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5 things we learned on Day 2 of The Open Championship
One-half of the draw got lucky again at an Open Championship. Golfers with the PM-AM sequence were spared the mercurial weather that did its best to knock half the field out of contention. To the dismay of conspiracy theorists, Sergio Garcia was one of those fortunate 72 and sits in an enviable T6 position, six strokes behind the leader. Away we go with five things we learned on Day 2 of the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon.
Golf gets everyone, but…
The best in the world keep their cool and carry on. Jordan Spieth was in, then out, then in a sand pit on the Postage Stamp 8th. Immersed in the worst of the weather, he found the resolve to fight and make the cut. Danny Willett and Bubba Watson also played through the wretched, afternoon weather on Friday, and each made a massive putt on the final green to finish four-over par and live to fight another day. Lesson learned: just grind it out.
.@JordanSpieth falls victim to the Postage Stamp's bunkers. #TheOpen #BunkerCamhttps://t.co/8I3YkpCAW1
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 15, 2016
Old guys handle the bad weather quite well, thank you
If we thought that the fall chickens would fall back, waive the flag of surrender and return to their early-bird specials, we were quite incorrect. Led by Steve Stricker at T27, a silver-haired militia that counts Colin Montgomerie, Marco Dawson, Mark O’Meara and Miguel Angel Jimenez and the nearly grey Darren Clarke and Paul Lawrie survived the midway cut of four-over.
.@DarrenClarke60 just missing out on an eagle on the 18th #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/C0MbaHBW6f
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 15, 2016
There are lurkers along these links
The first two rounds, believe it or not, are not about winning a halfway medal. Instead, those 36 holes are all about positioning oneself for a weekend move. Most impressive were Jason Day and Rickie Fowler, who toughed out the sideways wind and the penetrating rain to finish near par. If they find themselves on the right side of the weather for once, a Saturday move up the leaderboard could be theirs. Also situated quite well heading into the 37th hole are Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson at two-under, Andrew “Beef” Johnston and Charl “Clubswitcher” Schwartzel at four-under, and defending CGOTY (champion golfer of the year) Zach Johnson at five-below par.
How did Andrew Johnston (@BeefGolf) get the nickname 'Beef'?#TheOpen #BEEFhttps://t.co/vxck0o9B7k
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 15, 2016
Stay Woke, Phil
This was the day that Pheisty Phil had every reason to backslide off yesterday’s savage 63. After moving to 11-under with three frontside birdies, Lefty made a pair of bogeys on the back but avoided additional miscues to close at 10-under through 36 holes. A now-public acceptance of, and even an enthusiasm for the challenges that links golf offers (wait ’till you get the REAL weather, Phil) have allowed the 2013 CGOTY to moderate his emotions and stabilize his shots. Keep calm and Phil on.
So close for Phil Mickelson and Martin Kaymer on the Postage Stamp. #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/ULL6hAbfng
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 15, 2016
Meet your 2016 champion golfer of the year
All right, I’m done trying to make the term fetch, err, CGOTY trendy for today. Before I go, I’ll leave you with this bold prediction of the identity of the lifter of the Claret Jug on Sunday afternoon. He has won both the FedEx Cup and the Race to Dubai. In fact, he won them in the same year. Never a major titleholder but invariably in the race, we’ve seen him strip down to hit a shot out of water, erupt like Mount Vesuvius, and shoot 65 on day two of the 2016 Open championship. It’s this guy~
Watch Henrik Stenson's six-under-par 65 in 120 seconds. #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/4tniCn8xRd
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 15, 2016
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News
SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips
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
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.
360° and in!
A nervy par save by @TaylorPendrith to remain one back as he seeks his first PGA TOUR victory @CJByronNelson. pic.twitter.com/LVFXUSidSg
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 5, 2024
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.
.@adrianotaegui birdies the 16th to tie the lead at -17 ?#VolvoChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/p4tfE5DRJa
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 5, 2024
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.
.@TBalla21 eagles 17, shoots 65 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the KIA Open. pic.twitter.com/TTOL2LxSdh
— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) May 4, 2024
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.
Off the green? No worries for @ScottDu12500063
8-under solo leader @InsperityInvtnl pic.twitter.com/hoj5OujL5C
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 4, 2024
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Morning 9: Pendrith’s maiden Tour win | Morikawa back with former coach | Brooks victorious
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Haywood Gravette
Aug 28, 2016 at 11:06 am
“I think the biggest thing is just being able to win mentally each and every day,” Lockett said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do. I know that everybody out here are great players and each and every one of them have a chance to make the team. Given his small stature, he was asked if he ever gets scared when fielding punts, fully knowing 11 defenders are racing down field in an attempt to level him as soon as he touches the football.
Daniel
Jul 16, 2016 at 3:59 am
“Stenson? Interesting call. He lights up at lesser events and makes us think he has what it takes for a major, but does he have the composure to do so? I’m not certain that he does. Just one pundit’s opinion.”
“I put Stenson in the same kettle as Donald, Monty, Westwood, Garcia, Fowler, Haas and Kuchar. They are or were close but we know how agonizingly distant that closeness is from closure.”
Roland Montesano 17 aug 2015
So what made you change your mind you arrogant jerk?
Matto
Jul 16, 2016 at 4:23 am
^^^BWANG!^^^
Ronald Montesano
Jul 16, 2016 at 5:43 am
Who doesn’t love a well-place ^^^BWANG!^^^?
They shouldn’t be carelessly left at just any door, so this one is particularly timely.
Ronald Montesano
Jul 16, 2016 at 5:42 am
I’d like to say that I had an epiphany, but nothing that historic nor romantic.
His comment about getting older and not playing in these things forever struck me as insightful and an admission that majors matter. European one-off players tend to win the Open, while for US golfers, it’s the PGA. Perhaps that’s simply my perception, or perhaps it’s reality.
I’m quite enamored of the fact that you pulled one of my own quotes to hold my feet to the fire. Hopefully I’ve met the conditions of your interrogation satisfactorily.
…Chanson de Roland
Haggis
Jul 16, 2016 at 11:34 am
What the heck are ye tooking aboot with Stenson?
He won both the Fedex Cup AND the Race to Dubai at the SAME time. Ya don’t think he has it? Youse e crazy. In fact, ya should remove Garcia, Fowler, and Kuch from that list of people. Donald was #1, Monty and Westwood had blown away Europe for a long time, and Haas also won the Fedex Cup. So what if none of them have a Major? Garcia, Fowler, and Kuch are just regular Tour players who are way underachieving
Ronald Montesano
Jul 16, 2016 at 12:34 pm
Haggis,
Nice thoughts. Some of the fellows HAVE to break through at some point. For Sergio, it will take a 65 on Sunday. For the rest, not this go-round.