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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Donald W Ciriacks
Jun 15, 2019 at 11:35 am
oohh….so Fox is now covering golf?? (sarcasm)
Krooks
Jun 13, 2019 at 12:29 pm
Go easy on the harsh comments. Brooks might see this and get his feelings hurt.
bruce
Jun 13, 2019 at 8:48 am
if Koepka wants to be marketable and on promos he might want to try to stop being such a huge dousche
James
Jun 13, 2019 at 12:37 am
Let’s try a different perspective. If Tiger Woods was going for 3 Opens in a row, every news story and every sentence spoken on network would be about Tiger. When he won the Masters, every…. single….. story on Golf Digest website was Tiger Woods for 3 days.
Boring.
Crusher
Jun 12, 2019 at 10:58 pm
Yah, well Fox Sports isn’t exactly the first name in golf. In fact, their US Open coverage has stunk. With the USGA homers Curtis Strange and Paul Azinger kissing butt of the USGA during their poor rulings decisions and the fact that they would be the 2 biggest whiners in golf if they had to play under past USGA conditions, I don’t blame BK for being miffed. But hey, another BK win this weekend and he can tell Fox Sports to shove it and get back to covering Football. Also, Fox Sports the biggest wast of Holly Saunders talent. She has to realize she isn’t going anywhere with that network covering football. Heck, Amanda Balionis is a bigger household name then Holly now because of golf.
Just a thought
Jun 12, 2019 at 8:29 pm
Probably doesnt help that he is one of if not THE most boring people in golf (or in the world). Hard to get excited about someone who shows ZERO emotion. A blank stare doesnt sell much. When ever you see commercials with Tiger in them it usually has a shot of his excitement.
JThunder
Jun 12, 2019 at 8:15 pm
I have to agree with Brooks – he’s going for 3 US Opens in a row, 2 majors in a row… He should be a prime topic on all Open promo. This is why golf loses when Tiger is not around – no one bothers to tell ALL the other stories going on. If Tiger had that record coming in, it would be the talk 24/7 since the PGA.
Fox golf coverage is the worst on TV by a wide, wide margin. I can’t even watch with the sound on. It’s like the whole crew has never seen a tournament before – where the cameras are pointed, who they cut to, the announcers… No surprise that they don’t know who Brooks is.
Dan
Jun 12, 2019 at 1:57 pm
Like jim or not it’s amazing how little respect he gets considering he’s won 4 majors, 2 being the last 2 US Opens
Chris
Jun 12, 2019 at 5:37 pm
Probably because he plays lousy on non major weeks
James
Jun 12, 2019 at 1:36 pm
Not a wh*re for the media has consequences. Good riddance. Fox is owned by Disney anyway. Nothing but grown children with scripted talking points.
BD
Jun 12, 2019 at 12:53 pm
I really hope he doesn’t win. Talk about a prima donna.
n
Jun 12, 2019 at 12:42 pm
Imagine suggesting someone should be fired because you weren’t in all of one broadcaster’s commercials, madness. I like Koepka, but he’s starting to get a bit much now and he’s not doing himself any favours.
overachiever
Jun 12, 2019 at 4:17 pm
+1
NTL
Jun 12, 2019 at 12:06 pm
He has to find something to get him motivated. 3 of the 4 fox commercials he was in an he is complaining???
Gunter Eisenberg
Jun 12, 2019 at 11:59 am
Brooks Koepka is the Rodney Dangerfield of golf…he gets no respect.
atj
Jun 12, 2019 at 5:25 pm
hahaha nice!
JL1127
Jun 12, 2019 at 11:32 am
I swear he’s been getting salty as of late… I get it, don’t get me wrong, but how does being in US Open promos help you win? Do you want to win or do you want to be in commercials? Yes, you can be in both, but if you’re not in the promos then just focus on winning the tourney
John
Jun 12, 2019 at 11:30 am
What an ego maniac. No wonder no one cares about him.
BJ
Jun 12, 2019 at 10:20 am
Is that a shot at Phil?