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Cam Smith’s dad reveals what likely contributed to his son’s sensational short game

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Cameron Smith just had one of the most iconic major championship victories in recent memory, but he hasn’t forgotten where he came from.

The Australian began his golf journey at Wantima Country Club about 30 miles north of Brisbane. The Champion Golfer of the Year and his father Des attribute much of Cam’s short game excellence to growing up around the difficult greens of Wantima.

In an interview with Courier Mail, Cam’s Des shared some insight as to where Cam refined his immaculate play around the green play.

“We always joke he had such a good short game because the golf course all those years ago was not in the shape it is in today, so he had a lot of tough lies which he had to overcome.

If you could get out of the s**t around here you could get out of anything.”

Cam agreed with his father’s assessment of his old home course.

“If you can play to your handicap at Wantima you can play anywhere”, he said.

‘They bring you down to earth pretty quickly around here,’ Des said.

Des also talked about how he knew for a long time that his son was going to be a very special player.

“I remember when he first started playing, I used to put his little clubs in a (plumbing) pipe and put his little clubs in it and he would follow us around.”

When Cam was twelve years of age, he was already able to beat his old man on the golf course.

“We played with him a lot younger than that and we kept on saying “imagine if he could hit the ball further, how good he would be because he never misses a shot.”

Now, after the greatest accomplishment of the 28-year-old’s career, he still hasn’t forgotten about his home course. After the win, he plans to continue his tradition of buying beers for the club’s members after a victory.

“Whenever Cam has a win he puts money on the beer card for the members,” Des said.

“It’s quite funny because as soon as the members find out, ones who don’t normally have a beer line up. I would say he will probably do it again for this one on a Saturday.”

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

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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.

“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

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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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Former Augusta National employee pleads guilty to transporting stolen Masters memorabilia; Arnold Palmer’s green jacket among stolen items

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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.

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