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Morning 9: Rickie rebounds from 11th-hole nightmare | DJ’s W in Saudi Arabia | Sergio Garcia: greenslayer

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5 years ago

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By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected])

February 4, 2019

Good Monday morning, golf fans, and welcome to the advertising age of Morning 9. Never anything too obtrusive, and always something I think will be relevant to your golfing life. If you think so too, check it out (in the space above). I remain thankful for the opportunity to bring nine items of note to you every a.m. Never hesitate to drop me a line or call attention to a story of note!
1. Rickie recovers
AP Report…”Fowler shook off a bizarre triple bogey on No. 11 with clutch shots down the stretch, finally winning the tournament Sunday that had twice eluded him.”
  • “I didn’t think it would be easy, but the way I was playing this week, I thought it would have been easier,” Fowler said. “It was kind of grind it out. I had a couple of tough breaks and had to deal with the punches — a couple big ones — but it feels good now.”
  • “After a pair of 64s and a 65, Fowler shot 3-over 74 in the final round on a soggy Sunday at TPC Scottsdale, highest by a winner in tournament history. He finished at 17-under 267 to beat Branden Grace by two shots for his fifth PGA TOUR title.”
  • “Fowler had another over-par round with a 54-hole lead — he’s 7 for 7 there — but birdied two of his final four holes to win from the third-round lead for the second time, with the 2017 Honda Classic the other.”
2. 11th hole disaster
Todd Kelly on the horror that befell Rickie Fowler at the 11th, Sunday…”…Fowler, who entered the final round with a four-stroke lead, appeared to slam the door on the tournament with his first birdie of the day at the par-4 10th hole. It gave him a five-shot edge over Branden Grace, his nearest pursuer, as both of Fowler’s playing partners, Matt Kuchar and Justin Thomas, weren’t making much of a push.”
  • “But disaster struck for Fowler at the 11th, where he hit his tee shot in the thick, wet rough and was forced to lay up in front of the green. With 33 yards left, Fowler hit an aggressive chip that skidded past the hole, over the green and rolled into the water. That ended up being the least of his problems, as he decided not to replay the shot but drop from behind the green. After two drops (from the new knee height requirement) saw his ball roll in the water both times, Fowler placed his ball, allowed by rules, to get it back in play lying 4″.
  • “Trying to collect himself, Fowler walked up to the green to scope out what would be his fifth shot, when his ball, previously at rest, suddenly rolled back into the water. By rule this is another one-stroke penalty, as Fowler once again had to drop his ball to get it back in play. An impressive up-and-down for Fowler left him with a triple-bogey 7, and his lead had shrunk to just one stroke.”
3. Success in Saudi Arabia for DJ
ESPN report…”The American rode out a strong challenge from China’s Li Haotong and a late surge from Englishman Tom Lewis, hitting a fine final-round 67 to finish at 19 under par….The win marked a milestone for the world No. 3 as it was his first on the regular European Tour.”
  • “Johnson began the day in a tie for first with a resurgent Li, and the pair were nip-and-tuck trading a birdie each on the front nine….Li then recovered beautifully from a poor tee shot on the ninth, holing a chip approach from above the green to take the a 1-shot lead.”
  • “Lewis dragged himself into contention with a stunning opening run of five birdies, and he moved to within a shot of the leaders as both bogeyed the 10th, but Johnson reacted well and retook the lead form Li with a superb tee shot at the 11th and a fine left-to-right putt at the 12th for back-to-back birdies.”
  • “Li then struggled to maintain his form and followed up a disappointing bogey at the 13th with another at the 14th after going into the bunker above the green on his approach.”
  • “With Li’s challenge fading, Lewis had chances to gain shots in the final three holes, but he ultimately missed out and would finish in third at 16 under after an impressive final round of 65.”
4. The Greenslayer
Shane Ryan mediates on the inexplicable weirdness of Sergio Garcia’s putting surface excavations in Saudi Arabia.
  • “This would be a good time to review exactly what we know: It appears that Sergio was frustrated with the greens very early on in the week. Then, on Friday, Garcia was involved in a separate incident of slamming his club into a bunker out of frustration for the lie he had, one he believed was created by a previous group’s poor raking of the sand.”
  • “Then came Saturday’s incident. We don’t know if Garcia’s frustration in the third round was general or specific, but for whatever reason, he apparently decided to gouge a number of greens with his putter. According to The Scotsman’s Martin Dempster, Garcia actually damaged “no fewer than five greens.” At least four groups behind him complained, and after a conversation with European Tour CEO Keith Pelley, Garcia was DQ’d-a decision he said he “respected” while admitting to damaging “a couple of greens.” Dempster later went out on the course and found what he thought was one of Garcia’s divots on the sixth green.”
  • “All of this, every last bit of it, is completely and utterly nuts. If he had lost his cool and done this to one green, it would be a crazy story. The fact that Garcia did it reportedly to no fewer than five greens is frankly unbelievable. It shows an utter lack of self-control. It gives us a glimpse into Sergio’s soul that no temporary blow-up ever could, and what it shows is not flattering.”
5. Homa, Thomas on 10.2b(4)
Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine...”Max Homa said players and caddies have been on edge since Haotong Li was slapped with a two-shot penalty for violating 10.2b(4) last Sunday in Dubai. The feeling was heightened following McCarthy’s situation.”
  • “We had to play all day today freaking out if my caddie is anywhere near me,” Homa said.
  • Even with the penalty being taken away, Homa strongly believes more needs to be done.
  • “Get rid of the rule, or just look at intent,” Homa said. “Did Denny try to cheat? No. Was he trying to get lined up? No. He didn’t even address the ball, he backed out of the shot. It’s just ridiculous.
  • “My dad taught me that this is the best game to play because it’s a gentlemen’s game and you call penalties on yourself. Now, it really doesn’t seem like you call penalties on yourself. It seems like somebody decides if you’re cheating or not, and it’s becoming outrageous.”
  • Thomas called on Twitter for the governing bodies to get rid of 10.2b(4) altogether. When asked about changing the lingo to include intent, Thomas disagreed that was the best move.
  • “I hate the word intent because then there’s a gray area and I don’t like gray areas just because it’s, I think, a black-and-white rule is the best way to go about it, because then you either broke the rule or you didn’t versus, well I didn’t intend to, but you did, you know what I’m saying?” Thomas said. “… This is one that definitely needs to be changed and improved, and hopefully will.”
6. Money > morality?
That’s the case Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch makes regaring
“…a tournament created solely to cast Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s regime in a positive light. The players received stout appearance fees, which was only fair since they had to navigate awkward questions about war crimes in Yemen and that bone saw murder in Istanbul. The payment was more for performing in the media than on the golf course, and the well-compensated chorus remained steady of voice all week.”
  • “I’m not a politician, I’m a pro golfer,” said world No. 1 Justin Rose.
  • “I’m not going to get into it,” echoed world No. 2 Brooks Koepka.
  • “It’s my job to play golf,” offered Dustin Johnson, the world No. 3 who went on to win the tournament.
  • “While not wanting to get into his hosts having Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi dismembered and dissolved in a vat of acid, Koepka did publicly call out Bryson DeChambeau for taking too long to hit the ball. But then DeChambeau wasn’t paying his appearance fee.”
Lynch concluded with this…”Almost every other sport has produced a seminal figure who used their platform to advance a cause of inclusion, to stand up for something greater than themselves, to make a statement when statements desperately needed to be made. Jackie Robinson. Muhammad Ali. Arthur Ashe. Billie Jean King. LeBron James. No golfers though. Protest movements don’t pay appearance fees.”
  • “Plenty of those who pitched up to play in Saudi Arabia are engaged in admirable endeavors off the golf course. But that demands only charity, not courage. We’ll have to keep waiting for that golfer with a conscience, whose vision extends beyond his wallet.”
7. McCarthy’s wild 24 hours
Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”This week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, McCarthy and Smith experienced easily their craziest few moments as a team. One moment, McCarthy was penalized for Smith violating one of the new Rules of Golf. Less than 24 hours later, the PGA Tour was rescinding the penalty, citing “a great deal of confusion among players and caddies on the practical application of the new rule,” as examples of potential infractions began to pile up Friday evening.”
  • “I tried to put it past me, but a bunch of people were texting me and sending me pictures of other players yesterday,” McCarthy said Saturday after a third-round 71, which has him, with the penalty taken away, at 8 under entering the final round. “And I called a rules official over this morning and showed them a couple videos of pictures that people sent me of other players doing exactly the same thing and I was trying to find out what the difference was, basically. And he said there was no difference and that they just, they missed it.
  • “So, yeah, obviously it’s a great feeling to get those two shots back.”
8. Storm hits Pebble
Golf Channel’s Randall Mell...”A storm ripping through the Monterey Peninsula early Saturday morning destroyed a large upscale hospitality structure, damaged some sky suites and tore apart the giant video screen along the 18th green at Pebble Beach Golf Links with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am just a few days away.”
  • “The storm also knocked down a tree near the 17th tee.”
  • “We got hit pretty hard,” said Steve John, the event’s CEO and tournament director. “The worst weather is behind us, I’m told, and, fortunately, nobody was hurt. The bottom line is everything is going to be rebuilt. We hope nobody’s going to notice anything happened by the time people arrive for the tournament.”
9. Canada’s first cannabis-friendly golf course
TSN’s Bob Weeks’ on the first course in Canada to embrace grass…and not the bermuda, bent, or rye variety.
  • “…Lombard Glen Golf & Country Club..located in Smiths Falls, Ont., is set to become Canada’s first cannabis-friendly golf facility. In fact, when it does open, it will do so with a new name – Rolling Greens.”
  • “Seriously….The jokes have been flying fast since Gordon Weiske and his partners purchased the 160-acre layout from longtime owners Dave and Jean Sherman, with plans to gain traction in the cannabis tourism market.”

Full piece.
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Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

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May 7, 2024

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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

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.

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SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips

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2 days ago

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May 6, 2024

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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

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2 days ago

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May 6, 2024

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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