get out of every contract they disliked. (So it is his burden to make sure every term is in there BEFORE he signs.) As far as undue influence, lying does not really enter that picture. (Lying plays more of a role in defrauding someone to enter into a contract, which is a different issue.) Undue influence, by contrast, looks more into the relationship between the parties: in other words, was the person signing of limited capacity to understand, and then the other side “unduly” exerted its position of trust or authority over the other to get them to sign. This to me seems to be the least likely to win: here, it was two knowledgeable business entities (or adults) negotiating or entering into a contract. They appear to have been on equal footing, and would be treated that way.

  9. real talk

    Dec 11, 2014 at 11:35 am

    So much hate for Rory on here. I’m willing to bet that all the vitriol comes from Tiger fans who can’t stand the fact that Rory absolutely owns Tiger and has been humiliating on the course for years.

    • scott

      Dec 11, 2014 at 1:07 pm

      last time I checked tiger had 14 and rory had 4 I wouldn’t say that 4 is beating 14 and that rory might still have some work to do in order to catch tiger

    • Barack

      Dec 11, 2014 at 3:59 pm

      After Rory won a bunch in 2012, Tiger won 5 times in 2013. He’s hardly humiliated the guy. Rory couldn’t win 5 this year, so until Rory wins a a faster clip than 3 year old Tiger, I’m not buying it.

      I know, I know Tiger didn’t win a major. He won the Players though. That’s a tough win. Let’s just agree that both men healthy is good for golf.

      And these sharks who got rich off Rorys back, give em hell kid. If it feels wrong to you, fight em bruh.

      Am I the only golf fan that likes Tiger and Rory?

      • Teaj

        Dec 12, 2014 at 10:02 am

        Nope I to am a Tiger and Rory fan because I am a fan of golf, the other stuff I can care less about. People like to make assumptions on both, like Tiger does not relate to fans because he does not share much in interviews and then when Rory shares to much they flog him too. Both are just humans and have a different way of expressing their views but non of this has anything to do with the way they can dominate the game of golf. I hope both can be healthy at the same time and at the top of their game so we don’t have to guess who would beat who like when Tiger was coming up and people pondered the question who would win Jack or Tiger.

  10. Daniel

    Dec 11, 2014 at 8:24 am

    The guilty party is always the one who runs, or hides things, or in this case wipes their phones clean. And wouldn’t Horizon have all of their communications with Rory saved anyway. Why do they need what’s on the phones. If it’s Rory taking to Nike behind their back, the court can just get all that from Nike right?

    I agree with everyone else on here, just pay the money and move on. Instead of Rory having enough money for 100 lifetimes, he’ll now only have enough for 90.

    • Jack

      Dec 15, 2014 at 3:36 am

      Why would he talk to Nike when they have and are paid to do the work for him? I don’t agree with what he’s claiming, since he should have had a lawyer present, unless he can prove that Horizon persuaded him to not have one in order to have him sign a contract that he did not intend to sign out of total trust.

      I wonder if he’s still friends with McDowell.

  11. Pat

    Dec 11, 2014 at 8:23 am

    Mo money, mo problems. Seriously though, filthy rich people are driver by one thing and that’s greed. Rory is no different. I do agree with you however. He should settle this out of court and move on. I don’t see how he’s going to win his suit based on the stories and the premise on which he is defending his position. Nobody put a gun to his head and forced him to sign the contract. He did it willingly. He needs to man up and take care of his issues or else it will affect his game negatively for the the 2015 season.

  12. Slimeone

    Dec 11, 2014 at 7:51 am

    Why did he have eight iPhones?

    • Marshall Brown

      Dec 11, 2014 at 11:25 am

      Media kept getting his number, so he had to change phoned constantly.

      • Rich

        Dec 11, 2014 at 5:15 pm

        Doesn’t mean he needed a new phone each time. He’d just switch the number if that was the reason

        • Marshall Brown

          Dec 11, 2014 at 6:45 pm

          You are right, I didn’t think about that. I just read that somewhere yesterday and assumed it was the reason.

  13. Bobsyouruncle

    Dec 11, 2014 at 1:19 am

    No matter the outcome, this has to hurt Horizon’s reputation and bottom line. What other athlete and especially a hot upcoming talent is going to want to sign a contract with them now?

    In the meantime, all the lawyers on both sides are getting paid handsomely for battling this out in the courts. Life is good for someone.

  14. Pingback: Rory McIlroy Wipes iPhones, Creates More Legal Questions | Golf Gear Select

  15. sam

    Dec 10, 2014 at 9:56 pm

    i don’t think this will effect him mental much at all.
    its just money he can cover it..

    • real talk

      Dec 11, 2014 at 12:06 pm

      Take this for what it’s worth…

      One of my best friend’s dad is very well connected in the golf world and a close friend with Rory. He thinks the world of Rory BTW. Rory doesn’t care about the money. This is all about respect and principle for him. Rory treats everyone with class but when you cross him he will unleash h***.

  16. Fsubaseball21

    Dec 10, 2014 at 9:38 pm

    I’m sure Rory has been told numerous times that this mess should have been settled long before papers were filed. When you open yourself up to discovery you had better be sure all of your bases are covered. Just my opinion but Horizon wins this case easily. Shame on both of them for not getting into a room and working something out like normal human beings. Horizon was shady but at the end of the day 22 years old makes you an adult.

  17. golfpros1

    Dec 10, 2014 at 9:14 pm

    He dropped his guard because he was use to dealing with Chubby, a person that is unique in this business by not messing over his clients and believing a handshake means as much as a contract. Rory made a mistake leaving chubby and this is what he got for his decision.

  18. Stan

    Dec 10, 2014 at 8:01 pm

    Couldn’t have picked a better picture of Rory for this article. Mr. Shifty Eyes.

  19. mark m

    Dec 10, 2014 at 7:16 pm

    Its a difficult case for Rory to make and its would set a bad precedent. So would every 22 year old that applies for a credit card, loan, mortgage, etc and enters in to a legal financial arrangement argue that they were too stupid to read what they were signing and therefore the contract is void? I think not.
    This and Rory is hard pressed to prove that he was harmed by this deal seeing as they landed him Nike and at the end of the day if he pays what he owes he won’t exactly be broke, only slightly less rich.

  20. dave

    Dec 10, 2014 at 7:15 pm

    why doesnt he take some of the $200+ M from Nike and call it a day? im sure Nike can’t be happy about the timing of all of this. Cut a check and move on! (easier said than done iknow) but why fight this hard !!

  21. Law

    Dec 10, 2014 at 6:20 pm

    Good bye Rory. It was nice seeing you at the top of the game for a while.

  22. Donnie

    Dec 10, 2014 at 6:18 pm

    First, how could he have not consulted with a contract attorney, given what (even a stupid 22 year-old would have to known was millions of dollars) was at stake. He needs to “fire” his dad. Here’s a 100k a month allowance pop, I love you!… Second, if Graeme really is a “shareholder” in the company and he was promised “the same deal as Graeme” then he probably does have some legal ground to stand on, albeit shaky. A smart guy would say, “how many shares does Graeme own?” Oh really? I want three times that number, and boy what a good deal you are getting… If the relationship were successful how many other golfers would he have attracted to this management company??
    Dear Rory, I would like to introduce you to a term called a “flat fee” when you have 100’s of millions coming your way, you should get familiar with the concept.

  23. luke keefner

    Dec 10, 2014 at 5:27 pm

    Make a deal, settle out of court,slap each other on the back, shake hands and move on. Its not like any of these people need the money…

  24. Mike honcho

    Dec 10, 2014 at 4:52 pm

    He probably wiped it to get rid of the pics of Caroline

  25. Golfraven

    Dec 10, 2014 at 4:44 pm

    Of course he was paying more because he was earning far more the GMAC that time. Still a rip off from this management group and hope they loose the case. the claim with the iphone devices is a joke.

    • Rich

      Dec 11, 2014 at 12:12 am

      Ok, based on what? How do you know it’s a joke?

      • Golfraven

        Dec 12, 2014 at 3:04 pm

        Fair question. I think that his personal devices don’t hold an evidence for this particular case. Doubt his contractual conversation went over whatsapp. Nobodies business what he has stored on his iphone. The facts are clear in this case, he signed an agreement which he later didn’t agree with and he is free to cancel it with some additional fees – as for any contact in real life. Although I agree he was rather naive not get legal advise.

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic

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My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.

As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.

The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.

Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply.  Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:

Mis-aligned hands

By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.

The position of the grip in the upper/left hand

I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean.  Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.

To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.

Too much lower (right) hand on the club

It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.

Gripping too tightly

Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.

So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open betting preview

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As the Florida swing comes to an end, the PGA Tour makes its way to Houston to play the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course.

This will be the fourth year that Memorial Park Golf Course will serve as the tournament host. The event did not take place in 2023, but the course hosted the event in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Memorial Park is a par-70 layout measuring 7,432 yards and features Bermudagrass greens. Historically, the main defense for the course has been thick rough along the fairways and tightly mown runoff areas around the greens. Memorial Park has a unique setup that features three Par 5’s and five Par 3’s.

The field will consist of 132 players, with the top 65 and ties making the cut. There are some big names making the trip to Houston, including Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala.

Past Winners at Memorial Park

  • 2022: Tony Finau (-16)
  • 2021: Jason Kokrak (-10)
  • 2020: Carlos Ortiz (-13)

In this article and going forward, I’ll be using the Rabbit Hole by Betsperts Golf data engine to develop my custom model. If you want to build your own model or check out all of the detailed stats, you can sign up using promo code: MATTVIN for 25% off any subscription package (yearly is best value). 

Key Stats For Memorial Park

Let’s take a look at several metrics for Memorial Park to determine which golfers boast top marks in each category over their last 24 rounds:

Strokes Gained: Approach

Memorial Park is a pretty tough golf course. Golfers are penalized for missing greens and face some difficult up and downs to save par. Approach will be key.

Total Strokes Gained: Approach per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Tom Hoge (+1.30)
  2. Scottie Scheffler (+1.26)
  3. Keith Mitchell (+0.97) 
  4. Tony Finau (+0.92)
  5. Jake Knapp (+0.84)

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee

Memorial Park is a long golf course with rough that can be penal. Therefore, a combination of distance and accuracy is the best metric.

Total Strokes Gained: Off the Tee per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Scottie Scheffler (+0.94)
  2. Kevin Dougherty (+0.93)
  3. Cameron Champ (+0.86)
  4. Rafael Campos (+0.84)
  5. Si Woo Kim (+0.70)

Strokes Gained Putting: Bermudagrass + Fast

The Bermudagrass greens played fairly fast the past few years in Houston. Jason Kokrak gained 8.7 strokes putting on his way to victory in 2021 and Tony Finau gained in 7.8 in 2022.

Total Strokes Gained Putting (Bermudagrass) per round past 24 rounds (min. 8 rounds):

  1. Adam Svensson (+1.27)
  2. Harry Hall (+1.01)
  3. Martin Trainer (+0.94)
  4. Taylor Montgomery (+0.88)
  5. S.H. Kim (+0.86)

Strokes Gained: Around the Green

With firm and undulating putting surfaces, holding the green on approach shots may prove to be a challenge. Memorial Park has many tightly mowed runoff areas, so golfers will have challenging up-and-down’s around the greens. Carlos Ortiz gained 5.7 strokes around the green on the way to victory in 2020.

Total Strokes Gained: Around the Green per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Mackenzie Hughes (+0.76)
  2. S.H. Kim (+0.68)
  3. Scottie Scheffler (+0.64)
  4. Jorge Campillo (+0.62)
  5. Jason Day (+0.60)

Strokes Gained: Long and Difficult

Memorial Park is a long and difficult golf course. This statistic will incorporate players who’ve had success on these types of tracks in the past. 

Total Strokes Gained: Long and Difficult in past 24 rounds:

  1. Scottie Scheffler (+2.45)
  2. Ben Griffin (+1.75)
  3. Will Zalatoris (+1.73)
  4. Ben Taylor (+1.53)
  5. Tony Finau (+1.42)

Course History

Here are the players who have performed the most consistently at Memorial Park. 

Strokes Gained Total at Memorial Park past 12 rounds:

  1. Tyson Alexander (+3.65)
  2. Ben Taylor (+3.40)
  3. Tony Finau (+2.37)
  4. Joel Dahmen (+2.25)
  5. Patton Kizzire (+2.16)

Statistical Model

Below, I’ve reported overall model rankings using a combination of the five key statistical categories previously discussed.

These rankings are comprised of SG: App (24%) SG: OTT (24%); SG: Putting Bermudagrass/Fast (13%); SG: Long and Difficult (13%); SG: ARG (13%) and Course History (13%)

  1. Scottie Scheffler
  2. Wyndham Clark
  3. Tony Finau
  4. Joel Dahmen
  5. Stephan Jaeger 
  6. Aaron Rai
  7. Sahith Theegala
  8. Keith Mitchell 
  9. Jhonnatan Vegas
  10. Jason Day
  11. Kurt Kitayama
  12. Alex Noren
  13. Will Zalatoris
  14. Si Woo Kim
  15. Adam Long

2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open Picks

Will Zalatoris +2000 (Caesars)

Scottie Scheffler will undoubtedly be difficult to beat this week, so I’m starting my card with someone who I believe has the talent to beat him if he doesn’t have his best stuff.

Will Zalatoris missed the cut at the PLAYERS, but still managed to gain strokes on approach while doing so. In an unpredictable event with extreme variance, I don’t believe it would be wise to discount Zalatoris based on that performance. Prior to The PLAYERS, the 27-year-old finished T13, T2 and T4 in his previous three starts.

Zalatoris plays his best golf on long and difficult golf courses. In his past 24 rounds, he ranks 3rd in the category, but the eye test also tells a similar story. He’s contended at major championships and elevated events in the best of fields with tough scoring conditions.  The Texas resident should be a perfect fit at Memorial Park Golf Club.

Alex Noren +4500 (FanDuel)

Alex Noren has been quietly playing some of his best golf of the last half decade this season. The 41-year-old is coming off back-to-back top-20 finishes in Florida including a T9 at The PLAYERS in his most recent start.

In his past 24 rounds, Noren ranks 21st in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 30th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green, 25th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses and 21st in Strokes Gained: Putting on fast Bermudagrass greens.

In addition to his strong recent play, the Swede also has played well at Memorial Park. In 2022, Noren finished T4 at the event, gaining 2.2 strokes off the tee and 7.0 strokes on approach for the week. In his two starts at the course, he’s gained an average of .6 strokes per round on the field, indicating he is comfortable on these greens.

Noren has been due for a win for what feels like an eternity, but Memorial Park may be the course that suits him well enough for him to finally get his elusive first PGA Tour victory.

Mackenzie Hughes +8000 (FanDuel)

Mackenzie Hughes found himself deep into contention at last week’s Valspar Championship before faltering late and finishing in a tie for 3rd place. While he would have loved to win the event, it’s hard to see the performance as anything other than an overwhelming positive sign for the Canadian.

Hughes has played great golf at Memorial Park in the past. He finished T7 in 2020, T29 in 2021 and T16 in 2022. The course fit seems to be quite strong for Hughes. He’s added distance off the tee in the past year or and ranks 8th in the field for apex height, which will be a key factor when hitting into Memorial Park’s elevated greens with steep run-off areas.

In his past 24 rounds, Hughes is the best player in the field in Strokes Gained: Around the Greens. The ability to scramble at this course will be extremely important. I believe Hughes can build off of his strong finish last week and contend once again to cement himself as a President’s Cup consideration.

Akshay Bhatia +8000 (FanDuel)

Akshay Bhatia played well last week at the Valspar and seemed to be in total control of his golf ball. He finished in a tie for 17th and shot an impressive -3 on a difficult Sunday. After struggling Thursday, Akshay shot 68-70-68 in his next three rounds.

Thus far, Bhatia has played better at easier courses, but his success at Copperhead may be due to his game maturing. The 22-year-old has enormous potential and the raw talent to be one of the best players in the world when he figures it all out.

Bhatia is a high upside play with superstar qualities and may just take the leap forward to the next stage of his career in the coming months.

Cameron Champ +12000 (FanDuel)

Cameron Champ is a player I often target in the outright betting market due to his “boom-or-bust” nature. It’s hard to think of a player in recent history with three PGA Tour wins who’s been as inconsistent as Champ has over the course of his career.

Despite the erratic play, Cam Champ simply knows how to win. He’s won in 2018, 2019 and 2021, so I feel he’s due for a win at some point this season. The former Texas A&M product should be comfortable in Texas and last week he showed us that his game is in a pretty decent spot.

Over his past 24 rounds, Champ ranks 3rd in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 30th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses. Given his ability to spike at any given time, Memorial Park is a good golf course to target Champ on at triple digit odds.

Robert MacIntyre +12000 (FanDuel)

The challenge this week is finding players who can possibly beat Scottie Scheffler while also not dumping an enormous amount of money into an event that has a player at the top that looks extremely dangerous. Enter McIntyre, who’s another boom-or-bust type player who has the ceiling to compete with anyone when his game is clicking on all cylinders.

In his past 24 rounds, MacIntyre ranks 16th in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 17th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green and 10th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses.

MacIntyre’s PGA Tour season has gotten off to a slow start, but he finished T6 in Mexico, which is a course where players will hit driver on the majority of their tee shots, which is what we will see at Memorial Park. Texas can also get quite windy, which should suit MacIntyre. Last July, the Scot went toe to toe with Rory McIlroy at the Scottish Open before a narrow defeat. It would take a similar heroic effort to compete with Scheffler this year in Houston.

Ryan Moore +15000 (FanDuel)

Ryan Moore’s iron play has been absolutely unconscious over his past few starts. At The PLAYERS Championship in a loaded field, he gained 6.1 strokes on approach and last week at Copperhead, he gained 9.0 strokes on approach.

It’s been a rough handful of years on Tour for the 41-year-old, but he is still a five-time winner on the PGA Tour who’s young enough for a career resurgence. Moore has chronic deterioration in a costovertebral joint that connects the rib to the spine, but has been getting more consistent of late, which is hopefully a sign that he is getting healthy.

Veterans have been contending in 2024 and I believe taking a flier on a proven Tour play who’s shown signs of life is a wise move at Memorial Park.

 

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Opinion & Analysis

Ryan: Why the race to get better at golf might be doing more harm than good

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B.F. Skinner was one of the most important psychologists of the 20th century, developing the foundation of the development of reinforcement, and in doing so, creating the concept of behaviorism. In simple terms, this means that we are conditioned by our habits. In practical terms, it explains the divide between the few and far between elite instructors and college coaches.

To understand the application, let’s quickly review one of B.F. Skinner’s most important experiments; superstitions in the formation of behavior by pigeons. In this experiment, food was dispensed to pigeons at random intervals. Soon, according to Skinner, the pigeons began to associate whatever action they were doing at the time of the food being dispensed. According to Skinner, this conditioned that response and soon, they simply haphazardly repeated the action, failing to distinguish between cause and correlation (and in the meantime, looking really funny!).

Now, this is simply the best way to describe the actions of most every women’s college golf coach and too many instructors in America. They see something work, get positive feedback and then become conditioned to give the feedback, more and more, regardless of if it works (this is also why tips from your buddies never work!).

Go to a college event, particularly a women’s one, and you will see coaches running all over the place. Like the pigeons in the experiment, they have been conditioned into a codependent relationship with their players in which they believe their words and actions, can transform a round of golf. It is simply hilarious while being equally perturbing

In junior golf, it’s everywhere. Junior golf academies make a living selling parents that a hysterical coach and over-coaching are essential ingredients in your child’s success.

Let’s be clear, no one of any intellect has any real interest in golf — because it’s not that interesting. The people left, including most coaches and instructors, carve out a small fiefdom, usually on the corner of the range, where they use the illusion of competency to pray on people. In simple terms, they baffle people with the bullshit of pseudo-science that they can make you better, after just one more lesson.

The reality is that life is an impromptu game. The world of golf, business, and school have a message that the goal is being right. This, of course, is bad advice, being right in your own mind is easy, trying to push your ideas on others is hard. As a result, it is not surprising that the divorce rate among golf professionals and their instructors is 100 percent. The transfer rate among college players continues to soar, and too many courses have a guy peddling nefarious science to good people. In fact, we do at my course!

The question is, what impact does all this have on college-age and younger kids? At this point, we honestly don’t know. However, I am going to go out on a limb and say it isn’t good.

Soren Kierkegaard once quipped “I saw it for what it is, and I laughed.” The actions of most coaches and instructors in America are laughable. The problem is that I am not laughing because they are doing damage to kids, as well as driving good people away from this game.

The fact is that golfers don’t need more tips, secrets, or lessons. They need to be presented with a better understanding of the key elements of golf. With this understanding, they can then start to frame which information makes sense and what doesn’t. This will emancipate them and allow them to take charge of their own development.

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