Tour News

Tour Mash: John Daly is a winner on the Champions Tour

Published

4 years ago

May 8, 2017

John Daly returned in a champagne supernova (or shower), the LPGA Match Play and the European Tour Golf Sixes crowned their first champions, and a Charlotte staple on the PGA Tour moved east to Wilmington for one year only. No majors, but tons of excitement. Let’s find out exactly what happened on the professional tours the first week of May 2K17.

PGA Tour Champions: Daly wins for the first time since 2004

Soak it in. Here's how @PGA_JohnDaly won his first PGA TOUR Champions event. ???? pic.twitter.com/4pIRA0GfCA

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 8, 2017

It’s unheard of to close with three consecutive bogeys and win the tournament, but John Daly has made a career out of the “unheard of.” Fortunately for the big man from Arkansas, none of his pursuers could figure out the final three of holes at The Woodlands.

Tommy Armour III was neck and neck with Daly, but bogeyed his final two holes to finish tied with Kenny Perry at 13-under par. The 57-year-old was also in search of his first Champions Tour triumph, but he faltered when the heat rose. Perry is no stranger to the Champions Tour podium, and a spectacular eagle at No. 13 brought him to the chase. Zero birdies over the closing five holes relegated him to a tie for the runner-up spot with TA3.

PGA Tour: Harman wins No. 2 at Wells Fargo

The final round from a different angle.

Follow us on Snapchat!
????: pgatoursnaps pic.twitter.com/c3RZCCVVkg

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 8, 2017

Brian Harman simply got it done. His homeward half on Sunday saw a bit of everything: miraculous par saves, three-whacks, birdie bombs and a sprinkling of greens in regulation. No one anticipated that the Georgia native would stare down the PGA Tour’s hottest player (Dustin Johnson) and a resurgent champion (Pat Perez), but stare them down he did!

Johnson was returning to the PGA Tour after his freak back injury in Augusta last month, and he nearly claimed the Wilmington (N.C.) version of the celebrated Charlotte tournament. Johnson shot the low round on Sunday, matching his 5-under Saturday effort with an identical round on Sunday. Trouble for the big man was, he came up one birdie short. Perez also had his chance, making four birdies down the stretch to match Johnson at 9-under, one back of the champion. A double-bogey 6 on the 14th did the 2017 Mayakoba champion in.

Harman was simply unflappable down the stretch. A wee hiccup of a three-putt on the No. 15 muddied the waters, but closing birdies from 5 and 28 feet, respectively, on Nos. 17 and 18 cinched the win for the left-hander.

European Tour: Inaugural Golf Sixes goes Denmark

After 3 holes: 0-1
After 5 holes: 2-1#GolfSixesDEN ???????? pic.twitter.com/V6agC1AZMY

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 7, 2017

This weekend on the European Tour saw two-man teams representing 16 countries battling it out in six-hole matches. Throw in a shot clock to ensure no one plays slowly and you have the recipe for an attention-grabbing event. It was called the European Tour Golf Sixes, and it offered unprecedented pace and excitement on the table from start to finish at the Centurion Club in England

In the end, it was the Danish pairing of Lucas Bjerregaard and Thorbjorn Olesen who dispatched the Australian partnership of Sam Brazel and Scott Hend, 3 holes to 1. Earlier in the day’s semifinal matches, Denmark had sent off Italy, while the Aussies bid farewell to the host country.

Each of the holes of Golf Sixes took on a unique character. An array of ancillary contests and attractions added to the pressure and excitement of the uber-quick competitions. Get down early and you were certainly finished. Here’s to more events like this one!

LPGA Tour: Sei Young Kim wins Lorena Ochoa Match Play

.@TheAmyRogers takes you through the exciting final day @LOYMEXICO & how Kim and Jutanugarn made it to the final match ==> pic.twitter.com/totakBT5Am

— #CMEFinalStretch ???? (@LPGA) May 7, 2017

The first rule of match play is that there are no guarantees. The hot hand wins the day, regardless of seeding and current form. Sei Young Kim of South Korea knows a thing about this format, though. She has competed in three playoffs on the LPGA Tour and triumphed in all. On Sunday, she made the Lorena Ochoa Match Play at the Club de Golf Mexico her sixth victory with a 1-up win over Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn.

The final paired a No. 2 seed with a No. 1, but it was the lower seed who jumped out to a 3-up lead after the first three holes. Jutanugarn fought back valiantly, narrowing the gap to one hole at the final tee. She was unable to secure one more birdie, and it was Kim who hoisted the victor’s trophy. With the win, Kim earned $250,000. Mi Jung Hur of Korea outlasted Michelle Wie in 22 holes to claim the third-place match.

Web.com Tour: PGA Tour LA grad Ashley earns first win

Stuck inside a memory.

A day that Nate Lashley won't soon forget. ???? pic.twitter.com/TWh2cKxXJc

— Web.com Tour (@WebDotComTour) May 8, 2017

Nate Lashley picked up where he left off at the end of 2016. After three victories on PGA Tour Latinoamerica earned him the honor of Order of Merit winner, Lashley headed off to the Web.com Tour with full status. Returning to the comfortable environment of the Caribbean, Lashley played his final three rounds at Corales Puntacana in 18-under to leapfrog the rest of the competition and claim his first Web.com Tour victory.

Victory wasn’t easy for the 34-year-old University of Arizona alum. Rafael Campos, one of the hottest players on the tour, had the 54-hole lead and showed little evidence that he would falter. A 71st-hole bogey for the golfer from Puerto Rico, who tied for seventh last month at the PGA Tour’s Shell Houston Open, cleared the green for Lashley. He triumphed by one over Argentina’s Augusto Nuñez. Campos, Seth Reeves and Tyler Duncan finished in third, two behind the winner’s 20-under tally.

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News

New troops: PXG announces additions to tour staff for 2021

Published

16 hours ago

Jan 15, 2021

Ryan Barath

Earlier this week, it was the Brooklyn Nets making big news in the NBA with player acquisitions. Now in the golf world, it’s PXG, who is also adding to its roster with a number of new players on both the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour.

The newest members of the PXG roster, which they like to call “troops” are

Jim Herman
Sung Kang
Danny Lee
Luke List
Henrik Norlander
Adam Schenk
Kyle Stanley
Hudson Swafford

Speaking to the switch, Sung Kang said

“PXG makes some of the best performing equipment in golf. I know, with the support of Bob Parsons, his team, and PXG clubs, that I am going to be able to take my game to the next level!”

The professionals from the Korn Ferry Tour joining current PXG staffers Scott Langley and Grant Hirschman include

Kevin Dougherty
Nicolas Echavarria
KK Limbhaust
Justin Lower
Seth Reeves
Charlie Saxon

“Between grit and their love of the game, every one of these new players brings something special to the course. We are proud to welcome them all to the PXG Troops and honored that they have chosen to put PXG in play.” -PXG founder and CEO Bob Parsons.

These players join a long list of PXG staff players, which also includes LPGA Tour players Lydia Ko, Katherine Kirk, Austin Ernst, Christia Kim, Brittany Lang, Haley Moore, Celine Boutie, Ryann O’Toole, Gerina Piller, Jennifer Song, Linnea Ström, and Mina Harigae.

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Equipment

Sony Open Tour Truck Report: CH3 newest Ventus Black convert, free agent testing, and Srixon has two new staffers

Published

2 days ago

Jan 13, 2021

John Wunder

With no tour trucks on site until the West Coast Swing begins next week, we had to scrape and claw for every morsel of information for this week’s report. And with the time difference in Hawaii, we may get more info this evening and will update accordingly.

That said, let’s dig into this week’s Tour Truck Report.

Titleist

Charles Howell III put a new Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X in his Titleist TSi3. He was also testing new 4-irons to find a recipe that gapped a bit better with his Ping G410 7-wood and Titleist T100 5-iron.

TaylorMade

Lots of players staff and non-staff players going into SIM2.

Staff

Nick Taylor: SIM2 w/ Fujikura Atmos Blue 6 X

Non Staff:

DJ Trahan: SIM2
Danny Lee: SIM2
XJ Zhang: SIM2

Non Staff Testing

SIM2/SIM2 Max: Jim Herman, Luke List, Henrik Norlander, James Hahn, Sung Kang, Kyle Stanley, Hudson Swafford

Collin Morikawa has the new TP5 Prototype ball in play and Sergio Garcia is in the new TP5X Proto.

Callaway

Jim Furyk went to a long stick with a 47-inch (tipped 3/4) Callaway Epic Proto Driver (9 degrees) with a Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X.

Will Gordon is also in the new Callaway Epic Proto (9 degrees) with a Ventus Black 6 X and was seeing ball speeds reach 190 mph.

Callaway announced the signing of Tyler McCumber who will be in a full bag of Callaway gear in 2021. We will update on what landed in the bag ASAP.

Si Woo Kim switching to a prototype Odyssey OG Putter

Srixon

Keegan Bradley added the new Srixon ZX7 irons (4-PW) replacing his trust Z745’s. The new irons come equipped with Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts.

Srixon also added two new staff members for 2021 PGA Tour veteran KJ Choi and 27 year old Matt Neismith.

Matt Neismith WITB

ZX7 Driver 9.5: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X

ZX Utility 18: Fujikura Atmos Blue Hybrid 85 X

Z-FORGED (4-PW): Nippon Modus 125 X

Wedges RTX Zip Core (50, 54, 58): KBS 610 Wedge 115g

K.J Choi WITB

ZX7 Driver 9.5

ZX7 (5-PW)

Wedges RTX Zip Core (50, 54, 58) w/ True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Free Agents

Not in the field at Sony, but two notable free agents Ryan Moore and Jason Day are in the midst of building new bags. Nothing is secure by any stretch but see below for what we heard they have been testing thus far.

Jason Day

Ping G425 LST Driver, Mizuno JPX921 Tour irons

Ryan Moore

TaylorMade SIM2, Titleist TSi2 and 3 fairways, Mizuno irons (multiple), Vokey Wedges

Also…

Vijay Singh put in a brand new Callaway Epic Proto driver at 46.5 inches with a Fujikura Atmos Black 5 TX shaft.

In regards to players who have signed with new companies, here is the list

PXG

Sung Kang
Jim Herman

Srixon

Matt Neismith
KJ Choi

Titleist

Joseph Bramlett
Fabian Gomez
Nelson Ledesma
Troy Merritt
Sam Saunders

Callaway

Jon Rahm
Tyler McCumber

TaylorMade

Tommy Fleetwood

Ping

None

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News

Sentry TOC Tour Truck Report: New sticks, new companies, and Patrick Reed buys his own threads

Published

1 week ago

Jan 6, 2021

John Wunder

Happy 2021! The PGA Tour is at Kapalua for the Sentry Tournament of Champions, and with the electricity around the Rahm Callaway signing and new TaylorMade gear hitting the streets, there is a ton to track.

Here is a list of who had new gear in the bag to kick off the year.

Titleist

Justin Thomas finally put the new Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees) into the bag fully equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Red 6 X. The Ventus Red is gaining popularity little by little with Adam Scott and now Thomas switching into it. The new set up saw JT keeping his launch constant from the old TS3 set up all while going from 176 to 179mph ball speed and dropping spin from 2300 to 2100.

Richie Wereksnki also added a Ventus Red 6 X to his yet-unreleased Titleist TSi4 (10 degrees @9.25, D1 SureFit)

Lanto Griffin joined the long driver crowd with a fresh new TSi2 (9 degrees) with a Project X HZRDUS Black 65 6.5 @46 inches.

Adam Scott made some fairway wood switches adding a 15-degree TSi2 3-wood with an old-school Fujikura P95 and a TSi2 7-wood with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI 10 TX.

TaylorMade

Dustin Johnson tested the new SIM2 and SIM2 Max heads in 9 and 10.5 degrees. The world No. 1 tried both heads with his trusted Speeder 661 Evolution and a Ventus Black 6 X. DJ will also put the SIM2Max HL (16.5) 3-wood in play with a Fujikura Ventus Black 9 X.

Collin Morikawa tested SIM2 (10.5) and SIM2 Max (9). Word is on course he was going back and forth between the SIM2 (10.5 degrees @9) and his current gamer SIM (8 degrees @8.5) both with the MCA Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX. Morikawa also has a new Spider FCG putter in the satchel as well as the new Sim2 3-Wood ([email protected]) with an MCA Diamana D+ Limited 80TX

Ping

Cameron Champ switched into the new Ping G425 LST (10.5) with a Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green (Hulk) 70 G 6.5 TX.

Michael Thompson is now in the new Ping G425 LST (10.5) with a Fujikura Ventus Black 6X.

Joaquin Niemann also added the new Ping G425 LST (10.5) with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI 7 TX.

Tony Finau added swing weight to his entire set over the winter. The reason was to reduce a left miss, and after some tweaking, he ended up adding two to three swing weights across the board. The irons went from D3 to D5+ (D5.5).

Mackenzie Hughes put the new Ping G425 Max (9) in play with a Project X Hzurdus T1100 60G 6.5.

Callaway

Jon Rahm showed up with a whole bag of new Callaway gear

Driver: Callaway Proto Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Tour Green 75 TX

4-wood: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero (16.5)
Shaft: Aldila Tour Green 75 TX

5-wood: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero (18 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI (Black) 8 X

Irons: Callaway UT Proto (3), Callaway Apex Proto (4-PW)
Shafts: Project X Rifle 6.5

TBD on UT or 5 Wood

Wedges: Callaway Jaws Forged JPN (52-8, 56-12, 60-10)
Shafts: Project X Rifle 6.5

Putter: TaylorMade Spider X

Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft X

Marc Leishman added a prototype Odyssey putter to his bag. The putter has an OG White Hot insert, and sources tell me Leishman loved the feel of the face straight away.

Xander Schauffele put a new Callaway Triple Diamond Prototype driver in play. The 9-degree (@8) head is loaded with his usual Graphite Design Tour AD BB 7X (custom black finish) shaft. Xander, like Rahm, also has the new Apex Prototype irons in play with Nippon Pro Modus3 130 X. The irons are rumored to have less offset, thinner top line, shorter blade length, and no Flash Face Cup.

Srixon

Hideki Matsuyama swapped shafts in his Srixon ZX5 driver (9.5 degrees) from a Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX into a Graphite Design Tour AD MD 8X XX (that’s right). The prototype shaft is a modified XC with a soft butt section and a very stiff tip.

Free Agents

On the fashion front, Patrick Reed who parted ways with Nike at the end of 2020, showed up in head-to-toe G/Fore apparel. The coolest part about the story is that Reed was such a fan of the brand that instead of signing a deal or expecting it for free, the 2018 Masters Champion went online and put all of his gear on the old AmEx like everyone else. According to my source, he’s loved G/Fore clothing for a long time and insisted that he get it like everyone else. Well done, PR.

This is what a representative from Team G/Fore had to say

“We are happy anytime we hear someone is enjoying our products and though Patrick is not on our roster for 2021, we are glad to learn he enjoys our gear!”

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