19th Hole
‘They should be ashamed’ – LIV pro rips Augusta National for handling of ex-champ’s retirement moment

Take away the hotbed of the top of the leaderboard and the one thing golf does well is to give its former champions a great send-off.
Sadly, that wasn’t true for the 1998 Masters champion, Sandy Lyle, a victim of strange circumstance when Augusta National suspended play for a second time on Saturday.
Whilst weather forecasts predicted the storms, nobody could have predicted the incredible scenes of trees falling near the 17th green, let alone Lyle, who had to walk off the course with just two putts remaining of his 42-event Masters career.
For the final time in competition, Sandy Lyle, the 1988 Masters champion, finishes his round on No. 18. #themasters pic.twitter.com/Fnxg543DTv
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2023
When play resumed on Sunday, Augusta held back many of the patrons for a short while, meaning Lyle finished his tournament in front of approximately 50 people, including family and friends.
Lyle explained, “I needed about another 30 seconds probably [on Saturday] and I would have had the chance to hit the putt. We tried to talk to the official that, ‘you know, please, let us finish’. But, no, they stuck to the rules, and rules are rules and we had to abide by that.”
His playing partner, Jason Kokrak, was not happy.
“To not have the patrons let in at 8 o’clock to be around that green is damn near unforgivable,” he told reporters in Augusta. “I think it’s the most ridiculous thing.”
Kokrak added,
“And I think it’s absolutely chicken shit that they wouldn’t grant a special exemption because they weren’t going to blow the horn except — I mean, I understand that there was a freak accident — trees going down.”
The three-time PGA Tour winner, now on the LIV tour, continued, “To not have a temporary exemption for something like that — I get that the lightning was in the area, but they weren’t going to blow the horn for a few more minutes.”
“So I think it’s something that will be lost. I enjoyed my time with Sandy the last couple of days, and I think he should have been able to finish. Especially with the patrons around here.”
“That’s what makes this place so great is the golf IQ of the patrons out here, or the fans that come out to Augusta. Because they knew what was going on and I think they wanted to see him make his last putt.”
“So I think Augusta National and the rules committee should be ashamed of themselves. And I’m really disappointed for him and his family for him not to be able to have that moment.”
In the end, Lyle two-putted with a replica of the putter he used during his one-shot victory over Mark Calcavecchia, complimenting Augusta and his playing partner in the process.
Commenting on the walk up 18 for the final time before the suspension, the 65-year-old said, “They [patrons] have been very supportive and more noticeable probably yesterday. They all stood up coming up the 18th and Jason Kokrak stood by the green and clapped for me all the way from there.”
“So they’re nice memories and I’m going away with, going home with a good feeling,.” he concluded.
More from the 19th Hole
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

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.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
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.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

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.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

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.