Connect with us

News

Morning 9: New #1 this week? | Brandel rips Phil | Brooks needs knee replacement?

Published

3 years ago

on
By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco and Matthew Vincenzi.
October 18, 2022

Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as we gear up for the CJ Cup.
1. New No. 1 this week?

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…“The world No. 1 ranking is up for grabs this week at Congaree.”

  • “Rory McIlroy, who enters the CJ Cup ranked second in the Official World Golf Ranking, has a chance to unseat No. 1 Scottie Scheffler depending on how the two players finish in the limited-field event in Ridgeland, South Carolina.”
  • “According to Twitter’s resident OWGR guru, Nosferatu, McIlroy, who sits at 8.81 average points, needs a win or solo second and some “help” from Scheffler, at 9.39, to reach No. 1 for the first time since July 2020.”
Full piece.
2. Koepka will need knee replacement?

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…“The last two years haven’t been fun,” Koepka said. “It’s been a long road.”

  • “Koepka has said recently that he feels healthier than ever, but on Sunday, he offered some insight into his long-term health.”
  • “It’s been before LIV, when I blew my knee out and my foot was pointed that way, almost backwards and sideways,” Koepka said. “Credit to Dr. [Neal] ElAttrache; throw his name out there. I mean, eventually I’m going to have to have a knee replacement in a few years, but I wasn’t sure whether I could even move the same way and if I want to play if I could move the way I wanted.
  • “I’m fortunate [to] be in the spot that I’m in right now.”
Full piece.
3. Best round in PGA Tour Champions history?

Ryan Herrington for Golf Digest…“With a run of 12 birdies in his final 14 holes at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, N.C., Couples posted his career-best 18-hole score en route to a six-shot rout over Steven Alker, shooting a 20-under 196 for the week. And to think Couples made a double-bogey 6 on the first hole to start the tournament on Friday?”

  • “To call this the most remarkable round in PGA Tour Champions history isn’t overstating things. Kevin Sutherland shot a 59 back in 2014, but it was in the second round of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Classic, and he didn’t even win the tournament. Couples’ 60 was the lowest final-round score by a PGA Tour Champions’ winner in the tour’s 43-year history. He broke his age by three shots. He was trailing by three shots on the fifth tee only to claim the title by six.”
  • “It’s easy to say because we’re standing here, but I think it’s the best round I’ve ever played,” Couples said. “I’ve shot 58 and 59 before, never in a tournament, but for a little bit of money and stuff, and you pay a lot of attention, but today I just was trying to stay two or three ahead of Jerry [Kelly] because I knew I could birdie at any given time.”
Full piece.
4. ‘Congratulations. You’ve been bought’ – Brandel Chamblee rips Phil Mickelson in latest attack

Our Jason Daniels…”Chamblee was out of the traps quickly, telling Golf Channel:”

  • “Have you ever heard such flatulant verbage?” asked Chamblee. “It wasn’t that long ago he was talking about the atrocities of his now employer and saying they were ‘scary mfers‘. Now he’s saying,‘I love the side that I’m on.’ He and Greg Norman, they both remind me so much of each other. At their best, they were capable of great athletic poety but they’ve both become writers of fiction.”
  • He continued, “I’ve watched them all year long wiggling in their press seats and trying to dissolve the difference between words and deeds.”
  • “Both of them have been compelled to confront the figure of Mohammed bin Salman, MBS, and neither of them have been able to rationalise their alliance with a murderer. So they throw their arms up in the air and say, ‘We’re not politicians.’ But every single chance they get, they are politicking their talking points.”
  • “It’s lost on them that they’re working for a dictator and dictators are notoriously good at manipulating people to the incremental change it takes to get to tyranny. Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson seem like they’ve formed this intense relationship that’s going to be durable because it’s based upon a company enemy, which is the truth.”
  • “It’s a shocking contradiction. MBS claims to be this man of reform but in the same breath, he’s ordering the murder, the jailing and the torture of people who are fighting for reform. That is the person who controls the fund, who funds the tour, that Phil Mickelson says ‘he loves the side he’s on’.
  • Chamblee concludes, “Congratulations. You’ve been bought.”
Full piece.
5. What Phil is doing (according to Michael Bamberger)

Michael Bamberger of the Firepit Collective…”But just as Phil can parse his off-the-pine-needles second shot on the 13th hole on Sunday at the 2010 Masters, any of his press-conference comments can be parsed too, including those three sentences.”

  • “Mickelson is not denying that he talked to Shipnuck, my longtime colleague and friend. He’s not denying that he said disparaging things about other Saudis—not the LIV guys!—like the scary motherfuckers who ordered and carried out the killing of the dissident newspaper columnist Jamal Khashoggi.”
  • “But what Mickelson said is to me an obvious effort to confuse the broad sports-following public, not those of us in its weeds. Normal people don’t have the time to try to understand the nuance of what Phil said. He must know that some people will take his comment to mean he didn’t talk to Shipnuck at all.”
Full piece.
6. In Gee Chun remains sidelined

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols…”In Gee Chun won’t tee it up at home this week in South Korea at the BMW Ladies Championship. The three-time major champion took a four-week break from her golf clubs after an MRI and X-ray tests showed inflammation in the shoulder area and a diagnosis of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, according to her longtime coach Won Park.”

  • “Chun, 28, last competed on the LPGA in August at the CP Women’s Open in Canada. Her last start came in mid-September at the KB Financial Group Star Championship on the KLPGA. In addition to this week’s BMW, Chun missed the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America and Mediheal Championship as a result of injury.”
Full piece.
7. Carts burst into flames
Mark H. Bickel for Fort Myers News-Press…“Thick black smoke could be seen billowing from Sanibel Island on Sunday as recovery efforts continued there from the damage caused by Hurricane Ian.”

  • “The smoke, which could be seen around Sanibel and from the mainland, was caused by golf carts that caught on fire at The Dunes Golf & Tennis Club.”
  • “Mike Dopslaff, the PGA club professional at The Dunes, explained what he thought caused the fire.”
  • “I believe it was another reaction to the salt water and the Lithium battery (in the golf carts),” Dopslaff said.
Full Piece.
8. Rory most marketable golfer

Jamie Hall for Bunkered…”Rory McIlroy is officially the most marketable golfer in the world – at least, according to a new study.”

  • “SportsPro has revealed its top 50 Most Marketable (50MM) athletes for 2022, with four-time major winner McIlroy making it onto the list. However, the Northern Irishman is the only golfer listed.”
  • “He is ranked 48th on the list, a long way back of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who was named the most marketable athlete in the world. McIlroy only just made the top 50 despite winning the FedEx Cup, contending at the majors and repeatedly speaking out in the LIV Golf/PGA Tour row.”
Full Piece.
9. Bakshi sisters hoping to be next Kordas
Giles Goford for BBC Sport…”Spending too much time in a bunker isn’t normally conducive to a starting a golf career, but for sisters Jahanvi and Hitaashee Bakshi, it was the perfect beginning.”

  • “I played in the sand for two years when I started going to the golf course” says 18-year-old Hitaashee, “but then, I was only six years old.”
  • “The Indian professionals were introduced to golf by their parents, in a country, where before 2005, there was no avenue for women to earn money from the game.”
  • “At first, I was fascinated by the birds and the squirrels at the course”, says 19-year-old Jahanvi, winner of four titles on the domestic Women’s Professional Golf Tour in India. “Then, once you win a tournament, there is no going back. My ultimate ambition is to earn a place in the LPGA Hall of Fame”.
  • “Hitaashee, who also has four domestic tour wins, and Jahanvi will be among 30 Indian players competing in this week’s Women’s Indian Open on the Ladies European Tour (LET) in Delhi – it’s a crucial event for the development of homegrown talent, and has been sorely missed on the schedule following cancellations because of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.”
Full Piece.

 

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.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

News

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.

Continue Reading

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.

 

Continue Reading

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)

Continue Reading

WITB

Whats in the Bag3 weeks ago

Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)

Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here.  Driver: Titleist...
Whats in the Bag3 weeks ago

Cameron Young’s winning WITB: 2025 Wyndham Championship

Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting) Buy here. Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX 3-wood: Titleist...
Whats in the Bag4 weeks ago

Camilo Villegas WITB 2025 (July)

Camilo Villegas WITB accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. Villegas was undecided on a 3-wood when we shot his bag. ...
Whats in the Bag4 weeks ago

WITB Time Machine: Brandt Snedeker’s winning WITB, 2018 Wyndham Championship

Brandt Snedeker fired a final-round 65 at the 2018 Wyndham Championship to outlast Webb Simpson and C.T. Pan. His 5-under...

Facebook

Trending