Tour News
5 Things We Learned from Day 2 of the Olympics
Yesterday we hinted in this column at the potential for low scores on the Olympic course in Rio. On Day 1, we saw a 63 and a bucket of 66s and 67s. Day 2 brought a 65 and 66 as the two low scores. However, a quick look at the metrics of each hole reveals how the course can be had, and how one of those recent Tour 58s (or something near it) is within reach.
Let’s begin five things we learned on Day 2 with a look at those important numbers.
Half the holes in Rio are playing under par
All four par-5 holes can be called birdie holes, but golfers aren’t likely to make eagle. The long holes have yielded 88 birdies but 0 eagles. The four eagles have been counted on two par-4 holes (Nos. 3 and 16) and Justin Rose’s 1st-round ace. Interestingly, three of the five short holes are averaging below three strokes per hole, rare for par-3’s. As for the two-shot holes, Nos. 9 and 16 are victims of Olympian expertise.
If someone gets hot and takes advantage of those nine holes, he could be off to the start needed to go super-low. This is important, because Days 1 and 2 have also revealed…
Rio’s Trio can ruin your day mid-round
The 11th, 12th and 13th holes are all playing at least one-quarter shot above par. That’s quite a stretch. The holes have been responsible for 51 bogeys and 7 doubles, plus one other (the bad type.) Ten birdies have been scored on the holes, so they aren’t impenetrable. If that same someone from No. 5 could navigate Rio’s Trio at par or better, watch out.
At the same time, if a leader stumbles just past the turn, those in pursuit have renewed hope.
Team USA began to dig itself out of its first-round hole
Matt Kuchar shot under par again, but not low enough to make a move up the board higher than a tie for 14th. Bubba Watson was good for 67, moving into 18th place. Patrick Reed was also under par, coming in at 22nd at the halfway post.
As for Rickie Fowler, well, he shot par and hung out with Matthew McConaughey. Fowler won’t win a medal, but his circle of acquaintances might be worth something to those who care about trendy dudes.
The Olympic men’s golf competition is an international affair
The first 14 golfers belong to 14 different countries. You have to count down to Emiliano Grillo (Argentina) and Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) at a tie for 14th to have your first country repeat. It’s probable that the organizers and proponents of the competition were hoping to increase the popularity of the game throughout the world. The sight of Chinese Taipei and Norway in the top-10 suggest that baby steps are being taken.
My halfway pick to wear the golf medal is…
3 birdies on the last 3 holes for @Thomas_Pieters to card 66: https://t.co/pgNm9CkUyE #Rio2016 #Golf pic.twitter.com/h3BYDlBaVY
— Olympic Golf (@OlympicGolf) August 12, 2016
Thomas Pieters. Not a real reach, as the Belgian sits one back of Marcus Fraser (10-under), who maintained his tenuous lead with a 69 on Friday. Pieters has the talent to win the big one, and the Olympics would certainly qualify as one of those. Despite the presence of Open champion Henrik Stenson at 8-under and Justin Rose at 6-under, we like Pieters to break through on the Olympic stage of Rio 2016. The University of Illinois graduate had seven birdies in his day-low round and looks to be on solid, spectacular form.
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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.
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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.
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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
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Erik
Aug 13, 2016 at 2:37 pm
Course is really fun to watch. Being olympics, race for precious medals and not money is great for a change.
I miss Day, Something, Scott and DJ. Since mosquitoes are absent and they fact they are not pregnant women, they must regret their decision not to participate.
Ezra
Aug 13, 2016 at 1:49 pm
I picture you as a fat guy with very little mobility, eating junk food in front of his PC all day long. Do you have a cat?
ooffa
Aug 13, 2016 at 3:07 pm
Olympic Golf is great but it’s certainly not as fun to watch as the Air Rifle competition.
You know Olympic golf is a failure when people would rather be watching freakin archery.
It’s a bust. End it now. Reformat it and try again in a country where a fly won’t mutate a fetus and where they can at least keep the swimming pools from turning green.
Ronald Montesano
Aug 13, 2016 at 10:06 am
Astute and salient observations on the golf. With all the other sports, did IOC have no time to promote golf? Did IGF and other supporting bodies not step up to lend a hand? To promote golf tourism?
These may be the two worst locations for golf to debut as an Olympic sport. Brasil has had a run of bad fortune (fiscal news, Zika, security forces) and Japan may be a challenge as far as how many spectators can be accommodated at the host club. If golf had debuted, say, in Beijing in 2008 and been followed by London 2012, we might be on different terms of discussion here.
jd
Aug 13, 2016 at 2:43 am
How low are you gonna go Smiz?
James
Aug 13, 2016 at 4:16 am
Depends on how much Extenze he’s had
Tom
Aug 13, 2016 at 12:33 pm
His phycologist recommends his participation on this thread for treatment of anxiety
Ronald Montesano
Aug 12, 2016 at 9:52 pm
Brian on Facebook above.
You are correct. I’m going to have to check those statistics again. They may be more than one hole off. They were purported to be official ones, but clearly something is missing.
RM
Short Limbs McConaughey
Aug 12, 2016 at 7:57 pm
Alright alright alright
Christosterone
Aug 13, 2016 at 1:36 am
Lol +1