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World Golf Championships – Bridgestone Invitational Preview
The World Golf Championships – Bridgestone Invitational is happening this week at the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio on the South Course. With an $8 million purse, the winner takes $1.35 million. The tournament happens this week (July 28 – August 3) and is a 72-hole stroke-play competition with no cut. There are 26,250 FedExCup points to be had and 85 players that qualified for this event with 81 of them participating. Those not playing in the tournament are Luke Donald, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mike Weir, and last year’s champion Tiger Woods.
Woods finished here 8-under par in 2007 and was the only player to break par for the tournament. The South Course of the Firestone Country Club was considered one of the most difficult courses on the PGA Tour last year.
This event brings plenty of storylines to keep the fans interested. For example, Geoff Ogilvy will attempt to win all three World Golf Championships events. He’s got a legitimate shot at joining Tiger as the only other player to complete this feat. Only one other player, Darren Clarke, has won more than one individual World Golf Championships title. Geoff won at Doral earlier this year, recording his fourth PGA Tour victory with a one-stroke win over Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen, and Vijay Singh. His best finish at Bridgestone was T36 in 2006.
Kenny Perry will also be one to watch as he became the oldest player in the history of the PGA Tour to win three times in a season. He’s currently #2 in FedExCup points and is 60-under par in his last four starts. Nine of his 12 career wins have come along after his 40th birthday.
There are 18 players that are in Akron for the first time including Anthony Kim. This is also Kim’s first ever World Golf Championships individual event and he is the youngest competitor at 23. Chez Reavie and Brandt Snedeker are also playing here for the first time. Fresh off his Canadian Open win, this is also Reavie’s first WGC individual event.
A few of the other competitors to watch are:
Jim Furyk: He’s got more top-10 finished at Firestone Country Club that any other player in the field and ranks 4th in all-time earnings at the Bridgestone Invitational.
Justin Leonard: This 35-year-old has only missed one cut in his last 24 events. He’s had nine top-10 finishes and is ranked #27 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Stewart Cink: The current #4 in the FedExCup standings ranks 2nd on the tournament’s career money list at more than $2.3 million. In addition, he’s got seven top-10 finishes in 2008.
Martin Kaymer: This German finished in 2nd at the Dubai Desert Classic and won the BMW International Open. He is currently ranked 10th on the European Tour Order of Merit.
Chris DiMarco: With a T4 finish last year, DiMarco has recorded four top-10 finishes in six attempts at WGC-Bridgestone. However, he has yet to set down a top-10 this season.
Other notables include Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, and Ian Poulter.
The 2008 season is the 10th anniversary of the WGC. The Bridgestone Invitational is the last of three events in the series this year. In the ten years some memorable moments have taken place:
2000: Tiger Woods hits his 8-iron in the dark to close out the victory.
2003: Local favorite Ben Curtis gets a police escort to his wedding after playing in the 3rd round. He returned on Sunday morning to play and shot a 70.
2006: Tiger Woods shoots his second shot over the top of the clubhouse.
Players in the field that have a WGC victory on their resumes are Geoff Ogilvy, Henrik Stenson, Stewart Cink, Ernie Els, Darren Clarke, Craig Parry, and Steve Stricker.
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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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bobsuruncle
Aug 4, 2008 at 1:55 am
It’s great to see the older players in the past few weeks (Kenny Perry, Greg Norman and now Vijay Singh) showing the young guns how the game is played properly – with a heap of dedication and a whole lot of heart.