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Morning 9: Koepka’s 4.5-hour middle finger | The monster Tiger created? | Daly on why he’s playing

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By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected])

May 17, 2019

Good Friday morning, golf fans.
1. Koepka: “One of the best rounds I’ve played”
BK opens the PGA with a 63…
  • AP’s Doug Ferguson…“At times overlooked even after winning three majors in the last two years, Koepka gave thousands of fans a round to remember Thursday morning at brawny Bethpage Black with a record-setting start to his title defense in the PGA Championship.”
  • “He had a 7-under 63, making him the first player in 101 years of the PGA Championship to shoot that score twice. He broke the course record at Bethpage Black and became the first player to post 63 at a major in consecutive years.”
  • ”That was one of the best rounds I’ve played probably as a professional,” Koepka said. ”This golf course is brutal.”
2. Lackluster Tiger
A PGATour.com staff report…
  • “Woods drove the ball well enough to contend at Bethpage Black, but his steady ball-striking was outweighed by too many sloppy shots when he had short clubs in hand.”
  • “Bethpage Black is a long, brutish course lined by rough so thick that players are struggling even to hit mid-irons out of it. Woods missed just four fairways while hitting driver off a majority of the tees. And he had birdie putts on nine of his final 10 holes to steady himself after making two double-bogeys on his opening nine. But he three-putted twice on his back nine and signed for a 72. He sat nine shots off Brooks Koepka’s lead after that frustrating first round.”
  • “It wasn’t as clean as I’d like to have it for sure,” Woods said. His score was about three-quarters of a shot below the field average in the morning.
3. Also…
Golf Digest’s Dave Shedloski on those who also played well Thursday…
  • “The group, all at one-under 69, includes World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, three-time major winner Jordan Spieth, ageless wonder Phil Mickelson, former PGA champion Jason Day and the major-starved Rickie Fowler. All but Fowler played in the afternoon when conditions were a bit more stringent.”
  • “Yeah, it’s difficult,” said Mickelson, when asked about Koepka’s early scoring salvo, “but you just have to stay in the present because if you start chasing a score like that, it won’t come to you, and you’ll end up making big mistakes.”
  • “I’m very pleased with it,” said Johnson, who played alongside Spieth and Spaniard Jon Rahm, who was at even par. “I felt like I hit it really well, drove it good and hit a lot of greens, gave myself a lot of opportunities.”
4. The monster Tiger created
ESPN’s Ian O’Connor…
“This is all Tiger’s fault, of course, because he inspired a generation of golfers who grew up watching him. Koepka was 6 years old when Woods won his first of 15 major championships — the 1997 Masters. Though Koepka’s father, Bob, used to tease his high school classmates for earning letterman jackets for golf because, he said, “I didn’t think it was a sport,” Woods helped make golf a viable option for Brooks and other versatile young athletes who lived in the gym and preferred to look more like NFL strong safeties.”
5. No tip of DeChambeau’s cap to Bethpage’s length
Golf Channel’s Will Gray…
“DeChambeau opened with a 2-over 72, carding just two birdies, and he now trails Koepka by nine shots. Speaking to GolfChannel.com, he shared his viewpoint that when it comes to major championship venues, longer does not always mean better.”
  • “If you really want to prove who the best champion is, it’s not a long-drive contest. That’s why they have long-drive contests out here,” said DeChambeau, who actually won the long-drive contest at last year’s PGA at Bellerive. “It’s about precision. So when you start making it really tight, I get the tight part. But when you start lengthening it to the amounts that they’ve been lengthening it to, I just personally think that it’s a mess-up.”
6. A 4.5-hour middle finger
“I’ve been flipped off a few times in my life – probably not as often as you’d think – but I felt like he was giving me the finger for 4 1/2 hours out there today,” Chamblee said on Thursday night’s edition of “Golf Central Live From the PGA.”
  • “I gotta tell you, I enjoyed it,” Chamblee continued on Thursday, referring to Koepka’s round. “Outside of his immediate family, I can’t think anybody who enjoyed that round more than I did.”
7. Why play?
1991 PGA champion John Daly on why, with little chance of making the cut and motoring around the course in an Ez-Go, he is playing the PGA Championship.
Adam Woodard at Golfweek…
  • “It’s very awkward (to use a cart) and it’s almost to a point where it’s embarrassing,” he added, noting that he’d prefer to walk.
  • As as a past champion, Daly said he feels “obligated” to keep playing, if able.
  • “I don’t want to ride all the time, but if I don’t, I won’t be able to finish. I enjoy playing and I’m still competitive. It’s not really ego, I feel committed.”
8. Meanwhile, Eamon Lynch with the definitive Daly-taking-a-cart roasting
“There were cheers, for sure. There always are, whatever his failings. But around the grounds at Bethpage Black there is also an unmistakeable sense that the Daly Show is a tired act, that he is afforded courtesies that his conduct long ago cost him any right to expect. Sure, he earned his spot in the field as a former champion, and he has been legitimately granted a cart. But professional pride and sportsmanship should have rendered moot a decision on availing himself of either.”
9. When official yardage books don’t conform…
This is golf in the year 2019 files…
  • Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols…“The official yardage books that were given to teams for this week’s NCAA Division I Women’s Championships are actually non-conforming.”
  • “The grids for 10 of the 18 greens were deemed too big. Coaches were informed of the problem during a meeting after Wednesday’s practice round.”
  • “We’re just going to go to Office Depot and get some sticker labels and cover up all 18 of them,” said Purdue coach Devon Brouse.
  • “Officials didn’t specify which of the 10 holes were in violation.”
  • “It’s 1/16th off,” said Arkansas coach Shauna Estes-Taylor. “It’s less than a freckle.”

 

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GolfWRX Editor-in-Chief

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. NotGianni

    May 19, 2019 at 1:42 pm

    How doesn’t wrx have TWO of the worst journalists on earth in Gianni and his Ben clown???? Get rid of these idiots

  2. Dave r

    May 19, 2019 at 12:15 pm

    Mr Daly stop . Your are becoming a joke your exploits on and off the golf course are embarrassing to not only you but to the people who supported you year after year. Try and fade away quietly and get in shape and your injuries fixed then in a year come back and earn the respect you deserve. I’m one of your biggest fans but honestly people are wondering .

  3. Mower

    May 17, 2019 at 1:43 pm

    I’m in favor of letting Pros use the electric GolfBoards “Surf the Earth”.

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Morning 9: Nelly does it again | Bryson: Definitely disappointing | Xander wins PGA

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By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: [email protected]

Good Monday morning, golf fans, as Xander Schauffele celebrates becoming a major champion after a dramatic Sunday at Valhalla.

1. Xander wins first major

Mark Schlabach for ESPN…”They can’t call Xander Schauffele the best golfer in the world without a major championship victory any longer.”

  • “The 30-year-old from San Diego captured his first major victory Sunday by outlasting LIV Golf League captain Bryson DeChambeau and Norway’s Viktor Hovland in the final round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.”
  • “After starting the day tied for the lead with two-time major winner Collin Morikawa, Schauffele silenced his critics who claimed he couldn’t close out a big one by posting a 6-under 65 in the final round to finish with a 72-hole total of 21 under and defeat DeChambeau by 1 shot and Hovland by 3.”
Full piece.

2. Bryson comes up agonizingly short

Elliot Heath for Golf Monthly…The LIV Golfer shot a stunning final round of 64 (-7) at the PGA Championship, which included a birdie at his final hole, to come up one stroke shy of Xander Schauffele’s new record 21-under-par total.

  • “Definitely disappointing, but one that gives me a lot of momentum for the rest of the Majors. I said today it was closing time, but it will be closing time hopefully, hopefully over the next couple Majors,” DeChambeau said.
  • “Having began the day two strokes off the lead, his seven-under score got him to 20-under to force the pressure on Schauffele to shoot a low number. The American duly did that, with DeChambeau revealing that he thought his eventual score would have got the victory before the round.”
  • “Yeah, I certain seriously thought 18 [under-par] was going to do it,” he said.”
  • “Then when I saw what Xander was doing, it’s like, man, he’s playing some unbelievable golf. Viktor was right there. I mean, he was beating me for quite awhile, and I was hitting it all over the place. But, yeah, I mean, it was an impressive, impressive round of golf by all three of us. I don’t know what else to say. It was just difficult.”
Full piece.

3. Scottie “Ready to get home”

Ryan Lavner at Golf Channel…”The pre-tournament favorite was part of a confusing and chaotic situation Friday at Valhalla when he was arrested following a traffic incident with a police officer while trying to enter the course.”

  • “Scheffler was booked on four charges – the most serious, second-degree assault of an officer – and released after about an hour in jail. He made it to the course in time for his second round, shot 66 and was firmly in contention heading into the weekend.”
  • “But that’s when, Scheffler said, the magnitude of what had transpired finally caught up to him.”
  • “…Afterward, Scheffler said that he was more tired than usual following a tournament – a noteworthy admission seeing how he’d just won four of his past five starts. He said he was uncertain about his plans for the next few days – his arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday – but he was still planning to play next week at Colonial.”
  • “I’m just wondering what time bedtime is,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out how quickly I can get home from here, and that’s pretty much it. I’m just fairly tired and ready to get home.”
Full piece.

4. Nelly wins again

AP report…”With her record-tying winning streak over, Nelly Korda got back to doing what she does best — winning.”

  • “Nelly Korda won a back-nine showdown with Hannah Green of Australia with a par on the 18th hole to capture the Mizuho Americas Open by a stroke Sunday for her sixth win in seven starts on the LPGA Tour this year.”
  • “Oh, my gosh, six,” Korda said. “I can’t even really gather myself right now with that, the head-to-head that Hannah and I had pretty much all day. Wasn’t my best stuff out there today, but fought really hard on the back nine.”

 

Full piece.

5. Another policy board resignation

Mark Schlabach for ESPN…”Mark Flaherty resigned from the PGA Tour’s policy board on Sunday, becoming the second independent director to step down in less than a week.”

  • “On Monday, independent director Jimmy Dunne, who helped negotiate the PGA Tour’s framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment fund last year, resigned, effectively immediately.”
  • “In Dunne’s resignation letter to PGA Tour members, he wrote that “no meaningful progress has been made towards a transaction with PIF” and that “my vote and my role is utterly superfluous” now that player directors outnumber independent directors on the policy board.”
  • “PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan sent a memo to PGA Tour members Sunday night, informing them of Flaherty’s resignation. Flaherty is a former vice chairman of Wellington Management, an investment management company.”
Full piece.

6. Harry Higgs wins on Korn Ferry Tour

PGA Tour report…”Higgs holed out for eagle from 83 yards at the 72nd hole of the Korn Ferry Tour’s AdventHealth Championship, ultimately landing a spot in a playoff with Tanner Gore at 19 under at Blue Hills Country Club outside Kansas City. Higgs won with a 7-foot birdie on the first playoff hole, again the par-5 18th, an outcome that delighted the spirited observers in Higgs’ home region (he was born in Philadelphia but grew up in nearby Overland Park, Kansas).

Full piece.

7. Winning WITB: Xander Schauffele

Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees @10.1)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana PD 70 TX (45.5 inches)

3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (15 degrees @14.4)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana PD 80 TX

Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW (21 degrees @19.7)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX

Irons: Callaway Apex TCB ’24 (4-10)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-10)

Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (52-10S), Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (56-10S @57), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60-K @61)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Putter: Odyssey Toulon Design Las Vegas Prototype 7CH

Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 2.0

Grips: Golf Pride MCC Align

Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour

The winning WITB is presented by 2nd Swing Golf. 2nd Swing has more than 100,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.

Full WITB.
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Can you believe it? Professor Xavier won the 2024 PGA Championship

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PGA Championship Sunday is a multi-tiered celebration. It begins with the identification of the top PGA professionals in the USA, and their naming to the USA side for the PGA Cup competition. This biennial event pits the best club professionals from Great Britain and Ireland, and the USA. Beginning with this year’s low PGA professional, Braden Shattuck, and his fellow cut-maker, Jeremy Wells, and concluding with last year’s darling, Michael Block, ten golfers were selected to represent the stars and bars at Sunriver Resort in Oregon.

The next bit of intrigue is a bit larger, in news terms. Who would hoist the Wannamaker Trophy, the largest of all the men’s major vessels, as the 2024 PGA Champion? Would it be a former major winner like DeChambeau, Lowry, or Morikawa? Or, would a first-timer prevail, perhaps with the last name of Hovland, Theegala, or Schauffele? After his third-round 73, we knew that the grand slam of golf would not happen in 2024 for Scottie Scheffler, but we admired his moxie.

For those architecture luddites who proclaim that if it ain’t Raynor, it ain’t golf, we hear you, but we don’t side with you. Major-championship golf needs courses like Valhalla, with odd, stone-lined, island greens, alongside forced carries over water. A little thick rough is all right, from time to time. Quail Hollow might have some rough in 2025, but there is no doubt that Aronimink in 2026, and PGA Frisco in 2027, will play lean, fast, and firm. Be patient; you’ll get what you crave.

Valhalla gave us all the drama we needed, waaaayyyyy more than we had at Augusta in April. This first-gen bloke from California made birdie on his first hole, to jump into a tie for the lead. This leader of mutant super heroes took the lead back, and held it for most of the day. Some muscular physicist entered the fray, alongside a fan of Norwegian death metal music. Let’s be honest: that’s quite a mixed bag, and could we ask for anything more? Nah. Here we go, then, with the one thing we learned on Sunday at the PGA Championship.

Sahith Theegala began the day with a longish putt for birdie on his first hole of the day. If he had stuffed his approach and made the same score, he might have made believers of us. As it was, that was the last hurrah for the young Californian. He gave the stroke back at number two, and failed to find any balance nor momentum on the day. Five bogeys and three birdies gave him 73 on the day, and he dropped from solo third to T12. There’s still a bit of learning on how to close a major championship for Theegala, but he has time.

On the other end of the spectrum, Shane Lowry figured to have the poise to make a run at a second major title. The pride of Ireland started well, standing minus-two through four holes. Unfortunately for Shamrock Shane, he didn’t make another birdie until the 14th hole. His 70 kept him inside the top six, but seven strokes off the winner’s pace.

Collin Morikawa and Thomas Detry each arrived at four-place-tie station on different horses. Morikawa began round four in a tie with Xander Schauffele, at minus-sixteen. Morikawa did not have his “A” game on this day, and his “B” game wasn’t good enough to keep him in contention. Detry bounced back from a Saturday 70 with 66 on day four. He moved up six spots on Sunday, almost as magnificent a jump as Billy Horschel, who climbed from 29th to 8th with 64. The T4 was a ringing success for Detry, his best major finish ever. For Morikawa, it was another gut punch, suggesting that his major wins in 2020 and 2021 were more fortune than fame.

Death Metal merchant Viktor Hovland came to the last hole at 19-under par. His game is built around power, and birdie should have been a possibility for the Norwegian nightmare. His drivefound the left side of the fairway, but his approach was more foozle than flame, and was fortunate to find the right tongue of fairway, short of the green. He pitched to 10 feet, but missed the putt for birdie. Knowing that the tournament was lost, he proceeded to miss from three feet and finished in solo third. If there was one bit of consolation, the missed tap-in mattered not at all in the final tally.

Bryson DeChambeau made his bed when he defected from the PGA Tour in 2023. Like Hovland, he challenged for the 2023 PGA Championship in Rochester, at storied Oak Hill, before ultimately offering a golf clap for winner Brooks Koepka. DeChambeau did everything that one might do on Sunday, save win the tournament. Unlike the other contenders, the 2020 US Open winner signed for a clean card on day four. His seven-birdie 64 was the day’s low round, matched by the aforementioned Billy Horschel, and England’s Jordan Smith. Knowing that he had to make a 72nd-hole birdie to pressure the leader, DeChambeau hit a marvelous pitch from thick rough, to ten feet. Unlike Hovland, he converted the birdie and went to the scorer’s pavillion at 20-deep. Only a birdie from the final pairing could ruin his day.

Xander Schauffele, along with the other Olympic gold medal winners, gets a major win from this writer. Olympic Gold is akin to immortality. From his peers and from the rest of the media, it may not count quite so high. Affirmation comes from winning one of the four big ones. The men’s tours have the fewest major events, so their value escalates. Schauffele had come close before, and two weeks ago, he faded against Rory McIlroy in the final round at Quail Hollow (next year’s PGA Championship site, doncha know?!)

On Sunday, Schauffele was a lion. He made seven birdies on the day, and survived a bogey at the benign tenth, a straightforward par-five hole. He followed the bogey with a pair of birdies, to reclaim the lead. It wasn’t until DeChambeau made birdie at the last, that the outcome was in doubt. With gravel in his belly, a boy named Xander rose up and kept his ball dry at the last. He pitched to six feet, and rammed the winning putt into the back of the hole. In a flash, all the unwanted finishes washed away: Xander Schauffele was, finally, the owner of a grand slam tournament title.

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Five Things We Learned: Saturday at the PGA Championship

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Moving Day is a term applied to round three of a four-round tournament. It suggests that competitors need a solid or spectacular round on Saturday, in order to position themselves for potential Sunday victory. Among the favorites in contention after 36 holes, only Scottie Scheffler fell out of contention. The Texan suffered a par-double-bogey-bogey start, and could not recover. Three more bogeys damaged his score even more. Scheffler begins day four at seven-under par, eight shots behind the leaders.

As for those leaders, it’s a familiar pair, and we’ll get to them. We saw Justin Rose return to major-championship contention for the first time in a while. He’ll need 63 on Sunday to matter, but it’s still good to see the two-time major winner (Olympic Gold counts!) in the mix. Bryson DeChambeau carried the LIV flag into the day-four conversation, and with a low 60s score, he’ll have a chance at a second major title. Even the home-state feloow, Justin Thomas, found a way to matter. He’s on the outside, looking in, but a 60 is not inconceivable, and 11-under would certainly win the day, if not the week.

1. Xander holds the lead

There’s a burden that comes with posting a score of 62. Media, fans, and even the player hope and even expect to see it again. Xander Schauffele wasn’t on track to repeat that number of Saturday, but he stood in the middle of the 15th fairway and thought about how low he could go. Three-under par on the day, coming off birdie at 14, with a pitch to the green, and he went for the flag and missed.

Schauffele made an unanticipated mistake and it cost him two shots. His most immediate competitor was in his group and made birdie, retrieving three shots in one hole. That’s the sort of moment that goes down in history as a gut check. Schauffele’s gut responded. He leveled the wings with par at 16, then closed with birdies at 17 and 18, to returne to 15-under par. The X Man will tee off again in the final pairing, and take a run at his first major title. The fifteenth hole might loom large again in the outcome; hopefully, a lesson has been learned!

2. Morikawa can taste another PGA

For two years, Collin Morikawa was that guy. He won this tournament in 2020, then collected the Open Championship jug at Sandwich in 2021. Win two majors, and everyone heads down the career grand slam discussion. Three years on, Morikawa has the same number of majors on his dossier, and two more professional wins to show. He’s probably antsy for another major.

The California native stumbled early on Saturday. He made bogey at the two-shot second hole, then dug in with everything he had. A birdie at three balanced the card, and four more came his way. None was bigger than the three that he made at the 15th, as the leader was making double bogey in his group! Morikawa took a one-shot lead there, then closed with birdie at the last to reach Sunday morning tied at the top with Xander Schauffele.

Sunday will fill with drama, but it won’t involve just that grouping. When Morikawa tees off at 2:35 Louisville time, a move will have been made. Someone close by (one at -14, three at -13, two at -12) will be a few under par, and the thermometer will have risen. Our guess, simply, is that Morikawa will need 66 to win outright on Sunday. 20-under par should get it done, and to go down as one of the greats, he’ll need to be great.

3. Shane shares PGA record

Shane Lowry goes down as one of the most popular major champions of this era. His Open Championship win at Royal Portrush in 2019 kicked off a massive celebration of Irish pride and delight. Lowry hasn’t added to that major total of one, but the cask-chested, smile-and-a-beard doesn’t need to. He’s the sort who can take a two-man win, as he had this season with Rory McIlroy in New Orleans, and elevate its worth. He’s the sort who anchors an international side, as he does every two years in the Ryder Cup.

This week in Kentucky is different. Lowry has the chance to keep the hot hand and claim a second major title. These opportunities don’t come around that often. Lowry was fire on Saturday. He posted the first, sub-thirty nine of the tournament on the outward half. HIs six birdies and three pars gave him 29, and he looked for all the world to be the man to chase. The inward half wasn’t quite as volcanic, but the card was clean, and he came home in 33. His score matched Schauffele’s opening round, for the all-time low, 18-hole score, in PGA Championship history.

What’s to do? Make putts early. Find a way to get back in the zone and ride that spaceship to the final green. Lowry most likely needs to finish Saturday in 65 strokes or fewer, and posting 127 on a major championship weekend is unheard of. That’s why they play, though, isn’t it? Why not Shane, why not today?

4. Theegala lost, then found

As far as I was concerned, Sahith Theegala was yesterday’s news. Consecutive bogeys at five and six, supported by zero birdies through eight holes, destined him for the also-ran section of the leader board. I was frightfully incorrect.

Theegala found some inspiration at the ninth tee. Maybe it was a kick in the arse by his caddie, or by him, but a flame ignited. Theegals made the first of six birdies at the outward home hole, and posted 31 coming home. Birdie at the final hole ensured that he would tee off in Sunday’s penultimate group, with Shane Lowry.

It is often written that all should be wary of the wounded, as they fight for survival. Theegala dislocated a rib two weeks ago, at Quail Hollow. This week, he has been under the weather with some bug. With his mind focused on health, rather than score, he has done quite well. If he stays that course, one last round, he might have to do a heavy lift on Sunday, with the Wannamaker trophy in his hands.

5. The Prediction!

Despite all the kind words I’ve written about the aforementioned four gentlemen, none of them will exit Louisville with the happiest of visages. The winner, however, will not let us down in the smiles department. Viktor Hovland teed off in the final pairing last year, at Oak Hill, and had a front-row seat in the Koepka Koaster, as Brooks Koepka showed the Norwegian how to win a major championship. Rest assured that Hovland took copious notes. His frustration at a Masters missed cut in April has been channeled into his performance this week.

What will go down? Hovland will have at least one holed shot from off the green on Sunday’s outward nine. He’ll find a groove and the putter will warm up quickly. Hovland will sign for the third 62 of the week, but will have to wait as each of the final four golfers has a chance to tie at the final hole. One will, and they will head to a play-off, where Hovland will emerge in overtime.

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