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Tour Rundown: Keegan captures first W in 4 years | Otaegui earns his 4th

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This writer doesn’t mind admitting that he feels conflicted over the state of professional golf in today’s world. It’s challenging to separate personal feelings from professional writing, especially when the topic moves from mildly controversial to polarizing. Such is the case with the LIV Golf enterprise. For the first time this year, a member of the collective won an event on one of the world’s major tours. Much debate took place over the weekend, about how the DP World Tour should have handled promotion of that golfer’s performance. Nothing is ever certain, and little is anticipated with accuracy. This week’s Tour Rundown focuses its lens on three events across the globe and strives for balanced, honorable writing.

PGA Tour: Zozo is Keegan’s first win in four years

Keegan Bradley will one day be more than a footnote in golf’s history. The gangly, broomstick-wielding golfer rose to the top of the game in the early 2010s, thanks in part to uncanny putting with the chest-anchor method. Six years of scarcity ensued until his fourth win arrived in 2018. Another four years passed before the New England native won again, this time in Japan.

Eyes this week were on Rickie Fowler, who reportedly had reunited with swing coach Butch Harmon, and stood on the brink of a drought-cleanse of his own. Fowler also has five wins to his credit, but none since 2019. On the strength of a second-round 63, Fowler leaped to the top of the leaderboard, and his 66 in round three kept him there.

Bradley and Fowler went at it on Sunday in Chiba. Keegan was 3 under on the day, and cruising toward victory, until a bogey at the par-5 14th slowed his roll. Another at 16 dropped him back to a tie with Andrew Putnam, with Fowler one behind. Bradley hit a decent approach to the 17th, then rolled in the putt for birdie, to return to 15 deep. Putnam closed bogey-birdie to tie Fowler, who posted birdie at the last to finish oh-so-close.

DP World Tour: Otaegui earns fourth DP World Tour title at Valderrama

It was a nice, two-week stretch in Spain for the Vizcaya contingent. After fellow Basque Jon Rahm earned a Spanish Open title last week in Madrid, Adrián Otaegui decided to get in on the action in Andalucía. Otaegui surged far ahead of 36-hole co-leader Min Woo Lee with a sparkling 64. The questions that lurked were, could the 29-year-old Iberian hold on to his six-shot advantage? The answer was a definitive Bai.

The chasers needed the leader to go out in something-over-par on the outward nine, to have any shot at drama. When he turned in 3-under 32, Otaegui needed only to cross the finish line, to secure his first title in his home country. Previous titles had come in Scotland (twice) and Belgium. At the 11th, Otaegui played from rough to rough to rough, ultimately making bogey at the par 5 hole. This would prove to be his only stumble on day four, and a final birdie at the home hole gave him a six-shot victory over Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren. Only South Africa’s Zander Lombard played better than the champion on Sunday, and Lombard never figured in the title chase.

PGA Tour Champions: Back-and-forth at SAS becomes Couples runaway 

If you thought that the five consecutive birdies that Fred Couples made to close the front nine were impressive, what was your take on the SEVEN CONSECUTIVE BIRDIES that he made to close the inward half? When we tuned in, Jerry Kelly had taken the lead and Couples had yet to make a birdie through four holes. Not saying that we were the lucky charm, but his dual runs suggest that we were 😉

Couples posted the first 60 of the 2022 season on PGA Tour Champions, and it could not have come at a better time. More than 60 months had passed since Boom Boom had last won on the circuit, and he certainly could have been forgiven for wondering if his time on the victory podium was done. With the 12 birdies, Couples finished at 20 under par, six shots clear of his closest pursuer. Forgive him if he didn’t want a wake-up call from his dream round. Expect a run on yellow golf balls this week.

As for Steven Alker (second place at -14) and Kelly (third place at -12), they certainly had to wonder what runaway shopping cart blew by them at two hundred miles per hour. The tour moves on to the Country Club of Virginia for the Dominion Energy Charity Classic this week.

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Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

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  1. Dr. Phil

    Oct 17, 2022 at 11:04 pm

    Keegan is a weirdo.

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Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

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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.

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SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips

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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

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

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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.

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