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Jeff Golden issues statement on Florida Mid-Am incident

Published

6 years ago

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Jeff Golden is sharing more details about the events of May 16 at the Florida Mid-Amateur Championship.

If you recall, police were summoned to Coral Creek Club during a rain delay in the Golden-Marc Dull final. Golden alleged Dull’s caddie, Brandon Hibbs, punched him in the face during a parking lot altercation. Dull and Hibbs both deny the incident occurred.

Rather than paraphrase or pull quotes, it seems appropriate to post the majority of Golden’s statement as is, since it’s his attempt to speak for himself and set the record straight.

“When my name was announced on the first tee, my opponent’s caddie immediately asked an off color question. I laughed off the timing of that question, along with many other examples of bad etiquette to come. Alcohol appeared to be influencing his behavior. I’ve never seen an opposing caddie engage in so much conversation with a competitor. On the eighth hole I had become extremely frustrated because I was forced to back off my shot two different times when my opponent and caddie were talking and moving. I expressed my disappointment with their etiquette to the match referee following our group.”

“The ruling that came from the caddie’s comments on the ninth hole started because of a simple question that I posed: “Was that advice?” I thought this was the only way to slow down the caddie, clean up the etiquette and play a gentlemanly match. I felt justified in my decision, especially since my opponent then asked his caddie, “Why did you say that?” The caddie recused himself from the match, but he didn’t leave the property.”

“…I didn’t even get my bag out of my car when the caddie reappeared and said he’d like to apologize. I most likely had a smile on my face, because I was ready to put the past behind us, and he punched me in the face. I was knocked to the ground, and by the time I looked up, he was walking away, to my surprise, toward the clubhouse. The pro shop is a separate building, so that’s where I immediately went for help. The inside of my mouth was bleeding and my face was throbbing. I realized my hand was also hurting –that’s what broke my fall instead of my head.

“The pro shop employee called the police and was extremely helpful, getting me ice and offering any help I needed. The police arrived, and the deputy concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to justify pressing charges. I gave a recorded sworn statement to the deputy recapping the events.”

“The FSGA has one job, and that’s to follow the Rules of Golf. Unfortunately, there’s no rule for an inebriated “ex-caddie” punching a player in a match-play rain delay with no witnesses.”

“The FSGA gave me one option when the rain stopped. I had to play. My opponent had the option to concede the match and take responsibility for his caddie, but he told me he had nothing to do with what occurred.”

Golden further indicated that he conceded the match because of “physical and emotional distress, pulsing pain in my face, dizziness and cuts on my right hand.” He indicated he was surprised the FSGA didn’t suspend the match.

With respect to that point, it’s probably worth pointing out that FSGA executive director Jim Demick said that Golden “didn’t want to play anymore.”

“Regrettably, the golf course was very playable and Jeff understood that he needed to resume the match. I think he was just ready to go,” adding police “found absolutely no evidence of an assault.”

The FSGA hasn’t provided additional comment or modified that statement.

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19th Hole

Greg Norman claims that this LIV pro is ‘the best iron player in the game of golf in the past 20 years’

Published

27 mins ago

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Apr 8, 2024

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After the conclusion of the second round of LIV Miami, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman made a bold claim.

“Talor Gooch is the best iron player in the game of golf in the past 20 years that I’ve personally witnessed,” said the two-time major champion.

As one might expect, most golf fans disagreed with Norman’s assessment.

Michael Kim, who has been a harsh critic of LIV, chimed in as well.

Gooch, of course, won’t be at The Masters this week so he won’t have the chance to affirm Greg’s claim on golf’s biggest stage.

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19th Hole

Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia make significant equipment changes as 2024 Masters looms

Published

30 mins ago

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Apr 8, 2024

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Ahead of the highly anticipated 2024 Masters, some notable LIV golfers have made some changes with their putters.

Brooks Koepka, who’s used a Scotty Cameron Teryllium Tour Newport 2 for the past handful of years, has what looks to be a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 in the bag this week at LIV Doral.

Koepka has been struggling on the greens this season, but it’s still a bit of a surprise to see him switch to a mallet style putter so close to the season’s first major.

Koepka finished with -4.4 strokes gained with his new Phantom following a tough week in Miami.

With the poor performance on the greens at Doral, it’s worth monitoring whether or not he switches back to his traditional Scottie Cameron at Augusta.

Sergio Garcia, who lost out in a playoff at LIV Doral, also made a notable putter switch last week.

The Spaniard asked Scotty Cameron to refurbish the 1999 Scotty Cameron he used as a rookie on the PGA Tour. Garcia used the putter when he went head-to-head with Tiger Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah as a 19-year-old. He also used the putter in his first Ryder Cup.

The move proved very successful for the Spaniard, with Garcia gaining 7.1 strokes putting in Miami.

Perhaps there is still some magic in that that old Scotty Cameron blade for Sergio Garcia with a trip to Augusta National looming.

*Featured Image courtesy of LIV Golf*

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19th Hole

‘I drove the living p*** out of the ball today’ – Jordan Spieth left frustrated by ‘bizarre’ current form after opening 73

Published

3 days ago

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Apr 5, 2024

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On Thursday, Jordan Spieth shot an opening round 73 (+1) at the Valero Texas Open. In typical Spieth fashion, the 73 was relatively unconventional with circles and squares all over the scorecard.

On the front nine, Spieth four bogeys and two birdies to make the turn in 38 (+2). On the back nine, things got even more interesting. The three-time major champion made a double-bogey on the par-5 14th followed by an incredible hole-in-one on the par 3-16th.

After the round, Spieth said “I’m playing so much better than I’ve been scoring”.

He added that he “drove the living piss out of the ball today”, which caused frustration because one bad drive on 15 created a big number. Spieth then said, “my driving stats don’t look the way they actually feel”.

Spieth will try to put it all together in his second round on Friday morning at TPC San Antonio.

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