By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.
For comments: [email protected]
Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as the PGA Tour heads to New Orleans for the Zurich Classic. |
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1. 15-year-old finishes top 20 on KFT
Jay Coffin for Golf Digest…”During a week when most eyes were on Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda, the 15-year-old lefty finished off an incredible week with a five-under 66 in the final round of the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic at Lakewood Ranch in Florida.”
- “After opening with 68-66-70, Russell finished at 14-under-par total to tie for 20th place. The finish in which he jumped 28 positions on the leaderboard on the final day, gives him an exemption into next week’s Veritex Bank Championship at Rangers Park in Arlington, Texas. He’s the youngest player to finish inside the top 20 on the PGA of Korn Ferry tours, according to records that go back to 1983.”
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2. Understandably, Nelly WDs
Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…”Nelly Korda’s bid for a record-setting sixth consecutive win will have to wait a few weeks.”
- “A day after capturing the Chevron Championship during a marathon final round in Houston, Korda announced on social media that she was withdrawing from this week’s JM Eagle LA Championship.”
- “It was not an easy decision,” she wrote. “After the unbelievable week at the Chevron and grinding through the mental and physical challenges of four events in the past five weeks, I am definitely feeling exhausted. With so much still to come throughout 2024, I feel I need to listen to my body and get some rest, so I can be ready for the remainder of the season.”
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3. Scheffler’s impressive No. 1 feat
Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”After Scheffler’s victory Monday morning at the RBC Heritage, Scheffler upped his points average to 15.016 and increased his advantage in the Official World Golf Ranking over No. 2 Rory McIlroy to more than double McIlroy’s 7.365 average, meaning Scheffler is ranked further ahead of No. 2 than No. 2 is ahead of the last-ranked player.”
- “The last time a No. 1 player had a greater points average was Woods, who was at 15.4564 on Dec. 6, 2009. But Woods was less than seven average points ahead of No. 2 Phil Mickelson at the time. Earlier that year, Woods was 7.735 ahead of Mickelson, which is the last time the gap between Nos. 1 and 2 was greater than Scheffler’s current 7.651 advantage.”
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4. Zurich field notes
PGATour.com’s Adam Stanley…”Rory McIlroy will make his tournament debut alongside good pal, Ryder Cup teammate, and Irishman Shane Lowry – a duo that was firmed up during a celebratory lunch after the Ryder Cup last fall… Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele will try to reprise their 2022 win here. Cantlay and Schauffele have both the Foursomes and Four-ball scoring records at this event… Davis Riley and Nick Hardy will defend their 2023 title. No team has gone back-to-back… Three sets of brothers (and two sets of twins!) will play together with twins Rasmus and Nicolai Højgaard and Parker and Pierceson Coody in the field along with Alex and Matt Fitzpatrick. Alex Fitzpatrick and Rasmus Højgaard are sponsor invites…”
- “Billy Horschel, who won last week at the Corales Puntacana Championship, will be without his previous partner Sam Burns, as Burns and his wife are expecting their first child any day. Horschel will instead be paired with fellow University of Florida alum Tyson Alexander. Horschel has won the Zurich Classic when it was both an individual and team event… Other notable pairings include Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Sahith Theegala and Will Zalatoris, and Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin. The Canadian duo finished runner-up a year ago and would like nothing more than to show Presidents Cup International Team captain Mike Weir how well they play together… Steve Stricker will play his second TOUR event this season (after earning his way into THE PLAYERS Championship), teaming up with Matt Kuchar.”
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5. Tiger’s teammates
Field Level Media report…”Tiger Woods announced Monday that Max Homa, Tom Kim and Kevin Kisner have joined his Jupiter Links GC TGL team.”
- “The virtual golf league headed by Woods and Rory McIlroy will begin its inaugural season next January. Woods also unveiled the team’s logo.”
- “I have already shared my excitement and optimism for TGL as a league and product,” said Woods. “Now that we have finalized our roster with a team of world-class golfers, I am even more confident that this group will proudly represent the Jupiter (Fla.) area and connect with our fans for years to come.”
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6. Woosnam questions Cantlay’s decision
Our Matt Vincenzi…”After the horn sounded to suspend play due to darkness, Cantlay, who’s ball was in the fairway on the 18th hole, had a decision to make. With over 200 yards into the green and extreme winds working against the shot, conventional wisdom would be to wait until Monday morning to hit the shot.”
- “On the other hand, if he could finish the hole, he may just want to get the event over with so he could get out of Hilton Head.”
- “Curiously, Cantlay chose neither of those options. After hitting 3-wood into the green, and still coming up short, the former FedEx Cup champion chose to mark his ball and chip and putt on Monday morning.”
- “Ian Woosnam, who was watching from home, took to X to give his thoughts on Cantlay’s decision making.”
- “Cantlay would end up getting up and down for par when play resumed at 8:00 am Monday morning.”
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7. JT on Scheffler’s “weird” equipment choice
Our Matt Vincenzi…”After Justin Thomas’ third round of the RBC Heritage, the two-time major champion went in the broadcast booth alongside the CBS crew.”
- “While Thomas was watching Scottie Scheffler play on the back nine of his third round, he wondered aloud why Scottie uses high-numbered golf balls.”
- “Does anybody else think it’s weird that Scottie uses high numbers? I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an elite player use high-numbered golf balls.”
- “Amanda Balionis who was on the grounds chimed in, reporting that analyst Dottie Pepper had wondered the same thing earlier that day.”
- “I’ve been going about this wrong my whole life,” Thomas jokingly said.
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8. Rory to rejoin PGA Tour policy board
Mark Schlabach for ESPN…”Four-time major championship winner Rory McIlroy is poised to return to the PGA Tour’s policy board, pending a vote by the board, which could come as early as this week, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.”
- “One of the PGA Tour’s most vocal supporters during its three-year battle with LIV Golf, McIlroy abruptly resigned as a player director on the tour’s influential policy board in November.”
- “He is expected to replace policy board player director Webb Simpson, who intends to step away before his two-year term expires in 2025.”
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9. Weir names Presidents Cup assistants
PGA Tour report…”International Team Captain Mike Weir announced Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman, Geoff Ogilvy and Camilo Villegas as captain’s assistants for the 2024 Presidents Cup, which will be played at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Canada, Sept. 24-29. |
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Dave R
Jun 27, 2017 at 6:07 pm
Tiger will never be competive again. But I sure hope he gets better health wise.
Dollarbill300
Jun 21, 2017 at 9:22 am
I feel bad for Tiger. It’s obvious that he has hit rock bottom. He needs to get people around him that are more concerned with helping him get better mentally and physically than worried about getting their big payday because of him. I have the same problem with my spine that he is going through right now. Almost 2 years ago I had L5 spinal surgery, and I am still having complications from it. I now need to have a fusion surgery as well like he did. The one thing I can tell you is that that type of spinal injury hurts like hell with certain body movements. The medications he is on are exactly what neurosurgeons put patients on after those types of surgeries(opiates, muscle relaxers, nerve relaxers). They are powerful pharmaceuticals, with side effects that make it very difficult to function. On top of that they are addicting as well. Personally, I am not a fan of Tiger Woods as a person, but as a golfer have enjoyed watching him play through the years. I do believe that he was using roids and PED’s throughout his career, but what he is going through now, especially with it being in the public eye is just sad. Doctors are way too happy with pen and prescription pad these days. Prescribing opiates are just an easy way to temporarily cover up a problem. They cause way too many addictions and fatalities. I hope he gets the proper help he needs, and gets off the dangerous pharms.
Chad
Jun 20, 2017 at 8:12 pm
It is all about the back injury. If that back was 100% he could still beat half the tour even in the state he was in when they arrested him.
Old Putter
Jun 20, 2017 at 5:21 pm
At this point…
Dude should just buy a monkey named Bubbles
ooffa
Jun 20, 2017 at 6:36 am
He should have sought a professional chauffeur and avoided all this.
Ude
Jun 20, 2017 at 9:50 am
if you are so smart go tell him
JThunder
Jun 20, 2017 at 5:20 am
“Woods told authorities he was taking Xanax in addition to painkillers, anti-inflammatories, and muscle relaxants.” … Grown adults with long histories of surgery and pain management should know better than to take 4 different medications and drive. Especially with his kind of money – no reason to be driving yourself anyway. Professional help – better late than never.
nathan Gatehouse
Jun 20, 2017 at 4:50 am
like any drug addiction, the first step is recognition that there is a problem. he has done this now, and i would suggest he has a 8-10 year ‘addiction’ he will now try and manage. Good luck, golf needs him back, he deserves to end his competitive days gracefully, not like this.
Was
Jun 20, 2017 at 3:50 am
Quit the social media. That would be a start. But obviously you haven’t figured that out yet with your professional help. May be it’s time for quiet contemplation and no more social media or going out late at night.
Travis
Jun 19, 2017 at 10:00 pm
God how I miss watching him play golf… all I thought over the weekend that I wonder how a 2000-2009 Tiger Woods would fare, and how much fun that would be to watch him play Erin Hills against all these guys…
Dat
Jun 19, 2017 at 9:55 pm
I hope he can turn his life around. Never kick a man while he is down. Tiger has hit rock bottom and can only go up from here.
Tom1
Jun 20, 2017 at 12:07 pm
spot on
PG
Jun 19, 2017 at 9:07 pm
Really too bad that it took this long. If he’s on xanax plus all of the other stuff, I fear he’s broken as much mentally as physically.
firflush
Jun 20, 2017 at 12:07 am
At his height Tiger may have had the strongest mental game of all time, in any sport. So if a guy with one of the strongest mental games ever is currently struggling, then that can’t fare to well for the rest of us mortals.
mowerboy
Jun 20, 2017 at 10:28 am
His mental game was honed for golf and not everyday life/decision making. That’s obvious now. Just because he could focus and do things that seemed extraordinary on the golf course doesn’t mean he should be expected to be superhuman off the course. He never was the person everyone wanted off the course, he never stuck around to sign autographs, or talk to the media more than he was required to do. He never showed a persona of being a great person outside of golf, so its not shocking that he’s had such struggles in his personal life. I wouldn’t let Tiger’s problems pull you down in your own personal life.
Mike
Jun 20, 2017 at 6:12 pm
Tiger’s mental game is woefully overblown. He was the best front-runner ever, but below-average when not leading after 3 rounds. The players with TRULY elite mental games (Hogan, Nicklaus, Jones) all were just as good coming from behind as they were with a lead.
rebfan73
Jun 19, 2017 at 8:50 pm
Help is good…..