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Shane Lowry explains ‘accident’ behind putter break at CJ Cup

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We’ve seen the likes of Eddie Pepperell, Marc Leishman, John Peterson and Patton Kizzire snap their flat-sticks in anger mid-round, but last Thursday found Shane Lowry with a broken putter through no real fault of his own.

During the first round of the CJ Cup, the 2019 Open champion had just played his approach to around 50 feet when pulled the putter from his bag just too quickly, resulting in a break between graphite and steel.

Lowry had pulled the club out so rapidly that it fell from his grip and was heading to the floor but, “as it fell, I tried to like flick it up with my foot, but like kind of not too like aggressive or anything, just kind of tried, because the shaft was like this and tried to flick it up with my foot and I caught it like right where the graphite meets the steel on those shafts and it just snapped in half.”

Playing with the recent U.S Open winner, the world number 22 said, “I was like, yeah, I had to like pick Matt Fitzpatrick off the ground from laughing. Yeah, it was interesting. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to use it again. It was absolutely accidental. There was no anger or anything. It was like very, very strange. It was disappointing because I like that putter. That’s the one I won with a few weeks ago and I kind of was starting to like it.”

With the manufacturer of the putter, Odyssey, having left the site on Wednesday, the Irishman explained that there was no on-course truck from which to find a quick replacement. So he did what every respecting PGA Tour player does, got an order in to the local PGA Superstore in Bluffton, and drove an hour to pick up his new putter.

Lowry told reporters, “Yeah, look, Odyssey were very good to me. They sent one to PGA Tour Superstore down in Bluffton, which is like an hour away, so I got in the car after the round and I drove down there, and then I bought another one just to be safe, just to have an extra one there just in case we didn’t get on too well.”

As told by pgatour.com the order was in the name of Lowry’s caddy, so when the player himself turned up, “the customers were doing a couple double-takes,” Lowry said, smiling.

With the CJ Cup being a no-cut event, he was in no danger of needing to go home early. Indeed, he played pretty decent golf, recording a two-birdie back-nine on Thursday and a second round, and his best of the event, 67.

“I used my lob wedge for two holes,” revealed Lowry, before adding, “then I used — my agent went to the member’s bag storage and just pulled a Scotty Cameron putter from there and I used that for the back nine.”

“My first putt was on the 11th green and I was like ‘I have no idea what’s going to happen here.’ It was a strange hour or so. Yeah, it was interesting.”

With several spares now in his locker, just in case of future mishap, Lowry summed it all up in typical fashion.

“There’s always something,” he said.

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19th Hole

3-time PGA Tour winner calls for LIV to buy Champions Tour to fix ‘joke’ purses

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While speaking on the Subpar podcast, former PGA Tour winner and current PGA Tour Champions player Chris DiMarco said he hopes LIV buys the Champions Tour.

“We’re kind of hoping that LIV buys the Champions Tour,” he said.

“Let’s play for a little real money out here. I mean this is kind of a joke when we’re getting $2 million. There were like seven guys last week from TPC (Sawgrass, at the $25 million PLAYERS Championship) that made more money than our purses.”

In 2024, the Champions Tour had a total of $67 million in prize money over the course of 24 events.

DiMarco also defended LIV players for taking the money and said he would take it also.

“They wanted to play for a lot of money, and they deserve it. They have had some great careers, why not go and get some money?”

DiMarco also offered insight on Graeme McDowell’s move to LIV.

“I saw Graeme McDowell at the Old Memorial Pro Member, and he goes, ‘Listen, I went up to Jay Monahan and said I love the tour but I am struggling to keep my card and these guys are offering me all this money and less golf. I’m sorry, I’m going.’ And I do not blame him one bit, and I said I would have too.”

DiMarco was ranked as high as 6th in the world in 2006.

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19th Hole

‘It won’t win you golf tournaments’ – Golf analyst rips Charley Hull’s course management

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Charley Hull came just short of her third LPGA Tour victory over the weekend at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship when she played her last two holes at 3 over to slip all the way to 10th on the leaderboard.

After the round, Hull was blasted by Sky Sports commentator and former LPGA Tour player Trish Johnson for her lack of golf course management.

While speaking on the Sky Sports Golf podcast, Johnson spoke harshly of Hull.

“I’m probably her harshest critic, because I know how good she is. She doesn’t win anywhere near enough for her talent, and she doesn’t get involved enough, in all honestly.

“The thing with Charley is that you’re never going to change her. I read something the other day that said how much she loves the game and it’s her love of the game [that costs her]. She’s never going to change and she’s just going to go for every pin.

“In theory that’s great, but it won’t win you golf tournaments, it just won’t because she’s not that much better than anybody else. If you put Charley against Nelly Korda, then I’m picking Nelly every single day of the week.”

Johnson also made a fascinating comparison between Hull and a famous male golfer, John Daly.

“Golf-wise that’s the way she plays the game and it’s a little bit like watching John Daly I suppose.”

“There’s something that John Daly had that made him a major winner and a winner, but Charley is kind of lacking that. Her talent is not in question, but maybe her application is. Maybe it’s just the case of her never changing and that will cost her golf tournaments, there’s no two ways about it. You cannot go for every pin because that’s the way you play and it being fun, as other players are better than that and you have to have course management.”

Hull is still only 27, and therefore has plenty of time to work on her flaws to achieve the success her talent should allow.

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19th Hole

Former agent lifts lid on being fired by ‘zombie’ Tiger Woods

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Discussing his new book “Rainmaker” with the Daily Mail, Tiger Woods’ former agent, Hughes Norton, recounted the events leading up to and after his split with the 15-time major champion.

Norton was abruptly fired by Woods in 1998 after his 1997 Masters win and monster deal with Nike.

In the book, Norton talks about the way Tiger views his relationships, calling him a “zombie.”

The solace I can take, which doesn’t provide much, is this: He was an equal opportunity zombie with relationships, his swing coaches, his lawyer, the guy negotiated the IMG representation deal, with caddies, When it’s over, it’s over.”

Norton added:

“It is the way he terminates relationships with everyone. Whether it’s girlfriends, whether it’s his former golf coaches. It’s ironic, really. In a way he’s so good at confrontation on the golf course. If he’s playing you, he will beat your brains out every single time.

“But when it comes to confronting things like me and other people that are in his life, he has no social skills whatsoever. It’s maddening, actually.”

After he was fired by Woods, Norton was let go by IMG, which he believes was due to Woods’ influence.

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