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Morning 9: 16-year-old low am at Chevron | Slow play solution? | Watson’s grow the game initiative

Published

2 years ago

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By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as we head south of the border for the 2023 Mexico Open.

1. ICYMI: 16-year-old took low am at Chevron

Golf Channel’s Colby Powell…”Eila Galitsky closed her first start at a major championship the same way she began, with a 2-under 70 that left her as the lowest amateur on the leaderboard at the Chevron Championship.”

  • …”The 16-year-old earned her way into the Chevron by winning the Asia-Pacific Women’s Amateur by five shots over Korea’s Minsol Kim. That victory will also get Galitsky into the AIG Women’s Open and Amundi Evian Championship later this year.”
Full piece.

2. Leaving with an injury vs. leaving with a trophy

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”Last year, Hardy departed New Orleans with an injured left wrist heavily wrapped. On Sunday, that same hand was helping partner Davis Riley lift a PGA Tour trophy for the first time as winners of the Zurich Classic.”

  • “I was actually in the hospital probably at this point last year,” Hardy said, “so it’s a lot better place to be at here.”
  • “Hardy had made just five of 13 cuts with no top-25s as a PGA Tour rookie when he arrived at TPC Louisiana for last year’s event, in which he teamed up with Curtis Thompson. On the fourth hole of his final round, Hardy hit a wedge shot and felt a pop in his wrist. He played on to a T-21 finish, but by the next morning his wrist had swelled.”
  • “An MRI at a nearby hospital revealed an ECU tendon subluxation and torn subsheath. Hardy didn’t need surgery, but he did go 30 days without hitting a ball and missed five weeks of action.”
Full piece.

3. Chevron champion Lilia Vu’s incredible family saga

Kent Paisley at Golf Digest…“The journey started two generations prior, with her maternal grandfather, Dinh Du, getting his family out of war-torn Vietnam. For months in 1982, seven years after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, he hid away in the countryside to slowly build a boat. He risked his life making the craft to give his family a chance to escape. Then, one night, he told everyone it was time to go.

  • “My dad said that we need to get out of Vietnam to get a better life,” Vu’s mom, Kieu Thuy, said on Sunday. “We chose America, and luckily, we did it.”
  • “Du built a boat for 54 people. As the craft took off, people from the shore swam to climb on aboard. Du turned no one away, ending up with 82 souls searching for a new life. Hope started to fade as the boat leaked two days into the journey. Du fired off flares hoping for anyone to help them.”
  • “Fortunately, the USS Brewton, a United States Navy warship, saw Du’s flares. They rescued everyone on the boat.”
Full piece.

4. Tom Watson’s grow the game initiative

Golf Digest’s Dave Shedloski…”Watson, 73, can’t turn back the clock and erase carts and buggies, but he can recreate, to some degree, the process by which he was introduced to the game. That is the inspiration for the introduction of Watson Links, a golf mentoring program that gives junior golfers ages 10 to 18 free access to select courses in Watson’s hometown of Kansas City, Mo., accompanied by an adult player who can teach in-play fundamentals, short-game techniques, strategy and etiquette.”

  • “We finally came to the realization that what these kids need is not just a place to play but somebody to play with who can share their knowledge of the game while they are on a golf course,” the eight-time major winner said. “That’s how you get them interested, turn them into golfers, right? That’s how I grew up. I grew up with my father taking me on the golf course when I was 6 years old. We’d go play three holes. And I’d hang around with his friends. At a young age I had all these players who were passionate about golf helping me to understand what it was all about.”
  • “After a modest trial rollout last year, Watson Links is set for its first full summer, offering at this writing 900 free nine-hole rounds staring May 1. That does not include the complimentary rounds for the mentors, who must undergo an extensive vetting process before being approved to fill out a foursome. Tee times are paid for via course donations and the support of Watson’s charitable foundation.”
Full piece.

5. Michael Kim’s slow play proposal
Full piece.

6. Florida Gators win SEC men’s title

Kevin Broackway for the Gainseville Sun…“It came down to the 18th hole, but the Florida Gators men’s golf team got a clutch putt from John DuBois to upset Vanderbilt and win the 2023 SEC Championship at the Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simon’s Island, Ga.

  • “It was Florida’s first SEC men’s golf title since 2011 and first under head coach J.C. Deacon, who was hired in 2014.”
  • “I’m so proud of the culture we have and the family we’re building,” Deacon said. “This is definitely for the Gator Nation.”
Full piece.

7. Last week’s winners WD from Mexico Open

Reuters Report…”Nick Hardy and Davis Riley withdrew from this week’s PGA Tour stop, the Mexico Open at Vidanta, on Monday after winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Sunday.”

  • “No reason was given for the withdrawals.”
  • “It marks the first time since last November that a PGA Tour winner withdrew from an event he was scheduled to play the following week, Golfweek reported.”
Full piece.

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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

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.

 

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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)

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