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GolfWRX Morning 9: A gray-haired resurgance | McGinley calls out McIlroy

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5 years ago

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By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected])

November 15, 2018

Good Thursday morning, golf fans.
1. A gray-haired resurgence
Matt Kuchar and Lee Westwood winning again had Shane Ryan looking back at recent 30-and-40 something winners this fall – the long(er) in the tooth have triumphed late in the year.
  • “Fall officially begins in the northern hemisphere on Sept. 22, and on that Saturday, 42-year-old Tiger Woods shot a 65 in the Tour Championship to propel himself to the top of the leader board. The very next day, he finally broke his five-year winning drought and raised a trophy on the PGA Tour. Simultaneously, 38-year-old Justin Rose secured the FedEx Cup title and the $10 million bonus.”
  • “If we were paying attention, we would have seen the signs: After a spring and summer of Koepka and Reed and DeChambeau, the gray-hairs were making a resurgence.
  • “Next came the Ryder Cup, where an extremely experienced European team taught the brash youngsters a lesson. Along with Bjorn’s vintage picks, 35-year-old Francesco Molinari was the undisputed star, becoming just the second man in the modern era to earn five points for his team.”
  • “A few weeks later, at Valderrama, the 38-year-old Garcia shook off the bad memories from a miserable year on the PGA Tour to win his first tournament of 2018, and just his second since his Masters triumph 18 months earlier.”
2. Communication problems
New U.S. Ryder Cup goal: communication.
Rex Hoggard at Golf Channel…”Following the U.S. Ryder Cup team’s victory at the 2016 matches, then-captain Davis Love III credited a new system of organization that mirrored that used by USA Basketball. Love and this year’s captain Jim Furyk used those lessons as they prepared for September’s matches, and on Wednesday at the RSM Classic, Love said that learning curve will continue after the U.S. team’s seven-point loss in Paris.”
‘”I just think we need to communicate a little bit better as a team,” said Love, one of Furyk’s vice captains in Paris. “That doesn’t mean just the captains or just the players. I think we need to get to know each other even better and communicate a little bit better so little frustrations don’t turn into problems.””
3. OWGR
Rex Hoggard on OWGR problems and why they’ll persist.
  • “Brooks Koepka moved back into the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking from his couch on Monday, and depending on a variety of scenarios this week at the Dunlop Phoenix event in Japan where the three-time major champion is playing, he could be overtaken by Justin Rose … who is spending this week on his couch.”
  • “The world rankings are golf’s version of the College Football Playoffs – confusing at times, arbitrary at others and even polarizing. But it’s not Koepka and Rose’s game of musical chairs atop the list that’s most compelling.”
  • “The frontmen for the world’s two most high-profile tours also appear to be taking a long look at the math and madness of the rankings, at least if current comments are any indication.
  • “Two weeks ago at the Turkish Airlines Open, European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley was asked about his circuit’s relationship with Rolex, which is the title sponsor of the tour’s eight Rolex Series events. That Pelley’s response drifted into an examination of the OWGR was telling.”

Full piece.

4. LPGA pros step up
Beth Ann Nichols writes…”Tiffany Joh saw a need and rallied her fellow tour players to respond. Joh read on Facebook that the parents of JaNae Rhodes, one of the LPGA’s physical therapists, lost everything they own in the Camp Fire that has devastated California….Joh shareda GoFundMe page on Twitter that Rhodes’ husband had created.”
  • “Apparently her parents are in the Northern California area that was affected by the Camp Fire and literally just escaped with the shirts on their backs,” said Joh, whose own San Diego home is under extreme watch.”
  • “I don’t have a huge social media following, but I feel like I’m friends with people that do.”
  • “Jane Park retweeted Joh’s note, pledging to donate $20 for every birdie she makes at this week’s CME Group Tour Championship and asked if any other players wanted to join. Azahara Munoz jumped on board, and Paige Spiranac said she’d match Park’s donation.”
5. McGinley disappointed in McIlroy
One of emerging elder statesmen of European golf is predictably unhappy with Rory McIlroy’s announcement that he won’t be playing muchon the European Tour next year.
  • Said MgGinley...”It’s very disappointing…”I’ve been racking my brains wondering how that can be.
  • “Obviously Rory sees it in other ways and has got his own rationale for that, although I’m finding it hard to understand,” added McGinley, who will succeed the 29-year-old as the Irish Open’s tournament host at next year’s event in Lahinch.”
  • “Of the 12 players that represented Europe in the Ryder Cup this year, Rory is the only one who is going to do that and the others have all signed up to play the minimum of four events outside of the majors and WGCs.”
  • “We’ve already reduced the number of events players have to play on the European Tour from five down to four, just to make it easy for the guys, like Rory, who are playing a worldwide schedule.”
  • “It is right at the very minimum at the moment and the European Tour don’t feel that four is huge task to meet.”
6. More folk tales of Cameron Champ
Steve DiMeglio at USA Today…
A morsel…”This guy was Cameron Champ – there’s a name straight out of Madison Avenue – and Wagner watched intently on the tee of the 447-yard par-4 that was playing into the wind on a chilly day.”
  • “My jaw just dropped,” Wagner said. “That hole is not as short and easy as he made it look. He probably had a sand wedge in and I had a 6-iron into the green. Such impressive ball flight, such impressive length. I’ve never seen anybody flight and control a driver as he did that day.
  • “He’s fit, he’s young, he’s flexible and he’s strong as a bull.”
  • “The legend of Champ is ever growing, an eye-popping yarn of a 6-0, 175-pound, 23-year-old who sports a 32-inch waist, 129 mph swing speed and 190 mph ball speed. In a game that features Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and many other bombers, Champ might be the longest of them all.”
7. Line ’em up no more
Golf Channel’s Randall Mell...”If you’re an LPGA fan and never liked seeing caddies line up players before a shot or putt, you can rejoice.”
  • “This week’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship marks the last time you will have to endure it.
  • “When the LPGA resumes play in its season opener at the Diamond Resort Tournament of Championship next January, the new Rules of Golf forbidding caddies from aligning players will be in effect.”
Praise the golf gods.
8. Match beginnings
Dave Shedloski fleshed out the origin story of The Match in an excellent piece.
  • “The concept for The Match began with a hypothetical question between two Hollywood friends, CAA’s Jack Whigham, the agency’s co-head of motion picture talent, and one of his clients, Bryan Zuriff, a producer whose credits include the film, “Jobs,” and the Showtime series “Ray Donovan.””
  • “Zuriff, a golf enthusiast who was a huge fan of “The Skins Game” that used to occupy Thanksgiving weekend, is that creative type who has a million ideas running through his mind at all hours. Apparently, some are quite good, including a new Showtime limited series, “Escape At Dannemora,” starring Benicio del Toro and directed by Ben Stiller (the latter who might make an appearance on the pre-game show). His rough conceptualization for The Match got this ball rolling.”
  • “He called and asked me, How crazy is this?“ Whigham recalled. “I said, Probably too crazy.
  • “Basically, we started thinking, Wouldn’t it be cool if there were a golf match that was played the way a lot of us play with our buddies on the weekends? You know, where you bet on everything and talk smack and basically have this continually running dialogue of, pardon the expression, giving each other shit.”
9. Still work to be done to Save Muny
Geoff Shackelford notes that the imperiled Lions Municipal is still very much imperiled.
  • “The University of Texas Board of Regents and legislators who hold the future of Lions Municipal apparently need to be reminded again that a lot of people care about Austin’s gem of a public golf facility.”
  • “This Thursday they vote on whether to extend the Brackenridge Tract Agreement deadline for canceling the Muny Golf Course lease. An extension is needed to allow the state of Texas and City of Austin to continue negotiations on Saving Muny and the Brackenridge Tract.”
Shackelford directs readers to a form letter on Save Muny Instagram, which you can find here.
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Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

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3 hours ago

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May 7, 2024

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GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.

From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.

Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.

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SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips

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1 day ago

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May 6, 2024

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SuperStroke announced today its purchase of 100-year-old grip maker Lamkin Grips, citing the company’s “heritage of innovation and quality.”

“It is with pride and great gratitude that we announce Lamkin, a golf club grip brand with a 100-year history of breakthrough design and trusted products, is now a part of the SuperStroke brand,” says SuperStroke CEO Dean Dingman. “We have always had the utmost respect for how the Lamkin family has put the needs and benefits of the golfer first in their grip designs. If there is a grip company that is most aligned with SuperStroke’s commitment to uncompromised research, design, and development to put the most useful performance tools in the hands of golfers, Lamkin has been that brand. It is an honor to bring Lamkin’s wealth of product innovation into the SuperStroke family.”

Elver B. Lamkin founded the company in 1925 and produced golf’s first leather grips. The company had been family-owned and operated since that point, producing a wide array of styles, such as the iconic Crossline.

According to a press release, “The acquisition of Lamkin grows and diversifies SuperStroke’s proven and popular array of grip offerings with technology grounded in providing golfers optimal feel and performance through cutting-edge design and use of materials, surface texture and shape.”

CEO Bob Lamkin will stay on as a board member and will continue to be involved with the company.

“SuperStroke has become one of the most proven, well-operated, and pioneering brands in golf grips and we could not be more confident that the Lamkin legacy, brand, and technology is in the best of hands to continue to innovate and lead under the guidance of Dean Dingman and his remarkably capable team,” Lamkin said.

Related: Check out our 2014 conversation with Bob Lamkin, here: Bob Lamkin on the wrap grip reborn, 90 years of history

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Tour Rundown: Pendrith, Otaegui, Longbella, and Dunlap soar

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1 day ago

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May 6, 2024

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Take it from a fellow who coaches high school golf in metro Toronto: there’s plenty of great golf played in the land of the maple leaf. All the greats have designed courses over the USA border: Colt, Whitman, Ross, Coore, Mackenzie, Doak, as well as the greatest of the land, Stanley Thompson. I’m partial to him, because he wore my middle name with grandeur. Enough about the architecture, because this week’s Tour Rundown begins with a newly-minted, Canadian champion on the PGA Tour. Something else that the great white north is known for, is weather. It impacted play on three of the world’s tours, forcing final-round cancellations on two of them.

It was an odd week in the golf world. The LPGA and the Korn Ferry were on a break, and only 13/15 of the rounds slated, were played. In the end, we have four champions to recognize, so let’s not delay any longer with minutiae about the game that we love. Let’s run it all down with this week’s Tour Rundown.

PGA Tour: TP takes TS at Byron’s place

The 1980s was a decade when a Canadian emergence was anticipated on the PGA Tour. It failed to materialize, but a path was carved for the next generation. Mike Weir captured the Masters in 2003, but no other countrymen joined him in his quest for PGA Tour conquest. 2024 may herald the long-awaited arrival of a Canadian squad of tour winners. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Nick Taylor break the fifty-plus year dearth of homebred champions at the Canadian Open, and players like Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Adam Svennson, and Mackenzie Hughes have etched their names into the PGA Tour’s annals of winners.

This week, Taylor Pendrith joined his mates with a one-shot win at TPC Craig Ranch, the home of the Byron Nelson Classic. Pendrith took a lead into the final round and, while the USA’s Jake Knapp faltered, held on for the slimmest of victories. Sweden’s Alex Noren posted six-under 65 on Sunday to move into third position, at 21-under par. Ben Kohles, a Texan, looked to break through for his first win in his home state. He took the lead from Pendrith at the 71st hole, on the strength of a second-consecutive birdie.

With victory in site, Kohles found a way to make bogey at the last, without submerging in the fronting water. His second shot was greenside, but he could not move his third to the putting surface. His fourth was five feet from par and a playoff, but his fifth failed to drop. Meanwhile, Pendrith was on the froghair in two, and calmly took two putts from 40 feet, for birdie. When Kohles missed for par, Pendrith had, at last, a PGA Tour title.

DP World Tour: China Open in Otaegui’s hands after canceled day four

It wasn’t the fourth round that was canceled in Shenzhen, but the third. Rains came on Saturday to Hidden Grace Golf Club, ensuring that momentum would cease. Sunday would instead be akin to a motorsports restart, with no sense of who might claim victory. Sebastian Soderberg, the hottest golfer on the Asian Swing, held the lead, but he would slip to a 72 on Sunday, and tie for third with Paul Waring and Joel Girrbach. Italy’s Guido Migliozzi completed play in 67 strokes on day three, moving one shot past the triumvirate, to 17-under par.

It was Spain’s Adrian Otaegui who persevered the best and played the purest. Otaegui was clean on the day, with seven birdies for 65. Even when Migliozzi ceased the lead at the 10th, Otaegui remained calm. With everything on the line, Migliozzi made bogey at the par-five 17th, as his principal competitor finished in birdie. To the Italian’s credit, he bounced back with birdie at the last, to claim solo second. The victory was Otaegui’s fifth on the DP World Tour, and first since October of 2022.

PGA Tour Americas: Quito’s rains gift title to Longbella

Across the world, superintendents and their staffs will do anything to prepare a course for play. Even after fierce, nightime rains, the Quito TG Club greeted the first four groups on Sunday. The rains worsened after 7 am, however, and the tour was forced to abort the final round of play. With scores reverting to Saturday’s numbers, Thomas Longbella’s one-shot advantage over Gunn Yang turned into a Tour Americas victory.

64 held the opening-day lead, and Longbella was not far off, with 66. Yang jumped to the top on day two, following a67 with 66. He posted 68 on day three, and anticipated a fierce, final-round duel for the title. As for Longbella, he fought off a ninth-hole bogey on Saturday with six birdies and a 17th-hole eagle. That rare bird proved to be the winning stroke, allowing Longbella to edge past Yang, and secure ultimate victory.

PGA Tour Champions: Dunlap survives Saturday stumble for win

Scott Dunlap did not finish Saturday as well as he might have liked. After beginning play near Houston with 65, Dunlap made two bogeys in his final found holes on day two, to finish at nine-under par. Hot on his heels was Joe Durant, owner of a March 2024 win on PGA Tour Champions. Just behind Durant was Stuart Appleby, perhaps vibing from his Sunday 59 at Greenbrier on this day in 2010. Neither would have a chance to track Dunlap down.

The rains that have forced emergency responders into action, to save hundreds of lives in the metro Houston area, ended hopes for a third day of play at The Woodlands. Dunlap had won once previously on Tour Champions, in 2014 in Washington state. Ten years later, Dunlap was the fortunate recipient of a canceled final round, and his two days of play were enough to earn him TC victory number two.

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