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Morning 9: Woods-Manning vs. Mickelson-Brady set | Pro calls Singh “true piece of trash” | Golf’s popularity on the rise

Published

5 years ago

on

golf, beach, ocean, Puerto Rico
1. Woods-Manning vs. Mickelson-Brady set
Our Gianni Magliocco…“On Thursday, AT&T’s WarnerMedia announced full details of  ‘The Match: Champions for Charity’ featuring Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady – with the contest set to take place on Sunday, May 24…The match will take place at 3 p.m. ET from Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida, with $10 million going to benefit Covid-19 relief.”
  • “The contest will include team match-play four-ball on the front nine and an alternate shot format on the back nine – with each participant teeing off and then each team playing alternate shot from the selected drive. As with the original match between Woods and Mickelson, there will be on-course challenges to raise additional charitable funds.”
  • “The event will be simulcast on TBS, TNT, TruTV, and Headline News, and all of the donated money will go towards the fight against the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic including the following organizations: Direct Relief, the American Red Cross, Save Small Business, and the ALL IN Challenge.”
2. Singh a “turd”?
Golf Channel’s Will Gray…”Singh has lifetime status on the PGA Tour, and at age 57 he still competes regularly against players half his age while adding an occasional start on the PGA Tour Champions. But his status won’t get him into Colonial, which typically has a restricted field and includes several unique exemption categories. Under the Tour’s guidelines, any fully exempt player is allowed to play in a concurrent Korn Ferry tournament as long as he is not eligible for that week’s PGA Tour event.”
  • “That same bylaw has apparently opened the door for Singh, a player with more than $71 million in career earnings and indefinite exempt status, to potentially play in a Korn Ferry event that will include dozens of cash-hungry players who are vying for a handful of PGA Tour cards. One such player is 35-year-old Brady Schnell, who took to Twitter to call Singh a “true piece of trash” and a “complete turd” if he opts to play the Korn Ferry event.”
3. Plenty of rounds are being played… 
Bill Pennington for the New York Times…Around noon on April 17, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota announced that the state’s 450 golf courses, shuttered because of the coronavirus pandemic, could open the next day. At 3 p.m., the Hazeltine National Golf Club, about 25 miles southwest of Minneapolis, activated its automated online tee time booking system.”
  • “It took two seconds for 172 golfers to fill the entire tee sheet for the following day….“We went into the system at two seconds after 3 o’clock and saw that every tee time until 6:30 p.m. was accessed by somebody,” said Chandler Withington, Hazeltine’s head golf professional. “Throughout the state, every course was packed.”
  • “Minnesota is a microcosm of the golf boom enveloping the United States as courses have reopened in the past month, a time when the percentage of golf courses open nationwide has surged from 44 percent to about 88 percent, according to the National Golf Foundation. There are more than 16,000 golf courses in America and only a quarter are private clubs. With schools padlocked, fitness centers closed and many parks and playgrounds off limits, golf – with social distancing restrictions – has become a rare outdoor respite that combines exercise, companionship, competition and space.”
4. Harrington reveals
Adam Schupak at Golfweek…“Padraig Harrington let the cat out of the bag that Englishman Luke Donald will be one of his vice captains for this fall’s European Ryder Cup team at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin.”
  • “Harrington, Europe’s captain, made his faux pas while making a guest appearance on Sky Sports’ “The Golf Show,” on Tuesday. It was a humorous moment as he tried in vain to correct himself before giving up and breaking into laughter, and saying, “That’s not to be announced yet.”
5. Gary Player: I can fix Jordan Spieth
Gianni Magliocco…”Golf legend Gary Player appeared on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio this week and claimed that he is “absolutely convinced” that Jordan Spieth would be World Number One once again if he spent one hour with the South African.”
  • “Spieth currently sits 56th in the Official World Golf Rankings, but Player believes that he could make the Texan reach the summit of the game once more – citing Spieth’s mind while declaring long-hitting “the most overrated thing in golf.”
  • *All quotes courtesy of SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio*...“If I could spend one hour with Jordan Spieth, I’m absolutely convinced he’d be number one in the world.”
  • “I say that because long-hitting is the most overrated thing in golf. The thing that wins golf tournaments is the mind, and we haven’t even scratched the surface of the mind.”
6. Mass courses open
Jason Lusk at Golfweek…”Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker reopened his state for golf Thursday, effective immediately, making the Commonwealth the last state to announce when the sport could be resumed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.”
  • “Maryland and Vermont had been the most recent holdouts to announce the reopening of their courses. Both those states’ courses also were allowed to reopen Thursday, according to the National Golf Foundation. New Hampshire beat each of those to the announcement this week, allowing its courses to reopen May 11, making it the last to have it courses closed despite the earlier announcement.”
  • “Alaska is still closed due to seasonality, and some courses are still closed because of municipal or county mandate. Across the country, 79 percent of golf courses in the United States were open as of May 3, according to a National Golf Foundation update. That’s up from 58 percent the week before.”

 

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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.

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Tour Rundown: Bend, but don’t break

Published

3 weeks ago

on

Aug 4, 2025

By

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

By

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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News

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

Published

4 weeks ago

on

Jul 28, 2025

By

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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WITB

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