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5 things we learned on Friday at the U.S. Open

Published

4 years ago

Sep 18, 2020

Although there were no Hale Irwin nor Geoff Ogilvy sightings on course (well, there was a virtual one of the later, thanks to Mike Tirico and air pods), the Winged Foot West Course that showed off on Friday was identical to the one that ruined psyches in 1974 and 2006. Say what you will about traditional U.S. Open set-ups—they are bad with a capital “B” for the game, because they convince members that thick rough, uber-fast greens, and tucked hole locations are something for everyday play.

Three golfers broke par on day two, and they were a combined 4 under. 62 golfers survived the cut at 6 over, placing all survivors within 10 strokes of the leader. This day was less a celebration and more a reckoning. We learned way more than five things on this day, but we’ll hold our tongue and keep it to the standard quintet. Make way, then, for the five things we learned on Friday at the U.S. Open.

1. Par wins the U.S. Open

After a few years of enjoyable national championships, the USGA saw fit to make its field suffer like none in recent years. Even the 2015 shoot out at Chambers Bay offered recovery options. Winged Foot, like so many golden-age courses in the northeast, depends on rough that tickles your armpits as a defense. The greens are super-cool in their circumferences, which bear no similarity to any shape you saw in geometry. They possess rolls, splines, and acclivities galore, to compel anyone outside of ten feet to scrutinize every angle of the remaining expanse. This is the witches’ brew that the tournament committee whipped up for the occasion of preserving par in 2020. Seconds, anyone?

2. Patrick Reed is your leader

Each time that Reed recovered from an impossible situation, I almost leapt from my chair to cheer. Each time that he ripped a driver into an unhittable fairway, an iron into a guarded green, I nearly exploded with a guttural yawp. Then I remembered, he’s not Captain America anymore. He’s more Annakin Skywalker, and he has some ‘splaining to do.

If you don’t think as I do (and I’ll confess that I inhabit a yurt of madness) you applauded the Texan as he found a way to shoot par—while the other first-round leaders went four, five, even six strokes over par. Through two rounds, Reed looks as good as any other. Fact is, he has the major title that many of his challengers lack, and that will prove valuable as the weekend beckons.

3. Bryson’s time is now

No one has prepared for this event as Bryson has. #BigBangTheory has tweaked both body and equipment. The result through two rounds is the second spot, one behind Reed. Punctuated by a silly eagle at his 36th hole, where Bryson tamed the par-5 9th with driver, 9-iron, DeChambeau’s 68 was low round of day two. Toss out all his victories at this point. Saturday’s duel with Reed will be the great test of the single-length shafts, the bionic putting set-up, and the formulae and hypotheses swirling in his subconscious. On his side is this fact: only golfer to shoot under par both rounds. If string theory shoots 140 over the weekend, I predict that he wins.

4. Trending…Surviving…Surprising

Hideki dropped two shots, and Bubba dropped three. They are the other two lads to break par in round the second. Korn Ferry Tour regular Stephan Jaeger went from 71 to 70. He would be the ultimate surprise winner, amiright? Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, and Matthew Wolfe—all were given the opportunity to blow up to an 80, but each found a deep, gritty gear and remained inside the top ten after two. Remember point #1? That grit defines this year’s U.S. Open. Brendon Todd and Jason Kokrak are two golfers no one would have picked to be in the mix at this point, but they are precisely the type of golfer that appears at this point in each U.S. Open. The negative for them is, they don’t necessarily know what to do next, and their kind usually doesn’t hang around. The positive for them is, they’ve found something that works and they have nothing to lose.

5. Joaquin might steal the show

Jack Lemmon once said of John Daly that he had the guts of a burglar. There is the slightest chance that Joaquin Niemann might possess that attribute as well. The delegate from the world’s thinnest country continues to play himself into contention. He has a PGA Tour win to his credit, on a course not dissimilar to Winged Foot West. Will the heat of major Saturday be too much? Methinks it won’t be, and that Niemann will still be in the top 10, with an outside chance of winning on Sunday.

Five Things is still hot on Xander Schauffele to win…and mourns the passing of a doughty supreme court justice.

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Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

Published

2 hours ago

May 7, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

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

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

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

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SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips

Published

1 day ago

May 6, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

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

Published

1 day ago

May 6, 2024

Ronald Montesano

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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