News

Morning 9: ANA’s amateur tradition continues | Knee-high drop is a disaster | Akshay Bhatia!

Published

5 years ago

Feb 5, 2019

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected])

February 5, 2019

Good Tuesday morning, golf fans.

1. ANA + ANWA

Golf Channel’s Randall Mell writes that amateur invites to the ANA didn’t suffer with the advent of the ANWA.

“With so much uncertainty over how overlapping dates with the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur would affect the ANA’s amateur field, the ANA showed Monday that it can do more than coexist.”

“Its amateur tradition just might continue to thrive….”It turned out to be a really great field for us,” ANA Inspiration tournament director Chris Garrett said.”

“On Monday, the ANA Inspiration announced the four amateurs who have accepted invitations to play in the women’s first major (April 4-7) at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The list includes two of the top three players in the Women’s Amateur Golf Ranking, three of the top six and four of the top 11.”

“Sweden’s Frida Kinhult, a freshman at Florida State, leads the amateur invites. She’s No. 2 in the world amateur rankings.”

Full piece.

2. Carter on Sergio

The BBC columnist pens a reflection on the Sergio Garcia’s bad behavior, asking some poignant questions of the European Tour.

“The feeling among our officials is that Garcia did enough damage to his reputation with this latest episode and the harm done to his image is punishment enough.”

“But this is a player who has form. The Spanish star spat in a hole at Doral in 2007, threw a shoe in anger at Wentworth in 1999 and racially insulted Tiger Woods at a tour dinner in 2013 by saying he would serve him “fried chicken”.

“But since winning the Masters two years ago with a notably serene, composed display at Augusta – along with becoming a husband and father – it was believed Garcia had outgrown such behaviour.”

“This, though, was a return to the bad old days for someone who is also blessed with a charismatic charm that has made him one of Europe’s most popular players.”

“And this latest meltdown begs the question, what does a golfer have to do to earn a playing suspension? How bad do you have to be?”

Full piece.

3. While we’re on the subject…

Geoff Shackelford rightly points out the continued absurdity of the new drop rule.

“Now that the governing bodies are working overtime to deal with the alignment rule after conceding a lack of success, the navy and grey slack set needs to clear more space on their emergency meeting agenda. “

“I’ll start with the drop problem spotted by readers John A and June who correctly noted Branden Grace’s incorrect drop on 17 of the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Or was it incorrect? After all, he’s almost around knee height as his knee is positioned! “

“…The overall absurd look of the knee height concept can go any day now. It will not speed up the game. Or grow it. “

Full piece.

4. Death of the tour bag?

Another interesting observation from Shackelford…”Reading Jonathan Wall’s gear notes at Golf.com and his explanation of the Waste Management Phoenix Open debut of lighter stand bags from Puma, Titleist and Taylor Made be the beginning of the end for a traditional tour bag.”

“Fowler’s Puma-Vessel collaboration was limited to only 10 bags, while Titleist and TaylorMade unveiled versions – TaylorMade’s all-green FlexTech was specially made for the “The Greenest Show on Grass” – that are currently available to consumers.”

“…It’s fascinating that Phoenix was seen as a natural unveiling spot, suggesting a younger crowd would be more accepting of a lighter stand bag. And just seeing some of the newer stand bags it’s clear they accomplish the same goal as the classic tour player bag, only streamlined, modernized and more user friendly.”

Full piece.

Wall’s piece.

5. Getting older on on tour

A few thoughts from an aging tour pro in the latest installment of Undercover Tour Pro.

“The new era has arrived, and I applaud all the Justin Thomases and Bryson DeChambeaus who’ve ushered it in. But tougher competition from the bottom is only half the reason why there are fewer “old guys” out here. It’s harder to have a long career because of how the pace of the PGA Tour has intensified. It’s no longer if you will get injured, but when.”

“Sure, we’re cutting one playoff event in 2019, but there’s still no off-season. The fall used to be a time to rest and repair the body, but not anymore. There are almost 50 events on the PGA Tour calendar this season. Unless you’re a top-30 player, you really can’t afford to take three weeks off in a row. Guys will shoot past you in the rankings. And once you fall outside the top 50, your schedule stops being in your control.”

Full piece.

6. Akshay!

Golfweek’s Brentley Romine…”Akshay Bhatia might be just 17 years old, but the junior golfer continues to outperform many college-aged amateurs.”

“Bhatia, the world’s top-ranked junior and ranked 12th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, added to his impressive list of accomplishments with a playoff victory Sunday at the Jones Cup.”

“After Sunday’s final round at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Ga., was washed out, Bhatia and Georgia sophomore Davis Thompson, tied for the 36-hole lead at 2 under, were able to make it on the course for a 1 p.m. playoff. Bhatia made quick work of Thompson, who rinsed his tee shot on the first hole in the playoff. Bhatia won with a two-putt par.”

“With his win, the Wake Forest, N.C., native earns a sponsor exemption into the 2019 RSM Classic. As of now, it will be Bhatia’s first PGA Tour start, though the youngster plans to play a few Monday qualifiers this year, like he did a year ago.”

Full piece.

7. Jumpstart for Rickie?

Brian Wacker frames Fowler’s WMPO win as a potentially important one for the future of his career…”Fowler, with his always forward-looking mindset, settled down (sort of) and bounced back with a birdie at the par-5 15th and another on the par-4 17th. He also made some nervy par saves-a six-footer on 13, an up-and-down from an awkward stance next to a bunker on the raucous 16th and one more on 18 after driving into thick rough.”

“It helped, too, that the three players chasing him-Justin Thomas and Matt Kuchar playing alongside Fowler, and Branden Grace, in the group ahead-all struggled at one point or another.”

“But as Paul Azinger noted in his debut broadcast for NBC after taking over for Johnny Miller on Sunday, this wasn’t about the players behind Fowler. He was competing against himself (at least until he wasn’t anymore).”

Full piece.

8. The importance of the Vic Open

Golf Channel’s Randall Mell…”Male and female pros will tee it up at 13th Beach Golf Links in Victoria, Australia, this week playing the same courses at the same time for the same amount of prize money. The men and women will alternate tee times.”

“It’s the only tour event like it on the planet.”

“That makes it a mustard seed of possibility for true believers wanting to narrow the sport’s enormous gender pay gap.”

“For a woman playing in the Vic Open to be able to look her male counterpart in the eye, knowing she’s playing for same amount of prize money, that she is his equal for the week, there’s a real feeling of fairness in that,” said Karen Lunn, the Australian Ladies Professional Golf CEO and 1993 Women’s British Open winner. “There’s a real important message in that, and I think it’s what has attracted so much attention.”

Full piece.

9. Archie got his sticks back!

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Archie Bradley, whose sticks disappeared after the WMPO pro-am, has gotten his weapons back.

He tweeted a photo of himself with the clubs, writing, “Super Sunday Delivery! Can’t comment much due to investigation. But clubs and everything in it were found and are at home where they belong! Thank you to everyone who helped with all their tips!”

Your Reaction?

LIKE4
LEGIT1
WOW0
LOL0
IDHT0
FLOP1
OB0
SHANK3

News

SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips

Published

1 hour ago

May 6, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

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

Your Reaction?

LIKE5
LEGIT1
WOW2
LOL0
IDHT1
FLOP0
OB1
SHANK0

News

Tour Rundown: Pendrith, Otaegui, Longbella, and Dunlap soar

Published

2 hours ago

May 6, 2024

Ronald Montesano

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.

360° and in!

A nervy par save by @TaylorPendrith to remain one back as he seeks his first PGA TOUR victory @CJByronNelson. pic.twitter.com/LVFXUSidSg

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 5, 2024

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.

.@adrianotaegui birdies the 16th to tie the lead at -17 ?#VolvoChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/p4tfE5DRJa

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 5, 2024

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.

.@TBalla21 eagles 17, shoots 65 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the KIA Open. pic.twitter.com/TTOL2LxSdh

— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) May 4, 2024

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.

Off the green? No worries for @ScottDu12500063

8-under solo leader @InsperityInvtnl pic.twitter.com/hoj5OujL5C

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 4, 2024

Your Reaction?

LIKE0
LEGIT0
WOW0
LOL0
IDHT0
FLOP0
OB0
SHANK0

News

Morning 9: Pendrith’s maiden Tour win | Morikawa back with former coach | Brooks victorious

Published

3 hours ago

May 6, 2024

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: [email protected]

Good Monday morning, golf fans, as the PGA Tour gives us yet another breakthrough winner.

1. Pendrith wins first PGA Tour title

AP Report…”Taylor Pendrith took advantage of Ben Kohles’ final-hole meltdown to win the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title.”

“Kohles overtook Pendrith with birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 for a one-shot lead then bogeyed the 18th after hitting his second shot into greenside rough. After having to chip twice from the rough and already looking stunned, Kohles missed a 6-foot putt that would have forced a playoff.”

“Pendrith two-putted for birdie on the 18th, holing a 3-footer for a 4-under 67 and 23-under 261 total at the TPC Craig Ranch. The 32-year-old Canadian won in his 74th career PGA Tour start.”

Full piece.

2. Koepka takes LIV title in Singapore

S.I.’s Bob Harig…”Brooks Koepka became the first player to win four times as part of the LIV Golf League, shooting a final-round 68 at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore on Sunday to beat Cam Smith and Marc Leishman by two strokes.”

“His timing wasn’t bad, either.”

“A few days after offering concern about his game in light of a poor Masters performance, Koepka stepped up and won the LIV Golf Singapore even to give himself a boost heading into the defense of his PGA Championship title in two weeks.”

“The year’s second major begins on May 16.”

Full piece.

3. Otaegui wins Volvo China

AP report…”Adrian Otaegui overturned a five-shot deficit to win the Volvo China Open on Sunday, the Spaniard’s fifth tour title.”

“Otaegui had been trailing the in-form Sebastian Söderberg after Friday’s round – Saturday’s was cancelled because of thunder and lightning – and he shot 7-under 65 in his final round to win by one shot from Guido Migliozzi, who finished runner up with a 67.”

Full piece.

4. ICYMI: Teen Kim makes the cut

Guardian report…”English teenager Kris Kim became the youngest player to make the cut on the PGA Tour in 11 years after a birdie at the last saw him get through to the weekend of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Texas with a shot to spare.”

“Amateur Kim, the son of former LPGA player Ji-Hyun Suh, made a second-round four-under-par 67, which included a run of five birdies and one bogey over his front nine.”

“At 16 years and seven months he became the youngest player to make the cut on tour since 14-year-old Guan Tianlang at the 2013 Masters, and, according to the PGA Tour, the fifth youngest in history.”

Full piece.

5. Winner in a rainout

AP report…”Scott Dunlap was declared the 36-hole winner of the Insperity Invitational when rain washed the final round Sunday, giving Dunlap his first PGA Tour Champions title in nearly 10 years.”

“Devastating rain in the Houston area previously washed out the opening round Friday. Players managed to play 36 holes on Saturday, and Dunlap posted a 2-under 70 to take a one-shot lead over Joe Durant and Stuart Appleby.”

“That proved to be the winning score when rain soaked The Woodlands Country Club. It was the second 36-hole event in the last three weeks on the PGA Tour Champions because of weather. The other was in the Dallas area.”