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12 players to follow in 2022: (6) Ricardo Gouveia

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Over the next 12 days, the two presenters on our new ‘Across The Pond’ podcast, Matt Vincenzi and Jason Daniels give their 12 players to follow for 2022 to coincide with the 12 days of Christmas.

None so far have won on their respective tours, so here’s to a long-term watch and investment!

6. Ricardo Gouveia (DP World Tour)

Ok, I’ve had a soft spot for Ricardo Gouveia for several years now but there’s enough there to think he can finally make his mark on the new DP World Tour in 2022.

The former University of Florida graduate has been playing in the upper echelons for a while but never really clicked at the top level despite much expected of him after his appearance in the 2014 Palmer Cup side, where he contributed two wins from two singles matches and one from two in the pairs.

A regular winner on the Algarve Tour (where he first caught my eye) his transition to the Challenge Tour was seamless, winning the overall money list after a stellar 2015 season of 18 starts which constituted a couple of victories (including the concluding Grand Final), three runner-up finishes, two third-places and a handful of top-10s. Finishing the year with two top-20s in higher grade looked the perfect catalyst to kick on but it rarely works that way.

Despite managing to keep his card for the next few years, the Portuguese star never managed to find a consistent level of form, the odd-top-10 or 20 interspersed with too many bad tournaments. After a progressive decline in form, the inevitable happened and Gouveia lost his card.

Speaking in his blog on the European/DP Tour site the former top-100 ranked player admitted that he lost his appetite for the game after several personal problems and that even fairly recently he was ”really struggling: I was hitting it all over the place, I didn’t know where the ball was going, and I felt like I didn’t want to be there.”

Back with his old mental coach, the 30-year-old bounced back to top form on the Challenge Tour last season with two wins and seven top-10s, the highlight of those being a one-shot loss to eventual rankings champion, Marcus Helligkilde, after a second-round 74 knocked him back from fourth to 19th place.

We often laud the youngsters that come through and with the likes of the Hojgaard twins, Schmid, Helligkilde etc. often forget the importance of experience and, indeed, failure.

Whilst the latter-named Dane is certainly one to watch, Gouveia may well take inspiration from the likes of J.B Hansen, who he beat into fifth in the end-of-year table in 2015.

Almost exactly one year older, Hansen took a while to get to the top of his game and after several years grinding away has finally made his mark, winning the Joburg Open and the high-class Dubai Championship in a twelve month period.

Gouveia has only sporadically demonstrated his talents on the big stage and should be the type that thrives on a course demanding accuracy – keep him in your notebooks, I can see a Kristoffer Broberg-type victory coming his way.

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19th Hole

“Is it a Titleist?” – Jerry Seinfeld shares never-before-heard details of iconic scene

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On Thursday, legendary comedian Jerry Seinfeld joined the Rich Eisen Show and shared an awesome story from a “Seinfeld” episode titled “The Marine Biologist.”

In the episode, a golf ball goes into the blow hole of a whale. According to Seinfeld, that was never in the episode’s script.

Seinfeld recalls saying the night before the filming of the episode, “What if what puts the whale in distress is Kramer’s golf ball?”

“He’s hitting golf balls at the beach. George is at the beach with a girl, we haven’t connected them!”

“We write that speech the night before at two o’clock in the morning…The sea was angry that day my friend.”

 

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A post shared by Rich Eisen (@richeisen)


Kramer finishes the iconic scene by asking “Is it a Titleist?” Seinfeld told Eisen the show sought Titleist’s permission to mention its name, saying the ball had to be a Titleist. Fortunately for lovers of the iconic show, the company agreed.

If (somehow) you’re unfamiliar with the scene, check it out below.

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Phil Mickelson drops big retirement hint; Says LIV will grow the game ‘on a much more global basis’

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While speaking with Bloomberg, golf legend Phil Mickelson acknowledged that he is inching close towards retirement.

“I’m 53 now,” Phil said, “and my career, you know, it’s — if I’m being truthful, it’s on — it’s — it’s — I’m a — it’s towards its end.”

Mickelson added that one of his focuses now is helping other young players.

“Now, I would like to help others find the same enjoyment and fulfillment that the game has provided me. I’d like them to experience that as well.”

The six-time major champion credited LIV with reaching new markets in golf to help it grow.

“I think that’s exciting for everyone involved in the game because we are going to reach markets that we didn’t reach before. I think it’s going to inspire more golf courses, inspire more manufacturers selling clubs and equipment, but also inspiring young kids to try to play golf professionally. I just see that the game of golf is going to grow on a much more global basis because of the excitement and the presence that LIV Golf has.”

Mickelson is playing at this week’s LIV Singapore and shot a first round 72 (+1).

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Tiger explains why golf has ‘negative connotations’ for daughter Sam

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While Tiger Woods’ son, Charlie, has certainly inherited his father’s love for golf, his daughter, Sam, has not.

On Wednesday, Tiger made an appearance on The Today Show with Carson Daly and explained his daughter’s relationship with golf.

“Golf has negative connotations for her. When she was growing up, golf took daddy away from her. I had to pack, I had to leave, and I was gone for weeks. So, there were negative connotations to it.

“We developed our own relationship and our own rapport outside of golf. We do things that doesn’t involve golf. Meanwhile, my son and I, everything we do is golf related.”

The nine-minute interview touches on plenty of other subjects, such as Tiger’s relationship with his late father, Earl.

It’s arguably the most open we’ve seen the 15-time major champion in an interview and is most definitely worth watching.

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