News

Morning 9: Kuchar wins Sony, says caddie pay scandal “not a story” | Remembering the missile scare of 2018

Published

7 years ago

Jan 14, 2019

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected])

January 14, 2019

Good Monday morning, golf fans. Hope you’re greeting the week with a smile wider than Matt Kuchar’s.

1. Kuch captures the Sony

A beautiful back nine secured Matt Kuchar’s second win in three starts.

PGATour.com’s Ben Everill...”Having started Sunday two shots in front of Andrew Putnam, Kuchar made the turn one back of last season’s Barracuda Championship winner following some early stumbles.”

“But a 5-under 30 back nine blitz pushed the veteran to 22 under for the week, ultimately four clear of his nearest challenger.”

“And he’s ready for more success….While not making any outlandish promises Kuchar was happy to be reminded of Vijay Singh’s early 40s….Singh won 22 times on TOUR after entering his fourth decade of life including the FedExCup in 2008.”

“I would certainly like to (do what Singh did),” Kuchar said. “He set a great example. Certainly showed that is possible. A number of guys showed that it is possible. It’s nice to know that.

“It’s not like you hit 40 and you have to go away. There are guys that have done great. Certainly I’m off to a way better start than I would’ve expected. Feels good. I hope to continue.”

Full piece.

2. Caddie paygate

In a situation that is either developing or dead, depending on who you believe, an unsavory accusation (in tour pro land, at least) was leveled against one Matt Kuchar.

Geoff Shackelford summarizes…”Former PGA Tour player Tom Gillis took to Twitter suggesting Matt Kuchar, 2019 Sony Open leader, former Players Champion and winner of $45 million in his PGA Tour career, might want to pay his caddie this week more than the $3000 he claims Kuchar paid “David” upon winning last fall’s Mayakoba Classic.”

“The win garnered Kuchar a $1.3 million winner’s check plus presumed bonuses. You may recall that David was a local caddie Kuchar used when he entered last minute and his normal looper, John Wood, had a previous engagement.”

Tom Gillis tweeted…”If Kuchar wins this weekend let’s hope he pays his man more than 3k like the last win. 45 mil in earnings. Could’ve changed the mans life. ??”

Kuchar, for his part denied the $3K number has any validity…”Following his third round at the Sony, Kuchar denied the amount quoted and said it was not a story. From Rex Hoggard’s GolfChannel.com story…”That’s not a story,” Kuchar said. “It’s wasn’t 10 percent. It wasn’t $3,000. It’s not a story.”

Shackelford’s piece.

Golfweek’s Kevin Casey writes…”Kuchar did note in his comment that he didn’t pay “El Tucan” 10 percent of the winnings, but that is justifiable. A local caddie generally doesn’t have the ability to do as much for a player as his longtime professional looper. A local caddie also doesn’t have to deal with the large travel costs that a full-time pro looper must on a week-to-week basis.”

“Thus, the 10 percent benchmark more applies to professional caddies rather than all loopers. A local caddie may then expect a smaller percentage.”

“Whatever Kuchar paid the man, he disputes it was $3,000 and clearly feels the amount he did dole out was appropriate.”

Full piece.

3. Meanwhile, in the Bahamas…

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”Through 15 holes, Oda is 8 under and two shots clear of the field at the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay.”

“The former UNLV product eagled his opening hole and added seven more birdies before darkness suspended Sunday’s opening round. The first two events of the Web.com Tour season, both played in the Bahamas, will be played Sunday-Wednesday.”

“Lee McCoy, Willy Wilcox and Austin Smotherman are tied for second at 6 under. McCoy and Wilcox finished off 66s while Smotherman, like Oda, has three holes to play.”

Full piece.

4. Buddies again

Eamon Lynch with some perspective on the presumed selection of Steve Stricker as the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain.

“I reached out to a former European Ryder Cupper, who requested anonymity to speak about a U.S. selection process that seems increasingly reliant on a close-knit buddy system….”We base our decisions on what the players who will be playing want, not on a circle of friendship,” he said dryly…But the European veteran insisted that captains aren’t the issue.”

“…The captain doesn’t hit a shot, but he decides who does and who gets on the plane. Furyk reserved a seat to Paris for Mickelson, his task force buddy who was out of form and played poorly. Like his two immediate predecessors, Stricker will be crowdsourced into the captaincy from a select group of pals and invariably will face the same questions about whether his decisions are based on merit or loyalty, on sense or sentiment.”

“Regardless of the result in Wisconsin 20 months hence, Stricker’s appointment will be a positive for the U.S. team. It’s a tacit acknowledgement that a playing record is immaterial to efficacy as a captain, that character and all-around decency are just as relevant to leadership, perhaps more so. And that’s as good a standard as any to establish for the time, years from now, when the task force finally exhausts its bench.”

Full piece.

5. Charley!

BBC Report…”England’s Charley Hull earned a wire-to-wire win in the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi to claim her second Ladies European Tour title.”

“Hull, 22, took a one-shot lead into the final round and a three-under 69 saw her finish a shot ahead of Norway’s Marianne Skarpnord on eight under.”

‘”I’ve practised really hard over winter and it feels great to win,” said Hull. “Hopefully I can get a few more wins. I’m very happy with my round so it shows that my hard work is paying off.”‘

“Hull clinched the victory when she splashed out of a bunker on the 18th and saved par with a solid putt.”

Full piece.

6. It’s a young man’s game

AP Column (presumably Doug Ferguson) quantifying the youth movement on the PGA Tour…

A taste…”How many players on the tour now are 25 and under?” Cink asked. “Forty?”

“He was close. There are 29 players with full status on tour who are 25 or younger. That includes Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, who already have won majors and reached No. 1 in the world. It includes Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele, all of whom are among the top 10 in the world ranking.”

“They play a lot more, against better competition when they’re younger now,” Cink said. “And they’re just more seasoned when they come out here. There is no break-in period anymore like there used to be because you don’t need to learn.”

“When he started two decades ago, Cink said most players – Woods is an exception in almost every way – had to reinvent the wheel and learn to play the style of golf required on the PGA Tour.”

“Now you just come out here, guns blazing,” he said.

Full piece.

7. The Loves go to Singapore

Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard...”Although he plans to play almost exclusively on the PGA Tour in 2019, he will make one exception next week when he will travel to the SMBC Singapore Open. Although his wife, Robin, has always wanted to see Singapore and his son, Dru, will also be in the field, Love’s primary motivation for playing the event, that is co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour and Asian Tour, is to qualify for The Open Championship.”

“The Singapore Open is an Open qualifying event, and the top-4 finishers not otherwise exempt earn a spot in the field at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland in July.”

“I just want to play in it. I just love playing in it I don’t care where it is,” said Love, who last played The Open in 2012. “It’s just like the U.S. Open or the Masters, I would just like to play them one more time. Especially The Open.”

Full piece.

8. The great missile scare

Excellent stuff from Rex Hoggard, who interviewed some of the Tour pros who reserved the “you’re about to be hit with a missile attack” text message in Hawaii last year.

“Because Hawaii is a vacation destination, many players bring friends and family for the week. Charles Howell III, who has played the event 17 times in his career, had his wife and two children with him.”

“We were in the back of the hotel having breakfast and I just told the kids let’s just go to the beach and watch it,” Howell recalled. “There’s not much you can do at that point so you might as well get a front-row seat to this thing. We can’t get far enough away from one those big old things (missiles).”

“Tourists flooded the streets of Waikiki searching for bomb shelters and answers, but the vast majority of players took a more philosophical approach. Justin Thomas, for example, turned on some music and went to his balcony.”

“I just watched,” Thomas said. “If a missile comes in I’m really not going to be able to do anything. At least I can watch it come in. I was going to die if I was in my room or on my balcony. If this is the real thing, I’m going to enjoy my last couple of minutes looking at the ocean.”

Full piece.

9. Fleetwood with prototype Tiger Woods irons?

What’s that you have in your hands there, Tommy Fleetwood? That iron looks strikingly familiar to the “P-7TW” iron we featured in a Forum Thread of the Day last week on GolfWRX

What’s going on here? Well, as most WRX Members believe, the TaylorMade P-7TW irons will be Tiger Woods’ gamers in 2019. Woods had been playing a prototype TW-Phase 1 most of last year. TaylorMade hasn’t released any details or given an indication the irons will come to retail.

But what does this have to do with England’s finest head of hair? Well, Fleetwood, a former Nike staffer, has been clinging to his final set of Oven-produced Nike VR Pro Blades for dear life since the company exited the hard goods business in August of 2016.

Knowing the clubs can’t last forever, and apparently unable to compel Paul Casey to part with his similar weapons, Fleetwood looks to be looking to alternatives ahead of next week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, judging from the pictures below. It’s not surprising, then, given the apparent similarity between the P-7TW iron and Nike VR Pro Blade, that Fleetwood would opt to put the irons to the test early in the year.

Full piece.

News

5 Things we Learned: Thursday at the U.S.. Women’s Open

Published

16 hours ago

Jun 5, 2026

Ronald Montesano

Gone are the days when the U.S. Women’s Open was held at Scenic Hills or Churchill Valley. Fine courses that they are (or were, as Churchill Valley went bankrupt a decade ago) there is something to be said for the venue. Not all Women’s Open playings need to take place on Men’s Open venues, but some should. This week in Los Angeles, the Women’s Open visits Riviera Country Club for the first time. Down the road, we will visit Inverness, Oakmont, Interlachen, Oak Hill, Chicago Golf, and Merion. That is quite the murderer’s row (1927 Yankees reference) of golf clubs.

What can we expect from the 2026 tournament? Greatness and uncertainty. Unlike the PGA Tour, which visits Riviera each February, the LPGA does not, so the women will not have nearly the body of work over the George C. Thomas layout. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe they’ll play #10 smarter than the men do. Maybe they’ll figure some things out that their male counterparts can not. For today, we’ll try to find five things to learn, and share them with you.

First, this ain’t your momma’s U.S. Open course

How do we know? Well, so far, only one previous champion currently sits inside the top thirty. That would be Minjee Lee, the 2022 winner at Southern (NC) Pines. Lee made par on her first nine holes, the inward side at Riviera. She dropped birdie putts on the first and ninth holes (ten and eighteen for her day) and tallied another seven pars, for 69. She sits three shots off Jennifer Kupcho’s opening 66. Don’t worry about Kupcho; we’ll get to her. After Lee, defending champion Maja Stark ranks T30 at even par, joined by three other, former winners.

What Minjee did, is the sort of thing that wins U.S. Open titles. She guided her ship safely past swells, and made a move when the waters calmed. The fewer the bogeys, the more likely Minjee figures in the outcome on Sunday evening in Pacific Palisades. Off the tee, Lee was unmatched. She hit 14 of 14 fairways. Her iron play was a bit loose in comparison. She putted for birdie on 12 of 18 holes, which meant that her recovery short game was on point. Lee was ten yards longer on measured driving holes than the field average, and was below the field average (a good thing) in putting.

Second, the amateurs beat a loud drum

Three of the world’s top amateur golfer posted 70, placing them four off the lead, in a tie for 14th place. Canada’s Aphrodite Deng, Spain’s Paula Francisco Llaño, and Colombia’s Maria José Marin, showed the professional world that their game is strong. Both Deng and Francisco Llaño collected five birdies on the day. Should they match that output on day two, and minimize the foozles, they’ll be the topic of conversation on Saturday morning. Marin, the 2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion and an NCAA team semifinalist last week, played a game similar to Minjee Lee: few mistakes and few taken risks.

The last amateur to post the low medal score for 72 holes was Jenny Chuasiriporn in 1998. She lost a playoff to Se Ri Pak, who matched her plus-six effort at Blackwolf Run. The last amateur to win the U.S. Women’s Open was Catherine Lacoste in 1967. The amateurs are stronger than they’ve ever been, but the professionals have not allowed them to close the gap. A victory by one of the college set would be a cannon shot heard round the world. Could it happen? Absolutely. Is it likely? Not at all.

Third, let’s talk Kupcho

Jennifer Kupcho won the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur. She won three times on tour in 2022, including the Chevron, a major title. She won a fourth event in 2025, but has not established the winning credentials projected on her after 2022’s marvelous coming-out.

Kupcho hails from Colorado, and spent four years in the Carolina Piedmont, at Wake Forest Universtiy. Neither of those locales cries out I’ll be at home at Riviera, but here we are, after a seven-birdie performance. Kupcho posted birdie on each of her first three holes, and added four more (against two bogeys) to assume a one-shot advantage over Korea’s Sei Young Kim.

Kupcho drove the ball decently, approached moderately well, but putted lights out on Thursday. Her 26 putts were tied for best in show on day one. There might just be something about the putting surfaces at Riviera that aligns with Kupcho’s vibe. If that is the case, just get the ball on the green, anywhere, and let the flatstick do the lifting.

Fourth, how young is Sei Young?

Sei (pronounced “So”) Young Kim won a dozen times from 2015 to 2020. She took time off from winning until 2025, shen she captured a thirteenth LPGA title. Like Kupcho, Kim has hardware from one major event, the 2020 Women’s PGA Championship. How to explain the five years away from victory? No idea. When Sei Young was in contention during the prime of her career, the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

What to expect over the next three days at Riviera? Anyone’s guess. It might be the 2015-2020 Sei Young, or it could be the 2021-2025 version. Kim began her day with birdies at 10 and 11, then settled into a stretch of pars before her solitary bogey at the 4th (her 13th) hole. Kim regained her composure and reeled in three birdies to close the front nine. Her four-under performance trails Kupcho alone, and there is a real chance that Sei Young will produce a second score in the 60s and take a bit of control of the tournament.

Fifth, we’re giddy for Gaby

Although I cannot place my finger on why, it seems that each year, Gaby Lopez pops up on the U.S. Open leaderboard. She hasn’t figure out how to remain in contention, but here we are, in 2026, and Lopez is once again in the mix. The three-time champion on the LPGA circuit had a stunning first nine holes, turning in minus-five. She reached six deep at her tenth hole, but then gave three shots back coming home. Which Gaby will show up on Friday, and for how long? If back-nine Gaby can somehow channel front-nine Gaby, all outcomes are within reach. If the loose play continues, Lopez’ wiki page will add one more T41 to her majors column.

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open

Published

2 days ago

Jun 3, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX Tour Photographer made the trip from the Memorial Tournament across the country to the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera. Check out links to all the photos below!

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 Memorial Tournament

Published

4 days ago

Jun 1, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site this week at the Memorial Tournament, with both Alistair Cameron and Tour Photographer Greg Moore on the ground in Dublin, Ohio, where a strong field is assembled to pay homage to the Golden Bear.

In addition to WITB galleries, we’ve already been treated to an in-hand look at Tommy Fleetwood’s new TaylorMade Spider putters.

Check out links to all our photos below.

General Albums

WITB Albums