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The hilarious reason why Kevin Kisner asked to sit the afternoon at the 2017 Presidents Cup

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Golf is changing, as always.

While the best of the team events – the Ryder and Presidents Cup – give rookies the chance to shine, both events often rely on the experienced players to steady the ship through the early stages.

This week’s Presidents Cup is the 12th run-out of the U.S v International match-up, and the first since 2019.

The 2021 event was, of course, cancelled because of Covid and the teams look very different to how they may have looked a year ago, mainly because of the ineligibility of any players that have chosen the LIV path for their recent careers.

Played at Quail Hollow this season, the teams are a mix of the plainly obvious and those with zero experience, with 14 of the 24 players making their debuts in the event, including world number one Scottie Scheffler and Max Homa, winner of the 2019 Wells Fargo Championship.

It’s often best to turn to the older members for the stories, and 38-year-old Kevin Kisner has never been short of a tale or two.

With an enviable record at the World Matchplay – one win and two finals appearances in six starts – Kiz appears the type to thrive at all aspects of the team challenge. However, back on his 2017 Presidents Cup debut, he wanted to be left off the roster for day three.

His event started brightly for the rookie, when playing alongside Phil Mickelson, a Thursday half in the foursomes followed by a win in the following day’s fourballs.

Day three again started well for the pairing, beating Jhonattan Vegas and Emiliano Grillo 2&1 and taking their record to 2-1-0, before that strange request.

Golf writer Brentley Romine posted a tweet on Thursday revealing that Kisner approached the then U.S captain Steve Stricker and asked for Saturday afternoon off, because:

“Because Georgia played Tennessee. Strick is like. ‘Seriously?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, man, that’s my squad.'”

This is not the first time that golf took a back-seat to a Bulldog game.

In the same year, while competing at the Tour Championship, Kisner took to social media to arrange a flight to a Georgia-Mississippi game, eventually finishing tied third at the lucrative season finale.

The mid-event break clearly does him good as he also profited at Liberty National, halving his Sunday singles game with Anirban Lahiri and keeping intact an undefeated record as his team thrashed the Internationals 19-11.

Kisner didn’t take part in the opening day of this year’s Presidents Cup and there is no knowing whether he will play when Davis Love requires him to. Better check the football schedule first.

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Butch Harmon reveals what he worked on with Rory McIlroy during visit earlier this year

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While speaking on the “Son of a Butch” Podcast, legendary swing coach Butch Harmon revealed what he worked on with Rory McIlroy when the four-time major champion went to visit him after the Players Championship this season.

“The work I did with him wasn’t a tremendous amount of changing what he did, it was his attitude and the way he played certain shots. From 150 yards and in he made a full swing like he was hitting a driver and I wanted him to make more 3 quarter swings and chop the follow through off a little. He’s a very high ball hitter, but with short irons high balls aren’t good, it’s hard to control, we wanted to bring the ball flight down.”

The work certainly seemed to help McIlroy, as he went on to win the Zurich Classic alongside Shane Lowry and the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in back-to-back starts.

Rory will now tee it up at Valhalla for the PGA Championship, which is the site of his most recent major victory in 2014.

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Brandel Chamblee says this technological development was key to Phil Mickelson winning major championships

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While speaking with GolfWRX, Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee shared that he believes the solid core golf ball helped Phil Mickelson win major championships.

“One of the consequences of the solid core golf ball coming around was it put the straightest of hitters in the rough.

“Phil started winning majors in 2004, I don’t think that’s any coincidence. I think he started winning majors after the solid core golf ball came along and put everybody in the rough.

“And so [Phil] is like ‘I got you in the rough, I’m going to kick your a**. This is my game. I’ve been in the rough my whole career. I can go over trees, through trees, around trees.’

“Because he’s got that amazing creativity and Phil is an underrated iron player, phenomenal iron player. Great, great great out of the trouble. If you put the top-40 players on a list and ranked them in terms of accuracy, he would be 40th.

“So, I think that was one of the consequences of the solid core golf balls was it allowed Phil to win major championships.”

Mickelson went on to win the Masters in 2004 as well as five additional majors from 2004-2021 including three total Masters, two PGA Championships, and an Open Championship.

Check out the full interview with Chamblee below:

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Former Augusta National employee pleads guilty to transporting stolen Masters memorabilia; Arnold Palmer’s green jacket among stolen items

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According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, a man was charged in Chicago with stealing millions of dollars’ worth of memorabilia from Augusta National last month.

The man, Robert Globensky, was charged with transporting the memorabilia across state lines.

The report states that between 2009 and 2022, Globensky allegedly transported “millions of dollars’ worth of Masters golf tournament merchandise and historical memorabilia” from Augusta National “and transported to Tampa, Florida, knowing the same had been stolen, converted and taken by fraud.”

The document was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Since then, more details have emerged about the case.

According to Darren Rovell of Cllct, one of the items that was stolen was Arnold Palmer’s green jacket.

The Chicago Tribune also reported that Globensky was able to steal the merchandise due to his role as a former warehouse coordinator at Augusta National who oversaw the Masters merchandise that was sold.

Rovell states that “A source with intimate knowledge of the case said an Augusta National member, who knew the jacket was missing, contacted a well-known collector who had gained a reputation for tracking down rare items. The member’s goal was to return the jacket to Augusta under the guise of purchasing it in a private sale.”

The plan worked, and the man agreed to sell the jacket for an agreed upon price of $3.6 million. After the sale was complete, the FBI swarmed the house of the thief.

Cllct also reported that Globensky pled guilty in a federal court in Chicago on Wednesday and now faces up to 10 years in prison.

The Chicago Tribune adds that Globensky’s plea deal includes an agreement to provide the government a cashier’s check for $1.5 million in the next few days.

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