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Five Things We Learned: Saturday at the US Open

Published

11 months ago

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For the fan in me, Moving Day always arrives with a sense of expectation, and departs with a sense of sadness. There is mild grief for not just the players who fall from contention. There is also the angst with knowing that just one day remains, in what began as three practice rounds, prior to four days of competition. It is inevitable that this come to pass, just as it is inevitable that a competitor will eventually raise Victoria in triumph.

On Saturday, the true diversity of the LaLaLand experience came to the fore. It was intimated by a reliable source, that a somewhat-sinister plot was hatched to reduce the number of golf fans in attendance. Next, a golf ball landed, from over three hundred yards away, in the golf ball holder of a television announcer’s cart. Finally, the shortest golf hole in US Open championship history was played and, at a mere 80 yards, did play under par.

Thanks to statistics provided by the host USGA, we know that it is likely that the winner will come from somewhere between five-under par and ten-under. In the last 49 years, no player has pulled a Johnny Miller, and come back from more than a five-shot, third-round deficit. The last player to do so, was Miller himself, fifty years ago at Oakmont.

The USGA has the course where it wants it. Inspired by decades of Hollywood thrillers, tees will sequence in a manner that tests the psyche, while holes will be situated in a manner that tests the steady hand. Falter but once, and much will be needed to recover. On that somber note, welcome to Sunday, and five things that we learned on Saturday, at the US Open.

1. Front Nine-Back Nine starring in remake of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

On Saturday, Tom Kim took a wee 29 shots to complete the first nine holes of the North course at Los Angeles country club. Only five players have done this in the entirety of US Open history; none since 2015. Six birdies and three pars did the trick, and a seventh birdie at the 10th hole lit the hearts and souls of all fandom. The North course simply shrugged, and said Welcome to the back nine. It is there that more dreams are dashed than a Hollywood lot.

Next up for Kim was a series of holes whose distances defy conception. The second of two massive par-three holes, and a closing sequence of plus-size par four holes, wrapped around the aforementioned, tiny one-shotter. Kim had no more birdies in the bag, but three bogeys jumped up out of the rough and reduced his round from minus-seven to minus-four. Kim moved inside the top ten, but outside of that five-stroke margin that predicts winners.

2. Snakes are everywhere

Not the kind that take advantage of new arrivals in Tinseltown, nor the ones that lurk in the high rough that edges the fairways at LA North. The putting surfaces at the George Thomas masterpiece are conducive to the reading of long putts, and that bodes well for golfers in search of an on-course comeback. They are the ones most likely to take a run at long putts, and they are the ones most likely to be rewarded. There’s one exception: Rickie Fowler. Anyone who has watched the Cali Kid-turned OSU Cowboy since his amateur days, knows that Fowler putts all putts with confident abandon. He is trying to make all of them, and he believes that he can. Some hit the edge and spin away (see opening paragraph) while others tumble in from unbelievable distances. If the putter shows up and the nerves hold up, Sunday might be a great day for Fowler.

3. Whirls and Twirls

Like a lot of generational things, the club twirl is lost on folks above a certain age. Even when Tiger started to do it, none of us born prior to 1975 cared all that much. For those born after, it was an era-defining expression of golf swagger. Look closely at Wyndham Clark below, and you can see the effort he puts into the club twirl. It’s as if his trainer had moved him from leg day, to arm day, to twirl day, in preparation for this event.

Clark earned the right to twirl his club with this approach. Few anticipated that Clark would be tied for the lead through 54 holes, and paired again with Fowler in the final group. The Colorado native played an unspectacular front nine of minus-two, which kept him near the top. Bogey at 11 and 12 were stage direction for his exit, but he then did an unexpected thing. He made birdie at 13, then followed a bogey stumble at 17 with the shot you see below. The bell might toll for Clark on Sunday, but he’ll have some odds to do yet another, unpredicted thing: win.

4. Who needs putter?

Scottie Scheffler had quietly gone about his business at Wilshire Boulevard’s lovely layout. He stood one-over on the day through 16 holes, and four-under on the week. It looked to be another close-but-no-cigar for the 2022 Masters champion, and then the Texan made an unprecedented move. Scheffler drew a distant iron shot in toward the 17th green, and watched as the ball released along the green of the course’s toughest par-four hole. He did not have a proper vantage point from which to see it finish, but he knew from the roar that the only place it could lie, was four inches below the putting surface, nestled in the hole. The eagle brought him to six-under, and a closing birdie staked him to a penultimate pairing with Rory McIlroy.

In my mind, this is the pairing to watch. Scheffler is McIlroy of a decade ago. He wants more than one major title on his resume; he wants many, and he does not wish to miss out in 2023. McIlroy is the almost-aging, former-firework who shined bright early, but has cooled in the ensuing decade. He knows that one major win can ignite a celebrated, second act to his career. One more close call can add another layer of scar tissue that makes winning again, more difficult.

5. Oh, those Hollywood Nights

There’s the Bob Seger song, and there’s also the Newbomb Turk movie, that bookend the tragedy and hilarity of the West Coast. Sunday will give us a winner. If it doesn’t get done in regulation, it will happen in a two-hole playoff. In anticipation of a playoff and in assurance of a prime-time, East coast finish. Rickie and Wyndham will tee off a full seventy minutes earlier than they did on Saturday. We know the following:

*Someone will shoot 30 or better on the front nine;

*Someone unexpected will rise (and the opposite);

*Someone unexpected will falter (and the opposite);

*After a week away from the PGA Tour, we will talk about the merger again on Monday;

*Odds favor a first-time major champion, as six of the nine within five strokes, have no majors on their dossier;

One thing that we do know, is that no one will repeat the magnificence of Cameron Young, who decided to liven things up with a tee shot for the ages, on Saturday’s tenth hole. Despite never visiting the fairway, Young made par. How he did it, is the stuff of Hollywood minds and cameras.

 

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Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

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News

Tour Rundown: Rose blooms, Rory rolls

Published

19 hours ago

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May 13, 2024

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This week last year, I found myself praying to the weather goddesses and gods that Rochester would be spared their wrath over the next seven days. The 2023 Oak Hill PGA Championship (that was slated for August when the contract was signed) was on the horizon, and I wanted my region to show well. Things turned out fine, with all four seasons making an appearance, a PGA Professional (Blockie!) stealing hearts, and a proven champion in Koepka (although I was pulling for Viktor.)

This year, no concerns. Louisville will shine this week at Valhalla, but we’ve matters to consider before we look to four days of coverage this week. Nelly did not win on the LPGA this week, so who did? The PGA Tour held two events in the Carolinas, and Tour Champions celebrated a major event in Alabama. Four noteworthy events to run down, so let’s head to RunDownTown and take care of business.

LPGA @ Founders Cup: Rose blooms

There was a sense that Rose Zhang might have a role in the 2020s version of the LPGA. After winning everything there was in amateur golf, she came out and won her first tournament as a professional. That was last May and, let’s be honest, who among us thought it would take 12 months for Zhang to win again? Rhymes with hero, I know.

This week in New Jersey, eyes were on Nelly Korda, as she made a run at a sixth consecutive win on the LPGA circuit. Korda ran out of gas on Saturday, and that was just fine. Madelene Sagstrom and Zhang had turned the soiree at Upper Montclair into a battle of birdies. Gabriela Ruffels came third at nine-under par. No one else reached double digits under par but Sagstrom and Zhang. They didn’t just reach -10…they more than doubled it.

Sagstrom had the look of a winner with five holes left to play. She was three shots clear of Zhang, at 23-under par. The Swede played her closing quintet in plus-one, finishing at 22-deep, 13 shots ahead of Ruffels. That performance we’d anticipated from Zhang? It happened on Sunday. She closed with four birdies in five holes to snatch victory number two, by two shots. Spring is a lovely time for a Rose in bloom.

PGA Tour @ Wells Fargo: Rory the Fourth is crowned in Charlotte

Xander Schauffele is a likable lad. He has an Olympic gold medal on his shelf, and a few PGA Tour titles to his credit. Even X knows that even par won’t get much done in a final round unless conditions are brutal. They weren’t brutal at Quail Hollow on Sunday. X posted even par on day four. It kept him ahead of third-place finisher Byeong Hun An but gave him zero chance of challenging for the title.

Paired with Xander in round four was the King of Quail, Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman had previously won thrice at the North Carolina track, and he was champing at the bit to gain some momentum on the road to Louisville. While Xander scored increasingly worse along the week (64-67-70-71) McIlroy saved his best round for the final round. Thanks to five birdies and two eagles, McIlroy ran away with the event, winning his fourth Wells Fargo by five over Schauffele.

PGA Tour @ Myrtle Beach Classic: a little CG won the inaugural week

It always seemed odd that the PGA Tour had zero stops along the Grand Strand each season. This week’s event seemed odd in that the golfers played the same course each day, and there were zero handicaps involved. Most events at Myrtle Beach involve hundreds of amateurs at dozens of courses, with all sorts of handicaps.

The Dunes Club is a Robert Trent Jones Sr. course, down toward Pawley’s Island. It claims what used to be considered an unreachable, par-five hole, the watery 13th. Nothing is unreachable any longer, including a 22-under par total for a six-shot win. Chris Gotterup, a former Rutgers and Oklahoma golfer, played sizzling golf all week and won by a sextet of shots. Gotterup opened with 66, then improved to 64 on Friday. His Saturday 65 sounded a beacon of “come get me,” and his closing 67 ensured that second place was the only thing up for grabs.

Chasing the podium’s second level were a bunch of young Americans. In the end, Alastair Docherty and Davis Thompson reached 16-deep, thanks to rounds of 64 and 68 on Sunday. They held off six golfers at 15-under par. The victory was Gotterup’s first on tour and should be enough to get him a Wikipedia page, among other plaudits.

PGA Tour Champions @ Regions Traditions: Vindication for Dougie

Doug Barron, if I recall correctly, was suspended by the Powers That Be, way back in 2009, for testosterone. He was naturally low in the hormone, so he took supplements. This did not sit well with certain admins, so he was put on the shelf for 18 months. Not cool.

In 2019, Barron came out on the Tour Champions. He won in August. The next year, despite the craziness of Covid, he won again.  Barron hit a dry spell for a few years. He kept his card, but accrued no additional victories. In late April, Barron showed serious signs of life, with a t2 at Mitsubishi. This week in Birmingham, he jumped out to a lead, lost it, then gained it back on Saturday. With major championship glory on the line, Barron brought the train into the station with 68 on Sunday.

Stephen Alker, the man who could not lose just two years ago, gave serious chase with a closing 63. He moved up 11 slots, into solo 2nd on Sunday. He finished two shots back of the champion. Two shots ain’t much. Cough once and you drop a pair. Third place saw a three-way tie, including last year’s winner (Steve Stricker) and runner-up (Ernie Els.) Despite the intimidating presence of the game’s greats, however, Doug Barron had more than enough of everything this week, and he has a third Tour Champions title to show off.

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Equipment

Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

Published

4 days ago

on

May 10, 2024

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.

The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?

Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.

When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.

To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.

Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.

“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.

“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”

Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.

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Equipment

Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter

Published

5 days ago

on

May 9, 2024

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Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.

This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.

Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.

The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.

Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.

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