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Tour Mash: Rose continues to roll, Cantlay gets first win

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Justin Rose and his faux “I’m looking for a game” GolfNow commercial will have everyone booking with that service, hoping for a meet-up, given his stellar play over the last fortnight. Rose wasn’t the only one to serve up tremendous play this week, so let’s get after some of our weekly Tour Mash and read about the rest of them.

PGA Tour: Shriner’s Open

If painful lessons are the most valuable, J.J. Spaun’s double-double finish will be worth a lot. The third-round leader was 1 up with two to play, but dropped all the way to a tie for 10th. With the clubhouse door wide open, Alex Cejka, Whee Kim and Patrick Cantlay headed off to a playoff.

How the west was won by Patrick Cantlay

When the playoff hole is 456 yards, with trees right and desert scrub left, the premium is on the drive. Cantlay, Cejka and Kim sawed the first playing with bogeys, so the threesome headed back to the tee for a second overtime go. Cantlay’s drive ended behind a tree, but he took it and the greenside pond on and conquered them both. His putt for birdie from the rear fringe just missed, and his tap-in sealed an unforgettable Sunday, which included a final-round 67. Had he lost, Cantlay might have suffered nightmares from his bogey-bogey finish in regulation.

How Kim and Cejka lost their way in the playoff

Whee Kim’s double-cross drive did him in. Teeing off from the right side of the deck, he hooked his tee ball into the scrub and took an unplayable penalty. His putt for bogey missed, and he was relegated to a tie for 2nd spot. Cejka’s pitch from greenside rough did the unthinkable: it checked up! His 10-foot putt for par broke low, setting the stage for Cantlay’s 2-foot putt for victory. Both Kim and Cejka had to feel fortunate to be in the mix at all. Both played spectacular final rounds (66 and 63, respectively) and earned deserved applause for their work.

European Tour: Turkish Airlines Open

How Rose went back to back

You don’t have to birdie every hole on the final 9 these days; it simply feels that way. Justin Rose had a bogey on Sunday, but it was super-early (3rd hole) and didn’t seem to impact him that much. Unlike last week, when he was chasing 2nd, Rose was always in the mix in Turkey. His 7 final-round birdies (three in the last four holes) propelled him to a 64-65 weekend and the Turkish title. The Olympic champion jumped from 3rd to 2nd in the Race To Dubai sprint, and don’t you believe that leader Tommy Fleetwood doesn’t hear the footsteps.

How close the others came

If you want to improve your short game, watch the final-round highlights for inspiration. In addition to a Rose chip-in, co-runner up Dylan Fritelli chipped in for birdie on THREE CONSECUTIVE HOLES. Padraig Harrington chipped in for one of his own, then holed a wedge shot for par (after dunking his approach in a pond.) Fritelli had 64 on Sunday, while 36-hole leader Nicolas Colsaerts rebounded from a dud Saturday with 66 on Day 4. Both came up 1 shot shy of the champion. Harrington didn’t lose; he simply ran out of holes.

LPGA Tour: Toto Japan Classic

Shanshan Feng couldn’t make up her mind on the type of Sunday she preferred. Beginning bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie does that to a golfer. Once she opted for birdies, the runway was clear for landing, and Feng secured her second win of the year, and eighth overall.

How Feng found her way

Feng had finished 3rd-2nd in her last two starts, and she was the defending champion at Toto. In other words, the stars were aligned. She had to do a little more than simply show up, and when she played her final 11 holes at 4-under par on Sunday, the chasers had little input into the conversation.

How Ai almost thrilled the home crowd

Suzuki had to wonder what she needed to do, to win the Toto. Birdies on 16 and 17 brought her to 18-under, but there was Feng, also birdieing the penultimate hole to preserve her lead. Suzuki’s bogey at the last secured 2nd place, and marked her as a player to watch at next year’s event. Anna Nordqvist had an ace (watch it below) at the 3rd, and closed with 66 to vault into solo 3rd spot.

Asian Tour: Panasonic Open India to Kapur

Kapur and Kumar didn’t go to White Castle. Instead, they went to duel city, where Shiv Kapur’s 68 was enough to hold off Chirgah Kumar and six others by 3 strokes. The win was his third career Asian Tour and fifth professional win.

How Kapur capped off the win

He did nothing erratic. Kapur was a model of consistent excellence, with 5 birdies and 1 bogey on the day. By not making big numbers, he forced the field’s hand, demanding that someone shoot 61 to have a shot at victory.

How seven golfers gave it their best

Of the second-place septet, Chiragh Kumar gave the greatest chase. He birdied half of his day-four holes, but needed to be perfect to have a glimpse at the top spot. A 3rd-hole bogey toughened his task. Unbelievably, 9 of the top 10 golfers hail from Indonesia, with only the USA’s Paul Peterson crashing the party.

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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.

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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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