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Morning 9: Perspectives on Saudi tourney | Why do we care about the Rules of Golf? | Money shoe

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7 years ago

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By Ben Alberstadt (ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com)

January 30, 2019

Good Wednesday morning, golf fans.
1. USGA Distance Report
Released yesterday, the USGA/R&A’s 2018 Annual Driving Distance Report analyzes driving-distance data from the seven men’s and women’s pro golf tours worldwide (PGA Tour, European Tour, LPGA Tour, Web.com Tour, PGA Tour Champions, Japan Golf Tour, and Ladies’ European Tour).
  • The fourth edition of the report found “driving distances on these seven tours increased by an average of 1.7 yards, beyond the previous year’s gain of more than 3 yards.”
  • Traditionally, driving distance is measured on two holes at each event. Across the seven tours, this equals more than 200,000 shots.
  • On the PGA Tour, the report found an increase of 3.6 yards on the holes where official driving distance was measured and a 1.8-yard uptick when all tee shots were factored in.
  • In accordance with the 2002 Joint Statement of Principles, the USGA and R&A stated their “commitment to ensure that skill is the dominant element of success throughout the game,” and pledged to keep close tabs on driving distance figures in professional golf.
  • According to the organizations, the 2018 report will be evaluated alongside data gathered in the Distance Insights project, which was launched in May of 2018.
  • Those involved with the project are expected to deliver an update during the first quarter of 2019.
2. “Tarred by hypocrisy”
Paul Hayward of Stuff pulls no punches in his indictment of those teeing it up in Saudi Arabia this week, the European Tour for organizing the event, and even we the viewing public for tuning in.
  • Here, he quotes Brandel Chamblee…”It is a PR stunt. Non-participation – and I applaud Paul Casey – in some marginal way makes a statement about human rights. By participating, [the players] are ventriloquists for this abhorrent, reprehensible regime.”
  • “Among the “ventriloquists” are Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Johnson, who said in a plug for the event (have your sick bucket ready): “It’s an honour to be part of Saudi Arabia’s golf journey from the onset.” Pressed by reporters, Johnson has also said: “I’m going over there to play a sport I’m paid to play. It’s my job to play golf. Unfortunately, it’s in a part of the world where most people don’t agree with what happened, and I definitely don’t support anything like that.”
  • “Good to know the former world No 1 does not “agree with” murder and dismemberment. Smiles will be fixed, the players will play and everyone will go home richer. At least, some will say, the discussion was had.”
  • “Except that it was not. One part of it was, but the myopia that allows us to suddenly alight on one small corner of the picture while ignoring everything around it is fully in play here.”
And this…”Since the start of the war in Yemen, the UK has licensed at least US$4.7 billion (NZ$6.9 billion) in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and stands with the US as a prop to a regime now inviting the world for a few rounds of golf.”
  • “My point is, yes, the field for the Saudi International has dollar signs in its eyes, but the pact signed by these players is agreed to just about every day in international sport. In the summer, England contested a World Cup in a country accused of poisoning people in Salisbury with Novichok.”
  • “This is not whataboutery or moral relativism. For us to attach moral burdens to golfers is fair only if our own governments and societies are doing everything possible to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, halting arms sales and defending human rights in Saudi Arabia.”
  • “We are doing nothing of the sort. We are complicit – for the money.”
3. Why we care…
David Owen pens a piece for the New Yorker on why we care (and why we don’t) about the new Rules
  • A taste…”Golf tournaments have officials, too, but their role is mainly advisory; the golfers are responsible for policing themselves, and, to a remarkable extent, they really do. The most famous example occurred during the U.S. Open in 1925, when Bobby Jones called a penalty on himself for an infraction that only he had observed: his ball, he said, had moved slightly when he addressed it in the rough. His honesty possibly cost him the title, but he dismissed those who applauded him: “You might as well praise a man for not robbing a bank as praise him for playing by the rules.” By contrast, a running back who didn’t try to steal an extra foot by sliding the ball downfield after being tackled would be considered almost negligent. Robey-Coleman, to his credit, said, after the game, that he should have been called for pass interference. But, in football, what a player does matters only if it matters to a referee.”
  • “Not that golfers don’t cheat. There’s an old joke about a weekend player who is so accustomed to fudging his score that when he one day makes a hole-in-one he marks it on his scorecard as a zero. Nevertheless, even at the recreational level-and certainly on the tour-when golfers break rules it’s usually not because they’re trying to get away with something but because they don’t know what they’re doing. The rules of golf are hard even for rules officials to keep straight. Every few years, the United States Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews address confusions, anachronisms, and other issues by revising the rulebook, which they’ve published jointly since 1952. Sometimes the changes make things better, and sometimes they make things worse. The 2019 revision, which was unusually extensive, does both.”
4. Brooks doesn’t get slow play
Speaking on Golf Monthly’s podcast to Michael Weston, Koepka was asked about his thoughts on the criticism DeChambeau and other players have received for slow play. The three-time major winner did not sugarcoat his response.
  • “I just don’t understand how it takes a minute and 20 seconds, a minute and 15 to hit a golf ball; it’s not that hard,” Koepka told Weston. “It’s always between two clubs; there’s a miss short, there’s a miss long. It really drives me nuts especially when it’s a long hitter because you know you’ve got two other guys or at least one guy that’s hitting before you so you can do all your calculations; you should have your numbers. Obviously if you’re the first guy you might take ten extra seconds, but it doesn’t take that long to hit the ball, especially if it’s not blowing 30. If it’s blowing 30 I understand taking a minute and taking some extra time with some gusts, you know changing just slightly, I get that but if it’s a calm day there’s no excuse.
  • “Guys are already so slow it’s kind of embarrassing. I just don’t get why you enforce some things and don’t enforce others.”
5. Meanwhile…
Via Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…
  • “It’s actually quite impressive that we’re able to get all that stuff done in 45 seconds; people don’t realize that it’s very difficult to do everything we do in 45 seconds,” DeChambeau told reporters Tuesday at the inaugural Saudi International. “I think that anybody that has an issue with it, I understand, but we’re playing for our livelihoods out here, and this is what we want to do. If we want to provide the best entertainment for you, it’s part of our process, or it’s part of my process, at least.”
  • “DeChambeau concedes that he’s slower than many of his peers because “they have loads of experience that I haven’t necessarily had, so I have to find another way to be just as consistent as them without the experience.” He believes that once he grows more accustomed to some of the courses – it was just his second time playing the event in Dubai, for instance – his process will be quicker.  “
  • “DeChambeau said that he was put on the clock last week, and that it’s a common occurrence. “We’re put on the clock almost every week,” he said. It doesn’t affect him, however, because he’s “used to it now.”
  • “We try and speed up,” he said. “Trust me, we do our due diligence to speed up and do our best. We’re not trying to slow anyone down. I’m not trying to slow anyone down. It’s just a part of the process, and unfortunately the Rules of Golf allow for a certain amount of time, and we’re used it to our fullest potential.”
6. Hometown Phil
Excellent stuff from John Davis for the Arizona Republic, syndicated to Golfweek…
  • “He was just a lanky, 18-year-old freshman at Arizona State when he made his debut in the Phoenix Open with modest fanfare 30 years ago, but what Phil Mickelson has done for the event since then has “put it on the map” in the view of some organizers.”
  • “Mickelson, who will tee it up for a record 30th time in the Waste Management Phoenix Open this week, first appeared at TPC Scottsdale in 1989, which was just the third event to be played at that venue after a rich history at Phoenix Country Club.”
  • “Later that year, he would win the first of his three NCAA championships, but at the Phoenix Open he wasn’t widely recognized beyond the ASU fans who began to gather at the now-famous 16th hole to cheer him on.”
7. Jarrod Lyle monument
ABC Report…”Lyle’s unforgettable hole-in-one on the iconic 16th hole at the Phoenix Open is to be honoured with a memorial on the TCP Scottsdale golf course.”
  • “Lyle, who died last year after choosing to end his ongoing leukemia treatment, had the 15,000-strong crowd in the stadium that lines the famous par-three hole on their feet with his ace during the second round of the 2011 tournament.”
  • “It was the popular Australian’s first hole-in-one during his professional career and he took off his cap and celebrated hard with the raucous crowd.”
8. No. 5 lengthened
Golf Digest’s Alex Myers…”In the tournament’s media guide, which was released on Tuesday, the par-4 fifth hole is listed at 495 yards. Previously, it was listed as 455 yards on the scorecard.”
  • “No. 5 is an interesting hole to lengthen considering it’s played as the course’s fifth-most difficult hole in tournament history. Although 455 yards isn’t long by today’s standards, the uphill dogleg left around a pair of cavernous bunkers always played longer than the number, and was still the sixth-most difficult hole at last year’s Masters with a 4.16 scoring average.”
  • “It is a 313-yard (uphill) carry over the bunkers.” Translation: Good luck hitting it over the bunkers.”
9. Money shoe
Andrew Tursky details new Nike releases for the Phoenix Open. Beyond the grass shoe we’ve already highlighted, there’s a money-covered sole on one of the models…
  • Per a Nike rep…”Sunday is payday for golfers, so we took shredded money and melted it into the outsole. This is not real money … our original had real money and then we went back and forth with legal, eh probably not a good idea. So we have an image of shredded money, shredded, and then we put that on there.”

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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.

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Ed

    Jan 30, 2019 at 1:17 pm

    To hell with the wahhabists. Biggest state sponsor of te_rr_or_ism in the world. Why are they even remotely a western ally. Oh yea. Petrodollar.

    Reply Report comment

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Tour Rundown: Bend, but don’t break

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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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Photos from the 2025 Wyndham Championship

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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.

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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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