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Morning 9: Mother Nature | Tiger speaks on Masters win | Day on mentally checking out of past Prez Cups

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By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected])

April 26, 2019

Good Friday morning, golf fans.
1. Mother Nature steals the show…
Jeff Duncan at The Times-Picayune on a soggy round one in New Orleans…
  • “Trey Mullinax and Scott Stallings have the early lead at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, but Mother Nature dominated the opening round of play on Thursday.”
  • “A seven-hour rain delay prevented half the field from teeing off in the first round of four-ball competition, but it didn’t appear to adversely affect the leaders. Mullinax sank a 25-foot putt on Hole No. 9 to give his team the outright lead at 11-under-par 61 on the water-logged tract at TPC of Louisiana.”
2. Meanwhile, in Morocco…
EuropeanTour.com report…
  • “Jordan Smith is eager to turn his consistent play into a second European Tour victory after firing a brilliant 66 to take the first round lead at the Trophée Hassan II.”
  • “The Englishman arrived at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam refreshed after a break which followed his first top ten of the season at the Maybank Championship in March.”
  • “Before that he had made six cuts out of six and seven birdies on the par 73 layout in Rabat moved him to seven under and gave the 26-year-old a one shot lead over 2014 champion Alejandro Cañizares and American Sean Crocker.”
3. Woods “hasn’t come to grips” with Masters win yet
Nick Menta at Golf Channel on a TW talk with GolfTV…
“In an interview with GolfTV, Woods says he’s spent the days since his win enjoying dinners with friends, taking his kids to and from school, and otherwise not doing “very much.”
  • “I know that sounds boring,” he said, “but I really haven’t. I’ve just been home and letting everything thaw out and just trying to understand what I [have] accomplished. But I haven’t – I don’t think – come to grips with it yet.
  • “It’s very similar to what it was in 1997, and that took me years to understand what I had accomplished, and I don’t think this one will settle in for quite some time.”
  • “This one feels special in its own way,” he said. “This year, to go 14 years between jackets is a long time. … And on top of that to actually have won my first major championship coming from behind. It’s so ironic, given my last few years of what I’ve kind of had to battle through, that now is finally the time I finally come from behind when I’ve had more game throughout the years, and I’ve had more runs, and I’ve been in situations where I’ve been in better spots. … For some reason I got it done.”
4. Day mentally checked out of Presidents Cups?
Golf Channel’s Nick Menta...”Day admitted this week at the Zurich Classic that he has been guilty of checking out at times in the biennial matches between the U.S. and Internationals. He pointed to the 2015 Cup in South Korea, where he went 0-4-1. Overall, the world’s 14th-ranked player and former world No. 1 is 5-11-4 in the team event.”
  • “To be able to get the guys together into a team environment can be very difficult at times,” Day said, “especially when some guys are not quite there mentally because it is the end of the season, and I’m the first one to put my hand up in regards to that because unfortunately, it has to start at the top, and I’ve made mistakes with regards to not mentally being there.
5. J-Pete coming out of retirement (again)?
Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine with the quote from John Peterson…
  • “Sometimes you’ve got to take a step back to realize what you had,” said Peterson, who was a three-time All-American at LSU and won the 2011 NCAA individual title. “I was in an office for seven months, and it was fine when I started, I was paying the bills. Then the Masters came along, and I’m watching this kid Patrick Cantlay, who in 2011 finished second to me in the national championship when he was at UCLA, and he’s finishing ninth in the Masters. It’s on TV, and I beat him, and I beat him a lot, and I’m just like, ‘Man, that could be me.’ And then Tiger wins, with his story, it was just so inspiring, honestly.
  • And I quit my job, seriously, the next day after the Masters.”

Piece. 

6. Another U.S. Open exemption for Els
PGA Tour report…”Presidents Cup International Team captain Ernie Els received a nice piece of news during the lengthy rain delay Thursday at the first round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.”
“The USGA gave the two-time U.S. Open champ a special exemption for the second consecutive year.  Els is the first player to receive consecutive exemptions since Hale Irwin in 2002 and 2003.”
7. McNealy shoots 75…with a 13
Golf Digest’s Alex Myers…”McNealy began on the back nine at Briggs Ranch and jumped out to a two-under start through three holes before disaster struck. Let’s just say 13 wasn’t his lucky number on Thursday. McNealy walked away from his fourth hole at six over par after racking up 13 shots on the par-5 13th. He bogeyed the following hole as well to fall to seven over through five holes. Here’s a look at the wild patch of holes:”
  • “But there’s a reason why McNealy has his name on his golf bag, and why he is regarded as a serious PGA Tour prospect. Much like Kevin Na after his infamous 16 at the 2011 Valero Texas Open (What is up with the San Antonio area producing these big numbers), McNealy rallied in heroic fashion after that with no more blemishes on his scorecard and four more birdies. Here’s the end result:”
8. The case for Woods the winningest
Eamon Lynch makes a strong case…
“This isn’t a record that should be debatable,” Lynch says. “We’ll just have to wait until Tiger puts it to rest for good. And when No. 82 comes, it will be just like the 81 that preceded it. The work of one man hitting every shot that counts.”
9. Rating the walk-ups
Great stuff from our Matt Gallardo rating the walk-up songs of the Zurich Classic teams
  • “Steve Stricker/Jerry Kelly: As Good as I Once Was – Toby Keith”
  • “This is, perfect. All I see is an Italian chef kissing their hands to this selection, sheer perfection. Self deprecation, confidence and an overall great song. I have to imagine Jerry Kelly came up with this and Stricker tried to argue he’s still in his prime.”
  • “Tommy Fleetwood/Sergio Garcia: Radio Gaga – Queen”
  • “Queen, so hot right now. Winner of nearly every Oscar, these Ryder Cup teammates kept it current with Queen while selecting a deeper cut. Somewhere, Francesco Molinari is looking at Instagram posts of this pairing and wondering what went wrong.”

 

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GolfWRX Editor-in-Chief

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1 Comment

  1. W

    Apr 26, 2019 at 2:32 pm

    Peterson is a weird dude. He’s just weird.

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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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