Tour News
Inbee wins No. 3 at U.S. Women’s Open
If you arrive early or wait until late, you can catch Sebonack in a quiet mood.
She’s beautiful then, turbulent fairways rolling against an apparently flat Great Peconic Bay. The greens match the fairways, with grand surges roiling up from the depths, like the waves of a storm. It’s during the daylight hours when this new-ish golf course shows its teeth, allowing wind and other elements to torment golfers.
Let us not say that Sebonack met its match in a young woman from Korea. Let us not say that Inbee Park “beat this monster,” as Ben Hogan once proclaimed at a long-ago U.S. Open. Let us say, however, that Inbee Park exudes the calm of Sebonack during early morning and late evening hours. Park certainly displayed her serenity during four days that got the better of her counterparts, on the way to her second U.S. Open title and her third-straight major championship victory of 2013.
Let’s qualify that notion: Park exuded confidence when she was on the club’s grounds. During a post-round interview on Sunday, however, she said:
“I was really nervous last night at home. Everywhere I was really nervous, but as soon as I was on the golf course, it somehow made me really feel calm and somehow it really made me concentrate on golf.”
For the record, Park made 18 birdies during four rounds at Sebonack. She finished the tournament at 8-under (a 288 total), four shots adrift of runner-up I.K. Kim. For the record, Park trailed first-round leader Ha-Neul Kim by one stroke on Thursday evening, then took over first place on Friday morning, never relinquishing her hold on the lead. Although she faced no serious challenge on Sunday, Park put the tournament away with birdies on Nos. 9 and 10 to stake herself to a six-stroke advantage.
If you know those horse racing fans who appear from the shadows when a horse wins the first two legs of the Triple Crown — expect to see and hear their golfing counterparts through the beginning of August. It’s then that the British Open, the fourth of five female major championships, will be conducted over the Old Course at St. Andrews. If there’s no weather, Park will be installed as the prohibitive favorite. If there is weather, given her performance at Sebonack over a tempestuous weekend, she will also be installed as the betting-woman’s choice.
There were others at Sebonack that gave chase to Park. Ha-Neul Kim had her struggles, but survived through the weekend and finished in the top 25. Despite an opening 71, world No. 2-ranked Stacy Lewis never found the groove she sought and tied for 42nd place. Perennial U.S. Open contenders Paula Creamer (the 2010 champion) and Angela Stanford finished in a tie for fourth place with Englishwoman Jodi Ewart Shadoff. Brittany Lang and Jessica Korda tied for seventh place, with Shanshan Feng and Brittany Lincicome rounding out the top 10 in a ninth-place tie.
You’ll read other stories about Park’s rise, fall and rise in professional golf. You’ll read about her fiancée and swing coach, and his calming presence in her life. You’ll speculate on Michelle Wie’s withdrawal and the mid-round firing of Jessica Korda’s caddy (click here to read the whole story). And yet, the week’s story can be distilled down to two principal characters, Inbee Park and the Sebonack Golf Club. You know plenty about the former; here’s a bit about the later.
Sebonack is less than 10 years old and is the product of the most unanticipated of partnerships. Owner Michael Pascucci found a way to bring Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak together to design a golf course. This would be akin to Jackson Pollack and Frank Lloyd Wright collaborating on… well, anything. Nicklaus believes in heroic golf shots, triumphant carries over treacherous hazards and other stuff you find on typical pro tour courses. Doak is enraptured with the ground game, the wrinkled, rumpled look of the old countries, and the maddening internal contours of putting surfaces that putt the rolled ball on equal footing with the ones of great and distant flight.
Sebonack exhibits the elements of each noteworthy architect/designer. It has its moments where only a shot with sufficient volitation will win the day. It presents many other scenes in which multiple scenarios reveal themselves to the astute golfer. Inbee Park played glorious high and soft shots into many greens; she also fired low, boring punch shots through the wind, against an inclination that welcomed a purely planned approach.
On a golf course that combined the finest visions of two unique and disparate golfing geniuses, Inbee Park honored both and earned the respect of both with a command performance. It was a grand debut by Sebonack and a tour de force from the top-ranked female player in the world. In one of her final post-round quotes, Inbee Park revealed the champion’s humility for which everyone strives:
“They can beat me, I think. There are so many players who are playing such good golf out here on the LPGA Tour. Yeah, I have been through situations where I thought I wouldn’t beat this person, but just keep working hard and keep looking at your chances and I think you’ll get there.”
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 PGA Championship
GolfWRX is on site this week at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, for the PGA Championship.
While we see fewer equipment changes and new gear seeding at major championships, we get a look at custom gear and looks into the bags of players we rarely see, which is just as exciting. In the case of the PGA Championship, this means a look at the gear some of the PGA Professionals who qualified for the tournament will be gaming, and LIV players, such as Jon Rahm and Patrick Reed.
Check out links to all our albums from Valhalla below and check back throughout the week as we continue to update.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Michael Block – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Patrick Reed – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cam Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Josh Speight – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Takumi Kanaya – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kyle Mendoza – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Adrian Meronk – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jordan Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jeremy Wells – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jared Jones – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Somers – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Larkin Gross – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tracy Phillips – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jon Rahm – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Keita Nakajima – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kazuma Kobori – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- David Puig – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Ryan Van Velzen – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brad Marek – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Chris Gotterup – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rich Beem WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Phil Mickelson – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Matt Dobyns – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Lucas Herbert – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jason Dufner – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Daly – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Taylor Gooch – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Dean Burmester – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Dustin Johnson – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
Pullout Albums
- Ping putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Bettinardi covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cameron putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Max Homa – Titleist 2 wood – 2024 PGA Championship
- Scotty Cameron experimental putter shaft by UST – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – new Ping putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka’s new Cameron putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s Cobra bag and Aerojet driver – 2024 PGA Championship
- Super Stroke grip – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tiger Woods – 2024 PGA Championship
- Michael Block’s new TaylorMade “Proto” 7-iron, from address – 2024 PGA Championship
- Odyssey putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
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News
Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
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
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Keegan Bradley – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Webb Simpson – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Emiliano Grillo – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Taylor Pendrith – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Kevin Tway – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Eric Cole’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matt Kuchar’s custom Bettinardi – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Justin Thomas – driver change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler – putter change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s new custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Tommy Fleetwood testing a TaylorMade Spider Tour X (with custom neck) – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Cobra Darkspeed Volition driver – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
GolfWRX is on site this week in McKinney, Texas, at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson (FKA the AT&T Byron Nelson).
Last year at TPC Craig Ranch, Jason Day ended a five-year winless streak. J-Day is in the field again, as are Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, and Will Zalatoris.
We have our usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums for your perusal. As always, we’ll continue to add links to additional albums as they make their way to us from the Lone Star State.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Pierceson Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kris Kim – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- David Nyfjall – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Adrien Dumont de Chassart – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Jarred Jetter – North Texas PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Richy Werenski – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Wesley Bryan – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Parker Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Peter Kuest – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Blaine Hale, Jr. – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kelly Kraft – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Rico Hoey – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Pullout Albums
- Adam Scott’s 2 new custom L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Scotty Cameron putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Ben Griffin playing Maxfli golf ball
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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Ronald Montesano
Jul 1, 2013 at 6:11 pm
Chuck,
Excellent questions, whose answers I do not know. Perhaps we can dig a bit for you. I’ll ask around. Thanks for commenting…keep reading our stuff!
Ronald Montesano
Jul 1, 2013 at 6:10 pm
LK…there is a perfect tempo for each of us…I’d encourage you to revisit the ex and have some java. Perhaps you’ll find a tempo between the old and the new that works for you. Thanks for commenting…keep reading!
LK
Jul 1, 2013 at 5:24 pm
Great tourney by Inbee, great golf course, great privilege to watch history being made. The ultra-slow back swing is changing golf as we know it. My first swing had this and I used to knock down range yardage signs and then the posts that held up the signs. But I tossed it away for more power and a “manlier” tempo. Maybe it’s time to call up the ex and get coffee.
Ronald Montesano
Jul 1, 2013 at 5:23 pm
Daphne, thank you for your comments. I disagree completely on the notion that Sebonack’s fairways and greens are “horrible tricked up…” If you were there, you noticed that each green had target shelves that top-notch pros can aim at with ease. Traversing those shelves did not prove unfair to the women. As for the fairways, they did not repel good tee shots, but accepted them. While there were many uneven lies, none was drastic nor unfair.
I do agree with your support of Inbee Park…she is playing the best golf on any world tour and will certainly hold our attention into August. Keep reading and voicing your opinion!!
Chuck
Jul 1, 2013 at 1:14 pm
What’s in the bag, of the player who is making more history than anyone on the PGA Tour?
Perhaps I missed a link, after two searches on GolfWRX and one on Google. I see the usual low-grade discussions of the fact that her driver was/is a Dunlop XXI07 and that she has a TaylorMade RBZ hybrid blah blah blah.
That’s like identifying somebody’s car as “a Chevy.”
I want to know what shafts the best female player in the world right now is using. How are they tipped? Swingweights? Gripping? Anything special? Backweighting?
There ought to be a lot more to this story.
Daphne
Jul 1, 2013 at 12:05 pm
forgot to say, while i thought Sebonack was beautiful, the fairways and greens reminded me of horrible tricked up resort courses…terrible golf course, no need to play that one
Daphne
Jul 1, 2013 at 12:03 pm
this woman putts like a borg
i’m happy to be around to witness her play…i’m floored by her play, reminds of tiger’s dominate years…i hope she wins the open, how fitting would it be to the only person to complete the slam at St. Andrews…
Ronald Montesano
Jul 1, 2013 at 9:52 am
KB,
No joke! great course and great swings equal great championship. What struck me was the slow pace of the female pro swing from address to hands-hip-high. Their takeaway is so controlled, allowing them to store energy for a furious lash at the ball. Dudes, take note!!
Thanks for your comments. Keep reading!
KB
Jul 1, 2013 at 8:31 am
This Open was a joy to watch this year…in no small part due to the course. Inbee Park is just wiping out the field. Her swing is similar to Na Yeon Choi and Ai Miyazato…they just make it look effortless.