19th Hole
‘I shouldn’t have said that’ – PGA Tour pro swiftly walks back comment on Lexi Thompson’s Shriners exemption
This week, it was announced that Lexi Thompson will become just the seventh LPGA Tour pro to tee it up on the PGA Tour.
The 28-year-old will compete at next week’s Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas, calling it a “once-in-a-career opportunity.”
The news has given the event a boost of energy, and when asked to give his reaction, PGA Tour pro Peter Malnati caught some heat for his comments.
Speaking at this week’s PGA Tour event in Jackson, Malnati began by saying:
“I just got a text this morning, so I don’t know much about it. Obviously I know that Lexi at times has been one of the top players on the LPGA Tour, and she’s obviously very athletic. Distance won’t be a problem. She’ll hit it far enough.
My gut reaction when I saw that was like the tournament reaching to try to get — just trying to drum up interest. I think I understand that, if that is the case.”
Then things got a bit awkward, with Malnati musing that the exemption may be a “gimmick”, before quickly taking a backwards step.
“I don’t think we’re going to need to resort to gimmicks to drum up interest. I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know that having Lexi play is a gimmick, but I don’t think the tournaments are going to have to go to those kind of lengths to drum up interest and get storylines that they can sell because I think these events are actually going to have a lot of meaning.
“Like I said, change is hard for everyone at every level, so I assume if you’re a host organization of a tournament, if you’re the Century Club here in Jackson, if you’re Wayne Sanderson Farms, you just don’t know right now for sure what you have anymore because the fall is completely reimagined.”
As for how Malnati believes Lexi will fare next week, Malnati hedged his bets, saying:
“Having Lexi play certainly will get a lot of headlines, and if that’s the goal for Shriners and the host organization in Vegas there, that’s great. Obviously, she’s a professional athlete. She’s accomplished a lot.
It’s not like — I mean, who knows what’ll happen. She may go play really well and it’ll be huge. She may play absolutely terrible and finish 132nd.
“Either way, she’s a professional golfer. She has a spot in the field. The tournament is — if it gets them the attention that they want and it works out positively for them, it’s great, all for it.”
Lexi Thompson will become the first woman to tee it up on the PGA Tour since Brittany Lincicome did so five years ago.
Have a take? Discuss this article at GolfWRX on X.
‘I shouldn’t have said that’ – PGA Tour pro swiftly walks back comment on Lexi Thompson’s Shriners exemption https://t.co/Rh4xicDl9b pic.twitter.com/tRgEzEhecv
— GolfWRX (@GolfWRX) October 5, 2023
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19th Hole
Butch Harmon reveals what he worked on with Rory McIlroy during visit earlier this year
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.
Butch Harmon on what he worked on with Rory:
“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…
— Matt Vincenzi (@MattVincenziPGA) May 15, 2024
“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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19th Hole
Brandel Chamblee says this technological development was key to Phil Mickelson winning major championships
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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19th Hole
Former Augusta National employee pleads guilty to transporting stolen Masters memorabilia; Arnold Palmer’s green jacket among stolen items
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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