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Was Zac Blair wrong in his remarks about Glen Abbey?

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Zac Blair is one of the most engaging and accessible PGA Tour pros on Twitter. He’s also an unabashed golf architecture nerd, so his opinion about a course carries weight.

The proprietor of the future Buck Club, Blair was asked by Golf Channel’s Chantel McCabe for his thoughts on Glen Abbey, host site of the Canadian Open.

He said, “Yeah, um, you know, it’s OK.”

OK!? You mean a PGA Tour venue is something less than great? This won’t play well…

Blair continued

“I mean, the course is in really good shape, which is always nice and that’s all you can ask, but it sounds like it’s going to Hamilton next year and that sounds like a pretty neat spot, so I’m looking forward to that for sure.”

Here’s the clip, c/o the Fried Egg

Canadian golf writer Rick Young was having none of it (although he later offered Blair an apology)

Here’s the thing: Blair didn’t say Glen Abbey ought to be renamed Glen Goat Track. He merely gave it a five or six on a scale of 10.

Golfweek’s Brentley Romine put Blair’s points in the appropriate objective(ish) context.

“According to Golfweek’s rating system, Blair is right…In ranking all the Tour courses in 2017-18, Glen Abbey, a 1976 Jack Nicklaus design, slotted 36th out of the 55 courses with Golfweek ratings…Back in 2016, the last time Golfweek did a ranking of modern courses in Canada, Glen Abbey ranked 32nd.”

In other words, it’s an OK track–exactly as Blair said.

Should players be obligated to offer puffery to a host venue merely because tournament is being contested their? Should Blair be encouraged to dial back his honesty? I certainly don’t think so.

What say you, WRXers?

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19th Hole

Butch Harmon reveals what he worked on with Rory McIlroy during visit earlier this year

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While speaking on the “Son of a Butch” Podcast, legendary swing coach Butch Harmon revealed what he worked on with Rory McIlroy when the four-time major champion went to visit him after the Players Championship this season.

“The work I did with him wasn’t a tremendous amount of changing what he did, it was his attitude and the way he played certain shots. From 150 yards and in he made a full swing like he was hitting a driver and I wanted him to make more 3 quarter swings and chop the follow through off a little. He’s a very high ball hitter, but with short irons high balls aren’t good, it’s hard to control, we wanted to bring the ball flight down.”

The work certainly seemed to help McIlroy, as he went on to win the Zurich Classic alongside Shane Lowry and the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in back-to-back starts.

Rory will now tee it up at Valhalla for the PGA Championship, which is the site of his most recent major victory in 2014.

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19th Hole

Brandel Chamblee says this technological development was key to Phil Mickelson winning major championships

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While speaking with GolfWRX, Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee shared that he believes the solid core golf ball helped Phil Mickelson win major championships.

“One of the consequences of the solid core golf ball coming around was it put the straightest of hitters in the rough.

“Phil started winning majors in 2004, I don’t think that’s any coincidence. I think he started winning majors after the solid core golf ball came along and put everybody in the rough.

“And so [Phil] is like ‘I got you in the rough, I’m going to kick your a**. This is my game. I’ve been in the rough my whole career. I can go over trees, through trees, around trees.’

“Because he’s got that amazing creativity and Phil is an underrated iron player, phenomenal iron player. Great, great great out of the trouble. If you put the top-40 players on a list and ranked them in terms of accuracy, he would be 40th.

“So, I think that was one of the consequences of the solid core golf balls was it allowed Phil to win major championships.”

Mickelson went on to win the Masters in 2004 as well as five additional majors from 2004-2021 including three total Masters, two PGA Championships, and an Open Championship.

Check out the full interview with Chamblee below:

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19th Hole

Former Augusta National employee pleads guilty to transporting stolen Masters memorabilia; Arnold Palmer’s green jacket among stolen items

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According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, a man was charged in Chicago with stealing millions of dollars’ worth of memorabilia from Augusta National last month.

The man, Robert Globensky, was charged with transporting the memorabilia across state lines.

The report states that between 2009 and 2022, Globensky allegedly transported “millions of dollars’ worth of Masters golf tournament merchandise and historical memorabilia” from Augusta National “and transported to Tampa, Florida, knowing the same had been stolen, converted and taken by fraud.”

The document was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Since then, more details have emerged about the case.

According to Darren Rovell of Cllct, one of the items that was stolen was Arnold Palmer’s green jacket.

The Chicago Tribune also reported that Globensky was able to steal the merchandise due to his role as a former warehouse coordinator at Augusta National who oversaw the Masters merchandise that was sold.

Rovell states that “A source with intimate knowledge of the case said an Augusta National member, who knew the jacket was missing, contacted a well-known collector who had gained a reputation for tracking down rare items. The member’s goal was to return the jacket to Augusta under the guise of purchasing it in a private sale.”

The plan worked, and the man agreed to sell the jacket for an agreed upon price of $3.6 million. After the sale was complete, the FBI swarmed the house of the thief.

Cllct also reported that Globensky pled guilty in a federal court in Chicago on Wednesday and now faces up to 10 years in prison.

The Chicago Tribune adds that Globensky’s plea deal includes an agreement to provide the government a cashier’s check for $1.5 million in the next few days.

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