Tour News
RR Donnelley Founders Cup Recap: Y Try?
By Vince Robitaille
GolfWRX Contributor
A lingering elbow injury? No. An entire field of the LPGA’s best players at the RR Donnelley Founders Cup? As it has been demonstrated over and over again, no. Even hail in Arizona apparently doesn’t quite cut it when it comes to stopping the outright most dominating figure, in the 500-year-old sport that is golf, since the glory days of Tiger Woods. In a week orchestrated around the celebration of the LPGA’s past, in the collective effort of honouring the other Tour’s trailblazers, and future, synthesized in the blonde 11-year-old hurricane named Izzy Cantwell that swept through Friday and Saturday’s televised coverage, what was really exalted is its present, best summarized in two words which, I’ll give it to you in spades, respectively begin with the letters “Y” and “T”.
The parallels with the heydays of the Californian feline are numerous and easy to spot, the quintessential one, though, is found in the weirdly familiar feeling that arises when one’s about to ask about the week’s results in women’s golf: the potent question isn’t who anymore, but how? Well, this week she did it in a fashion that wasn’t without reminding us of one of the greatest clichés of tournament golf – most precisely one linked to the Masters Tournament – “It doesn’t start until the back nine on Sunday”. In fact, at the turn, Tseng found herself trailing the 2010 Money List No. 1, Na Yeon Choi and former World No. 1 Ai Miyazato, by 1 and 3 shots respectively. A slow start – both literally, as two distinct 60 minutes long play interruptions put an halt on any kind of momentum she could have picked up on the front nine, and figuratively, as the aforementioned momentum never really got going – couldn’t, in the end, keep her from kicking off her newest campaign on American soil with a second victory in as many weeks.
To recap yesterday’s action without analyzing the weather’s effects on it is, for lack of a better expression, grossly inadequate. While Miyazato annulled any kind of advantage the interruptions could have brought her adversary by picking back where she left off, namely hitting fairways and greens as well as draining just about every putt facing her, the softened playing surface, occasioned by the rain and melting hail, mitigated Tseng’s strengths. In fact, while the impact of an ever so slightly more level driving distance average is non-negligible, the more receptive greens enabled Miyazato to be considerably more aggressive with her hybrids and give herself genuine opportunities to shave some strokes and separate herself from Tseng and Choi, which she did, until a certain someone shifted gears.
The charge began on 10th and, much like the Tiger of old, one could notice with a mere look at her demeanour. After a bomb of a drive that found the left rough, if you can call it that, and seeing Miyazato send her approach in a green-side bunker, Tseng proceeded to airmail a short iron to the back of the putting surface and to drop the subsequent 20 footer to shave a stroke. After a second-straight birdie on the par-5 11th, Tseng, now tied for second at 15-under with Choi, was now but a mere shot behind Miyazato. After all members of the last threesome of the day had safely laid up on the short 13th, Tseng, who found herself pin-high, but two feet right of the green, sunk her putt from the fringe to reach 16-under and, concurrently, Miyazato; the latter seeming to deflate instantly, never to be in real contention again. A fourth birdie over a stretch of five holes, saw the current World No. 1 take the lead for the first time in the final round. Keeping her foot to the floor, she converted another opportunity, in blatantly dreadful weather, and reached the winning mark of 18-under for the tournament; Choi and Miyazato, much to their very own dismay, would close out a lone stroke behind.
Tseng’s triumph – on a stormy dusk ill-suited for anything but a Sergio Leone film – leaves one wondering if there is something, or someone, out there capable of impeding the expansion of her control to all forts of the LPGA tour. While some see, in the young Lexi Thompson, the wild gunslinger that holds enough ammunition to bring down Yani Tseng, I, for one, would put my money on – if one were to ask me, thus placing me under the proverbial gun– either a tendency for the latter’s trusty putter to suddenly start misfiring from point-blank range – a surprising amount of 5-footers did slip by this weekend – or on another young up-and-coming American whose name I shall only reveal Wednesday.
Click here for more discussion in the LPGA/Ladies golf talk forum
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 PGA Championship
GolfWRX is on site this week at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, for the PGA Championship.
While we see fewer equipment changes and new gear seeding at major championships, we get a look at custom gear and looks into the bags of players we rarely see, which is just as exciting. In the case of the PGA Championship, this means a look at the gear some of the PGA Professionals who qualified for the tournament will be gaming, and LIV players, such as Jon Rahm and Patrick Reed.
Check out links to all our albums from Valhalla below and check back throughout the week as we continue to update.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Michael Block – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Patrick Reed – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cam Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Josh Speight – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Takumi Kanaya – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kyle Mendoza – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Adrian Meronk – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jordan Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jeremy Wells – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jared Jones – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Somers – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Larkin Gross – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tracy Phillips – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jon Rahm – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Keita Nakajima – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kazuma Kobori – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- David Puig – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Ryan Van Velzen – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brad Marek – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Chris Gotterup – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rich Beem WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Phil Mickelson – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Matt Dobyns – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Lucas Herbert – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jason Dufner – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Daly – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Taylor Gooch – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Dean Burmester – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Dustin Johnson – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
Pullout Albums
- Ping putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Bettinardi covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cameron putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Max Homa – Titleist 2 wood – 2024 PGA Championship
- Scotty Cameron experimental putter shaft by UST – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – new Ping putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka’s new Cameron putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s Cobra bag and Aerojet driver – 2024 PGA Championship
- Super Stroke grip – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tiger Woods – 2024 PGA Championship
- Michael Block’s new TaylorMade “Proto” 7-iron, from address – 2024 PGA Championship
- Odyssey putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
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News
Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
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
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Keegan Bradley – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Webb Simpson – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Emiliano Grillo – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Taylor Pendrith – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Kevin Tway – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Eric Cole’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matt Kuchar’s custom Bettinardi – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Justin Thomas – driver change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler – putter change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s new custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Tommy Fleetwood testing a TaylorMade Spider Tour X (with custom neck) – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Cobra Darkspeed Volition driver – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
GolfWRX is on site this week in McKinney, Texas, at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson (FKA the AT&T Byron Nelson).
Last year at TPC Craig Ranch, Jason Day ended a five-year winless streak. J-Day is in the field again, as are Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, and Will Zalatoris.
We have our usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums for your perusal. As always, we’ll continue to add links to additional albums as they make their way to us from the Lone Star State.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Pierceson Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kris Kim – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- David Nyfjall – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Adrien Dumont de Chassart – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Jarred Jetter – North Texas PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Richy Werenski – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Wesley Bryan – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Parker Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Peter Kuest – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Blaine Hale, Jr. – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kelly Kraft – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Rico Hoey – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Pullout Albums
- Adam Scott’s 2 new custom L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Scotty Cameron putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Ben Griffin playing Maxfli golf ball
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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