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Morning 9: From “idiot” to first-round leader | Brooks’ blunt assessment | Kiradech returns to action

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5 years ago

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By Ben Alberstadt
Email me at ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com; and find me on Twitter and Instagram.
December 3, 2020
Good Thursday morning, golf fans. .
1 From “idiot” to first-round leader
Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”When it comes to self-assessments, Andy Sullivan’s description of his golf game prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was as blunt as it gets.”
  • “I was being an absolute idiot,” Sullivan said.
  • “The numbers certainly supported that. The 33-year-old Englishman, who less than five years ago was a top-30 player in the world and a European Ryder Cupper, dropped outside the top 150 in the world rankings during the coronavirus break, a downward trend sparked by a few years of mediocre golf.”
  • “But things changed when the European Tour restarted this summer. Sullivan tied for fourth at the first event back, the British Masters, and two starts later notched his fourth career European Tour victory, at the English Championship. He’s now No. 72 in the OWGR, and on Wednesday in Dubai he equaled the best round of his tour career, an 11-under 61, to take the first-round lead at the Golf in Dubai Championship.”
2. Brooks’ blunt assessment
Golfweek’s Adam Schupak…”The year 2020 will go down in the record books as a lost year for Brooks Koepka. Injuries to his hip and knee didn’t heal properly and prevented him from being the cold-blooded closer who won four majors between the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills and the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black.”
  • “Koepka made a valiant effort at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and the PGA Championship to claim a victory, but he enters this week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico with one last chance to avoid being winless in 2020. Asked to sum up out how he would describe his golf year, Koepka took the high road.”
  • “I don’t know if I could say that without getting fined,” he said. “Pretty bad.”
  • …“It couldn’t have got much worse than it did over the summer,” he said. “My body wouldn’t let me do things that I wanted to do.”
3. Aphibarnrat making first start since COVID-19
Chuah Choo Chiang for PGATour.com…”The burly Thai, who is nicknamed “Asia’s John Daly,” arrived at the Mayakoba Golf Classic following a tie for 11th at the Bermuda Championship early last month. It was his best result on TOUR since finishing T8 at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in Korea last year.”
  • “After being home-bound in Orlando with the coronavirus, Kiradech started practicing two days before flying out to Mexico on Sunday. He spent two hours at the driving range on day one and doubled his range time the next day. He credited time spent with his swing coach Mike Walker in the U.K. in October for his recent resurgence in Bermuda.”
4. Andy Ogletree’s grind for PGA Tour status begins
Golfweek’s Julie Williams…”After garnering so much attention next to Woods at Augusta – and making a Sunday trip to Butler cabin – Ogletree returned home to small-town Mississippi last week. He helped his dad Jim put on a local community Thanksgiving. Ogletree hopes to get back home for Christmas, when he can make the rounds, see everyone and celebrate recent milestones.”
  • “Like turning professional and making his first start as a pro at this week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic.”
  • “Ogletree, 22, made four other Tour starts this year before the Masters, including at the Charles Schwab Challenge, RBC Heritage, the Memorial and the U.S. Open. He missed the cut in all four. Before those doors opened for Ogletree, the 2019 U.S. Amateur champion, he hadn’t ever played a Tour event. It was a transition that felt similar to the one from junior golf to Georgia Tech.”
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5. John Wood is the latest caddie to become a full-time on-course TV reporter
Brian Wacker for Golf Digest…“Though the move marks a career change for Wood, who stopped working for Kuchar in August, it won’t be his first time behind the microphone. In 2015, Wood joined Mackay as an on-course reporter for Golf Channel at the RSM Classic. Two years later, Mackay parted ways with Phil Mickelson and joined the network full time. “I couldn’t be more excited to be joining the incredible team at Golf Channel and NBC,” Wood said. “They’ve set the standard in golf coverage, and I hope to bring an interesting perspective to their incredible production.”
6. Catriona Matthew on Emily Pedersen
“It’s been a fantastic year for Emily,” Matthew told BBC Sport.
“The 24-year-old’s success is all the more admirable given the way her form plummeted following a dispiriting Solheim Cup debut for Europe in 2017.”
  • “Pedersen was picked by skipper Annika Sorenstam for the match in Illinois but was comprehensively beaten in all three of her matches in Europe’s 16 1/2 – 11 1/2 defeat.”
  • “I really felt for her after the Solheim in Des Moines,” said Matthew, the 2009 Women’s Open champion.
  • “She was at the top of her game and she just kind of completely lost it after that Solheim.
  • “It just shows great character, I think, to come back. I’ve seen her over the last couple of years working really hard at her game, but golf is a lot in the head and I think it’s taken a lot of mental strength.”
7. Match 3 ratings
Geoff Shackelford…”I have no idea if the organizers find the .21 for last week’s The Match 3 a success or not given the bizarre sports ratings of 2020. As Mitch Salem’s roundup of last Friday’s cable numbers highlights, The Match was just edged out by WETV’s Love After Lockup with the coveted demo and landed 8th on the list of November 27, 2020’s most watched cable telecasts.”
  • “After the streaming debacle that was The Match 1, the absolute ratings stunner that was The Match 2—a higher rating than the final round of the rescheduled U.S. Open—the average of a million viewers is probably about right for a celebrity golf match.”
  • Check out the full post for all the links.
8. “Don’t be Rory McIlroy”
Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard on Abraham Ancer’s acquired wisdom…”I“I quickly realized that I made huge mistakes trying to play golf like other golfers,” he said Wednesday from the Mayakoba Golf Classic.
  • “Specifically, he wasn’t Rory McIlroy.”
  • “It was at the 2015 Frys.com Open, and Ancer was making his first start on Tour when he set up next to the former world No. 1 on the range.
  • “He starts hitting these irons that just take off straight up in the air carrying 210 [yards] into the wind and cold, like 5-irons,” Ancer said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t do that.’ I started thinking I need to hit it higher and farther, so I started tinkering and that was a terrible idea, but I just didn’t know better.”
9. Sea Island Women’s Am
Golfweek’s Julie Williams…”Sea Island, Georgia, has long been an important stop in men’s amateur golf, having hosted the Jones Cup tournaments (together with Ocean Forest Golf Club) since the early 2000s. Now, women will get the chance to compete there annually, too. The Georgia resort has announced the creation of the Sea Island Women’s Amateur, to be played for the first time July 27-29, 2021.”

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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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News

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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WITB

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