News – GolfWRX

Morning 9: Eckroat wins in Monday finish | Niemann in for PGA | Woodland receives Ben Hogan award

Ben Alberstadt — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 13:50:36 +0000

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as the PGA Tour heads to Bay Hill for the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

1. Monday finish and Eckroat a winner

AP report…”Austin Eckroat waited a long time to become a winner on the PGA Tour. Another day didn’t hurt.”

“Eckroat got the first victory of his Tour career Monday, topping Erik van Rooyen and Min Woo Lee by three shots to win the weather-delayed Cognizant Classic. Among his prizes: $1.62 million — by far his biggest golf payday — along with Tour status for two years and a trip to the Masters for the first time.”

“Eckroat shot a final round of 4-under 67, finishing at 17-under 267.”

Full piece.

2. Niemann to play PGA Championship

Our Matt Vincenzi…”While speaking to GolfWRX, Niemann revealed that the Masters wasn’t the only major he’s received an invitation to.”

“Vincenzi: “So, you’re now in the Masters. You’re in the Open via your win at the Australian Open. PGA Championship, you’ll probably be in?”

“Niemann: “Yeah, I got an invite for the PGA Championship as well. So I’m in that one.”

“Niemann also added that he intends to qualify for the U.S. Open.”

“I’m going to try and qualify for the U.S. Open. Hopefully I have a good finish at the Masters and I won’t need to.”

“The top 60-point leaders and ties as of May 22, 2023, in the Official World Golf Ranking will receive an invite. Joaco currently sits at 72nd in the OWGR. Therefore, a strong finish at the Masters could certainly get him in.”

Full piece.

3. Tiger to receive USGA’s Bob Jones Award

Golf Digest’s Tod Leonard…”Tiger Woods and Bobby Jones are the only two golfers in history to win nine USGA titles, and it was only a matter of time before their names were joined in the governing body’s highest honor. That moment has come, with the USGA announcing on Saturday that Woods was selected the 2024 recipient of the Bob Jones Award that “recognizes commitment to sportsmanship and respect for golf’s time-honored traditions.”

“Woods, 48, joins fellow Jones winners Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Francis Ouimet, Mickey Wright, Patty Berg, Annika Sorenstam and President George H.W. Bush”

Full piece.

4. Woodland wins Ben Hogan Award

PGATour.com staff report…”Gary Woodland, who underwent a craniotomy last September to remove a brain lesion, is the winner of the Golf Writers Association of America’s 2023 Ben Hogan Award for remaining active in golf “despite a physical handicap or serious illness,” the GWAA announced Monday.”

“Woodland said he began feeling symptoms at the Mexico Open at Vidanta last May. He started waking up with a jolt – small seizures – and having thoughts of death. He was nauseous the week of the PGA Championship in May, and his doctor ordered an MRI, which revealed the lesion.”

“He went on medication and was advised to wait and see regarding surgery, but with symptoms worsening, it seemed that the lesion might be growing. It was time to operate.”

Full piece.

5. Bubba’s ‘easy’ solution for LIV pros to play majors

Ben Parsons for Bunkered…Bubba Watson, who has a lifetime exemption to the Masters as a two-time winner, thinks a solution that ignores the current ranking system is “easy.”

“Let’s say top 50 or top 75 on the PGA Tour get in all the Majors. DP World Tour, say whatever, top 20, 30 or 40 and for the Masters it might have to be even better,” Watson explained to Gulf News.

“Say with us, we’ve got 54 guys out here so top ten on the money list or points list, however you want to word it, gets in.

“Top ten, top 15 get in because they’re all great champions out here. You just start going to the money list and points. If you play enough on all of them Tours and you make the top whatever on the money list, that is how you should do it.

“Then it’s not about World Ranking, so if you want to play on the DP World Tour, PGA Tour or in Japan, you still have the chance to make these great events and that will make these great events greater.”

Full piece.

6. Edoardo Molinari joins Arccos

Elliot Heath for Golf Monthly…”European Ryder Cup vice captain Edoardo Molinari has joined Arccos Golf to become the brand’s Chief Data Strategist & Lead Tour Ambassador.”

“The DP World Tour pro is known as a stats guru and currently works as an Analytics advisor to more than 35 tour pros including Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland and Nelly Korda as well as the European Ryder Cup Team.”

“In his new role, Molinari will become an investor in Arccos and his StatisticGolf service will be renamed Arccos Pro Insights.”

Full Piece.

7. Photos from the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Check out our photos from Bay Hill as they continue to flow in.

Full Piece.

8. Winning WITB: Austin Eckroat

Presented by 2nd Swing

Driver: Ping G430 LST (9 degrees @9.25)

Shaft: Project HZRDUS Smoke Green 70 6.5 (tipped 1 inch)

3-wood: Ping G430 Max (15 degrees @14.75)

Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 X (tipped 1.5 inch)

Irons: Ping Blueprint S (3), Ping Blueprint T (4-PW)

Shafts: Project X 6.5

Wedges: Ping Glide Forged Pro (50-10S, 54-10S, 60-06T)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Putter: Ping Redwood D66

Grips: Golf Pride Z-Grip Cord

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Full WITB.

Tour Rundown: Eckroat rode momentum to the W

Ronald Montesano — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 08:00:21 +0000

It was the week that the ghost of Anthony Kim returned to professional golf. It was the week that the former wunderkind, the ankle-breaker from L.A., turned his ten-years-older back on his former tour, and competed on a rival circuit. That’s a lot of hype that could have potentially diverted attention from the major professional tours. The DP World, LPGA, Korn Ferry, and PGA tours, however, produced stirring competition that returned focus to their events. The Florida stretch of the PGA Tour began in Palm Beach Gardens, while the LPGA celebrated the HSBC World Championship in Singapore. The DP World Tour competed in South Africa, while the Korn Ferry caravan found its way to Argentina. Four different continents produced four compelling storylines.

Enough with the hyperbole. Time to move on to the nitty-gritty details of the resolution of each event. It’s a day late (thank you, south Florida weather) but it’s fine like wine. Enjoy this week’s Tour Rundown with us.

PGA Tour @ Cognizant Classic: Eckroat rode momentum to the W

The Championship course at PGA National is a difficult foe. Water and/or sand inhabits the grounds with such frequency, that one might conclude that the course was not so much built, as found. It is pure Florida golf, and when the winds are up, it is as difficult a challenge as found on the PGA Tour. This week, the winds spared the golfers, and unheard-of scores in the low 60s were familiar, if not commonplace. Austin Eckroat, Shane Lowry, and David Skinns carried a three-shot advantage into the final round, but there were plenty of challengers with designs on the top prize.

As Lowry and Skinns slipped away with even-par 71s on day four/five (Monday finish, doncha know?) Erik Van Rooyen mounted a charge. The two-time Tour winner posted eight-under 63 to reach 14-under par and set a significant bar. This meant that the tri-leaders would have to shoot in the 60s to win. Also surging were Min Woo Lee (67 for T2 with Van Rooyen), Cameron Young and K.H. Lee (matching 66s for T4 with three others.)

Austin Eckroat was the overnight leader who steadied the rudder and stayed the course. He navigated the fairways and greens with but a single bogey over the final 18 holes. Five birdies brought him to 67 for the round, and a three-shot win over his pursuers. The victory was his first on the PGA Tour, and was portended by a T10 finish at the 2023 US Open. The tour now moves to Orlando and Puerto Rico, for a split week of bonus golf.

LPGA @ HSBC World: calm Green takes title on final green

Hannah Green and playing companion Andrea Lee were neck and neck in the final group, as they reached the 16th tee. Green proceeded to make birdie at each of the closing holes, while Lee play them in plus-one figures. A four-shot swing, you say? That should have made the walk along 18 a breeze for Green. It might have been, if not for the star of 2023, Celine Boutier. The Frenchwoman began the day one behind Green, in a tie with Lee. Boutier played marvelous golf, making five birdies through the 15th, reaching 12-under par.

It was a tale of two uneven parts. Boutier played brilliantly for 15 holes, then lost the magic and closed with three pars. In contrast, Green was two under par over the same stretch, and appeared relegated to a top-three finish, until she found her wind. The brilliance of the closing stretch was enough to elevante Green past Boutier by a single stroke.

A short and emphatic putt for birdie at 16, was followed by a longer and equally-courageous effort at 17. Reaching the 18th, Green had a 20-feet putt for the win. The putt never looked like it would bend back enough, until it made a final, right-turn at the end. The most unlikely of scenarios brought Hannah Green her fourth LPGA title and first since April of 2023.

DP World Tour @ SDC: Gumberg avoids defeat in playoff

The St. Francis links of South Africa played host to the SDC Championship for a second time in 2024. Despite its location of Eastern Cape, the links lie halfway along the coastal route from Cape Town to Durban, squarely in the central part of the southern perimeter. Defending champion Matthew Baldwin was unable to recapture the mojo that brought the 2023 trophy to his hands. He made the cut, but went backward over the final 36 holes, finishing in a tie for 47th position.

Near the top of the leaders’ board, third-round leaders Connor Syme and Daniel Brown headed away from victory station. They concluded with matching 75s, each dropping three positions to a fourth-place tie. Moving from sixth to third was France’s David Ravetto, on the strength of a closing 70. Two shots better were the home country’s Robin Williams and the USA’s Jordan Gumberg. Williams had the tournament in his sites, until a double-bogey at the par-three 17th dropped him down from 14-deep.

He and Gumberg headed to the 18th tee for extra holes. They would play the closing trace two times, and it was Gumberg who concluded the day with birdie for the win. His tee ball was perilously close to a water penalty, but he remained dry. His approach reached within twenty feet of the hole, and his putt was authoritative and true. The title was Gumberg’s first on the DP World Tour. The caravan moves north this week, near Johannesburg for the Workwear Open.

Korn Ferry Tour @ Argentina Open: Andersen’s triple birdie wins in overtime

Van Holmgren’s slim, third-round lead didn’t last long. The American with the seventies-Hollywood name stumbled early with bogey at two and three, and finished with +1 for a fifth-place tie. It was one of those “I’d have taken it at the beginning of the week” that ends with “man, I had a chance and that hurts.” With Van’s exodus, the battle was joined, and by none more feverishly than Mason Andersen. The former Arizona State golfer posted eight birdies over a nine-hole stretch, and concluded with another at the last. His seven-under 63 parasailed him ten shots up the board, to 17-under par.

His countrymen, Dalton Ward and Brian Campbell, did their level best to chase him down, but each could only reach 16-deep on the week. Norway’s Kris Ventura had a bit more steam in his engine, and parlayed three birdies into a final-round 68. Ventura had a chance to win in regulation, but could not make birdie at the par-five closer. Andersen and Ventura returned twice to the 18th tee. Andersen birdied the hole twice more, while Venture could only make four the first time around.

The title brought Andersen an exemption into the 2024 Open Championship, which is a pretty nice bonus on top of the win. Why not hear the final putt in the language of Argentina?

Photos from the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

GolfWRX Staff — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 18:45:08 +0000

GolfWRX is on the ground in Orlando ahead of the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge.

We’re assembling our usual collection of WITB photos, general galleries, and of course, gear inspired by the King himself.

We’ll continue to add to the photos below as more flow in from Florida.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.

Morning 9: Rory responds to Gooch | The Match draws record low viewership | AK on joining LIV

Ben Alberstadt — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 14:41:03 +0000

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Thursday morning, golf fans, as day one of the Cognizant Classic gets underway.

1. McIlroy on Gooch’s “asterisk” remark

Golf Channel report…”The latest chapters of the saga came Wednesday, when McIlroy said he wanted to give LIV player Talor Gooch “the benefit of the doubt” over comments he made saying if the world’s No. 2-ranked player wins the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam the accomplishment should come with an asterisk because some players who have signed with Saudi-funded LIV cannot play at Augusta National since they have fallen out of the top 50 in the world rankings.”

“The Masters is an invitational and they’ll invite whoever they think warrants an invite,” said McIlroy, who’ll play in the Cognizant Classic that starts Thursday at PGA National — the site of what used to be called the Honda Classic. “I think to be fair to Talor, if you read the entire … the question and then the answer, it’s not as if he just came out with that. I feel like whoever did the interview led him down that path to say that, so I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt there a little bit. He just agreed with what the interviewer asked.”

Full piece.

2. Villegas named PGA Tour Advisory Board chair

Field Level Media report…”Camilo Villegas was named the new chairman of the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council on Wednesday.”

The 42-year-old from Colombia will serve in that role for the remainder of 2024. The council advises and consults with the PGA Tour policy board and commissioner Jay Monahan on issues affecting the tour.

Full piece.

3. AK on joining LIV

Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…“What has been rumored for weeks finally became official Wednesday with the announcement from the Saudi-backed league that Kim, 38, who hasn’t played competitively since 2012, will join LIV as a wildcard player for the remainder of the 2024 season…”

“After stepping away from the game years ago due to injury, I’m happy to officially announce my return to the world of professional golf,” Kim said in a LIV press release. “It’s been a long time coming, and I’m very grateful for all the highs, lows and lessons learned from the first part of my career.

“I want to compete with the best players in the world, and I’m on a mission to prove to myself that I can win again. The next step on that journey starts now, and I’m excited to give everything I’ve got this season on the LIV Golf League.”

Full piece.

4. A peek into the Tour’s private-equity plan

Matthew Rudy for Golf Digest…”The new entity—PGA Tour Enterprises—built an equity distribution plan that looks similar to something tech companies use to protect themselves from losing their most valuable contributors to deep-pocketed competitors. “The whole idea behind restricted stock units [RSUs] is to motivate employees to stay and create more value for the business,” says Matt Erley, who before founding golf start-up fund Old Tom Ventures was the head of growth at beverage-delivery startup Drizly when it was acquired by Uber. “You’re acting like an owner.”

“In broad terms, RSUs work in two phases: how they’re allocated and triggered, and how and when they vest. At a tech start-up backed by a venture capital firm, the leadership team will usually assign a certain amount of equity to be distributed each year to contributors for a variety of reasons—from simply being a member of the team to achieving a performance milestone. The rules about how and when contributors get access to the equity they’ve been awarded are set with strategic goals in mind.”

“Confirmed details about the PGA Tour’s new equity plan are still murky, but we know there will be four broad categories of players earning equity stakes in this initial round: A handful of superstars like Tiger Woods will share $750 million. A second group of 64 players will share $75 million based on their past three years of performance. The third group—mostly the remaining fully-exempt current players—will share $30 million, and a group of 36 designated “founding” players will share $75 million for their historical contributions. Another $600 million will be distributed in the future through recurring grants based on factors like on-course performance and Player Impact Program finish.”

Full piece.

5. Worse for the Tour rank and file?

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…It’s an immediate ripple effect of sweeping changes made by the PGA Tour for this season, most notably the transformation of several events into limited-field, highly lucrative signature stops that was expected to shrink the total number of playing opportunities by about 10%. A select group of guys, however, are the ones taking the brunt of this initial wave.

“Those top-50 guys, they’re playing fields that we can’t get into, and then fields that we can get into, they’re playing those, too,” a Korn Ferry Tour graduate, who wished to remain anonymous, argued. “And it’s not their fault; I would do it if I were them. But it does make it kind of tough. I don’t know what to do. Do you play Korn Ferry? Do you try and go get a DP World start? Do you try and keep writing for these f—ing sponsor invites? I’m tired of writing for sponsor invites.

“… They’re going to tell you to play better, and I hear ya, I do. But you can’t play better if you’re not in the field.”

Scott Gutschewski is 47 years old and has 140 career PGA Tour starts under his belt. He’s familiar with this reorder territory, having played out of similar categories for much of his career, though he notes this year has been uniquely challenging – “The Tour gives you the access summaries from previous years, and you can just throw that thing away. It’s completely meaningless.” When he finished No. 28 in Korn Ferry Tour points last year, Gutschewski planned a family vacation to Hawaii that would culminate with his season debut at the Sony Open.

Full piece.

6. Record low audience for The Match

7. Schmelzel leads in Singapore

AP report…” Sarah Schmelzel birdied two of of her final three holes Thursday for a 4-under 68 to take a 1-stroke lead over three players, including fellow American Lilia Vu, at the LPGA tournament in Singapore.”

“Also tied for second with Vu at the HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club were Linn Grant and Esther Henseleit.”

Full Piece.

8. 2024 Cognizant Classic photos

Check out all of our galleries from this week’s event!

Full Piece.

Morning 9: Gooch: Masters deserves asterisk | LIV’s new streaming deal | Mosquito mayhem

Ben Alberstadt — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 14:23:25 +0000

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Wednesday morning, golf fans, as the PGA Tour moves over to the Florida swing, while Anthony Kim looks set to make his stunning return in Jeddah.

1. Gooch: Majors sans LIV golfers deserve asterisk

Brad Clifton and Rohan Clarke for Australian Golf Digest…In an ominous portent to Augusta National, Gooch said: “If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his [Career] Grand Slam without some of the best players in the world, there’s just going to be an asterisk. It’s just the reality. I think everybody wins whenever the majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there.”

Full piece.

2. “The Match is good again”

Brody Miller’s take for the Athleltic…”Monday night’s version offered a potential vision for this to stay around. Here’s how.”

“For starters, the mixed-gender format works. It is a chance to watch golf with a perspective we’re not used to. Women’s golf is booming. The women’s U.S. Open at Pebble Beach was a huge moment for the game, seeing these elite women play a historic course we’ve known for decades. And getting to watch these four play a skins game against one another provides context, and context makes golf better.”

“Second, the people. The Match needs to be about highlighting certain personalities. Otherwise, it’s just watching mostly forgettable golf with awkward pauses in between as they get from hole to hole. Homa was put on Earth to be in settings like this. His witty digs and dry narrations made this all flow. He made me legitimately laugh out loud multiple times. He constantly needled McIlroy and playfully pretended to flex on Zhang when he tied her on a hole. On one shot out of a bunker, he jumped in the air and confusedly yelled, “I don’t know, fore? Fore?” Multiple times he begged and pleaded for his competitors to give him short putts so he didn’t have to embarrass himself.”

Full piece.

3. $10 million question

James Corrigan for The Telegraph…”He might well be re-emerging as a freak show this week, who could be taking a $10 million insurance gamble to rejoin the circus, but be sure his return would have been big news whether there was a Saudi-funded breakaway league or not.”

“Indeed, the myth of Anthony Kim has continued to build with so much fascination over the last decade that any tournament promoter worthy of their publicity department would crave his presence.”

“When he burst through those country club gates, Kim – or “AK” as he soon became known – was America’s ‘can’t miss kid’, the country’s first since Tiger Woods. At the time, there was no Dustin Johnson, or Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler or Justin Thomas, or, of course, the next generation led by Collin Morikawa.”

“When Kim played in the Texas Open in 2006, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Adam Scott had largely been seen off by the monstrous domination of Woods. Although there was a young Ulsterman by the name of Rory McIlroy threatening to storm the hegemony, here was a 20-year-old with the skill and swagger to at least promise a vibrant future.”

Full piece.

4. Nicklaus, pros keen on PGA National decision

Tom D’Angelo for the Palm Beach Post…”Steve Rintoul, the Tour’s vice president for rules and officiating and the chief referee for the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, believes that stretch from the fourth hole to No. 17 without a par 5 was as grinding as any on Tour. So he contacted the man who re-designed the course in 2000 and asked what he thought of converting the 10th hole from a par 4 to a par 5.”

“And Jack Nicklaus agreed with the move.”

“His reply was, ‘I always thought it was a better par 5 than a par 4,’ ” Rintoul said. “Now we got his blessing.”

“Then, after talking with several Tour pros who have either won Cognizant or played the event regularly, the move became official.”

“Nobody said, ‘Well, that’s a bad idea,’ ” Rintoul said. “It was an easy sell.”

“Now, for the first time since the event moved to PGA National in 2007, it will have three par 5s and become a par 71. The 10th will be lengthened by about 25 yards, playing at 530 yards, and the fairway line will be shifted a bit to the left by about eight yards at the dogleg.”

Full piece.

5. Mosquito mayhem

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…“There could be a record amount of mosquito repellant used on the Korn Ferry Tour this week in Argentina.”

“The city of Buenos Aires and its surrounding areas have been dealing with multiple mosquito invasions since the start of the new year, according to the Buenos Aires Times. The most recent swarm hit less than a week ago following another bout of flooding, and multiple videos online show hordes of the flying insects invading city streets, structures, subway stations and more. One video showed what looked like a dark cloud of mosquitoes flying over a road.”

“Olivos Golf Club, where the 117 Visa Argentina Open will begin on Thursday, is located about 25 miles north of the capital’s center. Some players who have arrived in Buenos Aires have already reported run-ins with the mosquitoes. Another, Thomas Walsh, posted a video of himself hitting a shot on the range while wearing protective netting over his head and upper body.”

Full piece.

6. Pettersen adds Reid as vice captain

Sky Sports report…”European Solheim Cup skipper Suzann Pettersen has added Mel Reid as a fourth vice-captain for this year’s contest against Team USA in Virginia.”

“Englishwoman Reid – a vice-captain to Catriona Matthew in 2019 – will join Dame Laura Davies, Anna Nordqvist and Caroline Martens as deputies when Europe look to retain the trophy in Gainesville between September 13-15, live on Sky Sports.”

Full Piece.

7. LIV’s new streaming deal

Golf Monthly’s Jonny Leighfield…”The LIV Golf League has announced a new broadcast deal with streaming platform, Caffeine to show its live Friday action.”

“As well as opening-day coverage being available on the LIV YouTube channel, LIV Golf Plus, and the CW app, fans of the 54-hole competition will now have another option to watch Jon Rahm and co. battle it out.”

Full Piece.

8. ICYMI…Overton set for Cognizant start

Tom D’Angelo for Palm Beach Post…”It’s been a long road back for former U.S. Ryder Cup member Jeff Overton, but the Palm Beach Gardens resident will have a short drive this week to continue that journey.”

“Overton was one of three players to earn a spot in this week’s Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches when the 40-year-old Monday qualified with a 6-under 66 at the Tesoro Club.”

“It feels great, but it will feel even greater if I can continue this thing,” said Overton, who was sidelined from the game for five years with a serious infection after back surgery in 2017.

Full Piece.

9. 2024 Cognizant Classic photos

Check out all of our galleries from this week’s event!

Full Piece.

Morning 9: Rory wins Match | Return of the Kim | Rahm hasn’t heard from Tiger

Ben Alberstadt — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 14:35:07 +0000

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as the PGA Tour moves over to the Florida swing, while Anthony Kim looks set to make his stunning return in Jeddah.

1. Return of the Kim (presumably)

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach…”Anthony Kim, who last played in a professional golf tournament nearly a dozen years ago, will apparently return to competition at this week’s LIV Golf League event in Saudi Arabia.”

“Kim, 38, is expected to play in the LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah tournament, scheduled to start Friday at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City. Kim is expected to play as a wildcard, meaning he will compete in the individual competition, but his scores won’t count in the team event.”

“LIV Golf League CEO and commissioner Greg Norman teased Kim’s comeback in a post to X on Monday, in which he shared a video from LIV Golf’s account that appeared to feature Kim walking down a fairway.”

Full piece.

2. Rory comes out on top in The Match

ESPN staff…”The Match IX introduced a mixed-gender format that saw Rory McIlroy and Max Homa represent the PGA, while Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang represented the LPGA.”

“McIlroy came out on top in his second appearance at the made-for-TV charity golf event, winning 10 skins between 12 holes and the sudden-death closest-to-the-pin competition to earn $2.4 million for charity.”

“I’ve played pretty well tonight and hit some pretty good shots,” McIlroy said. “Hopefully that carries over into the next few days as well.”

“Thompson finished second with two skins that secured $200,000 for charity. Homa and Zhang did not win a skin.”

Full piece.

3. Supermarket delivery driver wins ‘life-changing’ sum with T2 finish at Kenya Open

BBC report…”Joe Dean, the world number 2,930 and part-time delivery driver, has won a “life-changing” prize of £170,000 by finishing runner-up at the Kenya Open.”

“The Englishman, who scraped on to the DP World Tour through qualifying, finished joint second behind Darius van Driel in Nairobi.”

“Dean, who works a delivery driver for Morrisons supermarket, carded a closing four-under-par 67 to finish 12 under.”

“It’s got to be [life changing]. It’s what people dream of,” said Dean.

Full piece.

4. Why Sami didn’t get a drop

Brentley Romine for NBC Sports…”The two shots happened three days apart, but some people watching the Mexico Open couldn’t help but notice the commonalities between Sami Valimaki’s wayward drive on the 72nd hole that ended up nestled against a metal boundary fence and a provisional drive by S.H. Kim on the same hole Thursday that settled in a similar lie.”

“However, while Kim received a free drop, Valimaki did not…

“Here is the explanation from the PGA Tour rules committee:

“In Sami’s case, it was clearly unreasonable for him to play a stroke. The exception to Rule 16.1 applies.”

Here’s that verbiage: There is no relief under Rule 16.1 when playing the ball as it lies would be clearly unreasonable because of something from which the player is not allowed to take free relief (such as when a player is unable to make a stroke because of where the ball lies in a bush), or when interference exists only because a player chooses a club, type of stance or swing or direction of play that is clearly unreasonable under the circumstances.

Full piece.

5. Rahm: Tiger hasn’t talked to me since I joined LIV

Our Matt Vincenzi…”When Jon Rahm joined LIV golf, it sent shockwaves throughout the world of professional golf and changed the landscape of the game as we know it.”

“The reigning Masters champion took a large sum of money to start his own team on LIV, “Legion XIII”.

“While speaking with ESPN’s Marty Smith, the Spaniard revealed that he reached out to arguably the two biggest names in golf after his decision, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.”

“Rory was supportive of Rahm and has even said he wants to make sure Rahm can continue to play on the European Ryder Cup team as well.”

…”When Rahm was asked if he’d heard from Tiger, he shared that he had not.

“Tiger? No, not really, I mean, Tiger, I texted him and the people that try to reach out, you know, the process, when I signed and I just let him know, ‘Hey, you know, this is a personal decision.’ I think he’s [too] busy enough to be talking to me.”

Full piece.

6. Who our betting expert is tipping this week

Check out the full piece to see who else should be on your card, but Matt Vincenzi likes Cameron Young this week at 22-1…”Cameron Young has yet to break out with a PGA Tour win, but PGA National is a good course for the former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year to showcase his elite driving ability. In his past 24 rounds, Young ranks 1st in Total Driving.”

“PGA National isn’t the longest course, but with water lurking everywhere, it helps to hit approach shots with higher lofted clubs. Bombers such as Rory McIlroy, Keith Mitchell, and Brooks Koepka have thrived at the course in the recent years, and Young could look to replicate their play style here.”

“Young has had a strong start to his 2024 season, finishing in a tie for 8th at TPC Scottsdale and a tie for 16th at Riviera. In those two starts, he gained significant strokes on the field both off the tee and on approach. He also finished 16th in his debut at the Honda Classic in 2022. With two additional top-13 finishes at Bay Hill, the 26-year-old has shown he likes playing in Florida.”

“With the fields in 2024 weaker than in recent seasons, Young is one of the best players teeing it up this week and has the talent to come out on top.”

Full Piece.

7. 2024 Cognizant Classic photos

Check out all of our galleries from this week’s event!

Full Piece.

Photos from the 2024 Cognizant Classic

GolfWRX Staff — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 14:04:51 +0000

GolfWRX is on site this week at the Cognizant Classic —FKA the Honda Classic.

The first leg of the PGA Tour’s traditional “Florida swing,” the Cognizant Classic continues to be contested at PGA National’s Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, host course of the 1983 Ryder Cup and 1987 PGA Championship. The course is known for its famed “Bear Trap,” a three-hole stretch of holes that take their name from Jack “The Golden Bear” Nicklaus, who redesigned the course in 2002.

The Bear Trap includes No. 15 (a par 3), No. 16 (a par 4), and No. 17 (a par 4). All three holes involve water and have led to several big numbers from Tour players over the years.

Check out an assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums below.

We’ll continue to update the galleries as more photos flow in from Florida!

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.

Morning 9: Knapp Time | AK to tee it up | Patty T victorious

Ben Alberstadt — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 13:40:03 +0000

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Monday morning, golf fans, as the PGA Tour moves over to the Florida swing

1. In Mexico: Knapp Time

ESPN report…”PGA Tour rookie Jake Knapp lost a four-shot lead in seven holes and then held it together with a remarkable short game Sunday, closing with an even-par 71 to win the Mexico Open at Vidanta and earn a trip to the Masters.”

“Knapp said he still sends a text after each round to his grandfather, who died last year, and this message might require a lot of detail.”

“He didn’t hit a fairway until the eighth hole and found only two the entire round — the fewest in the final round of a PGA Tour win in the past 40 years, according to golf statistician Justin Ray. Knapp never lost the lead but twice allowed Sami Valimaki of Finland to catch him. They were tied with six holes to play until Knapp took over, getting up and down on four of the next five holes, one of them for birdie.”

Full piece.

2. Report: Anthony Kim to play LIV event

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”Anthony Kim will return to professional golf next week at the LIV Golf event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, according to multiple sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.”

“Kim will be a wildcard player in next week’s LIV Golf event in his first professional start since 2012. The 38-year-old had surgery on his Achilles tendon in his left leg following the ’12 Wells Fargo Championship and had been mulling a possible return for months.”

Full piece.

3. DPWT: Van Driel wins after challengers shank

Golf Channel report…”Darius van Driel won the Magical Kenya Open on Sunday for his first career win on the DP World Tour.”

“Meanwhile, two of van Driel’s main challengers hit less than magical shots.”

“First was Manuel Elvira, who co-led with van Driel after 54 holes and remained tied with van Driel through four holes. Elvira found the greenside bunker off the tee at the par-3 fifth at Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi. Faced with a routine shot from the sand, Elvira shanked the shot and ended up walking away with bogey.”

Full piece.

4. LPGA: Patty T wins in Thailand

LPGA report…”It came down to the 72nd hole against some late-round charges. But when the dust settled, Patty Tavatanakit became the second Thai champion to be crowned at the Honda LPGA Thailand on Sunday, winning her first Tour event in 1,057 days. After starting the final round with a three-shot lead, she ultimately shot a 5-under 67 to finish -21, the first time she’s recorded all four rounds of an event in the 60s since her first Tour win at the 2021 Chevron Championship.”

Full piece.

5. Tonight…The Match: McIlroy, Homa, Thompson, Zhang

Cameron Morfit for PGATour.com…”Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang play an individual and often very serious game, but those walls will come down in “Capital One’s The Match” at 6:30 p.m. ET on Monday (TNT, TruTV, HLN, and the B/R Sports Add-On on Max).”

“For the 12-hole charity skins game at The Park at West Palm Beach, a Gil Hanse design that reimagined and resurrected a closed muni, their goal will be the same: to broaden the game’s appeal, especially to kids.”

“I’ve been there a few times,” McIlroy, who lives in the area, said of The Park in a conference call Thursday. “If you go there at 6 p.m., that place is filled with kids – boys and girls.”

Full piece.

6. Luke Donald to try out for NBC lead analyst spot

Josh Carpenter for Sports Business Journal…”NBC Sports is adding European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald to its broadcast booth for a pair of upcoming events as it continues in its search for a lead analyst to replace Paul Azinger.”

“Donald, who still plays semiregularly on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, will join NBC/Golf Channel for the Cognizant Classic next week and the Arnold Palmer Invitational the following week. Donald is expected to appear in some form on Thursday of the Cognizant broadcast and join play-by-play man Dan Hicks as part of a two-man booth on the weekend.”

Full Piece.

7. 19 putts

Beth Ann Nichols for Golfweek…”Albane Valenzuela called putting her “nemesis” in recent months. Well, that changed in a mighty way in Thailand, where she needed only 19 putts in a career-low 9-under 63 on Sunday. The Swiss player’s solo second to Patty Tavatanakit at Honda LPGA Thailand marked her career-best finish on tour.

“Last month at the LPGA Drive On in Bradenton, Florida, the 26-year-old Valenzuela had 10 three-putts, calling her speed “totally off.”

“On Sunday at Siam Country Club, Valenzuela went on a dizzying streak with the putter after holing out for eagle on the par-4 fifth.

“From No. 7 onwards I only had one-putts,” said Valenzuela. “For all the people that told me I could not putt, there you go.”

Full Piece.

8. Ortiz set to jump over 1,000 spots in OWGR

Jonny Leighfield for Golf Monthly…”Carlos Ortiz’s International Series Oman win on the Asian Tour was significant in a number of ways. Firstly, it was his maiden victory on that circuit. Secondly, the Mexican landed a nice comforting $360,000 check for his efforts. And thirdly, he has likely jumped from outside of the world’s top-1,000 male golfers to around the No.250 mark.”

“Ortiz upstaged Louis Oosthuizen and Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann to record a convincing four-shot victory in the $2 million event – the first elevated tournament on this year’s Asian Tour calendar.”

Full Piece.

9. Winning WITB: Jake Knapp

Presented by 2nd Swing

Driver: Ping G425 LST (9 degrees)

Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 TX

Mini driver: TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver (13.5 degrees)

Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 TX

Irons: Srixon ZU85 (2), PXG 0211 ST (4-PW)

Wedges: PXG 0311 Sugar Daddy II (52), Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (56-10S), WedgeWorks (60-T)

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Double Bend

Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy 2.0 PT

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1 Left Dot

Full Piece.

Tour Rundown: Knapp wins in Mexico, two in a row for Patty T

Ronald Montesano — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 13:20:38 +0000

Victory is measured in innumerable ways. Trophies go to the low golfer, but other contestants find goals and achievements to measure their success. Ronald Rugumayo became the first golfer from Uganda to pass a 36-hole cut on the DP World Tour this week. Rugumayo properly read and properly hit a six-feet birdie putt on his 36th hole, to make the cut on the number. He would ultimately earn the 71st spot, but his rounds of 72-70-71-73 are immemorial. There’s not better way to begin a Tour Rundown, than with a few words from Uganda’s top golfer.

A message from Ronald Rugumayo ?#MKO2024 pic.twitter.com/C0JCQc22Vx

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 25, 2024

PGA Tour: Jake Knapp goes to Mexico for a spring break celebration

After four years in Los Angeles, Jake Knapp left UCLA for a life of travel and tournaments. Knapp won thrice on what became PGA Tour Canada and is now PGA Tour Americas. His smooth swing and easy tempo, combined with a beachcomber look, have made him the flavor of the month for early 2024. Winning in Mexico will certainly thrust him closer to the bright, hot spotlight.

Knapp’s middle rounds of 64-63 gave him a bit of cushion for Sunday, and he made good use of it. Even when Finland’s Sami Valinaki made eagle-two at the 7th to tie for first, Knapp kept the rudder steady. Valimaki came home in plus-one 37, while Knapp closed with one-under 35. Razor-thin margins win victories, but with his good-luck mustache, we don’t expect Knapp will see that razor anytime soon.

A touch of class from solo leader @KnappTime_LTD ?

Nearly the first birdie on No. 10 today, the hardest hole at Vidanta. pic.twitter.com/mUnDHsuGee

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 25, 2024

LPGA: Patty T wins for second consecutive week

In 2021, Patty Tavatanakit burst onto the LPGA scene with a victory at the ANA Inspiration. When your first tour title is also a major, expectations immediately rise. It took another three years for the golfer from Thailand to earn win number two, but win number three was waiting in the wings. Like Jake Knapp, Tavatanakit competed and studied at UCLA, then left for the professional ranks. Unlike Knapp, her success came much sooner.

After that ANA win, Tavatanakit battled through expectations for over two years. Last week, PT won by seven at the Aramco Ladies International. This week, in her home country, Patty T delighted the home crowd with a 21-under-par performance. It was good enough to edge out another young phenom, Albane Valenzuela, by one. With all numbers tied at the last, Tavatanakit got up and down for birdie, for the victory.

The chip that set up the winning putt ?@Patty_MPT | @hondalpgath pic.twitter.com/X8AYL9yBV2

— LPGA (@LPGA) February 25, 2024

DP World Tour: DVD wins over Beta in Kenya

Videotape isn’t making a comeback, but for those of a certain generation, the war between DVD and Betamax still has open wounds. Darius van Driel, who will probably not be known as DVD in this lifetime, earned his first DP World Tour title on the continent of Africa. The Magical Kenya Open became quite magical for the golfer from Holland, as he closed with 67 for a two-shot win over England’s Joe Dean.

For the second time this week, Van Driel added voltage to his round with an eagle at the par-five 10th hole. Despite bogey at 11, he was able to harness two more birdies coming home, to secure victory. As for Dean, there wasn’t much that he could do. The English lad posted five birdies over the final ten holes, but could move no closer than a tie for second with Spain’s Nacho Elvira. Close behind was Nacho’s younger brother, Manuel, in a tie for fourth position.

Satisfying putt alert ?@DariusvanDriel sinks it for eagle at 10 and takes the solo lead.#MKO2024 pic.twitter.com/3Gha5A6XFB

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 25, 2024

PGA Tour Champions: Argentina smiles as González wins for azulceleste

Ricardo González has played a lot of golf, all around the world. Prior to Sunday, the Argentine had won 28 times across the world’s circuits, but never in a PGA Tour event. It’s fitting that González claimed his maiden PGA Tour Champions victory in Morocco, given his status as an itinerant golfer.

The top four golfers at the Trophy Hassan II came from outside the USA. González was chased, but never caught, by Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, Korea’s Y.E. Yang, and Australia’s Mark Hensby. Yang held the lead with one round to play, but could not find the necessary form to preserve his station. Two bogeys on the outward half were parried by two birdies, but all the rest were pars. Yang’s even-par 73 earned him a tie for third with Hensby.

No one could sequence a run of birdies until González reached the 13th tee. Steaming from a bogey-six at twelve, don Ricardo ran off four consecutive birdies to jump up by two over Bjorn. After a bogey at 15, the Dane fought back, with birdie at the 17th, to close within one. The 18th was halved with 5s, and Ricardo González was finally a PGA Tour champion.

Ricardo González can’t be stopped!

That’s four birdies in a row to extend his lead to two ?

The 54-year-old is two holes away from capturing his first PGA TOUR-sanctioned win. pic.twitter.com/urKPP8zfJg

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) February 24, 2024

Asian Tour: Ortiz outburst in Oman

It’s not the sort of outburst we’ve grown accustomed to, these days. Carlos Ortiz “outburst” consisted of a run of seven birdies in nine hole, midway through the fourth round at the Asian Tour’s International Series Oman stop. Ortiz and Louis Oosthuizen trailed 54-hole leader, Joaquin Niemann by one at the start of the final round. Niemann had his struggles, and could not win for a second consecutive week.

The door was opened slightly when the Chilean closed with 67 for 274. Most golfers who sign for a final-day 67 expect to win. Unfortunately for him, Oosthuizen closed with 69 and went one better. to 273. Neither of those totals stood in Ortiz’ way, as he kicked that door wide open with 65 for 272 and an initial title of 2024. About the only shot that didn’t go his way, was the one you’ll see below. Congratulations, Carlos!

Denied by the flagstick ??????@carlosortizGolf @intseriesgolf @TorqueGC_

#InternationalSeries #ThisISEverything #whereitsAT pic.twitter.com/qoV6mvgn0D

— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) February 25, 2024

Morning 9: Charlie Woods to try tee it up on PGA Tour | Niemann’s Masters invite | Price rips LIV

Ben Alberstadt — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:19:10 +0000

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Thursday morning, golf fans, as the day one of the Mexico Open gets underway.

1. Charlie Woods to compete in Cognizant (formerly Honda) Classic pre-qualifier

PGATour.com staff report…”Charlie Woods is looking to earn a spot in his hometown PGA TOUR event.”

“Woods, son of 82-time TOUR winner Tiger Woods, will compete in Thursday’s pre-qualifier for the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. The younger Woods will play at Lost Lake Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida, one of four pre-qualifying sites. Approximately 25 players and ties will advance to the event’s Monday qualifier, from which four players will earn spots in the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.”

“Woods will tee off at 7:39 a.m. ET Thursday alongside Olin Browne Jr., and Ruaidhri Mcgee. Browne is the son of three-time TOUR winner Olin Browne.”

Full piece.

2. Niemann, 2 other earn Masters special invites

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”Joaquin Niemann is among three players who have accepted a special invitation to play in the Masters.”

“Ranked 81st in the Official World Golf Ranking, Niemann’s appearance this year was in doubt after defecting in summer 2022 to LIV Golf, which doesn’t currently award world-ranking points. But Niemann, a former winner of the Latin America Amateur Championship, which is run by Augusta National, remains arguably the best player from the region and recently won the Australian Open (earning a spot in this year’s Open Championship) and LIV’s season-opening event in Mexico. He posted two other top-5s on the DP World Tour…”

“Others receiving a special exemption to the year’s first major were Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen and Ryo Hisatsune of Japan.”

Full piece.

3. LIV-OWGR stalemate

Golf Digest’s Dave Shedloski…”One can make an argument that the OWGR board of directors has an obligation to devise a mathematical formula that awards points for LIV Golf’s 54-hole format as it does for other minor tours. One can also make a counter argument that LIV’s largely closed-shop roster, small fields and concurrent team competition skew its results to a degree that compels the OWGR to deny certification.”

“With officials from the PGA Tour and DP World Tour recusing themselves from the decision, the remaining members of the OWGR board denied LIV Golf’s request for inclusion in October. Those remaining members are the representatives of the four major championships.”

“Presumably this will all be corrected whenever the PGA Tour finalizes its negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the financial muscle behind LIV Golf. Until that happens, however, we’ll continue to monitor the degrees of consternation or schadenfreude certain factions exhibit as they observe LIV golfers slipping down the board and, thus, losing access to the majors via top-50 standing.”

Full piece.

4. Ferguson: Gap between majors and “other tournaments” grows

The AP’s Doug Ferguson…”All of which leads to the common refrain that all anyone wants is for the best players in golf to be on the same stage.”

“The only place for that is the majors, which always mattered more than all the other tournaments. Now the gap is getting larger.”

“The PGA Tour already has held three of its “signature events” with a $20 million purse, cold plunges and wild-caught seafood served in player dining. Nothing felt extraordinary about them. LIV Golf had a 59 and a playoff in the dark the first week, and a six-way tie for the lead late on the back nine the second week. The only noise sounded forced.”

Full piece.

5. Fitzpatrick’s interesting, under-the-radar gear changes

Our Andrew Tursky…”At the end of 2023, Matt Fitzpatrick was still using Ping S55 irons, which were first released to the public back in 2013.”

“I was starting to wonder if he’d ever change them out.”

“Well, last week at the 2024 Genesis Invitational, we noticed that Fitz is now using a set of new Ping Blueprint S irons (5-PW), to go along with a Ping i210 4-iron.”

“Pour one out for the S55’s.”

“That wasn’t the only noteworthy gear news in Fitzpatrick’s bag, though. We also noticed he had a unique prototype 3-wood in the bag, which appears to have no branding or identifying logos.”

“After further review, however, the sole weight designs and placement seemingly verify that he’s using a Cobra Darkspeed X prototype.”

Full piece.

6. Nadal wins mid-am event

Our Matt Vincenzi…”Twenty-two-time champion Rafael Nadal is known for being one of the best ever tennis players, but recently Nadal also became a champion on the golf course.”

“While Balearic Mid-Amateur Golf Championship, Nadal not only won the event, but was able to win by a comfortable seven strokes.”

“Next, Nadal will focus on training for the Indian Wells tournament after missing some time from tennis due to injury.”

Full Piece.

7. Price hits out at LIV

John Turnbull for Bunkered…”Open champion Nick Price has hit out at former rival Greg Norman’s startup circuit.”

“The 67-year-old, who also won the PGA Championship twice, has argued LIV Golf isn’t a very good product, while taking aim at players who defected.”

“Speaking on the bunkered podcast, Price admitted that ‘nobody likes’ the fragmented nature of golf as a result of LIV’s emergence.”

“Like everyone else, I don’t know what the end game is. The way the game is fragmented, nobody likes it,” he said.

“I’ve tried to watch LIV, but I don’t think the product they have is very good. I don’t know why they tried to re-invent the wheel.

“I think the IPL [Indian Premier League] in cricket had a lot to do with the decision making and the way they tried to set it up with the franchises – which I don’t think is a bad idea.

“But right now, I don’t think the product they’ve got is something people will rush to their TV to watch and it’s sad because they have so many great players.”

Full Piece.

8. Jin Young Ko’s return to action

Beth Ann Nichols for Golfweek…”Former World No. 1 Jin Young Ko returns to competition at the Honda LPGA Thailand. The last time the South Korean star teed it up on the LPGA at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, she was wearing a brace on her left knee. Ko eventually withdrew from the event prior to the third round.”

“Ko insists that’s now behind her and said doctors checked her entire body – knees, shoulders, wrists, spine – and reported that she’s healthy for 2024. She flew to Vietnam during the extended offseason to train with her coach and feels confident going into her 10th season as a professional, including time spent on the KLPGA.”

Full Piece.

Morning 9: LIV Pros head to Asian Tour | Cabrera returns to PGA Champions Tour | Solheim Cup assistants

Ben Alberstadt — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 16:16:57 +0000

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Wednesday morning, golf fans, as the PGA Tour heads to Mexico this week.

1. Niemann, 21 LIV players set for Asian Tour event

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”In total, 21 LIV members are teeing it up beginning Thursday at Al Mouj Golf in Muscat, Oman, including three still ranked in the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking – No. 80 Lucas Herbert, No. 81 Joaquin Niemann and No. 95 Dean Burmester.”

“With LIV still not able to award world-ranking points, playing in the International Series remains one of few avenues for LIV players to boost their world ranks and potentially earn spots in major championships…”

“No. 137 Louis Oosthuizen, No. 141 David Puig (last week’s Asian Tour winner), No. 154 Mito Pereira and No. 165 Abraham Ancer are also entered in the Oman field, which also includes these LIV members all ranked outside the top 300 in the OWGR: Charles Schwartzel, Kieran Vincent, Jinichiro Kozuma, Matt Jones, Eugenio Chacarra, Scott Vincent, Anirban Lahiri, Matthew Wolff, Branden Grace, Carlos Ortiz, Sebastian Munoz, Peter Uihlein, Hudson Swafford and Danny Lee.”

Full piece.

2. Cabrera returns to Champions Tour action

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romain…”Angel Cabrera has already been cleared to play in PGA Tour-sanctioned events. He returned to competitive golf late last year in his native Argentina, and he will make his PGA Tour Champions return this week in Morocco.”

“But that’s not all: The 54-year-old Argentine and two-time major champion also is set to compete again in his first world-ranked event in nearly five years.”

“Cabrera, who was released from an Argentina prison last August after serving 30 months for gender violence against two former partners, has been extended a sponsor exemption into the Korn Ferry Tour’s 117 Visa Argentina Open, according to multiple reports and confirmed by GolfChannel.com. Cabrera’s invite was allotted by the Argentina Golf Association, and he will have a chance to compete for an Open Championship exemption, which is awarded to the winner.”

Full piece.

3. Beall: Is the PGA Tour in a slump?

Golf Digest’s Joel Beall…”Conversely, the bigger, overarching worry from the past seven weeks is what fans didn’t see. Rory McIlroy was a tour de force in the Middle East but has been so-so in his two tour starts. Reigning FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland has struggled. Max Homa usually feasts on the West Coast but hasn’t posted a top 10 in five appearances. Collin Morikawa hasn’t done much and an expected Sunday battle between Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay at Riv turned out to be a dud. Then there is Scottie Scheffler. The two-time PGA Tour Player of the Year is posting the best ball-striking numbers since in-his-prime Tiger … but that performance has been weighed down by his continued putting woes, which have prolonged to the point they can no longer be classified as a funk. Scheffler knows it too; this weekend alone featured images of Scheffler tossing his putter like a baton after missing a putt and dropping to his knees after another, the normally stoic Texan unable to hide his indignation at his flatstick’s betrayal. The putter has single-handedly kept him from a generationally-great 18-month stretch, and as golf has sadistically proved over and over the present (in this case, Scheffler’s tee-to-green game) is no guarantee of the future.|”

“Seven weeks is a small sample size. In that same breath, the tour is nearing the quarter mark of the season, and the very stars tasked with keeping the lights on have been dimmed. Which brings us to LIV Golf. For the first two years of LIV’s existence there has been a general belief from tour headquarters that the tour’s depth was its hydra: When one star leaves he would be replaced by another. Generally, that held true. But Jon Rahm’s defection seemed to be a tipping point of sorts. LIV has now taken both a significant portion of the tour’s frontline firepower (Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Cam Smith) along with a sizable bite out of the second and third-tier rank. Perhaps it’s a coincidence that five of the tour’s seven winners in 2024 were outside the top 50 in world ranking … but maybe it’s not. That Rahm won three times during this stretch last season only exaggerates the perceived power void.”

Full piece.

4. Nantz to amateur rules sleuths…

Golf Digest’s Christopher Powers…“A number of rogue videos of the supposed incident have already been removed from social media. But they had been spreading like wildfire, as all potential rules controversies do. The CBS Sports crew must have known this was the case, because Jim Nantz quickly brought in rules and review analyst Mark Dusbabek explained that there was no foul play from Matsuyama.”

“Here was the incredible exchange between Nantz and Dusbabek:”

“Nantz: They’re playing a game of ‘gotcha,’ they think, with Matsuyama behind the 17th a moment ago and saying ‘hey that ball moved! This isn’t right!’ Let’s bring in, with some reasoning here, Duse (Dusbabek).”

“Dusbabek: Yes Jim, the ball did not move. The ball just shifted a little bit, but it stayed in its same position. The ball has to move to a different position, up, down, to the side, it doesn’t matter. It just didn’t move its position.”

“Nantz: Go find somebody else to pick on.”

Full piece.

5. Cannizzaro: Woods should have been at Genesis trophy presentation

The NY Post’s long-time golf writer…Speaking of the champion, Matsuyama and the thousands of spectators ringing the natural amphitheater of the 18th green were deprived Sunday of seeing Woods, whose foundation hosts the event, present the winner’s trophy.

Tiger Woods’ withdrawal from own event is golf great’s latest bizarre episode. Woods was nowhere to be found, presumably back home in Florida recuperating from the flu.

“I never question an athlete’s injury or illness because only the person who’s injured or ill knows how bad he or she is feeling. But for Woods, two days removed from the flu diagnosis, not to be at Riviera on Sunday to present the trophy wasn’t a great look. The sponsors who pump millions into the event to benefit Woods’ foundation could not have been happy about his absence.”

“I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to take a picture with Tiger today,’’ Matsuyama said after he won.

“It’s difficult to imagine Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer not powering through the flu to make sure they were on hand to present the trophy to the winner of the Memorial or Arnold Palmer Invitational at the end of the tournament.”

Full piece.

6. Finau feeling ready

Field Level Media report…”Finau, 34, hasn’t missed a cut in five starts this season. He finished T6 at the Farmers Insurance Open on Jan. 24-27 and T19 at the Genesis Invitational last week…”

“Yeah, I feel prepared. I’ve done some good work in the offseason with my body just to be strong,” Finau said Tuesday. “This golf course yields some birdies and I can really swing the driver with some freedom out here as there’s a few holes that are pretty lenient as far as hitting areas, so I love that, being able to hit it hard and play this type of golf course. I do feel like I’m prime to go on a run starting this week.”

“Finau expects to be a busy man, however. He told reporters Tuesday that he will be playing competitive golf during the day and with his family on the par-3 course at night.”

“I think we reserved a tee time there about 8:00 every night and we’ll be there with my boys playing pretty much every evening,” Finau said. “That’s definitely at the top of our list of things we enjoy here at Vidanta.”

Full Piece.

7. 2024 U.S. Solheim Cup assistants revealed

Beth Ann Nichols for Golfweek…”Paula Creamer returns to the Solheim Cup for the first time in seven years in a new role as assistant captain. She’ll be joined by Brittany Lincicome, Morgan Pressel and Angela Stanford. It’s up to the host captain to determine the number of assistant captains, and for the first time in Solheim history, Stacy Lewis has appointed four women to the job.

“This year’s Solheim Cup will be contested Sept. 13-15 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia.”

Full Piece.

8. LIV Golf chief to play PGA Tour pro-am

Ben Parsons for Bunkered…”LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan will tee it up in a pro-am at a tournament sanctioned by the PGA Tour as negotiations to unify golf continue.

“Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) bankrolling LIV, has been attempting to broker a deal with the PGA Tour ever since the announcement of a shock framework agreement between the warring factions last June.”

“PIF’s involvement in golf’s new landscape has come into question in recent weeks after a group of US billionaires known as the Strategic Sports Group (SSG) invested $3billion into the PGA Tour’s new for-profit company named PGA Tour Enterprises.”

“Al-Rumayyan has been listed to play in the Trophy Hassan II pro-am at Royal Golf Dar es Salam in Morocco alongside Indian veteran Arjun Atwal.”

Full Piece.

9. Inbee has no plans to play in 2024

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols…”As the LPGA returns to action this week in Thailand, one past champion is notably absent. Inbee Park, who last teed it up on the LPGA in August of 2022 at the AIG Women’s British Open, has no plans to compete this year either, according to her manager.”

“Park, 35, gave birth to her first child, daughter Inseo, in April 2023.”

“The 21-time winner was announced as one of 32 candidates for the IOC’s Athlete’s Commission. Park, of course, won gold at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She plans to focus on promoting herself for the upcoming elections in the coming months.”

Full Piece.

A mysterious prototype 3-wood and 10 interesting gear photos from the Tour

Andrew Tursky — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 13:55:14 +0000

If you’re a fan of golf equipment, then last week at the 2024 Genesis Invitational must have felt like the Super Bowl.

Aside from Tiger Woods and TaylorMade teaming up to create a new brand called Sun Day Red, GolfWRX.com also got full WITB photo coverage from top players such as Woods, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick, Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Sepp Straka, Denny McCarthy and Si Woo Kim among others.

It was a huge week for equipment photos, so let’s waste no time getting to the recap below. If you want to check out all of our photo galleries from the 2024 Genesis Invitational, don’t forget to head over to our GolfWRX Forums.

Now, let’s get to the gear.

Hovi’s flatstick is growing up so fast

Now over four years old, Hovland’s Ping PLD “Hovi” putter is starting to show some signs of aging, which makes it that much cooler, in my opinion. As a reminder, Hovi’s custom PLD putter later became the inspiration for Ping’s DS72 head model, and Ping has even sold limited-edition versions of the “Hovi” putter.

To keep his longtime putter safe and secure, Hovland uses a “Hovi” putter cover, with a Viking graphic on top.

See Hovland’s full 2024 WITB here

Matt Fitzpatrick’s mysterious prototype fairway wood, and new Blueprint S irons

At the end of 2023, Matt Fitzpatrick was still using Ping S55 irons, which were first released to the public back in 2013.

I was starting to wonder if he’d ever change them out.

Well, last week at the 2024 Genesis Invitational, we noticed that Fitz is now using a set of new Ping Blueprint S irons (5-PW), to go along with a Ping i210 4-iron.

Pour one out for the S55’s.

That wasn’t the only noteworthy gear news in Fitzpatrick’s bag, though. We also noticed he had a unique prototype 3-wood in the bag, which appears to have no branding or identifying logos.

After further review, however, the sole weight designs and placement seemingly verify that he’s using a Cobra Darkspeed X prototype.

Here’s a photo of a retail Cobra Darkspeed X fairway wood for comparison:

What do you think? Is Fitzpatrick’s new proto fairway wood a Cobra Darkspeed? Or something else?

See what GolfWRX members are saying in the forums

Straka stays strong with the Tuttle

We looked at every club in Straka’s bag last week, and he’s using a set of TaylorMade Qi10 metalwoods, to go along with Srixon irons and Cleveland wedges.

He’s also still going strong with his longtime Odyssey Stroke Lab Tuttle design, which has 3 lines on its bubbly crown for better alignment. With all of the modern-day mallet options on the market, it’s cool to see that Straka is sticking with what works.

Sepp Straka’s full 2024 WITB

Tiger still loves his M3

On Wednesday before the event, Woods confirmed that he’d be switching into a new TaylorMade Qi10 Tour 3-wood, and he also revealed why he still has the old M3 5-wood in play:

“Well, the [new TaylorMade Qi10 Tour] 3-wood is in play. I feel very comfortable with the 3-wood. I had to find the right shaft for it and decided to switch the shafts and go with what I have on my driver. My 5-wood’s different, it’s old, a little beat up, but it still works. But the 3-wood, I wanted to find something I could draw a little bit better and this one is definitely that.”

Rors Proto irons

McIlroy appears to be locked into his WITB setup for 2024, including new TaylorMade Qi10 metalwoods, a mixed set of TaylorMade P-760 and Rors Proto MB irons, MG4 wedges, a Spider Tour X putter, and a new TaylorMade TP5x golf ball.

By all accounts, his Rors Proto irons have to be some of the most famous irons in golf at the moment, and they’ve got the bag chatter to prove they’ve stood the test of time. It’s always a pleasure getting an up-close look at the Rors Protos.

Tommy 2 Drivers

Speaking to the gearheads, if Tommy Fleetwood wasn’t already on your list of top-5 favorite PGA Tour players, then maybe this will help you reconsider: Fleetwood is currently using a TaylorMade Qi10 LS driver (9 degrees), and a TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver (13.5 degrees), and both are equipped with Fujikura Ventus TR 6X shafts.

Tommy Fleetwood’s full 2024 WITB

New shafts spottedAt the 2024 Genesis Invitational, we spotted new Fujikura Ventus Blue shafts, as well as Aretara shafts, which is a new company started by Alex Dee, formerly of Fujikura. Click on the respective links to learn more about each new release.

A special putter for a special exemption

Chase Johnson, one of the recipients of a sponsors exemption at the Genesis Invitational, made the cut using an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Mini with white-red-white alignment lines and a knuckle neck construction, to go along with a Cobra Darkspeed Max driver.

Johnson is certifiably equipped with ultra forgiveness, and it helped him make the cut last week.

See Johnson’s full 2024 WITB here

The view for one of golf’s best putters

Denny McCarthy finished first in Strokes Gained: Putting in 2018-2019, first in 2019-2020, and second in 2021-2022, and he still uses this Scotty Cameron Tour-Only GoLo mallet putter currently. This photo shows what he looks down at while he’s making basically every putt he sees.

See McCarthy’s full 2024 WITB here

Are new Toulon putters on the way?

On Tuesday at the 2024 Genesis Invitational, we spotted a slew of new models from Toulon. The putter pictured above, called “Alcatraz,” bears a strong resemblance to Odyssey’s “Jailbird” putters, in both looks and nomenclature.

Is something bigger on the way from Toulon? We’ll keep an eye out for testers and switchers on the PGA Tour next week at the 2024 Cognizant Classic at PGA National.

And, with that, we say goodbye to the 2024 Genesis Invitational, and the 2024 West Coast Swing. We’ll see you next week on the other coast!

Browse all of our photos from the 2024 Genesis Invitational here

Morning 9: Zalatoris’ heavy heart | Augusta makes hole alteration | Norman rips OWGR

Ben Alberstadt — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 14:09:23 +0000

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as the PGA Tour heads to Mexico this week.

1. ICYMI: Zalatoris’ finished 2nd with a heavy heart

Cameron Morfit for PGATour.com…”He’d been asked about his emotions, and the question landed heavier than anyone could have expected.”

“I didn’t say anything all week,” Zalatoris said, “but I – sorry.”

“The tears welled up, the silence expanding. Zalatoris had shot a final-round 69 to tie for second…”

“The runner-up finish was a long time coming, his best result since coming back from career-threatening back surgery last year…”

“I lost a family member on Thursday,” Zalatoris said, “and she was – so she was with me all week. You know, was pretty special on Friday to make the hole-in-one after – sorry. Pretty special to make the hole-in-one on Friday after I found out on Thursday. She was with me all week.”

Full piece.

2. A signature win for a Signature Event

Golf Digest’s Tod Leonard…“What transpired on Sunday at Riviera Country Club is exactly how world-class golf tournaments are supposed to play out. A major champion from a golf-crazed country crafts a mind-boggling charge on a classic track to win a grand prize.”

“That’s a mouthful, but there was so much to admire about Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama coming from six shots down at the outset and shooting nine-under-par 62 for a stunning three-shot victory in the Genesis Invitational. The 31-year-old from Japan took home, by far, the biggest cash prize of his career of $4 million because this was a $20 million signature event on the PGA Tour.”

“It doesn’t get much more “signature” than what Matsuyama did on the back nine at Riviera—twice hitting approaches to a few inches from the hole among his six birdies in a back nine of 30. What’s more, Matsuyama came within inches on his birdie putt at 18 of setting the course record at vaunted Hogan’s Alley.”

Full piece.

3. ICYMI: Cantlay ill at Riviera

PGATour.com staff report…”Cantlay struggled to find a rhythm Sunday while playing in the final group at Riviera alongside close friend Xander Schauffele, who shot 70 to share fourth place with Cantlay and Adam Hadwin.”

“Following the final round of The Genesis, Golf Channel analyst Johnson Wagner shared that Cantlay woke up Sunday with a temperature exceeding 100 degrees and some sort of illness, per Cantlay’s coach Jamie Mulligan.”

“Cantlay didn’t meet the media after the final round, saying he was feeling under the weather.”

Full piece.

4. LIV golfers head to Asia

SI’s Bob Harig…”The first International Series event of the year takes place this week in Oman and the event will have a slew of LIV Golf players competing a week before they are all scheduled to play consecutive tournaments in Jeddah and Hong Kong.”

“The International Series consists of 10 elevated events that are part of the Asian Tour and are funded by LIV Golf Investments. All will have a minimum purse of $2 million and the leader of the Order of Merit earns a fully exempt spot with LIV Golf next year.”

…”As of now, there are 21 LIV Golf players in the field, including Joaquin Niemann, who won the first LIV Golf event of the year two weeks ago and has been trying to qualify for the Masters via the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.”

Full piece.

5. Pro asks Tiger to fix hole at Riv

6. Rory’s putting advice for Scottie? Try a mallet

Drew Powell for Golf Digest…”During a week when no one hit the ball better or chipped better, Scheffler made just three putts outside of 10 feet. His week was best encapsulated by the 18th hole on Sunday, where he hit a towering iron shot to 10 feet on one of the toughest holes on the course, only to badly misjudge the speed on the putt, never giving it a chance.

“That miss prompted CBS Sports’ Amanda Renner to ask Rory McIlroy—who was joining the telecast after finishing his round—what advice he would have for Scheffler as he works through his putting struggles.”

“I’ve certainly been through my fair share of putting woes over the years, and I finally feel like I’ve broken through and become a pretty consistent putter,” McIlroy said. He was in a similar position to Scheffler back in the mid-2010s, hitting the ball beautifully but ranking outside the top 100 on tour in putting.

“For me, going to a mallet was a big change,” McIlroy said said after a final-round 70 at Riviera. “I really persisted with the blade putter for a long time, but I just feel like your stroke has to be so perfect to start the ball on line, where the mallet just gives you a little bit more margin for error.

“So, I’d love to see Scottie try a mallet,” McIlroy concluded. “But selfishly for me, Scottie does everything else so well that he’s given the rest of us a chance.”

Full Piece.

7. Augusta makes one change for 2024 Masters

Mike Hall for Golf Monthly…”With The Masters less than two months away, it has been confirmed that the second hole at Augusta National will be longer by 10 yards for the 2024 tournament.”

“Pink Dogwood is a par-5 dogleg left that, despite the presence of bunkers on the right-hand fairway and around the green, offers an early scoring opportunity for players, helped by its downward slope.”

“That was generally the case in 2023, too, when it was the easiest hole over the four days. However, it may prove a touch more challenging this year, with the length of the hole now increased from 575 yards to 585 yards.”

Full Piece.

8. Hideki nets gambler huge win

9. Norman once again rips ‘laughable’ OWGR

Ben Parsons for Bunkered…”The Aussie chief posted an image on Instagram of the OWGR top 50 compared to rankings made by Sports Illustrated, The Universal Golf Ranking and Data Golf.”

“LIV currently has five players in the official top 50, but three of those were the marquee signings during the recent off-season in European trio Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk.”

“The alternate top 50 lists include more LIV names, including Talor Gooch, who won the circuit’s individual prize last season but is down in 408 in the rankings.”

Full Piece.

Tour Rundown: The cruelest month

Ronald Montesano — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 14:07:04 +0000

April is the cruelest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

The opening verses to “The Waste Land” might be applied to the late-February, early-March stretch of professional golf. Rarely are there four or five events to cover. Were it not for the PGA Tour’s reliability, we might go a fortnight without much to discuss. Whatever lilacs are offered, we will receive them with gratitude and hope. We’ll also consider three events that settled matters this week, in our February 19th edition of Tour Rundown.

PGA Tour @ Genesis Invitational: Hideki’s unexpected surge delivers 9th Tour title

Hideki Matsuyama had previously won eight times on the US PGA Tour. His most recent victory came two years ago, in Hawaii. The massive talent of the 2021 Masters champion lay in wait, hibernating like a great bear. On Sunday, along Hogan’s Alley, it emerged from its slumber.

Matsuyama began Sunday with birdies at each of the first three holes. He motored through the remaining six holes of the outward half with pars, then struck thrice again, at holes 10 through 12. Over the closing stretch, Hideki was once again composed and precise. Birdies at 15, 16, and 17 were blended with pars at the rest, for an incomprehensible 62. The total was one off the course record of 61, set by Ted Tryba in 1997.

Matsuyama teed off at 1:42, local time, three groups behind Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. Neither of the leaders made any noise on Sunday, which relegated them to pleasant, top-five finishes. Cantlay was one-over 72 on the day, while Schauffele went one-under 70, to tie him and Adam Hadwin at fourth spot. They finished four shots back of the champion.

Making wee moves on Sunday were Will Zalatoris and Luke List. The pair teed off together at 2:04, in the penultimate group. Their play, combined with the missteps of Schauffele and Cantlay, might have brought them to the top of the podium. Instead, they ended tied for second at 14-under par, three behind the victor.

This win will certainly set minds a-whirring and tongues a-wagging, as the Players Championship and Masters approach. Matsuyama will be thrust into the role of favorite at one or both, given the precise and somewhat-penal nature of Riviera. A course that has never recognized Nicklaus nor Woods as champion, is certainly some sort of other-world test. For Matsuyama, it is assurance that his strategy and execution are strong, and that his role is once again that of feared entrant.

189 yards to 8 inches
160 yards to 6 inches

… ? https://t.co/2dBdKSDRqe pic.twitter.com/8Xcs28U2kj

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 18, 2024

Asian Tour @ Malaysian Open: Puig escapes pursuers with Sunday 62

David Puig and Jon Rahm have at least three things in common: they are Spanish, they spent time at Arizona State, and each abandoned PGA Tour potential for another league. On Sunday in Malaysia, Puig added a note to his wiki page that Rahm cannot claim: Malaysian Open champion. Puig played the weekend in 124 strokes (62-62) to secure a two-shot win, his second in four months on the Asian Tour.

If it were not for Puig’s pyrotechnics, the headline of this section might have focused on Jeunghun Wang or Denwit Boriboonsub. The Korean and Malaysian (respectively) contestants each signed for an extraterrestrial score of 61 at The Mines. They reached 21 and 20-deep, with Wang claiming solo second, and Boriboonsub finishing tied with John Catlin of the USA for third.

Puig made the 36-hole cut on the number, then found lightning in a bottle, to earn a spot at The Open in July at Royal Troon.

Congratulations to David Puig on his second @asiantour win in the last four months, earning him a spot in the @TheOpen this summer.

David has been working hard with @mytpidave to develop mechanics that are not only more repeatable and consistent, but a better match for his… pic.twitter.com/O4Dj88YS9E

— TPI (@MyTPI) February 18, 2024

PGA Tour Champions @ Chubb Classic: Rains crown Ames as Chubb champion

For the second time in February, Mother Nature decreed that a US Tour event would not see its expected completion. Following Wyndham Clark’s 54-hole triumph at Pebble Beach, Stephen Ames received the unanticipated gift of a 36-hole title at Florida’s Tiburon Golf Club.

Ames positioned himself for a Sunday battle with a Saturday 64. His work included nine birdies and an inexplicable bogey at the par-five 16th hole. His day-two performance moved him four shots up the ladder, past first-round leader Rocco Mediate. Mediate’s second-round score of 71 was marred by two bogies and a double. He anticipated a final-day battle with Ames and his other pursuers, but that day never came.

The PGA Tour Champions moves across the waters to the Trophy Hassan II in Morocco, then returns stateside, three weeks later, for Arizona’s Cologuard Classic.

Dialed in ?@StephenAmesPGA leads by FOUR @ChubbClassic. pic.twitter.com/L8fePgAZBS

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) February 17, 2024

Morning 9: Cantlay leads Genesis | Tiger suffers spasms, shoots 72 | Genesis photos

Ben Alberstadt — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 13:40:53 +0000

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Friday morning, golf fans, as day two of the Genesis Invitational gets underway.

1. Cantlay leads Genesis

AP report…”Thousands of fans watching Tiger Woods in his 2024 debut missed out on the best golf Thursday at the Genesis Invitational. In the group ahead of Woods was Patrick Cantlay, looking as though he wants to be the next Southern California native to win at Riviera.

“Cantlay opened with three birdies in four holes and never really slowed until a sycamore tree halted his great run. He still managed a 7-under 64, giving him a one-shot lead.”

Full piece.

2. Tiger suffers with back spasms, shoots 72

Mark Schlabach for ESPN…”Woods, making his 2024 season debut and his first start in an official PGA Tour event since the Masters in April, said he was suffering back spasms during the last few holes at Riviera Country Club.”

“When Woods attempted to hit an 8-iron from the right side of the 18th fairway, his back locked up. His ball rocketed dead right into a eucalyptus tree and came to a rest behind four trees.”

“Well, my back was spasming the last couple holes and it was locking up,” Woods said. “I came down and it didn’t move, and I presented [the] hosel first and shanked it.”

“Somehow, Woods was able to hit his third shot onto the green. He two-putted for bogey. It was a disappointing finish to his round, leaving him at 1-over 72. He was tied for 49th, eight shots behind first round leader Patrick Cantlay.”

Full piece.

3. Tiger: We don’t need PIF money (but it’d be nice to have it)

Our Matt Vincenzi…”In Tiger Woods pre-tournament press conference for the Genesis Invitational, he touched on many topics including a potential deal between the PGA Tour and the PIF.”

“The PGA Tour received roughly 1.1 billion dollars from the Strategic Sports Group which also includes a possibility for a future “co-investment” from the Saudi PIF, but according to Woods, the Tour may no longer need that additional investment.”

“Financially, we don’t right now, and the monies that they have come to the table with and what we initially had agreed to in the framework agreement, those are all the same numbers.

“Anything beyond this is going to be obviously over and above.”

“Woods added that while the PGA Tour doesn’t necessarily need the additional investment, they are still open to dealing with the PIF and negotiations are ongoing.”

“Ultimately we would like to have PIF be a part of our tour and a part of our product.

Full piece.

4. Why Tiger remains appointment viewing

Jay Rigdon for the Fried Egg…”Now, nearly thirty years later, Tiger remains appointment viewing. Not like at his peak, when you turned golf on because he was kicking ass on a weekly basis. But because, well, who the hell knows what it will look like? There’s no benchmark. We can get clubhead speed numbers and Trackman data and reports from playing partners about how he looks good again. We also don’t yet know if he’ll be able to handle walking for four days. One thing is certain: we aren’t going to get a straight answer from him. I think that Tiger Woods, more than any other athlete, lives by the George Costanza mantra of “It’s not a lie if you believe it.”

“It’s an ability to construct whatever narrative he needs to succeed at whatever he’s trying to accomplish, while blocking out anything that contradicts that reality. He occasionally carries it through to the point of complete detachment from the world in which everyone else is living. It’s what gave him his singular competitive edge that, paired with unworldly physical gifts, allowed him to tame golf to a degree no one has or likely ever will match. It also means that we truly have no idea how healthy he is, or what any realistic expectations should be. But Tiger is playing the one sport best-positioned to give us a view of where he’s at now. He won’t be coming off the bench on a minutes restriction. He won’t have to fit in with a new team or worry about where shots or snaps or at-bats are coming from. The scorecard won’t lie. Tiger is going to go out and do what he’s done as often as he possibly could have for just about his entire life: play golf in front of an audience.”

Full piece.

5. Verne’s last Masters

Our Matt Vincenzi…”On Wednesday, Verne Lundquist announced that the 2024 Masters will be the last time he calls the event.”

“Lundquist has had some legendary calls at the Masters and his iconic voice is recognized by many generations. The 83-year-old retired from broadcasting football games back in 2016 but continued with the Masters through what will be his 40th time this year.”

Full piece.

6. DJ gave away his wedges after LIV win

Golfweek’s Adam Woodard…”After Dustin Johnson won the 2024 LIV Golf Las Vegas event this past weekend at Las Vegas Country Club, a couple of fans walked away with a pretty rare gift: his wedges.”

“Johnson was putting his clubs away when a few fans strolled by and congratulated him on his third win since joining the league led by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. They asked for a picture and got a little bit more.”

Full Piece.

7. Billy Ho on losing his cool

Our Matt Vincenzi…”This week, Horschel went on Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio to discuss why he lost his cool.”

“We’d just started our second round, we’re on the 11th hole and [Galletti] is over his second shot. We had told some fans over there to be quiet as he was about to hit. There were three or four guys over there that continued to talk and say some things.”

“They talked very loudly when he was over his shot, and I just feel like there was a loss of respect there. The guy is trying to play his shot, he’s trying to do his job. It’s the third day of the tournament and we hear a lot of different things.

“I just responded to it afterwards that I was displeased with the level of respect that was shown towards a fellow competitor while he is trying to hit a golf shot and compete in a golf tournament. And that’s just the simple fact of it.”

“Horschel shared his opinion that many seem to be in agreement with, that the event has crossed the line from fun to unenjoyable.”

“Has this tournament crossed the line? Yeah, I think the last couple of years have been a little much,” he added. “I think it has just got a little bit out of control. I just go back to the respect factor of it for what we’re trying to do in ours jobs.”

Full Piece.

8. LET star becomes latest sportsperson to announce OnlyFans partnership

GolfWRX report…”Ladies European Tour player Amy Boulden took to social media to announce that she is partnering with OnlyFans.”

“Collaborating with OnlyFans gives me the opportunity to connect directly with fans and bring my followers on the journey with me as I compete around the world,” Boulden said when announcing the launch.

“OnlyFans is revolutionising the way we use social media, so launching my page on the platform felt like a natural next step for my career.

“With women’s golf continuing to grow in popularity, OnlyFans feels like the perfect platform to showcase the sport globally.”

“Boulden has one European Tour win, the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open back in 2020. She is the second professional golfer to partner with OnlyFans, as British golfer Liam O’Neill launched a partnership with the platform last year.”

Full Piece.

9. Photos from the Genesis

GolfWRX is on site this week at famed Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California for the Genesis Invitational.

Tournament host Tiger Woods makes his 2024 debut — and speaking of debuts, GolfWRX already got a look at Woods’ new Sun Day Red apparel.

Beyond the 15-time major champion, there’s plenty to see in our photos this week from this Signature Event. Check out all our shots from Riv below, and see what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.

Full Piece.

Heavy Artillery: A look at driver/shaft combos at the Genesis Invitational

GolfWRX Staff — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 16:51:05 +0000

What are the driver and shaft combinations of the best golfers in the world? For gearheads, it’s an endlessly interesting question — even if we can only ever aspire to play LS heads and 7 TX shafts.

At this week’s Genesis Invitational, GolfWRX got in-hand looks at the driver setups of plenty of pros. Who’s playing something new? Something old? Something different?

Check out some of the most interesting combos below, then head to the GolfWRX forums for the rest, as well as the rest of our galleries from Riv!

Tiger Woods

Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS (10.5 degrees @9.75)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 6 X

Rory McIlroy

Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees @7.5)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

Viktor Hovland

Driver: Ping G425 LST (9 degrees @8.5)
Shaft: Fujikura Speeder 661 TR TX

Matt Fitzpatrick

Driver: Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw Orange 65 TX

Tommy Fleetwood

Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS (9 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 6 X

Wyndham Clark

Driver: Titleist TSR3 (9 degrees @10.5)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 60 6.5 TX

Sepp Straka

Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS (9 degrees @10.5)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Kai’li White 60 TX

Si Woo Kim

Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (9 degrees @8)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

Chase Johnson

Driver: Cobra Darkspeed Max (9 degrees @10)
Shaft: UST Mamiya Lin-Q Blue M40X 7F5 (45.25 inches)

Check out all our photos from the Genesis Invitational here.

Sun Day Red deep dive Q&A with TaylorMade CEO David Abeles

GolfWRX Staff — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 15:47:03 +0000

While it’s Genesis Invitational Week, and Return of Tiger Week, across the broader sports (and apparel) worlds, this week may best be remembered as the Sun Day Red Week, owing to the seeming omnipresence of Tiger Woods’ apparel brand across all media.

While we love a launch at GolfWRX — especially when it features a compelling launch event, as Sun Day Red surely did — we also like to dig into the details. Concerning Sun Day Red, that means learning more about the origin of Tiger Woods’ post-Nike lifestyle venture and finding out what we can about what comes next.

Fortunately, TaylorMade CEO David Abeles, who has been intimately involved with the project from the beginning, spent some with our Andrew Tursky.

Check out their conversation below.

TaylorMade CEO David Abeles on stage with Erin Andrews at the Sun Day Red launch event.

Andrew Tursky, GolfWRX.com: So what exactly is TaylorMade’s involvement with Sun Day Red? I know Sun Day Red is an independent company under the TaylorMade umbrella, but can you just elaborate on exactly what that means?

David Abeles, CEO of TaylorMade: Yeah. Andrew, I think the easiest way to look at it is TaylorMade is a holding company. Right? And it holds businesses and assets. One of the businesses is TaylorMade golf, which Is our equipment-involved business. Another one is an entertainment asset, which is Popstroke Entertainment, which ironically happens to be co-invested with Tiger Woods and Popstroke Entertainment.

Greg Bartoli, the founder of that business, who is dynamite. He’s terrific. And then Sun Day Red sits underneath the holding company. So it’s a separate vertical. It’s a separate business unit. It’s independent from the TaylorMade Golf business. That doesn’t mean that those businesses don’t work together to find resource allocation, or, business partnership applications that could help them all be successful. Well, in terms of management, it’s directly managed by a Sun Day Red team, with an executive team that leads that function.

The products are completely separate from TaylorMade, as you might expect, because they’re different categories, and they require a different discipline. And even all the commercial and operational strategies are separate from TaylorMade. Now, we share warehousing space, which makes sense, so we can distribute our products in different markets starting in North America, via SunDayRed.com on May the first, which we talked about last night. But, generally speaking, we have our own office space in San Clemente, and we’re strategically positioned in San Clemente, because when you’re in the apparel and footwear business, there’s a lot of talent in Orange County in LA, as you might know.

There’s also, we also want to make sure we had access to Golf Town in San Diego, and that’s why we’re situated in the middle. And that’s why Orange County was a good fit for us. So, when you walk into the Sun Day Red offices, those are dedicated Sun Day Red employees, with no TaylorMade responsibility. And when you walk into the TaylorMade offices, those are dedicated TaylorMade individuals, with no Sun Day Red responsibility. So, we decided to build it that way, because we believe brands require authenticity.

They require individual focus and attention, and we’ve always felt that the best formula for success is having passionate people that are solely dedicated to a specific cause, and Sun Day Red is no different.

AT: Can you talk about some of the people that are involved with the company, and how that group came together? Like, did you guys [TaylorMade Golf] hire them? Were they already a group?

DA: It was an amazing process, because when we started pulling talent together, and started to recruit talent, it was under a lifestyles venture concept. We weren’t disclosing really what we were doing at that point in time, because we didn’t feel that the world needed to know much about who is involved, and who we were partnered with. But as we started to recruit talent, it became fairly evident to us that was a lot of interest in joining the TaylorMade holding company, and thinking about some type of apparel concept or apparel business. There was quite a bit of energy from product leads, energy from commercial leaders, energy from operational leaders, and even back-office functionality.

So when TaylorMade announced that we are starting to recruit on our website, that we’re looking for competence in apparel and footwear, we started to populate quite a bit of talent into the organization that we would review and assess. But we were very specific on the front of this, even before we started recruiting, that we wanted individuals that had really active lifestyle apparel and footwear experience. We also wanted to ensure that even if they had active lifestyle apparel and footwear experience, that they were associated with premium brands before. They understood what it was like to make the highest of quality of products, as we talked about last night, there was meticulous attention to detail with no compromises on what we call form and function. “Form” being the design language, “function” being how the product works. So that was critically important to us and continues to be to this day, as it is for Tiger. I mean, that’s what we are directly aligned with in terms of how we think about products.

So as we began to recruit for these positions, we found a president, that will run the company. His name is Brad Blankinship, who you may have met last night. Brad comes from Quicksilver and RVCA. So those are certain action sports industries, but deep, deep experience in running apparel and footwear companies with big brands. And so that was great. And Brad loves the game of golf, but he also understands that golf can extend into lifestyle spaces at a premium, and that’s what he’s been able to bring to us.

We hired Charley Hudak. Charley runs our footwear business. Charley has an unbelievable background in golf footwear. You could look him up and see where he’s been, but we pulled him out of some of the biggest footwear influencers in all of golf, and he’s now leading that charge and doing a masterful job. Caje Moye, who you may have met last night. Caje was running TaylorMade’s accessory business, but before that, he had deep apparel experience with brands like Oakley and others.

So the three of them are kind of the nucleus of product function. And then Scott Frost, who you met, is our Head of Marketing. We’re about to hire a Head of Sales as we start to build out our distribution strategy over time. And then we’ve got a group of really all-star designers and developers underneath those respective teams. So, we cast a net that was focused on athletic lifestyle, a touch point in golf to make sure that the individual has played the game of golf, the authentic requirement as we engage and embrace this partnership with Tiger.

But we focus on talent. We focus on talent first, same as our [TaylorMade] product. I mean, as we think about the disciplines that we deploy in our product, it starts with the disciplines we deploy in our people.

And then the last piece, which quite candidly is probably the first piece, is, are there a great cultural fit? Are they ambitious? Are they driven? Are they creative? Are they willing to take on some risk as we enter into a new category, and redefine the brand and how the brand will be positioned, and the products will be positioned underneath that brand.

So it’s been a wonderful process. Clearly, once words started getting out that there may be a potential synergy with Sun Day Red and Tiger Woods, you can imagine what our human resource team had to deal with. You know, Tiger obviously is a tremendous asset for recruiting talent when you’re working on a brand and association and partnership with him. So we continue to hire. San Clemente is a great office. I welcome you to come down whenever you want, but it’s been a great, great process, and it’s a very different culture than what you would experience at TaylorMade. It’s very focused on the categories in which we compete: apparel and footwear. Incredibly creative leaders in that building with great hands on apparel, understanding apparel, fabrications, and technologies, and new design languages, and a modern approach to thinking about golf, and then active lifestyle. And so that’s what you’re starting to see in these products, and it’ll get better and better as we continue to grow.

AT: I was talking to Charley a little bit today. Charley Hudak. That was probably the biggest surprise today. We weren’t sure when, or if, Tiger would put Sun Day Red shoes on. What’s that process been like, and how are you guys manufacturing the shoes? I understand you’re doing it yourselves…

DA: We are. Yeah. And footwear has, at times, as much complexity as building a carbon-faced driver. The fit, the comfort, the performance, the stability, the last. I mean, no two feet are exactly the same, so you have to build a common last that works. As Charlie would say, building any shoe starts with the last of the shoe, and then it goes from there. What Charley has done with the team has been nothing short of miraculous to be able to put together prototypes. And that’s what Tiger is wearing right now. They’re prototypes. We are testing those shoes. We do not anticipate having footwear in the market, at the earliest would be the end of this year, but most likely in 2025.

And Charley may have mentioned this to you, but we’re following the compass, not the clock on footwear. We need to make sure, and the mandate is to build the greatest golf shoe ever built, and then build extensions of lifestyle off of that. No different than what the mandate would be at TaylorMade. Build the greatest driver ever built and then build, you know, technologies that can work from that platform in woods. So, anyway, we are absolutely following the compass, not the clock.

Tiger obviously has the shoe on today. You probably saw it. He’s testing it. He’s testing it right now, and I’m excited about that because he wants to continue to find a shoe that works for him. And once we find a shoe that works for him, and that technology works for him, I think it’ll work for most of us. So we’re getting closer and closer, and, it’s an exciting process. Charley has a really strong team of developers, designers, and developers that work directly with our sourcing partners and supply partners, that are based all over the world – many of them in Asia that have incredible competence in building high-performance athletic shoes.

But we also have street shoes suppliers, too, as we get in the lifestyle. So the one you saw last night is a coaching shoe. That’s a fashion-forward approach to kind of what I would call casual golf, and you’d wear it off the golf course, as well, like we did last night in an affair, like a launch party or, you know, a dinner party somewhere. So, finest materials, finest construction. I know I sound redundant, but we’re just not going to compromise on anything as it relates to product. Today, or ten years, or twenty years from now. There will be no compromises on product. And that, when you really think about this partnership with Tiger, that is one of the real unique connection points between the two of us because neither of us will back down on a better product innovation that helps either of us perform better. And we think that the consumers, whether you’re a golfer or an active lifestyle, will appreciate that.

AT: And then the name itself, Sun Day Red, separating them out as three words. I’m curious how that name came about, and also if there were, like, were there trademark concerns? Or is that like an SEO play to separate them?

DA: It’s honestly, of all the things that we have done, even over the past 12 hours since we’ve launched it, it’s amazing that continues to be an area of inquisition for most, because it’s a brand new brand, and everybody has a perspective on the brand and the logo, and some people love it and some people are questioning it.

We started with, “How do we create something that’s identifiable to the world, in and around the greatness of this athlete?” And, Andrew, we looked at a lot of different options, a lot of them. But as even Tiger said last night, Sun Day Red has become, to some degree, synonymous with Tiger. And what we liked about Sun Day Red, when we started just kicking it around and talking about it, was certainly, it’s unique and connected to Tiger through golf, but Sun Day Red has applications beyond golf.

It’s…a cool name with a cool brand, and you can build really great marketing concepts off that brand. It’s three words. And as I shared last night, we believe in the Rule of Threes. In fact, one of the inside stories, which was fantastic, Tiger had sent me a note a while ago essentially saying, ‘Hey, take a read on this Rule of Threes. I believe in the Rule of Threes, too.’ And TaylorMade, we have thought about the Rule of Threes forever.

And, you know, the first rule is, go get after it or you’ll never get it. The second rule of threes in life is ask for it or you’ll never receive it. And the third one is don’t get in your comfort zone, because someone will take it from you.

So, we have always kind of thought through that, in the DNA at TaylorMade, but that DNA applies to any innovative company that’s trying to break new design or new technology. And, so, when we started thinking about Sun Day Red, we started to separate the words and get creative and play with it. And we separated it into three words, and then there was a secondary meaning, which is you play golf in the sun, ideally. I think we’d much rather play in the sun than not in the sun. Sunday is a day in the week, one of seven, but we all love to play golf all the time. So it’s not necessarily Sunday. So, day, and then red is the color. There’s a red thread that runs through all the products, whether it’s in the design language or the ethos of what we’ve talked about relative to the importance of quality, in innovation and all of those products and the design of those products.

The last piece that finally got us there was the working theory of application of the logo or trademark to the product itself. And so when we design products, apparel or footwear, the logo application has to be right. And when you split up the word Sunday into two words, then you add red as three words, what we started to see when we were kinda conceptualizing applications in apparel and footwear, is those three words fit really well in some of the things that we were planning on doing, and some of the things that you’ll see Tiger wearing right now.

So, at the end of the day, we fell in love with it. We think it’s very cool. But brands and logos are built over time, and as you know, and they’re built over time with great concepts and great people around them, and great products that consumers get really excited to play. And then they tend to take on the life of their own. We’re just getting started. You know, this brand was born last night, 12 hours ago. It’s brand new. We haven’t even sold our first product yet.

That’ll be May 1st on SunDayRed.com. But we love the brand. Tiger loves the brand, and I think most of the public that’s looking at it is saying, hey, this is really cool. I can’t wait to see more, and this brand, ultimately, will be owned by everybody who consumes it. And we’ve always said that even at TaylorMade, which is as much as our internal folks in leadership own this brand and love this brand and perpetuate and nurture this brand.

This brand is owned by golfers who love TaylorMade. No different than Sun Day Red. It’ll be owned by golfers and active lifestyle, men and women, boys and girls that love the brand because it’s cool product and it resonates with them, and they’re inspired by the athlete that ultimately is partnered in on it with us. And, we’re gonna do cool things with it, and we’re just getting started.

AT: I’m not sure if you’re going to be able to answer this question yet or not, but price-point-wise, who’s the intended consumer? And what do you see that audience being like?

DA: That’s part of kind of the DNA of what we’re building. So we’ve used the term “premium” a few times. And premium really refers to the quality and the material management and the construction of all of our products across both apparel footwear and even into accessories. So when you build products the way we build them, there’s a cost associated with that. So how they’ll be positioned in the marketplace is what I would call kind of mid-to-high-end of premium, if you compare it to other apparel and footwear brands.

But that’ll provide enough access to millions and millions and millions of golfers, and people looking for lifestyle, you know, apparel and footwear around the world. So, we’re going to be in the market and accessible, but also, I think we all recognize that to make the products we want, there’s a cost assigned to those products, which pushes our price points up, to the mid-to-higher-end of premium. But there’ll be a wide range of products, both in golf and in lifestyle apparel that I think everybody will want access to and will have access to.

We’ll range from t-shirts to hoodies, to cashmere that got talked about quite a bit last night, and everybody loves cashmere, to athletic gear if you want to go work out, to ultimately beach gear if you wanted. Beach will come later, but we talk about, you know, whether you play golf, whether you’re at a soccer game, or you’re hanging out on the beach. We’ll have something for a lifestyle like that, and that’s going to be exciting.

So the price points specifically are being defined right now, and you’ll see those in a couple of months. But, this is going to be a great brand. A great brand that will have, as I said, millions and millions of men and women, boys and girls around the world, because we want everybody to be able to experience these products the way we build them.

Check out our photos from the Sun Day Red launch event here.

See photos of Tiger Woods in Sun Day Red apparel and shoes here.

Morning 9: Tiger’s Genesis prep | LPGA lands big sponsor | WMPO changes

Ben Alberstadt — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 14:43:39 +0000

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Wednesday morning, golf fans, as we gear up for the return of Tiger at the Genesis Invitational.

1. Tiger plays quick Tuesday 9 in Genesis prep

Ryan Lavner for Golf Channel…”Woods played alone on the back nine, hitting a handful of shots on each hole and finishing his work before 11 a.m. local time in front of a few dozen media members, volunteers and equipment representatives. At the end of the year Woods said a reasonable goal was for him to play once a month, beginning this week in L.A., where he made his Tour debut in 1992 but has yet to win in 15 tries. The Genesis was his only regular-season Tour start last year; he made the cut at the Masters two months later and then underwent surgery to fuse his ankle. He finished 18th out of 20 players at his Hero World Challenge exhibition last December.

“Woods will play the opening round this week at 9:25 a.m. PST, with his second round slated for 11:54 a.m.”

Full piece.

2. Sun Day Red launch

Our Andrew Tursky…”On Monday evening, inside the swanky, second-story “Coach House” event center in the Palisades Village, just minutes down the road from the 2024 Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, Tiger Woods and TaylorMade officially announced their new apparel/footwear/accessory line, called “Sun Day Red.”

“The Sun Day Red website officially launched on Monday night during the event, and the products are set to go on sale starting May 1.”

“The “Sun Day Red,” or “SDR” name will be self-explanatory for most golf fans, since he’s been wearing a victory-red shirt on Sunday’s for his entire professional career, but Woods explained the meaning of Sun Day Red at the launch event:”

“It started with mom. Mom thought – being a Capricorn – that my power color was red, so I wore red as a junior golfer and I won some tournaments. Lo and behold, I go to a university that is red; Stanford is red. We wore red on the final day of every single tournament, and then every single tournament I’ve played as a professional I’ve worn red. It’s just become synonymous with me.”

“…As I learned at Monday’s launch event, the new Sun Day Red line includes much more than just clothing. To go along with a slew of different golf shirt designs and colorways, there were also windbreakers, hoodies, shoes, hats, headcovers, ball markers and gloves on display.”

Full piece.

3. Change coming to WM Phoenix Open?

Josh Weinfuss for ESPN…”Changes are coming to next year’s WM Phoenix Open in the wake of a series of incidents involving fans and golfers, overcrowding on the course and the suspension of both admissions and alcohol sales on Saturday.”

“Chance Cozby, the executive director of the Thunderbirds, the civic organization that hosts the Phoenix Open, told the Golf Channel on Monday that the tournament is already looking at ways to fix the issues that plagued the largest tournament on the PGA Tour this year.”

“I think that you will see a complete operational change of how we manage, really, our Friday and Saturday, but the entire week,” Cozby said. “We’re very proud of what we’ve built. I think, we’ve been tournament of the year on the PGA Tour five of the last seven years. But we don’t like what happened on Saturday. The players don’t like what happened on Saturday. Our fans don’t like what happened on Saturday, and, so, nothing is off the table.”

Full piece.

4. Zach Johnson: “Done” with WMPO

Our Matt Vincenzi…”After a WM Phoenix Open that didn’t go according to plan, former Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson opened up about his feelings on the event.”

“Theo Mackie of AZ Central spoke to ZJ about what went on at TPC Scottsdale over the weekend.”

“This tournament has been inappropriate and crossed the line since I’ve been on Tour and this is my 21st year.”

“Bottom line is I don’t have to play it if I don’t want to, but I keep coming back”.

Full piece.

5. Woods opting for veteran looper

Our Matt Vincenzi…”According to Golfweek, Tiger Woods has decided on a caddie for his return to professional golf at the Genesis Invitational this week.”

“Veteran caddie Lance Bennett is Woods’ choice to loop for him at historic Riviera Country Club. This season, Bennett has been on the bag talented rookie Adrien Dumont de Chassart, who isn’t in the field this week. As of now, Dumont de Chassart isn’t in the field of the PLAYERS Championship or The Masters, so he should be available for Woods then as well.”

“Previously, Bennett has been on the bags of Sungjae Im and Davis Riley on the PGA Tour as well as Matt Kuchar back in 2012. He also worked with a few LPGA players such as Juli Inkster, Paula Creamer and Lorena Ochoa.”

Full piece.

6. LPGA lands Ford as new sponsor

Beth Ann Nichols for Golfweek…”The LPGA has a new blue-chip title sponsor in Ford Motor Company, the tour announced on Tuesday. The upcoming Ford Championship will take place at Seville Golf and Country Club, March 28-31, in Gilbert, Arizona.

“Last year, the LPGA stop at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club, called the Drive On Championship, did not have a title sponsor.”

Full Piece.

7. Phoenix Open’s stark numbers

John Turnbull for Bunkered…”According to Aaron Bolin, a Scottsdale police spokesperson, officers arrested 54 people between February 5 and February 11.”

“That was compared to 18 last year, while no arrests were made at ‘the people’s open’ in 2022. The exact charges they were booked on is not immediately available.”

“Bolin added that 211 fans were ejected from the event, over twice as many as last year, and 73 people were removed for trespassing.”

“The figures, from the Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control, do not include arrests involving underage drinking violations, as 653 calls for service were made.”

Full Piece.

8. Tiger Woods’ Genesis WITB

Note: Woods’ 3-wood will be a game-time decision.

Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS (10.5 degrees @9.75)

Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (15 degrees @13.5)

Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 7 X

3-wood: TaylorMade SIM Titanium (15 degrees @13)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX

5-wood: TaylorMade M3 (19 degrees @18.25)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX

Irons: 2023 TaylorMade P770 (3), TaylorMade P7TW (4-PW)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 Raw (56-12TW, 60-TW11)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS prototype

Grip: Ping PP58 Blackout

Ball: Bridgestone Tour B X (2024)

Full WITB.

9. Photos from the Genesis

GolfWRX is on site this week at famed Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California for the Genesis Invitational.

Tournament host Tiger Woods makes his 2024 debut — and speaking of debuts, GolfWRX already got a look at Woods’ new Sun Day Red apparel.

Beyond the 15-time major champion, there’s plenty to see in our photos this week from this Signature Event. Check out all our shots from Riv below, and see what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.

Full Piece.

Spotted: Tiger Woods in Sun Day Red shoes, apparel at Genesis

GolfWRX Staff — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 16:38:28 +0000

After last night’s brand launch event, we fully expected Tiger Woods to arrive at Riviera for practice rounds ahead of the Genesis Invitational in Sun Day Red apparel.

What was less certain — perhaps unlikely, depending on who you talked to — was that the 15-time major winner and recent FootJoy Premiere Series enthusiast would sport Sun Day Red footwear.

However, Woods is doing just that, as evidenced by these shots from our tour photographer.

While we don’t have product details for the new shoes — or much in the lineup, really — we do know product will be available at retail starting May 1. Additionally, polos will cost between $115 and $175, cashmere sweaters will be $250 to $350, per a New York Times report.

More on Sun Day Red here.

Woods and Nike ended their famed 27-year relationship in January. The Genesis Invitational is Woods’ first “non-Nike” tournament.

Check out more photos of Tiger in Sun Day Red here as well as a full WITB look.

Photos from the 2024 Genesis Invitational

GolfWRX Staff — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 10:00:45 +0000

GolfWRX is on site this week at famed Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California for the Genesis Invitational.

Tournament host Tiger Woods makes his 2024 debut — and speaking of debuts, GolfWRX already got a look at Woods’ new Sun Day Red apparel.

Beyond the 15-time major champion, there’s plenty to see in our photos this week from this Signature Event. Check out all our shots from Riv below, and see what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

Morning 9: Taylor wins in desert | Fighting in Phoenix | DJ victorious

Ben Alberstadt — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 14:28:57 +0000

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Monday morning, golf fans, as an eventful WM Phoenix Open created plenty of noise over the weekend.

1. Taylor rallies to victory

AP report…” Nick Taylor had an emotional victory last year in the Canadian Open, capped by an unforgettable tackle.”

“The 35-year-old Canadian golfer made more memories at the Phoenix Open with a massive rally to take down Charley Hoffman.”

“Taylor rallied from 3 shots down with four holes left in regulation and made an 11-foot birdie putt to beat Hoffman on the second hole of a playoff on Sunday, capping another wild week at the Phoenix Open.”

Full piece.

2. Hoshino takes Qatar Masters for first title

AP report…”Rikuya Hoshino of Japan captured his first European tour title by shooting 4-under 68 to win the Qatar Masters by a stroke on Sunday.”

“Hoshino, 27, rolled in a par putt from 5 feet at the 18th hole and punched the air after holding off playing partner Ugo Coussaud, who made birdie at the last to finish alone in second place.”

Full piece.

3. DJ wins LIV Las Vegas

Evin Priest for Golf Digest…”LIV Golf Las Vegas was a show, and like the dozens of others held in the casinos along The Strip, this one came to a dramatic end.”

“In cold and windy conditions on Saturday at Las Vegas Country Club, six players shared the lead at 10 under with three holes to play, and Dustin Johnson birdied three of the last six to shoot one-under-par 69 and finish 54 holes at 12 under to claim his third overall LIV title by one shot.”

Full piece.

4. Fighting in Phoenix

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”Things continue to get out of hand in the desert.”

“A day after WM Phoenix Open officials had to close entrances and suspend alcohol sales to quell some of the rowdiness, there were several not-so-great incidents between players and fans Sunday at TPC Scottsdale.”

“Zach Johnson was recorded getting heated with a heckler. “I’m just sick of it … shut up!” Johnson shouted in frustration before storming off.”

Full piece.

5. Ben An’s take…

6. Winning WITB

Presented by 2nd Swing

Driver: Titleist TSi3 (10 degrees)

Shaft: Fujikura Atmos Blue Tour Spec 6 X

3-wood: Titleist TSi2 (15 degrees)

Shaft: Fujikura Atmos Blue Tour Spec 6 X

5-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max (18 degrees)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV 85 TX

Hybrid: Titleist TSR2 (21 degrees)

Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 95 X

Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5-9)

Shafts: Temper Dynamic Gold S400

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 54-14F), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58-T)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S400

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Red

Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol Tour

Full WITB.

Tour Rundown: Taylor takes title | Kobori edges Shin | Hoshino Masters Qatar

Ronald Montesano — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 14:21:57 +0000

There’s nothing quite like an unanticipated gift. Mine (and yours) came courtesy of the PGA of Australia’s Players Series. Kazuma Kobori was the winner in Norwest NSW, but the story was just behind his victory.

Things got a little wild in Scottsdale, as they always do. Colombia’s Korn Ferry event saw two scores in the 50s and neither belonged to the victor. In Qatar, a door opened on Sunday for a slew of pursuers, and the winner escaped by one shot.

Four tournaments seems like the right number for a rundown, so let’s not delay any longer. Welcome to the February 12 edition of Tour Rundown.

PGA of Australia Players Series: Kobori edges Shin by one

Jenny Shin really had no idea that the Webex Series Sydney was a men’s event. Perhaps she looked at the yardage of the Castle Hill Country Club or maybe it was some other reason. In any event, there was Shin, posting rounds of 63-67-68-67 and reaching 23 under par. Only New Zealand’s Kobori exceeded her effort, and he was fortunate to do so.

Both golfers were 5 under par on the day through 10 holes, but Shin stumbled and tripped at 11 and 12. She went double and single bogey to give back three shots. The final six holes saw Kobori play cautious golf, closing in one-under the rest of the way. Shin fought back bravely, making three birdies coming home.

2023 saw Lexi Thompson play great golf at the Shriners, and Shin’s performance at Castle Hill served notice that 2024 will be a marvelous year of golf for all tours. Kazuma Kobori will no doubt earn a battlefield promotion to the DP World Tour with his third victory of the wraparound season. All credit to him for balanced play down the stretch and over the week.

Kazuma Kobori trusts the read to go three clear @Fortinet ??#WebexPlayersSeries pic.twitter.com/sn4D4w0yoU

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) February 11, 2024

PGA Tour: Taylor adds Phoenix title to resume

When last we checked in with Nick Taylor, he was tending to good friend and fellow Canadian pro Adam Hadwin, who was decked by a security guard after Taylor won the Canadian Open in June. Taylor blazed across TPC Scottsdale on Thursday, posting 11 birdies and seven pars for a round of 60. Friday saw him battle weather and go 10 strokes higher. He rebounded over the extended, two-day third round with 68. As they say, it’s not how you start but how you finish.

Sunday was a long day in the valley of the sun. Taylor was paired with Sahith Theegala and Andrew Novak in the 2:15 trio, but the news of the morning was all Charley Hoffman. Despite beginning play three groups ahead of Taylor, Hoffman was but one shot in arrears. The top of the leaderboard was jammed with potential, and Hoffman wasted no time getting out front. Four birdies over the first 11 holes brought him to the top. A bogey at 12 slowed the train, but an eagle-birdie-birdie run over the next three holes made him the man to beat.

Nick Taylor turned in a symmetrical card of five pars-two birdies-par-birdie on each nine. Knowing that he needed birdie at the last to gain overtime, Taylor bailed right and found rough. His approach ended ten feet from the hole, and his putt for the tie was true. In the playoff, both golfers made birdie at 18 the first time round. On the second tour, Hoffman went way left but carried the water. He ended up in the church pew bunkers and reached the putting surface, some 30 feet distant. Taylor once again headed right, with nearly the same approach as regulation. He once again found safety, ending 11 feet from the hole. Hoffman’s effort for three was close, and it was left to Taylor to three-peat Sunday birdies at the closer, for the win. Was there any doubt?

NICK TAYLOR IS CLUTCH! pic.twitter.com/UdJpm2JwZ7

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 12, 2024

DP World Tour: Hoshino is Master of Qatar

Rikuya Hoshino has played professionally since 2016. The majority of his competition and victories have come on the Japan Golf Tour. Hoshino began to play more internationally in 2023 and nearly pulled off a huge upset at the 2023 Australian Open in December. He gained a spot in overtime against Min Woo Lee but was unable to defeat Australia’s international star.

This week in Qatar, Hoshino and everyone else were staring up at Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard. The Dane had rebounded from an opening 73, with middle-round cards of 66 and 67. Unfortunately for Højgaard, another 73 awaited on Sunday. Two bogies in the opening four holes set his plans back, and he struggled to retain form. A one-under, back nine brought him back to a top-10 finish.

With Højgaard’s tumble, opportunity knocked for players like Hoshino, France’s Ugo Coussard, and Scotland’s Scott Jamieson. Jamieson charged hard after a third-hole bogey. Six birdies, added to an eagle two at the 16th, brought him to 65 on the day and -12 for the week. Jamieson improved 15 rungs on the day, finishing solo third. Coussard also posted one bogey on Sunday, but more than countered it with four birdies. His closing 69 eased him past Jamieson, and gave him a chance at victory.

Hoshino stood 2 under on the day when he reached the 16th tee. Summoning his best play, he turned in birdies at the next two holes, to reach 14-under par. With a shot in the hand, Hoshino played the par-five 18th conservatively. A 3.5-foot putt found the heart of the hole, and Hoshino had ascended to a new level of triumph.

Every shot of Rikyau Hoshino’s Birdie-Birdie-Par finish to claim his first Tour title ?#CBQMasters pic.twitter.com/7OshpAHGPQ

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 11, 2024

Korn Ferry Tour: Despite scores in the 50s, mid-60s win the week

The Country Club de Bogotá has two courses: the Pacos and the Lagos. The Pacos is the easier of the two, and Cristobal del Solar made his case for greatness on Thursday. The Chilean went full off on day one with a score of 57, highlighted by nine birdies and two eagles. Unfortunately for CDS, he had to play the Lagos course the next three days. 57 was followed by 69, then 75, and Mr. 57 found himself on the outside, looking in. On Sunday, del Solar solved the Lagos course, coming home in 63 for a solo fifth-place finish.

Aldrich Potgeiter followed Thursday’s 57 with a 59 of his own. A recent, KFTour winner in the Bahamas, Potgeiter moved into first position as del Solar wobbled. That was it for the South African Potgeiter, however. Weekend rounds of 73-71 dropped him to a 20th-place tie. Since lightning in a bottle wasn’t the answer this week, what was? In the end, Kevin Velo had it.

Velo didn’t score below 64, but he didn’t score above 67. He reached 22 under par, but so did Brian Campbell. The two Americans went to an extra hole, and Velo made quick work of his opponent. Despite not seeing the fairway on the bonus hole, Velo found the green in two and two-putted for birdie. Campbell was unable to match that number, and the San Jose State alum was a Korn Ferry Tour winner.

A win in wild fashion for Kevin Velo! ?

? Back-to-back birdies
????? Forces playoff
? Approach from behind tree
? Putt for eagle
? Tap-in birdie for the win pic.twitter.com/Gsns5aXDVy

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) February 11, 2024

Wedge Stamping Caviar: Gold Medal Edition

GolfWRX Staff — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 19:39:12 +0000

Pop open a tin of the finest beluga, GolfWRXers…But really, it’s less jelly-like substance, more richness of intrigue than salt-cured roe at Wedge Stamping Caviar as we present to you some of the finest instances of hammer-and-stamp work on the PGA Tour we spotted this week at the WM Phoenix Open.

Grab your mother-of-pearl spoon and dig in — with restraint, please. And be sure to check out the rest of our photos from the WM Phoenix Open when you’re done.

Michael Phelps, the most-decorated athlete in Olympic history, has 28 medals stamped on his 54-degree wedge, including his record 23 golds. Legendary achievement. Legendary wedge stamping.

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban has an entirely appropriate stamping on his Ping Glide 4.o wedge.

Left-hander Nicolo Galleti looks to be firing himself up with his “C’mon” stamping on his Ping Glide Forged Pro wedge. Orange paintfill on the initials is a nice touch as well!

“The other Tiger” S.H. Kim has continued the tradition of stamping his wedges — now new Vokey SM10’s — with his nickname.

Classic stamping, traditional white paintfill for Matt Wallace. If it ain’t broke…

“The Classic,” this time on a Callaway wedge with a little extra sauce in the paintfill for Mr. de Chassert.

With all due respect to the Vokeys pictured, it’s Nico Echavarria’s PXG wedge that grabs the attention, owing to his Colombian flag-colored paintfill and “ECH” stamping.

When you have a last name that’s only a handful of letters, it’s an easy decision to have it stamped on your wedge, as Grayson Sigg has done here with on his Fourteen RM4.

Akron, Ohio, native Justin Lower is nothing if not loyal to the franchise that drafted the “kid from Akron.”

“The Classic” with a little extra sauce here as Billy Horschel has the bent loft (62 degrees) of his wedge stamped near his initials.

Check out the rest of our photos from the WM Phoenix Open.

Putters Aplenty: Flatsticks in focus at the WM Phoenix Open

GolfWRX Staff — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 15:03:54 +0000

This week was a great week for putters. Heck, Michael Phelps and Zac Blair’s custom Camerons established that fact by themselves. But there were plenty of other interesting flatsticks on display.

You never know exactly what you are going to get with the equipment photos from a PGA Tour event. Depending on who is where when, field size, what’s happening in the product release calendar, where the event is in the season, and of course, the weather, there are numerous variables at play.

One thing that’s a relative constant, however, is WM Phoenix Open week is a good week for gear photos. And this year was no different. We’ve already rounded up all of our photos in a table of contents here and our Tour Reporter, Andrew Tursky has provided a curation of his favorite shots with context only he can deliver.

Hence, another edition of Putters Aplenty.

Ryo Hisatsune

According to our always-in-the-know tour photographer, Hisatsune purchased this putter off the Scotty Cameron Gallery website. One of us!

Ben Taylor

The LSU alum does his work on the greens with a Scotty Cameron T-11 Proto putter with a SuperStroke 3.0 XL grip.

Garrick Higgo

Left-hander Garrick Higgo utilizes the new L.A.B. Golf DF3 putter, a TPT putter shaft, a SuperStroke Pistol GT 1.0 grip.

Billy Horschel

Billy Ho is putting in Phoenix with a PLD Anser with tungsten plugs in the heel and toe of the putter for added stability.

Michael Phelps

A custom Cameron fit for the king of gold medals! Phelps told our Andrew Tursky that the flatstick was too beautiful to putt with and he wanted to hang it on a wall. Cameron told Phelps he better use it!

Lanto Griffin

Griffin continues to roll it with his Sik Flo C putter.

Zac Blair

Leader in the clubhouse for most interesting putter this week, Zac Blair, a certifiably Cameron crazy, arrived in Phoenix with this custom Circle L Cam with a Tiffany Blue paintfill. Our Brian Knudson wrote about the putter here.

Sungjae Im

Long-time Scotty Cameron user Sungjae Im has upgraded into a new T-5.5 putter with a single siteline.

Charley Hoffman

The WM sponsee remains loyal to his T-8 Prototype Cameron with unique alignment markings on an equally unique crown.

Adriene Dumont de Chassart

The Belgian represents the Odyssey contingent this week with his new Ai-One #7 putter.

Check out more in-hand photos of putters from the WM Phoenix Open in our galleries here.

Morning 9: Tiger to play Genesis | ANWA field highlights | Caddie recovery zone

Ben Alberstadt — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 12:04:02 +0000

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Thursday morning, golf fans, as day one of the WM Phoenix Open gets underway.

1. Woods to play Genesis

ESPN report…”Tiger Woods has committed to next week’s Genesis Invitational for his first competitive rounds in 2024.”

“Woods announced on social media Wednesday that he would play in the tournament that he hosts and benefits his TGR Foundation.”

“Excited to be a playing host next week,” Woods wrote.

Full piece.

2. “Advisers could face 20 years in Saudi Arabia prison if they comply with U.S. investigation”

That’s the headline in Tim Schmitt’s Golfweek item…”the Kingdom has threatened to imprison not only bankers but also consultants it has worked with if they choose to cooperate with the United States government as it continues to investigate the agreement. Back in November, the PIF sued its advisers in Saudi court to block any submission of information to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.”

“Both the Department of Justice and U.S. Senate have held a keen interest in the talks between the Tour and PIF, the financial backers of LIV Golf, over the last seven months. On Feb. 6, the committee held a hearing in Washington, D.C., that featured PIF consultants Paul Keary (Teneo Strategy), Michael Klein (M. Klein & Co.), Rich Lesser (Boston Consulting Group) and Bob Sternfels (McKinsey).”

Full piece.

3. Cam Smith on LIV decision

Our Matt Vincenzi…”While speaking with The Daily Mail prior to his start at LIV Las Vegas, Cam Smith called joining LIV “one of the best decisions I’ve ever made”.

“I’m so happy… 14 events out here, four majors, a couple of events at home where I can give back to the fans there, and that’s me. I feel like there’s a lot of time there to become a better golfer.”

Full piece.

4. Rahm: “When they slap you with a large amount of money in your face, your feelings do change”

ESPN report…”But he now concedes that the money being offered was hard to turn down and the fact that he is guaranteed to be able to play in the Masters helped make up his mind.”

“Winning the Masters was a huge step towards maybe thinking about it,” Rahm told Golf.com’s Breakthrough. “Being exempt from majors, knowing that most likely you can play the Masters for life and the U.S. Open at least until 2031, you know, I’m set with two of those, right, so it was a big determining factor.”

Rahm reportedly received more than $300 million to join LIV Golf, and while he says he meant what he said in 2022 that he was already wealthy enough to enjoy a great lifestyle, the sums being offered eventually were too tempting.

“When I said that, I fully meant it and it was true. Now, when they slap you with a large amount of money in your face, your feelings do change,” Rahm said. “I try not to be a materialistic person, but I do owe it to my family as well to set them up for success the best I can, and having kids I think changed that quite a bit. So the money is a part of it, I’m not going to lie.”

Full piece.

5. Olazabal

James Corrigan for the Telegraph…”Jon Rahm has been told by fellow Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal that “actions must have consequences”. Olazabal has also speculated that if the two-time major winner is ineligible for the Ryder Cup then Europe could still be competitive.”

…”Yet Olazabal, the former captain, who Rahm admits has had an influence on his career, is not as certain. “I respect everyone who has gone to LIV Golf,” Olazabal told the Golf sin Etiquetas podcast. “The other part that bothers me is that if you make a decision, it must have consequences. You can’t expect to have the same rights as PGA Tour and DP World Tour players.”

“As for changing the rules for Ryder Cup Europe… I don’t know what to tell you. If you miss players like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, you could be left naked for one or two Ryder Cups. And? What if you suddenly get three Ludvig Abergs, the Hjogaard [twins]? Turns out we might be able to compete.”

Full piece.

6. ANWA field highlights

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”This year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur is the strongest ever.”

“Each of the top 43 eligible amateurs in the final World Amateur Golf Ranking of 2023 have accepted invitations to compete in the fifth edition of the premier women’s amateur event, which will be played April 3-6 at both Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, and Champions Retreat Golf Club in nearby Evans, Georgia.”

“Among this year’s participants are two past champions, Tsubasa Kajitani (2021) and Anna Davis (2022), as well as world No. 1 amateur Ingrid Lindblad, who will be making her fourth career start after top-3 finishes in 2021 and 2022.”

Full Piece.

7. Colt Knost trading in mic for caddie gig at WMPO

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak…”Taylor Montgomery must like his gravy lumpy because he has chosen Colt Knost to be his caddie this week at the WM Phoenix Open.”

“Knost, known as The Big Gravy, was a tour pro of nearly 15 seasons before retiring and becoming one of the best TV foot soldiers for CBS and host of the popular podcast “Golf’s Subpar.” Asked whether he lost a bet, Knost texted, “Haha no. I’ve known Taylor since he was in college. Just trying to help the kid out.”

Full Piece.

8. Caddie recovery zone

Golf Digest’s Luke Kerr-Dineen…”The wear-and-tear that caddies go through isn’t something we think about often. But this week at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open, caddies will get something of a helping hand in the form of a caddie recovery zone. The designated recovery zone is a portion of the clubhouse decked out with a slate of Hyperice products, from Normatec Leg Compression boots to the Hypervolt Massage Gun. Those have become go-to products for the tour players they loop during their intensive post-round recovery routines.

Full Piece.

9. WMPO photos

GolfWRX is on site this week at the Greenest Show on Grass AKA the biggest party on the PGA Tour — the WM Phoenix Open.

General galleries, abundant WITBs, and, of course, limited-edition WMPO-inspired swag are all assembled for your viewing pleasure below.

Full Piece.