News
Morning 9: Pondering Presidents Cup captain’s picks | Daly has knee surgery | The Shark’s letter
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By Ben Alberstadt
November 6, 2019 Good Wednesday morning, golf fans.
**Just a reminder we’re looking for advertisers for 2020. Drop me a line if you’d like to talk about getting your message in front of the M9 readership.**
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1. Presidents Cup captain’s picks on the way
Golfweek’s Adam Woodard on who captain Woods should select (he picks tomorrow), and Brooks Koepka adding a wrinkle to the process…”There’s a legitimate case to be made for a handful of players, and earlier this week my colleague Steve DiMeglio put himself in Woods’ shoes and made the following four selections: Woods, Gary Woodland, Patrick Reed and Tony Finau. That leaves newlywed Rickie Fowler, who has made two Presidents Cup appearances with a 4-3-1 record, riding the pine pony.”
2. And on the International side…
Golf Channel’s Will Gray breaks down the contenders…
The Lock…“Jason Day: The former world No. 1 barely missed out on qualifying automatically, and he has played in every Presidents Cup dating back to 2011. Day is a logical selection with the matches taking place in his native Australia, and with four rookies already on the team his veteran leadership will be an asset in the team room. Although he only has one top-10 finish since the Masters, he’s as close to a slam-dunk pick as you can find.”
3. Surgery for Daly
Golf Digest’s Joel Beall with the report on JD’s knee replacement…”At this year’s A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, Daly confirmed he has bi-compartmental degenerative arthritis in his right knee, a condition that requires a knee replacement. “The doctor says it’s got to be done,” Daly said.”
4. Speaketh Rory
Our Gianni Magliocco…”On Tiger Woods’ recent win at the Zozo Championship, McIlroy expressed his surprise at how Woods was able to win the event after seeing his game up-close at the Japan Skins match the previous Monday and also heaped praise on the 15-time major champion’s victory.”
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5. Chris Kirk
Excellent stuff from Helen Ross chronicling Chris Kirk’s issues with/decision to give up drinking.
6. Well earned
Adam Schupack for Golfweek…”Barbara Nicklaus exemplifies what the words ‘giving back’ truly means,” said PGA president Suzy Whaley.
7. Greg Norman’s note, revealed
Credit to Geoff Shackelford for tracking this down! (Satire!)
8. “The most visually stunning course I’ve seen”
Alan Shipnuck with high praise for Cape Wickham…”The course now stands as one of golf’s ultimate pilgrimages, sited on the craggy headlands of King Island, a tiny speck halfway between Melbourne and Tasmania. (Commercial and charter flights are available out of Melbroune). There are only 1,500 people on the island but in 2013 the population spiked when Mike DeVries and his family lived there for six months. In partnership with Aussie Darius Oliver, this innocent abroad conjured a modern masterpiece.”
9. USGA and R&A launch new World Handicap System for 2020 Our Gianni Magliocco…”The new World Handicap System (WHS) will launch in January 2020, which seeks to provide golfers with a unified and more inclusive handicapping system for the very first time.”
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News
Tour Rundown: Malnati’s 2nd, Korda rebounds
March has brought out the lion as the month draws to a close. An early spring fortnight brought dreams of golf for the northern states until Mother Nature shrieked a veil of snow across those emerald fairways. Fortunately for golf, the sun shined bright and warm across a fair part of the links landscape, and events in Singapore, the Yucatan, California, and Florida, went off as planned. We hold our breath when champion golfers rise to the occasion in grand slam events. For the Malnatis, Feaglers, and Svenssons of the golfverse, every week is a major opportunity. In honor of their efforts, let’s begin this week’s Tour Rundown with a flying beast seen rarely outside the southern oceans: the albatross
ALBATROSS FOR @ROBBY_SHELTON!
Are you kidding?! ? pic.twitter.com/UzNOQQHkqo
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 24, 2024
PGA Tour @ Valspar: Malnati earns second tour title
Keith Mitchell played 54 great holes from Thursday to Saturday in Florida and played two more great ones on Sunday. It was the eight rotten holes on day four that cost him nine shots and dropped him from first to 17th in one round. Mitchell looked like a man poised to collect his first tour title, until his Sunday malaise. His struggles cleared the way for a number of challengers to move up the board. The tournament was won at 12-under par, but eight players finished within four shots of that lead.
Four shots are not a lot to make up on the Copperhead golf course at Innisbrook. Adam Hadwin, Carly Yuan, Xander Schauffele, and Ryan Moore finished on 276 strokes, four back fo the leader and tied for fifth. Mackenzie Hughes and Chandler Phillips finished one shot lower, at 275 strokes, in a tie for third spot. The runner-up spot was claimed by Cameron Young, perhaps the most talented player on tour without a win. Young was spectacular all week, never leaving the 60s.
Late in the round, Peter Malnati posted his fifth birdie of the day, at the difficult 17th. His tee ball from 200 yards settled six feet from the hole, and he guided the putt home. Ahead of him, on the uphill 18th, Young flew his drive far left but was able to loft an approach onto the green. His first putt, from 50-ish feet, came up woefully short and his attempt to save par was wide of its mark. Despite a drive into the left fairway bunker at the last, Malnati was able to recover to the green in two and coax a 25-feet approach put to tap in range. The victory was Malnati’s first since 2015, and his second overall.
Another birdie for @PeterMalnati ?
He holes the solo lead with one to play @ValsparChamp. pic.twitter.com/plqKr3dvm1
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 24, 2024
LPGA @ Se Ri Pak Championship: Korda rebounds for overtime win
During the first week of March Madness, maddening things happened on and off the hardwood. For Nelly Korda, the eagle she collected with five holes to play, should have given her momentum and confidence. Instead, it took her in the opposite direction. She found bogies at 15, 17, and 18, and it was only a saving birdie at the 16th that allowed her entry into a playoff with Ryann O’Toole. The pair returned to the 18th tee, and Korda once again managed to reverse fortune.
After the eagle, Korda strode at 11-under par, while her closest pursuers were a solid handful behind. At that juncture, O’Toole snared birdies at 15 and 16, and closed with pars at 17 and 18. She waited 45 minutes for Korda to finish, certainly uncertain as to her chances for more golf. In the playoff, both golfers hit stellar approach shots to the home green, with Korda about four feet inside O’Toole. The UCLA alumna missed her run at birdie, but Korda’s aim was true. The victory was her 10th on tour and her second of the 2024 campaign.
Two gorgeous approaches from @RyannOToole and @NellyKorda ?
This is gonna be a close one! pic.twitter.com/tKIZyRNxZd
— LPGA (@LPGA) March 24, 2024
DP World Tour @ Singapore Classic: That’s Svensson with three S’s
Svenson and its variations must be somewhat similar to the name Smith across the English-speaking world. Your father was a guy named Sven, so they didn’t think too long before giving you a last name. Jesper Svensson must be relieved: coming from a long line of Svens (hence the double S in the middle) his parents strayed from the norm and went all in on Jesper. This week in Singapore (which might be renamed Ssingapore for a bit) Jesper, son of Svenss, took down a guy that the golf world was all in on, just a decade ago.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat has a fun name to pronunce, at least for filologists. Back in the 2010s, he was a rising star, bound for glory. He collected four wins on the DP World Tour, from 2015 to 2018. Then, inexplicably, he went away. The Thai golfer made his return to our collective view in 2024 and came within a whisper of collectin win number five on Europe’s tour. Aphibarnrat opened and closed the event with rounds of 64, and normally, those fireworks would have sufficed to ice the trophy. Then came a guy named Jesper, son of Svenss.
Despite three bogies on his Sunday card, Svensson amassed eight birdies and two eagles and posted 63. This indiscrete round was enough to earn him a spot in a playoff with Aphibarnrat. The duo returned thrice to the 18th tee, and things appeared to worsen with each voyage. After having the hole with birdies in trip one, the pair managed pars in trip two, then a par and bogey in trip three. Just like that, the tournament had reached a conclusion, and Jesper Svensson the golfer will now threaten Jesper Svensson the bowler’s hold on Wiki searches. Enjoy one of his approach shots for eagle during round four.
A shot worthy of any champion ??#PorscheSingaporeClassicpic.twitter.com/apNudYeFkl
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 24, 2024
Korn Ferry Tour @ Bupa: Feagler stands tall after playoff
The KFT event along the Mexican Riviera began day four in the hands of an Argentine golfer. Nelson Ledesma appeared worthy of the title, until he endured a thousand small cuts, on his way to a closing 81. He dropped from 1st to 31st and didn’t just open the door for his chasers. He took out two or three walls and exposed the entire barn for all to enter.
The PGA Riviera Maya course played a stout, 7200 yards this week, and its defenses were apparent for all who came to compete. The week’s low round of 65 came on Thursday, and was redeemed by Jesus Montenegro, He soared ten shots higher on day two but would steady himself enough to finish in a seventh-place tie. With 66 on Thursday, Davis Shore found himself in contention, and he would remain until closing time. As the challenges increased, scores headed north and rounds of 76 and 74 would ultimately be found on the scorecards of the men who tied at the top.
Shore posted a 76 on day three, while Clay Feagler signed for a 74. On Sunday, as Ledesma was tumbling, both Shore and Feagler marched toward a 4-under-par total. They edged past Julian Etulain and tied for the pole position. Off to extra time they went, but three trips over the 436-yard 18th resolved nothing. Each golfer posted par-bogey-par, and the playoff moved to the 10th tee for its conclusion. There, Feagler made another bogey, but Shore went one worse. Unable to avoid double bogey, Davis Shore was relegated to runner-up status, and Clay Feagler collected a shield for his first Korn Ferry Tour title.
PGA Tour Champions @ Hoag Classic: Six seniors for Padraig
If any man could ever match Bernhard Langer’s 46 wins on Tour Champions, he would certainly have many of the characteristics of Padraig Harrington. The reason he won’t is his heavy investment in a wider reach of golf. Harrington captained the European Ryder Cup side in 2021, a venture that consumes close to two years of a golfer’s attention. After turning 50, Harrington continued to play the PGA Tour, mixing in Tour Champions appearances when time allowed. The Irish golfer has also become a YouTube favorite, offering advice and wisdom to those who wish to improve at the game. In other words, he lacks Langer’s laser focus on one task: winning titles.
That’s quite all right because when Padraig Harrington is on his game, wins come his way. They are rarely runaway victories, and this enhances his reputation for performing at the wire. This week in California, Harrington managed to close out Thongchai Jaidee in a most un-Harrington-esque manner. The lad from Dublin closed birdie-double-birdie-birdie, and this was enough to hold off the champion from Thailand by one.
The double at 16 was Harrington’s second of the day. A pair of doubles is welcome in no poker hand, yet Harrington found a way to overcome. The win was his sixth on Tour Champions. With a pair of playoff losses on the senior circuit, Harrington was fortunate to conclude matters in regulation time.
Paddy is clutch!@Padraig_H bounces back from a double bogey on 16 with a birdie on 17 to tie the lead @HoagClassic ? pic.twitter.com/pYaIamtSN8
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) March 24, 2024
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Morning 9: Streelman leads Valspar | Woods in for Masters | Callaway on sale rumors
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Morning 9: Scheffler’s 65% top-10 finish rate | Monahan: Constructive Monday PIF meeting | Hal Sutton alive and well
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underachiever
Nov 6, 2019 at 3:46 pm
There go Daly’s chances of being picked for the Presidents Cup