Connect with us

19th Hole

The 19th hole heroes of 2020

Published

on

2020 has been a year that everyone wants to see the back of, so we thought we would take a look at the lighter side of the year and the top 5 golfers who have hit the headlines in 2020 – not necessarily for their play on the course!

From the comedians to the divisive, here are 5 golfers that have thoroughly entertained for different reasons in this pandemic hit year.

Brooks Koepka

It was a disappointing 2020 for Brooks Koepka on the course, but he certainly excelled off it. Koepka began the year by bluntly expressing his view that Patrick Reed cheated in the bunker at the Hero, before lashing out at the “stuffiness” and “country club atmosphere” attached to golf.

The 30-year-old then got into a war of words with Nick Faldo after telling golf announcers to “just shut up and listen,” but the highlight of Brooks Koepka’s 19th hole shenanigans this year may well be this quarantine haircut which girlfriend Jena Sims gave him back in April.

Henrik Stenson

For my money, the coolest golfer on the planet, and the Swede was at his dry and sharp-witted best throughout the year. From his hilarious Tour story where he scared the living daylights out of his Swedish colleagues, to his recent prank which left Ian Poulter fuming, Stenson was in excellent form in 2020.

The 44-year-old’s best 19th hole moment of 2020 had to be his “Dreams Challenge” which he handsomely won by lip-syncing along with Stevie Nicks while drinking from the Claret Jug.

Phil Mickelson

While 2019 was all about ‘Phireside with Phil,’ 2020 saw Lefty tackle both the Match 2 and 3. Mickelson put in a very entertaining shift in both and was as quirky as ever on social media – penning a random touching thank you note to Tiger back in September.

The 50-year-old created plenty of buzz with his 2020 Masters strategy of using a 47.5-inch driver and a “higher handicap” iron set-up, and even cracked into the coffee market with his “Coffee For Wellness”—which is quite nice!

Ian Poulter

Love him or loathe him, Ian Poulter is a Content King and delivered in spades in 2020. The Englishman showed off his skills by hitting a chip shot through his Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta and sounded off on Paul Azinger’s “condescending” remarks regarding the European Tour back in March.

Poulter also revealed this year on Instagram what the U.S. Open at Shinnecock in 2018 brought out of him, a vicious temper, which left a locker at the venue in quite a state.

Bryson DeChambeau

Bryson DeChambeau excelled both on and off the course in 2020. The 27-year-old was the talk of the golf world, chasing distance and speed, while also getting golf fans chattering after multiple run-ins with rules officials and cameramen throughout the year.

The Californian revealed that he is now up to a whopping 146.9 mph clubhead speed, thanks to his training, intensive workouts and this incredible daily diet which he told the media about back in July.

Breakfast

  • Four eggs
  • Five slices of bacon 
  • Toast
  • Two to three Orgain protein shakes

During practice

  • Multiple GoMacro bars 
  • Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
  • Orgain protein shake every six holes 

Post-round

  • Snacks, protein shake

Dinner

  • Steak
  • Potatoes
  • Two Orgain protein shake

Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at gianni@golfwrx.com.

19th Hole

‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

Published

on

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.

However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.

Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.

Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”

Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.

Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.

Continue Reading

19th Hole

How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Published

on

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.

Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.

Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.

Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.

Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.

“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course.  Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”

According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.

“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”

Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.

Check out Young’s winning WITB here.

Continue Reading

19th Hole

Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Published

on

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.

Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.

Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.

The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.

Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”

“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”

Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.

However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.

“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”

Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending