Connect with us

News

Morning 9: Harman defends OWGR system I Klayman files another suit I World’s best golf destination

Published

on

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco and Matthew Vincenzi.
November 17, 2022

Good Thursday morning, golf fans, as day one of the RSM Classic and LPGA season finale gets underway.

1. Harman defends new OWGR system

Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard…”The new system uses what officials call “modern statistical techniques” to more accurately evaluated tournaments relative to each other. That has led to a few double takes in recent weeks, including Wednesday when Jon Rahm was asked about the strength of field comparison between this week’s DP World Tour Championship and the RSM Classic, the final official event on the PGA Tour in 2022.”

  • …”“The depth of the field’s very important because there’s guys that are ranked outside of the top 100 that are in this field that aren’t going to be ranked outside the top 100 very soon, so I think the size of the field does matter,” Brian Harman said. “I haven’t done a deep dive into the semantics of the world golf ranking, but to me, it seems like there’s less floor and less ceiling and it’s more about who’s actually in the field.”
Full piece.

2. Klayman strikes again

Jamie Hall for Bunkered…“The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and OWGR are alleged to have colluded to “eliminate LIV Golf”, according to a fresh lawsuit filed in Florida.”

  • “Attorney Larry Klayman has lodged the Amended Class Action Complaint, which claims PGA and DP World tour chiefs Jay Monahan and Keith Pelley – who both sit on the OWGR board – broke competition laws by conspiring to restrain trade.”
  • “Klayman’s lawsuit alleges the rankings body, together with the tours, attempted to kill off the upstart league “in its infancy”.
Full piece.

3. World’s best golf destination

Mike Hall for Bunkered…“Following a year where the spotlight has been firmly on Scotland, it has now been named Best Golf Destination in the World at the prestigious World Golf Awards.”

  • “The award follows a momentous 2022 for the game in Scotland. It has hosted several high-profile tournaments, including the PGA Tour and DP World Tour’s co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, the final women’s Major of the year, the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield, and the 150th Open Championship at the Home of Golf, St Andrews.”
  • “The winner of the award is determined by golf fans, the media and tour operators, and it is the first time in the nine-year history of the awards that Scotland has claimed the honour. As well as that accolade, Scotland also received the Best Destination in Europe award in a separate category. That made it the first time a country has won both awards in the same year.”
Full piece.

4. Blown out of proportion

Via the Golf Channel Digital team…”On Tuesday, an article from Golfweek quoted Korda’s coach, Jamie Mulligan, detailing Korda’s agonizing diagnosis.”

  • “The next day, it rained during The Players Championship and we were hanging out at the house where we were staying,” Mulligan said. “Patrick’s (Cantlay) physio David Sunderland was working on the girls and Patrick. I was upstairs working and David came upstairs and said, ‘Hey, there’s something the matter with Nelly.’ And I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ He goes, ‘I can’t really put my finger on it.’ A little while later I called Nelly to see how she was doing, and Nelly’s not usually emotional and she was sounding emotional and she said, ‘My hands are turning weird colors.’ And I said, ‘Give me a minute, and I hung up.’ I called (PGA Tour Commissioner) Jay Monahan, who’s my longtime friend, and he opened with ‘Hey, I heard that Nelly was in town.’ I said, ‘That’s why I’m calling you. We have a problem. I think she might have a blood clot and I need your help. He called in the cavalry and he helped us so she immediately got to see a doctor and then they ended up doing a procedure, but Jay was a catalyst on that and it was really, really cool that he did that.”
  • “However, on Wednesday in a pre-tournament press conference at the CME Group Tour Championship, Korda pushed back on those details.”
  • “I was not very happy with that article because that was a very — I think that was blown out of proportion a good bit,” she said.
Full piece.

5. The search for an 8-year-old putter shaft

Our Andrew Tursky writing for PGATour.com…”Although seemingly nothing had changed with his putter – he was still using the same exact putter head and grip – something was off with the shaft. It just wasn’t performing or feeling the same anymore.”

  • “I never believed shafts made much of a difference in putting, but I lost that feel,” Hardy told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at The RSM Classic.
  • “Eventually, after a long period of exploration, Hardy tasked Nate Brown, the Director of Tour Operations for Swag Golf, to help him figure out what was wrong. Prior to working for Swag Golf, Brown was a longtime Tour rep for Bettinardi, and he worked closely with Hardy for nearly a decade on all of his putter needs.”
  • “Brown was able to identify that Hardy’s original Bettinardi putter was equipped with a steel shaft that is no longer in production. Hardy couldn’t find the shaft he needed because it doesn’t exist on the current market.”
  • “Brown wasn’t letting up easily, though. Motivated to find a stock of those specific shafts, Brown got in touch with one of his contacts to see if they had any of Hardy’s old stepless shafts.”
Full piece.

6. Maltbie

Golfweek’s Adam Woodard…”Maltbie was originally told 2021 would be his last year before Jim “Bones” Mackay left his on-air role with the network to caddie for Justin Thomas. He returned as an on-course reporter for 2022 but wasn’t renewed for 2023. A five-time winner on the PGA Tour, Maltbie, 71, had been covering golf for NBC Sports since 1992.”

  • “Does it hurt when you hear the words? Sure. ‘You’re not in our plans.’ Thirty-one years I spent with NBC. ‘You’re no longer in our plans and you’re not part of our future. We need to go young,’ which is a nice way of saying you’re old, and I understand all that,” said Maltbie. “But you know, there’s hurt feelings and there’s also a lot of gratitude. They were great to me for 31 years. I don’t have a complaint.”
Full piece.

7. McIlroy aiming for a heckuva double

AP Report…”Rory McIlroy has been in this position many times. For Ryan Fox, it’s a new experience.”

  • Two golfers with very different profiles are vying to finish atop the DP World Tour’s season-long points standings entering this week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship on the Earth Course in Dubai.
  • McIlroy — who recently won a record-setting third FedExCup and sits atop the world ranking — leads the Race to Dubai standings as he bids to be the DP World Tour’s leading player for the fourth time in his career (2012, ’14 and ’15). McIlroy could be the first player to end a year as the FedExCup champion, DP World Tour champion and No. 1 player in the world ranking.
  • Fox is only narrowly behind McIlroy in second place — the points difference is just 128.1 — after the best year of his career that has seen him win two events, the Ras al Khaimah Classic and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and be runner-up four times. Last month, the New Zealander reached a career-high ranking of No. 23.
  • “Rory is the best player in the world,” Fox said Wednesday. “He’s obviously the favorite but to be in this position is great and I’ve got nothing to lose this week.
Full piece.

8. DL3: LIV needs to say “we give”

Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard….”Tuesday in Dubai, Rory McIlroy suggested that LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman should “exit stage left” to make room for an “adult” to work things out with the PGA Tour. A day later, Davis Love III didn’t see that as an option.”

  • “If they (LIV Golf) say, ‘Hey, maybe we made a mistake and maybe we should drop a lawsuit and maybe we should quit stealing your players,’ then we might want to talk to them, but I don’t think that’s their model,” Love said Wednesday at the RSM Classic…”
  • “They’re recruiting college players, they’re recruiting PGA Tour players, they’re recruiting DP World Tour players. As long as they’re actively trying a hostile takeover, take our players away, get them to break the rules and go somewhere else, I don’t think it matters who’s running it,” said Love, who played Wednesday’s pro-am with Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. “I don’t think we sit down with anybody unless they say, ‘Hey, we give.’”
Full piece.

9. Photos from Sea Island

  • Check out all of our galleries from this week’s Tour stop!
Full Piece.
Advertise with us

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.

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. CrashTestDummy

    Nov 18, 2022 at 3:21 pm

    The one issue with the new OWGR system is that it props the PGA Tour up the highest. So, the smaller tours will have a tougher time getting up the rankings and qualifying for the big world tournaments like the Majors.

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

on

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

on

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

on

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

Facebook

Trending