Connect with us

News

Morning 9: Finau positive for coronavirus | Blessings Collegiate update | Bryson’s key club

Published

on

1. Finau out of Shriners with COVID-19
Steve DiMeglio for Golfweek…“World No. 16 Tony Finau tested positive for COVID-19 and has been withdrawn from the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin. “Earlier today, I received a positive result for Covid-19 under PGA Tour on-site testing protocols and have begun a period of self-quarantine to protect others around me,” Finau said in a tweet on Tuesday. “I am feeling well, and am otherwise in good spirits.” “I look forward to returning to action as soon as I am able, and I wish everyone at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open a great week ahead!” Finau said in a follow-up tweet.”
 
2. Alabama leads by 3 at Blessings Collegiate Invitational
Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine updates the action from Blessings…
  • Men’s team leader: Alabama. The Tide have reentered the chat. Four players shot under par Tuesday as Alabama fired a 6-under 282 to take a two-shot lead over first-round leader Tennessee.”
  • “Women’s team leader: Arkansas. It’s like the host Razorbacks have played this course dozens to hundreds of times. Paced by leader Brooks Matthews at 11 under, Arkansas sits at even par, 10 clear of LSU”
3. COVID-19 takes another tourney down…
The Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine… “There will be no Latin America Amateur Championship next year.”
  • “The USGA, R&A and Masters Tournament announced Tuesday in a joint statement that the 2021 championship, which was scheduled for Jan. 14-17 at Lima Golf Club in Peru, has been canceled because of “complications presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
  • “Future championship plans will be announced at a later date, the release said.”
  • “The LAAC, first played in 2014, annually awards its champion with invites into the Masters, Open Championship, British Amateur, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open sectional qualifying. Argentina’s Abel Gallegos is the defending champion while Arkansas junior Julian Perico was expected to be among the Peru natives to tee it up.”

Full piece.

4. George W. Bush named 2021 Ambassador of Golf
Marla Ridenour, Akron Beacon Journal…“President George W.  Bush, who succeeded his father as honorary chair of the First Tee in 2012, has been named recipient of the Ambassador of Golf Award, to be presented during the 2021 Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, the PGA Tour announced Tuesday.”
  • …”Presented by the FirstEnergy Foundation, the award recognizes a person who has fostered the ideals of the game on an international level and whose concern for others extends beyond the golf course.”
5. 4 ideas to boost interest in PGA Tour’s fall swing
Eric Patterson for The Score with a quartet of suggestions, including…
Season within a season….“If the Tour can get Wyndham Hotels to dish out millions of dollars for a points race already referred to as the FedEx Cup, or AON to spend $1 million for a season-long risk-reward challenge that no one fully understands, it can definitely find a company to sponsor a mini FedEx Cup during the fall.”
  • “The idea is simple: Create a points race separate from the FedEx Cup standings, spread over three or four regular tournaments (not the limited-field events), and reward the top performer with a cash prize at the end. The majority of these fields consist of middling Tour pros or recent graduates from the Korn Ferry Tour, so the added incentive for these players would be very meaningful.”
  • “Additionally, an increase in prize money may grab the attention of some bigger names. Even if it doesn’t, there will be another storyline to follow during events that generally struggle to deliver excitement.”
6. If you like lists…Golfweek just released its 2020: Top Classic courses in Great Britain and Ireland
Golfweek’s Jason Lusk…”Here are the Top 50 Classic Courses in Great Britain and Ireland – built before 1960 – as determined by Golfweek’s Best Raters for 2020.”
  • “For this list, there actually are 51 courses because of a tie at No. 50.”
  • “The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged together to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in Great Britain and Ireland to produce the final rankings.”
  • …”The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria.”
1. Royal County Down (Championship) 8.96
2. Old Course at St. Andrews 8.80
3. Muirfield 8.67
7. Bryson’s other key club 
Our Johnny Wunder writing for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report…“The arm-lock style is not the newest idea, but it is one that has turned decent putters into great putters, and last month it was put on display as resident PGA TOUR physicist Bryson DeChambeau used it to win the U.S. Open. His incredible distance gains have received most of the attention but that storyline overshadows his impressive results with the arm-lock putter. He finished last season ranked 10th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting.”
  • “The arm-lock is a proven method used by DeChambeau, Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar and Keegan Bradley. By resting the elongated putter shaft against the lead arm and thus securing the lead wrist, players can control the putter’s arc with the bigger muscles.”
  • “The anchoring ban sent more players to the arm-lock method after they lost their beloved belly and long putters. It has revived the careers of players like Simpson and Bradley, who used it to re-enter the winner’s circle after lengthy victory droughts.”
  • “DeChambeau began tinkering with the arm-lock method in 2017, the same year he finished 145th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting. He committed to the method in the second half of 2017, and he has improved in that statistic ever since. He was 32nd in 2018, 28th in 2019 and 10th last season.”
  • “It’s safe to say the switch is paying off, perhaps even more so than the 25 pounds of muscle.”
8. Danny Woodhead is a BEAST….
Golfweek’s Adam Woodward on the former running back’s qualification for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball…“A fan-favorite after a successful decade in the National Football League that ended in 2017, the 35-year-old former running back now finds himself so obsessed with golf that his handicap has moved to the pro side of scratch and he’s ruining his house.”
  • “On Monday, Woodhead took a big step in his golf journey, qualifying with partner Mike Wilhelm for next year’s U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Chambers Bay in Washington.”
  • “It’s as much fun as I’ve had in a long time,” said Woodhead of the successful qualifier at Firethorn Golf Club in Lincoln, Nebraska. “I’ve played amateur events in Nebraska for three years and it’s a thrill unlike anything I’ve done. Golf doesn’t come as easy as football for me. People are going to be like ‘yeah right’ but in some ways it’s almost cooler than some of the stuff I’ve done on the football field.”
9. Eureka Earth on Twitter continues to show how Augusta is getting green
“Augusta is getting green as they go through the process of over-seeding with rye grass which grows much better during the cooler fall and winter months into spring.”
Your Reaction?
  • 3
  • LEGIT1
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

GolfWRX Editor-in-Chief

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Bobtrumpet

    Oct 7, 2020 at 11:58 am

    Wrong link for item 9.

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

News

Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

Published

on

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.

Your Reaction?
  • 9
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

News

SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips

Published

on

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?
  • 18
  • LEGIT4
  • WOW8
  • LOL2
  • IDHT1
  • FLOP2
  • OB2
  • SHANK6

Continue Reading

News

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

Published

on

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.

Your Reaction?
  • 0
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending