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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Walt Wellsfry
Aug 25, 2009 at 12:21 am
I went to the local Golfsmith today and gave the new i15 irons a good look. I compared them side by side to the i10 irons and see almost no diffence in the club heads aside from the small tungsten toe-weight and the different color. I am a 10 handicap and currently play Ping i5 irons. There is NO way that I will go to a less forgiving club and spend hundreds to do it. Frankly, I was expecting something similar to the i5 with the tungsten weight and was prepared to purchase. I am disappointed on the one hand yet happy to hold onto my cash and continue playing a superior iron for my game. Even tour Pro’s like Mark Calcevechia have stayed with their i5’s. On another note, the new i15 and g15 woods and hybrids look great–especially the i15 series!
Max Schimmel
Aug 9, 2009 at 11:05 am
i10’s are much more appealing…
Mark
Jul 24, 2009 at 5:08 pm
These Are Not Lee Westwoods New Clubs, I Was At His Acedemy This Week And They Were Not In His Bag, Only The G15 Driver Not The Irons!!!!
Steve
Jul 24, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Perhaps I’m both biased and wrong, but the photo and description of the I15 reminds me of my backup set of I3O’s…
Larger head, more forgiving cavity back…is this a case of back to the future?
Adam
Jul 19, 2009 at 8:41 am
I have the i10 irons now with the g10 woods , and I can’t wait to try the g15 and the new i15 driver !
chad brown
Jul 15, 2009 at 4:26 pm
new look looks great!!! Can’t wait to hit them
cjb
Jul 15, 2009 at 9:24 am
Visited Ping Scandinavia today and had an i15 iron in my hand. The shape was something in between G10 and i10 but they looked nicer with the new colors.
They also told me that they will be in stores about aug/sept world wide.
pingg
Jul 14, 2009 at 10:09 pm
i15 irons are exactly what I’ve been waiting on from PING. As a long time MX-23 user felt S57’s/i10’s were too small and the offset in the G10s was obnoxious.
Can’t wait to see them.
PM
Jul 14, 2009 at 7:03 pm
The cavity sticker can easily be removed with a sharp knife. Then a little acetone to remove any remaining glue.
cjb
Jul 14, 2009 at 2:52 pm
When will the G and i15 series be in the store?
I’m looking for a new driver and the i15 would be nice, but we might have to waith until next year here in Sweden i guess..
jr
Jul 14, 2009 at 11:54 am
Those things look like they were designed by Spock. The only thing missing are little antennas and glowing lights.
mmack067
Jul 14, 2009 at 11:01 am
Those irons are the most appealing to me but those drivers look great!! Love the colours and it just looks like a classic shape. Can’t wait to hit one.
jvalley
Jul 14, 2009 at 10:20 am
The i15 driver looks nice. It may be in my bag soon…
cj
Jul 14, 2009 at 7:27 am
Wow that is a busy cavity back! I love the S57 anyway. I’m still curious about nobody….nobody(?) getting paid to play Ping? You mean Cabrera got no incentive after winning at Oakmont? Is this just hogwash?
I love the I15 driver look!
scarywoody
Jul 14, 2009 at 1:13 am
“Many of our readership here on GolfWRX have been asking for a more forgiving cavity back that would separate the line more from the blade S-57”
These people need to buy the G series! The i series was a great compromise between a blade and a game improvement iron. I’ll wait until I hit them, but I’m dissapointed to see the i series moving towards the G series.