19th Hole
‘He’s tried to cancel me for years’ – DECADE Golf creator reveals history of feud with Brad Faxon
Earlier this month, Scott Fawcett, who is the founder of the DECADE Golf system that many professional golfers use, got in a Twitter dispute with Justin Thomas after criticizing the NBC broadcast team of Dan Hicks and Brad Faxon during Will Zalatoris’ win at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Fawcett, who was Zalatoris’ former mentor, felt that the broadcast had made negative remarks about Zalatoris’ putting stroke which took the attention off of his impressive victory. In response, he went off on an expletive-filled rant on his Twitter account.
After the fallout of the tweet, Zalatoris spoke out condemning Fawcett’s comments.
“Scott Fawcett is not a paid member of my team. I in no way condone or support anything that was said in those tweets. I personally reached out to Dan Hicks and Brad Faxon and echoed that I don’t condone what he said. Any interviews he’s given have been unauthorized.
He has tried to reach out to me and I have not spoken to him. I’m thankful to him for everything he helped me with in the ups and downs in junior golf but those statements are not a reflection of my values or me.”
On Monday night, Fawcett posted a YouTube video that further explains his feud with Brad Faxon and Justin Thomas (read what he says is the reason for his bad blood with Justin Thomas here.)
Fawcett starts the video by acknowledging that the words he used in his tweets were “out of line and offensive”. He also said the reason he made the video was not to “walk back what [he] said” but to “give the color of why I snapped so hard on Faxon”.
According to Fawcett, Faxon has been trying to “cancel [Fawcett] for years”.
The feud dates back to a video from “a couple of years ago” where Faxon says that a tap-in putt didn’t necessarily mean the first putt had “good speed” and he took exception with broadcasters consistently implying that notion.
Faxon said when he hit a good putt that didn’t go in, it would end up “past the hole enough where I had to mark it”. Fawcett was shown the video and said that he disagreed with Faxon’s opinion on what “good speed” meant.
Faxon allegedly replied to Fawcett’s comments by saying “so you think you can tell me how to putt?”
The exchange continued with a back-and-forth on Twitter that lasted a few days and ended with Fawcett bringing up the data proving that only a small percentage (16-23%) of Faxon’s putts ended up more than 31″ past the hole.
Faxon has often said that golfers shouldn’t focus on their statistics, and he has continuously dismissed the notion that players should record stats if they want to improve.
However, citing a tweet of Faxon’s from 2015 where he praised Mark Broadie for his statistical work, Fawcett accused Faxon of lacking “intellectual integrity” and that the tweet “shows he did like stats” and that “he’s only going out of his way to do what he does, simply to dunk on me.”
The feud seemingly has gone on for a few years and there doesn’t appear to be a reconciliation in sight.
More from the 19th Hole
- Justin Thomas slams Will Zalatoris’ mentor for ‘egregious and aggressive’ tweets attacking NBC duo
- LPGA blasted over ‘outright offensive’ provisions at Q-School event despite scorching heat
- Controversial ESPN host says he’s ‘disgusted’ by Tiger Woods in unpopular rant
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19th Hole
Brandel Chamblee has a surprising new take on the PGA Tour-LIV stand-off
One of the more outspoken analysts throughout the LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour saga has been Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee.
This week, Chamblee reversed course, saying he believes the PGA Tour should strike a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund (PIF).
Golf Channel Brandel Chamblee in his biggest about-face since the Framework Agreement on June 6, now says that making a deal with the PIF "is the better end of the bargain."
He says:
"The PGA Tour is in this pickle like it or not, but, do you want to compete with someone (LIV… pic.twitter.com/XDZaC1I6B8
— JCAGOLFReport (@JCAGOLFReport) May 10, 2024
“The PGA Tour is in this pickle like it or not, but, do you want to compete with someone who’s not going to go away, who can outspend you”.
“Every move they make that makes their tour better deletes your tour and causes more division within the tour. So the time is now, to Rory’s point about making a deal, I wouldn’t have said that a year ago… but it is the better end of the bargain.”
Chamblee’s new stance seems to be in line with that of Rory McIlroy, who reportedly wanted to rejoin the PGA Tour board with hopes of pushing a deal with the PIF closer to the finish line.
Chamblee will be in the booth for next week’s PGA Championship which has 16 LIV players in the field.
More from the 19th Hole
- Phil Mickelson drops big retirement hint; Says LIV will grow the game “on a much more global basis”
- 2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
- Tiger explains why golf has “negative connotations” for daughter Sam
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19th Hole
Xander Schauffele explains free drop ruling during round one of Wells Fargo Championship
During Thursday’s opening round of the Wells Fargo Championship, Xander Schauffele blasted his tee shot in the woods to the right of the fairway on the par-4 8th hole.
The ball was almost not found, but Xander’s group managed to track it down just before the three-minute time limit was reached.
When the ball was found, it was just beyond the penalty area close to a fence. In the moment, it seemed incredibly unlikely that Schauffele would be able to hit the ball through the trees towards the green.
However, through the woods and above the fairway, there was a hanging wire from a ShotLink tower that Xander claimed was in his way. He was then granted relief, and two club lengths from the spot positioned him all the way out of trouble. He played his ball onto the front of the green and two-putted for par.
Here is the full video of the interaction between Schauffele and the rules official.
??? #WATCH — The full video of the Xander Schauffele #DropGate situation ?
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) May 9, 2024
After the round, Xander said he “got really lucky.”
“Got really lucky multiple times, on 1 with Wyndham finding it, 2, being able to move the rocks, and 3, the ShotLink tower being in like my only shot line possible. To walk out there with sort of a no breeze 4 with what I thought was almost out was a really good break.”
“Yeah, I hit it in the trees. My ball was probably like a foot, two feet from the fence. If I — ball was here, fence was kind of here, hitting back this direction.
“If I went towards the green, the fence kind of worked this way so I had what I could hit, a 4-iron or something low and just kind of run it through. If it gets stuck, I’ll just kind of hit my next one out. But I brought the rules official in there with me because I was like, you’ve got to be OK with this because this is literally the only shot I can hit.”
“So Austin [Kaiser] and I moved two massive rocks that weren’t embedded and then I got relief out of the junk and then hit a pretty good shot on the green from there. What was a very stressful moment turned into a pretty stressless par.”
Schauffele finished the round at seven under, which gives him a three-shot lead going into Friday’s second round.
More from the 19th Hole
- Phil Mickelson drops big retirement hint; Says LIV will grow the game “on a much more global basis”
- 2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
- Tiger explains why golf has “negative connotations” for daughter Sam
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19th Hole
Report: Tiger Woods voted against Rory McIlroy returning to policy board; Will be the only player negotiating directly with Saudis
According to a report from The Telegraph, the relationship between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy has soured.
Last week, reports surfaced that McIlroy, who was a member of the PGA Tour policy board during most of the past few years, was looking to rejoin the board, presumably taking Webb Simpson’s seat.
However, on Wednesday, McIlroy revealed that he will not be rejoining the policy board, due to people on the board being “uncomfortable” with that “for some reason.”
Here's Rory McIlroy talking about the PGA Tour policy board and the "subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason." pic.twitter.com/0skNOwtWxz
— Patrick McDonald (@pmcdonaldCBS) May 8, 2024
The Telegraph has reported that Tiger Woods was among the players who voted against McIlroy returning to the policy board.
The divide is apparently due to McIlroy pushing for the game of golf to unify, whereas Woods, reportedly, believes the PGA Tour is in a fine position where it currently stands.
The Associated Press added another wrinkle to the situation, reporting that Woods is the only player who will be negotiating directly with the Saudis.
The other members of the committee are PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, board chairman Joe Gorder, John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group, and Joe Ogilvie, who was a former PGA Tour player.
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