Opinion & Analysis
The PGA Championship: Headlining the new Triple Crown of American professional golf
The PGA Championship, as it celebrates its 100th anniversary at Bellerive Country Club just outside of St. Louis, marks the end of an era. Since the 1960s, the PGA has been the final major of the year, the last leg of the modern “Grand Slam” of professional golf. All that will change next year as the event moves to the third weekend in May, and moves from a major afterthought to being the most important major in the on-going growth of interest in our sport here in the U.S.
The Grand Slam has long been considered competitive golf’s ultimate achievement. This is more than a bit of a misnomer, though, since it is something that has never been accomplished in the modern game, and is simultaneously considered by most to be all but unattainable. Sure, Bobby Jones won what was called the Grand Slam back in 1929 as an amateur, but that was back when two of the four legs were amateur events, excluding most of the most accomplished players of the day.
And the immortal Ben Hogan, in his “Triple Crown” season of 1953, when he won the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the Open Championship in succession, in theory had a shot at it. But at that time, the Open Championship and the PGA overlapped, making it impossible for him to compete in both, and the level of competition was nowhere near what it is today.
In modern professional golf, no player has ever even come into the PGA Championship with a shot at the “Grand Slam,” leaving the season’s final major to always feel like it’s finishing on a bit of an anti-climactic note. So maybe it’s time to stop wishing, hoping, dreaming, and talking about someone winning the Grand Slam, and instead, take a cue from Hogan’s immortal season, and start talking about someone winning the new “Triple Crown” of American professional golf that the PGA has set the stage for by making its move.
By moving to May, for the first time ever, the American majors will be conducted in three consecutive months. The PGA claims they did this for a number of reasons, including the addition of golf to the Summer Olympics, the fact that cooler May weather opens up a wider array of options for host courses, and to keep the season ending FedEx Cup Playoffs from having to compete with the start of football season. But there’s an unintended consequence of this move that will ultimately make the PGA Championship the most pivotal, and important major in seasons to come.
Like the Preakness in horse racing, the PGA Championship now becomes the second leg of what I will call the new “Triple Crown” of American major championships. Being only a month apart, winners of the Masters each year will now come into the PGA, the year’s second major, with more momentum. They will also contest that second leg under conditions most players feel are a fairer and more typical test of golf than the often brutal slog the USGA sets them up for at the U.S. Open.
The result of this should be that more future Masters champions will not only come into that second leg feeling like they have a realistic shot, but, as we see in horse-racing many years, could come out of it with a shot at the Triple Crown. The interest and excitement this will generate, and the build-up to the U.S. Open will increase ten-fold if we see a player winning the first two majors of the year, just as it does many years for the Belmont Stakes, when millions of eyeballs tune in because the storyline transcends the sport.
It doesn’t matter that (not unlike the Belmont) the course setup and conditions of the U.S. Open favors a very different type of player than the Masters and PGA Championship. What matters is more players at least having a shot at it. The move up of the PGA Championship will facilitate that, and with a more attainable goal, like the new Triple Crown of American professional golf, we should be in store for some much more exciting golf seasons in the very near future.
The PGA Championship will go from being a bit of an afterthought, to being the major most sought after in the quest for American professional golf’s new ultimate accomplishment.
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19th Hole
Vincenzi’s 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans betting preview
The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans to play the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In a welcome change from the usual stroke play, the Zurich Classic is a team event. On Thursday and Saturday, the teams play best ball, and on Friday and Sunday the teams play alternate shot.
TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that measures 7,425 yards. The course features some short par 4s and plenty of water and bunkers, which makes for a lot of exciting risk/reward scenarios for competitors. Pete Dye designed the course in 2004 specifically for the Zurich Classic, although the event didn’t make its debut until 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina.
Coming off of the Masters and a signature event in consecutive weeks, the field this week is a step down, and understandably so. Many of the world’s top players will be using this time to rest after a busy stretch.
However, there are some interesting teams this season with some stars making surprise appearances in the team event. Some notable teams include Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala as well as a few Canadian teams, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners.
Past Winners at TPC Louisiana
- 2023: Riley/Hardy (-30)
- 2022: Cantlay/Schauffele (-29)
- 2021: Leishman/Smith (-20)
- 2019: Palmer/Rahm (-26)
- 2018: Horschel/Piercy (-22)
- 2017: Blixt/Smith (-27)
2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Picks
Tom Hoge/Maverick McNealy +2500 (DraftKings)
Tom Hoge is coming off of a solid T18 finish at the RBC Heritage and finished T13 at last year’s Zurich Classic alongside Harris English.
This season, Hoge is having one of his best years on Tour in terms of Strokes Gained: Approach. In his last 24 rounds, the only player to top him on the category is Scottie Scheffler. Hoge has been solid on Pete Dye designs, ranking 28th in the field over his past 36 rounds.
McNealy is also having a solid season. He’s finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the PLAYERS Championship. He recently started working with world renowned swing coach, Butch Harmon, and its seemingly paid dividends in 2024.
Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen +4000 (DraftKings)
Keith Mitchell is having a fantastic season, finishing in the top-20 of five of his past seven starts on Tour. Most recently, Mitchell finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open and gained a whopping 6.0 strokes off the tee. He finished 6th at last year’s Zurich Classic.
Joel Dahmen is having a resurgent year and has been dialed in with his irons. He also has a T11 finish at the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass which is another Pete Dye track. With Mitchell’s length and Dahmen’s ability to put it close with his short irons, the Mitchell/Dahmen combination will be dangerous this week.
Taylor Moore/Matt NeSmith +6500 (DraftKings)
Taylor Moore has quickly developed into one of the more consistent players on Tour. He’s finished in the top-20 in three of his past four starts, including a very impressive showing at The Masters, finishing T20. He’s also finished T4 at this event in consecutive seasons alongside Matt NeSmith.
NeSmith isn’t having a great 2024, but has seemed to elevate his game in this format. He finished T26 at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, which gives the 30-year-old something to build off of. NeSmith is also a great putter on Bermudagrass, which could help elevate Moore’s ball striking prowess.
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19th Hole
Vincenzi’s 2024 LIV Adelaide betting preview: Cam Smith ready for big week down under
After having four of the top twelve players on the leaderboard at The Masters, LIV Golf is set for their fifth event of the season: LIV Adelaide.
For both LIV fans and golf fans in Australia, LIV Adelaide is one of the most anticipated events of the year. With 35,000 people expected to attend each day of the tournament, the Grange Golf Club will be crawling with fans who are passionate about the sport of golf. The 12th hole, better known as “the watering hole”, is sure to have the rowdiest of the fans cheering after a long day of drinking some Leishman Lager.
The Grange Golf Club is a par-72 that measures 6,946 yards. The course features minimal resistance, as golfers went extremely low last season. In 2023, Talor Gooch shot consecutive rounds of 62 on Thursday and Friday, giving himself a gigantic cushion heading into championship Sunday. Things got tight for a while, but in the end, the Oklahoma State product was able to hold off The Crushers’ Anirban Lahiri for a three-shot victory.
The Four Aces won the team competition with the Range Goats finishing second.
*All Images Courtesy of LIV Golf*
Past Winners at LIV Adelaide
- 2023: Talor Gooch (-19)
Stat Leaders Through LIV Miami
Green in Regulation
- Richard Bland
- Jon Rahm
- Paul Casey
Fairways Hit
- Abraham Ancer
- Graeme McDowell
- Henrik Stenson
Driving Distance
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Joaquin Niemann
- Dean Burmester
Putting
- Cameron Smith
- Louis Oosthuizen
- Matt Jones
2024 LIV Adelaide Picks
Cameron Smith +1400 (DraftKings)
When I pulled up the odds for LIV Adelaide, I was more than a little surprised to see multiple golfers listed ahead of Cameron Smith on the betting board. A few starts ago, Cam finished runner-up at LIV Hong Kong, which is a golf course that absolutely suits his eye. Augusta National in another course that Smith could roll out of bed and finish in the top-ten at, and he did so two weeks ago at The Masters, finishing T6.
At Augusta, he gained strokes on the field on approach, off the tee (slightly), and of course, around the green and putting. Smith able to get in the mix at a major championship despite coming into the week feeling under the weather tells me that his game is once again rounding into form.
The Grange Golf Club is another course that undoubtedly suits the Australian. Smith is obviously incredibly comfortable playing in front of the Aussie faithful and has won three Australian PGA Championship’s. The course is very short and will allow Smith to play conservative off the tee, mitigating his most glaring weakness. With birdies available all over the golf course, there’s a chance the event turns into a putting contest, and there’s no one on the planet I’d rather have in one of those than Cam Smith.
Louis Oosthuizen +2200 (DraftKings)
Louis Oosthuizen has simply been one of the best players on LIV in the 2024 seas0n. The South African has finished in the top-10 on the LIV leaderboard in three of his five starts, with his best coming in Jeddah, where he finished T2. Perhaps more impressively, Oosthuizen finished T7 at LIV Miami, which took place at Doral’s “Blue Monster”, an absolutely massive golf course. Given that Louis is on the shorter side in terms of distance off the tee, his ability to play well in Miami shows how dialed he is with the irons this season.
In addition to the LIV finishes, Oosthuizen won back-to-back starts on the DP World Tour in December at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Mauritus Open. He also finished runner-up at the end of February in the International Series Oman. The 41-year-old has been one of the most consistent performers of 2024, regardless of tour.
For the season, Louis ranks 4th on LIV in birdies made, T9 in fairways hit and first in putting. He ranks 32nd in driving distance, but that won’t be an issue at this short course. Last season, he finished T11 at the event, but was in decent position going into the final round but fell back after shooting 70 while the rest of the field went low. This season, Oosthuizen comes into the event in peak form, and the course should be a perfect fit for his smooth swing and hot putter this week.
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Opinion & Analysis
The Wedge Guy: What really makes a wedge work? Part 1
Of all the clubs in our bags, wedges are almost always the simplest in construction and, therefore, the easiest to analyze what might make one work differently from another if you know what to look for.
Wedges are a lot less mysterious than drivers, of course, as the major brands are working with a lot of “pixie dust” inside these modern marvels. That’s carrying over more to irons now, with so many new models featuring internal multi-material technologies, and almost all of them having a “badge” or insert in the back to allow more complex graphics while hiding the actual distribution of mass.
But when it comes to wedges, most on the market today are still single pieces of molded steel, either cast or forged into that shape. So, if you look closely at where the mass is distributed, it’s pretty clear how that wedge is going to perform.
To start, because of their wider soles, the majority of the mass of almost any wedge is along the bottom third of the clubhead. So, the best wedge shots are always those hit between the 2nd and 5th grooves so that more mass is directly behind that impact. Elite tour professionals practice incessantly to learn to do that consistently, wearing out a spot about the size of a penny right there. If impact moves higher than that, the face is dramatically thinner, so smash factor is compromised significantly, which reduces the overall distance the ball will fly.
Every one of us, tour players included, knows that maddening shot that we feel a bit high on the face and it doesn’t go anywhere, it’s not your fault.
If your wedges show a wear pattern the size of a silver dollar, and centered above the 3rd or 4th groove, you are not getting anywhere near the same performance from shot to shot. Robot testing proves impact even two to three grooves higher in the face can cause distance loss of up to 35 to 55 feet with modern ‘tour design’ wedges.
In addition, as impact moves above the center of mass, the golf club principle of gear effect causes the ball to fly higher with less spin. Think of modern drivers for a minute. The “holy grail” of driving is high launch and low spin, and the driver engineers are pulling out all stops to get the mass as low in the clubhead as possible to optimize this combination.
Where is all the mass in your wedges? Low. So, disregarding the higher lofts, wedges “want” to launch the ball high with low spin – exactly the opposite of what good wedge play requires penetrating ball flight with high spin.
While almost all major brand wedges have begun putting a tiny bit more thickness in the top portion of the clubhead, conventional and modern ‘tour design’ wedges perform pretty much like they always have. Elite players learn to hit those crisp, spinny penetrating wedge shots by spending lots of practice time learning to consistently make contact low in the face.
So, what about grooves and face texture?
Grooves on any club can only do so much, and no one has any material advantage here. The USGA tightly defines what we manufacturers can do with grooves and face texture, and modern manufacturing techniques allow all of us to push those limits ever closer. And we all do. End of story.
Then there’s the topic of bounce and grinds, the most complex and confusing part of the wedge formula. Many top brands offer a complex array of sole configurations, all of them admittedly specialized to a particular kind of lie or turf conditions, and/or a particular divot pattern.
But if you don’t play the same turf all the time, and make the same size divot on every swing, how would you ever figure this out?
The only way is to take any wedge you are considering and play it a few rounds, hitting all the shots you face and observing the results. There’s simply no other way.
So, hopefully this will inspire a lively conversation in our comments section, and I’ll chime in to answer any questions you might have.
And next week, I’ll dive into the rest of the wedge formula. Yes, shafts, grips and specifications are essential, too.
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doesnotno
Aug 9, 2018 at 8:55 am
An alternate view to the PGA moving to 2nd spot in the majors calendar (and thereby you suggest raising its importance) might be that rather than looking forward to the event as the final major its seen as pretty much indifferent from the regular PGA events that take place in the weeks before and after it and people begin to question why it even has major status. The Masters has Augusta, the US Open has penal setups on classic courses, the Open has British weather and links layouts.
Ask people what the PGA has and I feel most people would tell you ‘last major of the year’.
Ns
Aug 9, 2018 at 11:57 am
and……. you’re an idiot.
The PGA Championships is representative of the PGA and the PGA Tour. That’s why it’s a Major. Always has been, always will be. But to modernize the game, they had to change it from match-play.
If anything, they need this major sometime in October. That would be the way forward, where The Players would be the 5th Major in early summer and the PGA moved to the Fall since there is now a wrap-around season.
doesnotno
Aug 10, 2018 at 8:46 am
Some great ideas there. Oh no, you’re clearly sub-normal.
Greg V
Aug 9, 2018 at 8:50 am
Nice try at Triple Crown. But to leave out the Open Championship, which is the oldest and many would say, the best of the majors, is disingenuous.
Matt
Aug 9, 2018 at 7:30 am
Massive shank, find another term as Triple Crown is already being used in golf as the winner of the US Open, Open Championship and Canadian Open all in the same year. 2 players have done it, Trevino and Woods, there is even a trophy for it.
Ronald Montesano
Aug 9, 2018 at 6:09 am
The term “Grand Slam” came from bridge, and the term “Triple Crown” comes from harness racing. Seems odd that golf wouldn’t have its own term. May in the northeast is very wet, akin to Wales (cough cough Ryder Cup cough cough) in the fall. It can also be cold. Venues like Oak Hill and Bethpage will suffer more than a few days of St. Louis’ weather this week, but they won’t have the summer sun to dry things. Also, ask a superintendent how much easier it is to get the course in shape for a major in May. This might be the way in which southern courses finally get major-championship recognition. I’m not a xenophobe, though, so I think that any focus on an American whatever is pushing the game away from the global direction it needs.
Frankie
Aug 9, 2018 at 2:58 am
Amateurs vs pros in Bobby Jones’ era was completely the opposite from today, it was the amateurs who were better than the pros because pros couldn’t make enough money back then to play golf full-time so they had to work at the golf clubs as teaching pros. In Bobby Jones’ case, he was rich enough to play golf full-time and therefore he was better than all of the pros as an amateur, including Walter Hagen. The perception of amateurs vs pros in early 20th century golf didn’t shift until Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson beat Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward in the Match at Cypress Point in 1956. To deny Jones’ skill of winning the Grand Slam is just blasphemy.
Mike Dowd
Aug 9, 2018 at 7:38 am
Bobby Jones’ accomplishment was one of the greatest, if not the greatest story in the games’ storied History. I was merely pointing out that it was not the same accomplishment as it would be today, and giving nod to the fact that some will feel the two amateur events being a part of his Grand Slam gives it a bit of an asterisk because players like Hagen were excluded. No one will ever accomplish what Jones did again, and so to a degree, I really believe the term should have been retired with him as a testament to that. Even winning two majors a year in today’s game is something that Player of the Year seasons are made of, and that’s why I think we should shift the storyline to something that is at least potentially attainable. Otherwise, it’s just a whole lot of talk for talk’s sake.
Ns
Aug 9, 2018 at 12:01 pm
“it’s just a whole lot of talk for talk’s sake.”
That’s what America is built on. Talk without much substance.
Greg V
Aug 9, 2018 at 8:48 am
Not so. All of the other top 10 finishers in the 1930 US Open were pros. As a matter of fact, pros overtook Amateurs from the very beginning of American golf, as players such as Willie Anderson and Alex Smith were transplant pros from Scotland. Yes, you had Francis Ouimet, Jerry Travers and Chick Evans winning the US Open in the early teens, but after Jones won his 4 US Opens, no amateur has won since.