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Morning 9: Give Berger his due | Willie Mack III’s story | The case for the AT&T No-Am

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5 years ago

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By Ben Alberstadt
For comments—or if you’re looking for a fourth—email me at ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com.
You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram.
February 16, 2021
Good Tuesday morning, golf fans.
1. Time to give Berger his due
Daniel Rapaport for Golf Digest…”Berger has been golf’s Forgotten Man—the guy who couldn’t get a Masters invite despite being a top-15 player in the world. The first man out from the high school Class of 2011 discussion, not quite on the Thomas-Spieth-Schauffele-DeChambeau tier.”
  • “Maybe it’s because Berger doesn’t say much, or because he’s not the front-man for a giant equipment company, or because his sui generis swing and low fade aren’t exactly instruction-book material.”
  • …”For Berger, perhaps this is the week that finally get him his due. His win at the Charles Schwab Challenge last June didn’t quite do the trick, despite a field featuring seven of the top 10 players in the world. There were no top-10 players in the field this week, but Sunday’s final round stumbled upon one helluva leader board.”
2. Willie Mack III’s story (Recipient of the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption for the Genesis)
Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…”Having long suffered from pro golf’s version of PTSD, Mack, 32, had been grinding alone for so long that he forgot how to ask for help. If he’d needed something – money, clothes, clubs, respect – he won. He was competing to live.”
  • “That’s shaped who he is,” Bentley says, “and made him feel like it’s him against the world.”
  • “Implored to go deeper this year, Mack finally opened up about his turbulent decade.”
  • “How he won prolifically at a historically Black college and on the mini-tours but still was largely ignored by corporate America.”
  • “How he was homeless for almost two years but never quit.”
  • “How he nearly died when his car exploded in 2018, just as his career was on the upswing.”
3. Chamblee on Fowler, Finau, and more
Good stuff from Golfweek’s Adam Schupak chatting with the game’s pre-eminent analyst…
“Golfweek: What’s holding back Tony Finau from winning?”
  • “Brandel Chamblee: I get your question. I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered a player quite like Tony Finau. How can a player be world class if he doesn’t have victories on his resume? But everything on his resume is world class. It makes no sense. To see a guy play that well and that often and not come away with victories, you keep thinking it’s going to be like David Duval and at some point the windfall is going to happen.”
  • “Unlike David Duval, Tony’s not a great putter and unlike Duval he doesn’t drive it really straight. He’s long and a bit crooked. If you think about the greatest closers of all time, they all have great transitions to their golf swing bridging the backswing to the downswing. Tony’s quick. Pressure makes you quick, especially if you’re inclined to be quick anyway. Tom Watson famously said he never got over trouble on Sundays until he learned to slow things down. Finau has a short, quick golf swing. The most successful short, quick swing I can think of is Doug Sanders, who won a lot but never a major. It didn’t endure into his 50s. Finau is still young. It wouldn’t surprise me if he won three times this year. It wouldn’t surprise me if he won 5-6 times in his career. Again, he needs to find some way to be a better putter and a better player on Sunday. You look at his scoring average on Sundays and he’s a different guy.”
4. Remembering record-setting Riviera playoff
The team from PGATour.com…”It remains the largest playoff to end a 72-hole PGA TOUR event, another bit of history created at the iconic Riviera Country Club.”
  • “There also was a six-man playoff at the 1994 Byron Nelson but that tournament was just two rounds because of persistent rain. Seven years later, six men braved the elements to decide a champion at Riviera in the tournament now known as the Genesis Invitational.”
  • “It rained so hard that a delay never seemed far away. The 18th hole, reachable with short-irons earlier in the week, now required players to use fairway woods for their approach shots. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of this unique finish, PGATOUR.COM caught up with some of the participants to hear their recollections.”
  • “On the broadcast, Jim Nantz tried to draw a connection to CBS’ Sunday night movie, The Mask of Zorro, by declaring “it would take a little swash-buckling birdie here to win this tournament.” Riviera’s finishing hole had allowed just one all day but then Robert Allenby delivered a shot that one competitor called “the greatest shot I’ve ever seen.”
5. LET’s 2021 schedule
From a press release…”The Ladies European Tour announce a record-breaking 2021 schedule featuring 27 events in 19 different countries, the Solheim Cup and the Summer Olympics, with players competing for a combined prize fund of more than €19 million: an increase of €2 million on the proposed pre-COVID-19 announcement for the 2020 season and €6 million on 2019.”
  • “A year on from the monumental Joint Venture between the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the LET and after a year disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 season is set to not only recapture the momentum of Spring 2020 but welcomes the addition of as many as nine new fully sanctioned tournaments.”
6. Puig chasing Mickelson
Jeff Metcalfe for the Arizona Republic…”Pooj might sound like a dance craze at a Barcelona club, but it’s actually the way to pronounce Arizona State golf David Puig’s last name.”
  • “That’s important because Puig, a sophomore from Spain, could accomplish something prestigious Monday-Wednesday at The Prestige tournament at PGA West in La Quinta, California.”
  • “If Puig wins a third consecutive tournament outright, he will become the first Sun Devil to do so since Phil Mickelson was a junior in 1991.”
  • “Puig is as much of a revelation as anyone with a No. 15 World Amateur ranking can be.”
7. Your Collegiate Showcase winner…
Todd Kelly for Golfweek…”It took three playoff holes, but Angus Flanagan punched his ticket to the Genesis Invitational with some playoff magic.”
  • “Flanagan, who’s from England and plays for the University of Minnesota, birdied the third playoff hole to edge Tim Widing of the University of San Francisco and earn the final spot in the PGA Tour’s annual visit to Riviera Country Club, which starts on Thursday.”
8. AT&T No-Am
Our Ron Montesano argues against the return of amateurs to Pebble Beach…”We don’t love golf for the antics of the celebrities, and we don’t need to see corporate types who clearly have enough time to get their games in shape to play well on a big stage. It’s cool for them to receive an invitation, but the return for golf is not equitable.”
  • “The celebrities slow up the process in three ways: fan interaction, in-round interviews, and bad play. Fan interaction is nice but can be encouraged in ways beyond dancing elderly ladies into bunkers. In-round interviews are insightful, but always incite slow play, which makes rounds drag on, and opportunities at victory ebb away. Bad play? No justification to televise that. No one wants to see bad golf anywhere other than a viewer-controlled YouTube video. Subject us to hours on end, and we’ll turn our attention elsewhere.”
  • “Why might the amateurs stay? Some would point to the origin of the event, as the Bing Crosby clambake. That event went through an evolution, from a few friends in the California desert to a move to the coast, to a short stay in North Carolina (without the PGA Tour, of course) when AT&T took over the title on tour. It’s the last event that folks from past generations associate with a celebrity host (not even the Hope is remembered thus); not the Genesis (Glen Campbell), nor the American Express (Bob Hope), nor the Farmers (Andy Williams), nor the Honda (Jackie Gleason) have had that staying power.”
  • “The AT&T has an opportunity to re-imagine its event. Fingers and toes are crossed that it makes the bold decision to eliminate the Am portion of the event for good. The courses of the Monterey Peninsula tell a wonderful story.”
9. A distinction Spieth would rather not have
Our Gianni Magliocco…”Jordan Spieth failed to convert his two-shot 54-hole lead on Sunday at Pebble Beach, but the signs are good for the Texan who has climbed 20 places in the Official World Golf Ranking (up to 62nd) to begin the year.”
  • “However, after having a share of the 54-hole lead at Phoenix last week, and a two-stroke 54-hole lead at Pebble and failing to win either event, the 27-year-old joined a club you really don’t want to be in.”
  • “Per journalist Justin Ray, Spieth is the first man in 8 years to hold a share of the 54-hole lead in back-to-back weeks on the PGA Tour and not win either tournament.”
Related Topics:

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

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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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Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)

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