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The Mutt Gets It Done At St. George’s
-Pettersson Wins The RBC Canadian Open-
Carl Pettersson himself said that until the closing back nine at the RBC Canadian Open today he was “nothing more than a sideshow.” Until then Hawaiian Dean Wilson had proved unrelenting in his pursuit of the title, posting par after par on his front nine to protect the four stroke gap he had garnered through round three.
But in time Pettersson (71-68-60-67-266) would catch Wilson (65-65-65-72-267) and win his 4th PGA Tour title.
In his advance through the first 11 holes on Sunday Wilson had just one blemish on his card, a bogey on the tricky par 3, 8th hole, but he quickly rectified that with a birdie on the par five hole that followed.
Pettersson, meanwhile, was playing nothing like he had on Saturday when he set golf fans on their ears with a tour of one of Canada’s best courses in just 60 strokes. The North Carolinian, by way of Sweden and England, (thus his own self-designation of a being a “mutt) made a few baubles through his front nine but counteracted them quickly enough to hold his score to where he had began the day, at 11 under par, and still four back of Wilson, currently non-exempt on the PGA Tour and playing on a sponsor’s exemption.
Then the back nine began.
“Yeah, I just love that back nine. It just set’s up great for me,” said Pettersson who mashed through the final nine in 29 strokes on Saturday and was looking forward to seeing them again in the final battle for the title. Once again he fell into its comforting arms.
“I started playing really well, and then I kind of felt like I took of the tournament coming in,” related the NC State alum with one of the most confusing accents you might ever find on the PGA Tour.
But he did win, courtesy of not only his career-low score on day three but a valiant charge that had began on holes eight and nine with birdies and carried through into the key holes on the back nine. Faced with a four stroke gap Pettersson decided to give himself a little challenge with Wilson dominating their pairing until then. “I started to talk to my caddy on the back nine; I was like, let’s see if we can get close to him.”
The new Canadian national champion said he played aggressive coming in and it paid off. “That was fun. And it helped me.”
The compensation was sub-par scores on 11, 13, 14, and 15, completing a run of six under par scoring on eight holes. That pushed him into the lead as Wilson botched the 12th and 14th holes on his way to a final lap of 72.
There was just a little drama left on the eighteenth hole as Pettersson carried a two stroke lead into the last of a string of tough holes. Pettersson left his birdie stroke well short and left the door slightly ajar for Wilson who could not capitalize, leaving Pettersson to two putt for the win and to receive the adoration of an appreciative Toronto crowd.
“It’s unbelievable. I still can’t believe I won the tournament,” said a happy but slightly shocked Pettersson to the media afterward. “..last year my game left me. And you know, you start questioning yourself if you’re good enough to play, and am I ever going to win again. And yeah, I was feeling it coming up the last hole. I knew anything could happen, but it was special – most important win for me coming back after last year playing so poorly.”
For his win Pettersson earns his way into the 2010 PGA Championship as well as a spot on the 2011 Masters and a cheque for $918,000. He also gets to be the defending champion of the RBC Canadian Open next year when it will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia.
-Equipment Notes:
-Carl Pettersson used a new Nike VR Rev 60 degree wedge this week
-Pettersson, who has been a Nike Athlete for eight years, says the key to his win was his driving this week, A month and a half ago he switched to a Nike Golf VR Red Driver.
This report provided to GolfWRX.com by Canada's Flagstick Golf Magazine (www.flagstick.com)
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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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