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Tour Mash: Knox wins the WGC-HSBC Champions

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HSBC Champions

Getting into (and staying in) China or ignoring Dustin Johnson’s other-worldly length off the tee: if one were to ask Russell Knox, the 2015 HSBC Champions victor, which were more difficult, the answer might not be forthcoming. On the former, Knox had this to say:

…my wife frantically had to fill out all the paperwork for myself and my caddie, Bradley. And when we played on Friday, she was at the Chinese Embassy all day in touch with my agent from IMG getting everything sorted, the paperwork.

And on the latter, Knox revealed the following:

I tried not to watch Dustin play, especially the front nine, just because we were in two different worlds. He’s hitting it 50, 60 past me off the tee. So I just tried to concentrate on my own game.

The combination worked, as Knox countered his two early bogeys with six birdies on the day. In the process, he held off Kevin Kisner by two and a fast-charging Danny Willett (10-under par on Sunday) and Ross Fisher by three to hoist a WGC trophy for the first time. First-round leader Branden Grace made an early run on Sunday, going out in four-under. A balanced bag on the back of three pars, birdies, and bogeys, took the South African out of the chase.

Sanderson Farms

SandersonFarmsDelay

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It always seems to rain in Jackson, Mississippi, whether Johnny Cash gets there or not. It rained so much this week that the Sanderson Farms championship’s third and fourth rounds were postponed to Monday. Most golfers have completed at least half of Round 3, so it won’t be a two-round marathon finish. Currently, Roberto Castro has a one-stroke lead over D.J. Trahan and Michael Thompson. In hot pursuit are five other golfers just two strokes back. Of the quintet, the most notable is Patrick Rodgers, licking his chops over a potential first win after 2013 Walker Cup teammate Justin Thomas turned the trick last week at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia.

Toto LPGA

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As 2016 beckons, the most difficult Olympic squad to make is certainly the South Korean women’s golf team. The reason is simple: too much talent to ignore. Ahn Sun-Ju, who plays principally on the Korean and Japan LPGA tours, added her name to the roster of those under consideration with a playoff victory at the Toto LPGA championship in Japan.

In the mix after a Saturday 65, Ahn played flawlessly on Sunday, posting five birdies against no bogeys. On the first playoff hole with the USA’s Angela Stanford and countrywoman Lee Ji-Hee, the winner nestled a 6-iron within five feet of the hole. After her opponents missed birdie opportunities of their own, Ahn coaxed her wee putt into the cylinder for her maiden LPGA victory.

Charles Schwab Cup

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Winning by not winning doesn’t happen often, but Bernhard Langer will probably take it. It’s not that Langer lost; he beat the entire field save one, and it was enough to win him the season-long points title in the Charles Schwab Cup standings. As for Andrade, his two-putt birdie on the first playoff hole elevated him above the German stalwart after the two tied for the lead at 14-under. Andrade’s first individual title of the season brought him from 8th to 4th in the season-long race for the Schwab Cup, and also brought him the Schwab Cup Championship trophy. Next year, here’s hoping that either the tournament or the points race adjusts its name.

Ben Witter Dies

An aspiring touring pro-turned trick shot artist and instructor passed away this week after 27 years of battles with cancer. Ben Witter, a 1986 alumnus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, was first diagnosed with cystic carcinoma of the jaw in 1988, at the age of 24. Witter had played developmental tours, but chose to focus his efforts of the teaching of golf and entertainment through trick shots. Additional diagnoses made the battle more difficult and Witter passed on this week, at the age of 51.

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Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. ABgolfer2

    Nov 11, 2015 at 10:31 am

    Hopefully you’re just trying to make a [bad] joke.

  2. Ronald Montesano

    Nov 11, 2015 at 1:14 am

    hmmmm…

  3. CSC

    Nov 10, 2015 at 4:56 pm

    How about “The Final Championship Tournament of the Season-Long Charles Schwab Cup Championship”

    Lulz

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Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

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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

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.

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SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips

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SuperStroke announced today its purchase of 100-year-old grip maker Lamkin Grips, citing the company’s “heritage of innovation and quality.”

“It is with pride and great gratitude that we announce Lamkin, a golf club grip brand with a 100-year history of breakthrough design and trusted products, is now a part of the SuperStroke brand,” says SuperStroke CEO Dean Dingman. “We have always had the utmost respect for how the Lamkin family has put the needs and benefits of the golfer first in their grip designs. If there is a grip company that is most aligned with SuperStroke’s commitment to uncompromised research, design, and development to put the most useful performance tools in the hands of golfers, Lamkin has been that brand. It is an honor to bring Lamkin’s wealth of product innovation into the SuperStroke family.”

Elver B. Lamkin founded the company in 1925 and produced golf’s first leather grips. The company had been family-owned and operated since that point, producing a wide array of styles, such as the iconic Crossline.

According to a press release, “The acquisition of Lamkin grows and diversifies SuperStroke’s proven and popular array of grip offerings with technology grounded in providing golfers optimal feel and performance through cutting-edge design and use of materials, surface texture and shape.”

CEO Bob Lamkin will stay on as a board member and will continue to be involved with the company.

“SuperStroke has become one of the most proven, well-operated, and pioneering brands in golf grips and we could not be more confident that the Lamkin legacy, brand, and technology is in the best of hands to continue to innovate and lead under the guidance of Dean Dingman and his remarkably capable team,” Lamkin said.

Related: Check out our 2014 conversation with Bob Lamkin, here: Bob Lamkin on the wrap grip reborn, 90 years of history

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Tour Rundown: Pendrith, Otaegui, Longbella, and Dunlap soar

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Take it from a fellow who coaches high school golf in metro Toronto: there’s plenty of great golf played in the land of the maple leaf. All the greats have designed courses over the USA border: Colt, Whitman, Ross, Coore, Mackenzie, Doak, as well as the greatest of the land, Stanley Thompson. I’m partial to him, because he wore my middle name with grandeur. Enough about the architecture, because this week’s Tour Rundown begins with a newly-minted, Canadian champion on the PGA Tour. Something else that the great white north is known for, is weather. It impacted play on three of the world’s tours, forcing final-round cancellations on two of them.

It was an odd week in the golf world. The LPGA and the Korn Ferry were on a break, and only 13/15 of the rounds slated, were played. In the end, we have four champions to recognize, so let’s not delay any longer with minutiae about the game that we love. Let’s run it all down with this week’s Tour Rundown.

PGA Tour: TP takes TS at Byron’s place

The 1980s was a decade when a Canadian emergence was anticipated on the PGA Tour. It failed to materialize, but a path was carved for the next generation. Mike Weir captured the Masters in 2003, but no other countrymen joined him in his quest for PGA Tour conquest. 2024 may herald the long-awaited arrival of a Canadian squad of tour winners. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Nick Taylor break the fifty-plus year dearth of homebred champions at the Canadian Open, and players like Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Adam Svennson, and Mackenzie Hughes have etched their names into the PGA Tour’s annals of winners.

This week, Taylor Pendrith joined his mates with a one-shot win at TPC Craig Ranch, the home of the Byron Nelson Classic. Pendrith took a lead into the final round and, while the USA’s Jake Knapp faltered, held on for the slimmest of victories. Sweden’s Alex Noren posted six-under 65 on Sunday to move into third position, at 21-under par. Ben Kohles, a Texan, looked to break through for his first win in his home state. He took the lead from Pendrith at the 71st hole, on the strength of a second-consecutive birdie.

With victory in site, Kohles found a way to make bogey at the last, without submerging in the fronting water. His second shot was greenside, but he could not move his third to the putting surface. His fourth was five feet from par and a playoff, but his fifth failed to drop. Meanwhile, Pendrith was on the froghair in two, and calmly took two putts from 40 feet, for birdie. When Kohles missed for par, Pendrith had, at last, a PGA Tour title.

DP World Tour: China Open in Otaegui’s hands after canceled day four

It wasn’t the fourth round that was canceled in Shenzhen, but the third. Rains came on Saturday to Hidden Grace Golf Club, ensuring that momentum would cease. Sunday would instead be akin to a motorsports restart, with no sense of who might claim victory. Sebastian Soderberg, the hottest golfer on the Asian Swing, held the lead, but he would slip to a 72 on Sunday, and tie for third with Paul Waring and Joel Girrbach. Italy’s Guido Migliozzi completed play in 67 strokes on day three, moving one shot past the triumvirate, to 17-under par.

It was Spain’s Adrian Otaegui who persevered the best and played the purest. Otaegui was clean on the day, with seven birdies for 65. Even when Migliozzi ceased the lead at the 10th, Otaegui remained calm. With everything on the line, Migliozzi made bogey at the par-five 17th, as his principal competitor finished in birdie. To the Italian’s credit, he bounced back with birdie at the last, to claim solo second. The victory was Otaegui’s fifth on the DP World Tour, and first since October of 2022.

PGA Tour Americas: Quito’s rains gift title to Longbella

Across the world, superintendents and their staffs will do anything to prepare a course for play. Even after fierce, nightime rains, the Quito TG Club greeted the first four groups on Sunday. The rains worsened after 7 am, however, and the tour was forced to abort the final round of play. With scores reverting to Saturday’s numbers, Thomas Longbella’s one-shot advantage over Gunn Yang turned into a Tour Americas victory.

64 held the opening-day lead, and Longbella was not far off, with 66. Yang jumped to the top on day two, following a67 with 66. He posted 68 on day three, and anticipated a fierce, final-round duel for the title. As for Longbella, he fought off a ninth-hole bogey on Saturday with six birdies and a 17th-hole eagle. That rare bird proved to be the winning stroke, allowing Longbella to edge past Yang, and secure ultimate victory.

PGA Tour Champions: Dunlap survives Saturday stumble for win

Scott Dunlap did not finish Saturday as well as he might have liked. After beginning play near Houston with 65, Dunlap made two bogeys in his final found holes on day two, to finish at nine-under par. Hot on his heels was Joe Durant, owner of a March 2024 win on PGA Tour Champions. Just behind Durant was Stuart Appleby, perhaps vibing from his Sunday 59 at Greenbrier on this day in 2010. Neither would have a chance to track Dunlap down.

The rains that have forced emergency responders into action, to save hundreds of lives in the metro Houston area, ended hopes for a third day of play at The Woodlands. Dunlap had won once previously on Tour Champions, in 2014 in Washington state. Ten years later, Dunlap was the fortunate recipient of a canceled final round, and his two days of play were enough to earn him TC victory number two.

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