Connect with us

News

Morning 9: LIV golfers’ Masters expectations | Reed wants LIV Masters win | ANWA champ 4-stroke penalty

Published

1 year ago

on
By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: [email protected]

Good Thursday morning, golf fans, as day one of the Valero Texas Open gets underway where players have their last chance to clinch a spot at next week’s Masters.

1. Don’t expect awkwardness

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach…”Speaking to reporters ahead of this week’s LIV Golf League tournament at Orange County National in Orlando, Florida, Reed said Wednesday that the first major championship of the season won’t be about the competing circuits.”

  • “…Augusta National Golf Club elected to keep the same qualifying criteria it used in the past to determine the field for the 87th Masters. There are 18 players in the 89-man field from the LIV Golf League, including four other past champions: Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson and Charl Schwartzel.”
  • “Obviously, the media and the storylines are going to be obviously LIV versus PGA Tour and all that kind of stuff, but really, at the majors, top players in the world are going and playing against each other no matter where they come from,” Reed said. “For us, at least for myself, it’s going to be business as usual going out and playing.”
Full piece.

2. Reed: I’d love if a LIV golfer won the Masters

James Corrigan for The Telegraph…”Reed is one of six former Augusta champions on the Saudi-funded circuit, but says that if he replicated his 2018 success it would be a bigger deal.”

  • “If you’re able to go out and win, it brings a boost not only to yourself, but to the league and the team that you’re on,” he said, here at the Orange County National Golf Course where the third LIV Golf event of the season begins on Friday.
  • “Now it’s just not sharing it with yourself and your inner circle but you’re sharing it with these guys out there. It would just be huge for morale.”
Full piece.

3. Zhang leads ANWA

Beth Ann Nichols for Golfweek…”Rose Zhang said her father, Haibin, feverishly swept away the pine needles that were in the line of her 50-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole Wednesday at Champions Retreat.”

  • “He was doing it like a maniac,” said Zhang, “and I was low-key kind of telling him to calm down in terms of trying to help me get the little stuff out of the way.”
  • Top-ranked Zhang drained the putt and later thanked dad for the assist. It was one of six birdies on the day for Zhang, who posted a record 6-under 66 at Champions Retreat, besting the previous record of 68 carded by 2019 champion Jennifer Kupcho and Zoe Campos in the opening round in the inaugural event. Zhang birdied all four par 5s and leads Ole Miss senior Andrea Lignell by one stroke.
  • “With the round being so soft and being muddy,” said Zhang, “I can’t really expect anything more out of my game today.”
Full piece.

4. Defending champ hit with 4-stroke penalty

Brentley Romine for Golf Channel…”Anna Davis’ title defense got off to a rough start Wednesday morning at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.”

  • “On the opening hole of the 17-year-old’s opening round at Champions Retreat, the par-4 first on the Island nine, Davis committed two rules violations in which she lifted, cleaned and placed her ball in the rough, or second cut. The news was first reported by GolfChannel.com, which spoke to several witnesses.”
  • “Preferred lies are in effect for the first two rounds, but only in “areas cut to fairway height or less,” according to a memo sent by the competitions committee. Players were informed on Tuesday night that Model Local Rule E-3, which allows for preferred lies, would be adopted.”
  • “The verbiage of the MLR includes, “The use of this local rule outside the fairway in the general area is not recommended.”
  • “After her round, Davis was officially handed a pair of two-shot penalties under Rule 9.4 for, per an official statement from the tournament headquarters, twice lifting her ball and failing to replace it in its original spot.”
Full piece.

5. Bubba and Brooks on LIV tensions at Augusta

Cameron Jourdan for Golfweek…”In recent weeks, there has been plenty of discussion about how LIV golfers would interact with those from the PGA Tour and whether it would be tense. However, Watson and Koepka said don’t expect anything to happen.”

  • “I’m going to be honest, man. It’s only awkward in the media,” Watson said. “I’ve talked to people that are going to be there. I’m going to sign up with Jason Day and Cam Young in the par 3. Some guys have already asked me to play some practice rounds. Media is the only one that is pushing it. I have nothing against anybody. If you change jobs, I’m not mad at you. If you start reporting for somebody else, hey, man, it’s a better decision for you and your family.”
  • “Added Koepka: “I think that’s one of the big things. Down in Jupiter, we see each other — I was just with Rory (McIlroy) and J.T. (Justin Thomas) yesterday, and I think Keegan (Bradley) was there. We see each other quite a bit. I mean, there’s a lot of conversations. I was talking with Rory for probably about 30 minutes just about the ball and all the other stuff that’s going on. No one is angry at anybody from what I’ve seen.”
Full piece.

6. Patrick Reed wonders if Augusta’s new 13th hole has lost ‘a little bit of excitement’

Evin Priest for Golf Digest…”Even Dustin Johnson was laying up. That’s the takeaway from 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed after seeing Augusta National and its new, lengthening par-5 13th during a two-day reconnaissance trip to the famed course with his fellow green jacket winner and Harold Varner III last week.”

  • “At last year’s Masters, the iconic 13th measured 510 yards from the tips. But this year, it will max out at 545 yards according to the 2023 Masters media guide Augusta National. The hole is now 60 yards longer than when Tiger Woods won his first Masters in 1997.”
  • “D.J. laid up both days,” Reed said Wednesday at Orange County National, ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Orlando tournament. “I laid up [once]. Tournament time I would have laid up, but since we’re out there seeing it, I of course went [full] send.”
Full piece.

7. Rickie Fowler WITB

Driver: Cobra Aerojet LS (9 degrees)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana Prototype 70 X

3-wood: Cobra Aerojet LS (14.5 degrees @13.5 degrees)

Shaft: Aldila Tour Green 75 TX

5-wood: Cobra LTDx LS (17.5 degrees)

Shaft: UST Mamiya LINQ 8F5

Irons: Cobra King Tour (4-PW)

Shafts: KBS Tour C-Taper 125 S+

Wedges: Cobra King Forged (54, 56 and 58 degrees)

Shafts: KBS Tour 610

Putter: Odyssey Versa Jailbird

Grip: SuperStroke Tour 3.0 17-inch

Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
Full piece.
Your Reaction?
  • 5
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT1
  • FLOP1
  • OB1
  • SHANK2

Related Topics:

We share your golf passion. You can follow GolfWRX on Twitter @GolfWRX, Facebook and Instagram.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

News

Masters 2024: Reduced-scale clubhouse trophy and green jacket to Scottie

Published

2 hours ago

on

Apr 15, 2024

By

In the world of golf, there is Scotty and there is Scottie. Scotty Cameron gave the world of golf a nickname for a prestigious putter line, and Scottie Scheffler has now given the golf world a blueprint for how to negotiate one of the toughest tournaments to win. Scheffler won the Masters tournament for the second time in three years. He separated from the field around the turn, making a trio of birdies at holes eight through ten. On the long walk home, he added three more birdie at 13, 14, and 16, to secure a four-shot win over Masters and major-championship rookie Ludvig Åberg.

As the final group moved along the ninth hole, a quadrilateral stood at seven-under par, tied for the lead. Scheffler, playing partner Collin Morikawa, and penultimate pairing Max Homa and Åberg advanced equally toward Amen Corner, with the resolution of the competition well in doubt. Morikawa flinched first, getting too greedy (his words) at nine and eleven. Double bogey at each dropped him farther back than he wished, and he ultimately made a ten-feet putt for bogey at the last, to tie for third position.

Ludvig Åberg made the next mistake. Whether he knew the Ben Hogan story about the approach into 11 or not, he bit off way more than he should have. His approach was never hopeful, and ended short and right, in White Dogwood pond. Åberg finished the hole in six shots. To his credit, he played the remaining seven holes in two-under figures. Finally, Max Homa was the victim of the finicky winds over Golden Bell, the short, par-three 12th hole. His disbelief was evident, as his tee shot flew everything and landed in azaleas behind the putting surface.  After two pitch shots and two putts, Homa also had a double bogey, losing shots that he could not surrender.

Why? At the 9th hole, Scottie Scheffler hit one of the finest approach shots of all time, into the final green of the first nine. Scheffler had six inches for birdie and he converted. At the 10th, he lasered another approach shot into a tricky hole location, then made another fine putt for birdie. Within the space of thirty minutes, Scheffler had seized complete control of the tournament, but Amen Corner still lurked.

At the 11th, Scheffler played safely right with his approach. His chip shot was a wee bit too brave, and left him a seven-feet comeback putt for par. He missed on the right side, and gave one shot back to the course and field. His tee ball on 12 was safely aboard, and he took two putts for par. On 13, the 2022 champion drove slightly through the fairway, then reached the green, with his first two shots. His seventy feet-plus putt for eagle eased up, four feet past the hole. His second putt went down, and he was back in the birdie zone. As on nine, his approach to 14 green finished brilliantly within six inches. His final birdie came at the 16th, where he negotiated a nine-feet putt for a deuce.

Scheffler reached eleven-under par and stood four shots clear of Ludvig Åberg when he reached the 18th tee. His drive found the lower fairway bunker on the left, and his approach settled in a vale, short and right of the green. With dexterous hands, Scheffler pitched to three feet and made the putt for par. With a big smile, he embraced caddie Ted Scott, who won for the fourth time at Augusta National, and the second with Scheffler. Ludvig Åberg finished alone in second spot, four back of the winner. Not a bad performance for the first-time, major championship participant Åberg, and not a bad finish for the world number one and second-time Masters champion Scheffler.

 

Your Reaction?
  • 1
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

News

5 Things We Learned: Saturday at the Masters

Published

2 days ago

on

Apr 13, 2024

By

Just as the honorary starters broke our hearts with the reality of ageing, so too, did Saturday, with the revelation that third-round Tiger Woods is not yet (if ever) what he once was. The great champion struggled mightily to an 82, tied with three others for high round of the day. Among the top ten, the worst score posted was DeChambeau’s 75, but the large Californian remains in the hunt. Day four will see 2022 champion Scottie Scheffler pair with Collin Morikawa in the final game. In front of them will be Max Homa and Ludwig Åberg. The antipenultimate pairing will feature DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele.

If you look at the one-off major winners, most took advantage of their only chance at grand slam glory. For golfers like Homa, Schauffele, and others, Sunday the 14th might represent their best and only chance at claiming a major title. For Scheffler, Morikawa, and DeChambeau, the ability to join the two-time and three-time, major winners club holds great appeal. Finally, a young’un like Åberg seeks to jump-start a more-than-tour-winner career with a major title. Many of the greats won them early, and the Swede from Texas Tech would love nothing more than a chance to join that company.

Sunday at Augusta, as always, will be riveting. It will provide hope throughout the first nine holes, then gut many a competitor’s heart coming home, rewarding just one with a new item for the wardrobe. Plan your menu and choose your outfit. Masters 2024 is about to conclude. Until then, let’s reveal five things that we learned on day three of the year’s first men’s major.

1. The three most critical holes on the first nine are …

numbers four through six. You might make some birdies at the first and last trios of holes, but the middle triumvirate of fairways and greens determines your day. Play them even par or better, and you’ll lose zero shots to the field. Get on a downward spiral of slightly-wayward shots, and recovery will be nigh impossible. Anyone who makes three at the fifth, as Tiger Woods did on Saturday, will get giddy.

2. The three most important holes on the second nine are …

ten through twelve. We realize that we commit heresy by omitting one of Herbert Warren Wind’s Amen Corner traces, but par or better is critical at 10. Dry landings at 11 and 12 set the competitor up for two par fives in three holes, sandwiched around a straightforward, par-four hole. Remember when Ben Crenshaw began his march to glory in 1995? It all started with birdie at the 10th.

3. The most interesting and efficient round of day three came from …

Collin Morikawa. Birdies at the first three holes, followed by bogey-birdie at six and eight, then ten consecutive pars to finish off the second-low round of the day. Morikawa has improved each day, from 71 to 70 to 69. He has won majors in England and California. He has the temperment for this sort of day, but will certainly be in the hottest of all cauldrons around 3 pm on Sunday.

4. The guy who lost the most ground on day three was …

Nikolai Hojgaard. The dude failed to make par from the seventh green to the 16th. After three consecutive birdies around the turn (8 through 10), the Great Dane tumbled to earth with five consecutive bogeys. 11 and 12, we understand, but 13 and 15 are par-five holes, for goodness sake! No matter where he finds himself on day four’s back nine, it will be hard to put that stretch of golf out of his mind.

5. Our pick for the green jacket is …

impossible to nail. We suspect that certain players should and could perform on Sunday. We remember when Retief Goosen, a great US Open winner until round four of 2005, lost his mojo. We recall days when Rich Beam and Y.E. Yang pulled major titles away from Tiger Woods. Things go wrong on Sunday, and they go wrong super-quick at Augusta.

We’ve decided to ascend Mount Olympus for our Sunday selection. Who better than the 2021 Olympic champion to add a long-awaited, first major title. It’s Professor X for us: Xander Schauffele.

Your Reaction?
  • 5
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL3
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP1
  • OB0
  • SHANK5

Continue Reading

News

5 Things We Learned: Friday at the Masters

Published

2 days ago

on

Apr 13, 2024

By

You don’t see leaves on the ground at Augusta National. The grounds crew and superintendent’s staff take care of those sorts of things, so that both course appearance and consistency of play are preserved at the top tier. We saw leaves on the ground today and, given the force and perseverance of the wind, we’re lucky that we didn’t see tree trunks along the fairways. We did see higher scores than secured in round one, and some of the three- and four-hole stretches were downright inconceivable. The cut after 36 holes came at six over par, and five dozen golfers reached the weekend of play. Numbers always define the story of a tournament, and we’ll let them define the five things we learned on day two of the 2024 Masters tournament.

One: 60 + 10

Sixty golfers posted scores of 148 or better through 36 holes, to reach weekend play. Ten more golfers posted 149 and missed the cut by a single stroke. The ones who missed the cut by a stroke included former champions Mike Weir, Zach Johnson, and Sergio Garcia. Also among the brood were current US Open champion Wyndham Clark, and Nick Dunlap, who won on the PGA Tour as an amateur in January, and subsequently turned professional. Of the ones who survived by the slimmest of margins, surviving to the weekend were former champions Jose Maria Olazabal, Hideki Matsuyama, and Adam Scott, along with Rickie Fowler and Tom Kim. Golf’s cut is a cruel and unconcerned blade, and each Masters tournament reminds us of this fact.

Two: One

The number of amateurs to make the cut in the 2024 Masters is solitary. His name is Neil Shipley, and most folks love him. He wears his hair to the shoulder, and appears to have the proper balance of intensity and chill. Shipley opened with 71, then held on for 76 on day two. He made the cut by three shots, and will collect his share of hardware on Sunday. It’s safe to say that Shipley will turn his attention to learning the course, as well as his own self under pressure.

Three: 23

For most sorts fans, 23 recalls the greatest NBA player of all time, Michael Jordan. For Justin Thomas, it’s a number that will haunt him for a long time. Thomas reached tee number fifteen on Friday at even par. The two-time PGA Champion played the subsequent, four-hole stretch in 23 shots, missing the cut by a shot. On fifteen, he went for the green in two, in some sort of halfhearted manner. He got wet with shot number two, went long with his pitch, and three-putted from the fringe. On sixteen, he played away from safety and found elevated sand. His blast went down the hill, and he missed his approach putt in the wrong place. On seventeen, he missed his drive right and his approach long, and lost another shot to par. The coup de grace took place on the home hole: drive so horribly left that he had to pitch out to the fairway and hit three metal into the green. His third double bogey in four holes dropped him all the way to 151 and plus seven. Among the many questions, the foremost one was why he dropped his longtime caddy on the eve of a major championship. Surely Bones would have saved him one of those shots, and perhaps more.

Four: Forty-Nine divided by five or six

Tiger Woods cannot possibly win title number six at Augusta in his 49th year, can he? Not on this broken body, and not from seven strokes behind, right? Not with so few competitive rounds over the most recent months, and not one year removed from a third-round withdrawal from this very tournament. Well, if he cannnot possibly win, allow us to dream and hope a bit, and hold on to a fantasy.

Five: 3 that we like

We like Scottie Scheffler, of course. He seems to have a sense of Augusta National, and he was able to hold on in 2023 for the championship. We like Nikolai Hojgaard, because he might have just the proper combination of naivete and experience for a first-time winner. Finally, we like Collin Morikawa, a winner of two separate major titles. Winning at Augusta National requires a certain amount of length, unless you putt lights out. Morikawa might be embedded in one of those putting weeks.

Your Reaction?
  • 0
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL1
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

WITB

Whats in the Bag14 hours ago

Scottie Scheffler’s winning WITB: 2024 Masters

Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (8 degrees @8.25) Buy here. Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X (45 inches) 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees) Buy...
Whats in the Bag3 days ago

WITB Time Machine: Danny Willett’s winning WITB, 2016 Masters

Driver: Callaway XR 16 (9 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana W-Series 60 X Length: 45.5 inches 3-wood: Callaway XR 16 (15 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi...
Whats in the Bag4 days ago

WITB Time Machine: Scottie Scheffler’s winning WITB, 2022 Masters

At the 2022 Masters, Scottie Scheffler delivered a steely Sunday performance to capture the green jacket in the 86th contesting...
Whats in the Bag5 days ago

WITB Time Machine: Hideki Matsuyama’s winning WITB, 2021 Masters

At the 2021 Masters, Hideki Matsuyama broke through to claim his first major championship, winning the first major for Japan...

Facebook

Trending