19th Hole

Hot & Cold: Where strokes were won and lost at the 3M Open

Published

5 years ago

Jul 9, 2019

In “Hot & Cold,” we’ll be focusing each week on what specific areas of the game players excelled and disappointed in throughout the previous tournament. On Sunday, Matthew Wolff produced one of the stories of the year by winning on just his third professional start, and here’s a look at where some of the most notable players gained and lost strokes over the four days of action at the 3M Open.

Hot

Matthew Wolff buried a long eagle attempt on Sunday evening to claim the 3M Open, but it was the 20-year-old’s brilliance with his irons which paved his way to victory. Wolff gained 9.5 strokes over the field for strokes gained: approaching the green, which was the second-best total in the field in this area. Check out the clubs Matthew Wolff used to win the 3M Open in our WITB piece here.

Runner-up Collin Morikawa was the only man in the field who struck his irons better than Wolff all week. Morikawa gained a massive 10.5 strokes over the field for his approaches in Minnesota, and the 22-year-old has now gained strokes in this department in all four of his appearances this year.

Bryson DeChambeau produced his best display of the year at the 3M Open, and his putter remains red-hot as we head towards the year’s final major. DeChambeau gained 5.2 strokes on the greens last week, his best total of the year, and he has now gained strokes on the greens in his previous four events.

Cold

Brooks Koepka produced another mediocre performance in a regular tour event at last week’s 3M Open finishing 65th. The 29-year-old struggled with his entire game in Minnesota and lost strokes tee to green for the first time since the Tournament of Champions back in January.

Koepka looking like he'll finish around T65 this week.

He's now finished 50th or worse in 6 of his last 7 non-major events.

— Daniel Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) July 7, 2019

Jason Day was another big name who failed to fire last week, and it was the Australian’s poor display on the greens that led him to a T66 finish. Day lost almost four strokes with the flat-stick in Minnesota – his worst showing with the putter since 2013.

Phil Mickelson endured another wretched week on Tour at the 3M Open, missing his third cut in his last four events. Mickelson lost 6.4 strokes tee to green for the two days he was in town – his worst performance of the year in this area. Worryingly for Lefty is that he has now failed to gain strokes tee to green at an event since March.

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19th Hole

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

Published

20 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

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.

Butch Harmon on what he worked on with Rory:

“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…

— Matt Vincenzi (@MattVincenziPGA) May 15, 2024

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

Published

20 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

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

Published

20 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

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.