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GolfWRX Morning 9: Pro overcomes bad math to win | Koepka | Rory may not limit Euro Tour schedule after all

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By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected])

December 13, 2018

Good Thursday morning, golf fans. (featured image credit: PGA.com)
1. Overcoming bad math
Craig Dolch writing for PGA.com with the details of, a computational error that ultimately worked out in a club pro’s favor at the PGA Tournament Series.
  • “It’s a good thing for Matt Borchert he’s better with his putter than with his math…Borchert thought he had shot a 69 Tuesday and finished a shot behind Bob Sowards until Sowards told him they both had 68s. Borchert re-checked his scorecard and realized his mistake. They were tied at 8-under 136.”
  • “Ten minutes later, Borchert drained a 20-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win Event No. 4 of the PGA Tournament Series at PGA Golf Club. It was the first PGA Tournament Series victory for the PGA Professional at Isleworth Golf & Country Club near Orlando.”
  • “It was too long of a day on the golf course,” Borchert said of the scoring issue. “I was trying to figure out where I stood on 18. I thought we both played great. Bob was solid. I was just lucky to sneak a few more putts in.”
2. Papadatos!
Meanwhile, early at the Alfred Dunhill Championship…
  • EuropeanTour.com report...”Dimitrios Papadatos opened up a one-shot lead over defending champion Brandon Stone as round one of the Alfred Dunhill Championship got under way at Leopard Creek Country Club.”
  • “Papadatos is playing on an invite after narrowly missing out on gaining his card via the PGA Tour of Australasia and made four birdies in his first 12 holes to move to four under.”
  • “Home favourite Stone was also bogey-free after nine holes to sit a shot ahead of Spaniard Adri Arnaus, Scot David Drysdale, Swede Robert Karlsson, Welshman Stuart Manley and South African Erik van Rooyen.”
3. Brooks on top, chip on shoulder
Eamon Lynch examines some of the criticism of Brooks Koepka and the reality as he sees it.
  • “He became the first man in almost 30 years to successfully defend the U.S. Open. At the PGA Championship, he joined Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington as the only players in the last two decades to win two majors in a season. He was voted Player of the Year, an honor he promptly celebrated by winning the CJ Cup and ascending to No. 1 in the world.”
  • “Anyone else, they’re on the cover of a Wheaties box,” said Claude Harmon III, Koepka’s longtime coach….There won’t be a Wheaties box, of course.”
  • Also…”The lazy rap against Koepka is that he doesn’t win often enough on Tour. The 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open – the first of his five Tour wins – is his only non-major victory in the U.S. It’s an anomaly that puts him in rarefied statistical company with Andy North as players who have more wins in majors than in regular tournaments. It’s not a ledger imbalance that troubles his team.”
4. Rory to remain European Tour fixture?
Despite suggestions to the contrary…
  • “The Forecaddie is pretty certain Rory McIlroy won’t quit golf’s European Tour in 2019, despite what he said during the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.”
  • “European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley has taken steps to make sure his star player keeps his status.”
  • If it were to be that I don’t fulfill my membership next year, it’s not a Ryder Cup year so it’s not the end of the world,” he said…Not the end of the world for McIlroy, but pretty close to it for the European Tour and Pelley, The Man Out Front thinks.”
  • “Pelley wasn’t about to hang around to let McIlroy make a decision detrimental to the tour. Pelley jumped on a plane to Northern Ireland and McIlroy’s home in Holywood for an emergency meeting with his star player.”
While nobody knows what was said, it seems Pelley was pleased with the result.
5. Highlights from Valentino Dixon
A few of the best sections of Michael Williams’ excellent interview with Valentino Dixon, who served 27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit – and took up golf course-related artwork as a hobby during that time.
  • On getting started doing golf course art…”Right. Well, I was known as the artist in Attica. I spent, out of the 27 years, I spent 25 of those years in Attica. So over the years I had publicity on my case because the local newspaper had came to believe in my innocence, but there wasn’t a judge in Buffalo that would do anything about it. So the warden and the officers in Attica knew that I was innocent of the crime and would always check in on me and look in and see if I was all right and everything like that, but they knew that I drew also. So the warden came to me one day and asked me could I draw his favorite hole, which was Augusta, the 12th hole at Augusta.”
  • “I’d never golfed before. I mean, I’m from the inner city. So it was like all right, I guess I can do it. I knew nothing about golf. I drew the Augusta 12th hole. He loved it. Other inmates loved it and one of the inmates encouraged me to draw more golf holes. I said, “What are you talking about? What for? That doesn’t even makes sense.” He says, “I love the golf course, I think you should draw more.” He planted the seed.”
  • “A week later I went around and I got some old golf magazines, Golf Digest magazines, and I start pulling out the pictures that I loved. The guy gave me some really old ones that he had in his cell. So I start pulling out the ones that I liked, the ones that I thought was pretty and then from there I started drawing them. Whenever I put my mind into something, I just go in and really hard. So for months and months, all I did was draw golf courses. Okay. “
  • “Eventually I started reading the columns out of the Golf Digest magazine and I came across Max Adler’s, called Golf Saved My Life. I kind of put the two together because it was like golf was saving my life because being there was really, really stressful and hard and every day was a challenge. I have friends that committed suicide. I didn’t know if I was going to be the next person that my mind was going to snap.”
6. The Rexys!
Rex Hoggard handed out his (annual?) Rexy Awards for outstanding achievements in the world of golf.
Here are two
  • Enigma Award. It was an eventful year for Patrick Reed….He won the Masters for his first major and unabashedly torched his former team partner Jordan Spieth and U.S. captain Jim Furyk following the Americans’ loss at the Ryder Cup….”The issue is obviously with Jordan not wanting to play with me,” Reed told the New York Times, adding, “For somebody as successful in the Ryder Cup as I am, I don’t think it’s smart to sit me twice.”…You know the deal; it’s not me, it’s him. But if we learned anything about the former “Captain America,” it’s that there is definitely an ‘I’ in Patrick.”
  • “Armageddon Award. Just after 8 a.m. on Jan. 13, a quiet Saturday in Hawaii was shattered by an emergency message sent to cell phones across the islands: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
  • “It would take 38 minutes for officials to confirm to the public that the message was a false alarm. For those preparing for the third round of the Sony Open, it felt like an eternity…Jordan Spieth said he hid in his bathtub for a few moments before giving up on his “shelter” plan. “I just felt stupid,” he admitted.”
  • “But the award for having the best attitude when faced with the end of the world goes to Charles Howell III, who told reporters, “We sort of looked at one another. Part of you thinks you grab a Mai Tai, go to the beach and grab a front-row seat. Part of you thinks what are you going to do?”
7. GolfTV signs European Tour deal
Sports Pro Media report...”The wide-ranging deal with European Tour includes international multi-platform live rights, in selected territories, to all European Tour events and the next two Ryder Cups, as well as Discovery collaborating to further grow the golf body’s digital platforms. The partnership will bring coverage of the European Tour and Ryder Cup together on GolfTV.”
“From January 2019, Discovery will hold exclusive European Tour linear and digital rights in major markets including Italy, Romania, Russia,and Turkey. Additionally, GolfTV has digital streaming rights in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  Portugal, Balkan countries, Eurasia, India, Latin America, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and a number of territories in Asia.”
8. The Ryder Cup is never over
Shane Ryan points out the competition has swelled in scale, as has the hype. Is this a good thing?
  • A morsel…”There are approximately 20 phases to a modern Ryder Cup cycle-scholars disagree on the exact total-and while I won’t bore you by listing them out here, I will say that somewhere around Phase 9 or 10, there is a three-day golf exhibition. The rest of the phases revolve around this event, and they range from aimless speculation to strategy to pre-tournament second-guessing to shock to dread to post-tournament second-guessing to lengthy evaluations to national hand-wringing to dramatic but ultimately feckless reform … and back again.”
  • “The cycle lasts exactly two years, and although the 20-ish phases encompass an impressive and diverse array of existential conditions, there is absolutely no phase called “nothing is happening right now” or “hey, the next Cup is two years away, why are we worried about this?” or “seriously, we’re not talking about the Ryder Cup for at least a month, please leave me alone.” It’s rumored that such a phase existed once, in the fog of history, but in the current golf climate, the Ryder Cup is as ubiquitous as an American election-it’s never over, even when it’s over. Especially when it’s over.”
9. Maybe stagger the announcements, Rolex/PR folks?
(also, earthquake) The below via D.A. Points on Twitter.
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Equipment

Photos from the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge

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GolfWRX is live this week at Colonial Country Club for the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Custom Camerons and some “super” new grips from SuperStroke are filling our galleries early in the week as well as WITBs — including the always interesting “Cashmere Keith” Mitchell.

Check out links to our photos below, which we’ll continue to update throughout the week.

And while you’re making your way through our photos, be sure to check out last year’s incredible gallery of prototype and personal Ben Hogan golf clubs.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.

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Morning 9: Scheffler arraignment delayed | Missing Bryson? | Garcia, Reed miss out on U.S. Open

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By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: [email protected]

Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as we look ahead to the Charles Schwab Challenge.

1. Scheffler arraignment delayed

Golf Digest’s Joel Beall…”Scottie Scheffler’s arraignment date over multiple charges stemming from an incident at Valhalla with a Louisville Metro police officer has been delayed.”

  • “On Monday court documents show the arraignment date, originally scheduled for Tuesday, May 21, had been pushed back to June 3. Scheffler’s attorney Steve Romines has told multiple news outlets that Scheffler will enter a not guilty plea.”
  • “Scheffler was arrested on Friday morning outside Valhalla Golf Club ahead of the second round of the PGA Championship and charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, criminal mischief and reckless driving. Scheffler is alleged to have driven past a police officer against the officer’s instructions while trying to enter the club. Scheffler called the incident a misunderstanding, although a police report states that arresting officer Bryan Gillis was dragged by Scheffler’s car, which led to injury and damage of Gillis’ pants. Scheffler’s lawyer disputed the nature of the incident.”
Full piece.

2. Missing Bryson?

Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard…”Bryson DeChambeau – whose initials “B.A.D.” are displayed proudly on his yardage book – is the variable, a wildcard who decided to ply his trade on LIV Golf and, in doing so, robbed the Tour and its fans of the kind of polarizing star that makes sports so compelling.”

  • “To call DeChambeau an antihero would be unfair and inaccurate, but he is very much an antagonist whose stated goal is to reshape how the game is played in his unique imagine. Single-length clubs, a fixation on speed and strength and a mind that always seems to be three shots ahead.”
  • “In a world filled with Fords and Chevrolets, DeChambeau is a Tesla, and the contrast between the leading men was there for the world to see Sunday at the PGA Championship. Schauffele was focused and fixated, keeping his emotions and his energies in check, while DeChambeau was larger than life.”
  • “DeChambeau set the stage for his emotional Sunday late on Day 3 when he chipped in for eagle at No. 18. “Exhilarating,” he gushed when asked how he felt after his finish. “I haven’t felt like that in a long time.”
Full piece.

3. Why Schauffele’s dad watched from afar

Tod Leonard for Golf Digest…”The 22 acres of land is outside of Poipu Beach on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The Schauffele family owns it now, and on it sits a large cargo shipping container that doubles as a “house,” an excavator with a mulcher and several chainsaws. There is no running water or air conditioning, and the only power is generated by solar panels. Bathroom? “You take a spade and you walk into the jungle—that’s your toilet,” Stefan Schauffele says.

  • “Rather fitting for a man whose centuries-old German-French name literally means “man with a small shovel.”
  • “This rustic camp is where professional golfer Xander Schauffele’s parents, Stefan and Ping Yi, have spent weeks at a time away from their tract home in San Diego so they can eventually create an escape from the world for future generations of their family. Stefan is currently on a three-month stint there. Still, there are sacrifices, like not being able to have a television around when your son is contending in the final round of major championship.”
  • “That was the case on Sunday for the elder Schauffele, who rose with the cries of Kauai’s ever-present roosters to work his land. It rained overnight and he wanted to check on the plants he had just put in. Some 4,300 miles away and six hours ahead in time, Xander Schauffele began his round in the 106th PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club tied for the lead and with his best chance to win what had been an elusive first major.”
Full piece.

4. Inside the Colonial renovation

Paul Hodowanic for PGATour.com…”There would be many more like it. Still 10 months from their deadline, a quiet intensity loomed over every decision and action. Crews began ripping up Colonial less than 24 hours after Emiliano Grillo beat Adam Schenk in a playoff to claim the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge, and they did so with an ambitious directive: fully renovate one of the most historic courses in America in time for the PGA TOUR’s annual visit the following May.?”

  • “A project of such scale normally takes at least 18 months to complete; Colonial had little less than a year, though. As the venue for the Charles Schwab Challenge since 1946, Colonial hosts the longest-running TOUR event held annually at the same site. The club had no intention of interrupting that streak. The renovation had to fit its schedule.?”
  • “Gil Hanse, the renowned architect in charge of restoring the 1936 Perry Maxwell design, had worked under similar time constraints only a handful of times before. Each of those had more favorable growing seasons. Colonial’s renovation banked on the course surviving the winter.??”
  • “Hanse, McIntosh and their teams had spent the last year with those stakes as their backdrop. The $20 million renovation, designed to reinvigorate the classic design and maintain Colonial’s reputation as one of the top clubs in the country, was accompanied by an unforgiving timeline. The world would know if the course wasn’t ready, and there would be no time for adjustments. The pros playing Colonial this week are the first to play the course. Members won’t play it for another month.?”
Full piece.

5. Bryson feels the love at Valhalla

Will Knights for Fried Egg Golf…”??While he ultimately came up one shot short, the 2024 PGA Championship will go down as a rousing success for Bryson DeChambeau. He said he didn’t play his best and yet he shot four rounds of 68 or better, finishing strong with a Sunday 64. More surprising than the on-course success, though, was the clear, obvious, and at times overwhelming crowd support DeChambeau found in Louisville. Down the stretch, Joel Beall posted “the crowd is pulling for Bryson and it’s not even close.” That was very clear on the broadcast, as Bryson’s birdies were greeted with roars and he met the moment again and again with increasingly large fist pumps, playing to and feeding off of the crowd.”

  • “Whether it’s just the passage of time, a lack of exposure due to his LIV move, a maturation within Bryson, or some combination, DeChambeau has come a long way from the days when he was harassed with chants of “Brooksy!” Belief-straining statements about people thanking him for what he does online notwithstanding, I truly think his YouTube channel is helping his reputation. It lets him connect with people in a way he’s comfortable with, and he seems somewhat more comfortable out there, to the point he stopped to shame an adult who swiped a ball he tossed to a kid. He may not be for everyone. He may always say some outlandish things at press conferences. But he’s certainly more popular than he was in years past.”
Full piece.

6. Reed and Garcia miss out in U.S. Open qualies

AP report…”Patrick Reed withdrew from U.S. Open qualifying on Monday to end his streak of playing every major since the 2014 Masters. Sergio Garcia made two big mistakes late that cost him advancing to his 25th straight U.S. Open.”

  • “Garcia, who made it through 36-hole qualifying last year, was poised to get one of the 11 spots at Dallas Athletic Club until taking a double bogey on the par-5 16th of the Gold course. He finished with two pars for a 71 and was forced into a seven-man playoff for six spots.”
  • “Everyone else made par or birdie. Garcia made a bogey on the first hole of the Gold course and had to settle for first alternate, keeping his hopes alive to be at Pinehurst No. 2 on June 13-16.”
Full piece.

7. Only one LIV golfer successfully qualifies

Mike Hall for Golf Monthly…”Three US Open final qualifying events were held on Monday, and LIV golfers were in the field in each.

  • “However, while a total of 13 teed it up for a place at Pinehurst No.2, only Eugenio Chacarra achieved it, and it will be a particularly special occasion for the Spaniard as it will be his maiden Major appearance.”
Full Piece.
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Morning 9: Nelly does it again | Bryson: Definitely disappointing | Xander wins PGA

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By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: [email protected]

Good Monday morning, golf fans, as Xander Schauffele celebrates becoming a major champion after a dramatic Sunday at Valhalla.

1. Xander wins first major

Mark Schlabach for ESPN…”They can’t call Xander Schauffele the best golfer in the world without a major championship victory any longer.”

  • “The 30-year-old from San Diego captured his first major victory Sunday by outlasting LIV Golf League captain Bryson DeChambeau and Norway’s Viktor Hovland in the final round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.”
  • “After starting the day tied for the lead with two-time major winner Collin Morikawa, Schauffele silenced his critics who claimed he couldn’t close out a big one by posting a 6-under 65 in the final round to finish with a 72-hole total of 21 under and defeat DeChambeau by 1 shot and Hovland by 3.”
Full piece.

2. Bryson comes up agonizingly short

Elliot Heath for Golf Monthly…The LIV Golfer shot a stunning final round of 64 (-7) at the PGA Championship, which included a birdie at his final hole, to come up one stroke shy of Xander Schauffele’s new record 21-under-par total.

  • “Definitely disappointing, but one that gives me a lot of momentum for the rest of the Majors. I said today it was closing time, but it will be closing time hopefully, hopefully over the next couple Majors,” DeChambeau said.
  • “Having began the day two strokes off the lead, his seven-under score got him to 20-under to force the pressure on Schauffele to shoot a low number. The American duly did that, with DeChambeau revealing that he thought his eventual score would have got the victory before the round.”
  • “Yeah, I certain seriously thought 18 [under-par] was going to do it,” he said.”
  • “Then when I saw what Xander was doing, it’s like, man, he’s playing some unbelievable golf. Viktor was right there. I mean, he was beating me for quite awhile, and I was hitting it all over the place. But, yeah, I mean, it was an impressive, impressive round of golf by all three of us. I don’t know what else to say. It was just difficult.”
Full piece.

3. Scottie “Ready to get home”

Ryan Lavner at Golf Channel…”The pre-tournament favorite was part of a confusing and chaotic situation Friday at Valhalla when he was arrested following a traffic incident with a police officer while trying to enter the course.”

  • “Scheffler was booked on four charges – the most serious, second-degree assault of an officer – and released after about an hour in jail. He made it to the course in time for his second round, shot 66 and was firmly in contention heading into the weekend.”
  • “But that’s when, Scheffler said, the magnitude of what had transpired finally caught up to him.”
  • “…Afterward, Scheffler said that he was more tired than usual following a tournament – a noteworthy admission seeing how he’d just won four of his past five starts. He said he was uncertain about his plans for the next few days – his arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday – but he was still planning to play next week at Colonial.”
  • “I’m just wondering what time bedtime is,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out how quickly I can get home from here, and that’s pretty much it. I’m just fairly tired and ready to get home.”
Full piece.

4. Nelly wins again

AP report…”With her record-tying winning streak over, Nelly Korda got back to doing what she does best — winning.”

  • “Nelly Korda won a back-nine showdown with Hannah Green of Australia with a par on the 18th hole to capture the Mizuho Americas Open by a stroke Sunday for her sixth win in seven starts on the LPGA Tour this year.”
  • “Oh, my gosh, six,” Korda said. “I can’t even really gather myself right now with that, the head-to-head that Hannah and I had pretty much all day. Wasn’t my best stuff out there today, but fought really hard on the back nine.”

 

Full piece.

5. Another policy board resignation

Mark Schlabach for ESPN…”Mark Flaherty resigned from the PGA Tour’s policy board on Sunday, becoming the second independent director to step down in less than a week.”

  • “On Monday, independent director Jimmy Dunne, who helped negotiate the PGA Tour’s framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment fund last year, resigned, effectively immediately.”
  • “In Dunne’s resignation letter to PGA Tour members, he wrote that “no meaningful progress has been made towards a transaction with PIF” and that “my vote and my role is utterly superfluous” now that player directors outnumber independent directors on the policy board.”
  • “PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan sent a memo to PGA Tour members Sunday night, informing them of Flaherty’s resignation. Flaherty is a former vice chairman of Wellington Management, an investment management company.”
Full piece.

6. Harry Higgs wins on Korn Ferry Tour

PGA Tour report…”Higgs holed out for eagle from 83 yards at the 72nd hole of the Korn Ferry Tour’s AdventHealth Championship, ultimately landing a spot in a playoff with Tanner Gore at 19 under at Blue Hills Country Club outside Kansas City. Higgs won with a 7-foot birdie on the first playoff hole, again the par-5 18th, an outcome that delighted the spirited observers in Higgs’ home region (he was born in Philadelphia but grew up in nearby Overland Park, Kansas).

Full piece.

7. Winning WITB: Xander Schauffele

Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees @10.1)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana PD 70 TX (45.5 inches)

3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (15 degrees @14.4)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana PD 80 TX

Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW (21 degrees @19.7)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX

Irons: Callaway Apex TCB ’24 (4-10)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-10)

Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (52-10S), Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (56-10S @57), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60-K @61)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Putter: Odyssey Toulon Design Las Vegas Prototype 7CH

Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 2.0

Grips: Golf Pride MCC Align

Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour

The winning WITB is presented by 2nd Swing Golf. 2nd Swing has more than 100,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.

Full WITB.
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