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Morning 9: Tiger sets schedule | Olesen insanity | R.I.P. to a Euro Ryder Cupper

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By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected]; @benalberstadt on Instagram)

August 1, 2019

Good Thursday morning, golf fans. 
1. Royal Porthcawl
Golf Channel’s Randall Mell...”The 2021 AIG Women’s British Open will be played at Royal Porthcawl in Wales, the R&A announced Wednesday.”
  • “It marks the first time the event will be staged there.”
  • “We have a very exciting couple of years ahead with the championship also making its debut at Royal Troon in 2020,” said Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, the R&A’s executive director of championships. “Both courses will present outstanding tests for the world’s best women’s golfers.”

Full piece.

2. TW returneth
“After missing the cut, Woods explained why he wasn’t heading to Memphis for the cash-grab WGC immediately after Portrush.
  • “I’m going to take a couple of weeks off and get ready for the playoffs,” Woods said. “We’ve got the playoffs coming up, and anything can happen. Last year I almost stole the whole FedExCup at the very end. If it wasn’t for (Justin Rose’s) little break there at the bunker, it could have been interesting. So get ready for those events. And after that then have a break.”
  • “Woods decided to skip the WGC-Fed Ex St. Jude Invitational in Memphis after missing the British Open cut at Royal Portrush, saying he wanted to go home and rest up before preparing for another postseason push.”
  • “Ready to begin the FedExCup playoffs starting with @TheNTGolf and then the @BMWChamps. Hope to see you there.- Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) July 31, 2019.”
3. Negreanu’s big (golf) bets
One of Negreanu’s bets required him to play 12 hours of golf a day just for a chance at a major payout. Negreanu said he bet $550,000 that he could shoot a score of 80 from the back tees at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, a PGA Tour-level course that hosts the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Negreanu only had one year to transform his game, and he won the bet with just a few days to spare.
Via the No Laying Up podcast:
  • “My golf game was not very good. The back tees at TPC Summerlin is about 7,000 yards. I can’t hit a driver more than 230, so I don’t hit any of the greens from back there. I bet them that if they gave me a year, I could shoot 80 from the back tees there.
  • “So I’m drunk and we’re all drinking and I bet 550 thousand dollars on this. But I get as many rounds as I need.”
  • “So with about a month to spare, I go out there and [score] 110… 108… 106. OK, that’s my first three rounds, and I have a month. So we woke up at 7 a.m. every day, we practiced for an hour, played 18, practiced for another hour, played 18, played 9 more and then practiced again. So I would go from 7 a.m. to about 8 p.m. every day.”
  • Check out the piece to see how it turned out or visit NLU for the pod.

Full piece.

4. Lowest Junior PGA score ever!
AP report…”Jake Beber-Frankel, the 17-year-old son of Academy Award-winning director David Frankel, shot a 10-under 60 on Wednesday for the lowest score in the history of the Boys Junior PGA Championship.”
“Beber-Frankel, from Miami, closed with a par on the ninth hole at Keney Park Golf Course, missing a chance to shoot 59.”
5. Thorbjorn Olesen: What the hell? 
Our Gianni Magliocco…”According to a report from The Sun, European Tour star Thorbjorn Olesen was arrested before being released this week on suspicion of sexual assault during a transatlantic flight.”
  • “Per the report, Olesen allegedly hurled abuse at passengers and crew on the flight before being calmed by fellow golfer Ian Poulter and then molested a woman while Poulter slept.”
  • “The Dane is also accused of urinating in the first-class aisle of the plane, and it is believed that police were waiting for Olesen when his BA flight from Nashville, Tennessee, landed at Heathrow on Monday.”

Full piece.

6. Downsides of golf gambling? 
Brian Wacker at Golf Digest…”During the opening round of last week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, a fan yelled “Get in the bunker!” as Ian Poulter’s ball was in the air on approach to the 18th green at TPC Southwind. Poulter took exception, pointed out the fan to security and had the spectator removed from the course.”
  • “Two days earlier, PGA Tour officials announced a multi-year deal with fantasy-sports outlet DraftKings as the tour took the next step toward integrating itself with the rising gaming community.”
  • “Coincidental stories in the news? Likely, although who knows whether the lout who Poulter had kicked out had a vested interest in the outcome of his round.”
  • “That’s a good question,” Paul Casey said when asked if he thought such incidents could become more prevalent as the tour creates working relationships with public and private parties involved in the gaming and gambling industries. “It’s such a minuscule percentage [of the fans at a tournament], but with money on the line and people feeling like they can alter the outcome to their benefit, I don’t like the sound of that.”
7. Infomercials! 
Superb work by Jeff Ritter for Golf.com…
“Thanks to the miracle of YouTube many of those awkwardly awesome golf infomercials live quietly in the archives for posterity. Like panning for gold, all you have to do is go searching. Or, you can just read on and watch this round-up of the greatest 1990s golf infomercials. (Or at least, those that we could dig up.) Also included: each ad’s best line and whether I’d buy the item today if it were available. Operators are standing by!”
  • “Truflex Golf…Premise: The greatest golf irons ever made, all thanks to unique design and engineering.”
  • “Best line: “My name is Marshall Pengra, and right now I’m on a golf course. Chances are you aren’t.” Truer words have never been spoken on television.”
  • “Price: Only $595 for a set of graphite irons and $659 for steel!”
  • “Would I buy it today? Definitely not.”
8. R.I.P. Gordon Brand, Jr. 
Golf Channel staff…”Gordon Brand, Jr., a two-time European Ryder Cup player, has died at age 60.”
  • “The Scotsman was scheduled to compete in this week’s Staysure PGA Seniors Championship.”
  • “We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Gordon Brand Jnr. Our deepest sympathies are with his family at this time.”
  • “Brand was a member of the 1987 European Ryder Cup team that won on American soil for the first time at Muirfield Village. He was also on the 1989 team that tied the Americans at The Belfry to retain the cup.”
9. All hockey numbers!
Golf Digest’s Christopher Powers…”Sometimes you’ve got to spice things up, which is just what Canadian tour pro Jared du Toit is doing this week at the 1932byBateman Open on the Mackenzie Tour (no, I didn’t make up that name).”
“du Toit, a former Arizona State standout, plans to not use any numbers for his yardages, instead coming up with a genius alternative with caddie Nolan Renwick. Rather than telling du Toit he’s got 99 yards left to the pin, Renwick will just say “Gretzky.” But The Great One isn’t the only name he’ll be dropping.”

 

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Equipment

Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter

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Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.

This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.

Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.

The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.

Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.

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Equipment

Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article. 

…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.

Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.

Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.

According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.

He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.

Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

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Equipment

Details on Justin Thomas’ driver switch at the Wells Fargo Championship

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article. 

So, with a couple of weeks off following his latest start at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Thomas sought to re-address his driver setup with the remote help of Titleist Tour fitting expert J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. About two weeks ago, Thomas and Van Wezenbeeck reviewed his recent driver stats, and discussed via phone call some possible driver and shaft combinations for him to try.

After receiving Van Wezenbeeck’s personalized shipment of product options while at home, Thomas found significant performance improvements with Titleist’s TSR2 head, equipped with Thomas’ familiar Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX shaft.

Compared to Thomas’ longtime TSR3 model, the TSR2 has a larger footprint and offers slightly higher spin and launch characteristics.

According to Van Wezenbeeck, Thomas has picked up about 2-3 mph of ball speed, to go along with 1.5 degrees higher launch and more predictable mishits.

“I’d say I’d been driving it fine, not driving it great, so I just wanted to, honestly, just test or try some stuff,” Thomas said on Tuesday in an interview with GolfWRX.com at Quail Hollow Club. “I had used that style of head a couple years ago (Thomas used a TSi2 driver around 2021); I know it’s supposed to have a little more spin. Obviously, yeah, I’d love to hit it further, but if I can get a little more spin and have my mishits be a little more consistent, I felt like obviously that’d be better for my driving…

“This (TSR2) has been great. I’ve really, really driven it well the week I’ve used it. Just hitting it more solid, I don’t know if it’s the look of it or what it is, but just a little bit more consistent with the spin numbers. Less knuckle-ball curves. It has been fast. Maybe just a little faster than what I was using. Maybe it could be something with the bigger head, maybe mentally it looks more forgiving.”

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

 

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