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GolfWRX Morning 9: Steph Curry tourney a done deal? | Monty lauds Europeans’ “moral code” | 80s pros on today’s game

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7 years ago

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1. Meanwhile, in Malaysia
AP Report…”Gary Woodland shot an 11-under 61 to tie the course record Friday and join Marc Leishman in a share of the second-round lead at the PGA Tour’s CIMB Classic. Woodland and Leishman (62) were at 14-under 130 on the revamped TPC Kuala Lumpur West course.”
  • “Woodland’s bogey-free nines of 30-31 matched the 61 that Justin Thomas shot while winning the 2015 tournament, his first of two titles in a row in Kuala Lumpur. Shubhankar Sharma (64) and Paul Casey (65) were tied for third, one stroke behind. Both golfers had stretches of four birdies and an eagle in five holes.”
2. …and in South Korea
AP…”Nasa Hataoka of Japan fired a 7-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the KEB Hana Bank Championship on Thursday. Danielle Kang and Charley Hull were two shots back on a chilly, windy, damp day at the Sky 72 Ocean Course.”
  • “Sung Hyun Park, the U.S. LPGA Tour’s top-ranked player, was among a handful of players three shots back.”
3. Steph Curry tourney cometh?
SF Chronicle report (via Golf Digest)…”Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that PGA Tour officials have made multiple visits to Corica Park, which recently re-opened after extensive renovation by Rees Jones, in the last week. The course, located in Almeda, became the desired choice once tour officials were told TPC Harding Park, set to host the 2020 PGA Championship, was off limits until 2021. Golf.com also had a report last week on the tour circling Corica Park as a destination.”
  • “As envisioned, the Curry-backed event would be slotted in the fall portion of the tour schedule. The tour is expected to take a two-week break after the 2019 Tour Championship, which finishes on August 25, and would open the new campaign at the Greenbrier on September 12. The Curry tournament would be the second competition of the season, followed by the Safeway Open at the end of the month.”
4. Want a ticket for Tiger-Phil?
Sorry, fans, you’re not going to be able to buy tickets to the Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson $9 million megamatch at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, November 23.
  • Per a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, only a “small gathering of sponsors and VIPs” will be allowed on course. The report also indicates that, in contrast to Phil Mickelson’s promised primetime (ET) showdown, the match will be played under the Nevada sun. The official start time is yet to be announced, ditto the PPV price.
5. Moral code!
In making a banal observation about keeping this behind closed doors, Colin Montgomerie looks have cast the European Ryder Cup team as morally superior. That should play well in the States…
  • Via a Reuters report…”I could be on to you all day about what goes on in the team room in the Ryder Cup and what’s been said and what hasn’t been said, but I would never ever breach that code to say anything,” Montgomerie told Reuters in an interview on the eve of the 50-and-over SAS Championship, where he is defending champion.”
  • “Every captain’s made some odd decisions and whatever but it doesn’t really matter. You’re playing for the team and anything that goes on behind those closed doors should stay behind those closed doors. That’s our moral code anyway.”
6. Rahm on beating TW at the Ryder Cup
Incredible how significant the Spaniard’s takedown of Tiger remains to him. Via Golf.com: “It wasn’t until I made that putt that the emotion of winning because I was containing myself all day long trying to keep it under control,” Rahm said. In the midst of his embrace with Hayes he noticed Woods, who was approaching for a congratulatory handshake.
  • “He was coming towards me with a smile still. I mean, I started crying. I got emotional, tears started coming out of my eyes.” Rahm got choked up as Woods approached him, and again as he spoke about the round in an interview afterwards. The moment resonated with him so much that Rahm found Woods later at the closing ceremonies, just to tell him what an honor the match had been.
  • “It meant an incredible moment then and it still does,” he concluded. “It’s going to be tough to beat that moment in my life.”
7. The game changeth
Mark Townsend at National Club Golfer talked with 1980s Tour pros about the difference–particularly equipment–compared to today’s game. Peter Baker, Barry Lane, Roger Chapman, Andrew Oldcorn and Gary Wolstenholme all chatted with the scribe.
  • “Oldcorn: When I was in my early teens and I was beginning to take golf seriously at Dalmahoy on the west side of Edinburgh. The East course was 6,800 yards long and that was huge for me. These were the days of Balata balls and wooden clubs and I couldn’t reach lots of the par 4s.”
  • “Wolstenholme: The beauty of the courses was that a 400-yard hole was a strong hole particularly into the wind. Now a 420-yard uphill par 4, even played into the wind, would be a drive and a short iron for most tour pros. It’s a shame as course designers come in and ‘Tiger proof’ these courses and quite often they ruin a good hole. It shouldn’t just be about the length but about testing the nerve, the course management, the ability to play a specific shot and too many par 3s are drifting outside an iron shot. A par 3 was always about the skill to manipulate an iron shot into a certain part of the green.”
  • “Baker: Players are more one-dimensional now but they are also much fitter and stronger these days and they swing it better than we did, we did it more by feel….Today’s equipment allows you to hit it harder with the way the ball is and the bigger sweet spot, now it is hard to shape it – particularly off the tee.”
8. The mountain man engineer/PGA Tour pro
Great stuff from John Strege profiling the singular Jim Knous.
“Home, growing up, was Basalt, Colo., in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, 18 miles northwest of Aspen and a million miles, any direction, from a professional golf career. NCAA Division I coaches couldn’t find it with GPS, a tour guide and a St. Bernard, not that they were inclined to look there.’
  • “Yet there he was on Sunday, birdieing the 18th hole in the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., to tie for 10th in his debut as a PGA Tour member, only a few weeks after securing the 50th and last available PGA Tour card via the Web.com Tour.”
  • “How to explain this? Well, Knous, 28, is an expert skier-“probably a plus-two handicap if I compared it to golf,” he said-and as such is not intimidated by unfamiliar terrain, whatever its degree of difficulty.”
  • “He had proved this early on, when in pursuit of golf he chose a double black diamond educational path more difficult than playing Oakmont in the wind. A stellar high school student, notably in math and science, Knous enrolled at the Colorado School of Mines, a prestigious engineering school in Golden, Colo., where his classes included Electromagnetism and Optics and Fluid Mechanics for Civil and Environmental Engineering.”
9. Speaketh the Barbara
The Golden Bear-ess (technically, a female bear is a sow, but that word has a negative connotation) joined Michael Williams on the GolfWRX 19th Hole podcast  for a rare interview you’ll want to check out.

 

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Ben Alberstadt is the Editor-in-Chief at GolfWRX, where he’s led editorial direction and gear coverage since 2018. He first joined the site as a freelance writer in 2012 after years spent working in pro shops and bag rooms at both public and private golf courses, experiences that laid the foundation for his deep knowledge of equipment and all facets of this maddening game. Based in Philadelphia, Ben’s byline has also appeared on PGATour.com, Bleacher Report...and across numerous PGA DFS and fantasy golf platforms. Off the course, Ben is a committed cat rescuer and, of course, a passionate Philadelphia sports fan. Follow him on Instagram @benalberstadt.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Jingo

    Oct 14, 2018 at 5:24 pm

    Man, I’m not all that crazy about Monty but I just take zero offense to his comment. As I read it, he’s just saying what’s said in the locker room should stay in the locker room. Kind of a stretch to make it into something more than that. To read the headline you’d think he said something like “we win because we’re better human beings,” lol. Not what he said at all. Lighten up.

    Reply Report comment

  2. Mark

    Oct 13, 2018 at 7:18 am

    Montgomery, who I believe, cheated on two wives talking about a “moral code”! And, “Mark Townsend at National Club Golfer talked with 1980s Tour pros….. Gary Wolstenholme”; in the 1980s, the latter was an amateur.

    Reply Report comment

  3. Liberty Apples

    Oct 12, 2018 at 10:41 am

    Find an editor.

    `In making a banal observation about keeping this behind closed doors, Colin Montgomerie looks have cast the European Ryder Cup team as morally superior.’

    Yikes!

    Reply Report comment

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Tour Rundown: Bend, but don’t break

Published

3 weeks ago

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Aug 4, 2025

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I’m going to gush in this intro paragraph, to get the emo stuff done early. I’ve not pulled harder for a professional to win, than Cameron Young. I coach golf in New York state, and each spring, my best golfers head to a state championship in Poughkeepsie. I first saw Cameron there as a 9th grade student. I saw him three more times after that. I reconnecected with Coach Haas from Wake Forest, an old interview subject from my days on the Old Gold and Black, the Wake newspaper. He was there to watch Cameron. After four years at Wake Forest, Young won on the Korn Ferry Tour, made it to the big tour, almost won two majors, almost won five other events, and finally got the chalice about 25 minutes from the Wake campus. Congratulations, Cameron. You truly are a glass of the finest. #MotherSoDear

OK, let’s move on to the Tour Rundown. The major championship season closed this week in Wales, with the Women’s Open championship. The PGA Tour bounced through Greensboror, N.C., while the PGA Tour Americas hit TO (aka, Toronto) for a long-winded event. The Korn Ferry lads made a stop in Utah, one of just two events for that tour in August. The many-events, golf season is winding down, as we ease from summer toward fall in the northern hemisphere. Let’s bask in the glory of an August sunrise, and run down a quartet of events from the first weekend of the eighth month.

LET/LPGA @ Women’s Open: Miyu bends, but she doesn’t break

Royal Porthcawl was not a known commodity in the major tournament community. The Welsh links had served as host to men’s senior opens, men’s amateurs, and Curtis and Walker Cups in prior years, but never an Open championship for the women or the men. The last-kept secret in UK golf was revealed once again to the world this week, as the best female golfers took to the sandy stage.

Mao Saigo, Grace Kim, Maja Stark, and Minjee Lee hoped to add a second major title to previous wins this season, but only Lee was able to finish inside the top ten. The 2025 playing of the Women’s Open gave us a new-faces gallery from day one. The Kordas and Thitikulls were nowhere to be found, and it was the Mayashitas, Katsus, and Lim Kims that secured the Cymru spotlight. The first round lead was held at 67 by two golfers. One of them battled to the end, while the other posted 81 on day two, and missed the cut. Sitting one shot behind was Miyu Yamashita.

On day two, Yamashita posted the round of the tournament. Her 65 moved her to the front of the aisle, in just her fourth turn around a women’s Open championship. With the pre-event favorites drifting off pace, followers narrowed into two camps: those on the side of an underdog, and others hoping for a weekend charge from back in the pack. In the end, we had a bit of both.

On Saturday, Yamashita bent with 74 on Saturday, offering rays of hope to her pursuing pack. England’s Charley Hull made a run on Sunday closing within one shot before tailing off to a T2 finish with Minami Katsu. Katsu posted the other 65 of the week, on Saturday, but could not overtake her countrywoman, Yamashita. wunderkind Lottie Woad needed one round in the 60s to find her pace, but could only must close-to’s, ending on 284 and a tie with Minjee for eighth.

On Sunday, Yamashita put away the thoughts of Saturday’s struggles, with three-under 33 on the outward half. She closed in plus-one 37, but still won by two, for a first Major and LPGA title.

PGA Tour @ Wyndham: Young gathers first title near home

Cameron Young grew up along the Hudson river, above metro New York, but he also calls Winston-Salem home. He spent four years as a student and athlete at Wake Forest University, then embarked on tour. This week in Greensboro, after a bit of a break, Young opened with 63-62, and revved the engine of Is this the week once more. Runner-up finishes at the Open, the PGA, and a handful of PGA Tour events had followers wonder when the day would come.

On Saturday, Young continued his torrid pace with 65, giving him a five-shot advantage over his closest pursuer. Sunday saw the Scarborough native open with bogey, then reel off five consecutive birdies to remind folks that his time had, at last, arrived. Pars to the 16th, before two harmless bogeys coming home, made Young the 1000th winner of an official PGA Tour event (dating back to before there was a PGA Tour) throughout history. What’s next? I have a suspicion, but I’m not letting on. Mac Meissner closed with 66 to finish solo 2nd, while Mark Hubbard and Alex Noren tied for third.

Korn Ferry Tour @ Utah Championship: Are you Suri it’s Julian?

Who knows exactly when the flower will bloom? Julian Suri played a solid careet at Duke University, then paid his dues on the world’s minor tours for three years. He won twice on two tours in Europe, in 2017. Since then, the grind has continued for the journeyman from New York city. At age 34, Suri broke through in Beehive state, outlasting another grinder (Spencer Levin) and four others, by two shots.

Taylor Montgomery began the week with 62, then posted 64, then 68, and finally, 70. That final round was his undoing. He finished in that second-place tie, two back of the leader. Trace Crowe, Barend Botha, and Kensei Hirata made up the last of the almost quintet. As for Suri, his Sunday play was sublime. His nines were 32 and 31, with his only radar blip a bogey at ten. He closed in style with one final birdie, to double his winning margin. Hogan bloomed late…might Suri?

PGA Tour Americas @ Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos – CBM Aggregates

Some tournament names run longer than others. This week in Toronto, at the Heathlands course at TPC Toronto, we might have seen the longest tournament title in recorded history. The OVOPBVCCBMA was a splendid affair. It saw three rounds of 62 on Thursday, but of those early risers, only Drew Goodman would stick around until the end. 64 was the low tally on day two, and two of those legionnaires managed to finish inside the top three at week’s end. Saturday brought a 63 from Patrick Newcomb, and he would follow with 64 on Sunday, to finish solo fourth.

Who, then, ended up winning the acronym of the year? It turns out that Carson Bacha had the right stuff in TeeOhhh. Bacha and Jay Card III posted 63 and 64, respectively, on day four, to tie for medalist honors at 23-under 261. Nathan Franks was one shot adrift, despite also closing with 63. If you didn’t go low on Sunday, it was about the check, not the championship.

Bacha and JC3 returned to the 18th hole twice in overtime. Card nearly chipped in from the thick stuff for birdie, while Bacha peeked and shoved a ten-feet attempt at the win. On the second go-round, Card was long with his approach, into the native grasses once more. He was unable to escape, and a routine par from the fairway was enough to earn the former Auburn golfers a first KFT title.

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2025 Wyndham Championship

Published

4 weeks ago

on

Jul 29, 2025

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GolfWRX is live this week from the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season, the Wyndham Championship.

Photos are flowing into the forums from Sedgefield Country Club, where we already have a GolfWRX spirit animal Adam Schenk WITB and plenty of putters for your viewing pleasure.

Check out links to all our photos below, which we’ll continue to update as more arrive.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.

 

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BK’s Breakdowns: Kurt Kitayama’s Winning WITB, 3M Open

Published

4 weeks ago

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Jul 28, 2025

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Kurt Kitayama just won his 2nd PGA Tour event at the 3M Open. Kurt is a Bridgestone staffer but with just the ball and bag. Here are the rest of the clubs he used to secure a win at the 2025 3M Open.

Driver: Titleist GT3 (11 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 7 TX

3-wood: Titleist GT1 3Tour (14.5 degrees, A3 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX

7-wood: Titleist GT1 (21 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 TX

Irons: TaylorMade P7CB (4), TaylorMade P7MB (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (52-12F, 56-14F), Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Newport 2 Tour Prototype
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy 1.0PT

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Bridgestone Tour B XS (with Mindset)

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