News

The golf of my dreams in Afghanistan

Published

12 years ago

Feb 20, 2012

GolfWRX Staff

By Josh Knight

GolfWRX Contributor

I am lucky enough to live in a state, South Carolina, where golf can usually be played year round. Although February, the temperature has been surprisingly warm and perfect for a few rounds of golf. Unfortunately, while my buddies are out playing golf weekly, I am sitting in Afghanistan counting the days until my next round can be played.

For the past couple months I have been in Afghanistan deployed as a member of the United States Air Force. At first I didn’t really miss all the golf I had played leading up to my departure, but the clock has since seemed to stop moving. A few months of flying in and out of the same places and the mind starts to roam. Of course, I have the internet to check scores and get on GolfWRX, but it doesn’t completely fill the void. My wife is nice enough to send me my golf subscriptions when they show up in our mailbox, but they are usually read cover to cover in a day or so. Multiple golf books have arrived, been conquered and stashed away (I finished “Paper Tiger” in less than 2 days). I’ve got Tiger Woods video game, but you can only drive the ball 400+ yards so many times before it gets old.One thing I do have an abundance of over here is time to think. So, to pass the time I resort to the only golf I remember and play rounds in my head. I am one of those golfers that thinks he can hit all the shots, I just can’t put it together on the golf course. I always end up confused on how that “should-of-been-an-80” turned into a 100. Sometimes I replay the good rounds I’ve shot or maybe just a few holes. I have a few of the local courses memorized enough that I can play a round or two while trying to fall asleep. The game seems so easy at this point, hitting fairways and greens, how difficult could it be and why I am not always playing this good? I even card a bogey from time to time just to keep it realistic. Perhaps an incoming mortar attack disturbs my swing on a par 5, or my roommate starts snoring right as I am about to putt, not the normal golf course distractions but they do get my attention. I’m not going for the course record, just trying to shoot even par for the millionth time in my head.

While I’m playing imaginary golf or reading equipment reviews thinking about all the new clubs I want to buy, I wonder how does everyone else pass the time between the golf seasons? Come next winter I will not have this problem again, but what does everyone else do? How do you not go crazy?

I really hope that all this mental visualization will pay off when I get home next month. I’ve hit that first tee shot so many times, how can I not find that fairway next month? Usually I am asleep way before No. 18, but with all birdies I card on the front nine who needs to practice the last few. Honestly, I’ll probably write down triple digits on that first scorecard, but at least I will be on a golf course.

Click here for more discussion in the “General Golf Talk” forum

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Morning 9: Cantlay hat deal runs out | Ryder Cup pros defend Zach | Stats of the year

Published

5 days ago

Nov 22, 2023

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: [email protected]

Good Wednesday morning, golf fans, as we approach Thanksgiving Day.

1. Pat’s hat

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”According to DealBook, Goldman Sachs opted not to renew its contract with Cantlay, the world’s fifth-ranked golfer, who it signed to a three-year deal in 2020. Cantlay initially repped Goldman’s online consumer banking platform, Marcus, on his headwear but more recently has featured just the Goldman name.”

“…This, of course, isn’t the first news about Pat’s hat. Cantlay made headlines a couple months ago when rumors swirled that he was refusing to wear a hat at the Ryder Cup out of protest for not being paid to compete in the international team competition. Cantlay denied the claims, instead saying that he wasn’t donning a hat because the team’s headwear didn’t fit well.”

“Cantlay also was supposed to play the Hero World Challenge in two weeks in the Bahamas, but he was taken off the final commitment list along with friend Xander Schauffele.”

Full piece.

2. LPGA stats of the year

Kent Paisley for Golf Digest…

“83,962…Approximate total mileage between all 35 LPGA events this season, including the Hanwha LifePlus International Crown in San Francisco and the Solheim Cup in Spain. For a frame of reference, that dizzying amount is three trips around the earth’s circumference (or almost six times as far as Forest Gump ran during his five-time trip across the United States).”

“25.95…The average age, in years, of winners on the LPGA in 2023, down from 27.32 in 2022. Only two players 30 or older won this year, with Ashleigh Buhai (34.08) at the ShopRite LPGA Classic alongside Yang (34.31). The youngest winner was Alexa Pano, who turned 19 the day she claimed the title at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in August. Pano was one of two teens to win in 2023, joining Chanetee Wanassean at the Cambia Portland Classic.”

Full piece.

3. Smith’s Olympic hopes

Evin Priest for Golf Digest…”Cameron Smith has conceded he may have to travel to the far corners of Asia in 2024 to keep his dreams of playing golf in next summer’s Olympics in Paris alive.”

“One of the consequences of Smith’s 2022 defection to LIV Golf—which had its application to receive Official World Golf Rankings points for its no-cut, 54-hole events denied in October—has been his plummet down the OWGR. The problem is, the Olympics uses the OWGR as a basis to determine who qualifies to compete in its event.”

“When Australian star Smith joined LIV in the fall of 2022, he was ranked No. 2 in the World and the reigning Open champion with six-time PGA Tour winner to his credit. Now, he’s 18th—and only after a runner-up the previous week in the Asian Tour’s Hong Kong Open.”

Full piece.

4. Hubbard sets mark for most starts in a season

Golf Digest’s Tod Leonard…”As strange as it is to consider, the PGA Tour campaign that ended on Sunday at the RSM Classic stretched all the way back to the first round of the Fortinet Championship on Sept. 15, 2022. Over that entire period, there were 51 weeks in which tour events were staged, sometimes with two being held per week.”

“That is an incredibly long “season,” one that was necessitated by the tour tweaking its schedule in ways big and small, and ultimately going back to a calendar-year schedule that begins in 2024.”

“…That all fed straight into the insatiable desire to play and travel for tour veteran Mark Hubbard. So much so, that the 34-year-old set a PGA Tour record for the most events played in one season as Hubbard racked up a whopping 39 starts over 15 months.”

Full piece.

5. PGA Tour stats of the year

Justin Ray for PGATour.com…

“Rahm’s improved approach play…”Through the first several months of 2023, there was nobody playing better golf than Jon Rahm. At The Sentry, Rahm put together the biggest final-round comeback to win of the season, starting that Sunday seven shots off the lead. When Rahm won his third tournament of the season at The Genesis Invitational, it was the fastest in a calendar year that a player had won three times since Johnny Miller in 1975.”

“Rahm brought that incredible form with him to Georgia in April for the year’s first major championship. With his victory there, Rahm became the first European player to win both the U.S. Open and the Masters. Not that the week got off to the best start – the Spaniard made double-bogey on the opening hole of the tournament, becoming the first player to do that the week of a Masters win since Sam Snead in 1952. It helped to have one of the best ball striking performances in the history of the Tournament: Rahm hit 85 percent of his fairways and 72 percent of his greens in regulation, benchmarks not dually reached by a Masters winner since Ben Crenshaw in 1995.”

Full Piece.

6. Rory, Shane, Luke and MJ

AP report…”The Ryder Cup celebration didn’t end in Rome, at least not for Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy.”

“In the second part of an interview with The Irish Independent, they talk about their flight home to South Florida and then McIlroy inviting Lowry over for lunch the next day. A bottle of wine was opened. And then another. And lunch turned into dinner.”

“Captain Luke Donald soon joined them, as did Michael Jordan.”

“Rory and Luke started texting him, and the next thing we’re sitting there drinking with Michael Jordan, just the four of us,” Lowry said. “He’s very much a pro-USA guy. I think it was the first Ryder Cup he hadn’t been to in 25 years, so we gave him a good slagging.”

“McIlroy said Jordan stayed from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Among the topics: Pay for play, of course.”

“He told a story about the U.S. basketball team, the Dream Team at the Olympics in ’92. ‘Do you not think I could have got paid to play in the Olympics?’” he said. ”‘These people are missing the point of what it means.’

“He saw the long-term value of winning an Olympics, and said he ended up doing way better than if he had taken money there and then.”

Full Piece.

7. Ryder Cup pros jump to defense of Zach

Tom D’Angelo for Palm Beach Post…”Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele spoke to The Palm Beach Post last Friday about the disappointing week at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome. Europe dominated the U.S., winning 16.5-11.5.”

“The three players were attending the opening of Panther National, a course co-designed by Thomas and Jack Nicklaus.”

“The No. 1 regret he should have is we should have played better,” Thomas said. “We all told him that, ‘Zach, it’s easy to look back after a week where they just played monumentally better and we did not play well. It’s easy to say you should have changed things.’

“We just should have played better for him.”

“Fowler said he had no complaints about how Johnson handled the team.”

Full Piece.

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Morning 9: Aberg wins RSM Classic | Azinger out at NBC | Tiger in for Hero

Published

7 days ago

Nov 20, 2023

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: [email protected]

Good Monday morning, golf fans, as Tiger Woods confirmed his competitive comeback over the weekend.

1. Aberg dazzles to win RSM Classic

AP report…” Ludvig Åberg added to his astonishing second half of the year when he closed with a second straight 9-under 61 on Sunday to win the RSM Classic, his first PGA Tour title to go along with a European tour victory and a winning debut in the Ryder Cup.”

And to think the 24-year-old Swede was still at Texas Tech six months ago.

“Beyond my dreams,” Aberg said. “It’s been six months I’ll never forget.”

Not only did he win the final event of the PGA Tour season, but he did it in record fashion. His final birdie allowed Aberg to tie the 72-hole scoring record on the PGA Tour, matching the 253 of Justin Thomas at the 2017 Sony Open.

Full piece.

2. DPWT: Hojgaard claims championship with strong finish

AP report…”Nicolai Hojgaard claimed the biggest title of his career Sunday after running off five straight birdies down the stretch to win the season-ending World Tour Championship by two strokes.”

“The 22-year-old Dane delivered a clinic in iron play to set up close-range birdies from Nos. 13-17, shoot 8-under 64 and end the finale to the DP World Tour on 21-under par.”

“That finish took Hojgaard past Tommy Fleetwood and FedExCup champion Viktor Hovland, two of the players who acted as mentors to him in his first Ryder Cup last month.”

Full piece.

3. Amy Yang wins first LPGA title on U.S. soil

AP report…”Amy Yang picked a lucrative time for her first LPGA title on American soil.”

Yang birdied her last two holes for a 6-under 66 to win the CME Group Tour Championship and claim the $2 million prize, matching the largest in women’s golf.

The victory was her fifth on the LPGA Tour, the previous four coming in Asia.

Full piece.

4. Q-School update

PGATour.com staff with the capsules of notable making it through — in addition to medalists Bryson Nimmer, Connor Burgess, Mark Goetz, KK Limbhasut, and Danny Walker

Luke Long matched the week’s low score with a final-round 62 to finish tied for second at 14 under. The University of Houston alum played the 2021-22 season at the University of Arkansas as a graduate transfer, earning second-team All-SEC honors, before turning pro … Two natives of McCook, Nebraska, advanced at the Savannah site. Brandon Crick finished T2 at 14 under, perhaps the beginning of a redemption story after ending the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season at No. 76 on the Points List, missing full status by a single position. Crick’s fellow McCook native Noah Hofman finished T12 at 8 under, draining a 4-footer for par at the 72nd hole to advance on the number … Perhaps the wildest bubble story went to Oklahoma State alum Zach Bauchou, the college roommate of Viktor Hovland, who finished with a triple bogey at No. 17 and a double bogey at No. 18, advancing squarely on the number at 8 under … Dakotas Tour legend Andre Metzger, 41, carded a final-round 65 to post 9-under 279 and advance with one shot to spare.

Steven Fisk ended up one shot back at 18 under. Fisk spent 2023 on the Korn Ferry Tour where he notched one top-10 finish at the Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank … Alex Schaake fired rounds of 66-66 to close things out and staged quite the comeback after opening with a 5-over 77. He climbed nine spots on the leaderboard in the final round to earn a spot at Final Stage … Marcus Byrd earned one of the last spots at Final Stage. Byrd won four times this season on the APGA Tour, a record. He played four events on the PGA TOUR this season including The Genesis Invitational where he was the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption winner.

Kristoffer Ventura continues his road back to the PGA TOUR. Ventura finished at 9 under, two shots back of the medalist honor. He won twice in just 11 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019 to earn a PGA TOUR card. He was back on the Korn Ferry Tour this season and notched two top-10s … Alvaro Ortiz advanced to Final Stage despite starting the week with a 1-over 73. Ortiz played a full season on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022 … There were plenty of solid comebacks after some high opening-round scores in difficult conditions. Caleb Hicks, who just turned pro this year after graduating from the University of Texas-Arlington, made it through after a first-round 76; he rallied to a 5-under 283 total. Dillon Board, who turned pro in 2016 but has yet to make a Korn Ferry Tour start, opened with a 74; he also finished at 5-under 283. And Dylan Meyer, who made his pro debut at the 2018 U.S. Open where he finished T20, opened with a 78 but kept clawing back; he closed in 6-under 66 to advance on the number at 4 under … Also making it to Final Stage was John Pak, who swept college golf’s Player of the Year awards in 2021, winning the Fred Haskins, Ben Hogan, and Jack Nicklaus awards.

Full piece.

5. ICYMI: Tiger in for Hero

PGATour.com staff report…”Tiger Woods will play the Hero World Challenge later this month, his first PGA TOUR start since undergoing ankle surgery in the spring.”

“The 82-time TOUR winner announced his commitment Saturday on Instagram. The Hero World Challenge will be contested Nov. 30-Dec. 3 at Albany, Bahamas.”

“Woods has held a spot for himself at the Hero World Challenge in the past. The initial field release included only 19 players, leading to speculation that the last spot could again be earmarked for Woods if his recovery progressed.”

Full piece.

6. Card earners

Matt Cradock for Golf Monthly…”At the DP World Tour Championships on Sunday, it wasn’t just the trophy and $3 million first prize that was up for grabs, but also 10 PGA Tour cards, with players looking to finish inside the top-10 of the Race to Dubai standings and secure their spot with playing rights in 2024.”

In the main event, it was Nicolai Hojgaard who claimed the victory, but there was also good news for a number of elite players as they stamped their ticket to the PGA Tour in dramatic circumstances.

Throughout the final round at the Earth Course, it was difficult to keep up with who was in and who was out. Certainly, over the final day, seven players were guaranteed PGA Tour cards, but that still left another six to battle it out for the final three spaces and, eventually, it came down to the closing stretch to determine who had done it.

Full piece.

7. Azinger out

The AP’s Doug Ferguson…”Paul Azinger is no longer the lead golf analyst for NBC Sports, ending his five years with the network at the Ryder Cup in October without even knowing that was his last event.”

“With the golf and media landscapes now in a more challenging environment, Azinger and NBC will part ways as their current contract ends,” according to a statement from his manager.

“Azinger chose not to discuss specifics as to why another contract wasn’t done, only to say Sunday that it was a mixture of disappointment and surprise.”

Full Piece.

8. Brooks trolls his own league

9. Winning WITB

Driver: Titleist TSR2 (9 degrees)

Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2

Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X

Irons: Titleist 718 T-MB (2), Titleist T100 (2019) (4-9)

Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (46-10F, 50-08, 54-10S), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60-V)

Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X

Putter: Odyssey White Hot Versa #1

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Full WITB.

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Tour Rundown: Close-the-laptop Edition

Published

1 week ago

Nov 19, 2023

Ronald Montesano

This is the Tour Rundown that I dread writing. It means, simply, that I have to close the laptop and become a fan for about six weeks. True, there will be Q-Schools and Heroes, but the official work is done for the year. Q-Schools and Heroes are way better than Skins Games and the silliest of silly-season events, but I much prefer the official work of the world’s golf tours. Thank you for riding along in the cart with me this year, and for always picking up the beverage cart drinks. It does not go unnoticed.

As Americans head toward Thanksgiving week, the DP World Tour closed its season at its Tour Championship in Dubai, while the LPGA had its CME Race To The Globe along Florida’s Gulf Coast. As for the PGA Tour, it headed to coastal Georgia to end the FedEx Fall at my event (RSM — same initials). As always, lots of great golf led to dramatic finishes, so let’s begin this week’s Tour Rundown with Nelly Korda’s first LPGA ace.

NELLY. KORDA. ACE. ??? @nellykorda pic.twitter.com/Yjw6DyenLe

— LPGA (@LPGA) November 18, 2023

LPGA @ CME: It’s a Yang Thang in Naples

Amy Yang has been around the golf wires for a long time. It all began in 2006 when, as a precocious, 16-year-old, she won on the Ladies European Tour. Her first win on the LPGA came in 2013, and she recorded three more by 2019. It’s hard to believe that she has been among the ranks for 18 years, but after a four-year drought, Yang was the cream of the crop at the CME this week in Naples. She posted middle rounds of 63-64, and closed with 66, to win by three.

Chasing Yang the entire fourth round were her playing partners, Alison Lee and Nasa Hataoka. Hataoka hung with Yang for the majority of the day, until they reached the 16th hole. It was there that Hataoka flinched with bogey, to drop one back. Yang surged with birdies at the final two holes, to establish her margin of victory. Tied with Hataoka for second was Lee. She also surged late, and turned in a clean card, with six birdies and twelve pars on the day.

For the first twelve holes, the tournament seemed to be in Hataoka’s hands, until Yang made magic happen at the 13th. Faced with a wedge to the green, she…well, just watch what she did.

Amy Yang is putting up a fight at @CMEGroupLPGA ?

Watch now on NBC! pic.twitter.com/jmLPeXBya3

— LPGA (@LPGA) November 19, 2023

DP World Tour @ Tour Championship: Elder Hojgaard claims victory in Dubai

There are times when younger brother must defer to elder brother. No matter what heights Rasmus Hojgaard scales in the future, 2023 will forever be the year of his by-a-few-minutes-older brother, Nicolai. On Sunday in Dubai, Hojgaard won the only thing worth debating, the DP World Tour Championship. As Rory McIlroy had clinched the season-long points race, all eyes were on the leaders as day four teed off.

Beginning play in fifth position, Hojgaard cruised through 11 holes in four under par. A top-five finish looked certain, especially after a speed-bump bogey caused a stumble at the twelfth. The missed, five-feet, par attempt got under his skin, and the Danish Ryder Cupper ignited a five-birdie run through the penultimate hole. Suddenly, Hojgaard had the lead, with the gettable 18th left. A par there gave his chasers hope of a catch.

Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Wallace, and Viktor Hovland all began the final round ahead of Hojgaard. Fleetwood played solid golf to the closing stretch, reaching 17 tee at five-under on the day, and twenty-deep for the week. His tee shot to the short hole came up woefully short, and his approach putt went dangerously past. His missed, seven-feet putt for par was off-target, and Fleetwood would finish on 19-under, two behind the Dane.

Joining Fleetwood at that number were Wallace and Hovland. Wallace had the bad fortune of shooting 60 on Saturday. How do you follow a 60? Well, a 67 would have tied the top spot, and a 66 would have won outright, but Wallace posted 69. Four birdies and one bogey were not enough to catch the scorched trail that Hojgaard laid down. As for Hovland, his 68 was also solid; just not explosive.

Finishing off the year behind McIlroy along the points list were, in order: Jon Rahm, Adrian Meronk, Ryan Fox, and Victor Perez.

Ryder Cup rookie Nicolai Højgaard wins the DP World Tour Championship! ???#DPWTC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/y52cIzvce4

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 19, 2023

PGA Tour @ RSM Classic: Oh-Boy! Aberg

Oh-boy leads into Oh-Bear (how you should pronounce Aberg). I wished to clarify that, before moving on to Ludwig’s first PGA Tour title summary. In terms of data, for which Aberg is known, two numbers stand out: 61 and 61. Those digits represent the 18-hole scores that the Swede signed off on, in rounds three and four. Let’s be honest: Unless you are on the cut line, 122 on the weekend will move you darned close to the podium, if not to its summit.

In Aberg’s case, he had the lead through 54 holes. Hot on his heels were the guy who HAS to win, Eric Cole, and fan favorite Mackenzie Hughes, the 2016 RSM champion. Cole stood two over through five on day four, so he was done. He rallied to tie for third spot. Hughes stayed close all day, with six birdies through ten holes. The closing octet was not kind to him, as he played it in seven pars and one birdie. That will not get the job done at Sea Island, unless a maelstrom washes in.

As for Aberg, the rookiest of rookies on the European Ryder Cup side in September, ten birdies and one bogey came his way on day four. Long off the tee, deadly with the wedges, and accurate with the putter, he was a wrecking crew and he capped his first professional year in the most positive of ways.