19th Hole

Jon Rahm calls for Ryder Cup 2027 venue to be ‘de-Americanized’

Published

2 years ago

Jul 6, 2022

Jason Daniels

The selection of Ryder Cup courses has always been crucial to the success and failure of the USA and European teams.

Related: Irish fan provides hilarious reaction to wild Bryson drive at JP McManus Pro-Am

The US team was always going to be favoured at Whistling Straits at the most recent of matches, eventually winning easily by 10 points, whilst they also picked up a large margin victory at Hazeltine in 2016.

Related: Billy Horschel went off on LIV defectors in pre-Scottish Open press conference

Europe, though, has beaten The States in their own backyard, with the 2012 ‘Miracle at Medinah’ going down in history as the greatest comeback in recent Ryder Cup history, winning by a point after being 10-4 down after 14 matches.

However, with the European side unbeaten at home in all six events since 1993, organizers will know how crucial the setup will be at Adare Manor in 2027.

With many of the likely stars from both sides taking part in the JP McManus Pro-Am over the last couple of days, players’ views on the course will be of tremendous interest.

The final leaderboard at the well-supported charity event shows a genuine mix of nationalities, and whilst Xander Schauffele won by a single shot from a charging Sam Burns, European players took five of the next ten places.

So, how does the course match up to others on the European rotation?

Before the second and final round today, world number 3, Jon Rahm, spoke of his admiration for the County Limerick track.

“Fazio has done an amazing redesign of the golf course,” Rahm said. “It’s beautiful, and this golf course can be made as easy as they want and as hard as they want, right? It’s the beauty of a good challenge.”

But there was a caveat when looking forward to 2027.

“For a European, possibly in that Ryder Cup, they might need to spend a lot of time and resources on de-Americanizing the golf course,” Rahm said. “Because right now, it would be pretty much what you would expect in a Ryder Cup in the U.S. Based on what I saw in Paris and what I’ve seen in other venues, Ryder Cup in Europe is a little different. They might spend some time and effort to do that, obviously, to suit our strength, right? But we’ll see.”

Commenting on the sizeable crowds and festive atmosphere at the event, Rahm acknowledged that, “We will have the Irish crowd, the core of the crowd being Irish, supporting the European team, and we all know how the Irish can create a good atmosphere and a good time, and it will be really, really fun.”

In a month of tension, back-biting and poor headlines for the sport, Adare Manor has shone a moment of light and relief.

2027 should indeed be “really, really fun.”

Dave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters

Published

9 hours ago

Apr 10, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Fresh off of winning $2.76 million on UConn’s victory over Purdue on Monday night, Barstool Sports’ founder Dave Portnoy has just placed a massive bet for this year’s Masters.

Tweeting on Wednesday morning, Portnoy revealed that he has placed $300,000 on Scottie Scheffler to win this year’s Masters at odds of +450.

Should he win, that’d be a total payout of $1.65 million.

Keep the momentum. For people who wanted me to hedge for is why I didn't. So I could take another shot at glory. #DKPartner #scotty pic.twitter.com/X9a0X8HOTZ

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 10, 2024

Scheffler is one of the shortest priced favorites of recent times at the Masters, and is looking for what would be his third win in his last four events.

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19th Hole

Brooks Koepka was asked if a 59 was possible at this year’s Masters. His answer did not disappoint

Published

11 hours ago

Apr 10, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

During Brooks Koepka’s pre-tournament press conference for this week’s Masters Tournament, the five-time major champion was asked a bit of a silly question and gave a brilliant response.

Q. It sounds like the course is already pretty dialed this week, but under softer or optimal scoring conditions do you think 59 is obtainable on this golf course?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Have you played here?

Q. Not yet.

BROOKS KOEPKA: I can tell by the question.

Q. What number is attainable in your mind? 63’s the low.

BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, now, anything’s attainable. But, yeah, if you want to go play the members tees and maybe play like 15 holes, yeah, I could do that.

With the course record being 63, it’s somewhat unclear why the reporter thought a soft golf course would be enough to result in a score four shots better than the record.

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19th Hole

Viktor Hovland reveals surprise swing coach changeup ahead of 2024 Masters

Published

11 hours ago

Apr 10, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

In what’s already been a topsy-turvy season, Viktor Hovland is making another swing coach change.

While speaking at his pre-tournament press conference, for the Masters, the reigning Tour champion spoke openly about the struggles he’s been having with his swing.

Earlier this year, Hovland parted ways with his short game coach, Joe Mayo, after Mayo had helped him make significant strides around the greens. He then announced his new swing coach would be Grant Waite.

However, at the press conference, a new swing coach, Dana Dahlquist, was alongside the Norwegian.

“I’m still kind of looking for some opinions out there, but I feel like I’m on a good track right now and we’ll see where that takes us. It’s one of those things. I was playing great golf last year, but it’s not like I’m trying to change my golf swing.”

Hovland then spoke about the change to Dahlquist.

“I liked what he thought was the best strategy to get back to a lot of that movement from that time. I thought it made a lot of sense, and so we’ve been working together a bit now. Then we’ll see how it goes.”

The 26-year-old added that he didn’t feel his game was sustainable after his magnificent run during the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

“I had to find my way back to where I think I’m going to play my best golf. Even at the end of the last year, I still felt like, yeah, I was playing great, but I got a lot out of my game, and it didn’t necessarily feel sustainable. But it’s not like I consciously went in and said, hey, we’re going to change everything up.”

“There has been a bit too much back-and-forth. It has been difficult to see the way forward, what exactly is the answer, and what exactly I need to do. I feel that now I’ve decided that ‘this is right, this works.’ I have to get on with it. Then we’ll see how it goes. I feel things are going in the right direction, but it has been more difficult than we would have liked.”

Coming into the season, Hovland was one of the favorites to win the Masters. As the tournament approaches, it feels as if the young star has more questions than answers.