Tour News
Why J.B. Holmes laid up (and why he’d do it again)
Tied for the lead, J.B. Holmes piped his drive 300 yards down the fairway of the 570-yard par-5 18th hole during yesterday’s final round of the Farmers Insurance Open.
With just more than 230 yards to the pin, you probably thought last year’s fourth-longest driver on tour would go for the green in two.
He didn’t.
Instead, Holmes laid up, leaving himself a 76-yard wedge shot to the front pin location, which he’d have to hit just right, landing his ball beyond the flag with enough spin to trickle back toward the cup. Anything short of the mark would likely spin back into the Tin Cup hazard in front of the green.
Holmes didn’t get the strike he wanted. His wedge carried a little long and a little left: it didn’t trickle back toward the hole, and he was left with a 21-foot putt for birdie.
So, why did one of the longest hitters in the history of the PGA Tour choose to lay up? Here’s his explanation from after the round.
Q. Did you think about going for it at all?
J.B. HOLMES: I thought about it, but it was on a, if it would have been five yards shorter or three or four yards longer, it was really on a downslope to the hole and it was just a lie that my tendency is to hit it a little bit further and hit a draw and long and left is dead.
If you hit something over the green there, it’s not really an easy up-and-down. It’s not really the best access to the pin. The best lay up is to lay up and hit a wedge. I had the same thing again, I would lay up. I had the wind and that and you can’t ask for much more than that.
Q. Run through how you played 18 in regulation and the playoff and what your thought went into how you played all the shots.
J.B. HOLMES: Yeah, I played them all correctly for me. My wedge shot on regulation just didn’t really come back. I thought that ball would come back a little bit.
Who knows where Holmes would have ended up if he had gone for the green in two. Odds are, however, that unless he wound up in the water hazard short of the green, he would have been putting from closer than 21 feet, 3 inches with his fourth.
- LIKE87
- LEGIT29
- WOW3
- LOL3
- IDHT1
- FLOP11
- OB2
- SHANK31
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.
- LIKE14
- LEGIT2
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK1
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.
- LIKE12
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK1
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
GolfWRX is live on site this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for the PGA Tour’s one-and-only two-man team event.
As usual, general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums — including some pretty spicy custom putters and headcovers — await your viewing.
Be sure to check back for more photos from the Big Easy, as we’ll continue to update this page with additional galleries throughout the week.
General Albums
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #2
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Alex Fitzpatrick – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Austin Cook – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Alejandro Tosti – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Davis Riley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- MJ Daffue – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Nate Lashley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- James Nicholas – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Kevin Streelman – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rasmus Hojgaard – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Tom Whitney – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- SangMoon Bae – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Daniel Berger – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rory McIlroy – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Russ Cochrane – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Aldrich Potgieter – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Steve Stricker WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Drew Brees WITB (Legendary New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Derek Carr (New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Thriston Lawrence WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
Pullout Albums
- MJ Daffue’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Cameron putters – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Swag covers ( a few custom for Nick Hardy) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Custom Bettinardi covers for Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Doug Ghim’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Patrick Cantlay spotted testing a Scotty Cameron blade putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- LIKE7
- LEGIT3
- WOW1
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK2
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
LET pro gives detailed financial breakdown of first week on tour…and the net result may shock you
-
19th Hole7 days ago
Report: LIV star turns down PGA Championship invite due to ‘personal commitments’
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Gary Player claims this is what ‘completely ruined’ Tiger Woods’ career
-
Equipment6 days ago
Details on Justin Thomas’ driver switch at the Wells Fargo Championship
-
Whats in the Bag2 weeks ago
Team McIlowry (Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry) winning WITBs: 2024 Zurich Classic
-
Whats in the Bag7 days ago
Keegan Bradley WITB 2024 (May)
-
Equipment2 weeks ago
Golf fans left surprised by LIV’s choice of course for its 2024 individual championship event
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
LIV star splits with swing coach after working together for 14 years
Hudson
Feb 12, 2015 at 4:39 pm
He could have won by laying up further as the strokes gained calculation shows the following:
The shots on the 18th (real situation):
570 Tee = 0.35 stroke gained
235 Fairway = -0.32 stroke lost (the cost of this lay-up !)
75 Fairway -0.11 = stroke lost
19ft Green -0.15 = stroke lost
1ft Green 0 = nothing lost/gained
Total of strokes lost = -0.23 in reality
“Ideal” scenario: laying up around 25 yards to hope for a 5 feet putt and win (!):
570y Tee = 0.35 stroke gained
235y Fairway = -0.03 stroke lost
25y Fairway = 0.22 stroke gained (assuming this player can approach the ball to 5ft and hole it)
5ft Green = 0.23 stroke gained
Total of strokes gained = 0.77 on the “ideal” scenario
The difference between the real shots and the “ideal” scenario is 1 stroke (-0.23-0.77) and a victory !!!
This is real mathematics ;-)))))))))
See how I track the strokes gained now and knows when to lay-up or not:
http://golf-made-in-us.blogspot.com/2015/02/profiling-your-golf-game-time-to-shoot.html
James W
Feb 11, 2015 at 9:50 am
If he would have went for it and dunked it into the water or put himself in position to lose on the 18th, our thoughts would have been, “I can’t believe he just threw an interception and didn’t hand the ball off when they were on the 1 yard line with one the best short yardage running backs in the league with 3 downs and 1 timeout left….” Oops, wrong sport…but same situation?
patricknorm
Feb 10, 2015 at 1:51 pm
If you remember the sequence of events on the 18th, during the first playoff Jason Day played an iron on his second shot and fortunately went right of the green and probably would not have made the green given the wind conditions. For Holmes trying to win but more importantly, not trying to lose the tournament he made the rational choice.
Holmes was clear that going long behind the green (on 18) was not an option because it,s a tough up and down.
On the second playoff hole on the par three, Holmes airmailed the green and proved what a tough up and down it was. It cost him the tournament. Jason Day was clearly the better iron player that day.
T-MAC
Feb 10, 2015 at 9:23 am
Wind was in his face, and after seeing his playing partner come up short that seemed to influence his decision. I don’t know if JB had a 5-wood in his bag. Announcers said his longest iron was a 3 iron and perhaps he didn’t think he could get there into the wind.
I would have liked to see him hit his 3-wood. Just hit something that you know will get you over the water. I don’t care if it goes into the stands behind the green. You get a drop and chipping it from there would have been easier than trying to throw it past the pin and spinning it back (without spinning it into the water) from 80 yards.
Carlos Danger
Feb 12, 2015 at 3:03 pm
Disagree (respectfully) with your logic on hitting 3 wood and just trying to get it over the green opposed to hitting a wedge into a uphill green and backing it up. If there is one thing every pro is good and should be good at, its hitting wedges into up hill greens and spinning them back. I dont care who you are, trying to hit a delicate shot out of TP’s ruff down hill with water at the bottom is not ideal.
Also, his comment about the downhill lie was all I needed to hear. Hitting any type of fairway/hybrid off of a downhill lie is a daunting task, especially when you need to clear a pond 235 and the tournament is literally won or lost on that shot.
He did the right thing on that hole
Nickeynumbers
Feb 9, 2015 at 10:25 pm
How far to carry? downhill lie? with his power easy decision to go for it put ball back in stance a bit and if miss bail out to the right and/or short then chip or pitch to 10′ or less. What iron would he have used? 5 iron? 4 iron?
random dude
Feb 9, 2015 at 8:01 pm
Big T2 for RIFE putters
Andrew Cooper
Feb 9, 2015 at 3:47 pm
300 yard drive, 230 yards to pin- a 570 yard hole?
steve
Feb 9, 2015 at 8:05 pm
not all golf holes are straight. and are not measure straight from tee box to the pin. also you can cut the hole by going over the trees and of course 300 yards could been a carry distance. play much golf??
Andy B
Feb 9, 2015 at 10:19 pm
While yes, not all holes are straight, the 18th at Torrey Pines is a straight tee shot and straight approach. The yardage displayed on television coverage is typically from the back tees or furthest point the tournament will play it all week. The tournament moves the tee’s on many holes each day to present different shots and strategies. It was probably moves forward Sunday to allow for more drama, such as players being in the go or no go range and having to make that tough decision. In my opinion the 18th was set up perfect for Sunday.
Andrew Cooper
Feb 10, 2015 at 8:10 am
It’s a very slight left to right dogleg so tees were up I reckon.
leo
Feb 10, 2015 at 2:46 am
many holes,especially par 5’s are not played at the stated length
marcel
Feb 9, 2015 at 3:46 pm
Holmes played the highest percentage golf. Day played just bit better
marcel
Feb 9, 2015 at 3:44 pm
really silly assumption “if he”… this is not about “no guts no glory” it all about playing the right shots… no such thing as laying up… 18 is not really friendly for “green in 2” – Holmes played the highest percentage golf… J Day played just bit better
Steve
Feb 9, 2015 at 2:27 pm
No guts, no glory.
Old putt
Feb 9, 2015 at 12:58 pm
Big hitter doesn’t take the chance maybe he listened to old TV broadcasts constantly talking about the smart play seemingly always the lay up. Announcers not so prone to that anymore. The only thing that counts is the result.
Albiemanmike
Feb 9, 2015 at 12:48 pm
Why would you even question the guy he told you he was confident playing his normal shot to the green in two on that hole in that circumstance. Odds are he knows his game better than you do and if he had gone against his gut feeling he would have been long and left and dead. He played the percentage shot and just didn’t hit a very good shot. Odds are the majority of the time the guy would have hit it pretty stiff and been looking at a reasonable putt for birdie.
Jason
Feb 9, 2015 at 12:32 pm
Jay–the odds probably go right out the window when you’re standing the 72nd hole of a PGA tourney. I wish he had went for it. The famous line from Tin Cup, “240 to carry and the tour star is laying up.”
Jay
Feb 9, 2015 at 12:12 pm
“Odds are…..he would have been putting from closer than 21 feet, 3 inches with his fourth.” What odds? 27%? 51%? 72%? How did you compute those odds? What are JB Holmes stats for hitting greens from 230 yards? What was avg proximity to pin after being long/left at 18?
blake
Feb 9, 2015 at 11:31 am
Great to see JB back in the thick of it after brain surgery! Hope he can compete in a major this year.
Tom
Feb 9, 2015 at 11:28 am
Never a good thing to hit a shot with doubts and sounds like he had them if he would have tried for it.
Jonny B
Feb 9, 2015 at 10:40 am
Glad to see JB back in the thick of things the past couple seasons. Good for him and good for golf. I like his “no regrets” approach, he made a decision and he is sticking by it. Kudos.