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Tour Mash: Kizzire breaks through, Feng doubles down

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You’ve seen those Schwab Cup commercials, where Bernhard Langer hogs all the ice to fill his Schwab Cup trophy? Well, the king was dethroned, but not by any of the expected challengers. On the LPGA Tour, we have a two-week streak for Shanshan Feng, and a homebody win on the European Tour. If you’re a Rickie Fowler fan, you may want to stop reading now. If not, let’s mash up some tour news and have a taste.

Kizzire gets debut PGA Tour win at OHL Mayakoba Classic

Maxie Kizzire goes by his middle name, Patton. In 2015, Kizzire won twice on the Web.Com Tour and was named player of the year. He graduated to the PGA Tour for 2015-16, and managed to keep his card each of the past two seasons, finishing inside the top 100. On Sunday, Kizzire fulfilled a bit of the promise his record offered, winning his first Tour event in Mayakoba. After finishing 72nd and 97th on the money lists, Kizzire will need to rewrite his fall plans to include the 2018 FedEx Finals.

How Kizzire broke through

Over the past two years, Patton Kizzire developed the reputation for consistent play. In four events during the new season, the Auburn alum has 3 top-10 finishes, and tops the FedEx Cup points list. On Thursday, Kizzire lit up the El Camaleon course with 10 birdies for 62. His gut-check round came on Friday, when he opened with double bogey. Thanks to the weather, Kizzire was forced into a 36-hole, Sunday finish. He came through big time with 66 and 67 for a one-shot victory over Rickie Fowler.

How Fowler, et al., didn’t do the job

By rights, Fowler should have held high the trophy. He made four bogeys on the week, way fewer than Kizzire, yet still finished one shot out of a playoff. What happened? Three bogeys in a 7-hole stretch from his 17th through 23rd holes on Sunday. Fowler might be the most snake-bitten golfer since Greg Norman to play the Tour. Most times he gets in contention, someone is right there to snatch away the win. Si Woo Kim was three behind Fowler, alone in third place.

Feng doubles down at LPGA Tour’s Blue Bay

Last year, Minjee Lee held off Ariya Jutanagarn to win Blue Bay. In 2017, Shanshan Feng did the same to older sister Moriya Jutanagarn. For Feng, victory in consecutive weeks establishes her as the queen of the fall. If the LPGA majors are ever held in October or November, watch out for Feng.

How Feng did it

Shanshan outlasted the competition. She wasn’t perfect on any day, averaging 2.25 bogeys per round. Fortunately for her, no one took charge and forced her to give chase. As a result, last week’s winner became this week’s winner. Despite more wins (3 to 2) and top-10 finishes (12 to 9) than the leader, Feng was only able to move to third in the Race to CME global challenge. Cue head scratch.

How they didn’t

Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa tried to join countryman Grace with a win of her own this weekend. After opening with 67-68, the weekend was a forgettable one, as she limped home with 76-73. The leaders all had one bad round, but two were too much to overcome. Moriya Jutanugarn had a chance to tie Feng on the penultimate hole, as the leader bogeyed the par-3 for the second consecutive day. Jutanugarn was unable to capitalize, however, as she penciled in a bogey of her own.

Sutherland wins Champions Tour’s Schwab Cup Championship and season-long race

It would surely be someone like Scott McCarron, Vijay Singh, Kenny Perry or Miguel Angel Jimenez that would dethrone Bernhard Langer. Well, Langer no longer occupies the throne of the Champions Tour king, but none of the four pretenders mentioned above, was able to ascend to the throne. Who then? Try on the name Kevin Sutherland for size.

How Sutherland did it

As Langer said, they are called playoffs for a reason. Before Sunday, Kevin Sutherland had not won on the Champions Tour. He now has two trophies for his shelf, thanks to his closing rounds of 63 and 66. The winner had two bogeys in his first 8 holes of Round 1, but countered them with eagles on Days 2 and 3. He had no other blips, snafus or slip-ups, and had enough gas in the tank to win by one slim stroke.

How Singh and Janzen came close

Lee Janzen held the tournament lead for most of the event. Over his final 9 holes, he had two bogeys, enough to tumble to a second-place tie. Vijay Singh had the Sunday back-nine that Janzen coveted, a 4-under 31. Like Fowler above, Singh should have won this tournament. He had 64 on Friday and 63 on Sunday. Unfortunately for the Fijian, he lost his mind on Saturday, with two double and two single bogeys, for a 1-over 72. John Daly was one stroke behind Singh and Janzen, at 13-under, tied with David Frost and David Toms in fourth spot.

Branden Grace wins European Tour’s Nedbank Challenge

There’s no more holding onto a tour win these days. Moving day has become moving daze, with professional golfers going low on Saturday and Sunday. Haotong Li set an early standard with 64 on Sunday, and Branden Grace nearly matched it, with 66. His 6-under effort zipped him past third-round leader Scott Jamieson by one, and brought him his home country’s Nedbank Classic.

How Grace reached graceland

No magic wand, no final-hole heroics, just more birdies. Grace outplayed Jamieson and everyone else over the final 36 holes. His weekend work included 12 birdies and two bogeys, both of the latter on Saturday. He was perfect when he most needed to be.

How Jamieson and company came up shy

Jamieson had four birdies and 13 pars of his own on Day 4. His only gaffe was a double-bogey 6 on the 8th hole.  To his credit, he didn’t spiral away after that blooper. Jamieson came home in 34, one shot shy of a playoff. Victor Dubuisson of France reached 10-under with birdie at the 10th, but his ephemeral lead was gone with bogey at No. 15, and third place was his reward.

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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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