By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco and Matthew Vincenzi.
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October 25, 2022
Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as attention turns to the Bermuda Championship. |
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1. Closing in on No. 2
Via the Golf Channel Digital team…”Rory McIlroy earned his 23rd PGA Tour victory, reclaimed world No. 1 and pocketed nearly $2 million in winning the CJ Cup in South Carolina.”
- “McIlroy crossed the $68 million mark in official career PGA Tour earnings, getting him closer to No. 2 on the all-time list. McIlroy is currently fourth, with Vijay Singh ($71,236,216) third and Jim Furyk ($71,507,269) second.”
- “Tiger Woods is No. 1 with $120,895,206.”
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2. Rahm “battling swing thoughts”
Golf Channel’s Max Schreiber with this item following Jon Rahm’s T4 finish at the CJ Cup…”Why wasn’t he confident with his swing this week?”
- “I was battling swing thoughts,” Rahm said. “I don’t like to have too many swing thoughts on my approach and definitely thinking more than I would like on some of those shots out there today. I was able to still execute and play good golf, it’s just not an easy golf course out there. If I can shoot under par uncomfortably, manage a couple mistakes, I’d still have a chance to win.”
- “How did Rahm manage his swing thoughts and almost pull out the victory?”
- “It’s not really battling, I’m just uncomfortable,” he said. “I don’t want to start thinking about my swing mid-round because I can’t hit 10 balls to fix it, right? So I just try to play and hit the shots and execute. I did a really good job with some of them, it’s just not an easy golf course. Any other golf course that isn’t as slippery as this one I could have had a good chance, but here you have to be very precise.”
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3. JYK on injury struggle
Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols…“Jin Young Ko used four words and two emojis on Monday to caption a photograph on Instagram. Anyone looking for insight into the World No. 1’s frame of mind after last week’s withdrawal got the message loud and clear.”
- “Accept, think, move on,” Ko wrote, followed by a twister emoji.
- “The BMW Ladies Championship surely felt something like a raging storm for the World No. 1. Ko teed it up close to home in her first event in two months after taking time off to heal a nagging wrist injury.”
- “The player who often wins tournaments after long breaks, instead posted the highest round of her LPGA career, an opening 80. Ko made a 10 on the closing par 5, whiffing a shot left-handed and mostly making a mess of the hole. She shot 79 on Friday and then withdrew.”
- “Ko’s manager told Golfweek on Monday that she hasn’t yet fully recovered from the left wrist injury and is currently receiving treatment. She will do her best to be able to compete in better condition next month in Florida.”
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4. DP World Tour winner making LIV return
Mike Hall for Golf Monthly…“Less than two weeks after Adrian Otaegui claimed a historic victory in the DP World Tour’s Andalucia Masters at Valderrama, the Spaniard has been named in the field for the season-closing LIV Golf Team Championship at Trump National Doral in Florida.”
- “The 29-year-old last competed in LIV Golf’s inaugural season in Boston in early September, where he finished a disappointing 45th in the individual competition. It would have been easy to assume that would mark his final appearance after three outings, but that was before he showed the form of his life with a six-shot win in his homeland.”
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6. An overgrown Ross and a lawsuit in Asheville
Sarah Honosky, Asheville Citizen Times…”The city has filed a lawsuit against historic Municipal Golf Course’s former operator Pope Golf, alleging deteriorating course conditions, destruction of property and $340,830 in outstanding lease payments to the city.”
- “The complaint was filed with Buncombe County Superior Court on Oct. 4, over three months after the city attorney’s office sent a letter to Keith Pope, CEO of Pope Golf, based in Sarasota, Florida, advising that the city intended to initiate litigation over the past due lease payments, some of which have been accumulating since 2016.”
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8. Tour Report from Congaree
Among the many morsels Tursky served up from Congaree is this note on bomber Cam Young’s wild week of equipment changes…”Cam Young had quite a roller coaster of a week in equipment.”
- “Prior to the event, Young switched into a new Titleist TSR2+ 14.5-degree 3-wood, and a TSR2 5-wood, each of which are equipped with incredibly stiff shafts. He also switched into a SuperStroke Traxion Flatso 2.0 putter grip on his custom Scotty Cameron putter. I asked him about all the changes on Wednesday, to which he replied:”
- “Yeah, just some tinkering,” Young said in his press conference. “The 3-wood and 5-wood I just feel like I haven’t — I don’t hit the 3-wood very often. I had a 4-wood and I just didn’t hit it that often, so we were just looking to change the setup a little bit to give me some more options. I didn’t play great last week, but those changes we made in those clubs I think worked out really nicely. I kind of like the way that they worked for me in the tournament. And the putter grip is just, I’m always tinkering with something, just trying something new.”
- “If all the changes weren’t enough, there was more gear news from Young during The CJ Cup.”
- “As the story goes, Young felt like something was off with his driver head on Friday, so he borrowed a driver from Webb Simpson for Saturday’s round. It was a Titleist TSi3 9.5-degree head, and Young switched out the shaft for his gamer Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro White 70 TX shaft.”
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9. PGA Tour university changes on the way?
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Golf Channel report…”More changes could be coming to PGA Tour University, the program created to provide top college graduates with a pathway to the PGA Tour by giving them status on developmental tours under the Tour’s umbrella.”
- “If greenlighted, the updates would be the program’s most significant yet and for the first time offer direct access to the PGA Tour.”
- “Tour members were notified Monday via their monthly green sheet that two proposals have been sent to the Tour’s policy board for approval.”
- “One proposition would see the No. 1 player in the PGA Tour U’s Velocity Global Ranking at the conclusion of the NCAA Championship receive a PGA Tour card. Another would offer Tour status, post-nationals, to underclassmen who meet certain elite benchmarks at the amateur and college levels.”
- “The policy board is set to review the two proposals in early November. If approved, the first change would go into effect immediately, meaning that the No. 1 player in the final ranking following the 2023 NCAA Championship will have PGA Tour status from June 2023 through the end of the 2022-23 season.”
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