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The Match Play Awards
The opening weeks of the 2012 golf season have been the best in recent memory, and this week did not disappoint as Hunter Mahan won the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, closing out world No. 2 Rory McIlroy 2 and 1 in the final. And, since the grand finale was held on the same day as the Oscar Awards (which seemingly lasts the same five days as the Match Play), let’s have some fun and give out the first annual Match Play awards, or “Matchies.”
Performance in a Leading Role: Hunter Mahan. After stumbling in a number of earlier opportunities to be a leading man, most recently at the Ryder Cup, it was a possibility that Mahan might not get another shot at a leading role. But Mahan stepped up to fulfill the potential as a professional on a major stage he has shown since winning the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship as a child actor. He was consistently excellent throughout the week, producing a barrage of birdies that overwhelmed even the precocious McIlroy on the opening nine holes of their championship duel. Runner-up mention goes to McIlroy, who almost took home the trophy with only his B-Game.
Best Original Story: The drama between Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy. As clients of agent Chubby Chandler, and Ryder Cup teammates, Rory and Lee had been connected at the hip for years as mentor and mentee. Westwood and McIlroy had formed a strong, seemingly permanent bond. That bond was damaged, if not severed, when McIlroy left Team Chandler, and what was once a warm relationship developed a thick layer of frost. McIlroy’s emotional victory in the semifinal over Westwood likely took a bit of steam out of him over the first nine holes of the final, where the combination of his loosest iron play of the week and the Mahan buzz saw dropped him into a four-hole deficit. He eventually found his second wind and made a game of it, but he simply ran out of holes to get it done.
Best Supporting Actress: The fan who caught Westwood’s wayward drive on ended up with a ball down the back of her sweater on the 13th hole of the semi-final against McIlroy. After somehow snagging the drive in her pullover without chipping a vertebrae, she displayed perfect comic timing as she stood patiently and waited for Westwood’s caddy to deliver the memorable line, “Would you mind walking 250 yards down the fairway?”
Best Supporting Actor: Rory McIlroy’s 3-wood. Forget the PGA Tour; Homeland Security should be investigating the grenade launcher/golf club that McIlroy has only had in his bag for just over a week. Striping it up to forty yards past his opponents’ best efforts with a driver, we are sure to see this weapon star again in Augusta.
Best Special Effect: The dust devil that held a pavilion umbrella aloft over the golf course early in the Mahan – McIlroy match. It looked like Mary Poppins was making her way to the hospitality tents.
Best Set Design: Mother Nature and Jack Nicklaus share this one. Nicklaus gets the nod for the stunning Dove Mountain layout that was such a perfect combination of natural beauty and unforgiving vindictiveness they could rename it “First Wife.” Mother Nature, after sneezing out a snow squall for last year’s final, this year graced the mountain layout with six days of sun-drenched weather in the gorgeous Arizona high sierra.
Best Animated Feature: Ricky Fowler’s opening day match. Ok, I know he’s real, but he sure dressed like a cartoon character and after his surprising upset loss to David Toms, all that was missing was Nick Faldo saying “Th-Th-That’s all, Folks!”.
Best Director: To shared by all of the directors who ran the coverage of the event on the first two days of competition. With 16 meaningful matches to cover, The Golf Channel/NBC team did an exceptional job of getting great pictures, great angles and great slo-mo replays. And they kept the stars of the TGC team (Faldo, Rosaforte, Chamblee) in front of the cameras for the lion’s share of the time, minimizing the painful dronings of some of the other talking heads in their stable.
Makeup: Jason Day takes this Matchie for making up a three-hole deficit in three holes in his first round against Spain’s Raphael Cabrera-Bello. Look for Day to be near or at the top of all of the leaderboard and all of the majors this year.
And just like the Oscars, the Matchies saves the top award for last. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Matchie for Best Picture goes to … any picture of Hunter Mahan’s wife, Kandi. Check your google machine for conformation.
Like I said, it’s been a great season.
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SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips
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
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.
360° and in!
A nervy par save by @TaylorPendrith to remain one back as he seeks his first PGA TOUR victory @CJByronNelson. pic.twitter.com/LVFXUSidSg
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 5, 2024
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.
.@adrianotaegui birdies the 16th to tie the lead at -17 ?#VolvoChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/p4tfE5DRJa
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 5, 2024
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.
.@TBalla21 eagles 17, shoots 65 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the KIA Open. pic.twitter.com/TTOL2LxSdh
— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) May 4, 2024
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.
Off the green? No worries for @ScottDu12500063
8-under solo leader @InsperityInvtnl pic.twitter.com/hoj5OujL5C
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 4, 2024
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Morning 9: Pendrith’s maiden Tour win | Morikawa back with former coach | Brooks victorious
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